Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 24 | Home

A man stood against a tree as he rested from running. It had been around two weeks since he had left Konoha. In all honesty, he hadn't expected to find a lead so soon, but it seemed that luck was on his side. Hearing stories of the three Sand Siblings tearing up villages sure seemed like a lead, anyway. The chance that it was them was close to none, but the impostors could have known where the real ones were, though that was also unlikely.

After running for a while longer, he came across a village that seemed desolate. Walking down what seemed to be the main road, he took note that there were people peeking out from windows and from behind curtains. He gave a sigh and shoved his hands in his pockets as he looked around for the reason people were frightened. As if on cue, a woman's voice shouted at him from between two buildings.

"Hey! You!" He turned to see her — he was pretty sure it was a woman — dressed in cheap-looking Suna shinobi-wear. She had long blonde hair that was covered in dirt. The man only stared at her, finding she became annoyed after he didn't respond immediately. Two men jumped down from the roof of one of the huts she was between and he found himself giving a sigh.

"Yeah?" he asked finally, feeling like he needed a nap.

"Who do you think you are! You want a piece of the Sand Siblings?"

"Man..." he sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up of actually finding Temari here..."

"What?" the man with orange hair asked. The lazy man gave a yawn.

"Who is the oldest?" he asked, looking at them with drowsy eyes. The three looked between one another before the man with orange hair spoke.

"I am, obviously. I'm the strongest."

"Wrong, Temari is the oldest of the three, Gaara is the youngest," he yawned again. "Some other things that you got wrong: Gaara has red hair - not orange - and he has the kanji for love on his forehead. Temari has short hair in four pigtails, not two. You have the wrong outfit and that fan you're holding has no resemblance to hers."

They began to panic, both of the men pressing the woman for answers about who the man in front of them was. "You also all have the wrong eyes. Temari and Gaara both have teal eyes while Kankuro's are black."

"H-How do you know so much about them?" the one impersonating Kankuro asked, the woman smacking him over the head for outing them. His tired eyes looked over the vagabonds that stood before him as he pulled a package of cigarettes from his vest pocket.

"Seeing as how I'm stupidly in love with one of them and her brothers are close friends of mine, you'd think I would know a thing or two about them." They looked at the man in horror before the girl was thrown into a building to his right. Looking to his left, he saw someone blocking themselves from his sight with a giant tan fan with purple circles decorating it. The moment it clicked in his brain, a small smile made its way onto his face.

"Gee, Shikamaru, I didn't know you felt that way," his girlfriend said as she folded her fan, a smirk on her lips.

"Yes, you did," Kankuro said from behind the Nara, who turned to find him free of face paint and his usual hood.

"Hey Kankuro," Shikamaru greeted. He turned as he saw red out of the corner of his eye to come face to face with Gaara who held his usual stare. Shikamaru gave a sigh, making a poor attempt at hiding his smile. "Please make my death quick and painless."

The younger man cracked a small smile.

"It's nice to see you again, Shikamaru," he greeted.

"You too, I'm glad you three are alright."