Title; For The Team.

Upon arriving in Konoha, Chokai had many things to attend to. The important thing to do was to set up shop, but he also had to spread is name and fantastic products to other villages.

So, in order to carry out such a deed, he sent his wonderful Butterfly Crystals to random residences of other villages. Mind you, his spreading of products wasn't completely at random…he tried to put them someplace where they would be recognized for the brilliance.

Ah! What better place to send it to than the three children of the Kazekage?

This, of course, all occurred a few days earlier when Chokai had first arrived. The mail system in the ninja world is very similar to that of our own, if not MORE efficient, so the package was taken from one village to the other in a very timely manner.

The mailman had instructions, however. He was to place the package on the front steps, ring the doorbell and then sprint away as fast as he could. Now, the life of a mailman isn't a particularly exciting one (not like being a ninja of course) so he was willing to incorporate a little danger and excitement into his life by putting the package down and hiding. And he probably would have done that anyway, since this was the house that the evil sand child lived, and no one wanted to hang around there for very long.

So, as the mailman dove into a bush, the door opened.

Kankuro looked around, and then looked down to see the package sitting there waiting to be accepted.

"Mail's here!" Kankuro yelled into the house as he picked up the package on the front door step. He looked at the return address to see that it was from a place called 'Chokai's Spiritual Stand' in Konoha Village.

The mailman's duty was finished, so he was back to his regular old boring life of being a mailman. But perhaps he would do more business with this Chokai, since he had done such a wonderful favor by putting some spice into his life…

Kankuro took the package inside and to the table, setting it down. It wasn't addressed to anyone specific. Therefore, it was all right for him to open it without calling Gaara or Temari. Even though that would have been the right thing to do since both of them were home…but Temari was up in her room doing whatever, and Gaara was lurking about in his creepy Gaara way. And there was no way Kankuro could ever interrupt either of those activities of his siblings.

Inside, he found three balls of bubble wrap and some instructions.

"The Eighth Wonder of the World; The Butterfly Crystal." He read on the front of the folded piece of paper.

He glanced around the room just to double check if anyone was around and then opened up the paper. For some reason, he felt as though he had found an incredible treasure…maybe it was because it was called the eighth wonder of the world. So it's GOT to be cool.

"Good day, Resident!" the card read. "You have been selected at random to try out one of my new products! At Chokai's Spiritual Stand, I have all sorts of items to keep you interested and, just to show you that your consumer value is important to me, I'm sending you, absolutely free, three Butterfly Crystals!"

Kankuro took one of the balls out of the box and unwrapped it. Sure enough, it was a small crystal with a glass butterfly on the inside.

Then he went back to reading.

"Make a wish! Any wish! Change something in your past! If you make a wish upon this crystal then one thing in your past will be instantaneously changed. Guaranteed!"

Kankuro made that, "Pa-shaw" sound. How could this Chokai's Spiritual Stand place expect a mature person like him to believe in such silly things?

Though, it was intriguing…perhaps he should read on…just in case…

However, that was the end of the instructions. He flipped over the paper and looked at the back, only to see these few words; Remember; if a butterfly flaps its wings, a tornado can start.

Kankuro counted three, and figured that he was entitled to one of them… even though he didn't believe in all the craziness! Well, not that it was REALLY crazy, just sort of crazy. Not crazy…just unbelievable.

"Did you open my mail?"

Kankuro whirled around at the sound of his little brother's voice. Gaara was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and a stoned glare in his eyes… but it's not like that was anything NEW.

"Of course not, Gaara!" Kankuro said, tripping over his words.

"What is that?" Gaara demanded in reference to the package sitting on the table. (He must have been in one of those moods.)

"Uh…it's a package." Kankuro said. He didn't know why Gaara immediately assumed that the package would be for him because it's not like Gaara has EVER gotten a package or even a measly piece of mail.

"I can see that." Gaara said, sounding close to infuriated. "What was inside of it?"

"Some company is asking us to try out their new product." Kankuro explained. "There's one for you too."

"Joy." Gaara said, but he was obviously FAR from joyed.

"All right so I'm going to go and…do stuff…" Kankuro said as he quickly ran out of the room.

He didn't stop running until he had gotten all the way upstairs and, just as he was about to slam his door, he caught sight of Temari staring at him with a devious grin on her face.

"WHAT?" he demanded.

"I saw that." Temari said.

"Saw what?" Kankuro said.

"You were running away from Gaara like a sissy." Temari replied, looking satisfied with her find.

"No I wasn't!" Kankuro yelled as he slammed his door while Temari laughed cruelly at his expense, not about to admit that she also ran away from Gaara like a sissy all the time.

Kankuro never liked being absolutely terrified of his twelve-year-old brother. It was a little degrading. But, after all, Gaara was possessed by that pesky sand demon thing, and Kankuro didn't want to be the one to try to oppose it. He had seen what happened to people who tried to oppose it.

He looked in his hand to see that he was still holding the crystal. And in the other hand, he had the directions.

Once again, he opened up the directions.

"Make a wish! Any wish! Change something in your past! If you make a wish upon this crystal then one thing in your past will be instantaneously changed. Guaranteed!"

"Pa-shaw." Kankuro said again. It was pretty much an automatic reaction to such an insane claim.

But, he couldn't help but be captivated by the crystal's potential ability to better his current living conditions in some way as he dropped the directions in the trash and put the crystal on a desk.

"Hm…" Kankuro said, scratching his chin where his facial hair would grow SOMEDAY when he comes of age. "I wonder…"

He picked it back up.

"I wish Gaara wasn't possessed by the sand demon!" Kankuro announced.

After he made the wish, he put it back down.

"Pa-shaw." He said.

And then there was a knock at his bedroom door, which was weird. Temari usually didn't knock because she was the kind to think she was entitled to every room in the house since she was the oldest, and he couldn't think of the last time that Gaara decided to knock upon Kankuro's door for a chat.

So, not knowing what to expect, Kankuro opened the door. Sure enough, it WAS one of his siblings. And it just so happened to be the one he had been kind of hoping that it wouldn't be.

"Oh, hey Gaara…" Kankuro breathed nervously.

Gaara only stood there and waited. Kankuro waited too, but as he stared at his younger brother, he came to realize that there was something distinctly different about him.

"Gaara… you're looking…well." Kankuro finally picked a word that suited the way Gaara looked. "Rather healthy, actually. Did you do something in the past two minutes?"

"I uh…walked up the stairs." Gaara said, pointing vaguely at the stairs.

"Oh." Said Kankuro awkwardly.

Gaara was still standing there.

"So…what is it that you want?" Kankuro asked, trying to sound as passive and NOT forceful as possible. He hoped that his tone of voice suggested that it was his own fault for not knowing exactly what Gaara wanted.

"Kankuro, you're just trying to get out of training me." Gaara said, crossing his arms. "You promised you would after you got home! And you're home now so you have to train with me!"

Kankuro blinked.

"What?" he said.

"You said you'd train me!" Gaara answered, sounding irritated.

There was something VERY different about Gaara, and, as Kankuro stole another look at the Butterfly Crystal sitting on his desk, he felt like he came to realize just what it was.

Time to use the scientific method and test his hypothesis by gathering data.

He reached out his hand and slowly moved it towards Gaara. Gaara watched him curiously as his older brother's hand came in contact with his forehead. And the two of them stood there like fools for a few seconds before Gaara cleared his throat.

"Gaara…" Kankuro began VERY slowly. "You're not possessed, are you?"

Gaara didn't say anything at first.

"No…" he managed to articulate.

"Really!" Kankuro said, slapping his cheeks in a way that suggested he was right out of a silent movie and trying to show his emotions thoroughly to the audience without speaking, even though he DID speak.

"Uh…yeah?" Gaara said, looking slightly confused.

"Gaara, do you know what this means!" Kankuro said with a gasp.

"…What?" Gaara said, inevitably getting excited by Kankuro's seemingly inexplicable enthusiasm.

"It means we can finally live a normal life!" Kankuro exclaimed as he ran by Gaara and poked his head into Temari's room only to find her not there. "Gaara, where's Temari?"

"I think she went out." Gaara said with a shrug. "I don't really know. I don't think she's been home all day."

Kankuro decided that that wasn't going to bother him. He ran past Gaara again, grabbed the Butterfly Crystal and kissed it.

Then, after he put the crystal down, he looked at Gaara who was beginning to back away.

"What are you waiting for, Gaara?" Kankuro said. "Seize the day!"

"Yeah!" said Gaara, punching the air. "Seize the day!"

Kankuro grabbed his puppet and practically frolicked down the stairs. Nothing could possibly put him in a better mood and, as he rounded the corner, he was faced with a sight that he didn't expect, and caused him to stop dead. Gaara crashed into him and then peaked around him.

"Hi Uncle Yashamaru!" said Gaara, running around Kankuro and out to where the so-called 'Uncle Yashamaru' could see him.

"Hello Gaara." Said Yashamaru. "Good afternoon, Kankuro!"

"I thought you weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow morning!" Gaara said as he sat down at the table and folded his hands, waiting eagerly for Yashamaru to make conversation with him.

Kankuro blinked not once, but twice and then rubbed his eyes.

Well…okay…he thought.

He knew Yashamaru had died. He had heard about it from practically everyone so WHY he was standing there acting as though he was still alive was beyond him.

"I know, I had planned to stay out all night." Yashamaru said. "But my mission was cancelled. So I was wondering if I could talk to Temari. Is she around?"

"Uh, I think she went out earlier." Gaara answered.

"Oh, all right." Said Yashamaru. "So what are you two boys up to today? Training again?"

"Yeah!" said Gaara. "I'm going to show Kankuro a thing or two about using Kugutsu!"

"Kugutsu?" Kankuro said. "What's that?"

"Hey!" said Gaara, looking offended. "That's not funny!"

Kankuro peered at Gaara. Why was he expected to know what Kugutsu was?

Gaara peered at Kankuro. Why was he acting like he didn'tknow what Kugutsu was?

"Well, I'm not going to interrupt you two any longer." Yashamaru reminded everyone that he was still present in the room. "I'll be going now. I'm going to see if I can find Temari anywhere. I should be back before you guys go to bed."

"Will do!" said Gaara.

Yashamaru nodded at the boys and then left.

Kankuro watched him go.

That was weird.

"Kankuro, you look like you just saw a ghost!" said Gaara after a moment's silence.

"I did." Kankuro said, unable to contain his shock any longer.

"Really?" Gaara said, wide eyes. "Where?"

"Didn't…?" Kankuro started, pointing at the place where Yashamaru had just exited. "Didn't he just…but he…"

Gaara watched Kankuro curiously, and his eyes then shifted around the room for an explanation.

"Are you sick, Kankuro?" he asked finally.

"No…"

"Good, because you still have to train with me."

Gaara made a run for the back door.

"I've already got Kugutsu out there!" Gaara called from across the room as he got his shoes on in the doorway and flung the door open. "Come on! Let's go! You promised!"

Kankuro adjusted the straps that held Karasu in place and made his way outside. Half of him wanted to see what Kugutsu was, but the other half of him was just FAR too confused and frazzled to do much of anything.

But the curious half of him must have been far larger, because he found himself stepping outside to where Gaara was already waiting for him.

"It's about time!" Gaara said. He was leaning on what LOOKED like an exact double of Karasu and, after double checking to make sure that Karasu was still on his back, Kankuro confirmed that that WAS an exact double of Karasu.

"Is that Kugutsu?" Kankuro gaped, pointing at the Karasu copied.

Gaara looked at Kankuro and then at the puppet. After a slight pause, he looked back at Kankuro. "…Yah." He said.

"Since when do you use puppets?" Kankuro said.

"I always have!" Gaara said, sounding slightly frustrated. "Now come on! Let's train!"

Kankuro took Karasu off his back and put him on the ground in front of him, standing up straight. "Let's have a one on one fight." He compromised. "My Karasu versus your Kugutsu."

"No problem!" Gaara said. "Kugutsu can beat Karasu any day!"

"I'll believe that when I see it!" said Kankuro.

"Let's go!" said Gaara, looking serious.

Just as mortal combat was about to ensue, Gaara stood up straight and looked right past Kankuro.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" he said. Kankuro turned around to see a boy and a girl standing there, appearing as though they had just arrived.

"Kyoushi sent us over to get you!" said the boy.

"What?" Gaara said, walking over to them. "Why?"

"Because you didn't show up for training!"

"We don't have training today!"

"Yeah we do!" said the girl. "It was supposed to start almost an hour ago!"

"We don't have training tomorrow… maybe that's what you're thinking of." Said the boy.

"Aw man!" Gaara said, slapping his forehead. "And I finally got my brother to train with me!"

"Well, Kyoushi's pretty mad." The boy said. "Thanks to you, we're probably going to get punished!"

"Fine…" Gaara sighed. "Kankuro, can we train tomorrow? Please?"

"Wait a second." Said Kankuro. "Where are you going? I don't get it."

"I have to train with my team." Gaara said, as he started moving away in the direction the boy and girl had left.

"Your team?" Kankuro said, pursuing him. "What about me and Temari?"

"I know!" said Gaara. "I'll be home! I'll still train with you guys!"

"No, I mean we're you're team!" Kankuro clarified.

"Yeah, I know, I just have to train with my official team today!" Gaara said, looking apologetic, as he got further away. "I'll see you later tonight!"

With that, Gaara was gone.

Kankuro was utterly confused. Since when did Gaara have this "other" team that he was committed to? Kankuro specifically remembered that, when he graduated from the academy, he was assigned to be put on a team with his younger brother just so no one else would have to be on the same team as him. And Temari had been through the same thing!

So what had happened to all that?

And why was Gaara a puppet user?

And why was Yashamaru alive?

As Kankuro contemplated all these things, he realized that there was no reason to be upset about any of these things, especially since Gaara was no longer possessed by the sand demon.

So, Kankuro decided, even though I only wished for Gaara not to be possessed, I can live with this.

His life was IN NO WAY worse.

Maybe he'd just happily skip back inside and hang out for a little while. After all, if he wasn't obligated to keep his eye on Gaara all day every day to make sure he didn't go insane and go on a killing spree, he certainly would have a lot of free time.

As he made his way to the door that led back into the house, he felt the ground give a mighty shake.

Damn you, irony!

He turned around to see Temari standing there. She had her arms crossed in a very angry fashion, appearing as though Kankuro had just recently done something to horribly wrong her! Even though it had been HER who had recently made fun of him for running away from Gaara like a sissy (even though that would never happen again!) so she had no right to be so mad.

"Temari, what's so—" Kankuro began but then he gasped dramatically when he noticed Temari was NOT looking well. She had thick, dark cycles around her eyes and a huge tan gourd on her back.

"Kankuro, do you have any idea what my day has been like?" Temari demanded as she stomped over to where Kankuro was still standing in shock, causing the ground to rumble with every step she took. "This has quite possibly been the worst day of my life."

"W-w-why?" Kankuro stuttered. He figured that it had something to do with the fact that she was now possessed by the sand demon instead of Gaara, but that was just a guess.

"I'm not going to share that with you." Temari said. "I'm just going to blindly take my rage out on you until I am satisfied."

Sand began to rise up behind her.

Kankuro didn't know how Temari could possibly know that it had been him who made the wish. Besides, he hadn't meant for the curse to be transmitted onto HER!

"Temari, wait!" came a voice from the doorway. Kankuro looked up to see Yashamaru standing there with a paper bag in his hand.

Temari stopped and waited, as she was told.

Yashamaru tossed her the bag and she caught it. She opened up the bag and pulled out a small box.

"Where did you find this?" Temari asked.

"I went to the store and bought it." Yashamaru answered. "I figured you'd be looking for some."

"I was." Temari said with a glare. "Kankuro, you're spared for now. Just don't cross my path for the next five to seven days."

Temari turned around and left.

Kankuro was, at this point, close to soiling his little black bodysuit.

"What was that all about?" he asked Yashamaru. But he was in no way comforted by Yashamaru, because Yashamaru was definitely supposed to be dead.

"Midol." Yashamaru answered. "Where's Gaara?"

"He uh…went to train with his…team?" Kankuro said haltingly.

"Oh." Said Yashamaru. "Okay."

With that, Yashamaru went back into the house.

Kankuro stood there in silence for a moment and then flung the door open.

"Wait!" he yelled.

Yashamaru turned around. "What is it?" he asked.

"I don't mean to sound invasive or anything," Kankuro started. "But why are you here?"

"Why am I here?" Yashamaru said, looking confused. "I always stay with you three one week out of the month."

"Why?" Kankuro said.

"To help deal with Temari." Yashamaru said, raising an eyebrow.

"Since WHEN!" Kankuro demanded.

"I always have." Yashamaru said, looking slightly confused. "I thought you knew this."

Kankuro paused. "That wasn't what I meant when I asked why you were here!" he corrected himself. "I mean…what about what happened all those years ago? Remember? With Gaara?"

"You mean…" Yashamaru started, feeling like he was playing 20 Questions. "When Gaara was born and my sister died?"

"Well…no, but I guess…"

At least THAT was still the same…

Maybe he hadn't read into this Butterfly Crystal thing thoroughly before he immediately decided to make his wish. So, after quickly excusing himself, Kankuro retreated back up into his room and rummaged through the trash until he emerged successful with the directions that he had thrown away earlier.

But, after inspecting it to an overwhelming extent, Kankuro didn't surface any helpful new information.

He picked up the crystal and got a good look at it. Then, as he sat down on his bed, he took one last look at the directions.

"Remember; if a butterfly flaps its wings, a tornado can start." He read aloud.

He considered this warning.

Now what did that sound like? He felt like he knew what it was referring to, but he was pretty lost.

He snapped his fingers and remembered. The Butterfly Effect. And, as he opened up the directions again, he came to realize that, because he changed something in his past, everything his present was changed. For example… it was somehow decided that Temari would get the demon instead of Gaara.

He had to admit he did feel bad about dropping the curse on Temari, but obviously things were that much better because… well, Yashamaru wasn't dead. And when someone's NOT dead, that's always a good thing.

Temari would just have to take one for the team this time around.

Kankuro hung out around the house for a long time, just chilling. He didn't have much to do because Temari was nowhere to be found and Gaara was off training with his… team…

That would take a little getting used to, but not much. He'd be over it in about… five seconds. Oh! He's over it.

When it was starting to get dark, Kankuro heard the front door open. He turned around to see Gaara come in, looking exhausted and also, strangely enough, quite beaten up.

Well, he supposed that it wouldn't be strange to see Gaara beaten up anymore.

"I'm going right to bed!" Gaara declared as he practically ran up the stairs.

And he also supposed it wouldn't be strange for Gaara to be going to sleep.

Yes, Kankuro did the world a huge favor by making Temari the possessed one instead of Gaara. Temari was a lot more stable and reasonable, so it's likely she didn't have nearly as many enemies as Gaara did. After all, if Yashamaru was still alive, then that means she didn't have bad warpaths like he used to!

And, anyway, it was nice to have a little brother who uses the same techniques as he did.

"Kankuro, was that Gaara who just went upstairs?" came Yashamaru's voice from the other room.

"Yeah, he just got back from training." Kankuro called back.

"Have you heard anything from Temari?"

"Not since she left before."

"Okay."

Then Kankuro hung out for a longer time.

That's when there was a knock at the door. Kankuro was about to go and answer the door (because back where he came from, Gaara was above answering the door and Temari was the oldest so therefore Kankuro was the only one who ever answered the door) but Yashamaru intercepted his path and opened up the door. Surprisingly, Yashamaru was dressed in his full ninja garb as if he was going off to fight a battle.

Yashamaru told Kankuro to go back to what he was doing, but as Kankuro peeked through a window and saw a bunch of jounin ninjas standing there, he became awfully suspicious as to what was going on as he ducked behind a corner to where he could vaguely hear and see what was happening.

"Are you ready to go?" came a voice from outside.

"I am." Yashamaru said quietly as he stepped out the door and shut it behind him. As soon as he heard the door close, Kankuro popped out of his hiding spot and went back to the window as all the ninjas marched off. He couldn't help but wonder what sort of conspiracy was occurring, but there was not much he could do. He looked at the time and realized that it was FAR too late for him to be up and about (since he's only fourteen after all) especially if he was going to train with Gaara tomorrow.

He liked the way that sounded. Train with Gaara.

He ascended the stairs and went into his room, passing by Gaara's usually closed door, that was now open. He caught sight of a sleeping Gaara… which made him feel fuzzy inside. Oh Kankuro!

He dove into bed and hugged the potential presence of a teddy. He felt strangely comfortable with the work he had done that day, even though he really should be feeling sorry for Temari. But he certainly wasn't, as he drifted off to sleep.

And was quickly awakened by the sound of a window crashing open. Kankuro sat up in bed to see that Temari had just smashed through his window and was now standing in the middle of his room with her arms crossed and sand flying around her in an enraged fashion.

"Temari!" Kankuro exclaimed. "What are you—" he hesitated. "Why are you in my room?"

"Do you know what just happened?" she demanded.

"…No…" Kankuro said slowly.

"Yes you do!" Temari yelled as she advanced towards him. "Don't lie to me! You can't lie to me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Kankuro yelled back.

"I was out minding my own business when suddenly, I was attacked by a bunch of masked jounin ninjas." Temari explained, sounding almost reasonable. "I defeated them quite easily and, upon unmasking them, found that they were ninjas from our own village with orders to kill me. And you're telling me that you had nothing to do with this?"

"Of course not!" Kankuro assured her, even though he sort of wished that he HAD been.

"Don't LIE to me!" Temari screamed as her sand flooded the room and shattered more windows, breaking desks and cracking walls.

"I'm not lying!" Kankuro said frantically, but there was definitely sand creeping up around him. His doom was imminent.

"I told you not to lie!" Temari yelled when suddenly, everything went completely black.

Kankuro was lying down.

"Am I dead?" he said out loud.

He sat up in bed and looked around, quickly turning on the light to find that everything was in order.

"It was just a dream." Kankuro sighed with relief.

Now he needed a glass of water. As he made his way to the door, he stepped on something sharp that made him jump into the air. He looked at the bottom of his foot to see a small piece of glass sticking out of it. With a wince, he took the glass out and peered at the floor. He picked up some of the bigger pieces and couldn't immediately figure out what this shattered glass was, but after a moment of thinking, he realized that it was the Butterfly Crystal.

"That's too bad." Kankuro said as he started picking up the pieces and putting them in the trash. He knew he had to go and get a broom or a mini-vac or something because he definitely didn't want to step on any more pieces.

Since he had to go downstairs for water ANYWAY (and he needed a band-aid now too), he didn't think much of the trip. As he started filling up his water, he heard movement from the other side of the room.

He went over to investigate to see that Gaara was sitting in the chair staring at him.

"Gaara!" he said. "I thought you were sleeping!"

Gaara glared hard at him and clenched the armrests of the chair.

It took not but five seconds for a light bulb to go off in Kankuro's head that warned him there was danger.

"I mean…I thought… I was sleeping!" Kankuro said with a nervous laugh as he grabbed his water, his band-aid and his mini-vac and sprinted up the stairs as fast as he could. Had his whole wish been a dream?

"I saw that," came a voice from another room.

Kankuro looked up to see Temari peeking out of her room.

"What?" he said.

"I saw you running away from Gaara like a sissy." She giggled.

"Shut up!" Kankuro commanded as he slammed his door behind him.

Next chapter: Younger.