Reunion

Kira's POV

The next morning my favorite team of genin ninja appeared on my doorstep right on time! Sasuke, Sakura, and even Naruto helped me clean up my new home while socializing at the same time. (Always good!) I made pancakes for everyone, enjoying the very nice kitchen that my mother had so-kindly left for me to use! Sakura made me promise that I would cook for them sometime.

Oh yeah, and about Sakura, she seemed to be warming up to me! I was very happy about that. ^^

Later in the day, Naruto was helping me grocery shop in the nearby market. We were currently in line to pay, discussing sushi, when I spotted two ninja out of the corner of my eye.

My eyes widened in surprise. "Kankuro! Temari!" I waved hugely then ran towards the two sand ninja whom I knew so well.

They didn't recognize me at first, I could tell by their blank expressions. Then all of a sudden a wave of realization hit their faces.

Kankuro was the first to recover. "Kira… Kira Shitoya?" He blinked, and then yelled. "It is you! Little Sis!" he caught me as I was running and pulled me into a giant bear hug. "Where have you been our whole lives? You totally disappeared!"

"Hi… Kan…ku…ro!" my voice kept getting cut off because of how tightly he was hugging her. "Missed…you…too!" Breathing was becoming difficult, but I was too happy to say so.

Luckily Temari saved me.

Temari laughed, "For the love of God, Kan, don't suffocate her!"

Kankuro laughed too, and let go.

I dramatically took in a deep breath then let it out with a whoosh. "Kankuro-san! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to kill me!" then I blinked, and noticed something for the first time. "Big Bro! What the heck did you do to your face?" I reached up and touched the purple lines that were painted across his forehead, cheeks, and chin.

He made a face. "What, you don't like it? I think it's cool!"

I traced the paint with my right thumb. " Well I didn't say I didn't like it, it's just… different." Then I laughed and dropped my hand. "What- a new Suna trend?"

"No, it was all me."

"Well I guess it's not that bad…"

Before Kankuro could say any more, I turned away form him and hugged Temari. "Hey girl! How have you been?"

"I've been okay," she said, hugging back. "But seriously- where did you go?"

I had to think before answering. I wanted to tell them everything. "Well, it's a really long story."

Temari let go. "Well then, you'd better get started. I had loads to tell you, too. You should have seen Gaara after you left-"

"Gaara! Oh my god, where is he?" I almost shouted, my eyes wide. "I've been looking for him!"

Kankuro put a hand on my shoulder to sooth me but it didn't help. I was starting to hyperventilate. "Relax, Kira-chan. He's out for some meeting thing-"

"When will he be back?" I asked anxiously, not letting him finish.

"Soon." Temari assured me. "Why don't you come to our apartment with us? We have lots of catching up to do."

I hesitated, glancing back at Naruto who was still standing watching me with surprise and confusion, grocery bags in both hands.

"Um, one second." I turned and hurried towards him.

"Kira?" he asked when I was at his side.

"Naruto I'm sorry- can you take those back to my place for me? And I'm afraid I won't be able to come train with you guys tonight." I looked at him with pleading eyes. "Sorry, but this is really important."

He shrugged. "It's ok. So those are the people you were looking for?"

I nodded quickly. "Yes."

"Then it must be important."

He turned his back to me, attempting to hide his disappointment. "Well, you can train with us next time, I guess."

"I will. I promise!"

"Kira!" Kankuro called, impatient, waving.

I gave him a look before turning back to Naruto. "Bye Naru-kun, see you tomorrow then!"

"Don't forget, the chunin exams are tomorrow!"

"OH YEAH! I won't be late, I promise!" then I turned and hurried back to Temari and Kankuro.

"Okay okay, let's go!" Temari said.

Kankuro took Kira by the waist while Temari kept her eyes on Naruto. "Hey, I saw him earlier. He was with that pink-haired girl and the other hot guy…" She glanced at me. "They friends of yours?"

"Yeah, they are."

Kankuro snorted. "You always did have a way with the younger ones."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked defensively as Temari led us in the direction of their apartment. "I can be friends with whoever I want."

"I never said you couldn't."

I decided to change the subject. "What's this?" I said, poking the wrapped-up thing that was strapped to Kankuro's back.

Kankuro grinned. "Oh that? That's Crow."

I blinked, studying it. "One of your puppet thingies?"

"Yup." His grin grew wider. "Wanna see it?"

Temari stopped walking, and turned just enough so she could slap Kankuro across the arm. "Idiot. Don't bring that thing out while we're here." She indicated to the people that were walking around them.

He pouted. "Well sorry! Let's hurry up and get out of here, anyway. I'm tired."

Temari rolled her eyes and continued walking.

I had to stifle a laugh.

It wasn't long before we did reach the apartment- the best place temporary stay in the Leaf Village. Well- next to my little cottage, that is. This place were Gaara and his sibling were staying was much more fancy then just an ordinary apartment, though. It was more like a hotel then anything, and expensive too.

Temari quickly took them up to their room, third floor, and opened the door.

"Well, here it is." She said, letting me walk slowly inside, then pushing Kankuro through the door. "You'll have to show us where you're staying, Kira. I'm surprised you're not staying here."

"Are you kidding?" I objected loudly. "This place is totally out of my budget!" I paused to look around the room.

We were standing in a medium sized living room. The walls were a very pale green, or at least it looked that way in the dim light that came form the wide window with long, dark curtains. There was a cream-colored couch with a lamp on either side of it against the right wall. In front of the couch was a small wooden coffee table, and a few feet in front of that was a flat-screen TV sitting on some kind of dresser. There was a desk on the left side of the TV, and to it's right, a one of a kind Konoha tree. It wasn't one of the fully-grown trees that circled the leaf village so well, of coarse, but it did the job to make the room look Konoha-perfected.

When I was done goggling around the room with awe, I turned back to Kankuro and Temari, who were watching me with amused eyes.

Kankuro spoke, breaking the silence. "You like this, Little Sis?" his tone was casual.

I smiled at him. "Yeah, I do! It's cool!" she looked around some more. "There is no way I could afford this, though. Can I see the rest of it?"

"Sure." Temari said. "As long as you promise to show us your place tomorrow."

"Well, I can't tomorrow." Kira admitted, "But I will show you guys soon, I promise! Besides, you were right about the catching up- we have tons to talk about! I can't wait till Gaara gets here…" my voice trailed off.

"Speak of the devil," Kankuro chimed cheerfully, "Would you like to see our room?"

"Sure, why not."

After giving me a fairly long tour of the rest of their apartment (which was extremely impressive, by the way) we ended up back in the dimly lit living room, lounging on the green coaches.

Temari was the first to speak. "Tell us your story, Kira." She was looking at me thoughtfully.

Kankuro, who had always been a huge flirt to me, put his arm around me. "Yeah, tell us. We wanna know why we haven't seen you since the beginning of time."

I pushed him off.

"Well… were should I start?"

"First, tell us about the night you disappeared. We've asked Gaara about that thousands of times, but he won't spill a thing about you anymore."

"Yeah," Kan added, "He used to blab all day about you when u guys were buddy buddies way back when. Now whenever we speak of you he gets all tense and stuff. Though he's still creepy, anyway…" He laughed slightly. "But don't tell him I said that."

I punched him playfully but promised all the same, "I won't."

So I began from the start, the night I saw Kazecage commit the crime of all time. As I explained what happened, both Kankuro and Temari's eyes grew wide. I paused; just I case they wanted to add anything, but there was only silence. So I continued with my story, explaining how Lord Kazecage had threatened my father and how we fled to a village in the Land of Water, the farthest place we could afford to go.

I sighed. "It wasn't a very good place to be, though. The land of Water was suffering from war and bad evil blood. My father did everything he could to protect me and teach me about being a ninja."

When I came to the part about how my dad was killed by rouges, Temari gasped and Kankuro put his arm around me again, except this time I didn't shove him away.

"That's too bad," Temari cooed. "Your father was always so nice. And he was a good teacher, too."

I nodded sadly. "Yeah, he taught me just about everything he knew before he was killed. Which came in handy, because I knew so much at such a young age."

For once Kankuro didn't have a comment, he only tightened his grip on my shoulders. It was comforting... at first.

I decided that if he didn't let go of me in five minutes that I would bite him.

I went on to explain how this one rouge, Zabuza, practically destroyed the whole village with the help of some other wacky ninja's and his little apprentice, Haku.

"I didn't know him very well," I said, getting lost in my own life story. "Haku, I mean. I had seen him around in the streets and stuff. I even talked to him a couple times. I heard his family was killed and that he was cursed. I didn't know whether the rumors were true or not, but I felt sorry for him …"

Zabuza had taken in little Haku and used him as a tool. I was surprised by how well Haku responded to his new master.

"Anyway, when Zabuza attacked our village, he sent Haku out to finish me off after I'd witnessed him murder my own father. I ran as fast as I could, the fastest I've ever run in my entire life! But Haku was stronger then me. All of a sudden he was in front of me and I was on the ground, staring up into his little eyes…"

I paused, lost again.

Kankuro squeezed my shoulder, which reminded me that his five minutes were almost up.

"What happened next?" he asked anxiously.

I sighed. "So I looked up at Haku and asked him, 'Are you going to kill me, too?' to my surprise he said, 'no,'" I shuddered. "It didn't make much sense to me at the time, because then he pulled out some weird looking needles and threw them at me, they hit just below my neck."

Temari was watching me intensely as if I was telling her some cool ghost story.

I continued, "I woke up in the woods just outside the snow village, curled up in the bough of a tree. It didn't take me long to realize that the village was burning… I had no home, no supplies, to where to go. I was cold and bruised… lucky to be alive…"

I trailed off, tired of talking about myself.

The two sand ninja seemed to understand.

"Did someone find you?" Temari wondered. I shook my head.

"Did you… travel to the closest village all by yourself?"

"No."

"Well tell us one last thing then you can be done talking."

I nodded. "I stayed in the forest for a little while, huddled in the trees. It wouldn't stop snowing…" I tilted my head, trying to remember. "I would have died there if it hadn't been for-"

Suddenly the two sand ninja tensed. Kankuro removed his arm that was around me and scooted away. Temari stood up.

"He's here." She said, her voice like ice.

"Who… Gaara?"

Kankuro nodded.

It surprised me, the way Temari and Kankuro were acting like this. They had been totally relaxed a few seconds before they sensed Gaara's presence. What as the big deal? Gaara was their little brother!

I didn't have time to ask because just then he burst into the room.

Kankuro stood up, blocking my view of him.

"Gaara-sama," Temari's voice was extremely polite and smooth like velvet. "How was the meeting?"

He didn't answer, aware that I was in the room.

"Who is this…?"

"Uh, Gaara, this is…" Kankuro stammered, but I interrupted him by standing up and taking a step forward.

Before I could say anything, my eyes swept over him greedily, taking in as much of him as possible.

His hair was the same way I remembered, red and scruffy.

Everything else about him was different.

His eyes were the same color, a light jade green, but instead of innocent confused eyes, they were cold and seemed almost lifeless.

He still had no eyebrows, which didn't really bother me much, but above his left eye there was a symbol (it looked like a red tattoo or something) The Japanese symbol for love.

He wore strange Suna clothes and a large clay container strapped to his back. It didn't take me long the understand that inside of this container was sand.

Gaara's got a jar of dirt?

I didn't realize that I had been staring at him, speechless, until Kankuro bumped me from behind.

I snapped out of my trance. "Gaara, do you remember me?"

He didn't answer. He just stared at me with those cold green eyes.

I took that as a no.

"It's me… Kira Shitoya," I took a step closer.

Temari shot me a warning glance.

Gaara sniffed. "Oh yeah… you…" his voice was dry and raspy, like a, empty canteen. He spoke just above a whisper, like sand blowing in the wind.

There was an awkward silence.

Temari broke it by saying, "Um, she's staying in Konoha for the exams to, and she said she's been looking for you…"

All my life I had dreamed about seeing Gaara again. I pictured it as a happy reunion with smiles and tears.

This was no where near what I had been expecting, and now that he was right here, standing only a few feet away form me, I wasn't sure what to say.

I pushed away my shyness and tried to brighten the mood a little.

"How have you been?" I smiled at him. He didn't say anything but still looked a little stunned. I continued. "Um, it's true what Temari says. I, uh, missed you… I would have gone back to Suna sooner, after my father was killed and all," I kept my voice as strong as I could. "But I had to train and stuff and I ran into some trouble on the way that slowed me down… Besides, I didn't know if Lord Kazecage would have kept his grudge against my father and me … then by the time I did get to your village, they said you guys had gone off to Konoha for the chunin exams and stuff. I had been planning on passing by here anyway and I really wanted to see you so… here I am."

I smiled again, suddenly realizing that I had been babbling. My cheeks felt hot so I knew for sure that I was blushing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kankuro smirk, but his expression disappeared quickly.

It's impossible to read Gaara's expression, I wonder if it would be easier to read his mind.

No, I can't do that now, that would be weird. Still, I would like to know…

He finally spoke, "Why were you looking for me?"

I blinked. "Because! I-I still wanted to be your friend and all even after-"

"After you betrayed me?"

My jaw dropped. "What? What are you talking about? How did I betray you?" my voice was rising in pitch but I couldn't help it, I was so surprised and hurt.

"You," He said, slowly inching forward. "Pretended to be my friend. You lured me into trusting you, almost loving you," he spat out the word love in disgust.

He kept coming forward but I stood still.

"Then you ran away, even after my father had tried to kill me again!"

He was only a few inches away from me now, glaring down at me.

"But-" I tried, but he cut me off.

"You left me with a broken heart and an understanding that love is not good, it is only painful!"

My eyes started to burn. I knew it was only a matter of time before tears started to form, but I held it in.

I attempted to speak again, but his voice was louder then mine at this point.

"And now you just show up, expecting some sort of… bond??"

He was breathing heavily, speaking through his teeth. I took a moment to understand how he was feeling.

I waited a minute for him to calm down a little, and then finally had my chance to say something.

"Gaara, the other reason why I came looking for you was to say that I am sorry." My voice cracked and it took every ounce of my will power to keep from crying, I didn't want to seem weak in front of the sand ninja. "I understand that you feel betrayed, but the truth is my father and I were forced to leave Suna. Otherwise we would have both been killed!"

I paused. Gaara was staring into my eyes. I stared back, willing him to believe me. "I didn't pretend to be your friend. I wanted to be your friend, and to show you love!"

I looked down at my feet; unable to hold eye contact anymore, otherwise I might have broken out into tears.

"I just didn't know… things would turn out so badly…" I said softly. "I'm sorry… Gaara-kun."

It was when I said his name like that he couldn't take it anymore. He turned without a word and stormed out of the apartment room, slamming the door behind him.

I didn't look up, but I could feel Kankuro and Temari's eyes on me.

Nobody moved for a long moment. Then finally Temari came over to me and wrapped me in a hug. "You should go home now, sis. We'll walk with you."

I couldn't speak for fear of sobbing.