Author's Note: Uh, by the way…there's kind of a misunderstanding. I don't think KibaxIno is a cute couple. At least, not in this fanfic. I'm more ShinoxIno fan, anyway. But yeah, a slightly shorter chapter. My, I've been writing a lot!
Sixteen. Into Disaster
Kankuro
Gaara stood over me, brandishing a large, red-trimmed scroll.
"What is it?" I asked, raising my head. The single shaft of light that slipped though the open door hit my eye. I winced, turning away.
Gaara nudged me with his foot. "An invitation," he said. "The Chuunin exams are once again taking place in Konaha."
"So? It's not like we have any shinobi to send."
Gaara shook his head. "You misunderstand me. This is not an invitation for our students—it's an invitation for us. They wish for us to come and watch the finals."
"Go back…to Konaha?" I lifted my head, half-elated, half-pleading. I wanted to go. I wanted to see him so, so badly. But yet, I didn't want to go. What if he'd moved on? I didn't think I could handle it, seeing him with someone else.
"Yes. We have received their invitation, and I wrote back a message saying that we would attend."
"You can attend. I'm not leaving this room."
Gaara rolled his eyes. "It's not like that's much of a threat. The last time you moved from this room was what, three months ago?"
"It was two weeks," I pouted.
"Long enough," Gaara sighed. He put a hand to his head, running it though his short hair. He closed his eyes, obviously trying to keep his temper in check. His patience with me was wearing thin. "You're getting soft, Kankuro. You used to be so ambitious. And now, one bad day, and suddenly you're incapacitated for five months? Not, weeks, not days, but months, Kankuro. Months. I can't have you sitting here any longer."
"So? Send me on another mission or something, if you want me out of here so badly." I put an arm on the window sill, opening the curtain just a fraction. The sunlight that seeped in through the open space was blinding. Somewhere far off, I could hear the wind. Wind. How long had it been since I had felt that element on my face?
"I do have a mission for you," Gaara hissed. "And it starts as of now."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Get up, get dressed." He threw a set of black robes, trimmed with gold, at me. I had never seen them before. "Those were made for you specially. I decided that we needed to look a bit more…presentable for this mission. Now hurry up. I leave in an hour, and if you're not there I'll be forced to find you and give you a refresher course on why you are to obey me."
"Gaara?"
He closed his eyes, leaning against the doorframe. "What?"
"What sort of mission is this?"
"I thought it would be obvious, Kankuro," he said, turning his basilisk glare on me. "It is simple, and it's not like you haven't done it a thousand times before. You are to come with me, and you will be my bodyguard on the journey and throughout my stay in Konaha. And I won't take no for an answer."
Konaha was bright, and alive with the smells and sounds of a festival. Vendors called out the names of their different foods, children raced underfoot, eager to play the carnival games, and various jounin stumbled out of bars, clearly hammered.
One little girl and her brother ducked between my legs, and I stumbled, nearly losing my balance. "Stupid brats," I muttered.
"Kankuro," Gaara barked from my right. "Stand up straight. You represent Suna. At least try to act in some sort of respectable manner."
I frowned, but said nothing. Gaara was wearing his Kazekage robes, and he seemed to be a lot taller than I remembered. His face was covered by a veil, and the pointed hat that adorned his head covered up all traces of his red hair. The only way to identify he was still Gaara was either by his dark-rimmed eyes, which were constantly searching the streets, or the large gourd of sand on his back.
Gaara eyes turned back to look at me. "Those robes look good on you, by the way," he added. "I knew I chose the right colors."
I did a turn in the middle of the street, watching how the sleeves flowed. "I should probably thank you, shouldn't I, you little troublesome brat?"
"Watch who you're talking to," he warned, but his tone held no malice. He was merely being playful, something he didn't do that often.
"Turn here," Gaara said, pointing to a large bar. "This is where we're meeting Temari."
"And she's with Nara?"
"Supposedly. Though last I talked to her, they were having a fight of some sort. I can never tell if that's a good sign or not."
I eyed the bar carefully, then slipped inside ahead of Gaara.
"Hey, Gaara!" I heard Temari shout. She was sitting in a table with Nara, along with a blonde shinobi I recognized as Yamanaka Ino. Temari waved us over, yelling to the bartender that we would need more drinks.
Gaara sat down, and I quickly followed suit. Yamanaka frowned, and looked at me as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"K-Kankuro," Temari stuttered, nervously drumming her fingers on the tabletop. She seemed to be nervous of my presence. That was unusual. "I though you weren't coming."
"The Kazekage told me I had no choice. I'm not allowed to sit and brood in my own dark corner. I have to get up and face the world."
A buxom waitress set a glass of sake down in front of me. I picked it up and sipped at it, just to have something to do with my hands and mouth. I needed to constantly have my hands doing something, or else I would go crazy. That I was sure of.
"Heeeey, Kankuro," Ino smiled. Her voice was sweet, like a cleverly disguised toxic poison. You knew it was dangerous, but you just couldn't figure out why.
"Ino," I smiled, trying to rid myself of the urge to vomit. "Good to see you. How have you been?"
"Excellent." She smiled in her soft, girlish way.
"Party downtown tonight," Shikamaru said, wrapping his hand around Temari's. "You guys are coming, right?"
"I have a date, of course," Ino bragged, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulders. She sipped her drink and eyed me carefully. I wondered if she expected me to be jealous of her, for some reason. Then again, maybe it was just the lighting in the bar. I couldn't tell.
Gaara smiled acidly. "Of course we are. Won't it be fun, Kankuro?"
"Fun," I breathed.
Fun. Right. I had almost forgotten what fun was.
And the way Ino was staring at me, with that venomous grin of hers, I had a feeling that trying to have fun was only going to be the beginning of my problems.
