Revenge is Best Served Cold

Chapter Four

Unfortunately, my computer crashed… TT^TT… NOW I HAVE TO FRIKIN' RETYPE EVERYTHING! GOSH… GOSH DARN!

"Luckily, your father was able to escape worse injuries that could've occurred in the fire. It was a good thing the fire department had arrived at your house so quickly, too. So actually, you're pretty fortunate, Miss Haruno," a nurse told me cheerfully.

I didn't see anything cheerful about it. Fortunate would be avoiding that stupid fire completely. I heard my voice, hoarse and dry, make out a small reply. "Thanks."

The room my dad was "kept in", as the nurse told me, was small and orderly. My dad himself was dressed in some sort of mint blue green, whatever the hell the color was, robe, and lay on a little hospital bed. He had at least ten different bandages, varying in size, all around his body. There was a small plate of unidentifiable, grey-brown mush gathering mold next to his bed.

"Hey Sakura," he smiled when he saw me come in.

"Hi Dad," I greeted, with a smile somewhat on my face. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm alright, aside from the fact that it's a little hot in here," he said, chuckling. I rolled my eyes at his lame joke.

At least he's still making jokes.

Yeah, but seriously? That had to be the most stupid joke of all time. That isn't even classified as a joke anymore!

You have really fucked up priorities. I can't believe you're angry over the quality of a joke over your dad's health.

Shut up…

"The hospital people said that I'm going to have to stay here for at least another week," Dad said suddenly, after watching his grey goop dissolve and disintegrate for a few minutes. "Do you have a friend's apartment you can stay at for the week, or should I…?"

Suddenly my phone started ringing. I pulled it out, trying to act cool and swift, and proceeded to drop my phone onto the hard linoleum floors of the hospital.

Nice going, Sakura.

My dad shook his head as I fumbled with the now slightly cracked phone. It was only a little scratch, and I smudged it away. I got a quick glance at the caller I.D. before the ringing ended.

Subaku no Temari

"Hm? Why would she be calling?" I redialed my Best Friend and Practically a Sister to Me.

"GIRL!" Temari screamed in my face. "I'm visiting!"

Okay, look. I'm one of those people who, when faced with our mortal enemy, Sadness, will cling onto anything happy and sunshiny. And when I say "cling on", I really mean it.

"Oh my god, REALLY?" I silently squealed, jumping up and down a little.

"YES, girl!" Temari answered. "I'm staying at my brother's house for a while. You know, the huge one next to the other huge one? So, if it's alright with your dad, you wanna hang out?"

"You mean, like, a sleepover?"

"Yes, for a week! I'm leaving for college again next Saturday."

WTF!? How can the earth's timing be so perfect? Our dad is released from the hospital next Saturday! This is so fanfiction-y, I don't even know where to begin with…

Inner, shut up! Gosh, have you been watching anime again? Besides, it's not like our very lives are in the hands of some random, weirdo person right now, and is being documented and changed right now!

"Who is it, honey?" my dad asked.

"Oh, it's Temari," I said, turning around. "She wants to invite me to a week-long, um, play date, with her brother, since she's coming back from college."

My dad winced. Not like I blame him, though. If I was my own parent, I'd probably be suspicious too. After all, it was Temari who

A.) "Accidently" set her ex-boyfriend's house on fire

B.) Ripped the arms off her stuffed dolls and proceeded to give them to my father for Christmas

And

C.) Beat up ten adults in a rampage over not being able to have a chocolate smoothie with strawberries at the age of nine

So, my dad had perfect reasons for doubting my safety. In fact, sometimes I wonder why I hang out with Temari, until I realize that we're both crazy and the world is going to burn sooner or later so we might as well become insane-buddies or something.

"Well…" My dad started to protest.

"Dad, I don't have any other friends." I said seriously, because it was true. Well, unless you counted Sasori as a friend and I seriously don't want that, because getting friend-zoned sucks.

"Well, I guess I can trust Temari to keep an eye on you," he finally said, after pondering the choices of me either being homeless or sharing a home with a psycho-maniac. "And vice versa." He added.

"Thank you!" I yelled, hugging him. "Temari, he said yes!" I screamed into my phone.

"Awesome!" Temari screamed back. "I'll pick you up at your house! Pack your clothes and stuff!"

I paled, and a sick feeling returned to my stomach. Dread. "Temari, uh, something happened yesterday, and I don't think I can meet you at my house…" I told her about everything. The Sound, Sasori, the party, and the explosion.

Temari was silent for a couple minutes. I started getting worried that she had hung up on me when she spoke again. "Babe, I'm meeting you outside the hospital."

My dad watched me warily. "Sakura, are you okay…?"

I managed to grin. I'm known for being very optimistic. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess… I'm still pretty shocked, you know? Well, I'll visit you again later today, okay?"

He nodded and immediately fell asleep. Poor dad.

I headed outside to wait for Temari. Soon, a sleek and shiny BMW M3 pulled up over the curb. Temari unlocked the door and I hopped in, eager to see my friend. As soon as I got in, the tears started to fall. My awesome BFF stayed silent, save for the occasional comforting phrase, as I spilled everything out. We pulled over at a McDonalds and Temari drove by the Drive-Thru.

"I want two McCafe Frappe Chocolate Chips." Temari ordered my favorite comfort drink, next to melted chocolate, to the speaker box. "Pronto."

"Um, I'm sorry miss, we're out of stock for cream." A just-hit-puberty sounding male voice apologized falsely. "So, currently, we're out of McCafe menu items. Is there anything else you would like?"

Temari gripped the wheel. "Look, buddy." She said in her no-nonsense, I-want-this-right-now voice. "My friend just fucking lost her goddamn house and all of her belongings in a fire that was started by the Sound, and I personally know that when you are out of stock of cream, you're actually hoarding it in the freezer so you can eat out of the cans later at lunch, fatty. So, let me repeat what I want. Two. Goddamn. McCafe. Frappe. Chocolate. Chips!"

The cashier squealed in fright. "Y-Yes ma'am!" he said like a little baby. I think he even went to personally make it himself, in fear that if it was less than perfect Temari would haunt him down to hell.

We drove on to the pick-up window, where we saw a fat teenaged boy with acne and braces looking nervous as someone who's dealing with a time bomb. "Y-Your order costs…" he met Temari's glare and squealed again. "It's on the house!" He said immediately. "I-In fact, here you go now!" he hastily handed Temari two delicious looking drinks, with healthy globs of whipped cream in each cup, and quickly ran away from our sight.

Temari clicked her tongue in annoyance and drove away from McDonalds. The creamy cold drink calmed my senses and allowed me to breathe a lot more easily.

"God… whipped cream… hoarders…" I heard Temari mutter angrily. Her voice took on a much gentler tone. "Sakura, are you okay?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine." I muttered, rubbing my forehead. Gosh, so many things were happening so fast.

I couldn't remember anything after that. I remembered seeing an amber-eyed, blue-haired girl hugging me as I sobbed into my hands, but after that everything was bleak and black.

When I woke up, I was in an average-sized bed. Sasori told me his friend told him that I had collapsed onto the ground and fainted, probably from the overwhelming sensation of everything happening. He asked me if I had wanted go visit the house again, but I'm ashamed to say that I acted rather coldly towards him.

I don't know, I just thought that maybe… The reason the Sound attacked my house was because of my relationship, or non-existent relationship, with Sasori, who was in the better gang, Akatsuki. Of course, this wasn't his fault at all, but I wanted to blame someone for possibly trying to kill me and Sasori was the only person in the room with me.

"Leave me alone," I said harshly, in a rough and scratchy tone I recognized to be the aftermath of crying one's eyes out. "I want to go see my dad." My voice probably surprised me more than Sasori, who just nodded understandingly before telling me that he was going to wait downstairs for me.

How the hell could I be so rude? Remorse and regret filled me, but at the time I was so angry I had a crazy thought that someone was making me feel this way, almost like someone was twisting my thoughts and making me turn on Sasori.

Of course, this is impossible. Somewhere in my chaotic, hazy mind, I remembered the old fairy tale my mother used to tell me. A group of fearless knights spreading kindness and justice to the fair princess and her kingdom using the magical weapon Chakra. Now that I think about it, a little bit of that magical chakra would certainly help me.

Just a little bit of restoration "jutsu" and BOO-YAH! Home and sanity fixed!

I started to laugh. "Actually, I'm feeling really well." I said, smiling. "Thanks, Temari."

My best friend forever stared at me nervously before returning my grin with her own. "Good." She said, smirking. "Come on; let me show you the place I'm staying at. I heard Gaara and Kankuro got the place fixed up."

I nodded. I had noticed a lot of construction sounds from the richer sides of town during summer and late into school last year. It was probably the Suna family reconstructing their already ginormous house.

We drove on for a few minutes. "You know," Temari said suddenly as we were waiting for a stoplight to turn green, "since you lost all of your clothes, I guess we could go shopping again…"

I'm so lucky to have a friend like Temari.

"Oh damn," I whispered, looking at the completely new house. I looked at Temari, who was smirking. "Aren't you surprised too? This is your first time seeing it too, right?"

Temari smiled evilly. "I was the one who told my bros to fix it up." She confessed. I should have known.

Before, the house had been a beige color. It had been an old 1800s Victorian styled house, I believe. It had huge towers and spiky gates that scared me before. All in all, if the Sunas died in that house, it would easily become one of those houses with the creepy legends of ghosts haunting whoever stepped foot in.

Now, it was a Modern styled home. The walls were painted white and the paint actually looked like it wouldn't peel off and rot away. The roofs had been changed from tall, tilting boards to straight, horizontal boards, lathered generously with black paint that made the whole house shimmer. Steps led up to the front door, huge double doors that looked like they were made from iron. Wouldn't that be hot? Marble walls surrounded the porch and the balconies on the top floors. Most of the walls were glass. Too bad the iron gates didn't change.

Temari laughed at my startled expression. "Wait 'till you see the pools."

"P-P-Pools?!" I stuttered. "As in, plural?!"

Temari giggled evilly. "Step right in."

The inside was even more beautiful than the outside. Creepy, musty couches filled with sand (yes, I broke one apart before and ever since then Mr. Suna never trusted me again) were replaced with plush couches shaped like Cs. They surrounded a giant rug that looked oh-so-soft. The rug had the Suna company logo on it, an hourglass.

A small bookcase filled one side of the room, next to a huge flat-screen Hi-Definition T.V. A huge and intricately shaped winding staircase disappeared into a hole in the ceiling. If I peered through the hole, I could see it going through many floors.

Yes, the first thing I did when I walked in was not admire the new furniture, or marvel at the sudden change.

"PENGUIN!" I screeched, slamming my body on the floor and sliding off, letting momentum do the rest of my work for me. I crashed into the couch and grinned. Penguining, a sport invented by some random kindergartener back in the days, was the pastime for all of us when we used the gym. The rules were simple; screech the word Penguin, fall to the floor, and slide. The person who did the most spectacular crash won popularity at the cool side of the snack table, and was honored as the person who got first pick at the snack box available for the kids who hadn't brought snacks to school. (FRIENDLY REMINDER- PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT TRY PENGUINING AT HOME! IN FACT, DON'T DO IT ANYWHERE UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO GET SEVERE FLOOR-BURNS AND WALL-CRASHES! Thank you!)

Temari laughed at me/with me. "Come on, lil' sis," she said, using my special nickname, "Let me give you a tour of the rest of the house." I was about to ask how she knew how to navigate through the house when she showed me a rolled up piece of paper. She unrolled it and revealed a detailed map of the entire house, along with intricate details and how-to-get-from-here-to-there keys.

"Holy shit, your brothers really thought this through, huh?" I muttered, looking at the small notes covered on each page.

The floors are squeaky here so sneaking around won't be easy.

Neighbors won't shut up every Friday night, and can be heard especially loudly here.

The kitchen makes weird grumbling noises when you wash the dishes.

I smiled. I don't remember Kankuro very much, but he was a nice older brother and never really got in my way, under Temari's watchful eyes, of course. There was that one time I dropped my ice cream cone on the floor, though, and he pulled a big-brother move and bought me another one. Then again, there was also that one time he broke my Barbie.

My ninja turtles need bitches! He broke Michelangelo's bitch!

Suddenly, there was an irritated noise coming from the winded stairs. Well, speak of the devil. Or think of the devil, in this case. There was Kankuro, in all of his Barbie-breaking goodness.

"Argh, Temari, it's too early for all this noise…" he moaned. Suddenly, his eyes got big and wide and horrified. "Oh FUCK, TEMARI! You're back!" He screamed in terror.

"Come here, little bro," Temari said impatiently, opening her arms for a hug. Kankuro's left eye twitched, and he hesitantly made his way down the stairs and closer to Temari. "Come on." She said, irritated.

Kankuro eventually held out his own arms and they hugged for a split second. Then Temari grabbed his shoulders and tossed him upside down, and he crashed into the floor.

"OW! TEMARI, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Kankuro screamed in anger. Temari smacked his face.

"That's for swearing, little bro." Temari said affectionately. I don't know whether to be amused that my best friend just flipped my best friend's little brother over, or to be scared that she was scolding him in such a motherly voice.

"Um, Temari, YOU SWEAR MORE THAN ME!" Kankuro yelled again. Then he noticed me. "Oh, hey Sakura."

"Hi Kankuro." I greeted back, giving him a fist-bump.

It was okay, because after Kankuro broke my Barbie, Temari made him buy me another one, and now he holds a good amount of respect and fear for me.

Kankuro stood up and glared at Temari. "Sh! Gaara is still sleeping!" Temari stiffened visibly and gulped.

There wasn't much that could make Temari shiver. She gladly tore spiders apart, while I cowered in fear. She would proudly do dives and bungee jumps from impossible heights, while I would immediately give in and admit my cowardice. She would even step on a Lego, something even the bravest ninjas wouldn't dare do (She actually did step on a Lego once, and bravely held back her tears as blood leaked from her foot).

However, there are a few things in this world that bring even the mightiest like Temari to get nervous. One of those things is Gaara Subaku, Temari's little brother and the youngest (and in my eyes, most deadly) sibling of the Subaku family.

"Sakura, let's be a little more quiet, huh?" Temari whispered, grinning nervously. I nodded very slowly. I hadn't ever spoken to the beast, but he was very quiet and sullen.

"Too late," a new voice growled. Kankuro shrieked and hid behind on of the U-shaped couches.

"G-Gaara…" Temari stammered. "Good morning!"

Gaara looked at Temari, just watching her, for a solid minute before turning and ascending up the stairs. His green eyes were completely blank. I wonder if he has any emotions.

"Aaaanyways, let's continue, shall we?" Temari asked awkwardly.

"Okay." I said, smiling.

Temari turned to Kankuro. "Little Bro!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Make us some omelets!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

Then Temari linked arms with me and we skipped up the stairs.

I moaned in pain. My whole body ached in pain. Temari squirted some more medicinal goodness onto another bruise and slipped a Band-Aid. She patted it a bit and then started working on the bruise on my arm.

Okay, skipping up winding staircases while linking arms with someone is not a good idea. Especially if you decide to run up the last few steps and then accidentally trip and fall through the small hole in the middle of the staircase.

Thank God Kankuro was still making omelets. He caught me just before I hit the floor and helped get squirmed through the hole and back onto the staircase. By then my whole body was covered in minor injuries that stung like hell, and now Temari was bandaging me.

"Ow, ow, OW!" I mumbled as Temari smacked me a little more forcefully as she applied the last Band-Aid.

"That's for getting the stupid idea of running up the stairs," Temari chuckled.

What a horrible friend! I didn't even hear her gasp in alarm or scream in terror as I fell to my doom. I think she even hid a laugh! My gosh, this is what I get for making friends with a psychopath.

Yeah, you should have better friends, Sakura.

Hush. You are a psychopath yourself.

…

Mm-hmm, not denying it, huh, you psychopath?

After that Inner started laughing really loudly and she was scaring me, so I got out of my brain in fear of getting taken over.

One of my worst fears is the fact that one day, Inner might possess me and she'll use my body to become a serial-murderer and also a criminal. I mean, she is a part of me, right?

"You're all done," Temari said finally. She gave me one more pat and helped me down the stairs. This time, she held onto the collar of my neck as we made our way from the third floor, where all the medicine and books were supplied, to the first floor, where Kankuro had just finished ladling a final omelet onto a pink plate like I didn't just almost die and break my neck.

"Breakfast," he said, handing me the pink plate with a matching pink fork and Temari a yellow plate with a matching yellow fork. The omelets smelled delicious, but before I could eat it I needed to ask Kankuro something.

"Hey, Kankuro," I said. He looked up from his black plate and matching black spoon, looking a little disappointed at being separated from his protein-high goodness. "Why would you have a pink plate that has a dancing bunny, anyways?"

Kankuro blushed and coughed nervously. "Um, I don't… I got it for you." He said lamely.

"Does this have anything to do with the Puri Puri Star Pudding doll I found hiding under your bed when you were twelve?" I inquired suspiciously. Puri Puri Star Pudding was a famous brand who's mascot was a fuzzy pink dancing bunny. Now that I think of it, these utensils and plates were also Puri Puri Brand!

Temari burst out laughing. "He has a collection!" she gasped in between chortles. "Puri Turtle, Puri Girl, Puri Fruit, and even a hand-made Puri Kankuro!"

Kankuro yelled in surprise at his sister's betrayal at his "secret". Did he really think he could keep it away from me? I had discovered his secret about ten years ago, when I was six years old. However, he didn't know I know, and watching his usually stoic face turn seven bright shades of red was highly amusing and funny as hell.

"It's okay, Kankuro," I said reassuringly, patting his painted hand, "we all have hobbies."

Kankuro then stood up angrily. "I'm going to eat in my room!" He announced, trying to hide his blush. He then took his plate and fork and ran up the stairs. He obviously had more practice. It's not like I was jealous that he didn't fall, or anything…

"Make sure you have enough for your Puri Doll Collection!" Temari called, laughing hysterically. Kankuro swore loudly as his footsteps got softer and softer as he ascended the stairs.

"Kankuro is a really weird person, huh?" I asked, taking a bite out of my ham and cheese omelet. "Oh my god, this is delicious!" The ham was perfectly salted, and the cheese melted right in my mouth. The egg was so subtle, yet so defined.

I wolfed down the rest of the omelets. I was going to yell up the stairs to Kankuro that his cooking was amazing, but then I realized that that might be demeaning to his man-pride. Besides, Gaara was always a risk factor you had to keep in mind.

I suddenly noticed, after patting my satisfied stomach, that Temari was staring at me intensely. "What?" I asked.

"So… when am I going to meet this guy of yours?" Temari asked slyly, smirking. I immediately turned fifty shades of red, just like that book… Was it Fifty Shades of Green? Blue? I forgot, but a lot of kids at school were reading it. I even saw Kakashi, the English teacher, reading it, and he seemed really interested.

"Um, well…" I muttered awkwardly.

Suddenly, my slightly broken phone rang out. I quickly took it out of my pocket.

I paled. It was Sasori.

WHY THE HELL WAS HIS TIMING SO DAMN PERFECT?!

End! :D