Sand filling up the window…

Sand: (punches air enthusiastically) Let the Sasuke and Neji hunt begin!

Gaara: (turns head to look at the corner of window) …

Sasuke: (hides quickly) Whew… I don't think he saw m---

Gaara: (sends sand to wrap around Sasuke) …(then sends sand the other way) …

Neji: (jumps out of hiding spot as Gaara's sand gets close) Che! That psycho found me?

Sand: (jumps at Neji with a crazy look) NNNNNNeeeeeejjjjjjjjjiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! I want your head!

Neji: O.O;;;

Naruto: (cries) Waah! I want to catch Sasuke! Gaara!

Gaara: (ignores Naruto and everyone else around him) … (continues to try to squish Sasuke with a sand hand)

Sand: Gaara! You're supposed to catch him not kill him! (thinks) No matter how much I want him dead… (throws fish net at Neji) Got---

Neji: Kaiten! (spins then runs out of the window)

Sand: ---cha? (gets caught by a fish net)

Gaara: (divides sand hand into sand tentacles) …Uchiha…Sasuke. (narrows eyes)

Sand: At least let me give him a swirly before you kill him.

Sasuke: O.O Nani? (dodges Gaara's sand tentacles)

Fire: Hey! Don't kill my cowriter! (grabs Sasuke and runs away)

Shikamaru: (ignores whatever's going on in the background) Ah…mendokuse. (uses Kage Shibari no Jutsu to pull up chapter)

0o0o0o0

Chapter 8: Revelation

Kankuro was going insane within his room. He had to think of a way to make Ino like him. But he could only think about trying to look cool like Sasuke. Ino liked Sasuke. It was a safe choice.

'Maybe if I changed my hair?' He took off his hood...

And his hair was messy, needed a wash and was a little too long. He was so used to wearing his hood that he didn't even notice his hair growing longer…especially since he didn't even take his hood off when he slept.

So after a shower, Kankuro looked at himself in the mirror. Without his kabuki makeup and hood, he looked… 'I don't look that bad.' He was actually quite good looking.

So after combing his hair and having Karasu cut it somewhat shorter, he inspected himself in the mirror again.

'Maybe it's the makeup?' He looked at his dresser where his makeup was located. 'Does this mean I'll have to see her without my makeup?' But he felt more confident with his makeup on.

However, it was a sacrifice he had to make.

So, with one final glance at the hoodless, makeup-less face in the mirror…

'I look so normal,' Kankuro sighed.

…he left his room.

'I hope she doesn't hate me.' And he walked down the hall towards Ino's room.

0o0o0o0

Temari shook with the memory of words she had heard only a few moments ago. 'Isn't she supposed to be a matchmaker? Why does she sound like a fortune teller?'

Chouji had to quickly place his hand on the wall to maintain his balance, or fall down as Temari pulled him into her room. Unfortunately, even with his hand on the wall, there wasn't anything to hold him up, so he fell down anyway.

Gaara stared at the fallen Chouji. "..." His expression was unreadable, but he forced a slightly unsuccessful smile. 'What is Temari trying to do?' He wasn't going to let Temari expose him for a fraud. If he smiled, she wouldn't think something was wrong.

Chouji raised his head as he noticed the shadow in front of him, and his face blushed instantly. 'What a cute girl.' His thoughts were so caught up by the presence of the matchmaker that he didn't even notice the light green eyes boring into him.

'Chouji, baka!' Chouji's loud fall drew Ino's crestfallen attention from the corner. She watched disinterestedly. There was nothing else to do until they got rid of this fat interruption.

But the fiendish look filling Temari's face said otherwise. "Nakoudo-san, please tell us. Who would be Chouji-kun's girlfriend?"

'Girlfriend!' Chouji didn't know what was going on but he knew not to ask in this thick atmosphere. 'What's going on?' All that he knew was that it looked like a showdown between Temari and the cute matchmaker.

"..." Gaara didn't know what to say. He rarely observed the actions of the portly shinobi. All there were, were memories of his eating. He needed to improvise and give an estimation.

So, he said the first thought that came to mind.

"He will find a girlfriend in the near future, but her name and features are unknown. He will also get stronger." Gaara mentally hit himself in the head for saying that. What he said didn't go with his character.

He was a matchmaker, not a fortune teller.

A smile formed on Chouji's face at what the matchmaker had said. He knew his efforts would pay off eventually.

However, Temari was far from happy. She was growing more irritated by this matchmaker. Everything that this fraud had said made sense and was absolutely correct. So, she couldn't say anything about the legitimacy of this matchmaker's words, including what she said about whom Shikamaru liked.

Temari turned towards the happily spaced out Chouji. "Don't you have something to say to Ino?" He was here to talk to the sulking blond.

However, Chouji was in so much bliss that he completely forgot what Shikamaru told him to do. And this annoyed Temari even more, causing her to kick Chouji out of her room.

"Would you like to hear about your relationship with this Nara Shikamaru?" Gaara's face was unreadable even with his disguise. But he inwardly smirked.

The words disgusted Temari. "I don't have any relationship with that teme." She wasn't going to let this matchmaker trap her. She was a Sabaku after all.

"You are only friends?" Gaara was pushing Temari. And he knew that with enough force, he could get her to reveal some useful information.

"Yeah! We're just friends! So stop talking to me about that guy!" Temari's voice was uncomfortable. She didn't like how this conversation had turned in this direction.

"But there's potential for a relationship between more than just friends." By the expression on his sister's face, Gaara knew he had found something.

'Kuso... Who is this person? Her observational skills are even sharper than Gaara's.' Unfortunately, the thought of Gaara being the matchmaker couldn't even form in Temari's mind much less form in her imagination.

Ino sighed as she rose from the ground. She didn't want to hear about something like that. It was a personal topic, and since Temari was her friend, she felt like she should respect the elder kunoichi's privacy.

But Shikamaru was also her friend. And he should know about something as important as this.

So, the blond kunoichi sank into a dilemma.

"Ino," Temari got a headache from Ino's pacing. "Can you leave?" She was going to kill this matchmaker. She wasn't going to let someone who knew so much about her personal life walk away alive.

Her hand was already reaching for her fan.

And Gaara was ready to counter the attack. He was surrounded by his sand after all.

Ino only nodded her head. She was only a guest inside Temari's room.

0o0o0o0

Kankuro sighed as he turned to leave. Ino wasn't in her room. 'And I was so ready too.' So, he decided to go down to Temari's room for some advice on what to do. His sister would definitely help him. It was the first time he actually thought to ask her about something like this.

0o0o0o0

Ino walked dejectedly and wobbly towards the door. And just as she walked out, she found herself hitting something hard and flying backwards.

Kankuro didn't know what had hit him. His eyes were closed when he was about to knock on Temari's door. 'It felt like I was hit by a walking stick.' All that he knew was that his hand met air and something hit him. Then his body moved of its own accord before he even realized what he was doing.

In a single millisecond, everyone's eyes widened at the shocking image of Kankuro hugging Ino in Temari's doorway.

He had successfully caught what had hit him.

The problem was that it was Ino.

Ino's mind blanked. Her body was in too much shock to realize what was happening. 'Wh-wh-what's going on?' Ino didn't know who was hugging her. All that she knew was that it was like being hugged by a huge bear, causing a blush to creep across her face.

Gaara didn't expect this to happen. His eyes widened in full irritation. 'Baka.' Kankuro was ruining his plans!

Temari didn't know what was going on. She just knew that it was like something out of one of Kankuro's television soap operas. 'I wonder if Kankuro's going to kiss her now?' Then Temari thought on that for a minute and concluded. 'No. He will probably miss out on this chance. That baka!'

Chouji and Shikamaru were still standing around the corner. Their mouths literally hit the floor after seeing Ino bump into Kankuro, then getting hugged by him. It was a scene that neither of them thought that they would ever see their teammate get herself into.

'Ino...and Kankuro? Since when did they become so intimate?' Chouji didn't know that his teammate was attracting strange guys again.

'Ah...mendokuse.' Shikamaru knew that the older shinobi had his eyes set out on his loud teammate. It was just too troublesome to do anything about it. Especially since he still had his own problems to deal with.

'Aw... Kuso...' Kankuro cursed within his head. 'What did I get myself into this time?' His cursing continued for the rest of the silence.

The silence that hung in the air seemed to last for seconds…before Ino let out a heart stopping, high-pitched scream.

End Chapter 8

0o0o0o0

Sand everywhere:

Sand: Fire-teme… Why did Fire have to take Sasuke away? (mumbles to self) I was only going to give him a swirly or two and a wedgie and a wet-willy. (goes off into Sasuke-torturing fantasy mode)

Baki: Kazekage-sama? Why were you smiling at Chouji? (tries to hide the blush on his face)

Gaara: (narrows eyes at Baki) …

Baki: Uh…nevermind. (slowly backs away and leaves)

Ino: Why is that oaf hugging me!

Kankuro: I'm not an oaf! I'm a very skilled and intelligent Suna-nin. You should be grateful to even be allowed to touch me!

Ino: Why would I want to touch you? You're slimy and disgusting.

Kankuro: I'm very clean! Don't get me mixed up with him! (points at Shino)

Shino: Bugs aren't slimy or disgusting. They're cleaner than most pets.

Akamaru: Gggrrrrrr… Bark! Bark!

Kiba: Akamaru is very clean! What are you talking about, Shino! And Akamaru is not my pet! He's my partner! Partner!

Hinata: Ano…minna…

(Everyone turns to look at Hinata)

Hinata: Ah.! (blushes and starts to fiddle with fingers) Uh…um…

Kankuro: Say it already! We're all waiting!

Temari: Baka! (whacks Kankuro in the head with her fan) Stop being noisy!

Hinata: Has anyone seen Neji-niisan?

Everyone: He's missing? O.o;

Hinata: He was out meditating last night and didn't come home.

(Everyone turns to Sand)

Sand: What? I didn't do anything. He certainly isn't in any of my Neji traps.

Everyone: (thinks and sweatdrops) Neji traps…?

Sand: He's probably out training with his team somewhere…or hiding from me.

Lee: Neji-kun is not with us. His youthfulness has not been seen since last morning during training.

Everyone: (thinks) It sounds like he's dead.

Sand: Chotto…matte… I think I know where he is! (runs out of window)

Neji: Kuso! How did you find me? (frantically thinks of a possible reason for Sand to be here, then turns to Naruto) Naruto…

Naruto: Sand bought me a whole case of chasu ramen and miso ramen. (slurps up a stream of ramen noodles)

Sand: Neji! (tries to hug Neji's head)

Neji: O.O (dodges and runs away again)

Sand: Chotto! I only want your head! You can keep it attached to your body if you want!

Gaara: (ignores the loud arguments in the background) Review. No stupid reviews about a cute female me or sand will fill up your screen. (turns to look at everyone) … (thinks) It's too noisy here. (dissolves into sand and waterfalls out of the window)