Bear

By Viktor Mayrin

A/N: Credit for this story belongs solely to Buni-san. She is quite an authoress, so make sure to check out her stuff!

“Kankuro.”

There was a dangerous edge in Gaara’s voice that made Kankuro become visibly nervous as his younger brother glared at him. “Where is Mitsukuma?” The Godaime Kazekage’s voice had a false patience to it that nearly made the older of the two brothers gulp.

Kankuro felt sweat forming on his forehead. “I dunno.” He said quickly, making as to leave the room.

Kankuro did gulp when sand, quick as lightning, slammed the door shut and effectively blocked his escape route. “Kankuro. I tasked you with the washing of Mitsukuma. How is it that you don’t know?” Gaara continued, the fake friendly tune to his voice long gone. Kankuro faced his leader once again, eyeing the large round windows with scrutiny.

Maybe if he was quick enough and used his puppet as a diversion he‘d manage to jump out and make a break for it. He was a ninja, a twenty story drop was nothing! “Uh, well you see Gaara, it’s like this:” Kankuro stammered. Who was he trying to kid? “You remember that fire last night? In the mercantile district?”

Gaara‘s eyes visibly narrowed. “How is that pertinent to your report?”

The weak chuckle returned, this time because Kankuro realized that there were so many beautiful things in life he would never get the chance to enjoy. “Well, I wanted to make sure your teddy bear-“

“Mitsukuma.”

Kankuro nearly jumped, how could he be so stupid?! Never call Mitsukuma anything less than by name! “Right! Mitsukuma! …Well, you see, I wanted to make sure it was really clean, so I took it to the toy repair shop; and they said it’d be done this morning.”

Gaara‘s fingers droned across his desk impatiently. “Then why do you not know where Mitsukuma is?”

The window was starting to look like a good idea again. “Remember that fire I mentioned? In the mercantile district?”

Gaara‘s curled his fingers into a fist, leaving long and deep scratches in his desk. “I am aware of it.”

Kankuro chuckled nervously, though the glare Gaara sent him quickly killed the pathetic attempt to calm the puppeteer’s nerves. “Well, you see-- the thing is… the shop was caught in the fire.”

There was a long silence; sweat was now obviously pouring down Kankuro’s face and back, making his paint streak into odd new designs. Gaara’s eyes narrowed dangerously as his sand slowly filtered into the room, forming a looming dome around the Kazekage. A small eye was constructed from sand and sent to hover over the puppet master.

To any other person, the next words out of the Godaime‘s mouth would have been a hilarious joke. Unfortunately the puppet master they were aimed at felt their full terror. “Kankuro, you have failed me. Not only me, but you have failed Mitsukuma as well.” Gaara intoned, though his voice was slightly muffled by the moving sand. “For that, I will punish you most severely.”

“Gaara--!“

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!” The Jinchuuriki snapped. “You are hereby sentenced to six weeks of community service.”

Ok, that’s not too bad. Kankuro thought.

Oh, how wrong he was.

“Babysitting the Rokudaime’s children.”

Kankuro screamed once, panic evident on his features before he was silenced.

“Nuncle Kanky?” A little girl with brilliant red hair asked. “Why is your face all purple?”

“Because it’s part of my ninja art.”

“Oh.”

There was a pause as she continued to evaluate him.

“Nuncle Kanky, why are your panties purple?”

End

A/N: Mitsukuma roughly translates as “honeybear”. Anyone that catches the reference gets… something special? I dunno.