Lost and Found

By: Junsui Kegasu

A/N: Taaa DAA! Well, you know what? I just realized something. To me, EVEN TEN PAGES SEEMS SHORT FOR MY CHAPTERS! I must try to make them long…

Disclaimer: Doeshn't own it. n.n

Chapter Four
Kankurou awoke when his watch (yes, he has one) alarm went off at about 5:30 the next morning. Turning to face Gaara, he wished that the smaller boy could stay home.

Well, considering their father generally wasn't home, he probably could…

But it wouldn't be a good idea to take that chance. If his father did come home sometime in the day to find the boy asleep on Kankurou's bed, God knows what could happen to him. Kankurou didn't want to think about it.

As if remembering something, he reached over to the boy and felt around his body (Not like that…) to search for anything that could be broken. His wrist was awfully swollen, but Kankurou thought it was only a sprain.

When he got down to the ankle, his eyes widened. "Shit!"

Temari groaned when her alarm clock went off. Her and Kankurou had stayed up till very late tending to Gaara.

She really didn't mind that, but she knew that she was probably going to look like a wreck at school.

She frowned, suddenly. Speaking of, how was Gaara doing? She padded into her brothers room to find Kankurou with stiff bandages. Her heart fell. "Is something broken…?"

He paused in his work to look up at her. "Yes. His left ankle is broken really badly and I suspect that his right wrist is sprained."

Temari winced. Gaara was right handed, so that couldn't be good. "What are we going to do about the ankle? Will he be able to walk on it once you're done?"

Kankurou sighed. "I hope so. I'm beginning to get really concerned, Temari. That man is really getting worse."

"I know! And it's not fair that we aren't beaten, while he's 16 pounds underweight and tossed around like some rag doll! What's more is that we can't do anything, or he'll kill him!" cried the blond.

"Temari…" Kankurou thought of something comforting. "Temari, he won't die. He's stronger than that. But shh…we don't want to awaken the demon. He hasn't left for drinking yet."

"Speaking of, if he's not going to be home, shouldn't we just leave Gaara here?" she inquired. It seemed like a very good idea, to let the child sleep.

"I don't know. I don't know when he gets back from drinking. Even if it's just a little bit before we get home, I really don't want to chance what he could do to him knowing we're not around."

Temari nodded. "I'll go start breakfast and put together lunches. Do you need to shower?"

"No. Do you?"

"Yes, actually."

"I can put together meals."

"…Kankurou?"

"Yeah?"

"…You can't cook."

"…Shut up."

Temari giggled and left the room. It wasn't much, but it was a small bit of humor in their lives that she was very grateful for. Turning into the bathroom, she began her shower.

Gaara was forcefully pushed back into reality when he felt the demon beginning to grow impatient with his resting. The first thing he noticed was a sharp pain in his left ankle and a throb in his right wrist. He cracked his eyes open, then blinked. Kankurou was at the other end of his bed tending to his left ankle. He tried to call out to him, but it came out as a small groan.

Kankurou's head snapped up at the noise. It wasn't loud, but it was enough to signify his brother's consciousness.

"Gaara?" he whispered, abandoning his wrapping task.

Gaara just nodded. It was too much an effort to speak right now.

"Do you need something to drink? Like water?"

He hesitated, as if thinking, then nodded again.

"Okay, I'll be right back. Temari's cooking breakfast, so I'll bring some of that up for you too."

When he left him alone, Gaara wiggled his right wrist. It hurt, but he could still move it, so he was probably okay. As for the ankle that Kankurou had been bandaging, he could kind of move it, but that hurt a lot. He wasn't sure if he could stand on it.

Kid, it's broken. Don't even try. I'm trying as hard as I can to make it heal quickly, but don't expect an overnight thing.

'…What about school?'

Don't expect ME to know!

Shukaku decided to end their conversation there.

Temari stiffened when she heard footsteps approach the kitchen. Their father would certainly yell at her and take a lot of the food, and then she'd have to spend more time making more.

"Temari?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was just Kankurou. "Yeah?"

"Gaara's up. Do you have food ready that I can bring him? Something tells me he isn't going to be able to walk on that leg. Do we happen to own any crutches?"

"You know what? We might own the ones that you had when you broke your foot a while ago. Like…three years ago."

"Oh yeah. How did I do that again?"

"…You ran into a brick wall on your bike and thought that you could go through it."

"…Oh yeah. Do you think they'll fit him? I would've been…what, thirteen?"

"If anything, they'll be a little big. But I think there's a thing where you can adjust the size."

Kankurou nodded. "Those'll probably be in the attic if we brought them. I can't see why he would've packed them…"

"Well, I'm just going to be optimistic for a while and believe they're up there! Here," she handed him a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a corn muffin. "Take this to Gaara, then run up to the attic and check."

Kankurou nodded and went upstairs as quickly as he could with a plate of food. He was afraid that his father might go in there while he was gone.

Gaara blinked at the ceiling. Kankurou had a lot of cracks in his. They occupied him, as odd as that seemed. He had already memorized all the cracks on his ceiling, so they weren't any fun anymore.

He turned his head to the door. He could feel the power of the demon incarnate in him seeping into his left ankle, trying to heal it as quickly as possible.

He had always been a fast healer. It was one of the only perks to having the rabid raccoon in his head.

The redhead held his breath when he heard footsteps approaching his room. He hoped they were Kankurou's. They were too coordinated to be his father's, but one could never tell.

"Hey. Feeling any better? I brought you breakfast, and now I'm going up to the attic to see if we can't get you a crutch." The older boy said with a reassuring smile. Gaara could tell it was forced.

A light went on in his head (which was probably Shukaku) and he suddenly shook his head. Taking a sip of the water provided with his meal, he managed to rasp "Not necessary, I don't think. Shukaku's healing it." he pointed to his foot, then took another sip of water to try to clear his throat some more.

Kankurou blinked. "Oh. Well, I'm going to go one anyways. Just to take the pressure off it at least a little bit. I don't think that thing is talented enough to heal it enough to walk on for an entire day in less than 24 hours."

Gaara felt Shukaku go find a corner of his mind to pout at Kankurou's mistrust in his abilities. "Alright, I guess." He looked at the food and realized how hungry he was he hadn't managed anything to eat since lunch yesterday. He shakily picked up the pair of chopsticks with his right hand (which, Shukaku gloated, had managed to heal for him at least to be able to use it for a while) and began on the scrambled eggs.

Kankurou nodded and left, going as quietly as possible past his father's room to the stairwell that led up to the attic.

There wasn't really much up there, since they had just moved. He searched in one of the boxes labeled in Temari's writing 'Memories'. He rolled his eyes. The girl was too sentimental for her own good.

He ripped open the box. There was a lot of stuff in here. Each item even came with a card attached to it. Kankurou sighed. He wished Temari wasn't so sentimental. That's why she got hurt so easily at the predicament their family was now in.

Searching through, he found some interesting stuff, and sure enough, the crutches, labeled 'Kankurou's stupidity'. He sweat dropped. Suddenly curious, he placed the crutches next to him and searched through the box some more. He found a lot of old stuff, including a picture when they were little, a picture of his mother, and a picture of the entire family.

Kankurou smiled softly. He remembered when this had been taken. On that day. On that fateful day.

FLASHBACK

Five year old Kankurou laughed as his three year old brother tumbled down the slide. Temari was supposed to be watching the three year old Gaara, but she had obviously failed at stopping him from this wipe-out.

Over at the bench somewhere across the playground, his mother and father sat. His mother was giggling at the small crying redhead before going to help him. He probably wasn't hurt all that bad.

Their father continued to stay at the bench, where he had been for the entire time, smiling. A man with a camera approached him. "Kazekage-sama? I'm from the media. We're doing a report on how, even with hectic jobs such as yours, there is still a lot of family activity. Would you mind if I took a picture? You could keep a copy."

The man considered it for a while. The media could go after him, and continue doing so, or he could start denying some of the rumors about family neglection.

Back then, family was a big thing for him. He really cared about his family, so he chose to abide to the photographer's whims.

He walked over to the slide, where Gaara was now shrieking in laughter from a tickle-war with his mother, that he was quite obviously losing.

"We're going to get our pictures taken!" The redheaded man yelled cheerfully.

Kankurou went and stood by his father, while Temari stood by their mother, who held the still giggling Gaara in her arms. It seemed like the perfect moment; the perfect family.

After that, there seemed to be a gap almost in Kankurou's memory. All he remembered was that he was swinging. In his five year old mind, the world was perfect. Perhaps tilting, but still perfect.

Said perfect world was suddenly shattered by a piercing shriek. His head snapped towards the source: His mother.

"GAARA, GET AWAY FROM THE ROAD!" she was running towards the other side of the playground, where, sure enough, Gaara was wandering out into the street.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion after that. His mother dove into the center (where Gaara had managed to toddle) forcefully pushing the redhead out of the way of an oncoming car.

He remembered crying, he thought. He knew Temari cried. He knew his father sobbed.

Another gap in his memory brought him right to the hospital, where a doctor then told the family that while Gaara had sustained minor injuries from being shoved so violently, their mother had been killed instantly.

END FLASHBACK

Kankurou's face fell from it's sad smile. Things had changed after that. He blamed Gaara for the death of his wife, and hated him with a passion. That's when the abuse started. Kankurou wasn't even sure if his brother remembered the incident, much less why he was being hurt like this.

Sighing, he carefully placed the picture (which Temari had labeled 'Perfect Family – Last Remnants) back into the box, grabbed the crutches, and walked back out.

Temari looked into Kankurou's room. Gaara was still the only one in there. "He's still up there?" she asked the form on the bed.

Gaara looked up, then nodded. "I guess so."

"Do you…need help…changing?" she couldn't help but blush. While he was her brother, she couldn't help but have some modesty towards him.

Gaara's face was tinged with a pinkish color. "N-no. It's okay." He continued staring at the outside world. Kankurou would be down soon.

Sure enough, the older boy did walk in, crutches in hand. Alright, now, as soon as you get dressed, we'll adjust these to your height. You're going to need to borrow pants today, those are filthy.

Gaara scowled. "But your waist is so much bigger."

"Yeah, yeah. All waistbands are big on you!" (Random A/N: Sam: AND THEN SAM PLOPS OUT OF THE SKY…and randomly walks away. JK: …Go away, Sam.)

Gaara sighed. It was the truth. "Fine. He attempted to get himself out of the bed. After minor struggling, he managed to sit so that his feet were dangling off the side. "Go get the pants." He mumbled.

"Yeah, we're going to need to go shopping for you soon…I'll get you a shirt too." The brunette dug in his drawers and pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a plain red tee-shirt. "The jeans are kinda too tight on me, but I'll need to get you a belt anyways." He threw them over to the redhead, and then walked out so that his brother could have some privacy.

Gaara blinked at the clothing articles in his hands. …He was going to get these on…how? Oh well. Pulling the jeans up to his thighs, he leaned back and maneuvered it so that he could pull them up to his waist, then sat up and buttoned them. Pleased with himself, he pulled the shirt over his head and waited for Kankurou to come back with the belt.

'You know…' Kankurou thought to himself. 'I don't think he's gonna manage the pants on his own…' he grabbed the belt and walked inside his room.

He blinked at the sight of Gaara fully clothed, waiting for the black belt Kankurou had in his hand. "Here you go…" he said, unsure of his brother's talents.

Gaara looped the piece of black leather through and buckled it in the front (mind you, he had to poke another hole through the leather to have it fit around his waist)

Kankurou lifted him off the bed (which was shockingly easy) and gave him one crutch to hold his support. Quickly adjusting the size, he went and did the same with the other.

"There. That should keep you up for today. How is your wrist?"

Gaara shrugged, then flexed said wrist. It hurt a little, but since Shukaku had really concentrated on healing that and his ankle, it was okay. "It's fine."

"Good. Okay, let's get going." He handed the smaller boy his book bag, and they ventured down into the living room, where Temari was waiting.

"What took you so long in the attic?" she said, scowling at Kankurou.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just looking through some stuff."

The rest of the walk was made in silence.

A/N – TADA! I WIN! Yeah, I know it's short, and probably rushed, but you gotta work with me here! There's seriously no safe place to type. My dad would look over my shoulder, and I'm at my friend's house, and his dad ALMOST started reading it. (I seriously owe Sam my life .)

HAWPPI HAWPPI REVIEWS!

xxkureanixshixx - Ooo! Good guess, but no. That was a neat guess! If I hadn't already figured out why his father's a prick, I would've totally used that.

DreamAnimeKitten - Yah, yah. Ish sad. But, hey, we're all sadists at heart! Thanks for the review!

NNCS a.k.a. NaruNaruChi-San - I'm glad you luff it!

Chronic-fever - :sparkle eyes: I KNOW! NEJI SHOULD TAKE HIM AWAY:mental picture of Neji in suit of shining armor carrying Gaara in a sparkly pink dress thingie:

spork-ai - You can help the rest of the reviewers in slaughtering the kazekage. o.o

Dragon Man 180 - :snicker: I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh at your review. You sound so hopeless that it'll all turn out okay! Do not worry! I only do sad endings in poetry! ...Usually.

Hurricane-rider - I KNOW! ISH SO SAD:group glomp:

By the way, my dearest brother (who wants to kill me for canceling his download...) is very happy he gets to be in this chapter. (See Random A/N.)

FANKEHS PEOPLE! LEAVE MORE REVIEWS, THE STORY LUFFS IT!