Late the next afternoon, Gaara was icing his hand. There had to be a better way to do this letter writing. The sand couldn't help him here. Or maybe he could use the sand to control the pen? No. That used too much chakra to control a pen with enough precision. Something less tiresome then, perhaps a secretary? Yeah, that ought to help. The knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
Gaara didn't move, but his sand roiled out from the gourd to wrap itself around the door handle. The Suna guard outside looked spooked as the door seemingly opened on its own.
"That's just creepy." Kankuro groused, not looking up from his 'project'.
"Oh, and that's not creepy." Gaara eyed the disjointed parts of a puppet spread out all over the table. Was it his imagination, or was Karasu's head, unattached to anything, scowling at him? "Besides, he's a new guard. He'll get used to the way I open doors."
"If you don't kill this one." Kankuro casually replied, making the un-named guard's eyes widen with fear as he approached the table.
Gaara snarled, making the guard tremble. "That was a long, long time ago. Two or three months at least. And thank you SO much for reminding me of that, now I have to add it to 'Part 2' of my letter to the Suna council."
"E…exx…exc…." The guard stuttered.
Gaara frowned up at the man, making the stammering worse.
"Oh, get it out man. He's much less likely to be irritated by the message than your slow way of g…g…gee….gett..getting it out." Kankuro sighed heavily, his fingers moving over the small parts with a delicate touch.
Karasu's disembodied head turned with a chattering sound to stare at the guard.
The guard dropped the message on the table and backed away, his eyes shifting nervously between Karasu and Gaara, his fear obvious.
After the man was gone, Kankuro groaned. "Did you see that? He was scared of you, no surprise there. But he was more scared of Karasu than he was of me! It's not like the puppet can do anything on his friggin' own!"
"Kill a few guards for little to no reason and they'll fear you." Gaara told him with casual disregard as he picked up the message. "But then they might send assassins after you, or worse yet …make you write down all your mistakes. I think I liked it better when they kept sending people to kill me. Made good practice for me anyway."
Kankuro nodded. It was a sign that his brother really was changing for the better. He'd not actually injured or killed anyone in nearly 72 hours. A new record.
"Oh fuck you." Gaara frowned as he scanned the message. "You left the door open again and Killer got out again last night. He's at the southern guard house."
Kankuro's shoulders rounded as he kept his head down. He didn't admit to intentionally leaving the door open in the hopes that 'Killer', as the Chihuahua was known, would run away. That was not a puppy, it was an overgrown hairless rat! And it kept peeing in his boots. At least the ones that he hadn't chewed to pieces with his tiny, evil teeth.
"Sorry." He murmured.
"Well." Gaara stared pointedly at him. "Go get your puppy. He must be starving by now. Stop by at the café and pick up some steak for him, make sure they chop it really small. He almost choked last time. And wrap him up safely, he might have been cold last night."
Kankuro kept his voice calm, but only barely. "It's a desert, Gaara. Of course he's not cold! And we don't eat steak as much as you feed that mutt."
Gaara stared hard at his brother, the fires deep in his eyes reflecting the power inherent in his smaller frame. Kankuro swallowed and backed up a step.
"Fine. I'm on my way."
o.o.o.o.o
Dear Naruto:
As you may or may not have heard, I'm using a 12 step program to come to terms with my anger. It seems that I owe you a letter listing my 'wrongs' towards you and attempting to make amends. So, here it is. Oh, this isn't my handwriting, it's some stupid girl from the council office.
o8o Hi! I'm Ano. And I'm not stupid. o8o
Okay, here goes:
1. I'm sorry that I was so rude to you at our first meeting. I'd like to say it was an intentional part of our evil plan to attack your village. But the truth is, that was just me.
o8o Yep, that sounds like him! - Ano o8o
2. I'm sorry that I discounted you as a non-threat and a general boob.
3. I'm sorry that I called you all sorts of stupid names, most of which I can't even remember.
o.o.o.o.o
16. I'm sorry that I was rude to all the other people in your village. But since I was pretty rude to everyone, you shouldn't feel so bad about my being rude to you in particular.
17. Yet I'm sorry that I was rude to you especially. I didn't like you.
18. I'm sorry that I didn't like you.
o.o.o.o.o
32. I'm sorry that I tried to kill your friend, Lee. And to keep from repeating myself, use this apology for ALL the times I tried to kill Lee. Or even thought about killing Lee. Or planned on how to kill Lee. If I apologized for all those times this letter might be miles long.
o8o Ouch. Is this Lee guy still alive? Wow. - Ano o8o
33. I'm sorry that I threatened you and Nara at the hospital. That was very rude of me, or so I'm told.
34. I'm sorry that I told you and Nara about Shukaku. I wonder if I hadn't told you, then you might not have found a way to fight me so effectively later. Everything could have been different.
o8o Wow. You fought Gaara and lived too? I wouldn't mind meeting you, you know. - Ano o8o
35. I'm sorry that part of me still wishes I'd won that fight. Mostly that is Shukaku, but some of its me too. Sorry 'bout that.
o.o.o.o.o
58. I'm sorry that I didn't take the time to get to know you better. I was so busy fondling your Leaf kunoichis that I didn't realize who and what you are. We're a lot alike.
o8o Hmph. You're like him?! I don't want to meet you after all. - Ano o8o
o.o.o.o.o
73. I'm sorry that you got so injured fighting me. Except, I'm not sorry for the fight itself.
o8o I wouldn't mind meeting this Lee fellow though – Ano o8o
74. I'm sorry that I'm not sorry for the fight. But without that fight I wouldn't have faced my anger issues. I wouldn't be trying so hard to change. So, no …I'm not sorry we fought.
75. I am sorry I took your teammate hostage.
76. I'm sorry I taunted Susuke.
77. I'm sorry I taunted you.
78. I guess, I'm just plain sorry. This is actually the hardest letter it was to write …
o8o he's not writing it, I am! - Ano o8o
…but probably one of the most important. So not only do I want to say that "I'm sorry" I also want to say "Thank you."
Sincerely, Gaara of the Sand
o8o And Ano of Suna o8o
P.S. If you're wondering about the line I drew through certain portions of this letter, don't bother. My EX-secretary told you she wasn't stupid, but she was. Did she think I wouldn't read this before sending it to you?
Double P.S. If you're wondering why I don't just write it all out again, well the reason I had a secretary in the first place because my hand hurts. Second, I couldn't find another secretary after she went screaming off about a Sand 'dragon' attacking her. I'm almost as good as Kankuro using sand sculptures instead of puppets. Dragon? Sheeesh.
Triple P.S. Do you reckon that I need to write her an apology? I hope not.
o.o.o.o.o
Sorry if you didn't like Ano. I was having a "Monty Python" moment. "A moose bit my sister once ..."
LOL