Kankuro X OC

Chapter 3

I laid in bed replaying all things that made me like him. My friends knew and urged me to say something, but I just didn't have the courage. I began thinking of how he treated me.

I was part of Team 7, consisting of Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and myself. We were in the Forest of Death during the Chunin Exams, Sasuke had been attacked by Orochimaru. Sakura put me in charge of finding herbs to reduce his fever and heal his wounds. I tried to stay close to them, so if anything happened I could be back instantly. As I was walking I saw some brown hair sticking out of the bushes, turned the corner and saw a red headed boy suffocating a man with sand. A man dressed in all black, face painted with purple, I recognized him as Kankuro turned and whispered to me, "Leave, before he gets you too." I turned, dropping my supplies and ran back to the group.

Again later I saw him, during the preliminary rounds he was a very good puppet master in the making. I watched intently, consumed with intrigue as he battled. Soon it would be my turn and I was slightly nervous, nobody really knew my powers besides Kakashi Sensei. I watched as Kankuro's enemy fell to the ground, unable to battle. I looked up to see my name was next. I took a deep breath and jumped into the small arena. I was pitted against a man from the Sound Village. I felt the tingling in my fingers, my brain already in survival mode. I had to use my skills from the Akatski. I slashed the air and the whip crackled with lightning chakra. Suddenly the whole area turned silent watching. I swung the whip towards the man and it caught his leg, giving him a shock and small burn, he yelled out in pain but hobbled to stand upright and attack. I ran towards him, whip disappearing into thin air. Hand to hand would be more fun. I hit his arm and watched as the small lightning bolts came from my fingers and hit him. Again he cried out in pain. I jumped back and let him come at me. I backflipped over the man, my legs split gracefully in the air, watching his confusion. Suddenly lightning came up from the ground at my will, surrounding him and he yelled out, surrendering. I was excited to be going to the finals. I walked up to the stairs and sat down. Kankuro came and sat next to me. "That was pretty cool. I'm sorry about before, when we first met and i had the kid. By the way I never caught your name.." He said holding his hand out to me. "I'm Hana." I replied. I sat there smiling like an idiot as we talked about the battles till there were none left, and we were told who we were going to be pitted against. My heart sunk when I saw it was Kankuro. "Good luck training," he whispered in my ear and then vanished.

The day came where I would be going against Kankuro. The feelings began in my stomach and I felt nervous. I calmed down when I got into the areana and put my brian into life or death mode. We were evenly matched, skill for skill, power for power. I eventually made a clone and hid. While he fought the clone, I summoned my whip, and swung it at his puppets head which instantly snapped off. He looked in the direction from where the attack came from. My clone and I grabbed both of his hands with our chakra whips. "I-I surrender." He called. I walked to him and apologized for the puppet. "It's all good, I can fix Crow." He said smiling. Then when I let him go, so I didn't have to fight him. The feelings started truly hitting there.

A few years later he came back with Gaara, who had become the Kazekage and Temari. When I saw Kankuro I got excited and asked if we could spar again. We spent the day together, sparring and talking about how life was. That was the moment I admitted to myself that I was falling for him.

It had now been two months since I saw him and I missed him. I wanted to confess but wasn't sure how to. Lady Tsunade even set us up on a duo mission to escort someone tomorrow. Maybe I'd tell him on the way back. Around 1 am I finally fell asleep.

I awoke the next morning to the sun in my eyes and a light knock on my apartment door. I had decided to get my own apartment away from Naruto. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and yelled, "Just a moment." I walked to the door, unlocked it and opened it to see Kankuro standing there.

"Hi Hana. Long time no see." He said.

"Kankuro!" I threw myself at him, excitedly. He hugged back smiling.

I let go, realising what I did, pink dusting my cheeks. "That blush suits you." He said looking away. "May I come in while you get ready?" He asked.

"Sure. I'll only be a few minutes. Help yourself if you're hungry." I said gesturing to the kitchen. I went to my room and changed quickly. I went to my bathroom and looked in the mirror.

A girl with deep emerald eyes, medium length scarlet hair, and rosey cheeks stared back. I'll tell him today. I thought, running the brush through my hair. I packed a small bag, knowing we'd be staying a night where we were escorting the person to. I opened my door to Kankuro stuffing his face and I smiled.

"You should eat too." He said as I sat down next to him. I nodded picking off of his plate. "Did you not sleep well?" He asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"You've got dark circles today."

"Yeah, it was a bit of a long night."

"You want to talk about it?"

Part of me longed to, but part of me didn't want to tell him yet. "Remember back in the Forest of Death?" He nodded. "And you saved me?" He nodded again. "Why did you save me?"

His face flushed slightly. "I was tired of Gaara's killing. Didn't want to see the same thing happen to a pretty face." I blushed at that. "What about you? During the attack?"

"I owed you one," I half lied. I watched the smile curl onnhis face.

"You ready to get going?" He asked standing up.

We made our way to the gate, chit chatting about weather and how things were in our respective villages. We saw the woman also arriving. The escort wasn't bad, we didn't come across any bad guys, and we reached the woman's home village by nightfall. Kankuro and I were given a two bedroom hotel to stay in and I fell asleep instantly.

I watched as he fell into the red clouds. I screamed out in terror. "Kankuro!" I cried out. I tried jumping after him to save him. I bolted upright from the nightmare. I stood up and made my way to Kankuro's room.

I gently knocked on the door, I heard a mumbled reply, squeezed through the door, and closed it behind myself. He half sat up looking at me. "What's wrong?" He asked groggily.

"I had a nightmare and I'm too scared to go back to sleep." He lifted up the covers, showing his bare chest and boxers.

"Come on, it's cold outside the blankets." He complained. I crawled in next to him. I could feel his warm breath on my face, and his hand gently rubbing my back. "You wanna talk about it?" He asked with his eyes closed. I admired his face in the dark. He looked rather handsome without his makeup.

"Um. You-uh. You fell and I couldn't save you, so I. I...I jumped after you."

Now his eyes were open. "That's very courageous, but why would you do something like that?"

"I. I. Well...." I paused admiring his chocolate brown eyes. "I like you." My cheeks felt warm and I felt Kankuro pull me closer.

"Me too Hana. Me too." I feel asleep with a smile on my face, that was burried in Kankuro's chest. I slept more peacefully now that I had told him.

I awoke that morning later than normal, Kankuro's arm still holding me. "Kankuro," he didn't hear me. "Hey," I ran my fingers through his hair. "It's time to get up. We won't be back till late after nightfall if we don't leave soon."

"Okay." He said opening his warm brown eyes. I felt the blush dust my cheeks. "You look beautiful when you blush." He said.

"T-thanks." I stuttered getting out of bed.

In a matter of ten minutes we were on our way back to Konohagakure.