KEIKO UCHIHA : the uchiha sister.

63 | Other Brother

Kankuro was never the son of the Kazekage.

'The other friend'

'The other sibling'

'The other brother'

'The other son'

He had always been the other one. Not the first born, but not the last. The second. Not the one with special abilities, and not the one with a unique hair color. Just plain old Kankuro. But he was fine with it. The pain that came from years of watching his father look at Gaara and not him subsided to the corners of his mind. He still had his siblings, and that was all that mattered. At least he thought. 

On that fateful day where that dark haired girl showed up to the sandbox and taught him what it felt like to be noticed, his life changed. Suddenly he had to be noticed. But not by just anyone, but her. Keiko Uchiha. 

He looked around the room- Her room, which held ghosts of the past times they spent there. The blanket on top of her futon was folded nicely and all the puppet scrolls she left behind were positioned nicely on her wall. Everything was where it was supposed to be except one thing — Keiko.

I would rather not go
Back to the old house
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
There's too many bad memories
Too many memories there ♪

Kankuro walked over to her desk and opened her cabinet. Two things caught his eye; a medal and a envelope that read 'Just in case.' He recognized the medal immediately. It was from the annual puppet competition seven years ago. He knew this because they earned it together.

Flashback
. . . 

"I hereby announce the winners... KANKURO AND KEIKO ROTASU!"

"WHAT!?"

Kankuro looked over to his friend, who looked just as surprised as he did. Keiko looked at him with her hands on her mouth and just stared at him wide eyed for a second before he threw his arms around her.

"WE DID IT! WE'RE THE WINNERS!" 

She laughed to herself for a bit before hugging the other back, a smile plastered on her face. "We won.. We won!"

The two children jumped around in each others arms for a few minutes before being ushered away from the crowd that started to form around them. They were quickly ushered away by the host of the event, shoved in front of the photo background, and forced to smile. Keiko laughed as she looked up at Kankuro, and the older looked at her with the same admiration. Their puppet was thrown around their shoulders and Kankuro held the end of it up with his left hand while Keiko held the start of it with her right. His other hand found itself around Keiko, with a grip that didn't intend to let go. 

"Here, Kankuro, you can have the metal."

He shoved it back towards her, letting out a huff in the other direction. "I already told you I don't want it. Just let me keep the puppet!"

Keiko pouted, but eventually let the metal fall against her chest. "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

The other junior-puppeteer laughed. "Nuh-uh."

"Whatever." she sighed, rolling her eyes, but her eyes looked a bit playful. "How about we make a promise? If one of us have the medal, the other one has to have the puppet. If we break this promise.. Our friendship is broken too!"

"Deal!" he furrowed his eyebrows, spirit riled up as he gently threw the puppet over his shoulder. "I better see you bring that medal with you everywhere you go!"

She giggled, holding the medal closer to herself. 

. . .

When you cycled by
Here began all my dreams
The saddest thing I've ever seen ♪

By no means did Kankuro hate Keiko. His love for her was abstract, he didn't know whether or not it was friendly, romantic, brotherly.. It didn't really matter. All he knew was that he loved her. More than anything he had before. Losing her felt like a stab to the heart — he lost her, and with that he lost himself. He was back to square one. He was just Kankuro. Gaara's brother, the Kazekage's other son, Temari's other sibling. The solution to changing that went with her. 

And you never knew
How much I really liked you 
Because I never even told you 
Oh, and I meant to ♪

What else could he have done to stopped her from leaving? Was being himself not enough? Keiko wasn't just Gaara's friend. No, she was his best friend too. He picked the medal up, clutching it in his hand. His hold was strong enough to draw blood. With a scream, he threw it to the ground and with it himself. Must she have really left? He wanted to call her selfish, for throwing herself away, for throwing THEM away, but he couldn't. He just screamed. Tears fell down his cheeks and he swore that the air began to get tighter. 

"I did everything. I tried everything. So why aren't you here now? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!" his cries fell hopelessly to the floor, a wave of anger and guilt spreading through him like wildfire. "You said.. You said you'd keep it."

Are you still there? Or have you moved away?
Or have you moved away? ♪

He wiped the tears that fell down the sides of his face with the back of his hand. "You forgot it. That means-" he hiccuped. "That means you'll come back, right? Our friendship isn't broken. You're still here."

Unfortunately, the only answer he was met with was the echoes of his hopelessness. Kankuro felt he should be grateful. After all, both of his siblings had survived the attack, while thousands of others didn't. He, too, was spared. But he couldn't help but wonder is the price for that was losing that damn Uchiha. His body hit the floor with grief, his soul shattering along with it. He wanted to call out to his siblings, to cry in his big sister's arms just like he had when he tripped and scraped his knees when he was a kid. But no.. He couldn't. He didn't know why, but he couldn't. He was trapped here. Trapped with the ghost of a lost love, and no light to find a new one. 

I would love to goBack to the old houseBut I never willI never willI never will ♪

. . .

| Hey LMAO I'm finally back. Sorry for being gone for so long without further notice, I'm back in the mood of writing though and I wanted to make this chapter though because I honestly love Kankuro as a character, and I feel like he's not talked about enough. This also helped me really expand on how much they meant to each other and how Keiko's becoming a new person for herself. Anyways - hope you all enjoyed:) Please vote.. lol