Sometimes Kankuro notices.

He notices the odd looks that people give him when he walks around, either pointing at his puppet, his hood, his clothes, his paint, or maybe just him. Most times it's the paint. But no one seems to understand that he wears the paint because of the glances they give him. If he didn't wear it, they'd still point and whisper, but with the paint--his mask-- on, he can pretend they aren't poking fun at him.

Sometimes Kankuro hears.

He hears what they say about him, for whatever reason it is; it seems to change every day. He's either too odd-looking, or too rough with others, or too submissive around his brother, the Kazekage. He tries to ignore it, but when they want him to hear, he can hardly avoid it. There's no mask that he can wear for his ears.

Sometimes Kankuro understands.

He understands why they seem to flinch away when he and Gaara forget themselves and are a bit too close in public; whether it's simply a fond touch or a whispered word or two from Kankuro to his brother, that sometimes the other hear and remark that it's scandalous, the Kazekage and his older brother lovers? If he screws up too badly, forgetting everything around him and pecking Gaara on the cheek, or, when he's completely off in his own world, he takes his brother into a secluded area, where they would be found fully kissing (with tongue, of course), or maybe worse.

Sometimes Kankuro cares.

He cares what they think about him, say about him, about him and his brother. Living so far from the "real world", he is brought back with a painful kind of hurt. He tries to avoid this kind of thing; it's not too pleasant.

Sometimes Kankuro wishes it would stop.

He wishes it would stop, the pointing and the whispering and the gasps of shock when he and Gaara forget themselves. He might decide to end it one day, despite how his 'family' would take it. Maybe everything would finally stop if he took his own hand to things. Maybe. But then it would just be Gaara and Temari; while Temari might be better off without him, what ever would Gaara do?