(A/N: Yo! Lady Hiran here! Sorry this took so long! Family crisis! That said, onward and upward peeps!)
"AAAAAIIIIIE!"
"Wha' th' hell?"
Kakashi jerked upward, splashing juice all over his front.
"Was goin' on?" Naruto cried, "Who's bein' attacked?"
"Sounds like a girl." Haku noted.
Hotaru burst through the front door screaming.
"AAAH! AAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
"'th heck?" Sasuke grunted, raising an eyebrow.
"What is going on in here?" Zabuza grumbled, entering the foyer.
A rather large cat dashed through the stll open front door after Hotaru.
"Meee! Meee!" it mewled plantively as it chased her.
"AAAAH! AAAAHHH! AAAIIIAAEE!" Hotaru shrieked, scrambling up Zabuza and leaping onto the chandelier.
Hajime, ignoring the commotion until then (trying to watch Distraction; hows that for irony?) sighed heavily and rose to his feet.
He walked into the vestibule and this was the sight he beheld.
Naruto getting his face clawed off by a very large,veryANGRY black cat.
Hotaru hiding in the chandelier whimpering, "Kitty go 'way! Kitty go 'way!"
Kakashi tending to the scratches Hotaru had left on Zabuza'z face, arms, shoulders and back.
Haku and Sasuke making bets on how long that chandelier would hold out.
(Gaara's hiding out in Hotaru's room)
(Itachi's still traumatized)
Wasting no time (he wants to get back to his show) he swooped the cat away from Naruto and smacked it on the head.
"Knock it off, Tama." Hajime growled, "You know Hi-chan doesn't like you."
He then tossed the cat out the door and slammed it shut…
…the force causing the chandelier to give way.
"AAAAHHH!" Hotaru cried (to distraught to do anything)
Sasuke did the ninja thing and caught herwith ease.
"There, Hotaru." Hajime sighed, "The cats all gone now."
Hotaru nodded shakilyand clamoured out of Sasuke's arms.
"Why's she so scared of cats?" Haku asked.
"It's so irrational." Zabuza snickered.
"Well…it happened when I was really little…" Hotaru began, "…I had just turned two, so were talking reeeeeally little, here. Ha-chan had woken up before me and was already outside playing, I had just woken up from my afternoon nap and was on the verge of falling back asleep when…when…"
"When what?" Naruto asked.
"When my Aunt Shuuko's cat, Angel; Angel…I still can't believe it-ANGEL! She should have named it Lucifer! It was EVIL, I SWEAR; dashed into the room and for no reason at all, Scratched-Me-Across-The-Face."
"Ouch." Gaara nodded (came out of hiding)
Hotaru cried, "I howled so loudly that it brought my mom, dad, and Shuuko running into the room, and do you know what Shuuko did? She defended that horrid thing!"
She threw her hands up in the air, "She shoved that evil thing in my face and told me to 'apologize to her precious baby for whatever I did to it!' and that dammned thing scratched me again!"
Hotaru sat back on her heels, "And that's why I have felinophobia."
"Understandable, given the circumstances." Haku replied mildly, chewing on the end of his hair.
"Yeah, well, whatever." Hajime said dismissively, "I'm missing Distraction. 'scuce me."
"Asshole." Hotaru muttered under her breath.
"Slut." Hajime mumbled back.
There was a group sigh.
How could any of them known that they were being watched.
'"Are you certain it's those two?"'
'"Mm."'
'"They're…they're just children."'
'"None the less, its those two."'
'"…if you say so."'
'"No matter what we just witnessed, it does nothing to change our mission objective…understood?"'
'"Yer, sir."'
"Hey Panda-chan!" Hotaru called, "Want to go shopping with me?"
"Not particularly." Gaara said bluntly.
Hotaru pouted.
"But Panda-chan," she said in a whiney tone, "Today's your last day with us! Pleeeeeease?"
She glomped him tightly and he blushed faintly from embarrassment.
Gaara nodded mutely.
For the next fifteen minutes, the two walked in the early morning chill, taking in sights (Hotaru pacifying Gaara when strange things such as bicycles zoomed toward him)
"Don't worry Panda-chan!" She said cheerfully (after Gaara nearly killed a balloon vendor), "You were more than a match for that guy."
Gaara glared at her angrily.
Hotaru smiled back (completely immune since she's related)
He continued to glare at her as they passed by a store that was giving off a very delectable scent.
He noticed vaguely how much her hair emulated the sweet smelling candies whose color it held possession of in the window display and her eyes suddenly resembled the sticks of glittering crystal like candy.
He involuntarily drooled.
"Hn? Panda-chan? What's the matter?"
Hotaru's voice broke through his hunger induced haze.
"I'm hungry," Gaara said, continuing to gaze at her.
"Why don't we go in here then?" she said pointing to the offending shop that was giving off such a delicious odor.
This particular sweetshop was often frequented by the Uzumaki siblings when going to Hokkaido for martial arts conferences to establish rank with their sister schools.
Candies, cakes, sweets that had only just been invented, filled the shop ceiling to floor.
Gaara, becoming slightly hyper from the sugary fumes, began to ask at a rapid tempo what was what.
After a time, Hotaru purchased several boxes of pocky (several HUNDRED boxes) for herself and an ice cream cone for Gaara.
The two walked down the sidewalk, Gaara thoroughly enjoying the sweet, icy treat.
Now finished with the ice cream, wanted to know what to do with the cone.
After downing the final amounts of another Pocky stick, Hotaru merely reached over, broke off a small piece and began chewing on it, staring at Gaara pointedly.
After a moment, he realized, "The entire things edible? SWEET DUDE!"
He brought his teeth down on the crunchy, sweet waffle cone, polishing it off in a matter of seconds.
Now, right off the bat, Hotaru had noticed how outlandish Gaara had been acting at merely the effusion in the confectionary, and now that the last off the waffle cone was gone.
She had the sinking feeling she was about to witness first hand the effects of sugar on a Shukaku toting, sugar-intolerant red head.
Sure enough, Gaara's nose had begun to twitch a mile a second and before she could even open her mouth, he was off like a shot screeching, "I SMELL CANNNNNDEEEEEHHH!"
"Mattaku...(1)" she hissed, taking off after him, following the youki trail he left behind.
There was a small group of older, grandmother type women walking in front of the sugar driven jinchuriki.
He plowed right into them, hugging, kissing (groping a few) then continuing in the direction of the candy smell.
After apologizing to the scandalized women, Hotaru continued swiftly after him, following him to be, what she knew to be in Gaara's current state of being, the worst place possible; an amusement park.
An outraged, yet somewhat terrified cry, alerted the minute jinchuriki of the sucrose-goaded twelve year old's location.
To her dismay, Gaara had found the cart of one of the many cotton candy vendors (which, if you all remember, is...say it with me SPUN SUGAR!) and was downing all his merchandise.
The refined dextrose only spurned his high, increasing the surge of insulin, speeding him up subsequently.
Gaaracrashed into rides, knocking them over as he search for more sugary treats.
He destroyed several game booths as well before Hotaru knew that there was no other option.
Hotarubit down, hard, on her index finger causing blood to issue forth.
She reached into a small, almost invisible pocket sewn into her skirt, bringing forth several blank sacred scrolls; an incantation for subjugation was quickly inscribed upon them.
"Panda-chan, I have little to no other options left to me...highly regrettable,"Hotarumuttered, sounding truly remorseful as she hurled them at the oncoming jinchuriki.
The sutras rained upon the unsuspecting, saccharine-charged boy and pinned him to the floor of the shooting gallery.
His youki now completely sealed away, though only temporarily,Gaara was now at the level of strength of a newborn kitten, not that that was stopping him.
He was on his feet and about to continue his sugar crazed mania---that is, until Hotaru cracked him over the head with a nearby planter, knocking him out cold.
After dodging all the weeping, enraged, fearful booth owners, Hotaru managed rack up the total damages in her head (and tried not to puke)
(Figuring out the cost for the repairs for all the rides Gaara destroyed, well...that took a bit longer but, was still managed somehow.)
Hotaru ran, with the still hyper twelve year old, slung over her shoulder like a sack of flour and went straight for Tokyo Station.
She now sat on the bullet train, Gaara (having regained consciousness) was still in hyper mode from all the sugar, sutras still in effect and the jinchuriki in question hog-tied in an extra durable length of rope.
He prattled off a totally random string of events, Hotaru barely listening, a look of derision just barely registering in her eyes at the frenzied boy's antics.
They had reached the station at Sapporo and Gaara was starting to slow down.
"Ahhh, so it begins," she thought in an exasperated fashion, "T-minus 5…4…3…2…and--"
"SHNOXXX." Gaara let out an almighty snore that shook the entire bullet train as a whole.
Several people shrieked.
"WAAAH!"
"IS IT ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE!"
"IS GODZILLA ATTACKING!"
Now thoroughly mortified, though it didn't register on the face of the sixteen year old jinchuriki, she merely pointed at Gaara, who was still snoring loudly and pinched his nose shut.
'"Are you sure that she's-"'
'"For the last time, YES!"'
'"…no need to be so snippy."'
'"What about that boy?"'
'"Yes. He has the same aura as-"'
'"I don't care about him (Gaara fans everywhere are gonna kill me) Just focus on the task at hand! The Uzumaki's!"'
'"Yes sir."'
"We're back!" Hotaru yelled, walking through the door with Gaara over her shoulder.
"Hey sis." Hajime called, deep in the midst of virtual combat with Zabuza and Kakashi, "How went it?"
"Well, I learned to never give Panda-chan sugar." She said brightly, "Ever."
Haku cheered on Zabuza.
Naruto gave Kakashi pointers.
Sasuke watched with amusement as Haku then accused Naruto of cheating and then the two began fist fighting.
Itachi was crying, sobbing about being unclean.
Then the roof exploded inward.
"Oh great. What now?" Hotaru moaned.
A troupe of seven darted into the living room, dressed in a style that looked vaguely familiar to Kakashi.
"That looks almost like…a modernized ANBU uniform." He mused, "But what are they doing here?"
"Uzumaki Hotaru and Uzumaki Hajime-" one said authoritively, "-the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko and the Ichibi no Shukaku, you have been too deemed too dangerous to continue to exist and therefore, must be eliminated."
Hajime and Hotaru shot each other looks.
"An' what if we don't feel much like bein' eliminated?" Hajime asked.
"We aren't giving you that option." Another stated.
"Well, you will have to excuse us." Hotaru grinned, "We never were very good when it came to following orders."
She quickly tapped several support beams with her index and middle fingers, sending her chakra shooting through them at breakneck speeds.
Sensing the danger, Zabuza, Kakashi, Haku, Sasuke, Naruto fled the house (even Itachi snapped out of his funk) with Hotaru and Hajime hot on their heels (Gaara's still slung over Hotaru's shoulder unconscious and smattered with sutras so he's fine) as the the Uzumaki Twin's former home caved in on itself.
"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" the leader roared.
"Yes sir."
"Well…this is new." Kakashi said cheerfully.
"Who were those guys?" Sasuke asked (geez- always gets straight to the point, doesn't he?)
"Uzumaki Seeker Ninja." Hajime stated as they darted along, "Shinobi who're specifically trained t' deal with th' Jinchuriki in th' family who've been deemed t' dangerous."
"They hunt them down, and utterly destroy them." Hotaru muttered, "I never dreamed they would come after us."
"Why is that?" Haku asked.
"Because A) We've been tonin' it down lately-" Hajime began.
"-and B) our entire family's dead." Hotaru finished.
"Well, no wonder you didn't think they'd come after you." Naruto said in agreement.
"Or at least…we thought they were." Hajime and Hotaru thought together doubtfully.
Gaara finally awoke to find himself, not in the Uzumaki's house as expected, but in a dark place.
When the realization that he had been asleep hit him, a flash of panic overtook him.
-KONK-
Some one hit him on the head (the culprit? Hajime)
"'sokay." A familiar voice, "Hi-chan used sealing scrolls so sleepin' shouldn't have been that biguva deal."
"Hajime?" Gaara asked, "Where are we?"
"Abandoned shrine." Came the playful reply.
"Naruto? You're here too?" he asked.
"We're all here, fool." Itachi snorted (yes, unfortunately; this new trauma snapped him back from the last one; sorry)
"Tch!" Sasuke grunted (annoyed…and a little afraid…that his brother's back to normal)
"Mind filling me in?" Gaara asked Zabuza.
Hotaru and Hajime were silent as the behemoth ninja began recounting what had just occurred.
This shrine was not just a random spot run to out of desperation.
It was quite…familiar to say the least.
This was the place they always hid in to get away from their cousins, second cousins and the like when ever said cousins were feeling particularly vindictive.
Those were the days when they could truly be considered dangerous.
Those were the days before they had seals.
FLASHBACK
"Hey, look! It's the Demon Girl!"
"What freakshow!"
"I am not!" Hotaru protested.
The children proceeded to pick up stones.
"Gedder!"
"Get the Devil's Child!"
The rocks sailed through the air, many hitting their target.
"Devil's Child!"
"Devil's Child!"
"No I'm not! Stop it!" Hotaru shrieked.
"Devil's Child!"
Blood dripped down her forehead as a wall of sand suddenly fromed around her.
"Whuh-what the-?"
A very angry Hajime glared furiously from behind the sandy shield.
"Oh, look!"
"The OTHER freak's here too!"
"Stop it!" Hotaru screamed, "Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!"
K-KROOM
In a violent flash of chakra, that resembled a giant tail, several of the rock throwers were hurled skyward and slammed viciously into the ground.
"Uhh…oh…oh no…" Hotaru gasped, gripping her face with her hands, "N-no…I didn't mean…no…"
"Hi-chan…whaddidyou do?" Hajime hissed from behind the protective barrier.
"Freak!"
"Monster!"
"Gedder!"
"Make the Devil pay for what she's done!"
Hajime grabbed his elder twin's hand and the two dashed off into the forest, towards the familiar hiding place.
By the time they reached it, Hotaru was crying.
"I am not…the D-D-Devil's Child." She sobbed, "'m not! No…no…no!"
END OF FLASHBACK
"…ru?…me? …jime? …taru? Hotaru! Hajime!"
"HUH?"
The Twins blinked their overlarge ice-blue eyes hard at the hand waving in front of their faces.
"Oh, so you are alive." Kakashi grinned, "Good!"
"…not funny." they muttered.
"Good thing you responded." Haku said thoughtfully.
"Whyzzat?" Hajime asked.
Gaara pointed.
Itachi had a rather large plank in his hands and was preparing to whack the pair about the head with it.
"I see." Hotaru said in an irritated tone.
Zabuza was lounging on his side, reading a book.
Sasuke was beating Naruto at cards (much to Naruto's frustration; paying him back for last night I see)
"This could take awhile." The twins thought to themselves.
(A/N: The shrine is no longer safe and The Uzumaki's are foced to return to the one place they despise more than I despise Barney, The Uzumaki Estate. Family members they thought were dead resurface (much to their chagrin) and what the hell is up with that fish? R&R!)
(1)Mattaku- sheesh, yeesh,jeez, oh for heavens sake,a general expressionof annoyance)