Adopted: Book 1 Refracted Sand [REWRITING]

Adopted Ch. 10 A Summer Storm

Temari stepped outside to get the morning newspaper and saw the door wasn't closed properly. She clicked her tongue, grabbed the paper and slammed the already dying door behind her.

"Oi, Kankuro!" she stomped her foot in front of the two boys sitting in the dining room. "How many times have I told you to make sure you lock the door when you come back in late!?"

"Huh?!" Kankuro was quick to defend. "I locked it this time! I swear it on Gaara's absolute defense!"

"Then explain to me why the door was open!"

"Maybe there's a ghost in the house," Kankuro shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?!"

"See! You didn't lock it!"

"Why is that the only answer?!"

There was a little squeak of surprise, a tumbling, and then a bang against a door in the hallway. The three siblings glanced at each other before Gaara got to his feet and went over to the door that lead to the servant staircase and he wasn't surprised to see Suzume sitting on the floor and clutching at a huge bump on her head.

"Good morning, Suzume," Gaara greeted her.

Suzume lowered her hands and looked up at him. "Good morning, Gaara-sama."

He offered her a hand up and she accepted it.

"You need to be more careful when going down the stairs, Suzume," Kankuro frowned. "It's the sixth time this week that's happened."

"She's just naturally clumsy," Temari took a seat at the table, handing the newspaper to Gaara. "We can't do anything about it."

Suzume went to the kitchen and got some lemonade out. After placing the pitcher of lemonade down on the dining table she ran back to get some cups.

"I'll help you out," Kankuro said, following after her.

They brought out the glass cups together and the pair argued about who would pour the lemonade for everybody. An argument that Kankuro won. The male brunette served the drinks and Suzume made breakfast for herself and joined the others at the table.

"We have a meeting at the shinobi headquarters today," Temari informed Kankuro as her sister took a seat.

Kankuro kept back a moan of protest. "What's it about?"

"They didn't tell me," she answered. "And Gaara and the leftover shinobi are going to another meeting at the Institute."

"Sounds like it'll be about the education reform," Kankuro addressed his brother.

"Nothing is going to be solved," Gaara flipped a page in the newspaper. "It'll be people on one side yelling at people on the other. It's more of a way to lash out and relieve pent up stress than a meeting to settle any issues."

"But you're still going to it," the puppeteer smiled knowingly.

"Of course," Gaara met Kankuro's gaze. "It's enlightening."

"In what way?" Temari sniggered.

"You get to see what people support and how they react in certain situations."

"If Kankuro or I went there, we wouldn't be able to handle the massive amount of stupidity shoved into one room."

"But isn't it weird that they're doing both of these meetings at the same time?" Kankuro ran a hand through his hair. "They usually hold one at the beginning of the month and then another at the end."

Temari pondered on this as she gulped down her lemonade. "Should we ditch?"

"No can do," Kankuro smiled at his sister's rare immaturity. "Just imagine the rumors they would spread if any of us were absent."