Chapter 3: The Cookie Burglar
By the time Temari finished washing the plates, it was ten o'clock. Kankuro and Gaara had already gone to sleep a half hour ago. Izuka, on the other hand, was in her room reading the newest edition of Guinness Book of World Records.
"Good night, Izzy." called Temari as she entered her bedroom.
"Good night. And can you please stop calling me by that ridiculous nickname." returned Izuka.
"How come you let Gaara call you Izzy sometimes, but not me?" asked Temari.
"Because I'm boss like that?" Gaara called from out of the blue. Apparently, he was still awake or was woken up by the girls' yelling.
"AW MAN. CAN YOU GUYS JUST SHUT UP AND GO TO SLEEP ALREADY?!" Kankuro screamed from his room.
"Alright, alright. Good night you guys." Temari screamed for the last time before retreating into her room.
"Wow! And I thought I was the crabby one when it comes to sleep." Gaara telepathically said to Izuka.
"Nah, you're just crabby when you don't get enough sleep or cookies." Izuka blatantly returned.
"Oh yeah. Anyway, good night Izzy." said Gaara.
"Can you please stop calling me that?" said Izuka in a monotone.
"I'll try. Don't let Shukaku try anything." said Gaara.
"I won't" replied Izuka, ending their mental conversation.
"Oh Shizukara, you know I won't try any-"
"Shut is, Shukaku." Izuka bluntly deadpanned at the one tailed tanuki.
"Okay, okay. You don't need to be so mean about. I swear you're worse than Gaara sometimes." continued the beast.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Izuka deadpanned.
"Humph." The dejected one-tailed beast retreated back into Izuka's mind, never to be heard from again. Well, for the night.
"Huh, Shukaku will never give up, will he?" asked Izuka to no one in particular.
"Nope." chorused Ryuna (10 tails), Matatabi (2 tails), and Chōmei (7 tails).
(Note: For the purpose of this story and future stories, Ryuna (new character), Matatabi, and Chōmei will be the female tailed beasts in the group.)
"Yeah, your right. He'll never stop." Izuka said to the females as she continued to read her book.
Time: 1 A.M.
Izuka finished reading her book and decided to outside to take in a little fresh air. As she was about to turn her doorknob, she sensed a presence moving in the house.
"Who could be foolish enough to break into the house where the Kazekage and the Sage of the Sixth Paths resides?" Izuka asked Ryuna, her long time beast and partner.
"I don't know, but I suggest you proceed with caution." Ryuna exclaimed.
"Okay." Izuka grabbed her chain whip, which held her sealed 12 weapons of the elements, and silently opened the door. She stood in the hallway for five seconds before following the strange, but familiar presence, towards the kitchen. Izuka stopped right next to the kitchen entrance and heard a munching noise.
"Oh crap. Someone's crunching on my cookies!" Izuka whispered to herself "Well, whoever this person is, he/she is not getting out of this house intact."
Izuka started to do a few complicated hand signs. "Ninja Arts: Blank Body Justu!" After saying the jutsu, Izuka's whole body turned invisible.
"Perfect. Now it's time to get my cookie burglar."
Izuka slowly walked into the kitchen, making sure to keep her chakra low so that the stranger wouldn't sense her. She moved towards the table, where she saw a dark figure hunched over the plate of cookies eating away.
"He's good, except I was able to sense his presence from my room. I wonder who this guy is." thought Izuka.
Instead of using one of her sealed weapons to stop the cookie assailant, Izuka quietly grabbed a frying pan from the dish rack. She swiftly moved right behind the stranger and hit him dead center on the head.
"OWWWWWWWWW!" screamed the intruder through a mouth of chocolate chip cookies. He then screamed out profanities while rubbing his beat-up head.
"Wait a sec. I recognize that foul mouth anywhere." Izuka went to the light switch next to the entrance and flicked on the lights. "KANKURO!"
The annoyed puppeteer was caught red-handed. He was still rubbing the back of his head where Izuka hit him with the frying pan, but he still had a half-eaten cookie in his right hand. He also had cookie crumbs all over his face and clothes.
"What the hell is going on in here!" screamed Temari as she entered the kitchen wearing a black nightgown. Gaara was right behind her wearing a blue t-shirt and matching blue pajama pants. At the sight of the newly-emptied cookie tray, Gaara gasped.
"He ate all the cookies." Gaara said in a horrified tone.
"Why, Kankuro?" Temari asked the guilty puppeteer.
"Well, I wasn't going to eat them at first. You see, I only came in her to get a glass of water. But, then I noticed the tray still on the table. I took the lid off and saw that all the cookies were there, which meant that Gaara didn't touch them yet."
"So you decided to eat all the cookies before Gaara and the rest of us can? To do what? Protect them?" asked Izuka in an exasperated manner.
"I was going to save some for you and Temari, but I guess I got carried away, again." admitted Kankuro.
Gaara turned towards his brother with a menacing glare. "You are a cruel, cruel brother."
"Hey, you were an even crueler brother all those years ago." Kankuro protested.
Gaara didn't say anything. He just averted his gaze from his brother and looked at the floor.
"Kankuro." said Izuka as she went over to comfort the young Kazekage.
"Sorry Gaara. That was a little harsh." said Kankuro, apologetically.
"It's okay, Kankuro." said Gaara. "It hurts, but it's true."
"Kankuro, you owe Izuka back some cookies." Temari exclaimed as she took the empty cookie tray and put it in the sink to be washed in the morning.
"I can't bake as well as Izuka can, so I'm going to have to do something to pay you some other way." replied Kankuro.
"Okay, how about cleaning out all the bathrooms and the attic in this house for the next two weeks." said Izuka.
Temari laughed as Kankuro paled. "Really?" he asked. "Even the attic?"
"Even the attic?" Izuka smoothly returned.
"But there are sand spiders up there and you know what those things do. They'll leap onto anything that moves." said Kankuro.
"Good thing you don't move much." said Gaara.
Kankuro deadpanned at his little brother.
"Hey, you brought this on yourself." said Gaara. Kankuro looked away, knowing that his brother was right.
"All right, then it's settled. Kankuro will clean out all the bathrooms and the attic for the next two weeks. Now can we please go back to bed? We have a council meeting in the morning." Temari tiredly exclaimed.
Everybody else groaned at the thought of the council meeting in the morning. They all were supposed to be there, but they never liked them, especially Kankuro.
Kankuro finished his half eaten cookie and followed his siblings and Izuka out of the kitchen, turning off the light along the way.
"Good night, everybody. We have a long day ahead of us." said Gaara as he, Izuka, and his siblings went to their rooms for the remainder of the night. Well, early morning actually.
End of chapter 3
Author's note: Poor Gaara. He didn't get any cookies. As for Kankuro, don't worry, he'll get what he deserves for eating all the cookies. I guarantee it. Bwahahahaha! If you are wondering, the council meeting will be important and funny. Don't worry, folks, the annoying council member I promised in my summary will be annoying people's heads off. Especially Gaara and Izuka. Haha, I'm so cruel. X)