“Hey look, it’s Gaara!” Naruto said excitedly. “Hey Gaara!”
Gaara greeted the new arrival with a nod. “Naruto.”
“Oh, so you got another scroll, too?” Sakura asked. “Is it the one you needed?”
Temari, who was in the process of retrieving the scroll, quickly checked. “Yeah, it is.”
“Do you guys want to walk back to the tower with us?” Naruto offered. “It will be fun.”
“Do you guys NOT see all the blood lying around and the crushed corpses strewn about?” Kankuro demanded.
“Of course we do,” Sasuke told him. “Why?”
“That doesn’t, oh I don’t know, BOTHER you?” Kankuro asked.
“We’re ninja,” Sasuke shrugged. “Besides, we signed the waiver.”
“What will it take to convince you that my brother is evil?!?!” Kankuro demanded.
Gaara’s lips thinned a little at that, but he needn’t have worried.
“Evil puppet guy, it’s not very nice to try and use poor Gaara as a scapegoat to try and make us forget how evil you are,” Naruto rebuked.
“Why aren’t you trying to defend me?” Kankuro demanded of his sister.
She shrugged. “I’ve come to the conclusion that Konoha is just insane and besides, Gaara hasn’t actually shown any sings of wanting to kill them and that can only be a good thing in my book.”
Kankuro groaned theatrically, but let it go.
Nevertheless, as they made their way to the tower together, Temari pulled Naruto to the side. “So, just between us, do you really think Kankuro’s evil and/or crazy?”
“He wears makeup and a cat-suit,” Naruto said flatly.
“Point,” Temari acknowledged. “What about the ‘evil’ part?”
Naruto grinned at her. “Does it really matter? I’m not planning on letting up either way.”
Temari sighed. “I suppose not.”
It figured that Gaara would manage to accidentally befriend the craziest people around. Or at least, she HOPED they were the craziest.