Me - How awesome am I?

K - Not very?

Me - Then explain why I have chapters going up so fast?

K - Because they were already written?

Me - Shut up fool! You don't have any proof you hooded mongrel!

K - Who uses the word mongrel any more?

Gaara - I do

Me - Yay! Also, I don't own Naruto... because crazy people don't get to own imaginary characters D:

-Fast Forward 2 weeks-

"Ebi I do not have time for this!" The violet eyed woman shouted. A small black hair little boy with chocolate eyes was running around the kitchen, trying to practice his ninja skills or something and getting in her way.
"Gotcha!" She announced as she wrapped her arms around the squirming child.
"Rae! You have a visitor!" Kadar shouted from the front.
"Tell them to wait! I'm busy torturing a small child!" Rae yelled, headlocking the 8 year old.
"Uncle uncle! Help!" Kadar burst in at the small childs plea.
"Rae! Leave Ebi alone!" Kadar shouted.
"Then tell that little brat to stay out of the kitchen when I'm working! He keeps sneaking up on my deaf side and its becoming a nuisance!" Rae yelled back. Kadar sighed and ushered the small boy out of the kitchen. A tall man walked in and Rae stopped for a minute to look him over, her memory failing to remember who he was. He was tall and wore a black tunic and black pants. A hood with cat ears covered his head and his face was painted with purple lines.
"Can I help you with something?" She sneered. The man looked slightly taken aback by her attitude.
What the hell is her problem? He thought, eyeing the woman warily.
"Yeah, I'm Temari's brother, she asked me to look in on the cake while she's in Konoha." He announced annoyed at the womans arrogance.
"Oh! She talks about her brothers all the time when she's hear but I guess I never associated it with a face." SHe giggled at her mistake. Kankuro narrowed his eyes.
"She talks about me?" He asked.
"Oh yeah! Whenever she comes in she chats up a storm. Its distracting sometimes... but it's kind of nice to have someone to talk to." The woman smiled at him. Kankuro snickered. Sp that's why it takes her hours to check up the stupid cake. He thought. Every time Temari went to go check up on it's progress she was gone for hours at a time. The young woman in front of him motioned for him to follow.
"The actual cake itself has not been baked yet. Temari's been helping me make sure the almond flavored batter tastes right. We finally got that finished the othre day, and now I'm working on the icing. I'm still a little unsure on how to create the grainy texture of sand for the main decoration but I'll figure it out eventually." Rae giggled and turned to look at the man following. She was not happy with what she saw, not happy at all. The man, she hadn't caught his name, was ogling her behind in a most obvious way. Strike one. She stopped walking and waited for him to look up. He finally did after almost running into her, and caught sight of her furious face. Her features were scrunched into a snarl and her fists were clenched tightly.
"You have 5 seconds to leave before I force you." She growled at him. Rae watched him panic for a moment and realized what Temari had told her.

Kankuro, he's the puppet master, is such a pervert! I swear he has like ten girls following him everywhere!" Temari said, exasperated at her brothers popularity. "I mean he's such an idiot! How could any woman possibly like that?" She held her hand sup in defeat.

This memory only infuriated the small woman more. Strike two.
"Come on baby, There's no harm in lookin'." Kankuro said, a cheeky grin plastered on his smug face. Strike three. The cheeky bastard just dug his own grave and Rae was going to throw him into it. She grabbed the nearest item, a large pot, and swung, missing his head by inches.
"Your 5 seconds are up." She sneered at him. He looked more amused than scared, something she didn't understand. Most guys ran in fright no matter how hot she was. She continued to glare at him, readying to take another swing. She swung again, but he merely vanished in a puff of smoke.
"God damn ninjas!" She screamed, tossing the pot against the wall. She flung her apron off and stormed out to the front of the bakery where Kankuro was leaning against the counter. She seethed at him silently before turning her gaze to Kadar.
"I'm going home." She announced before stomping out of the shop. Kadar looked at Kankuro who looked amused at his daughters antics.
"She's a firey one huh?" Kankuro said, turning to leave. Kadar knew the puppeteers reputation and didn't like it one bit.
"You better leave her alone. She doesn't take to kindly to guys like you." The shop owner stated calmly, not wanting to offend the puppet master more than his daughter probably already had.
"I can tell." Kankuro chuckled and left the shop.

Kankuro lept on top of the buildings, musing about the small woman. She was lively and ... different. She was hot, he had to give her that, but her temper seemed a bit out of control and she almost reminded him of his sister. He landed on top of a building, gazing around him and spotted the young woman, her wild hair loose from the bandana and flowing loosely behind her. In the sunlight her hair shone a pretty dark red color. He admired her for a minute before jumping down into the empty street to follow her. He wasn't trying to hide his presence, but she still didn't seem to notice him.
He was right behind her on her right side.
"Hey." He said. She didn't respond. He stopped walking, dumbfounded. She just totally ignored him.
"Hey!" He said more forcefully, grabbing her shoulder. She jumped, startled.
"Ah!" She yelled and turned around, glaring at him.
"Don't scare me like that!" She yelled at him, then turned to walk away. He trotted back up to her on her right side again and started talking. Rae glared and watched his lips move and she could hear him a little bit but she didn't understand the words. She grabbed his sleeve and forced him to stand on her left side.
"What the hell?" He shouted at her.
"I'm deaf on that side you moron. When you stand and talk to me on my right side I can't hear a damn thing." She spat out at him. he stared at her for a minute as they walked.
"Oh... sorry about that." She glanced up at him, a little surprised he apologized. Rae heaved a sigh.
"What do you want?" She rubbed her temples, already feeling the oncoming headache. He looked at her for a minute, and she could feel his gaze.

He WAS going to ask her out and he WAS going to make her go whether she actually wanted to or not but something changed his mind. Maybe it was that sad look in her eyes when she glanced up at him or the fact that they were simply walking in silence and she wasn't yelling at him that did it. He kept his mouth shut, unsure of what he actually wanted.
She rolled her eyes when he didn't answer her question. What a moron. She thought. Kankuro was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a woman call out to him. he smiled in the young females direction and winked. The girl trotted over and situated herself between him and Rae. He frowned slightly at that.
"How are you doing, Kankuro-kuuuun?" She said sweetly. Kankuro saw Rae roll her eyes. She picked up her pace and turned down a small alleyway as he stood there chatting with the woman.

Rae wasn't surprised in the least, and frankly she didn't care. She was glad for the woman's interruption. The silence between her and the puppet master was making her uncomfortable. She reached her small apartment. Up until a year ago she lived with Kadar, but he insisted she get her own place, so she settled for a small apartment close to the bakery. The sun had been killing her on the walk home and when she stepped into the cool apartment she sighed in relief. She put a pot on the stove for some tea and collapsed in the bed in the next room.
Lately, she hadn't been able to sleep well and she assumed it was from the stress at work. A small meow came from under her bed. She grinned.
"Kuro... here kitty kitty." She called. A small black kitten jumped onto the bed.
"You called?" A voice from her window purred. Rae jumped up, tangling herself in the sheet and falling face first onto the floor. She glared up at Kankuro.
"Not Kami's sake, stop following me!" She untangled herself from the offending sheets and stood up, glaring at the puppeteer now crouching in her window. Another meow. Her anger instantly faded as she turned to the tiny kitten still on her bed. She picked him up and nuzzled him softly.

"Are you hungry? Your so cute!" She said, her voice a little higher than usual.

"Why thank you." Rae turned to glare at the cheeky man still crouching in her window.

"Not you!" She walked over to him and gave him a slight shove, effectively pushing him out of the window. She gasped, not really expecting him to fall out of the window, and looked to the ground.

"Worried I was hurt?" He said, standing on the side of her building, underneath the window.

"No! you god damn ninja! i was just making sure you were dead." She huffed and slammed the window shut. Kankuro chuckled a bit. The woman didn't seem to be in the habit of locking her windows so he simply opened the window back up and jumped inside.

"You're really cute when you're angry." He said, sitting at her kitchen table. She turned to him and sputtered a little bit.

"You can't just break into my home! Get out!" She pointed to the door, her face growing red.

"I didn't break in. You didn't lock your windows." Her glare intensified ten fold at his comment, but he was used to it. After living with Gaara for so long, you kind of become immune to glares. He smirked.

"So what's for lunch?" he asked. She turned back to him, grinning evilly.

"You want some lunch?" She asked, malice dripping from every word. He nodded, unaffected by her tone. She shuffled about the kitchen for about 20 minutes before coming out with two plates with rice balls. He was surprised at her sudden change of attitude. She was smiling at him, as she set the plate down in front of him. He glanced at the food suspiciously.

"What? You don't trust me?" Rae said sweetly, taking a bite of her rice ball. He glanced back at her then took a bite of his. It actually tasted pretty good, until he got to the filling. He sputtered and stuck his tongue out.

"Oh my kami thats awful! What the hell is this?" He looked over to the now red Rae. She was trying so hard to fight her laughter but couldn't hold it anymore. She belted out a laugh.

"It's cat food!" She banged her fist on the table, laughing insanely. Kankuro paled, then grew red with anger.

"You bitch!" He picked up the rice ball still on his plate and pelted her with it. Her laughter instantly stopped as the rice fell off of her face. She wiped the offending substance off, looked at his fluster face and began laughing again.

Kankuro watched her. He assumed she would get mad, or something, but she just kept laughing eventually falling out of her chair and rolling on the floor. He liked her laugh. It was light and airy. He began laughing too, unsure of what else to do. She sat back up and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Here." She slid her plate over to him with one rice ball still on it. He turned his nose up at it. She giggled.
"Your loss." She picked up the rice ball and bit into it, revealing a filling of bar b que pork. A whine managed to slip its way out of Kankuro's throat. He was hungry, and still couldn't get the cat food taste out of his mouth. She giggled again.
"You can come watch me make more so you can be sure i don't put anything else wierd in them." She smirked as she busied herself with cleaning up the rice on the floor.
Kankuro followed her into the kitchen. She took more rice out of the steamer and began making some rice balls with pork in the center. She handed one to Kankuro amd he took a bite.
"Wow, you're pretty good cook huh?" He asked, taking another one off of the counter.
"It's what I enjoy. I was the one who convinced dad to open the bakery in the first place." She smiled at the memory.
"It was a good idea. Temari's really excited." He smiled back at her. Kuro rubbed up against Rae's legs.
"Aw! Did the mean Kankuro eat your kitty food? Yes he did! yes he did!" The woman picked up the small feline, and set it on the counter next to a bowl. She poured some cat food into it the and the little cat mewled happily.
"Kuro?" Kankuro asked.
"Well, for lack of a better name, I figured I'd call him black, since he is black." She petted the small kitten as it ate. Kankuro petted the small kitten too. He had a soft spot for animals, especially cats. The little kitten purred. Rae's fingers brushed Kankuro's and he recieved a small static shock.
"Well, you should probably be going. ninja duties and all that jazz." She began forcefully shoving him out of the door.
"Hey wait!' He stood in the door way of her apartment.
"What?" She huffed.
"Why don't you like ninja's?" He asked and promptly had the door slammed in his face. He jumped around to her kitchen window and unlatched it.
"So can I come back over tomorrow for dinner?" He asked, spooking her yet again. She glared heavily at him.
"Only if you want to eat cat food again." She snarled. He laughed and disappeared from her window.
"Arrogant son of a bitch." She muttered under her breath.

Kankuro lept over the rooftops, grinning. When he got home he had to suffer through Temari's cooking, but did so without complaining, still in a good mood from earlier. Temari and Gaara exchanged worried glances, wondering if the puppet master finally lost his mind.
"Kankuro, you're awfully quiet." Temari said. She had sent her brother to go check on her cake while she was gone for the day, but he hadn't returned for hours and was now suddenly silent. She wondered if something went wrong. Kankuro looked at his two siblings.
"Yeah, just been an interesting day!" He said and excused himself from the table, locking himself in his room.
Again, Temari and Gaara exchanged worried glances.
"I think he's finally lost it." Temari said to Gaara. Gaara nodded his agreement.

READ IT, LOVE IT, REVIEW IT! Fools!

By the way... I forgot what I was going to say! Hahahaha! I'm great!