** UPDATES OCCURRING**
So, you've read all those stories about Akatsuki members having daughters but not so many with sons. So naturally this is going to be a little different.
Being the son of the immortal Jashinist has few perks.... emphasis on th...
A sharp snarl escaped the golden furred caracal as her master's light snoring continued, despite the sun sitting high against the backdrop of the Sunagakure desert.
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The caracal's claws instinctively protract and retract in a steady rhythm, as the tactile feeling of the soft woollen blanket lulls her into a false sense of drowsiness. But all too quickly a low chuckle causes her to snap her eyes open, not even sparing the cat-eared puppeteer a glance as she gets back to the task at hand — waking sleeping beauty.
Silver tresses pooled around the sleeping teen's head like a halo, giving him an inclination of an all too innocent and pure disposition, one which he surely didn't possess. With an almost inaudible mumble he rolls over, exposing his naked back to the two onlookers, whose pitying eyes are immediately drawn to the large tree of life seal on his back. But it wasn't the seal that made guilt and pity swarm within them, it was the seemingly hundreds of old and few new scars alike, littering his back.
"As glad as I am to see him sleeping more than six hours... this is a little ridiculous." Kankuro said, his voice trailing off as his eyes find those of Koneko. The caracal hums in confirmation as her tail whips about erratically, "12 hours... he's been asleep for double his average sleeping time. Do you think he's dead?" She asks offhandedly as her eyes fixate on the heavy blanket being pulled tighter around her friend, one which now prevents them from seeing whether or not he was actually breathing.
Kankuro tilts his head curiously as he steps nearer the door, "if he is... I dibs not telling Gaara." Koneko gasps and sends the puppeteer a dirty look, barely able to refrain from attacking him. "Well, there's no way in hell I'd be the one to break that to him, Kazekage or not." She breaks eye contact, averting her now pale blue-green eyes from either figure in the room.
"Be a man, Kankuro. You tell him."
"I don't wanna, you be the man!" Kankuro whines, both in a desperate and childish attempt to avoid responsibility for the apparent 'deceased'. Koneko just sends him the bluntest look she could muster. ".... I can't be the man, I'm a female caracal. I couldn't be further from being 'the man'."
Kankuro just opens and closes his mouth robotically, as if all possible responses evaded his thoughts at that moment. By some stroke of luck, the 'deceased' silver haired boy stirs from his slumber, lifting and tilting his head to send a steely glare at the pair in the doorway. "I'd be a worry if I just dropped dead, wouldn't it? Being immune to a large amounts of poisons rules that out, and I don't think I'd accidentally let an assassin in no matter how enjoyable an eternal slumber may sound."
The puppeteer and caracal just silently watch as Takeo rolled out of bed, cracked his back and walked right past them out the door. Koneko mutters incoherently as she quickly fetches a clean black singlet and chases the silver haired teen, yelling at him to cover up. A chuckle escapes Kankuro as he follows after the pair and as per usual, finds Takeo sitting at the breakfast table — shirtless — only wearing a pair of grey sweatpants that hung low on his waist and eating a green apple.
The puppeteer had become accustomed to the pair's antics and was quiet happy to watch their interaction, briefly realising just how much they've grown since they'd first arrived. Koneko had grown out of her prolonged kitten phase and now was two and a half feet in from head to tail, standing around 18 inches at the shoulder and her kitten blue eyes had turned into a pale blue-green mix.
Takeo had also grown up significantly. He was no longer the small boy he was a few years prior, but now a tall teenager who'd put on a healthy amount of weight and muscle from rigours training. And while Takeo was still shorter than Kankuro, he was just inches taller than the red headed Kazekage himself, who was taller only a month ago. Growth spurts was the cause in this ever changing height battle, which left both boys wondering who'd end up taller.
It was a childish notion to believe the taller one was the more successful they'd become, but it had been something they were competitive over even if they had no control over the outcome. It had been this way since they had met briefly as kids, deriving from a single mocking word, uttered to Gaara, one which Takeo never let him forget.
But that's a story for another time.
"Don't you ever get tired of eating the same damn thing every morning?" Kankuro asks, eyeing the apple core as it flies through the air in a perfect arc, curtesy of muscle memory, landing successfully in the bin. A brief smile flashes across Takeo's face when the apple core disappears from view and just as quickly, settles into a neutral expression.
"Is it so bad to want a little consistency? Because I crave it."
Something about the honesty in Takeo's tone made Kankuro shiver. Consistency. That was a word Kankuro hadn't heard since Takeo and Koneko arrived all those years ago. Consistency was the only thing Takeo had wished for in his transition to Sunagakure, and the sand siblings had done their to make it so.
But something was off... Kankuro frowned as he realised something completely abnormal about this mornings routine. "Takeo," he called, causing the said teen to look at him in question. "You'd normally of left by now, are you feeling okay?" He asked, concerned.
Kankuro watched Takeo shuffle in his seat, his gaze now set on the floor, suggesting that he'd much rather be anywhere than having this conversation. "Feeling just dandy," he replied, shaking his head before abruptly standing, "I'm going to get ready."
Kankuro and Koneko couldn't even get in another word before Takeo had left the dining area, headed back to his bedroom. The puppeteer's brows furrow as his mind flickers back to the past week, turning his attention back to the caracal. "Both he and Gaara have been off the entire week... Surely it's not a coincidence, right?"
"I'd be lying if I said it was only a coincidence," she muttered, chewing the last of her breakfast down in a hurry. "They've been a little more distant than normal, considering how close they'd gotten since we arrived back from the last mission," Koneko sighed, "I'm going to see how he's doing." And with that, she left Kankuro to his thoughts, in search of her best friend, eager to get to the bottom of the rift created between Gaara and Takeo.
