By The Strings [Kankuro X Reader]

6~ the road to Loran

I walked out of the gates of the village already wanting this Hell to end, Yosuke whined scratching his ears as Kankuro went on his rant about how much he didn't want to work with me. "I know boy, it hurts your ears." I groaned glancing at the medium size dog beside me, the two bags on either side of him made noise as he shook his head.

I completely blocked Kankuro out not caring much for what he had to say. "Just like you said, stay out of my way and ill stay out of yours." I adjusted the bag on my back walking faster. The air smelled crisp making me smile.

I continued to ignore him as he tried to get his digs in. That was until he decided to shove me into the sand getting it in my hair. I gripped his ankle yanking him down with me, we wrestled in the sand until we were both panting, we both looked rough.

"If you get in trouble don't expect me to help you," I growled throwing a final handful of sand into his face.

Back at the village, Temari sat in front of Gaara, she was curious about what Gaara had planned. "Why did you send those two on a pointless mission?" She questioned him, her feet propped up on his desk. "They need to get along if they were to team up they would be unstoppable." He licked his fingers moving a few papers around signing things. "And because it's a pain having them constantly silently fighting."

Temari shrugged her shoulders still not fully understanding why Gaara had sent them to an abandoned city. "It's for their own good and the good of the village." He gave his final answer trying to focus on the stacks of paper in front of him.

I had sand just about everywhere, it was extremely uncomfortable. An hour of walking had passed and neither of us had said a word since the beginning of our journey.

Several more hours passed walking through the sand, my feet ached and I was sweating from the burning sun, it was the hottest point in the day. "Let's stop for a bit," Kankuro spoke which I ignored. I continued walking but pulled out a food bar for myself and something for Yosuke. I tossed him his food as I ate mine.

"Or not, makes no difference to me." He lied feeling like he was melting. Neither was going to let the other rest until the sun had set.

I set up my tent ready for the night, the stars above were beautiful tonight. "You're on the first watch," he tried to tell me. I snored lightly pretending to be asleep, it was something I was really good at after living with Kiba for so long.

"Damn you..." He mumbled sitting down in front of the fire leaving me be in my tent. I heard jostling as he picked up my bag about to go through it. I tried not to laugh hearing him try to get Yosuke off his arm. "Alright, alright, I won't touch it!" He whisper yelled at the pooch.

I drifted off shortly after only to be woken 4 hours later by Kankuro to switch. He crawled in the tent bringing his puppets with him, the fire burned as if it was just lit. The wood burning looked new. I mumbled a slight thank you in his direction hoping he wouldn't hear it. Yosuke was asleep at my feet kicking his legs as he dreamed.

I looked through my bag making sure nothing was missing, after seeing nothing was gone I grabbed the other half of my food bar.

I took a peek into his thigh bag he had left out here. In it, there were only ninja tools, not a single piece of food. He must have forgotten his. I shoved a few food bars in his bag to repay him filing the fire.

I enjoyed the warmth of the fire as the cold of the night nipped at my back.

The sunrise was stunning from here, Kankuro stretched feeling the poor sleep. Sand isn't very comfortable...

I tossed his bag to him with a glare, "keep better track of your things, im not going to pick up after you like Temari does." I paid him back for the fire so the war was to continue.

"Says the one who left their dog out in the cold all night." He shot back taking down the tent so we could get a move on. "Clearly you know nothing about dogs."

I smiled enjoying the suns heat on my face, "same applies to you and women." I joked getting up to walk off as he shoved the tent in its holder placing it on Yosukes back.

"I hate you."

"Oh I hate you too."