Lost and Found
By: Junsui Kegasu
A/N: Ack! Now, with Vindicated being removed, (DAMN YOU FF.N!) I must work extra hard!
Disclaimer: Haven't you figured it out by now?
By the time they had turned onto Buraudouei, Kankurou's giddiness had dissipated. It wasn't that he was tense again; it didn't appear that their father was home for the moment. This brought relief not only to him, but also to Temari and Gaara, who breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mou…Is anyone else hungry?" Kankurou asked, his hand over his stomach.
Gaara and Temari stared at him. He had eaten almost two plates at lunch. How was he still hungry?
"…Kankurou. Really, now!" Temari said, placing her hands on her hips like she always did when she was annoyed.
Kankurou let out a laugh. "Joking! Joking!" he said, waving his hands in front of his face. "Jeez…as if I was fat or something!" He walked up to the door and pulled it open, out of habit giving the living room a thorough check to make sure no one was in there.
Giving the thumbs up, he proclaimed he had make-up work that some of his kinder teachers had given him and marched up to his room. Gaara mumbled something akin to the same excuse and went into his own.
Temari was grateful for no homework and glanced at the time. She still had another hour before she would even consider what dinner was, so she sat down and turned on the television.
"-And in other news today, Konoha Broadcasting has the extreme pleasure of interviewing the former political leader, Sabaku Kazekage, who is live with us today!"
Temari stared in disgust. Their father, whom the camera had panned upon, was dressed in a crisp looking business suit, his normally unruly hair combed down. On his face was plastered a fake smile, although Temari was sure she was the only viewer who noticed it.
"Sabaku-san, what do you plan on doing here in Konohagakure now that you're retired?" the perky interviewer asked, looking thoroughly enraptured to be there.
"Well, when I was still working, I never got to spend and time with my three children, and now that I'm here and retired, I figured we could have more time as a family."
Temari snorted loudly. More like more time to keep Gaara 'in check' by beating anything 'bad' out of him!
"Wow! Did you hear that, quite the family man, isn't he?"
Kazekage flashed the camera another sickeningly fake smile. Temari felt herself shaking in rage at how well the man could lie, and how well it went over.
"Now, Sabaku-san, apparently, before you retired, there were rumors that you were abusive, especially towards your youngest son, Gaara. Are those rumors in any remote way true? How were they started?"
Temari swore she saw a quick look of malice, the man she knew at home, before the fake smile returned.
"I do NOT abuse my children. We are really quite the family, and it really distressed me that someone could possibly start the rumor that I would EVER hit them. Especially Gaara. Gaara is…on the weak side. To hurt him would be completely unfair."
Temari lost it.
"OH, YOU SAY THAT NOW! YOU SAY THAT NOW YOU BASTARD! AND AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME, YOU'LL JUST KNOCK HIM AROUND LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO! STOP LYING, DAMMIT, STOP LYING!" she shrieked in rage, stamping her foot.
"OH, YOU SAY THAT NOW! YOU SAY THAT NOW YOU BASTARD! AND AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME, YOU'LL JUST KNOCK HIM AROUND LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO! STOP LYING, DAMMIT, STOP LYING!"
Kankurou jumped up from his desk, sprinting to the stairwell. Temari was standing in front of the television, her face beet red, glaring at the electronic entertainment device with such hatred, that if the television were to suddenly not work, he wouldn't be amazed.
"T-temari?" he cried out, shocked and mildly disturbed.
Temari looked up, the rage in her eyes clear as crystal. "WHAT?" She then appeared to see who she was talking to and calmed down some, her face going back to its slightly tanned fleshy color.
"Sorry Kankurou…it's just…" she sighed in frustration. "They're interviewing Dad on T.V. He's lying, Kankurou, absolutely lying!"
Kankurou stared at her. "Temari…he always lies…that's just how it is. That's just how it's always been. Here, I'll watch it with you, so I can figure out just how bad he's lying this time."
Temari nodded and patted a space next to her on the couch. Kankurou plopped down, scowling as soon as he saw the man.
"He's faking that smile." He said simply.
"Yeah…"
The interviewer had moved onto another question, they guessed, and their father was now explaining the events of eleven years ago.
"You see, when Gaara, my youngest, was only a toddler, his ball had rolled out to the street, and being only three he went after it." Temari and Kankurou saw right through the fake sadness his voice was laced with. "My wife, being overprotective of her baby, who had health complications as an infant, which resulted then and results still in severely chronic insomnia."
Kankurou almost stood up and screamed at the television. Instead, he shook his head. "Is the demon supposed to be a family secret? He always calls it a 'health complication since birth'…"
"-She was killed instantly." The man wiped fake tears from his face.
"Ah! Sabaku-san! If the pain is too much, please, you don't have to go any further with this!" the interviewer said, only half enthusiastically, as she was used to celebrity crisis.
Kazekage wiped his eyes. "Oh, I'll be fine. It's all in the past, you see-"
Kankurou wrenched the remote from in between the cushions on the couch and turned off the television, chucking the 'clicker' to the ground in anger, and turning back to his room. "I'm gonna go finish my makeup work and try not to throw up." He said darkly.
When their father got home, he looked nothing like the image they had seen on the television. His hair had gone back to its unkempt state, and now looked greasy. His tie had been soiled in something or other, and his suit now had several stains and wrinkles in it. Staggering into the living room, he threw one glance at Temari, who was waiting for dinner to finish cooking, and then stumbled upstairs to bed.
She was surprised he hadn't mentioned his interview. Usually, especially in his drunken stupor, he would brag about the things he did in life. It disgusted Kankurou, and made Gaara feel bad sometimes, but she wasn't so sure how proud of himself he really was. She had read somewhere that you just didn't start a cycle of abuse. It was continuous, starting with one's past, and then becoming daily life that they incorporate into their own lives as parents.
She had never asked about grandparents. Ever. Even when he was still 'the perfect Daddy' to her, grandparents had been such an iffy topic. Whenever she'd bring it up, Daddy would become rigid and tightlipped, whilst her mother did anything to get off the subject.
Maybe that was it. But, she certainly wasn't going to bring it up now. Daddy was gone, leaving the cruel and ruthless man she knew now. She wished she knew. Maybe, if she had known, it would've been all better. And this wouldn't be happening right now.
The next day at school, Wednesday, was the day when grade cards were sent home in the mail. For one reason or another, all the teachers liked giving their grades to the students before their cards came in the mail.
Temari was quite well off. She had always done very well in school, and her grades were B's and A's. Her teachers commented that her evaluation was based off of what she had done so far, and that although she had been there hardly a week, it seemed that she was a very good student.
All in all, Temari was pretty happy with it.
Kankurou knew why he was failing, and quite frankly, he didn't really care. Only his math teacher, Sarutobi-sensei (Ish Asuma. Not Sandaime), and his reading teacher, Rei-sensei had given him the makeup work, and Kakashi was a lazy bastard of a teacher who gave him a 'C' anyways. Everything else he had a failing grade in. He really didn't care. He knew that education, the way his life was turning out, wasn't really going to get him anywhere. He'd drop out if his father wouldn't throw a fit.
For some reason, their father didn't care too much about Temari and Kankurou's grades, but always stressed perfection on Gaara. He had been infuriated when he hadn't been inducted into the advanced classes for both high school and jr. high, which had resulted in quite a few temper tantrums.
So, while Kankurou was nonchalant about his failing marks, Gaara was freaking out. His highest grade was a B, in Iruka-sensei's class, and the rest of his teachers, passing off his suspension as a horrible first impression, refused to give him make-up work.
Which meant he basically had a 0 F in some classes.
On the card, it said conference requested. He knew Kankurou's said the same thing, but their father wouldn't care about him. His world studies teacher, Morino-sensei, was the one who would be hosting the conference. While Gaara had technically only been in school for three days, Morino-sensei really didn't like him, and scared Gaara with his harsh gaze.
"Listen, all you gotta do is hide it. I used to all the time." Kankurou explained on their way home. They had skipped the bus again.
"Well…alright…" Gaara said nervously. He had never tried to hide anything before. Terror always stopped him from doing that. But, with some coaxing from Kankurou, he had hidden it deep within the depths of his book bag, and forgot tried to forget about it.
When they walked into the door, they all, for once didn't seem tense about it. They figured if they acted nonchalant about walking into the same room as the man they were terrified of, he wouldn't hit Gaara.
It was a new tactic, but hopefully a successful one.
"HEY! YOU! MONSTER!"
All three stopped dead in their tracks. He had seen them, and he was pissed.
Gaara slowly turned to face him, shaking visibly. "Y-yes…?"
Rage flashed through Kankurou. The fact that Gaara was used to the nickname enough to respond to it made him want to go over there and wring his father's neck.
"GET YER ASS OVER HERE. WHY TH' HELL ARE YER GRADES NOT UP TA MY STAN'RDS?"
Gaara flinched, then his eyes widened in terror. He turned to quickly face Kankurou.
He knew.
At a snail's pace, Gaara tiptoed over to the opposite end of the room, where their father was waiting.
"YER FAILING! AND THEY WANT TA HAVE SOME DAMN CONF'RENCE WIT ME 'BOUT IT! DAMN YOU!" When Gaara had made it over there, he grabbed the small boy by his hair, kneeing him in the stomach.
Since Gaara had eaten of late, which was unnatural, he threw up. All over his offender. This only proved to piss him off further.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?" he screamed, Gaara's stomach contents dripping from him. "YOU LITTLE SHITHEAD!"
He turned to Temari and Kankurou, who stayed, their eyes glued to the scene. Temari looked like she was about to cry, while Kankurou's eyes shone with hatred, looking almost identical to his father's.
"YOU TWO. GET TH' FUCK UPSTAIRS! I'LL DEAL WIT THIS BITCH PERS'N'LY!" he screeched, punching Gaara in the face to prove his point.
Temari fled, sobbing freely, up the stairs. Kankurou remained rooted for a moment, before his gaze turned to Gaara and his eyes softened, as if trying to send the message 'I'm sorry' to him, before turning and slowly trudging up the stairs.
"Now, you." Kazekage said, his voice calm, but dripping with malice. That voice scared Gaara the most. When he was screaming, at least he could predict his father's next move, but when he was like this, he couldn't.
Gaara expected to be hit, to be slammed against the wall repeatedly, or something like that. Instead, he was dragged by his hair to the basement, where his father unceremoniously tossed him down the stairs.
"You stupid piece o' SHIT!" he said dangerously, following down rather clumsily, drunk. "School ain't good 'nuff for ya? That ya just decide ta FAIL it? You little shit!" he kicked him, sending the redhead careening into a wall.
Gaara coughed, tasting a metallic substance. Closing his eyes, he curled himself into a ball to try to block the blows.
"HELL NO YOU AIN'T!" Gaara felt his arms wrenched from covering his face as he was forced to stand for a second before being lifted by Kankurou's shirt collar and being slammed against the wall.
"TAKE IT LIKE A MAN, YOU WORTHLESS WHORE!"
SLAM!
Gaara saw stars when his head connected with the stone wall. Another slam, and darkness began to creep forward from the corners of his eyes.
He wasn't held there for too much longer. After another moment of screaming at him and slamming him against the basement wall, Kazekage tossed Gaara across the basement, sending him flying into the washing machine. With a final kick, he was finished, leaving a sputtering Gaara lying in a crumpled heap near the white, metal machine.
Kankurou waited for the door to slam shut before literally leaping off his bed and sprinting downstairs. Somewhere along the way, probably on the stairs, Temari had caught up with him.
Making it to the basement door, Kankurou wrenched it open and skipped four steps at a time getting down the steep staircase. Temari, not taking as many at a time, was right behind him, with a first-aid kit she must have grabbed.
"K-kanku…rou?" The hoarse whisper came from the washing machine and dryer. Kankurou ran over, kneeling in front of the crumpled figure.
"Yeah…I'm right here. Do you think anything's broken?" He had heard the yelling, and some banging from the basement, and hoped it didn't result in any broken bones or fractures.
"K-kankurou…I c…can't b-breathe…" he choked out.
In alarm, Kankurou saw his chest was rising and falling rapidly, but it didn't look like Gaara was getting any air into his system.
"Can't breathe? At all?" he asked, voice cracking in panic.
Gaara shook his head slightly. Temari flicked on a light from where she stood, and he could see the smaller boy's face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.
"Temari?" he called out.
"I don't know! Um…maybe…" She coughed suddenly, and then cleared her throat. "Sorry, asthma."
Asthma.
A light bulb went off in Kankurou's head. "Temari, do you have an inhaler somewhere?" he asked.
"Uh…yeah!" she said, sprinting up the stairs.
"Hold on, Gaara, okay? You'll be able to breathe soon…" he assured him. Gaara's frame began shaking violently, trying to force some air into his system. Kankurou, unable to take watching him like that, scooped him up gently, holding him close to his chest, willing Temari to hurry up with the inhaler.
Ack! Sorry it's short, and I'm sorry that it took so long to get such a short chapter out! My dad is a jerk, and has decided to assign a computer schedule on weekdays. I get two and a half hours a day, then, and my dad was home most of this week, which made typing the chapter hard. So…yeah. I'll try to get more done on the weekends from now on.
REVIEW CORNER!
Shivawn – GASP! Another DDR fan! Yay! I love DDR. I'm on standard/heavy at the moment, leaning more towards the heavy. I've been playing it for…a year, give or take. I love it. Gaara Child Abuse is getting more common, too! My sadistic mind loves the topic. He is cute stuttering…Here's the update!
Yoko-san – I like mushy Gaara anywhere. He needs a hug very badly. Neji kind of suspects it more now, but he's afraid to say anything just yet. Neji has his reasons! YOU SHALL SEE! I dono. Gaara's just…Gaara. Not really emo. Kin's just odd. ….What made you think Gaara would be seme in the first place? ;P He is DEFINITELY uke in this story. I lubb Gaara-uke.
Kanky-chan – Assemblies in general are annoying. Ugh. The day after I posted the last chapter, we had an assembly. And you know how people swing their knees together and apart? Well, some person behind me was doing that, so he was like…doing weird things to my back. And he wouldn't stop. And I think he realized it half-way through, because it began to feel REALLY deliberate. I was scared! T.T :shifty eyes: Maaayyybeee some KakaIru!
narroch06 – ACK! I just realized I didn't respond to your last review! I'M SO SORRY! I didn't mean to skip over it! To the one for the 11th Chapter – Making people feel warm and fuzzy is my goal with reviews! I never flame. I try to make people feel as good about it as possible. The entire series by David Pelzer is very sad. I cried at least once during all three of them. Child abusers should die…GASP! YOU LIVE IN OHIO! HOLY EFFIN FIZZLE, I LIVE IN OHIO TOO! Please, do tell what city! I need to go paw paw hunting now…I don't think there are any paw paw forests in Toledo though…:sniff: I lubb you, Toledo, you have good people, BUT YOU SUCK! For the 12th Chapter – Euphoric is a pretty word. I like it. There be nothing wrong with insanity! Where do you think the bus rides came from? Fun for chilidogs! I don't eat chilidogs, I'm a vegetarian, but still! It would be so cool if you lived by me!
Burning tree - …It IS always a girl. I never thought about that!
tiggra - They are both sezzy beasts.
Dragon Man 180 – Yeah. I wish Tsunade was my principal! My principal is okay…I guess. Once, she threatened to give my entire lunch table BIC (In school suspension. Very boring.) because of a mess left there by the lunch period before us. I freaked out! Shukaku was probably PMSing…He should like Kanky though!
Fantastical Queen Ebony Black – Hm…Really? I'll remember that tip for later. I don't know, my formatting is very much influenced by how much FF.N I've read since coming here at the mere age of 8. Pills are the creation of the devil. So is cough syrup…Poor KnO and her balloon. Go being amused! I can try to make them nicer, but at the moment, they're like 'Eww! He got suspended!'. Yeah, some people actually get like that. They took it as a first impression. Erm…I did mean 'chord'. I'm…I don't know. Thanks for that though. If I ever redo that chapter, I'll put it in. Tsunade is an awesome principal. Poor you with the experience! Once, I had gotten sent to the office because of this misunderstanding thing in school (It was a LONG story, and I was sitting in one of the chairs) and all my teachers passed me, and they were like 'Oh! Don't worry, everything will be fine!" 'cause I was about to cry, being that good girl little student, and the secretary got mad at me for 'telling my sob story to everyone that passed'. I was like '…….'. As for your counselor. Uhh…Odd counselor you have. Mine is very humorous. I like her. Gaara's just very short. I liked the restaurant part. It's amusing.
thefuturefreaksmeout – He is cute and huggable! KAWAIIII! I will keep your Kazekage death wish in mind. You'll see, you'll see…I'm glad you like this!
Hurricane-rider – Sometimes you watch the assembly xD Sorry. That amused me. Ha! Finally, I am ahead of Vindicated! But it's for a bad reason:sob: I feel happy to finally be ahead though. o.o