Title; The Ticking Clock

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Gaara, Kankuro and Temari all sat in one room of their house while doing various activities.

Temari was painting purple dots on her fan.

Kankuro was sprucing up Karasu.

Gaara was sitting in a rocking chair that just so happened to be there, rocking back and forth and looking creepy. That's probably the reason for the rocking chair… so he can look creepy.

And there was a ticking clock.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Gaara cleared his throat, and both Temari and Kankuro jumped.

"Yes Gaara?" they said immediately, even though Gaara may very well have just been clearing his throat because of pesky phlegm.

But no. It's not PHLEGM that Gaara had, it was a request.

Granted, he may have had phlegm too… but that's beside the point. Knowing Gaara, he's probably all above that kind of stuff.

"Where is mine?" he asked.

"Your what?" Temari said boldly.

"My crystal." Gaara said.

"Your crystal?" Kankuro repeated.

"That's what I said." Said Gaara, getting agitated at the drop of a hat.

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other blankly.

"We got three, right?" Gaara said.

"Well yeah." Said Kankuro. "I used one, Temari used one and we lost the other one while were in Konoha."

"I didn't use one!" Temari protested.

"But she refuses to admit it." Kankuro added.

"If we got three, then that means one of them was for me." Said Gaara.

"But we lost one." Kankuro reminded him.

"Why was it MINE that got lost?" Gaara said, clutching the armrests of the rocking chair. Kankuro and Temari's mouths hung open as they stared at Gaara, ready to accept their completely unjustified pain.

Nothing happened.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Gaara was still waiting ever so impatiently for a response from his two elder siblings who were waiting for his wrath.

Finally, Temari looked at Kankuro and nodded for him to continue with the explanation.

"It just worked out that way." Kankuro said tentatively.

"I want one." Gaara decided.

"We'd have to go all the way back to Konoha to get one for you." Temari said.

"Then we'll have to do that." Gaara said, glaring evilly.

Temari sighed and looked like she was about to start packing for the long trip. Kankuro looked at her and then back at Gaara who was waiting for him to start packing too.

"Uh…I have an idea!" said Kankuro, standing up. "How about instead of traveling all the way there, you just tell us what your wish is and we'll try our best to make it come true!"

"It's nothing you two can do." Said Gaara as he stood up.

"Try us!" offered Temari since she didn't really want to go all the way back to Konoha either.

"Fine." Said Gaara, crossing his arms. "I would wish for some friends."

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other uneasily.

"We can do THAT!" said Kankuro finally as he started laughing. Temari gaped and was just about to yell, 'NO WE CAN'T!' but she held it back at the last second. "Hey, isn't the carnival in town? Let's take Gaara there so he can make friends!"

"I can't just go to a carnival and make friends." Said Gaara. "The only way I could possibly ever get friends is through magic."

"Don't be silly, Gaara!" said Kankuro. "Have you ever tried going to a carnival to make friends before?"

Gaara paused. Only the sound of the ticking clock was heard.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

"Well…no…" he admitted.

"So let's at least try it!" said Kankuro. "And if it doesn't work, we'll go to Konoha and get you a crystal. Deal?"

"Fine." Said Gaara.

With that, the three siblings traveled down to the carnival that just so happened to be in town.

In fact, this particular carnival comes to town once a year for about a week and it's one of those events that everyone attends for at least one of the days it's prevalent. Then, when the week is over, the carnival packs up and goes on to the next village.

So, actually, this carnival eventually gets to every village and just makes its rounds and, by the time it comes back to the Sand Village, a year will have passed. It had all kinds of rides and every year, they would accumulate new ones or make the old ones better! Whether they become scarier or better built or maybe the food tastes better, things only improve!

Who would have ever thought that a simple carnival could remain so clean and wonderful all the time? But we can only imagine what it looked like when it first started, BEFORE it gained all the support it has today as the carnival that travels to every village to bring a rare bit of entertainment to ninjas and non-ninjas alike!

But it's not like that's significant or anything so we'll move on!

"See, Gaara?" said Kankuro as the three of them stood in line to pay their entrance fees. "There are tons of kids here your age! You'll have no trouble at all making friends!"

Kankuro looked at Temari helplessly over Gaara's head.

"That is doubtful." Said Gaara as he crossed his arms and took a step forward, for it was their turn.

"Welcome!" said the pleasant woman behind the counter.

"Three please!" said Temari.

"Certainly!" said the woman as she handed them some tickets and held out her hand to accept currency.

As Kankuro fished through his pockets for money, the woman opened her horseshoe eyes and got a look of the group that she was currently trying to take money from.

Even though Gaara wasn't interested in her OR even looking at her, she was seriously intimidated and freaked out so she slammed the window shut and put up her 'closed' sign.

Kankuro pulled the money out only to be faced with the wooden shades.

"How strange!" said Kankuro with a shrug.

"Yeah." Said Temari sarcastically. She held up the tickets. "At least we got these."

"I get the feeling that this isn't a good idea." Said Gaara as they started walking into the carnival area.

"Don't be silly, Gaara!" said Kankuro. "You'll make lots of friends! You just have to know where to look!"

Yet, as Kankuro led Gaara around the carnival with Temari trailing closely behind, people only seemed to run away from them as fast as they could. It wasn't out of the ordinary for them, but the more reactions like that one they got, the more worried Kankuro and Temari became.

Surprisingly enough, Gaara appeared apathetic, but he usually is unless he's on a murderous rampage.

However, his siblings knew that deep down in his heart, he was hurt by their failing attempts to get him to make some friends. Or at least find him ONE friend, anyway.

Gaara was feeling a bit sad. But only a little bit. He watched kids run away from him and ride attendants stare at him, jeopardizing the people on the rides by not paying attention to them.

Kankuro bit his fingernails and thought frantically for what could be done to remedy this impossible situation.

Temari was looking for the best escape route and hiding spot for when Gaara lost his temper.

"Fried dough, Gaara?" said Kankuro as he gestured at the line that led to exactly what he had stated Gaara should get.

"How would that get me some friends?" Gaara said bitterly.

"Uh…" Kankuro said. "You never know!"

"No." said Gaara.

"Fine…" said Kankuro. "How about you go on the teacups?"

"How would that make me some friends?" Gaara repeated.

"Well…" Kankuro stuttered.

"No." Gaara decided.

"Gaara, with this attitude, of COURSE you won't make any friends!" Temari said, but she quickly shut her mouth when she received the evilest glare she had ever received. And, living with Gaara day in and day out, that's gotta be saying something.

"Well, I'm fresh out of ideas." Sighed Kankuro.

Temari was trying to think of movies that had a carnivals took place in. What were the cliché ways the hero and the heroine met?

Hm…that Ferris wheel…

Ferris wheel…

The Full-Of-Opportunity Wheel…

Kankuro looked at the perplexed and contemplating look on Temari's face and then followed her eyes to see she was looking at the Ferris wheel with great intrigue.

Then an idea hit him.

"I've got the perfect idea!" Kankuro said as a light bulb appeared above his head and he barely suppressed the urge to jump up and punch the air like the Power Ranger he so obviously wants to be. "It works every time!"

Temari and Gaara knew that if Kankuro was so excited that he almost jumped like a Power Ranger, his idea had to be a good one. Yes, they know when Kankuro gets that look when he just barely keeps himself from jumping like a Power Ranger.

It's a pretty recognizable look.

So they all went over to the Ferris wheel and started waiting in line, when it suddenly occurred to Temari that she didn't know what Kankuro's idea was. What could possibly happen on the Ferris wheel when the three of them were confined to a gondola?

Besides maybe the obvious of course… Gaara losing his temper and killing them both…

This wasn't really a situation Temari wanted to be in unless she knew the details and could assure herself success in the mission of getting Gaara some friends.

"May I ask what your idea is?" Temari said to Kankuro who looked so excited that he might have just wet himself.

"Well," Kankuro said. "Whenever someone boards the Ferris wheel alone, the man running it is supposed to yell 'lonely rider' and then someone comes and sits next to him! And, naturally, BAM!" Kankuro slammed his fist into his palm. "Instantaneous friendship."

Gaara glared at Kankuro out of the corner of his eye.

Temari nodded. That wasn't a bad idea… for Kankuro. At least she didn't have to be in an isolated gondola with Gaara.

When it was their turn, Temari and Kankuro got in the seat and started riding. Gaara sat down in a seat by himself and waited for the man to yell, 'Lonely rider!'

But he did no such thing.

He just pressed the button and continued loading people into the next gondola.

This, like many other things, infuriated Gaara.

Surely his sister and brother didn't know what they were talking about or what they were doing. After all, it's not like he had ever seen either of them with friends so perhaps they just didn't know how to go about getting him some.

Now he knew this certain fact for sure; the only way to get any friends was to use magic.

He hopped off the Ferris wheel. He was not afraid of breaking every bone in his body upon impact because he had his sand to protect him and it did just that. Of course, in protecting him, it helped remind everyone who could see the event that Gaara was not someone they wanted to be around so they all sprinted away while screaming, "DEMON! BEAST! SAVE US!" and various other things that any intelligent person would avoid saying until they are out of earshot of the one who will potentially kill them.

Gaara was used to it and didn't realize that it offended him until they were all gone.

So he wandered around aimlessly for a while and got lost in the crowd. He was going to have to go back to Konoha and visit…

Chokai's Spiritual Stand?

He noted the presence of a familiar cart.

But that couldn't possibly be right. After all, that cart was in Konoha just yesterday and there's no way it could have traveled all the way here to this carnival in such a short period of time.

He wasn't going to gather any more information by just standing there like an idiot, so he went over to investigate.

"Step right up!" said the man behind the counter as he coaxed Gaara to come closer so he could see the products better. "Step right up!"

"Are you Chokai?" Gaara asked.

"Me?" said the man, looking astonished that such a mistake could be made. "No."

Gaara looked at the sign that read 'Chokai's Spiritual Stand' and then pointed at it.

The old man leaned over and looked at the sign. Then he moved a cheap stuffed animal to the side and revealed that said 'Fachokai's Spiritual Stand'.

Gaara stared at it.

"Oh." He said. "Fachokai's Spiritual Stand."

"Yeah…" said the man who as clearly Fachokai. "Take a look around!"

"No." said Gaara as he turned around and started walking away.

"—Chokai is my brother—"

Gaara stopped in his tracks.

"And I carry some of his products on occasion…"

This caused Gaara to turn around.

"Curious?" Fachokai said.

"Maybe." Said Gaara.

"Feel like buying anything?" Fachokai tried.

"It depends on if you have anything of your brother's that is worth buying." Gaara said, meandering back over to the cart.

"Well…" said Fachokai as he pulled a small box out from under the counter and placed it on the counter. "I take it you are a big fan of the Butterfly Crystal."

Gaara's eye twitched.

"Hm…yes…" said Fachokai, taking careful note of this. "Well, in that case, I'll sell it to you. But it is my only one! It was given to me as a gift from my brother and if you are willing to pay a substantial amount, then it is yours!"

"What is a substantial amount in your terms?" Gaara said.

"Well…how much do you have?" Fachokai said sneakily.

"How about this?" Gaara suggested as he leaned over and grabbed the old man's collar, as a wave of sand piled up behind him threateningly. "You give it to me and I'll let you live."

Fachokai's eyes widened so he flailed around helplessly and called for help. When no one rushed to his aid, fearing Gaara's wrath, Fachokai eventually gave in and surrendered the crystal.

"Seems like a fair trade…" Fachokai said, clearing his throat and straightening his collar.

Gaara took the crystal and left without another word, leaving Fachokai to grumble and complain to anyone who would listen.

Now was the moment of truth. A wish on this seemingly innocent looking trinket would grant Gaara everything he had ever wanted. Well, not everything he had ever wanted, but at least one of the things he ever wanted.

"Gaara!" he heard behind him. He clenched his teeth and turned around to see Temari and Kankuro running towards him, looking out of breath.

"Why did you run off?" Temari asked.

"Sorry about the Ferris wheel thing!" said Kankuro. "I promise I'll think up a better idea!"

Gaara gave a heavy sigh and then held up his recently acquired Butterfly Crystal.

Temari and Kankuro oohed and ahhed at its beauty.

"But Gaara…" Temari said slowly. "How did you get this?"

Gaara pointed at Fachokai's Spiritual Stand that was in the distance and out of hearing range.

"Ooohhh." Said Temari and Kankuro with a nod.

"So now you can do it for sure!" said Kankuro with a shrug. "I hope you like your wish."

Gaara glared at Kankuro as if the thought of him liking something was completely out of the question.

Which it kinda was.

The three of them stood there foolishly for a little while as Gaara stood there holding his crystal.

"Um…" said Kankuro, scratching the back of his head. "Are you…gonna make a wish?"

"Not with you two standing right there." Said Gaara in that, 'I'm your little brother and I want to be rebellious and demand my privacy just like you always do when I want to hang out with you!' tone.

"Oh right!" said Temari as the two of them backed up and darted behind a stand where you could throw a baseball at a stack of glass bottles.

They peeked their heads around the corner like a totem pole and watched Gaara.

"He's not making his wish…" Kankuro whispered to Temari.

"Do you think he knows we're here?" Temari whispered back.

Temari got her answer because Gaara spun around and glowered right at them to show them who's boss.

"EEK!" shrieked Temari and Kankuro as they dove behind the stand and hid under whatever they could find that would potentially protect them. When they did not taste the Fury of Gaara, they found it safe to crawl out and into the light of day… and also to see if Gaara had made his wish.

"I'm afraid to look…" Kankuro said.

"Me too." Said Temari. "Let's give him a minute."

"He's had long enough!" said Kankuro.

"Then look!" said Temari.

"No way!" said Kankuro. "YOU look!"

"You're the one who's so eager to look prematurely before he's ready!"

"That was YOU!"

"When he's ready, he'll call us."

Kankuro gave Temari this LOOK. This LOOK that said, "No."

"Okay." Said Temari. "On the count of three. One…two…three!"

The two of them poked their heads around the corner to see Gaara still standing in the same spot he had been standing in before. He looked at them, but didn't stare them down like last time.

For some reason, that made Temari and Kankuro stand up, brush off their bums and then walk over to Gaara.

"Well?" Kankuro said. "Did you make your wish?"

"Yes…" Gaara said slowly.

"And?" Temari said, a little excited. Even though it wasn't her wish or her crystal, she would like Gaara to have friends. Maybe he'd be a little less psychopathic then.

Gaara frowned quite the intense frown. "I made the wish." He said. "And I'm waiting for my new friends to come running."

Kankuro and Temari looked at each other and then back at Gaara.

"Maybe…they're not…here?" Kankuro said haltingly.

"Of course they're not here." Said Gaara. "I can see that."

"I mean… at the carnival." Kankuro said.

"Why wouldn't they be here?" Gaara said. "They're my friends. They should be wherever I am… hanging out with me and being my friends."

"Maybe…they're sick!" Temari tried.

"All of them?" Gaara said.

"Just how many friends did you wish for?" Kankuro asked.

"Just friends." Gaara said. "Any number is more than I have now."

The three stood there foolishly once again.

"Um…" Temari said stupidly.

"I want you two to answer a question." Gaara said.

"Yes?" they both said eagerly, willing to do whatever Gaara said as long as he didn't kill them.

"Did you make up this whole thing?" Gaara said.

"What whole thing?" Kankuro asked.

"The Butterfly Crystal being able to grant wishes." Gaara clarified. "After all, you were very adamant about not returning to Konoha to buy another crystal. Was it because you didn't want me to find out that you had made the entire thing up for whatever reason you have?"

"Of course not!" said Kankuro. "Temari made a wish too, right Temari?"

"I did NOT!" said Temari.

"She did, even though she's denying it." Kankuro assured Gaara. "And I already told you about MY wish!"

"I didn't!" Temari protested.

"Whatever." Said Gaara as he tossed the crystal to Kankuro.

Kankuro fumbled with it for a second and then almost dropped it.

Gaara walked away, and the two older siblings watched him go, the crowd parting in fear as he went.

Then they looked at each other.

"I wonder why it didn't work." Said Kankuro.

"Do you think he even made the wish?" Temari said.

"Why wouldn't he?" Kankuro retorted.

"Well, he did want us to go away…" Temari tried to reason.

"Let's ask that guy." Said Kankuro as they went back over to Fachokai's Spiritual Stand.

"Good day!" said Fachokai. "I saw you talking to, then hiding from, and then talking to that nastily rude young man again! I'm so glad you're returning my product to me!"

"Did you sell this to Gaara?" Temari asked as Kankuro put the crystal on the table.

"No." said Fachokai as he put his precious item in his little box. "He threatened to kill me unless I gave it to him."

"That sounds like Gaara." Said Kankuro with a shrug. "Maybe his wish didn't work because he didn't pay for it."

"We didn't pay for ours." Temari pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Said Kankuro.

"Oh!" said Fachokai. "I take it you lovely young people bought a product from my brother."

"He sent us free samples." Kankuro said.

"The Butterfly Crystal, I presume?" Fachokai said.

"Well duh." Said Kankuro.

"How come this one didn't work for our brother?" Temari asked, just wanting to get to the bottom of the problem instead of lingering with this weird old guy who had a family member that tricked her into becoming related to Shikamaru, which, I'll have you know, scarred her for life. Even though it was only for a little while, it was still traumatizing.

"Your brother is the rude one, I take it?" said Fachokai, and the other two nodded and rolled their eyes. "Well, you can't make TWO wishes on ONE Butterfly Crystal."

Kankuro and Temari waited for him to continue, but when he didn't, they decided it was time to make incorrect inferences and be confused.

"Gaara made two wishes?" said Kankuro.

"No." said Fachokai as if he response was clear and concise and Kankuro and Temari were idiots for not understanding. "This Butterfly Crystal has already been used. I've made a wish on it!"

"Ooohh…" said Kankuro and Temari.

"Wait a second…" said Kankuro. "You gave Gaara a USED crystal?"

"Yes." Said Fachokai. "Silly, aren't I?"

"Doesn't that seem wrong to you?" said Temari.

"He never said that he wanted to make a wish." Said Fachokai defensively. "For all I knew, he didn't know about the wishing and just wanted it to decorate his lovely home."

Kankuro and Temari slapped their foreheads.

"Do you have any more?" Kankuro asked.

"Nope." Said Fachokai. "Chokai refuses to teach me how to make my products magical and he won't give me anymore…"

The two gave heavy sighs and were just about to walk away when Temari grabbed Kankuro's arm and pulled him back over.

"Out of curiosity, what did you wish for?" said Temari to Fachokai.

"I wished I had never become involved in the circus." Fachokai replied.

They stared at him.

He noticed this.

"But then I decided, after I had made my wish, that I really DID want to be in the circus so I ended up joining it anyway!" Fachokai laughed. "That's why I'm selling these things and I'll eventually get promoted up to the point that I can work the rides! When I made the wish, I was the Ferris wheel operator and I can't wait to become that again."

"Why don't you just smash the crystal to make it all undone?" Kankuro said.

"What?" said Fachokai. "What do you mean?"

"By smashing the crystal, it reverses the effect of the wish." Kankuro answered.

"It does!" gasped Fachokai. "Chokai told me that if the crystal ever broke then I would disrupt the space time continuum and the entire universe would get sucked into a black hole that I created and we'd all die!"

"He lied to you." Said Temari plainly.

"How enraging!" said Fachokai angrily. "That is so like Chokai, too! He's never been very good about telling the truth!"

Kankuro and Temari backed away from Fachokai as he started foaming at the mouth.

They ran all the way home and opened the door, once again peeking around the corner like a totem pole.

"Gaara?" they called as they crept into the house. Funny, they had to creep around the house as if they were criminals looking to steal something when it was their own home…

Finally, the found Gaara in the room everything had started in. In that room where Gaara had first raised the question, "Where's mine?"

The room with the ticking clock.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

"Gaara?" said Kankuro.

"What?" said Gaara, looking angrily at Kankuro.

"About the Butterfly Crystals…" he started.

"I don't want to hear anymore about those things." Gaara said.

"But—" started Kankuro.

"No more." Gaara said in THE most final tone ever.

Kankuro looked at Temari who shrugged with a hopeless expression.

"Gaara, please…"

"I SAID, I didn't want to hear anymore about them!" Gaara said, standing up and calling forth the sand to do his bidding. "It was stupid to think I could change anything!"

Kankuro and Temari jumped away and backed off.

Leaving Gaara alone with the ticking clock.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.