Pineapple Tarts

sand sib fic.

Gaara, Kankurou, and closer bonding in the kitchen through making pineapple tarts for Temari. Sand sib fic, v.day treat to all.

-

"They call it 'Valentine's Day'." Kankurou pronounced proudly.

Gaara slanted his head to a side, to show he didn't exactly understand. His eyes bore the mildest curiosity. "Why?" His fingers were busy pushing the dough into geometrical shapes to fit into those silver star-like metal figures.

"Because," Kankurou rolled his eyes. Sometimes, it sucked to have a little brother who had been deprived for practically his whole life of the fundamentals of love and the likes, "it just is." And he only refrained from adding 'baka' as a suffix when he remembered Gaara still had the ability to threaten prolonged hospitalizations, even without Shukakuu.

Kankurou yelped, as he grabbed his finger and began to hop around the kitchen.

Gaara only looked slightly amused, as his eyes flickered interestingly to the knife that Kankurou had lay down on the wooden tray. There were trickles of his brother's blood on the silver edge.

Temari wasn't wrong when she had said Kankurou was the only jounin who could also carry off the title of a number one klutz flawlessly as well.

When Kankurou had finally settled back down in his chair, glared at his little brother for even daring to look amused (the puppet master swore he caught his brother's lips twitching a bit!), he told Gaara, "In our language, it means, to spread the love around."

"...Why?" Gaara inquired tonelessly. He didn't get it, just as he didn't get why Kankurou loved to poke his fingers with the knife so much, even if his brother hadn't mean to. Gaara fingered the kanji 'ai' character on his forehead unconsciously.

Those who celebrated Valentine's Day were...weird people.

"Because," Kankurou gave a growl of frustration. His brother's limited knowledge was beginning to grate on his nerves, but there were still those sand no jutsus of Gaara that stopped him from taking drastic measures, "it is Valentine's Day, Gaara."

"So?"

"So," Kankurou cried exasperatedly, "you spread the love!"

Gaara shook his head, folded his arms. "It's...strange." He said after a while, quietly, more to himself, than ever.

"You're right, Gaara." Kankurou rested his hand on his chin. His face was full of flour and powder. His little brother looked just as stupid as he did. "I don't understand why we're making these pineapple tarts for Temari!"

"She says it's Valentine's Day." Gaara's eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. Temari...was going to spread the love with these tarts? How?

"Hah! If we're making all these for that Nara boy," Kankurou slammed his knuckles into his other fists, "I swear I'll eat all of them up - for myself." And he crushed the ball of flour in his hand into a bizzare-looking thing.

Gaara adverted his eyes, to look down at the flour he was molding with a press roll. He stopped in his actions, then looked at Kankurou. "Why would she want to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Do these," he quietly gestured to the pineapple tarts," for...him."

"How would I know? Why don't you go ask her instead?" Kankurou replied irritably. He folded his arms, leant back in his seat, and stubbornly looked up to the ceiling.

Gaara molded the flour for quite a while, until he realized his brother was not doing anything. He looked up, his eyes drawn together. "Why did you stop?"

"I'm not doing anymore." Kankurou replied flatly.

"...Why?"

"Not for that Nara--OI, GAARA!"

Gaara had tossed a ball of flour into Kankurou's face, coupled with a whole lot of powder that only made the puppet master multiplied times messier than he already was. "What the hell was that for!" He barked, and tried to get the flour off his face, and the powder.

"Shut up, Kankurou." Gaara glared, or he tried to, anyway. It was difficult when his eyes hinted of amusement, and his lips were twitching. (Again! Kankurou thought irritably.) "Get back to work."

"What, why?" Kankurou demanded.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "Temari wants us to spread her love around."

"Tch, to that Nara, you mean." Kankurou growled, then pushed himself up straighter in his seat. He fought back his little brother's second glare, and started mixing the flour again.

They were quietly making pineapple tarts again, when Gaara noticed Kankurou was moulding a ball of flour that was certainly far too large to be edible as a pineapple tart. Neither did it looked like it was about to be shaped into the size of a tart.

He queried his brother in his usual toneless manner, "Kankurou, that's not a--"

"Heh, of course not, Gaara." Kankurou replied with a grin that Gaara didn't like at all...

...then proceeded to toss the extremely large size of a flour ball into his little brother's face.

owari

and a very very happy valentine's day to all! (X