Abandoned

Chapter 30

3rd pov

Kankuro sat in the temporary residence of the Sand Siblings, currently cleaning Hinata's blood out of every nook and cranny of his Jaguar. Furiously digging the cloth into the joints of his puppet, Kankuro thought about what happened the other day. He was just doing his job. Infiltrate the enemy outpost, secure the target, go home. So why was everyone getting so mad at him? Temari kept yelling at him, Gaara wouldn't even look at him, and just about everyone else in the Hidden Leaf seemed to just not want him around.

"Kankuro," He looked up to see his older sister leaning in the doorway. "Dinner."

She left. What? Why was she mad at him? He only did his job.

The puppet master stood and entered their shared dining area to see Gaara and Temari already dishing out food. Ramen. Again. Because of course it couldn't be anything else.

"Aren't you going to eat?" His red-haired little brother looked at him with those same blank eyes. "We got your favorite."

"Yeah." Kankuro said as he sat down and grabbed his chopsticks. No one said anything as they ate, silence coming over them like a heavy fog.

After finishing his meal, Kankuro stood and cleared his spot. He made his way to the front, put on his sandals, and opened the door.

"And where do you think you're going?" The blonde woman looked down on him. "You better not be running away."

"I'm just going out," He replied. "Don't worry about it, Temari."

"Tch. 'Don't worry' he says," She muttered as she walked away. "'Just going out' he says."

Kankuro walked around the village for a while, seeing children running all over with fake weapons. Kunai, swords, paper bombs. Hell, one kid even had a mace.

'Cause that's not dangerous at all. He thought as he rolled his eyes.

Continuing his walk, Kankuro watched the people around him. Everyone seemed as though nothing at all was wrong. As though their Hokage wasn't gravely injured. As though another one of their own hadn't betrayed them. Both Hinata Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha left the village and both have attacked the Leaf's people.

Why is she sitting comfortably in a hospital, rather than rotting in a jail cell?

Kicking a rock, he found himself on a path along a river. The water was so crystal clear that one could easily see the colorful stones that made up the bottom, and the beautiful fish trying to swim against the current. Kankuro decided to sit by the river, seeing as there was no one else around, and work on some of his smaller puppets.

He sat there for what felt like minutes, but in actuality, Kankuro was at that river for hours. Silently working, just finding a rhythm and sticking with it. Finding time to just sit like this was so difficult in Suna.

Kankuro's actions suddenly paused when he heard footsteps stop beside him.

"How's . . . Life?" The boy said as he sat on the grass.

"It's there, I guess."

Silence continued between the two for some time before Kankuro rose from his place on the grass. No words were exchanged as he left, both deciding that there was nothing more to be said. Neither really liked the other anyways.

As Kankuro made his way back to the hotel, he thought about how this village was so forgiving. When Sasuke left, everyone went to look for him. Hinata's tried to kill then, but they don't treat her as a criminal.

He opened the door and took his shoes off. None of the lights were on, so he assumed that everyone had already fallen asleep. Kankuro sighed, stepping into his room and laying down to rest.