Poison

The first time Kankuro of the Sand was poisoned was when he was six years old.

The would-be assassin slipped a well known brew into the child's water, bribing several guards, using genjutsu on a few others. He was discovered not long after his attempt, and a messenger was sent as fast as could be to the palace of the Kazekage, but by then it was far too late.

Kankuro lived.

He lived through his second poisoning, and his third. By the tenth poisoning, at the age of eight, some whispered that Sabaku no Kankuro was un-killable, in the same tone of voice they used to describe his brother Gaara. the middle child, the puppeteer, they would say, could drink the seed of the devil and walk away unscathed.

Kankuro heard this, of course; he heard it and was afraid, for he was the son of a vicious, cruel man who knew how to lead, but not how to live. Of course, as the boy feared, it wasn't long before the Kazekage realized that Kankuro had his uses.

Kankuro could tell anyone quite vividly of the first time he drank a vial of poison on purpose. It had been bright purple, glittering in the sunlight; Chiyo had given it to him. It was Chiyo's idea.

Drink, child, she had said. Drink in the name of your village.

And he did.

When he was twelve, Kankuro was bitten by a puff adder.

The snake, an exotic from a visiting caravan, died in an instant, its fangs coated with Kankuro's own bright red venom. The young puppeteer had taken the snake's poisoned pouches, examined them, examined it. He milked the glands, mixed the venom with tea, drank it down like ambrosia. He refined his poison.

The animals of Sunakagure knew to never bite Kankuro.

By the time he was thirteen, Sabaku No Kankuro was a Master Puppeteer; passing the Trial given to those who would wear the bunraku hood, he was given his paint- purple, as fitting the son of the Sandaime Kazekage.

When he reached his fourteenth birthday, Kankuro made his own paint- a darker purple, thicker, more like a mask than like makeup. He kept the paint locked away, refusing to let his sister, brother, or Sensei touch it; it, like its wearer, was sheer poison.

Kankuro could tell anyone, in exquisite detail, the moment the Hive of Aburame Shino realized just what it was they were munching on. He could describe, with the storytelling skills of a performer, the wave of spasming insects, the screeching creatures fleeing back to their host as he wiped their dead carcasses away from his poisoned paint and blood. No one ever asked. No one knew, save the Aburame, who wasn't even really sure what it was he knew.

Sasori's poisons were new to him.

Had he been awake enough to know what was going on, awake enough to understand, Kankuro perhaps would have shouted with joy. A poison he did not know, a poison that was not a part of him, a poison that was killing him from the inside out, could the world be more glorious?

She saved him, the little chunin from Konoha, with her pale pink hair and bittersweet smile. She saved him, and when he asked for what remained of the poison she watched in horror as he drank it down before shouldering his scrolls and heading out after his brother.

Sakura could not understand.

After the failed invasion, after the peace treaty, Kankuro found himself in a new place, with new poisons- Konohagakure was known for its medical jutsus. It was he Tsunade asked to upgrade the poison index, and the entire time Kankuro could feel the eyes on him, and knew that rumors had reached even this village hidden in the leaves; he was surprised when he discovered that he didn't mind all that much.

Kankuro avoided the Inuzuka residence when all the dogs were there. They could smell the poisons but did not understand, for he was a puppeteer and all his weapons bore poison; and once when Akamaru had nearly bitten him, the puppeteer had flung the animal bodily into the river, because he knew he stood a good chance of never talking to Kiba again if Akamaru died.

He spoke with Koromaru, one night when Kiba was gone from the village and Tsume was alone with her loyal nin-dog.

"Please," he said, "don't let your pack bite me."

the dog had scoffed, accused him of being afraid, and Tsume had been disgusted; but when the boy cut his arm, letting his vermilion secret drip to the floor, the dog had sniffed it and looked upon Sabaku No Kankuro with a new and appreciative eye.

"You have our word." he promised.

He had to do it because of Lee.

The poison was inside the Green Beast's system, eating away at his chakra and muscles; there was no time to form an antidote, not in the conventional way. The tests would take too long, the herb gathering long hours they did not have. Kankuro only knew one thing for sure.

I can't let him die.

On a field full of the littered bodies of sound and leaf and sand nin alike he grabbed the vile Sakura worried over and drank it down, perhaps with relish, chakra surging through his veins as his blood absorbed this newest toxin.

Here's your anti-venom, Sakura-san, he'd said, pulling the kunai lightly across his arm. Right here.

Tsunade had looked at him later, when they'd had the time, her eyes amazed, sad.

"I'd heard the rumors," she said, "But.."

Kankuro hadn't said anything.

He spent that night alone, away from the others, who unconsciously shied. He bound his own wounds and listened to the baying of the Inuzuka hounds as his brother sat beside him.

Thank you. For Lee.

I couldn't let him go, could I?

No. I suppose not.

Well, then.

And Gaara hugged him as Temari sat beside him because there was enough poison in their lives that they were both immune to his, and that didn't bother him one bit.

A/N: Very different from my usual style- written ages ago and based on a crazy idea I had for Kankuro's kekkei genkai, the ability to absorb any poison orally and thus become immune to it, making his blood and bodily fluids incredibly lethal to whomever they come into contact with. Even if the idea never gets further than this, I still hold firm to the idea that Kankuro does what zookeepers at some reptile houses do- doses himself with his own poisons in order to build up an immunity to them. It just makes sense. And I STILL don't know which Kage was their dad. We're pretending it's Sandaime in this piece. Well, you know the drill- Read and review.