(( 6 reviews... I'm so happy! Here's what they say!))

Your Demon:

i reviewed! whee! hehe. wow. i was the first one! whoo! i liked this chapter.
update soon. and you are aware that their meat is not meat. my friend works
there and he highly advised us saying "DO NOT EAT THE MEAT." and then walked
away like a zombie. frankly, it scared the crap out of me, and everyone else
who was there. i mean, come on! that's not right, and unlike
xXTwilight-KunoichiXx i know that im saying this to save your life. DONT EAT
McDONALDS...

(I don't think xXTwilight-KunoichiXx was trying to advertise for McDonalds but I rarily eat there, anyway. I'm addicted to gyros instead. But that's just my thoughts.)

Kina Lupi:

um... hes recoiling because he dosent want to be hurt again like with
yashimaru were he only pretended to love him

(nice try but no dice! :3 and I don't think that Yashamaru PRETENDED so much as TRIED for his sister's sake. sighs in the end, his hate and sadness for his sister's death was too strong. anyway, it's true that Gaara didn't want to be hurt again but that's not the message the picture was displaying that freaked him out so much)

VampireGaaraCheesepuffs:

LOVE IT!
This is my first time reviewing for this story! (guess I'm just completely
and utterly heartless...like Gaara! .)
Anyway, your story tis very entertaining, and funny like.
So PWEASE UPDATE!
I'll give you a cheesepuff if you do XD
VampireGaaraCheesepuffs
Everything you love in one PenName

(Aww... thanks for reviewing! But you're not heartless... unless you want to be cuz you like to . anywho... I'm glad that you like it and I'll update right now for that cheesepuff. Here's your brownie looks at crowd of angry fans that tried to answer her picture riddle what? she gave me a cheesepuff... O.O' if no one can answer the riddle right, I'll give everybody brownies-- winner gets TWO)

NeferNeferi:

Good chapter; this just shows that Gaara isn't completely closed up yet (he
wants to be, but it seems there's a part of him that isn't just yet). I hope
Kankuro can find Chikage and convince her to get through to Gaara.
As for what the picture may signify, I actually took it as if Gaara had found
found happiness with Chikage (the smile and the picture) and that people were
beginning to love him (the fan letters). It was kind of like a thing that said
something like "I have people's respect/love, but I only need Chikage's." I
don't know if this is right, but that's how I took it. Anyway, please update
soon!

(OMG... O.O that was amazing! I understand exactly what you are saying... but I took things a little bit differently. gives two brownies anyway good job NeferNeferi!)

Akizu Miko:

Auw. I hope he finds her really fast!
(first thing's first... he's gotta get his hands on that picture lol)

xXTwilight-KunoichiXx:

hey if i saw someone draw a great pic of me I'd be flattered...maybe the pic
meant that hes not the only one that loves him and that there are other ppl in
"his" world that loves him and that he doesnt have to be alone and him knowing
that probably makes him mad because he doesnt want to get hurt again like what
his uncle did to him.Or he doesn't want to lose her if something happens since
ya know he's gaara but i think the other explanation is better than this one
probably he doesn't want to love again because he doesn't want to get hurt in
the end Well idk i think thats it o well Tell me if anything i keep loving
your story!

(good try but sorry... it's true that he doesn't wanna be hurt though nodding in understanding.)

((Okay, NeferNeferi was the closest so she got two brownies... so everyone else gets one... or how many they wanna take off this platter puts platter on a table in the corner of her convenient office/livingroom Now as for the message that I got-- everyone's opinions were appreciated and true but...-- the message is that Gaara is loved more than he thinks... but he probably wouldn't know who the people were because in the envelopes were just letters of adoration. Words come to us so easily... and they fade just as quickly. But a face is needed to match those words and a true sense of love is expressed. So in the picture, he wants that one picture of Chikage more than all of those lipstick/heart-covered letters (which he might have been suspicious about since they could have been lies)... because a picture is "worth a thousand words" and she didn't have to give him a note to tell him how much she loved him.))

((Now, with that said, let's see how Kankuro reacts))

Chapter 15: Pictures Are Worth WAY Too Many Words

Kankuro had done the easy part-- got to the house. It was lucky that he had a thorough knowledge of the terrain that was girl's houses or he might have had to wake up some people to find out where to go. He'd only been to the house once-- not enough time for ANYBODY to know where to go after walking to their home on the other side of the frickin' city! He wouldn't have gotten lost... just turned around. But since he was there, he had succeeded in part one of half of his task. Part two was getting in there and obtaining that blasted picture.

'Man, this better be pretty damn freaky if Gaara's acting THIS way...' he thought, cursing his brother's sensitivity. He looked around, searching for some sort of window to get into the house with... no such luck.

And as though his luck could get any better, the front door that he was standing right in front of opened up to reveal Hito. The puppeteer just about jumped out of his body suit. "Oh... it's just you..."

"Nice to see you, too..." the boy replied sarcastically as he shut the door behind him. "Where's my sister?"

Kankuro rubbed the back of his clothed neck. How was he supposed to tell a little kid that his sister ran away because of his homicidal nutcase of a brother? "Uh... I don't know where she is... but I need to search her room. Maybe something in there can point me in the right direction..."

"There's nothing in there that you need." His words were harsh, cold. His eyes reflected his anger that a fully trained ninja didn't know where his big sister was-- and that same ninja wanted to snoop through her things! "I know that you just wanna do something sick with her underwear. I'm not gonna give you the chance to try. Besides, you'll never find them, anyway."

Picking the boy up, the young man in black said, "You're really pissin' me off, punk. Better watch that tongue of yours or you'll find Crow's knives jammed into it and poised to cut it out."

"And you'd better watch yours or you'll never find her sketchbook."

"Wha-- how-- but you--"

"How stupid do you think I am? Just because I'm little, doesn't mean you can lie to me and think I won't know... put me down."

Kankuro bit the inside of his cheek as he put the suddenly mouthy brat down. "Look, Gaara's freakin' out again. I know that book has something to do with it. But I have to see that last picture in order to know how to handle it."

Hito nodded. "On one condition..."

Kankuro nodded, sighing. "What do you want?"

"I want you to help my sister."

"Say what?" Wasn't this usually the part where the overprotective brother FOLLOWS the guy so he could protect his innocent sister? Or where he asks for something so outrageous that Kankuro'd have to bite his tongue off in order to agree with a nod?

"Help my sister. She loves Gaara... but I knew that he'd reject her because of what those jerks said to him way back then. If he doesn't get passed that point in his life, he's going to die bitter and terribly alone. And my sister will die sad and alone too. They're going to destroy themselves apart... but together... they need each other, Kankuro-san. You'll see from this sketch..." He pulled the book out from under his shirt. How it was there and the ninja hadn't felt it, Kankuro will never know.

Turning to the last page, Kankuro studied the picture. He turned it to the left... to the right... upside down, even. "I don't get it... what about this made Gaara act like that?"

Hito sighed. "See the love letters in the background?"

"Yeah... they must be from her!"

"NO! They don't mean anything to him! It's the PICTURE and his SMILE!"

Kankuro looked at the boy and then the picture again. "Gaara smiles?"

"In there he does! And he's smiling at Chi's picture! Get it?"

"Oh... yeah but for the readers, you should probably explain it..."

"You just needed an excuse for not getting it... the readers are smarter than you think. And they understand more than you do, I'm sure," Hito replied, glaring.

"Just explain!"

Sighing, the little boy said, "Chi didn't need any words to express her feelings. She just gave him a picture... and a picture's worth??"

"Uh... a hot date?"

"You're hopeless... a picture's worth a thousand words!"

Kankuro glared at Hito. "That's too many words for a picture."

"Just go find her! And help her out!! Be a big brother to Gaara-san for once in your life!!"

Kankuro went sulkily. It wasn't his fault that he thought Gaara was creepy. He stayed away because he was afraid. But this little snot-nosed punk was scolding him for doing the thing that everyone did. Was it so bad to follow the crowd when it came to saving your life? 'It has to be... Chikage didn't follow the crowd and now look, she ran away and Gaara's going all emo on us again. But that time when he wasn't an antisocial jerk... that was pretty cool, I guess. Maybe I should follow that kid's advice. But I won't let anyone know that I'm doing it because the kid's making me. I'm doing it... because I want Gaara and Chikage to be happy! I wonder if anybody'll buy that excuse. Probably not. Okay... um... Temari made me! Yeah... she threatened me with her latest tuna casserole creation and I ran like Hell to do her bidding. Yeah... better," he thought, running towards the second to last place he thought Chikage would be.

((Okay, this chapter was all about the picture again... but in Kankuro's perspective. His thoughts are portrayed here and even though I made him seem a bit dumber than he probably really is... it was just because I wanted to do that scene with Hito. Kankuro probably doesn't get lost as easily as I almost made him... and Gaara is sensitive... so I wanted Kankuro to realize that in a gruff sort of way. He's complaining about it as a way of recognizing it. Now, review and let us be off to the next chapter!! lol sorry if you think I'm ordering you to... I've still got my evil raccoon mafia at my beck-and-call and I'm kinda feelin' the power...))