Author's note: ELABORATE criticisms and suggestions or just plain reviews are very much encouraged. (By elaborate I mean don't give me stuff like. The girl is so Mary Sue, you suck. Tell me in what way. Its all for the improvement of your source of your 'insert number of minutes you took to read here' entertainment.) Enjoy!
Thoughts: '...'
Speech: "..."
Desert Strings
'Where is this? Is this heaven or hell? I just died didn't I? My hands, they won't move. My body... Is this what death feels like? Then why is there pounding in my chest? Damn it don't tell me the seal has left me stuck in my body. Its so dark. Wait... is that light?'
Sasori felt his heart pound in the cylinder, it felt so unnatural.
"Are you awake Puppet San?"
An unfamiliar voice called. His eyes clicked into empty broken sockets.
"Let him rest Yuko, he almost died. Come help me set the table, we have to get it ready by the time your sister and father get home."
"Yes Okaasan!"
A cheery raven haired little girl left the room and ran to her mother.
"Do you eat, Puppet San?"
She popped her head back in. He moved his head slightly.
"Then maybe you can take some of my foo..."
"You will not eat any less than one bowl of rice my dear young lady."
A man's voice came from outside, Sasori could not see who it was.
"Oneesan, Otosan!"
"Kagari Chan! How was your mission?"
"It was alright Okaasan, who is our guest?"
She asked as she walked into the room which appeared to be hers.
"This is Puppet San! Okaasan found him on her way back from her walk to the village."
The older girl stepped into view, she looked no older than 13. She had dark raven hair that reached her thighs and fair skin with deep green eyes. His eyes darted to the Suna headband around her neck. So he was back in the sand village, the one place it seemed he could never run away from. As he watched the family joke around him, Sakura's words came to him.
'Doesn't the word life mean anything to you?'
Those seemingly pointless words came back to haunt him, here he was being taunted by the thing he never had. A life, a family. Why were these things coming to him now? Had he gone soft?
The famiy ate their dinner. After that, the one they called Kagari sat beside his bed.
"Puppet San, do you need food?"
He moved his head again. Even as a puppet he needed some form of energy to sustain his heart. She got a bowl and laid it beside him, he stared at her blankly.
"Oh, you can't move can you? Its ok, I'll feed you then."
She took up the spoon and wiped the excess gruel at the side of the bowl, hovering the spoon over his mouth. He opened his mouth reluctantly, never in his entire life had he felt so degraded. She fed him carefully, making sure all the food landed in his mouth. After he had emptied the bowl, she removed what was left of his shirt carefully. With a hammer and a screwdriver, she carefully mended his broken joints. He watched her work quietly.
"Puppet San, your arms are completely broken. I'm going to replace them."
With that, she left and came back with another puppet. It was the puppet of his mother. She removed its old wooden arms and attached it to him, soon he was able to move them. It was a little hard, he was too used to having his old hands which did not have visible joints. His fingers twitched, his jaw could move more freely.
"Don't make sudden movements yet, your joints are really fragile now. I can't find replacements for your legs, these puppet ones are way to thin to support your body. Just give me a little time and I will try to fix your current limbs. Bear with this for now."
How did this little girl know so much? Was she a puppeteer as well?
"By the way, you haven't told me your name Puppet San."
"I..ts po...int...less..."
"If you say so, then I will just call you Puppet San! Whats this little can?"
She poked his heart cylinder. The name on the cylinder apparently meant nothing to her or her family. He wondered why, his name was infamous in the sand village.
"Don,,,'t to...uch it... Whe..re is th...i...s...?"
"We haven't introduced ourselves have we? This is the Seishuku clan. My Otosan, Kira is the head of the clan. My Okaasan is Natsu and this is Yuko. I'm Kagari. Our shinobis are registered as ninjas of the Suna but we were seperated from them years ago."
"Why are you a puppet Puppet San? Who made you?"
The little girl asked cheerfully. Sasori lay silent.
"Yuko thinks you're really handsome."
Kagari smiled at Yuko.
"Yuko thats enough, let him rest."
Yuko ran off.
"I'm sleeping outside tonight but you can pull this string if you need me. For now I'll be out training, my Okaasan will attend to you."
She slipped a ring attached to some ninja wires on his finger before grabbing a scroll and leaving. After awhile, he could fully move his arms. Kagari had detached his legs, he was an invalid. For the first time, he noticed a puppet in the room. A battle puppet.
'So she was a puppeteer.'
Bored, he attached a chakra string to the nearest puppet. It had been too long since he had controlled a puppet aside from battle.
The puppet came to life at his hands, jumping off the shelf and moving around the same way he used to play with them as a child. He noticed Yuko at the door and the strings broke, the puppets collapsed.
"Don't stop Puppet San, you can make it move like Oneesan."
He looked at her but she just smiled happily.
"Can you teach me? I'm in the academy but they only teach the easy stuff. Yuko wants to be really strong like Oneesan."
Sasori merely looked at here, these kids obviously do not know the true meaning of strength. He doubted Kagari had killed anyone yet. He tried to ignore the little girls' babbling, it reminded him of Deidara. His former pesky partner whos constant mindless jabbering never ceased to be of an annoyance to him.
To make her shut up, he got the puppet to get up and walk. The joints creaked with agony, this puppet had obviously not been used for a rather long time. It was an old fashioned puppet, a female with a katana in a sheath. The basic weapon slots and kunai launchers were there, nothing great and everything was empty. Any poison that might have ever been in the puppet was dried and useless, the smell of Karatake and Matsumo herb surrounded the puppet. A herb that poison users had stopped using in their poisons centuries ago. The poison was weak and slow to take effect. It was also easy to neutralise. Puppeteers also stopped using Karatake (Timber Bamboo) long ago, the modern puppets were made from Aodake (Green Bamboo) which was lighter and stronger.
He closed his eyes, as long as the puppet moved the girl would keep quiet. He suddenly felt the puppet freeze, his eyes shot open. Another group of chakra strings were connected to its limbs.
"Thank you for entertaining my sister for me Puppet San, I really appreciate it. This puppet is Yumi. It was a heirloom given to me by my great grandfather when I was a baby so if you don't mind, please don't use it."
Sasori looked up, Kagari was at the door. She smiled at him. He released his strings, allowing her to return the puppet to the place on the shelf. He watched her long slender fingers move like the fingers of a pianist, a smile played on her lips. She really loved them, he could see it in her eyes.
"You seem really skilled Puppet San, will you spar with me when you get better? You could borrow one of my puppets."
He watched as she stared at him eagerly. He figured it would not hurt, maybe he would not even be here by the time he got better. No he was not planning to stay in bed for long. He moved his head.
"Wonderful! I'm starting to like you Puppet San"
She cheered and left, bringing her sister with her. Starting to like? Him? Sasori almost laughed, she would take it all back if she knew anything about him. How he managed to survive was a mistery though, he was so sure it was the end. Somehow his heart had been restored. It would be only a matter of time before the Suna was alerted, he was too close to the village. He had to escape soon.
End