Ch.6:Psychotic Brothers

"How'd your date with the fucker go?" Where Kankurou's first words as Temari slipped inside the house. The brown-haired boy was lounging on the squishy couch his eyes focused on the grotesque horror flick on the TV.

Gaara was sitting on the floor leaning against the couch, but rather than watching the morbid scene, his green eyes were scanning the flimsy pages of some book. "Just because the lazy chain-smoker has a brain doesn't mean you should call him a loser to make yourself feel better."

Temari removed her shoes and sat on the floor beside the redhead. "Chain smoker?"

He shrugged. "I use the term a bit loosely. I don't think he smokes a lot. Just some."

Funny, she'd never seen him light a cigarette. She frowned. "You do mean cigs, right? Not…like…pot or anything right?"

Kankurou snorted.

Gaara lowered his book to his lap, his fingers holding his place. "Cigs." He clarified calmly. "You really think I would've let you out with a druggie?"

"Excuse me! 'Let me go out'?" She exclaimed indignantly. "You have no say in letting me do or say things, idiot. I'm older!"

Kankurou nudged her firmly with his foot. "So what if you're older?"

"We still get the last word." Gaara continued.

"And first." Kankurou added.

She scowled. "If I wanted to date a murderous druggie then I think I have the right." She huffed out at them indignantly.

Gaara opened his book. "Oh, you more than have the right." His eyes scanned the page to find his place. "Just like we have the right to lock you up or beat up any guy that treats you badly if the case fits."

She smacked the back of his head in annoyance. Honestly; brothers.

Standing up indignantly she made her way to the kitchen. She was thirsty.

"Oy! You never told me how it went with the fucker." Kankurou protested indignantly.

"And I don't intend to." She chimed as she turned the corner from the living room into the kitchen. She found it oddly refreshing and exhilarating to be able to get from the living room to the kitchen without falling or knocking into something. Her mother's boots were nice things, but deadly contraptions.

Who invented heels anyway? What psychopath thought it would be a good idea to have women walk around on pointy skinny sticks?

Really, she wasn't all that well coordinated when her feet were flat on the ground, mix in heels and it spelled certain doom for her.

She grinned and pulled out a box of chocolate chip cookies. She deserved a treat for having walked around on such dangerous things…

Reaching up to pull the box from the top cupboard she managed to drop a bottle of syrup on her head, but other than that there were no lasting damages. She settled happily by the kitchen table and tore open the cookie box. Yum, yum.

Too bad they weren't fresh. Fresh, warm cookies were always so good. She nibbled the edge of the cold chocolate chip cookie. "Oy!" she exclaimed loudly so that Kankurou could hear her as she recalled something, "Tidbit said you were an asshole to Bluey!"

Gaara ambled into the room and pulled the box from her hands without a word. Not even bothering to ask he now held the box in his hands and pulled out a nice round cookie. "Are you talking to me?"

"Kankurou." She clarified.

"What?" Kankurou called, as if changing his mind, he too made his way into the kitchen, though he was grumbling the entire time

"Tidbit said you were—"

Gaara chewed on the cookie thoughtfully, "Translation, Tem, we don't quite speak your language all the time."

Temari rolled her eyes. "…Ten…Tenten! Yeah, Tenten informed me that you were a jerk to…to…" Temari paused. What was the girl's name again? "Oh, whatever. You know who I'm talking about." She snapped.

Kankurou inclined his head in mock ignorance. "No, I don't."

Gaara licked the crumbs of his fingers. "Hinata."

Temari straightened. "Yeah! That one!" Temari blinked looking at her youngest brother. "How do you know that?"

Kankurou looked at Gaara in confusion as well.

Gaara shrugged. "She was crying."

Temari faltered. "…And?"

Gaara pulled out another cookie. "And we talked."

"And?" This time Kankurou pressed in the same disbelief Temari was currently in.

"…We…talked…"

"When you," Kankurou pressed, "say talked, do you mean you stood or sat there and watched as she cried on someone's shoulder or do you mean you where alone with her and let her cry on your shoulder or…"

"I mean," Gaara chewed his cookie slowly, eyeing both of them like they were idiots, "that she was crying and I felt bad so I left Naruto (who was flirting with Sakura) and went to go talk to her…She was really quiet." He added. "But I think she's nice…She likes Naruto, you know."

Temari blinked. "You… You've changed."

Gaara rolled his eyes at her. "You idiots are weird."

Gaara had been…through a phase in his childhood, they'd managed to get him some help and he'd gotten better, but this – this was something new. This was big. "Well excuse me for—"

"Your idiocy is excused, Temari." Gaara interrupted. "I am after all accustomed to it."

"Ugh." She rolled her eyes. "I had to have brothers; you two couldn't have been born female, could you?" She snatched the last cookie out to the box before Gaara's fingers could close around it. He scowled at her. She smirked. Temari took a bite. "Oh!" She swallowed it down quickly, "I was chastising you!"

Gaara blinked. "Why?"

"No, not you!" she kicked Kankurou's shin under the table. "You!"

He grimaced and rubbed his shin. "What did I do?"

"What you making a poor wallflower cry for? She's nice."

"I didn't—"

"Tidbit said you treated her like shit."

"I—"

"Don't deny it!"

He growled. "Dammit, Tem, I can't deny anything if you don't let me talk!"

Temari crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine, loser; talk. Explain to me what possible explanation there could be for you treating that poor nice girl so horribly that you made her cry."

"I…I…" Kankurou stumbled. "That's not…" He bit his lip…"See…"

Gaara was now looking at his brother in curiosity. "So you have no reason?"

"I…"

Temari pressed her lips together. "All to please a skinny blonde, right, brother dear?"

Gaara blinked. "That's why?" His tone was a bit angry. "For Ino?"

Kankurou fidgeted. "Anyone would do that same."

"Oh, don't even!" Temari spat. "That girl is – is…if you have to insult another being to impress another, then you know that girl isn't worth the time of day!"

"Do you know how bad she felt?" Gaara's voice was quiet and chilling.

"I'm sorry, okay!"

"You should apologize to her!" Temari snapped.

"Not everything is about a girl's body, brother." Gaara said before pushing away from the table. "Take a look at who she is." The redhead promptly departed the room.

Temari glared at Kankurou.

He sighed. "I'll apologize, okay?"

"How is it, that our younger psychotic brother has more sense than you!? Ugh. Get a clue, boy." Temari huffed, and pushed away from the table as well. Somehow, though, she got her legs tangled in the legs of the chair she was sitting on she fell face first on the floor.

Ugh.

Chastising worked so much better when you didn't embarrass yourself by being a total klutz.

Kankurou snickered at her.

Idiot boys.

The next morning, Temari already had one foot out the door when she remembered she didn't have to go to work that day. It was her day off. She scowled at her feet and trudged back into the house. Well there went a morning she could have used sleeping.

She shimmied out of her uniform quickly, donning instead some grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

Who said she didn't have style?

Kankurou was, as usual, sleeping – lazy bum. Gaara…actually she had no idea where he was. He was always up early in the morning, but she never knew where he meandered off too.

She pulled a granola bar out of a cupboard and slipped out of the house. The day was nice after all, staying inside didn't seem fair to the yucky greenness. She had to get accustomed to it sooner or later right?

It took her a total of five minutes walking through the town to realize that there wasn't really anywhere to go other than that stupid little store she worked at.

Fan-tastic.

Maybe she should watch clouds….Lazy liked it…

"Yo, Porcupine."

Temari wheeled around, "Tidbit."

She wrinkled her nose. "Are you seriously still calling me that?"

"Are you seriously calling me porcupine?"

"Damn straight."

"Then, damn straight."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Okay, porcupine; shouldn't you be working?"

"Day off."

"Hm." The brunette inclined her head. "I have a question for you."

Temari shrugged. "Shoot."

"Come on."

"Come on?"

The girl smiled. "Yeah, you don't expect me to converse with you happily in the middle of the street now do you?"

Temari snorted. "Like cars would pass anyway."

"Regardless."

Temari followed the short girl to a grassy clearing by a pond. She looked around appreciatively. Suna had a nice golden burning beauty, but Konoha had a soft sheltered niceness that you just couldn't deny. "Nice."

"They're Shikamaru's lands." Tenten paused, "Well technically, they're his family's. Everyone around here knows he won't really keep the farm as his job; he's too smart for that. More likely it will go to his cousin. Even if they do, though, they're still his lands, you know, so he'd get profit from it, even though he wouldn't farm it."

"Um…You've lost me." Lands? Were his family farmers?

Tenten plopped onto the floor. "You don't know?"

"Not…really…"

"Well, his family has a deer farm kind of thing."

"Like…the animals you raise for meat killing?" Temari asked nervously.

Tenten burst into laughter. "Oh, not even! Yoshino would kill the person who suggested such a thing." She brushed the brown hair out of her eyes. "They mostly use the deer for medicinal purposes. They got some cows and chickens too, I think, you know for milk, eggs, and cheese, but mostly they have a medicine thing going on."

"Hn." That was pretty…interesting. "Does that mean he's rich?"

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Does that really matter to you?"

"Just curious."

"Filthy rich." She giggled as she said it. "Only family richer is the Hyuuga."

"…Hyuu—?"

"You know, Neji, Hinata…"

"Oh." Well, he was certifiably a prince now. Filthy stinking rich. That was how the rules went. You weren't' charming, clairvoyant, daring, dashing, or kind? That's okay, so long as you're rich, you can be a prince!

"It's why I think Ino tried to get her claws in him awhile ago."

It's a good thing she wasn't walking or she would've found something to trip over. "Little thing say what?"

She made a silencing motion across her lips. "His story to tell."

Temari's eyes narrowed. "You brought it up!"

"I know, I'm such a tease, right?" She grinned. The girl stretched out on the grassy field. "So, per my question."

Temari leaned back on her hands so she stared up at the clouds. "What's the deal?"

"Your brother, Gaara, is he playing with Hinata?"

"You're gonna have to clarify."

"Well, okay, he told you that he was comforting Hinata yesterday, right?"

"Not in so many words, but yeah."

Tenten continued, "And well, this morning I found them chatting by Hinata's house, and I could've sworn that…well, he was flirting with her and I think Hinata was flirting back and…I just don't want her to be hurt. She's really kind of fragile when it comes to romance."

Temari's lips quirked up. "Flirting?" Really? He was flirting!?

"Mm-hmm."

Temari giggled. "How cute."

Tenten gave a sidelong glance at her. "Weirdo."

"I doubt Gaara would be the kind to play a girl. If it's the money shtick you've got your panties all wound up for, then you should know Gaara doesn't see much value to money; plus he's never had a girl in his whole life. He wouldn't bother even thinking about using a girl. Scorns Kankurou for doing as such."

"So he's not…?"

Temari stretched her legs before her. "I doubt it, but I'll ask anyway."

"You're not lying to me are you?" Tenten asked seriously.

A cool shadow fell upon her brow. "Temari, lie? What blasphemy."

Unwillingly a full blown smile made her way across her lips. "It's a good thing you're starting to learn, Lazy."

Shikamaru dropped down beside her. "You're trespassing."

Temari closed her eyes trying to hide some of her glee. "Tidbit's fault. She dragged me here."

"Oh, my fault?" Tenten huffed, "Aren't you convenient?"

"I try my best, darling." Temari frowned and opened her eyes looking at the brunette, "Oy, is Neji your boyfriend?"

Tenten wrinkled her nose. "Yes. No. Sort of." She sighed. "It's complicated."

Temari jolted a bit as she felt Shikamaru's fingers brush hers.

Tenten giggled.

Shikamaru smirked.

Stupid no-good prince.

The brunette gracefully jumped up. "Well, I'll be off." She grinned. "Leave you two lovebirds be." Jubilantly and very elegantly she skipped off.

Temari groaned. "What is it with you people?"

"Us people?" His fingers intertwined with hers at this comment.

She, much to her chagrin jolted again. "You're also damn graceful. Tenten's got this bouncy sort of grace. Ino's got this very swaying grace. Hinata's got a meek grace. You have a lazy grace – I didn't even know that was possible. Naruto has a clumsy grace – now that SHOULD be impossible. You're all just so…"

"So?"

"Opposite of me."

"Are you referring to the fact that you can't walk across a flat stable surface without finding something to trip over?"

She glared. "Obviously."

He shifted positions so now he was hovering above her, his hands holding him up resting on either side of her head. With one hand he brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "That's okay; your clumsiness is just so attracting."

"Shut up." She glared at him. Though, she had to admit the effect was rather ruined by the jarring red blush dusted upon her cheeks. "Ooh, how I hate men."

"I'm going to kiss you now."

"You'd damn well better."

A/N: I'll be rather occupied for the next two weeks. My IB tests are coming up, and for what is probably the first time in my life, I have to really actually study for a test. Such a thing is unheard of for me. Alas, so I'll be pretty inactive for the next two weeks, mostly occupied by studying, cramming, all-nighters, and some occasional freak-outs. I just thought I should give you guys a treat before I went on a pause.

If I have time, I'll keep writing, but I'm not making any promises.