Lost and Found
By: Junsui Kegasu
A/N: WHOO! Tenth chapter! Yes, this is a big thing for me. Continuing onward!
Disclaimer: Don't own it, but if I did, it wouldn't be going on Toonami.
Chapter Ten
The next morning, when Temari woke up from school, Kankurou was already downstairs on the couch with the television on.
"Why are you up so early?" she asked him, glancing at the digital clock of their cable box. "It's only 5:30."
He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Dead tired though." To prove his point, he yawned, stretching out his arms.
"Then go back to bed!"
"No friggen' way. If I go to bed, I won't be awake before noon, and I need to be awake before he comes home."
"…You know, there's this thing called an ALARM CLOCK." She said. "I hate how you do this! Declining your health without telling me why!" She folded her arms across her chest and switched her balance to her right foot.
"I told you! I can't sleep!" he cried, trying to be quiet.
"WHY can't you sleep, then?" Tapping her left foot impatiently, she fidgeted again, placing her hands on her hips.
"Because I can't! Why the hell are you so pissy this morning?"
"Because you should be asleep. Or at least RESTING. Kankurou, you're sixteen! You should know how bad staying up all night watching T.V. is for your health! Were you worried Dad would come home early?" She ranted. Kankurou tuned most of this out, save her last question.
"Kind of, I don't know. I just couldn't sleep! God, why can't you just deal with that?"
"I don't want you getting SICK!"
"I'M FINE."
Although most of this was whispered, the two heads still turned when they heard the almost nonexistent squeak of the top stair under Gaara's weight.
"What's going on..?" he said, looking at them both in confusion.
"Kankurou's being stupid and not resting." Temari answered before her brother could.
Kankurou gave a frustrated sigh. "I know why she's mad at me."
"If you say it's because I'm PMSing, I'll kill you." She said dangerously.
"No." He said simply. "You're still mad because of last night."
Gaara was confused. Why were his siblings arguing? What happened last night? Why had Kankurou pulled an all-nighter? The questions plagued him until he shrugged and went into the kitchen to grab something to eat.
"…Why are we fighting?" Temari asked, rubbing her temples. "I mean…yeah…why?"
Kankurou let out a deep sigh. "I think we're all just screwed up right now."
"Perhaps." She glanced at the cable box again. "5:45…Do you two want breakfast?" she asked him, her hair a bit mussed now.
"Wow, I still get breakfast? Either way, I think Gaara already found something." He said, half jokingly.
"Yes, you do. I really don't wanna leave without seeing that you two have at least eaten breakfast."
Kankurou sighed again, noting that he had been doing that a lot lately. Temari really looked stressed out. "You know…you're the one that needs the sleep. Relax, you don't leave until seven thirty. If you want to go back to bed, I'll wake you up or something."
She looked up, surprised. "Y-you really care?"
Kankurou turned away, scoffing and putting up his bad-ass façade. "No. I just want my meal, and it'll suck if you're tired." He said quickly, avoiding her eyes.
She smiled. Kankurou had always been like that. He cared, he was just always afraid to show it. That was their father's fault. He always hurt people close to them.
Well, he really didn't hurt anyone other than Gaara and occasionally them, but still. It was enough to make the younger teen almost completely cut himself off from kindness and compassion. And when he did show it, he often tried to deny the whole thing.
Blushing, although Temari couldn't really tell in the bad lighting, he turned back to her, scowl still on his face. "So…go get some rest. I ain't dealing with pissy crab-ass Temari later." This said, he turned back to the television and continued watching 'Boy Meets World' (I know it's not on that late. …At least I don't think so. I DON'T KNOW! I don't even watch it! My friend had me see an episode and it gave me an idea!)
Grinning from ear to ear for no reason, Temari almost skipped upstairs back into her bedroom. As she passed the kitchen, Gaara gave her a look, then continued munching on the toast he'd found.
'…What did Kankurou DO to her?'
Kankurou stared at the television screen, slack-jawed in utter awe. On the screen, a boy was telling a girl that she needed to call the police and report her father for abuse. The girl was standing there, holding her left arm, where there was quite obviously a bruise, protesting that she was fine and that it'd all work out. The boy kept pushing, but gave up soon after.
'Heh…that's why we never asked Gaara when we went to the police. He would've refused us going, and we can hardly refuse him when he gets that upset.'
The scene changed to the next night, and there was the boy again, except this time, the girl had a nasty looking black eye. The boy was knocking on a door, and someone else (another male) opened it. The boy told his friend that the girl needed to get out of where she was. Completely fallen for the girl, his friend tried to defend her by both avoiding the subject and saying it wasn't what she wanted.
Kankurou was hardly paying attention; he was way too awed by that coincidence of him watching this. Before he knew it, the scene had changed again, and the three teenagers were going back to the house where the first boy lived. They were saying something coming inside, and the parents came out from hiding.
Kankurou snorted. Now THAT was cheesy. The parents explained that she needed to call the police right away, or it wasn't ever going to get better. In the end, they called the police, and the girl got to live with her aunt in Indiana.
The brunette scowled. It never actually turned out that way. It never had, and it never would. Unless you were ultimately lucky. That was a rarity. His attention snapped back to the screen as an announcers voice came on, telling people to call a number to report child abuse. The man continued, saying that they would listen and they would get help, no matter how ridiculous it seemed.
His fingers itched for the phone. He shoved them in his jean pockets instead. He wasn't going to be that naïve or hopeful. Nothing ever worked out that way for them.
Feeling sickened by the show's incorrectness (as far as he was concerned), he turned the television off and joined his brother in the kitchen. The two brothers sat in silence for a little while in the dim to dark lighting of the kitchen. Surprisingly, Gaara was the one to break the silence.
"…What was Temari mad at you about?"
Kankurou bit his lip. He couldn't tell him. But he shouldn't keep things from him, either…
"Nothing." He said, after a mental war with himself.
"Oh."
More silence. Both were comfortable with it, and often preferred it to the screaming the usually infiltrated anyone's ears in any place of the house.
"Anything you want to do today?" Kankurou asked, trying to see if he could get them out of the house.
"…I'm afraid to…" the smaller boy admitted. "I d-don't want him to come home…a-and get mad…" he whispered, turning his gaze downwards.
Kankurou sighed. He didn't want to take Gaara anywhere if he was going to be that skittish. It wouldn't do good for him to be in crowds when he got like this. His claustrophobia intensified.
"Well…yeah, that's true…I was kind of hoping we wouldn't have to be around the house today…but whatever. It'll be fine." He tried to reassure Gaara, who really looked scared and nervous, but he couldn't assure him falsely.
Noting that the smaller boy hadn't calmed down, he sighed, looking for something to say. "I…" He trailed off. Never had he been the one to be strong with his words, but if it calmed Gaara down, he could try. He searched again.
"I…I won't let him hurt you." He said after a while, looking down into his lap. Gaara's head snapped up.
"R-really?" he whispered, appalled.
"Yeah. Duh! What are brothers for?" He managed a weak smile, trying to look reassuring.
It worked, and Gaara looked a little less tense.
"Are you sure there's nothing you'd like to do?"
"Yeah, I'm fine for today."
It was then Temari walked back down the stairs, hair fluffy from her nap. "Does my hair look okay?" She asked, turning to Kankurou.
Kankurou grinned when she turned to show him. Glancing off to the side deliberately, he tried not to crack up. "Nope." He said, knowing how much it annoyed her.
"UGH! WHY DO I ASK YOU? You didn't even LOOK!" she fumed, jutting her hip out and placing her hand on it impatiently.
Gaara stifled giggles. Laughing in the house was considered a ''stake', so he didn't want it to ring to each corner.
"No, seriously, it's sticking out 'n stuff. Jeebus, just wear it down!" Kankurou said, half seriously.
"…No." She said firmly.
"WHY NOT?"
"That's like, TABOO!" she screeched.
"I'll pay ya!"
"SURE YOU WILL!" She said, half joking.
"…True, I won't. But seriously. Do it for your loving brother?"
"Loving my ass…" she mumbled, but glancing at the time, pulled out each of the four pigtails, sending golden locks cascading to a few inches past her shoulders.
If Temari hadn't been his sister, Kankurou's jaw would've dropped to the floor. With her hair down and framing her face, any guy would die for her.
"What are you staring at? Is it still sticking out?" She asked, running her hands through it.
"No. But I see why you keep it up. Whatever. Go to school."
"Fine. Be that way." She joked, grabbing her book bag and walking out the front door, with a 'good bye' of "Be careful!"
Kankurou closed the door, sighing. Today was going to be long.
Temari trudged her way over to the high school. She really didn't like to leave them home on a Thursday. When their father came home, he tended to be violent, and drunk.
Maybe they could get away or something if he was drunk, though. No, Gaara hated doing that. She bit her lip. Each possibility led to a dead end.
She almost sighed. It's not like it would've happen anyways, but she still wished she could try to prevent it. After all, she was the eldest. And yet, Kankurou took a lot of the responsibility.
But, who said responsibility had anything to do with age? Their father was an example of that. Forty years old and not knowing how to react to the death of his wife, supposedly caused by his three year old.
She looked up, getting to the school grounds. As she was walking towards the doors, as to have an easier chance at her locker when the rush all burst into the doors at once, she noticed the boys staring at her.
At first, she couldn't remember why. Then, bringing a hand up to check her ponytails, she remembered that they weren't there.
'I really went to school with my hair down? This is…not going to be good.'
Flustered, she made her way to the doors. A few of her friends approached her, awed smiles plastered onto their faces.
"Temari! Your hair is SO pretty down!" Gushed one. A few others agreed, and Temari said nothing, but blushed a lot.
She was thankful when the bell to go in rang, and made her way to her locker as quickly as possible, yanking her stuff from it and half running to her first hour class.
…Completely forgetting the fact that Kisame had an infatuation with her.
"Hello TemaRIIIII!" he gawked, milky-blue (more with a whitish hue) eyes wide as saucers. "H-holy fizzle, girl…you look awesome!"
Her face as red as Gaara's hair, she made her way to her seat. Kisame followed, gushing about how pretty she looked with her hair down. Because Kisame was loud, this attracted a lot of the other boys to come over and 'inspect her head'. (As my dear friend would call it. It's never 'What did you do to your hair? It looks nice!'. It's 'What did you do to your head? It looks funny!'.)
"Alright class, settle down!" Kurenai called, before the late bell rang. Kisame settled down next to her, flashing a toothy grin. Temari wanted to crawl into a hole and die. She hardly made it through first hour, and she was glad Kisame wasn't in her second.
"Temari, would you please come up and demonstrate how to do the problem on the board?" Kurenai asked near the end of class. Kurenai was much a procrastinator, and even though there was quite literally a minute left in the class, she was still going strong. Temari had already packed up her stuff to be ready for the bell.
Sighing, she walked up to the bored and picked up the white piece of chalk. Her senses picked up 26 other pairs of eyes staring at her. Flushing a deep red, she almost couldn't finish the problem. Luckily, she managed to find the answer (5.643 x h to the fourth power Stupid computer…can't figure out how to do exponents…) just as the bell rang, and dropping the chalk back to the tray, she scooped up her stuff and left.
Even though it was only her third day being at this school, she understood how overcrowded it was and how much she needed to hurry to get to her next class on time with everyone switching at once. Because of how messed up the authorities were at the school, her classes were scattered everywhere, and her second hour happened to be all the way across the building.
Managing it through the door, she noted that while they only had three minutes to switch, and two and half of them were already gone, she was the first one in the class.
Another class. Another set of stares. Another mental note to kill Kankurou if he was in okay shape when she got home.
That last thought sent a pang of guilt through her. Kankurou really was only trying to help, she thought. And chances are, their father would still be mad at him and Gaara. Perhaps even more so than he was before.
After all, Gaara had fended him off. Twice. She hoped he'd be able to do it again if he got brutal.
Gaara was officially freaked out now, Kankurou noted. Hell, so was he, but he wasn't letting it show. The clock read 11:55, and Gaara had started shaking.
Although he couldn't remember just what happened when his father wasn't home on those Wednesdays, he definitely remembered what happened when he came back, always drunk.
Even though you're supposed to be less coordinated when you're drunk, that man still managed to do the most damage then. If it was out of pure strength and guess of aim alone, none of them knew. He was probably still angry with them. And it was only he and Gaara home now.
At 11:59, the door opened. Gaara's shaking increased, and Kankurou wondered if you could have a seizure from shaking that hard. He listened closely, noting the footsteps were very uncoordinated sounding. If they were lucky, he'd go to bed.
Did we mention that Kankurou wasn't very lucky?
As soon as the thought made it's way into his head, the drunk man stormed into the room, tripping over multiple objects that Kankurou had laid there purposefully, just for the sake of getting some satisfaction of watching him fall and knowing he was too drunk to notice.
"Wha' th' hell you doin' hurr?" he managed to slur. "Should'n' ya be a' schoo'?" As if remembering something, an angered look crossed his (for once) relaxed features. "Oh yah. I f'rgot! Ya f'ckers d'cided tha' schoo' ain' good 'nuff for yas!" In his anger, he grabbed something off a nearby table, Kankurou's CD player, and chucked it in Gaara and Kankurou's general direction.
Kankurou ducked his head, but kept his hand outstretched and caught it. It stung his hand where it had impacted; the drunk in front of them had thrown it hard. He was glad it hadn't hit him or Gaara.
Walking over to Gaara while Kankurou was busy with this, the man lifted him by the shirt up off the couch, dragging him across the floor and into the wall. Kankurou sat still, wishing he could do something, but knowing it'd make it worse later.
He turned away when his father started shouting things at the boy while kicking him repeatedly in the side. He heard a cough and a few other wet sounding noises, and he knew Gaara had thrown up. 'Wonderful…' he thought. 'More emotional abuse, and once more, nothing in his stomach…'
He knew he should be used to it.
He knew he couldn't do anything to stop it.
But that didn't mean he would ever shrug it off as 'everyday life'.
Temari breathed a sigh of relief. She was in the locker room, tying her shoes. The day was almost done. Never had she been so grateful to get home, but people staring was really beginning to freak her out. Finishing up, she grabbed her stuff and stalked out the door just before the bell rang. Some teachers considered even that cutting class, but she didn't really care. The halls got even worse at the end of the day.
Quickly swerving around rowdy groups, she made it to her locker in about a minute. She grabbed her book bag and sprinted to the main doors, bus card in hand.
Speaking of the bus card, she scowled. The administrative system made it a new rule that all students, unless they literally lived across the street, were to take the bus with the jr. high school. That bothered her. It actually took longer to ride home on the bus than it did walking, but the administrative system would be the administrative system.
A glance around told her the busses weren't here yet, so she decided to walk and think.
Now, to do this, you must know how to double task. Especially if you're a deep thinker. Usually, avoiding people means keeping your gaze strait ahead. It generally worked, unless you were crossing a street, which then you would have to stop your thinking path altogether, unless you were an expert at it.
Temari was an expert at walking and thinking. She generally looked forward, and her heightened sixth sense picked up things from either side. That was the only thing she could thank her father for. He had put her and her two younger siblings in such a fear that all three had remarkable intuition. Only Gaara had the severe flinching problem, but it was understandable.
But, of course, looking forward did not mean looking down. But what rightful human in a high school would be that much shorter than Temari? Temari herself was a bit on the short side, standing at about 5'5", which compared to Kankurou's nearly 6' was short, but compared to Gaara's just past 5', was tall. It was confusing, but in short, no one was short enough that she would bump into them or step on them or something.
Unless they were laying down against a tree like some lazy idiot.
"OY! OW!" came a scream from below her. Temari jumped, then glanced down, a bit annoyed at having her thought fest disrupted.
Someone was laying against the tree, looking thoroughly pissed off now, glaring daggers at the senior. "Get the hell off my leg!"
She did so, without saying a word.
"Damn girls…so troublesome…" he mumbled, settling against the tree again.
Temari was a bit on the outgoing side. Just a little bit, but this irked her enough to do something.
"GIRLS are troublesome? Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure it's you bastards that have obsessions with impregnating us!" she screeched.
The brunette on the ground opened one eye, annoyed. "Not all guys are like that, you know." He said.
It was then that Nara Shikamaru (for those of you who didn't know that was him…uhm…I was still stupider when it took me five minutes to figure out Kankurou's secret…AFTER reading the sixteenth chapter of Vindicated.) got a good look at the blonde above him.
Shikamaru's POV
It was like the beauty of the devil was standing before me. She sure as hell had an annoying personality, which sucks, since she was beautiful. Golden locks and (:thinks: What color ARE Temari's eyes? Whatever, I can see them green, so they're green now.) large emerald orbs full of anger framed a delicate face. Although she was pissed at me, I was quite the happy lazy-ass indeed to have her standing over me like this. I got a perfect view.
Wait! SNAP OUT OF IT, SHIKAMARU! She's like…beautiful and all, but you don't even know her name! Ugh! Love is so troublesome…
Back to Normal POV
Temari blinked, surprised. Most guys would answer that with something stupid, like Kankurou had. (We impregnate you because if we're continuing the human race, better do it with the hot looking ones, or you'll get one ugly baby.)
"Well, most are!" she snapped, determined to get the last word.
The brunette below her sighed, closing his eyes. After a moment, he reopened them and held out his arm. "My name is Nara Shikamaru, freshman. I hate fighting with girls like you, because they always want the last word. It's very troublesome." He drawled, bored.
Temari blinked and stared at the extended appendage for a moment before taking it. "Sabaku Temari, senior…" she said slowly.
Sabaku…Sabaku…where had our lazy friend heard that before?
"Oh. I have your brother in my first hour class. Rather, I did before he disappeared or whatever. He's a stick. You should feed him."
Shikamaru thought he was making conversation. Little did he know, that struck a nerve. Hard.
Temari's expression changed from one of distant worry at the mention of her little brother, and then to flushed anger at the mention of his weight. Kicking him in the side, she stalked off, giving him the finger.
Shikamaru rubbed his side, returning her gesture. Some girls were just too troublesomely sensitive…
I AM SOOOO SORRY THIS WASN'T OUT SOONER! I was working on it, then I got writers' block, so I just slowed down… A LOT because I didn't want another turn out like chapter seven, since a few people didn't like this. I'm glad I waited instead of doing something stupid, though. So, once again, sorry. I'll try to get chapters out quicker in the future.
Review Responses!
Burning Tree – It IS horrible! I could picture Sunaga as a ghetto place too, so it all fit in. I guess I portrayed the police like that on purpose. I know for a fact most cops aren't like that. My one friend is the laughing stock of the police station. LONG story. YOU PLAY DDR? I LOVE YOU. Yeah, I can do SOME heavy, but I'm mostly at that annoying point where standard is too easy and most heavy is too hard.
narroch06 – Yeah, the idea for this struck me way back in August. The plot bunny (:coughhurricaneridercough:) went and bit me. So I wrote it. SOCIETY SUCKS! IT SHOULD BURN! DOWN WIFF DA MORAL MAJORITY, 'CUZ I WANNA BE DA MINORITY! I always think I'm not having enough of a relationship between Shuuki and Gaara. Yeah…not too many people were fond of those…actually, it was more of a half and half, and I really have no excuse for them besides writers' block. I freak out when I don't get my chapters out in time, because I'm afraid I'll lose reviewers, so I sped it up. I only managed this because…well, I don't know. But I still freaked out at the end. I hope it doesn't show here. Yeah…the bus rides weren't too impressive.
tiggra – I'm sorry about the ending…Wait a second. I DIDN'T PUT NEJI IN HERE, DID I? Dammit! I keep doing that! Okiis, the next chapter shall start very Neji-centric, since I keep leaving him out.
KageNoKatana – YAY! I'm glad you started reading it again! It makes me so happy. Are you STILL sick? (Probably not, but I'm full of blonde moments…) Shuuki reminds me of a mother hen. Hm…strange be my friends an I! xD
Kanky-chan – THE POLICE SHALL BURN! He will die too. The Kazebastard will die. LYKE, OMIGOD. I'M POSTING THIS ON YOUR B-DAY! Ha! Now I can be cheap and not get you anything! THIS IS YOUR B-DAY PRESANT! BEHOOOOOLD! I'm glad you're almost to standard, Kanky. Don't over exert yourself, though. Gaara will freak out.
Chronic-fever – YES IT HAS:Gai pose: The band-aid scene was kawaii and sappy. Yay! I know I'll have at least two reviewers for that, then!
Spork ai – Standard/heavy mode ish mah friend. n.n He can't cut, poor thing. If you put yourself in that position, though, wouldn't you? That's how I thought about it. The kazekage will die. Don't worry…I want a mental health day now. I don't think my mom will give me one. She'll like…rush me off to the psychiatrist for asking. I want Gaara's clothes too. Badly. Those pants sound amusing…
Fantastical Queen Ebony Black – GASP! I still love that song to itty pieces. I love anything with meaningful lyrics. Yeah, I know the cutting thing is REALLY abused, but I put myself in his position, and if you think about it, anyone would try it, unless they were scarred and swore to never do something like that. I don't really see them as 'jocks' either, not how they're REALLY stereotypically labeled, but in my school, a jock is ANYONE, regardless of anything, that's good at sports. Sasuke and Naruto both fall into that category. I was afraid for that flashback, really. It was one of those 'crap…this has gotta be in here…' last minute things that I always do. I know I could've done a lot more with Neji, but once more, I put myself into his shoes, and something….kind of similar, but not immensely so happened with me once at a friends house. Trust me on that, there is such thing as awkward silences with people you truly care for.
DragonMan180 – It is kind of scary, but I can see it. I knew a nine year old that acts like how I'm gonna portray her (if I ever go into her character…I think I will, though). You're right, Naruto isn't much of a jock, but in my school, a jock is someone who's good at sports, regardless of anything else. I don't think he particularly cares for the title. You're right; he is in his own category. He has a couple connections in Konoha, like with big big businesses and stuff. I'll explain that later…eventually…
Hurricane-rider – It's just magic like that. Ack! I know, I know! More NejiGaa! You see, I didn't plan on them admitting their feelings until after the-
RP: OY. Shut up, now!
…Oops. n.n;;
Go randomness in reviews! Glomps for brotherly ai! Whoo!
Reviiiiiiiiew…