Adopted Ch. 30 Sake

Gaara couldn't understand.

Temari and Suzume were on the sparing mat. Temari also looked confounded, focusing on not crinkling her nose.

Chakra was one thing, Gaara scanned Suzume's form, but skill only time and practice could nurture can't be cultivated overnight.

The longer the fight gets, Temari ducked down to do a sweeping kick which Suzume clumsily but successfully dodged, she's getting more and more accurate. It's almost creepy.

Suzume's arm flew and Temari moved her head out of the way, caught Suzume's wrist in a sturdy grip and knocked her off her feet. Suzume groaned on the floor and Temari stepped away while she collected herself. Temari was out of breath.

"I think that's enough for today," Temari said decisively.

Suzume's lack of refusal was answer enough and Temari caught the water bottle Gaara tossed at her.

Just then, Suzume popped up and looked to the door. "Kankuro!"

As soon as she called his name, the person it belonged to stepped into view. He was as surprised as the rest of them.

"How did you know he was there?" Temari was the first to ask.

Because all three of them fall into the habit of concealing their chakra whenever they're alone, sort of a precaution in case of an ambush.

Suzume gave them a weird look. "Didn't you sense him?"

Nobody answered.

Gaara could sense people's chakra signatures when they're flaring up or when he concentrates but it doesn't come so easily. There were shinobi who are gifted with sensory traits where they can sense somebody even when they're suppressing their signature, but, again, that requires years of rigorous training, something Suzume didn't have.

Gaara gave Kankuro a furtive glance. His brother was uncomfortable, he was refusing to meet Suzume's eyes.

"Do you need any help with your puppets?" Suzume asked eagerly. "I don't have homework tonight."

"Uh, no. I'm fine." Kankuro looked over at Gaara. "I finished proofreading your lecture. There's no problem."

"Thank you," Gaara said. Suzume's face had fallen.

Kankuro awkwardly excused himself and Suzume dejectedly watched him go. 

Temari and Gaara had a short, nonverbal conversation and she stood up to leave. She placed a hand on Suzume's shoulder. "Do the cool down with Gaara. I'm going to shower."

"You're going to get cramps later, Temari," Suzume said, but regardless, Temari left.

"Should I say it out loud first?"

Gaara pushed gradually on Suzume's back as she did a forward bend. Her hands easily reached her feet and could've gone just as easily past.

Gaara's gaze burned a hole into her head.

"I'm being a problem again," she said when Gaara didn't respond.

He removed the pressure from her back and she continued the normal post-workout stretch routine on her own.

Gaara sat himself down in front of her and her eyes flickered over to him once before they returned to the job at hand.

"Temari and Kankuro," Gaara began. "I've known of them for longer than I've known them."

.

A rap on his door turned him around and Kankuro saw Temari leaning against the doorway. She was fresh out of the shower and she grinned at him while lifting two sake bottles in her hand.

"How about it?" Temari made a clicking noise with her tongue and a shot motion with her free hand.

.

Suzume was working on her shoulders and arms now as she listened to Gaara talk.

"I remember having a bit of a phase where I'd often ask my caretaker to tell me about them. I must've been four or five." Gaara was tracing shapes into his palm as he spoke. "They were peerless and virtually orphans; the same as me. But they always had the other.

"I think they developed an unhealthy reliance to each other after our mother died. They failed at being the jinchuuriki candidate, cast aside, but still expected to meet certain expectations. Father didn't see us as his children but as something to be taken advantage of. I received the burden as jinchuuriki and the two of them received the burden as political pawns. Surrounded by adults for most of their life, they grew up swiftly to adapt. They've been left alone for too long, now we're here, and they're scared. They're scared of what they'll lose."

.

After Kankuro finished pouring a generous amount into Temari's cup, Temari took the bottle and returned the favor. Drinking etiquette.

They clinked glasses and took the shot. 

They were sitting cross-legged at his work table, where his diagrams and sketches and knobs and screws were shoved aside to make room for the alcohol. His puppets were giving them reproving looks from their place on the wall.

Kankuro lifted the bottle to refill Temari's glass and she smiled while he did. "It's killing you."

"What is?" Kankuro grumbled. More rice wine entered his cup.

"Avoiding Suzume," Temari said.

Another shot.

"None of it was your fault, Kankuro."

Kankuro ran a hand down his face and then through his hair. Temari couldn't help but think he looked just like their father at that moment.

"Yeah." He offered her more sake.

Temari chuckled as she downed the drink. "You tryin' to shut me up?"

"Maybe."

"You should move back upstairs, Kankuro," Temari said.

"Hmm..." he replied lackadaisically.

Next thing Kankuro knew, he was using the empty bottle as a telescope, watching the distorted image of Temari popping open the other one.

He giggled and lowered the bottle to let it roll away from him. He tapped his toes together and leaned back onto his hands.

"Stop-hic-ignoring her-hic! Shitting hic!cups! Oh for ninshu's fuckery!" Temari pounded her chest in hopes the hiccups would desert the fort. Once she settled herself down, she pointed the open spout at him and continued. "You're saddening her."

"I just want more time," Kankuro said, taking in a deep breath and looking around his dim room. A drunken flush had settled on his cheeks. "Need to think some more, jan. Need thinking time. Time think. Need the thiming."

.

"How long have you been with us, Suzume?"

"A year and a half."

"I've only known them for two."

Suzume looked up at him at that. Gaara finally stopped tracing letters into his palm and sat up straighter and met Suzume's gaze.

"We shared the same house for six years once my caretaker passed away; we were placed in a team. I was anything but a teammate. I was anything but a brother. They were strangers, I treated them even worse than strangers. All I gave them were threats. All I gave them was fear and uncertainty."  

Gaara's features relaxed and a gentleness settled into his eyes. "I don't deserve their forgiveness but they gave it to me. They're good people. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

.

Temari chugged down the rest of the wine and, after making a satisfied sound and wiping her mouth, clumsily placed the bottle back on the table.

Ten seconds past before Kankuro uttered a belated, "Hey," in protest.

_

The next morning, Kankuro was rudely awoken by Temari's scream of pain and a kick to his gut. She'd gotten cramps.

"I am literally dying," she groaned out through gritted teeth. "Just kill me now."

"Hold on," Kankuro muttered, crawling over to her. "Where?"

The early morning was spent with Kankuro evading Temari's attacks while he tried to massage away her muscle cramps and Temari muttering curses and obscenities under her breath.

_ _ _

Kankuro revered sleep. It was his objective in life.

He just wanted to sleep deeply for once. Kankuro knew he shouldn't complain since Gaara hasn't slept since he was born (must be one of the reasons why he was a crazy mofo when he was younger), but, everything was heavy and little sparks of pain zapped through his body every now and then, and the drinking last night didn't improve the situation.

Seems like the entire family had some sort of sleeping problem. Gaara didn't sleep at all, Suzume slept too much, Temari was basically nocturnal, and Kankuro had the most restless of sleeps.

Maybe there's a way for Suzume to share her sleep with the rest of them.

As Kankuro was thinking into this possibility with his head on his table, Temari dropped into her desk from across his and opened her bento. 

"Maybe abstinence from drinking might be a good idea," Temari said, uncovering her food. "We can try shuffleboard instead, or maybe flower arranging."

"Not gonna work," Kankuro said into the wood.

"You're right. Abstinence terminated." Temari stuffed her mouth with food.

Kankuro separated his face from the desktop and opened his own lunch. What was presented was a feast. It was filled with all of his favorites. Meat. And a side of rice.

"Whoa, what's with this blatant favoritism?" Temari said slyly after noticing his food.

He made a move to put the cap back on.

"Dear brother." Chills traveled up Kankuro's back at Temari's steely voice. "Certainly you're not about to skip lunch, are you?"

The cap was swiftly off again. "No, ma'am."

Temari smile softened. "Suzume's cooking really is the best."

She resumed eating and Kankuro looked back down at the array of food crammed in his box. With a heavy heart and a stale tongue, he ate.

_ _ _

Kankuro was tossing and turning in bed, his eyebrows drawn down, sweat dampening his shirt, and muttering under his breath.

He was in a dark place. He couldn't see anything and he was stumbling.

"Is anybody there?" he called and he did a double take. His voice. It was a child's.

Suddenly, he could see himself. He'd turned into a kid.

"Kan-kun."

His breath hitched. He recognized that voice. "Grandma...?"

He rotated around and his blood ran cold. At his feet, was a severed head, its dead eyes locked onto him. "Kan-kun. Sweetie. Give this old woman a hug."

He staggered backwards, unable to rip his eyes away.

"Give baa-san a hug."

He finally forced himself to turn and run, but after a few steps, he ran into something putrid.

"Kankuro-sama."

"Yashamaru!"

A rotting hand grasped his wrist in a painful grip. "How have you been?"

"L-let go!"

"How have you been?" Flies swarmed around his body. "Did you miss me?"

"Let me go!"

Yashamaru's mouth ripped open at the sides, his eye sockets were hollow and running with bloody tears. "You're getting more and more like your father every day. You're all such cursed children. You should all just die."

Yashamaru pulled and Kankuro's arm ripped clean off. He screamed and fell, clinging to his shoulder. He struggled to his feet, running on numb legs. He snagged onto something and wasn't able to catch himself as he dropped.

He whipped around to see the unmoving body of his mother, peaceful, beautiful. 

"Mom."

She didn't stir.

Kankuro choked on his tears. "Mommy...!"

He got to his feet and started toward her. "Mommy, wake up."

Her body began to disintegrate into sand. "No!" He broke out into a run. He reached out a hand but was too late. She was gone.

Kankuro searched through the pile of sand, trying to push it together.

"Mommy..." he wept, the sand slipping through his fingers. "I'm dying...! Mommy, I'm dying! ...help me!"

"Kankuro!"

Kankuro snapped open his eyes, his hand clutched a kunai and he swung out.

Sand wrapped firmly around his wrist and the shroud of hysteria in his eyes vanished. Gaara was staring widely down at him.

"Gaara..." The sand receded and Kankuro lowered his kunai and looked over at his clock. "It's 3 am."

"Was that a nightmare?"

"It was nothing." Kankuro swung his legs out of bed. "What did you need, jan?"

"Kankuro." It wasn't the sand that stopped him this time. Gaara's grip on his shoulder was steady. "You look horrible."

Kankuro glanced at the mirror hanging on the wall and he watched the exhausted reflection of his father stare back. Damn old man.

"Gaara-sama? Is Kankuro okay?"

The brothers looked over at the doorway and saw their little sister. She did a once over on Kankuro and promptly left.

"She's going to get you a drink," Gaara explained.

Kankuro chuckled dryly and sank back onto his bed. He hid his face in his hands. "I wish she'd stop. She's making it so hard."

Doubting her is so hard. It hurts. But he can't stop. He's so ashamed he can't even look at her and she doesn't get mad at him for it. He hates it. He hates every part of this.

"When did you start condemning people before they were proven guilty?"

Kankuro's eyes enlarged and his body shut down as his brain processed what had been said to him.

"You were the one who taught me not to blame someone for another's mistakes," Gaara continued.

Kankuro slowly raised his head and Gaara's bright eyes were seeing him.

"The reason this is so hard for you is because you know her."

. . .

Suzume came back and saw Kankuro sitting on his bed alone.

"Where's Gaara-sama?" she asked, walking toward him.

"He went to the bathroom."

She handed him the glass of water and he delicately accepted it.

There was a moment of silence.

"When I was little," Kankuro began, "I'd sleep with my mom. I was stuck to her like glue. I loved her, I really loved her."

Suzume watched him as he had a nostalgic pause.

"But father didn't like how attached I was and ordered my mom to let me sleep on my own," he continued. "She hugged me and told me to be brave. I didn't know what was going on and I watched her leave and shut the door. I was confused and got out of bed to go after her. But the door was locked. I began to cry and rattle the doorknob."


"Mommy!" She could hear her son's wails through the door and there was another try for the handle. "Mommy! I'm dying! I'm dying! Help me!"

She stifled her sobs and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her husband came to convince her to sleep in their room but she refused to leave the hallway.

"I'm dying..." Kankuro had given up on the door. "I'm dying, Mommy."


"I guess I never really slept well since then. A bit pathetic, isn't it?" he grimaced.

"No. It's not," Suzume said honestly. "That was messed up, what your dad did."

Kankuro laughed. "Messed up... yeah. He didn't really have a choice."

He studied Suzume. Her eyes were so much more alive now compared to before, like she'd been sleepwalking this entire time and now she was awake.

It must've been hard for her. Unwanted without chakra and unwanted with it. 

"I'm sorry, Suzume."

She didn't say anything in return.

He hung his head. "I'm a real jerk. A complete asshole."

Again, silence.

"Yeah," she finally said.

Kankuro cracked a grin and raised his head. Suzume was beaming down at him and the tumor in his chest ruptured.

"Hey, Suzu." They were sitting together on his bed. Suzume was beginning to nod off onto his shoulder. "I was thinking maybe you could share some of that sleep with the rest of us."

"Is that possible?" she murmured.

"With a bunch of will-power and telepathy."

"Okay," she said, sleepily. "I'll try."

He slept easier that night.

_ _ _

Suzume was in a match with Kankuro. Her feet grinding onto the bamboo flooring until the skin was raw. She couldn't think about anything else besides what move to make next and how to execute it, but whenever she tried to predict and respond to Kankuro's attacks, she'd get sluggish. Gaara and Temari were analyzing the situation from the sidelines and they were discussing anything they noticed.

Suzume's promotion exam is coming up soon and the way she was now wasn't going to be enough. She was getting impatient.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. It looks like she's hesitating on how to proceed, like two opposing ideals trying to win dominance.

Suzume got pinned to the ground by Kankuro and after he released her, she punched the floor in aggravation at herself.

Kankuro offered her a hand up as Gaara strode over to them.

"Stop thinking," Gaara instructed once she was standing.

"Stop thinking?"

"I know Temari's taught you to think before you act, but, right now, you should let your instincts take control."

Suzume nodded then closed her eyes. Gaara walked back over to Temari and they stood waiting.

Suzume drew in a breath that sucked all the air from the expanse and when she next opened her eyes...

They were cold.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top