Sand and Sun - Chapter 3

[temaridesertstorm]

The girl was alone again, the dripping of the water almost driving her crazy. The waves of water washed up against her, but she ignored them. She chose to stand there, ignoring everything around her. But that didn’t last for long. A yell echoed across the dark, almost a scream. It wasn’t one of pain, but of longing. She opened her eyes, turning around to find where the voice came from, only to be met by the same solitary figure, which she still couldn’t make out. The ground seemed to vanish from underneath her, like it always had, and she fell again, even longer than the last time.
Kankuro walked into the kitchen, looking around. “Hey Temari, have you seen Karasu? I need it.”
Temari looked up from her work. “Don’t you remember? You left it in Kira’s room?”
Kankuro froze for a second, and then dashed upstairs into Kira’s room. The girl’s finger was an inch away from the puppet, but when the door opened, she pulled away quickly.
“I’m sorry!” she shouted, “It was here when I woke up and I wanted to see what it was!”
“It’s alright,” he sighed, “Just be careful. Do you know how dangerous that is?”
“Um…” Kira looked at Karasu for a minute, “I don’t even have a clue what it is.”
Kankuro attached chakra strings to Karasu’s body. With a slight movement of his fingers, the puppet stood up and stuck its arm out. She jumped back against the wall.
“Calm down! Karasu is a ninja puppet. He’ll only do something if I keep the chakra strings attached. It only moves if I make it move.”
Kira leaned forward to get a better look at Karasu. She stuck out her finger and poked it lightly, pulling her finger back instantly. Karasu didn’t move.
“I see. You have control over it.”
“Yeah, it’s really quite easy…” he began, but Temari came to the door and frowned.
“Kankuro,” she sighed, “You really should be going now. You’re late as it is.”
“Awww…” Kira moaned, “But I was having fun with Karasu…”
“Don’t worry,” Kankuro smiled, “You can play with Karasu tomorrow. I’ll see you two later.” With that, he walked out.
“So, are you going too?” Kira asked, looking at Temari sadly.
“Are you kidding?” She laughed, “I have tons of work to do here, and I’ll need your help.”
“YAY!” the younger girl shouted, jumping quickly off the bed and following Temari downstairs.
They spent the entire day working on things, from cleaning the entire house to emptying the fridge of spoiled goods – the event taking over an hour because of the multiple expired items. When they finished, Kira slid herself into a kitchen chair with a sigh.
“That was great,” Temari said, tired fringing in on her voice, “That’s the most help I’ve ever had, and the best. We got that done much faster than I expected.”
“Good,” Kira sighed, “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Alright, sleep well,” the older female said as the other girl went upstairs.
Kira walked up to her room and closed the door lightly. She walked slowly to her bed and plopped down on it, falling asleep instantly.