Chapter 23 ~ Tastes of Gaara

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     Yes

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Yes...yes it would.


     “So, where to, listeners?” Yamada asked while starting the car.  This unleashed something he was not expecting.

     “Let’s go to I Don’t Care!” Shouted out Neijire.

     “No, I think we should go to Whatever You Want,” interjected Temari.

     “Yuck!” Cried Kankuro, who began to join in, sparking an argument which consisted of two things: where to go, and who could be the loudest.  Aizawa let out another, more exasperated, sigh as he had assumed this type of thing would happen. He couldn’t care less at the moment, as he was beginning to drift off to sleep.  Gaara, on the other hand, was not happy with the noise. He felt overwhelmed by all of the noise, and his breathing began to quicken.

     “Make it stop!” He mentally cried out, gripping his head.

     “Ugh!  Humans are so annoying!” Shukaku agreed.  Sand began creeping up and around Gaara.  Surprisingly, it was Kankuro who noticed first.  While his sister was the better of the two at picking up on whether Gaara was sad or had something on his mind, it was Kankuro who first noticed when he was getting angry or upset.

     “How about Karefere Buffet?” Kankuro shouted out, in a more of a yelping way.  While the pitch made it more aggravating, it also caught everyone’s attention, causing the girls to stop arguing.  Temari quickly realized why Kankuro screeched in such a way, spotting a few specs of sand drifting closer to them.

     “I’m okay with that,” Temari agreed.  Neijire slowly nodded, happy with the decision.  She gave a smile.

     “That works for me!” She said, before chuckling.  “But you sure sounded like a cat for a moment,” she added.  Her blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What’s under your hat huh?  Do you actually have ears?” she questioned. Kankuro suddenly became uncomfortable, and wondered why he always had to be the one picked on.

     “Stop talking,” Gaara strained, fighting to calm himself.  Temari quickly sent Gaara a panicked look before her eyes softened, seeing his pain.  Before Temari could apologize to Neijire for Gaara’s rudeness, not wanting Nejire to bluntly say something that could provoke the boy further, Aizawa spoke up.

     “Actually, that’s a good idea,” Aizawa stated, glancing in the rear mirror at the four chilldren, then to Yamada who quickly thought of something to occupy them.

     “Yes!  We will save the chatting for the buffet, and instead will jam out to the beat!” He exclaimed, turning on the music.  Despite the music and light atmosphere, Kankuro still worried that Gaara was still upset and didn’t talk for the remainder of the trip, keeping one eye on him as he also listened to Nejire and Temari whisper about something called MiriTama. 

     “Hey we’re here!” Neijire pointed out, her stomach growling with anticipation as they turned into the parking lot.  The place had about as many people as you would expect for a restaurant near dinner time, and so it took a few minutes for Yamada to find a good parking spot.  Once parked, they all anxiously jumped out of the car. It had been a long day and everyone was hungry. Even Gaara, who often didn’t eat, felt a hint of hunger, which was probably because of all of the social interaction.  Once inside, the family and friend waited in a small line for a table.

     
    Aizawa told them how many they had and paid, Nejire insisting she pay for her own, but Yamada refused.  The waiter took them to their table.

     “And here are your drinks, let me know if you need anything,” their waitress offered, setting down six thick glass cups in front of their corresponding people, before walking off to help other tables.  Despite the large number of people, Gaara did not feel as upset as he usually would be. This is because the noise seemed to settle into the background, creating the illusion of a distant low drum. Gaara wished it would always be like that.

     “Okay, let’s split off and go get some food!  Try to stick together though, and stay away from desserts until after you have a proper meal,” Yamada explained, rushing through his words as he noticed the impatient look of the twins and Neijire.  As soon as he was done, everyone took off like sharks to blood. Yamada stuck with Aizawa as they headed to the soup and noodle section. Temari and Neijire stuck together, continuing their conversation about their other friends.  This left Kankuro and Gaara who seemed slightly slower than the other pairs. Kankuro did his best to keep an eye on the small boy, but still made his way to the seafood section. Kankuro rarely ate any seafood, but he loved smoked salmon.  So he decided to get some. He began to get nervous though as Gaara curiously looked at the sushi selections. He hoped he wouldn’t be scolded if Temari knew Gaara was so close to shellfish. Kankuro let out a sigh as Gaara turned away and walked to the salad bar, where he carefully made his salad and made his way back to the table.

     Temari and Neijire were the last ones to get back.  Temari had vegetable soup, while Neijire had a massive amount of different things.  Much to the dismay of Yamada, Aizawa just had some carrot cake. Yamada tried to feed him from his plate yet Aizawa refused. 
     
     "This has carrots in it, it is healthy enough.  Besides, I have had a long day and I want cake." Aizawa stated.  

     "You really should listen to Yamada, Aizawa," Nejire said, "He is right you know, your not going to stay young forever." The kids looked between the two adults, but when they looked at Aizawa again the piece of carrot cake was gone, not even leaving the tiniest crumb.  

     Aizawa then promptly stood up and walked away.  The kids sat in silent shock. Was that a fight?  Was their ‘friendship’ over? Would they move apart?  They looked for clues from Yamada but he was devouring the food on his plate.  

     Two minutes later, Aizawa was back.  In his hands, he held a slice of apple pie, a salad, and a piece of cherry pie.  Aizawa handed the cherry pie to Yamada and went back to his seat. Yamada raised a questioning eyebrow at Aizawa but ate the pie anyways.  Gaara for the second time today felt like that this was a common occurrence among the two.  

     “Gaara!” Nejire shouted suddenly to break the bewildered aura that was being emitted from the kids, “Eat this!” Neijire orders as she pushes a spoon full of a creamy tan liquid towards Gaara.  Gaara eyed it suspiciously, but decided to try it. Kankuro’s nose twitches as he leans a little closer. His eyes widened as he recognized the smell of crayfish.

     “Wait!  Gaara don’t eat that!” Kankuro exclaimed, jumping out of his seat to snatch the spoon.

     “Whoa!  That’s a little rude.  If you wanted to try it too, you could have just asked,” Nejire stated, shaking her head.  Temari resisted her instinct to hit her twin, and stared at the dish.

     “Hey Nejire, what kind of soup is that?”  Temari questioned. Nejire gave a confused look, wondering why everyone seemed so shaken up by her soup.

     “Uhh… I think it was called Bisque,” Nejire said, dropping her spoon back into the white dish.  “Why?” 

     “Well, Gaara is allergic to shellfish.  I’ve never heard of Bisque soup before so I just assumed it didn’t have any shellfish in it,” Temari explained.  Kankuro nodded in agreement sitting back down.

     “I smelled the shellfish in the soup and panicked, sorry.” Kankuro apologised. 

     “Oh!  I just thought you guys were a family of soup snobs, but that makes more sense, but how did Kanku— ” Nejire said.

     “You did well to react like that so quickly, otherwise we would have a dead child and I don’t want to deal with that paperwork.” Aizawa said cutting Nejire’s question off.  Kankuro glowed with praise and happiness that he was able to protect his brother from harm. Gaara sighed and chased a grape tomato around his plate with his fork. 

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