Jerrie, thanks for the reviews! Please keep them coming! As requested, here's a short interlude about Crow's funeral! This was all Kayha, I just did the writing!

Author's Note: I own nothing except Reyna; even Kayha and Katara are creations of a friend. Everything you recognize is property of Masashi Kishimoto. Characters may continue to be slightly OOC but we add a bit of humor here….

I also have to give credit to my friend, her alter ego is Kayha just like mine is Reyna, for the great ideas and the fun caffeine driven writing!

CROW'S FUNERAL

After checking on her brother, friends and the Leaf Delegation, Temari headed back for home deciding that she was going to have everything ready for when they were finally released. A quick check of the kitchen revealed that there wasn't much left in it as far as things that she could cook, so a quick run to the store was answer to that problem; unfortunately she didn't know how to fix her other problem as far as food went; she had absolutely no idea how to cook anything.

Over the course of the next couple of days, she barely saw Kankuro around at all as he planned the funeral for Crow. The few times she had seen him had really made her question the sanity of her brother as he was dragging some of his oldest puppets out of storage and back into his room. She would simply shake her head and disappear in the opposite direction as he did, deciding she was not going to let him drag her into his insanity.

The morning that the majority of her injured friends were to return found Temari frantically trying to clean and found Kankuro setting up his room for Crow's funeral. Finally Temari had had enough of her brother's weird behaviour when it came to his puppets and she wanted some help and she stormed up the stairs and into his room.

Kankuro had set chairs up in rows and all of his puppets were seated there. The broken pieces of Crow lay before them and as Kankuro began to speak he used his chakra threads to make the seated puppets mourn for their lost brethren.

"We have gathered on this morning to say good bye to a good friend. He was a great ninja and if not for his sacrifice many of us would not be here today. Crow was a good friend, always there when one needed to talk; and with this family that could be a lot of the time," Kankuro began in a somber voice.

Temari stood shocked in the door way as Kankuro continued speaking of Crow, "He will be sorely missed in times of battle and in times of peace."

Finally she couldn't take anymore, "Kankuro, what the hell are you doing?"

Kankuro looked up at his sister and shrugged, "What does it look like? I'm conducting Crow's funeral."

"Well, give it a rest would ya? I could use some help downstairs to get everything cleaned up before the rest of the group gets back!"

"Miss, if you're not going to be quiet, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Some of us actually respect the dead," Kankuro intoned, using one of the puppets in the back to push Temari back out the door and close it behind her.

"Man, my family is weird. Why me? How can I be related to these people?" Temari asked herself.

"Miss! Please be quiet and leave! You are upsetting the mourners!" Kankuro hollered from his room and Temari shook her head.

As she started down the stairs she muttered, "I think he's gone completely loopy this time."

The further down the stairs she got the more she wrinkled her nose. It took a few seconds before she realized what the smell could be. With a horrified gasp she bolted down the final few stairs and into the kitchen which was now mostly filled with smoke that was beginning to waft into the rest of the house. She had completely forgotten about lunch that she had started to cook. Quickly she pulled the charred pan from the oven and sighed, dropping it into the sink.

"Damn it, Kankuro! Now I don't have time to make something else. Oh well, guess we're eating take out again," she growled under her breath before heading out and down the street to get something edible for the injured group that would be returning soon.

Kankuro appeared in the kitchen not long after Temari returned, "What's burning?"

"You if you don't shut the hell up," Temari growled in response as she pulled take out boxes from the bags and set it out on the counter.

Naruto, Sakura, Kayha and Katara asked much the same question when they appeared a few minutes later and Temari just shook her head, defeated, "Where's Kakashi, Reyna and Gaara?"

"Kakashi and Reyna are on their way back now, they should be here soon though," Sakura replied.

Kakashi and Reyna spent the next two days confined to hospital beds, but finally they managed to annoy the staff enough that they agreed that they could go back to Gaara's with the agreement that they would take it easy for a while. Reyna healed quickly, though nowhere near as fast as Naruto or Kayha but by the time they were heading for Gaara's most of her wounds had healed. She matched her stride with Kakashi's as they walked down the street in the late afternoon heat, silence stretching out between them.

"Reyna, why did you steal my book when you said you never would again?" Kakashi finally asked a little hurt that she had gone back on her word to him.

"Huh? Oh in the hospital? Sorry about that, but I wasn't going to keep it. As soon as you woke up I was going to give it back, but I needed something to do while you were unconscious and that was the only thing around to read. There wasn't even a television to stare at."

"Oh…well, I guess that's okay. What did you think of it?" he asked curious.

"It was a lot better than I thought it would be…but it's still porn, you perverted hedgehog. It's just porn with a plot line and a good one; just don't tell Jiraiya-Sensei I said so. I'd never live it down. You don't happen to have the first book with you do you?" she asked him hopefully.

"No, but I have a copy in my apartment if you want to borrow it."

Reyna grinned and they fell into silence again as they approached the house. Kakashi was surprised that she had actually read the book and even more so that she had enjoyed it and wanted to read the others. If he had anything to say about it, she was going to end up as addicted to them as he was.

As they stepped inside the house, Reyna sniffed the air and immediately started to cough. Kakashi laid a hand on the back of her shoulders in concern until she straitened and wrinkled her nose.

"Apparently someone burnt something," she muttered in explanation for her coughing attack.

Kakashi carefully sniffed the air himself and caught the smell as well. The two headed further inside heading for the kitchen where Kankuro, Naruto, Sakura, Katara and Kayha were standing around looking at a stricken Temari.

"I really tried to make everything perfect for you guys to come back to…I guess I just really can't cook," she muttered, "but I did get some take out so we won't starve to death."

Reyna shook her head and as everyone pitched in to help Temari clean up the mess, Reyna took advantage of it. She approached Kayha when she was alone and tapped her on the shoulder lightly.

"Kayha, what happened to the other guy that attacked?"

"He took off. I guess he got himself pretty hurt at some point," Kayha replied trying to evade the question but still answer it.

"Right; thanks, Kayha."

Kayha nodded and returned to what she was doing. Reyna moved away, gradually making her way to the front door which no one seemed to notice. Without a word to anyone and with no one even noticing she had left, she ducked outside into village. On light feet she headed through the village and out the main gates. She paused just long enough to catch Griffin's scent before she tore across the sand, following her nose.

A/N: Okay, so Crow's funeral is done, poor Kankuro! No worries though, Crow will return for Gaara's birthday which is coming up fast, but first another fight. Stay tuned for REYNA'S RECKLESSNESS RENEWED! Really, that girl could give Naruto a run for his money in that department. Anyway, as always please feed the muses and click the button below!