I'm finally back with the update for this week! Thanks to Axel0913 and tuffin for the reviews!

Chapter 8: Apologies, And Then Some More

Temari was with the girls, watching as Sakura and Ino argued about who would end up with Sasuke. Personally, Temari couldn't understand why they liked him so much. Sure, he was cute, and he was talented, but he was so cold and aloof all the time, the way Gaara was. Temari rather preferred someone friendlier.

"T-Temari-san."

It was shy Hyuuga Hinata.

"Yes?"

The blue-haired girl pointed in the direction behind Temari. "I-I think I s-saw your b-brothers walk by with some t-teachers."

Temari frowned. The only thing of significance behind her was the office… What could possibly have happened? Kankuro complained a lot, but he would never cause trouble, and Temari herself had not done anything yet, which left just Gaara. Temari had a sinking feeling; whenever Gaara caused trouble, it was always bound to be huge.

"Sorry, guys," Temari excused herself from the freshmen. "I think my brothers are in trouble."

Sakura followed her gaze and nodded her head. "Fifth period will start soon, though."

"Then I'd better be quick."

.

It turned out her suspicions had been right. As Temari walked, she spied the familiar mass of red hair and Kankuro's wrapped puppet near the office. Temari still questioned how Kankuro had been allowed to bring his puppet—if she could even call it that since Kankuro had turned it into a makeshift backpack—to school. But then again, Gaara had been allowed his gun.

Two teachers were standing with her brothers: ANBU member Hatake Kakashi and the P.E. teacher Guy. Kakashi caught sight of her and waved her over.

"What happened?" Temari inquired anxiously.

Kakashi's expression was unreadable under his mask as he replied. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask Kankuro. The two of you will have to wait out here while Guy and I take Gaara in to have a talk with Tsunade-sama."

Temari nodded wordlessly, watching an expressionless Gaara—with his hands tied up, Temari noticed—escorted by Kakashi and an angry Guy.

"Temari!" Kankuro had finally noticed her. Her younger brother looked extremely nervous as he stood next to her.

"What's going on?" Temari confronted him. "Did Gaara do something?"

Kankuro's eyes were a mix of guilt and pleading. "You know how he is, Temari! I tried to stop him, but I couldn't! He's just so scary when he gets like that!"

"Yeah, okay, but what happened?"

Kankuro looked around him, checking to see if anyone was near. The bell had already rung by this point, and everyone else was already in class. After confirming no one but them were around, Kankuro leaned close to his sister and whispered the explanation.

"He did what?" Temari couldn't believe Gaara would pull such a stunt on the very first day. He was always careful about his missions, especially when it came to not angering their father. Speaking of the Kazekage, their father was going to be very furious; Gaara had nearly killed two people, if not more.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Temari demanded. "You were right there; you should have stopped such a thing from happening!"

"But you know, as much as I do, what he's like!" Kankuro replied angrily. "And anyways, how was I supposed to know that that Rock Lee kid would slam into him like that? What kind of person can knock Gaara over like that? Also, you should've seen it yourself! He knocked the gun out of Gaara's hand! Gaara, of all people! You know that's nearly impossible!"

Temari forced herself to calm down and considered Kankuro's words. He was right; in that situation, it would have been easy for Gaara to misunderstand and react in the wrong way.

"You're right," Temari admitted after a while. "Gaara's impossible to stop once he gets started."

Kankuro sighed. "Yeah, and who knows what'll happen now? Why would he even bring two guns to school?"

Temari raised an eyebrow at him. "Says the one who brought his puppet to school."

"Hey, this is for self-defense! And it's not like my puppet will kill people! It's wrapped up most of the time, anyways! Also, it's my backpack! How do you expect me to come to school without my backpack?"

"Sure, whatever you say."

.

Gaara quietly observed the adults as Kakashi explained the situation to Tsunade. The woman next to Tsunade—Gaara had heard Tsunade address her as Shizune—looked shocked and a bit horrified. Guy was still angry but had calmed down considerably, and Kakashi was as relaxed as ever. Tsunade herself was also calm, though her eyes betrayed her surprise and anger.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence after Kakashi had relayed the earlier events. Gaara took it upon himself to initiate the conversation, as he had been drilled to do so many times by his father, the Kazekage.

"I sincerely apologize for my actions today," said Gaara, bowing lowly. "I have no excuses for nearly harming and possibly killing two people today. I will accept whatever punishment you hand out, even if it is expulsion."

Tsunade looked a little taken aback, but quickly composed herself. "I'm not sure we will need to go that far, Gaara-kun. Kakashi here says it was a misunderstanding, although a rather dangerous one."

Gaara said nothing though he was relieved he didn't have to be sent back to Sunagakure yet. He did not want to meet his father.

Guy, on the other hand, was not as pleased. "How can you call pulling a gun out a simple misunderstanding?" Guy burst out.

Tsunade silenced him with a look. "I did not say it was simple, only that it was a misunderstanding. Gaara-kun, please understand that the students here are mostly just that—students. Although, of course, there are students like Rock Lee who excel at combat. However, let me assure you that the security here is not as lenient as it would seem; we have ANBU agents placed throughout the school for cases like this."

"You mean people like Hatake Kakashi." It wasn't a question.

Tsunade looked surprised again, though Kakashi merely looked curious.

"Yes, like Kakashi here." Tsunade did not question how Gaara had found out and continued with the agenda.

"As for punishment, I think we'll have to suspend you for a few days."

"Just a few days?" Guy protested. "Isn't that a bit less?"

"Yes, a few days will be fine," Tsunade said. "I am sure Gaara-kun has learned his mistake and won't repeat it again. However, you did almost kill a student, so I'll be adding one hundred hours of community service to that, and an apology to Lee."

Gaara nodded his head, accepting his fate in silence. He was somewhat surprised that he had not gotten a worse punishment; but then again, he was the Kazekage's son.

Afterwards, Tsunade had called Baki and told him the news. Gaara knew he was in for a long lecture once he got back to the hotel. He would rather face his father than Baki.

.

After the phone call, his older siblings had been called into the office. Both of them had avoided his gaze, taking in the results of Gaara's actions in silence. Temari had apologized again, on Gaara's behalf, and Kankuro had done the same, promising to make sure it never happened again. Gaara couldn't help but feel contempt. His siblings were making promises that they knew they wouldn't be able to keep if the time came, as if they had the talent to stop him. It angered Gaara to see them apologize on his behalf; he could hear the annoyance in their words as they were forced to apologize, as if he weren't capable of apologizing himself.

"Well, that will be it for now," Tsunade concluded. "Please head to your fifth periods now. Gaara's suspension will start next week, and his hours have to be completed before winter break."

.

Shikamaru yawned as Ebisu talked about significant figures. Physics class was proving to be very boring so far. Shikamaru would rather have had Asuma teach him than this stuck-up teacher. He wondered how Konohamaru even learned with this man as his private tutor. He looked around the room. Hyuuga Neji was sitting in the front of the classroom, his posture slightly disinterested. Shiho was also in this class; she was seated next to Shikamaru, concentrating on the lesson, though Shikamaru caught her glancing in his direction every few minutes.

The bell finally rang and Shikamaru sighed. If he had been anyone else, he would have jumped out of his seat and left immediately; however, he was not, and such an act required too much effort on his part. On any other day, he would meet up with Chouji and Ino, and maybe Naruto and the rest of the group, and they would hang out before he had to go back home. Unfortunately, today he was a guide for the Kazekage's children and he still owed an apology to a certain terrifying girl. Shikamaru was not looking forward to seeing any of them, especially after what happened at lunch today.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto burst into Ebisu's classroom. "What's taking you so long? Hurry up! Let's go eat ramen! Iruka-sensei says he'll treat us!"

Shikamaru sighed as he got up. "Sorry, I still have to meet the Suna kids."

"Oh, you mean Gaara, right?" Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement. "Can I come with you, dattebayo?"

Shikamaru shrugged. He didn't understand how Naruto was still so eager to be Gaara's friend after what they had witnessed. "Sure."

The two of them had not made it very far when Chouji appeared, with Gaara a decent distance behind him.

"Hey, Gaara!" Naruto yelled, revealing his location to the red-haired boy.

Gaara approached them, looking cautious. "Hello, Naruto."

Shikamaru offered his own polite greeting, to which Gaara responded in kind. The two of them exchanged looks, but neither commented on Gaara's earlier behavior.

"Come on, let's go!" Naruto said, breaking the silence. The four of them made their way over to Kurenai's room, where Sakura, Kankuro, and Temari had their fifth period class.

"Shikamaru, there you are," said Sakura as the boys approached. "Oh, and Naruto and Chouji, too."

Naruto grinned. "Hey, Sakura-chan! You want to join us? Iruka-sensei says he'll treat us to ramen, dattebayo!"

Sakura smiled politely at him. "No, thanks, Naruto."

"Anyways," said Shikamaru, who wanted to get it over with already, "The first day has ended, so we're no longer your guides anymore. Though, if you do have questions, feel free to ask us."

Shikamaru had to force the words out. No, don't feel free to ask us, Shikamaru wanted to tell them. He had had enough of the three siblings to last a lifetime.

"Thanks for showing us around and stuff," Kankuro said, looking just as relieved as Shikamaru felt.

"Hey, let's all go eat ramen!" Naruto said. "You guys are invited, too!"

"Sorry," said Temari. "We have to go back right now."

Shikamaru noticed how she was looking at everyone but him.

"Oh." Naruto looked disappointed, but then brightened. "Maybe another day, dattebayo?"

Temari shrugged. "Yeah, maybe."

As everyone parted ways, Shikamaru stopped her, earning himself a curious look from Kankuro.

"Hey," he started lamely. The older girl turned to glare at him.

"What is it now?"

Shikamaru swallowed nervously. This was as scary as apologizing to his mother.

"I, uh, just wanted to apologize," the lazy boy said. "For, you know, sighing and stuff. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. It's just a habit of mine."

"Yeah, a very bad habit," Temari said. She looked as if she were debating whether to murder him or not before she finally sighed. "It's fine. It's not like we'll be seeing much of each other anymore."

"Oh. Okay. Then, uh, I'll be going now." Shikamaru started to walk off. When there was no reaction, he assumed she had accepted his apology. He let out a loud sigh. Time to forget about today.

.

Kankuro trudged behind his siblings, his hands in his pockets. He knew what was coming for them when they got back to the hotel. Baki would be standing there, with that same disapproving scowl. At least, Kankuro figured, he wasn't the only one in trouble; Gaara would also get scolded. Baki was probably the only person Gaara would slightly listen to.

To no one's surprise, Baki was right at the entrance of the hotel when they got there. He escorted them to the top floor, and it was an uncomfortable few minutes in the elevator with none of them talking. Temari was looking at the floor, Baki was looking straight ahead, and Gaara was looking as expressionless as usual. Kankuro wondered if he even felt guilty for what he had done, or nearly done.

They finally reached their area of the top floor and Baki immediately glared at them. Kankuro swallowed nervously, avoiding his eyes.

"Would any of you like to explain what happened today?" Baki asked, his voice deadly quiet. "Perhaps you, Gaara?"

Gaara looked up directly into Baki's eyes, though Kankuro caught a look of unease.

"I accidently lost control and pulled out my guns," Gaara stated. "And almost killed a student."

"And what were you doing, Kankuro?" Baki's accusatory glance fell on him.

Kankuro fidgeted with a loose bandage from his puppet. "I was ahead of Gaara, sir, so I did not see the student knock him over."

"And Temari?"

"We had been split up during lunch." His sister sounded calm, but Kankuro knew she was just as nervous as he was. There was no telling how Baki would react, or even worse, how their father would react.

There was a long pause.

"I think all three of you have learned your lessons. And anyways, this was mostly Gaara's fault, and he's already been punished by Tsunade-sama, though I will be adding a month of chores to that list."

Kankuro let out a sigh of relief. Baki wasn't mad. Or at least he was pretending not to be, which was good for now.

"I expect all three of you to stay here for the rest of the day," Baki continued. Kankuro almost groaned out loud, but doing so would have Baki extending the punishment. Suddenly, Baki smiled.

"On a side note, your packages have arrived."

"Packages?" Kankuro grinned. "You mean, from Suna?"

Baki nodded. "That's right." He gestured behind him, and it was only then Kankuro noticed the people holding boxes. One of them was moving a rather large box when he suddenly dropped them. There was the sound of something shattering and Kankuro exchanged alarmed looks with his sister.

"Gaara's gou—" Kankuro and Temari started, but Baki cut them off.

"Gaara's gourd is safe in his room," said Baki. "I'd be crazy to trust the movers with something so precious. I have most of your stuff in your room already, Gaara."

Gaara nodded and walked into his room without a word.

Temari and Kankuro exchanged looks again, except this time one of excitement.

"Finally, Ant and Salamander are here!" Kankuro rushed towards the boxes, startling some of the movers. "It's time to unpack things!"