Five days doesn't seem like a long time. In the grand scheme of things, it's almost laughably short.
However, when you have a megalomaniac out for your head but you have no idea when they're going to strike...five days feels like torture.
Really, the genin of Team 7 should be applauded for making it a full twenty four hours before they lost their cool and needed an outlet for their stress. They were only genin, and high stakes like an S-rank shinobi being out for your head usually didn't occur until you at least made chunin or an impressive name for yourself. Team 7 hadn't done either of those.
So, Team 7 was on high alert, stressed, and confined to a rather small space (one building really wasn't enough for their kind of energy). They were limited on where they could go and they weren't stupid enough to practice or train while other genin could potentially see what they were doing. They were also quite used to being pressed to the max both physically and mentally on a daily basis.
The sitting and waiting was going to end up getting ugly rather soon, and rather than end up accidentally blowing up the whole place, they came up with an alternative. As Kakashi would say, "Adapt!"
Besides, local ninja or foreign ninja, Team 7 had the perfect solution to do what they do best.
Temari, if she knew who the culprits were, would surely disagree. She shook out her uniform and slipped it on, distracted by the fact she and Kankuro had to be in close quarters with Gaara for four more days. Already Kankuro had almost gotten them turned into paste twice by yammering on foolishly about stupid things. Temari had barely been able to talk Gaara down, using the exam itself as her ace in the hole. Only her insistence about stronger foes in the near future if he was patient had kept him from smearing red on the walls.
Temari stepped out from behind the blind she'd set up to change behind, neatly folding it back down to size.
"Wh-what the-!" Kankuro pointed wildly at her. "What did you do to your uniform?!"
Temari paused, hands aloft to fix her hair into its signature look. "Huh?" She glanced down. "EEEEHHHH?!" Her arms immediately dropped to cover herself. The entire top front half of her outfit had been cut out, leaving only her mesh armor underneath. "Wh-what did you do?! You pig!" Her whole face was bright red as she glared murderously at Kankuro.
"Hey! I didn't do it!" He waved his hands emphatically in front of him.
"Who else would have done it?!" she hissed. She stalked towards him, one hand pulling out a kunai. "Gaara wouldn't dare let anyone else enter our room!"
"I didn't do it!" insisted Kankuro, grabbing Karasu and thrusting the puppet between them as Temari's hand slashed out.
*pff-riiiiiip!*
Temari blinked.
Kankuro howled in fury. "Where the hell is Karasu?!" In his hands was a dumpy stuffed doll with a henohenomoheji painted on the head under an old yellowed mop. Temari had gutted the large doll and stuffing was pooling all over the floor.
Temari eyed the ugly thing before stepping away as her brother ranted about the kinds of torture the culprit would be in for. She glanced down at her outfit with a scowl. If it wasn't Kankuro, who the hell was it? How on earth did they get past Gaara?!
Kankuro's loud voice could be heard echoing down the hall as another leaf chunin led a newly arrived team, the team that Kabuto's team would have decimated, to their room. Instead, the Ame genin followed obediently to a door that the chunin moved to open, wisely choosing not to investigate what all the ruckus down the hall was about.
"This is where you'll be staying for-" spoke the chunin, knob twisting and the door swinging open with a soft creak.
*SPLAT!*
The chunin and three genin stood in stunned silence.
"Is this a joke?" asked one of the male Ame genin, anger leaking into his voice.
All four were sopping wet, an arsenal of popped balloons littering the floor around them.
When the genin turned to the chunin, they were startled to find the man's face pale.
"Not here," murmured the chunin, eyes wild. "Anywhere but here." He whimpered. "I swear, I thought this was a safe job! It's the kami-damned chunin exams! How? How?!"
Aaaand then he shunshined out of there like the place had gone up in flames, leaving three confused and unhappy soaked genin behind.
"Konoha is wack," remarked the leader of the trio, shaking his head and moving towards their temporary residence.
*THAP!*
His teammates edged away under his KI, his body completely covered with flour.
"Where is Karasu?!" demanded Kankuro, grabbing the nearest Ame genin and shaking her furiously. They hadn't heard his thundering approach due to their shock.
"Let her go!" The other male of the group threw a shuriken at the enraged Suna nin, making him drop the Ame teen.
Their leader stepped out into the hall, his KI filling the space in a five foot radius. "Is this your fault?"
Kankuro gaped. "'The fu-ck happened to you?!"
"...Where are the baths?"
Kankuro pointed. "That way." He couldn't help the amused smirk that crossed his lips as he watched the trio moodily walk down the hall. He snickered when they were out of sight.
He blanched. "Wait! Karasu!" Kankuro barreled down the hall, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Kaa-rraaa-suuuu!"
A small mouse scurried away in a staggering fashion. It barely made it into a tiny hole before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Gaara was a little disturbed that the walls unexpectedly started laughing. He was used to the voice in his head. That was normal. But when the walls themselves started snickering, he decided that maybe he should go sit with his siblings. Weird things like that didn't happen when they were around.
The redhead abruptly pivoted on his foot and walked right back the way he'd come rather than continue to explore in solitude, completely ignoring the nervous sweat breaking out across his brow.
When Kankuro shot past him, blathering on about that stupid puppet and some interesting forms of torture, Gaara hesitated. Kankuro disappeared around the corner he'd just come from.
Kankuro yelped, followed by a loud thud. A short bit later, Kankuro was squealing like a stuck pig.
The walls laughed again, only closer this time, like people were standing on either side of him.
Gaara froze, eyes glancing up and down the hall. Kankuro had turned the corner, and that left the redhead the sole occupant of that stretch of hallway.
Cold sweat trickled down Gaara's spine.
Gaara shunshined without thought, instantly transporting himself to his and his siblings room. He suppressed a shudder and quickly opened the door.
Temari pinned him with a glower. The usually meek blond looked like she was rooting around in his brain for answers, untold threats glittering in her dark eyes. She was crouched on her bed in one of Kankuro's black undershirts, a needle and thread in hand.
Usually Gaara would put her in her place. Such looks were laughable after dealing with the things their father had thrown at him.
But the laughter had left him a little on edge.
So, instead of him immediately threatening her, they just stared at each other for several tense moments before Temari 'tsked' and focused back on the garment in her hands.
Gaara paused once more. He had never been frightened or intimidated by his siblings, but someone had clearly pissed Temari off to a point she'd forgotten her fear of him enough to actually wordlessly threaten him. Him.
That meant she might be foolish enough to actually follow through with it too.
Gaara usually didn't care one way or another, but if he were being honest, of his two siblings, Temari had always been the most tolerable. If he killed her, he'd have to deal with Kankuro by himself, and Kankuro would probably be dead before the sun set (if that long). If he killed them, he'd have to deal with both Baki and his father.
Ugh.
He was just about to leave once more, only to hear a burst of giggling echo at the end of the hall.
Gaara was inside the room and the door slammed resoundingly shut behind him in less than a heartbeat. Temari was staring at him wide eyed from her bed as he glared cautiously at the door like it was going to bite him.
They remained that way another few minutes before Gaara finally turned from the wooden thing to face her. His gaze was completely expressionless, but his sand was still shifting around restlessly, revealing his unease.
"Talk," he demanded, arms crossing over his chest.
And for the life of her, Temari couldn't find words to speak beyond confused spluttering and wild gestures.
