Chapter 7

Goodbye Sleep Deprivation!

Kurama glared at the men that passed her as she waited for Naruto to finish haggling over the price of her travel ramen. They were ogling again. Not the ramen, the men, that is.

"Hey! Don't you still need to talk Temari into taking you girly shopping?" Naruto asked, suddenly remembering. Kurama quailed. She had honestly hoped that Naruto had forgotten that. Too bad.

"But Kagome has already sent me so many things. I don't think that going shopping would be necessary," she dissembled.

"Oh yes it is," Naruto pressed, "Kagome didn't send you any underwear or clothes, other than that yukata,"

"It's a nice yukata," Kurama sniffed.

"It's too small,"

"That is not my fault,"

"Yet you wear it anyways,"

"It's a good colour on me,"

"You can't fight in it,"

"I could if I had to,"

"Yeah right," Naruto was clearly skeptical. Kurama shrugged it off.

"It's not my fault if you don't believe me. I don't rely solely on acrobatics to fight, you know," she glared at another gawking man, "Eyes up here, buster!" she snapped. Naruto laughed at her.

"Poor Koyoko-chan," she teased. Kurama smacked her upside the head and paid for the ramen before stalking down the street, not bothering to wait for her student. Naruto, of course, protested loudly at being left behind and scampered after Kurama.

"Hurry up. I want to get back on the road as soon as possible,"

"Are you sure that this is necessary?" Kurama asked. Naruto and Temari nodded in tandem. She sighed, defeated.

"You lost the bet, Kurama,"

"I know, I know,"

The redhead sighed, succumbing to her inevitable fate and allowed herself to be dragged out of the house, into the markets of Sunagakure. Naruto and Temari decided that they should start with the underwear and work their way outwards from there. Kurama was sure that her face looked like she had managed another impressive sunburn as she endured the ordeal of having bras of various large sizes held up against her chest. After some time and no luck finding a fit Temari concluded that Kurama would just have to bind her chest. Kurama thankfully agreed.

But now came the actual clothing. Temari seemed particular to the shinobi-style fishnet-mail shirts but Kurama squashed that idea before it could come to a head and was permitted to blossom. Naruto, having more experience in what Kurama's feminine sensibilities were like, directed them to a display of voluminous peasant blouses.

Unfortunately, even with the loose fit, the shirts were too snug for Kurama's taste. It took a while but finally Temari put her foot down and declared that Kurama would just have to suck it up and learn to live with her impressive bust size like the woman she currently was.

Kurama rebelled, but quietly.

Temari ended up getting her way with the shirts and Naruto got to pick out the pants. She settled on three pairs, for traveling sake, of a plain black cargo-like style. Kurama approved of her student's sudden burst of taste.

By the end of the day all three women were thoroughly exhausted. Kurama offered to cook, remembering what Temari called home cooking. It wasn't that the Sand nin was a bad cook, she was just a better shinobi.

So Kurama took over the kitchen, escaping the two blondes. She happily exiled them to the living room with a deck of cards and closed the kitchen door. The peace was beautiful.

"Hi,"

Crap. When did Kankuro come in?

"Good evening, Kankuro-san," she managed a polite smile. Kankuro grinned at her. She tried, industriously, to ignore him as she examined the contents of the cupboards and refrigerator.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"Tolerable,"

"Temari took you shopping?"

"Yes,"

"Have fun?"

"It was tolerable,"

"You know, I've never met a woman who didn't like shopping,"

"There's a first time for everything," she muttered, pulling a package of a white meat out of the fridge. Sniffing it delicately she decided that it would do and set it on the counter.

"What do you like to do?"

Kurama shrugged.

"Do you like fighting?"

"Indifferent,"

"Movies?"

"Pale compared to reality,"

"Music?"

"No preference,"

"Anything?"

"Where is the oil and the spices?"

"Second cupboard. How about books. Do you like to read?"

"Photographic memory," she poured the oil into a frying pan and let it slowly heat as she sliced the meat into neat cubes.

"You have a photographic memory?" Kankuro was impressed. Kurama shrugged, trying to silently convey the hint that she did not want to talk to him. He did not get it. "That's got to be useful,"

She snorted. He had no idea.

The oil was hot so she slid the meat in, smiling a little as it cooked right before her eyes. She sprinkled some herbs over it, turned the heat almost off and covered the pan. Now she turned to the vegetables she had collected and started cutting them into slices and chunks.

Suddenly she paused and grinned.

"Hello Hiei,"

"Fox,"

Kankuro jumped. He had not felt the small, dark youkai arrive.

"What are you doing here?"

"Kagome and Yoko asked me to give you a letter," he said, brandishing a white envelope with Kagome's neat writing on it.

"I can't read it right now. Could you leave it in my room?"

Hiei nodded, turned to leave, then paused, "You went shopping?"

Kurama shuddered and tossed a glare over her shoulder, "Not now, Hiei," the fire youkai smirked, vanishing for a few seconds before returning, letterless, and sitting himself down on the counter.

"So, how are things at home?"

"Well enough. Yuusuke managed to extract some information from the toddler. If all goes well we should be able to open a portal between here and the Ningenkai, since it is a closer match than the Makai," Hiei explained. Kurama nodded.

"Good. How's my mother doing?"

"She has been told that you are on an extended mission out of country. You can embellish the story when you get back,"

"Out of country, eh? Think you could Photoshop me into a couple pictures of America?"

"Why America?"

"Why not?"

"Where's America?" Kankuro asked. Hiei and Kurama stared blankly at him. The puppeteer shifted uncomfortably underneath the combined weight of their gazes. "Never mind," he backed down. Kurama turned back to her vegetables.

"Hiei, would you stay until I at least have a reply for that letter?"

Hiei shrugged. Kurama smiled brightly and contentedly tossed the vegetables into the frying pan with the meat.

"What are you making, Fox?"

"Stir fry,"

"Hn. So, how'd you find the box?"

Kurama blushed. "I just hope that I'll never have to use what she sent. The yukata is a nice colour on me but it's just a little small," she blushed.

Kankuro leered, "Really? I think it's a perfect fit,"

"You would," Kurama snapped, disgusted for reasons unknown to Kankuro. Hiei, after a quick peek at their surface thoughts, grinned.

"Having some trouble with the indigenous male population?"

"It had never sunk in just how fixated men are," she complained.

"Strange that," Hiei said innocently.

"You'd thing that I would have noticed, what with having grown up with having Yoko in my head all those years,"

"You'd think," he agreed.

"Men," Kurama threw up her hands in disgust. Hiei grinned.

"I can't wait to tell Yoko what you've just said,"

Kurama stopped short, reviewing her words. "That was really girly wasn't it?" Hiei nodded.

"What's wrong with being girly? I think it's cute," Kankuro tossed in his two cents. Kurama shuddered.

"Kankuro-san, would you please join Temari and Naruto in the living room?" she asked as sweetly as she could.

"Why?"

"Because I fear that if I have too many distractions that I might burn your dinner,"

He finally took the hint and vacated the kitchen. Kurama heaved a sigh of relief and stirred the stir-fry. She tested the vegetables and decided that they could stand another minute before she turned the heat off.

"He hasn't figured it out yet?"

"No. He's pretty thick. Temari figured it out when she saw Naruto," Kurama rolled her large green eyes and turned the heat off.

"Well, you have to admit that you certainly do not look even close to masculine at the moment," the little youkai paused, "Did I just defend him?"

Kurama blinked. "I think you just might have," she sounded amazed, and just a little scared as well. The fire youkai just sat there, blinking, trying to understand how such an even had happened.

"You will speak of this to no one," he growled at last. Kurama nodded.

"On pain of torture until death," she agreed as she took some plates out of the cupboard, "Could you get the chopsticks? There're in the second drawer there,"

Hiei nodded, reaching for the drawer ready to do just about anything to distract himself from the fact he had just defended a human he held in contempt. Soon the table was set for six and dinner was called. The meal was filled with a rather embarrassing retelling of the shopping trip that afternoon. Kurama, not wanting her face to match her hair again, drew Hiei into a private conversation.

Hiei, there's something I've been meaning to ask you.

-Oh?-

The youkai sealed inside of Gaara seems to have full access to the boy's mind.

-So?-

Shukaku is power-hungry and insane.

-And you want me to do something about it.-

If you could. I was thinking that it would be best if you could separate Shukaku from Gaara mentally but leave Gaara's access to the youki.

Hiei considered, eyeing Gaara. –I agree, that would be the best course of action. We will see what we can do after the meal,-

Thank you, Hiei.

-Call it a personal favor. You owe me,-

It was bound to happen sometime or another. Kurama admitted with a smile. Hiei grinned, baring his fangs, shocking everyone but Gaara and Kurama to their toes and scaring Temari witless.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked.

"It's nothing," Kurama said, waving a hand.

"Yeah right. Whatever can make Hiei grin like that…"

"Let me put it this way: it's personal,"

"Personal?" Naruto asked slyly. Kurama and Hiei glared.

"Personal. As in, none of your business and maybe, if we deem you worthy, you might end up finding out in the very distant future," stated Kurama as firmly as she could. Naruto swallowed hard and nodded, probably intimidated by the visions of her own violent and messy death that Hiei was projecting at her.

"Okay, no problem," she squeaked nervously.

"Personal?" Kankuro asked slyly. Kurama started rubbing her temples.

"Hiei, have you worked out the bugs in that mind-loop thing you came up with? You know, the one where you make the guy think he's a six-year-old girl?

"It wasn't hard. I even tested it out on Yuusuke. It was…quite amusing," Hiei smirked wickedly. Kankuro shut up.

"On Yuusuke? Does he remember?"

"Do you think I'm that sloppy?"

"Just checking," Kurama smiled sweetly into her glass as she took a drink. "By the way, Gaara-sama, could I see you after the meal?"

Gaara nodded slowly, his kohl-darkened eyes staring intently at Hiei. Kurama looked between the two, wondering what was going on. Hiei shrugged, barely perceptible, silently saying he had no idea since he had not peeked into the jinchuuriki's mind.

After dinner Kurama, Hiei and Gaara all went to the roof. This was mainly done to escape the other inhabitants of the house, not to enjoy the cool desert night air. Gaara stared at Kurama and Hiei expectantly as Hiei made himself comfortable on the edge of the roof and Kurama settled down a few feet from him.

"Gaara-sama, We think we may have found a way to give you some peace of mind and a good nights sleep," Kurama began. Gaara looked skeptical. "You see, Hiei here is a powerful psychic. He is quite adept at mental manipulation and construction. That means that he can build up the seal placed on you so that it excludes Shukaku from your mind and control of your body, he would no longer be able to even try to get control. You would still be able to access his youki so the only thing that would change is that he would no longer be a constant in your mind,"

The night was silent. Gaara's eyes had widened as the extent of what Kurama had proposed sunk in. "Shukaku would be sealed?"

"Properly this time,"

"I agree,"

-That was quick,-

Can you blame him?

Hiei did not answer, instead he removed his headband, exposing and opening his jagan. The violet eye glowed in the night's darkness as he directed it towards the young Kazekage. Gaara hissed and clutched his head in pain as the jaganshi worked his magic.

AN: And so Kurama gets dragged shopping. Short and painful. And let no one complain about what I said about his memory. I have it on good authority that it is possible to train your memory so that it is photographic and I'm sure that after having Yoko training him since before he developed controlled motor skills he'd a a darned fine memory. (Thanks to Dr. Charles Lemery for that one! thanks Chuck!)

And please don't complain about how easy I made it to seal Shukaku. I don't have a great imagination.