The long awaited next chapter! I can't believe how popular this is. It's probably my most OOC work as well. Any ideas on what the boys should do next?
Kakashi opened the door to his room to exit but was met with an exuberant Gai. He blinked lazily and peered over his shoulder. Kurenai waved, a little embarrassment on her cheeks. "Oh, hey, Kurenai, what are you doing here?"
"Gai fetched me. He said that it was urgent that I come here and relax. So…..here I am."
The silver-haired ninja nodded. "Well, I was about to take a look around. Care to join? I've been sleeping all day, I need some fresh air." Kurenai nodded. "Ah, well, I'll see you Gai." Kakashi tilted his body to snake past Gai.
"You owe me, Hatake." Kakashi paused for a second but continued on. Gai pleased with himself went inside and collapsed in a pile on the couch. He stared at the clock for a few minutes then frowned. "… … That bastard tricked me into getting his girlfriend… Dammit."
The boys exited the spa, for the most part relaxed. Neji, once he gained consciousness, didn't speak or look at anyone but his blush was persistent. It was unanimously decided to head back to the room and do something entertaining and decidedly less perverted.
Kankurou looked down at the ground and noticed a string trailing from Gaara's towel. He followed behind his brother for a few steps, watching it slither across the ground. It snagged on a break in a floor a little but broke free. It occurred to Kankurou at this time that perhaps he should grab it before it really snagged the ground.
"Gaara, stop for a second," he spoke up, but Gaara continued walking. "Hey, brat stop walking."
"I'm not in the mood, Kankurou," Gaara answered coldly.
Kankurou snorted and looked down at the string. It was really only dangling on the towel. Maybe if he stepped on it, it would just tear off. He shrugged, decided that it was worth a try. He put his foot on the string lightly to test its strength when Kiba caught his attention.
"Hey, look at those girls," Kiba point to a group of teenage women coming there way.
Kankurou forgetting himself looked up for just a second but it was a second too long. With an almost inaudible 'whump', Gaara's towel hit the floor and the cold air it Gaara.
The red haired boy stopped dead and so did everyone with eyes to see. Kankurou gave an intake of breath, clamping his teeth together, sweat beading on his forehead. Gaara looked back at his towel and saw Kankurou's toe on the string.
"I…know what this looks like….but…I swear it was an accident," he defended. Gaara's face was as red as his hair. He calmly gathered up his towel and put it around his waist again, he broke the offended thread and walked off leaving the others in his wake. The girls watched him pass but no one said anything.
Finding it wise they hurried to catch up with Gaara. In the locker room, no one spoke at first as they got dressed. Kankurou watched his younger brother but there didn't seem to be any problem with him. He didn't seem angry or embarrassed anymore.
"Hey, Gaara, are you-" Kankurou winced. WHAM! Gaara had punched a dent in a nearby locker without so much blinking. Everyone froze. He folded his towel and placed it in the dirty bin with the others and walked away silently. "…His a little pissed still."
"Well, you did embarrass him in front of hundreds of people and dozens of girls," Shikamaru noted. Naruto and Rock Lee were dressed before the others and volunteered to walk with him and try to cheer him up.
The two found him wandering in the main corridor and ran up to either side. "Hey, Gaara, what's up?" Naruto chimed. This comment awarded him a deep glare. "Oh…….yeah."
"When I get angry," began Lee, "I play a game to cheer me up. Let's head to arcade and play something."
"Yeah, come on, Gaara. There's no sense in being mad all day. We're here to relax, remember."
Gaara looked at them both and sighed. They took him by his wrist and dragged him to the arcade. They browsed around looking for something that would be good for relieving frustrations. Naruto put a coin in a game call "Whack-a-mole". He handed a plush mallet to Gaara. "Just hit them when they pop up." Gaara gave it a half-hearted go his first round.
Lee snapped his fingers. "Pretend they're Kankurou!" Gaara hit one and it gave a squeaky "ow" in response. "They're mocking you." Thump… "Teasing you." Thwack…. "And don't forget all those people that saw your private business because of his thoughtlessness." WHACK! "Uh…" .WHACKWHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK! "Gaara…" WHAM! "Um…Gaara…." CRACK!
Tickets poured out the machine as Gaara let his frustrations out on the hapless mechanical moles. Everyone watched in terrified shock. After defeating the final mole level, and achieving high score Gaara calmly put the mallet down and stepped back.
"… I'm still mad." Naruto and Rock Lee stepped out of his way as Gaara went to find more games where he could be Kankurou's face on the receiving end of a mallet of some kind.
"This is going to take a while, Naruto-kun."
Kankurou was walking around the giftshop for a magazine to read to get his mind off of Gaara and what Temari was going to do to him when she found out what he had done. He browsed the selection and didn't find anything to interesting so he grabbed a weekly manga compilation and went to pay for it. Behind the counter, was a line of teddy bears. He blinked as the machine bell dinged and the drawer opened to accept his money. And idea was formulating in his mind. A brilliant idea, one that would end all animosities but the sacrifices would be great. Was it worth it, he asked himself? He envisioned Gaara encapsulating him in sand and squashing him. "Let me have one of those bears too."
Gaara leaned over the edge of the balcony and watched the wind move the trees. He had won the other boys a plethora of games and toys just be taking his frustrations out anyway a game allowed. After a few games, Lee's chiding was unnecessary as he made up his own creative way to torment an imaginary older brother. However, in spite of setting the high scores to a number of games, he was still fuming inside. He just hid it well.
The door opened and Kankurou entered. There was an exchange of uncomfortable greetings. The oldest boy scanned the group for his little brother. They all silently looked towards the balcony. He sighed and pulled out the bear, setting it on the ground. The other watched with interest. He attached strings of chakra to the bear and with a few twitches of his fingers it sprang alive.
He made it go through a series of exercises: bends to the front, back, and sides. He moved its arms in a series of movements and expressions. Satisfied that he had significant control of the plush bear he walked it outside to the balcony next to Gaara. He positioned himself behind a wall so that he could narrate for the bear.
Gaara felt a tug on his pants leg and looked down. Staring up at him with inky black eyes was..
"Do….Dodongo?"
"Gaara-kun!"came a high-pitched voice. The bear spread its arms wide. The Leaf boys looked at Kankurou like he had lost his mind then they all tried various ways to stifle their laughter.
"What …" Gaara looked around. "What are you doing here? I haven's seen you since I was a little kid."
"Gaara-kun, Dodongo has missed you very much but I have a special mission today!"
"A special mission? What is it?" Gaara mentally wondered why he was talking to a stuffed animal but insisted since it was his childhood friend that it was okay.
"Pick me up so I can see you better, my neck is hurting since Gaara-kun has gotten so big." Gaara knelt down and picked up the bear, carefully putting him on the rail, and leaned over so the bear didn't have to strain so much to talk to him. "Dodongo saw what happened to Gaarakun this afternoon, yes he did." Gaara gave an angry look. "Dodongo instantly knew that Gaara-kun was feeling very sad and so…Dodongo is sad too." The bear drooped over.
"Don't be sad Dodongo!" Gaara encouraged. "I'm fine."
"Gaara-kun cannot lie to Dodongo, no no he cannot. Dodongo knows the Gaara's feelings deeeeeeep down inside… Gaara is mad with his brother, yes?"
"I hate him, Dodongo. He humiliated me. He's always mean to me and he's only nice because Temari makes him."
"Kankurou is very unsmart, yes! But I saw, Gaara-kun, he didn't do it on purpose! He saw a string and wanted to take it off but stepped on it instead. It was an accident!"
"Hell of an accident…"
"Do you know, he asked Dodongo to come and talk to you?"
"He did?"
"Oh yeeeees. He saw me and I tried to run but caught me and said. 'Oh, Dodongo! I've done an awful thing and now Gaara is angry with me. What should I do?' Of course, Dodongo said apologize but Kankurou said 'Oh, Dodongo but he'll never speak to me again!' So here I am. Older brother is so so sorry, Gaara-kun.'"
"Lies, Dodongo. Kankurou is a jerk. He doesn't care about me."
"Not true! He was terribly upset! He loves the Gaara very much! He told Dodongo ' Gaara is my one only brother and though I cannot show it, I love him a lot but I only make him unhappy. I wish I could told tell him how much I care.'"
"Really?"
"Really. He loves you soooooooo muuuuuch. He loves you…THIIIIIS MUCH!" The bear spread its arms wide. "Will you forgive older brother, Gaara-kun?"
"Well… I guess so. Since he told you to come then he must care. Thank you, Dodongo." Gaara picked the bear up and hugged it tightly.
Kankurou slid to the floor with a deep sigh. He looked over to the others. They were in stitches on the floor, writhing in pain. He gave them and intense glare and walked over to them. Neji seemed to be the only one not laughing but he was punching himself in the thigh to keep from doing so.
" 'I love you thiiiiis muuuuch'" mocked Naruto. There were snorts and Neji punched his thigh harder.
Kankurou put his hands in his pockets. "I'm going to need you all to die. I mean… if it's not too much to ask, could you go to hell too?" It was too much, the all just burst into laughter at the older boy's expense.
Gaara entered, still holding the bear and stood beside Kankurou, watching his idiot friends laugh themselves to death. He looked at his brother who did not look at him. "I forgive you, Kankurou. I know it was and accident and if I had just stopped when you asked me, maybe this wouldn't have happened."
"Oh, uh, thank you Gaara. I'm sorry about that. Nice bear!" He rolled his eyes up to look at the ceiling. Gaara nudged Lee with a toe but he was too busy trying to catch his breath.
"I do have a question though," Gaara began. "I know how you got the bear to move but how did you get your voice that high?"
"Mmmm… Well the first step is to take your pride and kick it in the balls. Then you take your dignity and punch it in the face. The rest follows naturally." Gaara nodded and kicked Lee again curiously.