Sasori x OC (Kazumi)
Just Smile
He came from a rich family that exceeded in the world wide trading and shipping. Their mansion was large and beautiful, the business highly respected, and the family well liked among their business partners. The boy was home schooled to keep the heir safe from the savage people desperate to get their hands on the Akasuna money left to him after his parents death when he was only five. Now, at the age of seven, he was looked after by his grandmother, and had no idea what it meant to have a friend.
Then he met the sister of one of the maids that worked at the manor. She was small, tiny like fairies described in the storybooks his mother used to read him. Though her body was small the smile that graced her face was huge. It changed her features from a delicate baby to a silly fool. The first time they met she had that smile on while playing in the garden. He had decided to work out on the patio that day as he practiced his weakest subject: English.
As she twirled about he called out, "What are you doing?"
Her sunshine yellow dress fluttered around her tiny legs while her plum colored hair spun freely in the air. She stopped spinning to looked over at the redheaded boy with wide lavender eyes that sparkled in the early summer sun.
"Dancing with the wind," she answered with a giggle.
"What?" he questioned. Raising a crimson brow at her he rested his chin in his palms staring at the lower classed girl like she was crazy.
"When the wind blows you move with it," she explained.
When the wind picked up again she showed him what she meant. With a grin she began twirling and dancing happily once more. Feeling the cool grass beneath her bare feet and the warm rays of sunlight against her cheeks as she danced away.
Running a hand through his tousled red hair the boy asked, "What's your name girl?" His hazel eyes never leaving her as she slowly came to a stop.
Dropping to her knees she sang, "Kazumi." Her yellow dress floated around her like a blanket while she stretched her arms out over her head. "And yours?" she asked.
"You don't know my name?" he said stupefied.
"Should I?" she questioned with a fading smile.
"Sasori," he informed flatly.
As he turned back to the work he was suppose to be doing a maid called from the stone path that lead to the front of the mansion.
"Kazumi! Come along it's time to go grocery shopping!" the maid hollered.
"Bye-bye Sasori-kun," Kazumi waved as she took off for her sister.
After that they met quite frequently. Sasori took to doing his work in the garden while Kazumi played or danced or sang. He found her actions entertaining and would never get any work done when she was there, he was too captivated by her free-spirited personality. In truth Sasori thought she had a horrible singing voice, perhaps she was tone deaf, but when she spoke poetry or recited a passage from a book the boy found himself listening even closer enjoying the sweet bell like tone her voice picked up. But it wasn't just her voice he paid closer attention to; there was her giant grin, her bubbly laugh, her bright lavender eyes that didn't have a worry.
Sasori also hated that about her. Hated how she hadn't a care in the world while he was expected to run an entire empire when he turned eighteen. He was jealous of the innocent girl. He wanted to blow off classes and goof off just like her. He craved the outside world that wouldn't devour him whole. Sasori hated Kazumi when she wasn't around, but when he watched her enjoy herself in his luxurious house he felt the hatred melt away and a sense of calm and happiness course through him. It was like her smile was his own, even though he couldn't remember the last time he had smiled since the passing of his parents.
Just watching was enough for Sasori. Seeing Kazumi's joy was enough to fill his empty soul. Without realizing he had begun contemplating ways to make her happier just to satisfy his own whims. He started giving her candies if she got the right answer to the questions from his English work. They were the same age, but Kazumi knew more about authors and literature than he did. From this treatment Sasori learned that she loved fruity hard candies better than chocolate, and made sure the manor always had some on hand.
By the middle of autumn the kids moved out of the garden and into the greenhouse where Kazumi took to watering the plants and reading fairy tales while Sasori attempted his studies. Over time Sasori had grown so use to her humming while reading that it was almost impossible for him to work without it. That had become their normal. It was just habit.
Until the day Kazumi stopped showing up. The first day didn't surprise Sasori, she never came by on Sundays since they were the only time she got to spend with her sister. When the second day past he brushed it off as the weather's fault, but by Thursday Sasori was unable to do any of his homework. He just wanted to know where she was. What she was doing when she wasn't with him?
His grandmother had taken notice of his unusually tense and cold demeanor.
"Sasori what's troubling you?" Granny Chiyo inquired when she stopped by his room that Thursday evening.
He was staring out his window at the falling snow, and he didn't turn away as he asked, "Do you know a maid by the name of Mizuki?"
"That kind young lady who brings her sister to work?" Granny Chiyo guessed.
Sasori nodded. Turning to his grandmother with serious hazel eyes he questioned, "Has she been to work this week?"
"Everyday as far as I've seen," Chiyo answered. Raising a gray brow she said, "Why do you ask?"
Sasori got to his feet and made his way over to his bed as he replied, "No reason."
If Kazumi's sister was at work then there was no reason for her not to be, Sasori figured. That night he went to bed angry and hating that cheery little girl. How was he suppose to be happy if he couldn't see her smile or hear that bell like laugh. Without her around he was back to his old alone and upset self. He hated feeling like that, so to fix his problem he hunted down Mizuki the following day. It was in hopes of finding out where Kazumi was.
Mizuki was working in the kitchen when Sasori finally tracked her down and she wasn't alone. Perched on a stool in the corner of the room sat Kazumi; silent, still and without a smile. At first Sasori wasn't sure it was her, but the plum colored hair and lavender eyes gave her away.
Upon entering the kitchen Sasori froze halfway into the room when he noticed Kazumi's black eye and swollen cheek, but she wasn't the only one. Mizuki also had bruises up her arms and a split and swollen bottom lip. Sasori didn't understand why these girls were beaten, or why Kazumi was being all silent. He was raised to never raise a hand to a female, and he couldn't imagine any reason for anyone to do it. So what happened?
"Sasori-kun?" Kazumi gasped when she noticed him. She flushed an unhealthy shade of red as she gathered her hair to the front of her injured face to hide it from him.
"Hmm-," Mizuki hummed turning around. Sasori was still standing in the middle of the kitchen staring at her younger sister. "Good morning young Master. Would you care for a mid-morning snack?" she inquired as part of her job.
Composing himself like the future CEO he was he said, "No thank you." Sasori walked over to the island Mizuki was cutting fruit on.
As he stood there the kitchen fell into silence except for the thumping of Mizuki's knife on the cutting board. The woman looked at the boy eyeing her sister curiously, a small knowing smile pulled at her injured mouth causing her hurt lip to throb.
"I'm sorry, about monopolizing Kazumi this week, but she hasn't been feeling well," Mizuki said to Sasori.
Kazumi was still hiding her face in her hair while she trembled on the stool, and Sasori noticed it all.
Turning to the older sister he asked, "What happened?"
"Don't worry about us young Master. You have bigger things to think about," Mizuki said with her formal work smile. Clearly forced and strained on her bruised face. "I'm sure Kazumi will be all better by next week," she added when he didn't move.
"Very well," Sasori said firmly.
With that he turned and unwillingly marched out of the kitchen leaving the two sisters behind.
Just like Mizuki had said that Monday Kazumi was back in the greenhouse laughing and humming. It was obvious that her black eye was being concealed by make-up, but Sasori let the topic drop. She clearly didn't want to tell him, and he wasn't going to cause her pain by digging and prying for an answer. The redhead didn't have it in him to make her sad, so whenever Kazumi avoided him for a length of time he knew she was wounded again. And he would find an excuse to give her a gift when she came back just so she would smile happily for him.
The second time it happened Sasori gave her a box of the expensive candies that she loved. A year later it happened for the third time and he gave her a beautiful spring dress with flowers and frills. It didn't happen again until they were 13 and Sasori gave her a set of books by her favorite author. After that Kazumi started to cover up her wounds right away, and it took Sasori a lot of staring and debating to figure out if she was hurt or if it was all in his paranoid mind. Though it didn't matter in the end he would buy her something anyway to make her smile more.
With each injury case Sasori would check his suspicion with Mizuki to see if she was also hurt and she usually was. Then came the worst beating when they were sixteen. Mizuki was perfectly fine, not even a scratch, but Kazumi was limping, nursing her left arm, and was wearing long sleeves on one of the hottest days of the summer.
Kazumi had avoided any questions about her appearance and went on to tell Sasori about the great news that her sister was engaged to a wonderful man, and would be moving in with him. The good news was followed up with horrible news that Sasori didn't want to hear. Since Mizuki was moving out it meant that Kazumi couldn't come to work with her anymore. All Sasori could think about was how he wouldn't be able to see her smile and laugh, or check to see if she was okay. Kazumi would be gone.
That same day Kazumi returned all the presents Sasori had ever given her, even the box of candy. She had said it was too cute to eat.
"I'm sorry about all the inconveniences I've cause over the years, but I had so much fun," she smiled. This time Sasori found the expression disgusting. It was unnatural and ugly on her face. That smile didn't belong in his happy place.
"You're the nicest person I've ever met Sasori-kun. Always serious, but you have a warm heart. Thank you for all of the good memories, I really cherish them," Kazumi continued with slumped shoulders.
Gesturing to the patio table full of gifts Sasori said, "You don't have to give these back, they're yours."
"It wouldn't feel right keeping them," Kazumi said. She nervously wrung her hands together as she dug the toe of her shoe into the stone.
"Kazumi it's time to go!" Mizuki called from the side path.
"Coming!" Kazumi replied in a rush. Bowing politely -which was unlike her- she said, "Bye-bye Sasori-kun," then hurried off. Leaving the garden and his life with a heavy limp.
What happens to that girl? Sasori wondered looking down at the box of candies. Pastel colored flowers made of delicate sugar; somehow that description fit Kazumi too.
Days passed slowly without Kazumi, and Sasori struggled through them all. Every hour. Every minute was a challenge to not think about his smile. The smile that didn't turn up his lips, but those of a delicate fairy. A girl so tiny that it didn't seem like she grew several feet in the last nine years. Her singing never improved, but her voice alone was enchanting like that of a siren from Greek mythology. Hearing that voice fake happiness when she was hurt sent a block of ice to his core. A freezing pain that wouldn't stop until she laughed wholeheartedly again.
Now she was gone. Leaving a trail of happy and painful memories behind. Sasori thought he would hate her for leaving, but that wasn't the case. Instead he was scared. Worried that she wasn't smiling happily, or that she had new wounds that he couldn't take care of with a gift, or was she just gone, like a puff of smoke.
Was she dead?
Never to make any sound again. To never open her mouth in that impossibly huge grin ever again. Were the last words he'd ever hear from her really be their final farewell?
He hated those things. The unknown. The goodbye. The fear. He couldn't live with that forever.
"Sasori where do you think you are going?" Granny Chiyo demanded.
She had caught her grandson with his hands on the front doors about to leave the mansion on his own with no escort.
With his utmost serious tone her replied, "I'm getting my smile back."
"But you don't smile dear," Chiyo bemusedly pointed out.
Sasori threw open the giant wooden doors, and without looking back said, "Precisely."
Marching his way for the car that he had called the chauffeur for he steeled his nerves for his mission. Upon arriving at Kazumi's house Sasori hadn't expected such a short trip, let alone to come face-to-face with a one floor small two bedroom house. It puzzled the redhead at how four people could live comfortably in such a small house together.
He walked up to the front door ready to knock and kidnap his smile- if need be- when screams echoed from inside the house. The voice was unmistakable, his ears had grown attached to it in a rather pathetic way for the last nine years. Without hesitation Sasori opened the door only to see a horrific scene that left him temporarily paralyzed in his response.
On the floor was Kazumi curled up into a ball crying in pain while a rather large man stood over her with a bloody fist. In the far corner of the living room hiding behind a coffee table sat a woman cradling her own injured arm- Kazumi's mother. The man looked at Sasori from the sound of the squeaky hinges as the door swung freely.
"Get out of my house!" he growled at Sasori.
Finally, Sasori's body began functioning again and he stormed inside the house.
"I said leave brat!" the man hissed reaching for Sasori's arm.
"Don't touch me," he said furious.
Sasori brought his fist up sending a well placed blow to the man's temple. The woman in the corner cried out in shock as the man fell to the floor, unconscious. Stepping over the crumpled body Sasori knelt beside the silently sobbing fairy of his childhood.
"Hey," was all he said.
It was all he could manage to say. He never actually called her name before, not even letting it roll off his tongue. She always did most of the talking, he never had a reason to call to her. She was always there.
Kazumi didn't acknowledge him.
"I know you can hear me," he said flatly.
Nothing.
"Look at me," he ordered her.
Yet she still refused.
"Kazumi," he breathed feeling weak. It was like saying her name was admitting to a great defeat, and as a Akasuna he was taught to never accept defeat.
From behind her hands Kazumi muttered, "Why are you here?" Her voice was hoarse and foreign to him. It was her usual light and soft as a feather tone he had come to enjoy. Now it was like a vacuum cleaner sucking up gravel.
"To take you back," he answered honestly.
"Why?" she asked. She still refused to look at him, her body trembling with unknown fear.
Her mother remained huddled in the corner too scared to move.
"I'm not completely sure," Sasori answered.
"I don't want any more charity! I won't take your handouts anymore, so please leave," Kazumi cried as she sat up. Her hair covered most of her face while her arms hugged her sides gingerly. That's when Sasori realized the blood trickling down her shirt. Her current injuries had far exceeded what he had witnessed over the years.
Holding out a hand to her Sasori said, "I don't give handouts, now come on. You need a doctor."
"I can't go to a hospital," she yelled.
Who was this girl? The Kazumi Sasori knew was gentle, kind, and never raised her voice out of anger. This aggressive and frightened girl was new to him, and he most definitely didn't like her.
"Yes you can," Sasori stated firmly.
"I can't," she argued. "Then my father will be taken away and we won't have anyone to take care of us," she explained frantically.
"Mizuki was blessed and was able to leave," her mother added.
"Then I'll take care of you," Sasori said without pause.
"Why?" Kazumi exclaimed. She stared at him with bloodshot lavender eyes. "You have no reason to take care of us! I told you we don't need charity. We're fine." She refused slapping his hand away.
"If you were a part of my family would that reason be good enough to take care of you?" Sasori asked. His face calm yet serious as he spoke to her.
"That would never happen," she said losing her volume.
"Really? Then you wouldn't accept a marriage proposal?" he questioned.
"Marriage isn't a joke," she stated.
"I don't joke and you know that," Sasori said not breaking eye contact.
Kazumi coughed into her hands, they came away with specks of blood that she tried to hide from him, but failed. Sasori wasn't going to wait any longer, if he was going to protect his smile he was going to have to marry her. So he turned to her mother with blazing hazel eyes and bowed his head low.
"May I have your daughter as my wife? I want to protect her, and if I can't even do that then there's no way I can run a company. So please allow me to try. I will also protect you from him no matter what," Sasori swore.
As Kazumi's mom stared back in shock she said, "It's not my choice."
After a moment the mother turned to Kazumi waiting for her answer. The girl was staring at Sasori. His words like a dream to her, a delusion that could not be coming true. He was a rich and powerful boy and she was at the bottom of the social ladder. His proposal made no sense.
"Kazumi come with me. I will protect you," Sasori said offering his hand again.
"I want love," she rasped through a cough.
"Then I'll love you," he answered.
"Do you even know what love is?" she challenged.
"Protecting what you care about no matter what, that is what the books say. I care about your smile, your happiness. It's like it is my own. I won't let it go," he explained.
Even though admitting everything he felt was humiliating, he was a man bent on the truth. He would never lie like his father taught him.
"Jerk," she mumbled wiping at her eyes.
"What?" he asked confused.
"You're answer wasn't suppose to be that good," Kazumi hiccuped.
"I don't know what that means," Sasori admitted dumbfounded.
"It means I accept, Sasori-kun," she smiled. It was her usual extra large and happy smile, despite her face being bruised, swollen and bloody around her lips.
With those words Sasori lifted Kazumi up as gently as possible and carried her out to the car where he had his driver take her and her mother to a hospital while he called the police to take care of her father- that still laid unconscious. He was arrested on the spot and sent to jail with no bail. Sasori had a long talk with his grandmother when he returned home about his marriage to Kazumi, which didn't surprise her. Granny Chiyo had expected this to happen after his fourteenth birthday when he had invited the girl to a private party for the company. He had stayed by her side the whole night with a surprising sparkle in his eyes like the girl next to him was a blessed gift from the heavens that consumed his entire life.
By the end of the conversation it was agreed that the wedding would be held when they were both eighteen, and they still wanted to get married. The two years past with Kazumi's family living happily and safely in Sasori's home. Every day it pleased him to not have to inspect her for the hidden bruises beneath layers of make-up. To know she would smile and laugh wholeheartedly from morning to night fall made Sasori's heart race. A feeling he wasn't accustomed to.
On the day of their wedding, the month following Kazumi's eighteenth birthday, Sasori did something that sent the entire church into a ringing silence. It happened when the priest asked him if he took Kazumi to be his wife, Sasori answered "I do," with a small smile of his own. A smile that his grandmother hadn't seen since he was five.
"Sasori-kun do that again!" Kazumi exclaimed halting the ceremony. The priest was left idly waiting to finish her half of the vows.
"What?" Sasori questioned. Completely unaware of what he had done.
"Smile," she ordered taking his hands.
He looked at her grin growing with pleasure. "I am," he answered with a straight face.
"No you aren't," she accused. "I am."
"Exactly," he said kissing her forehead.
After Kasami's "I do" and the final kiss, but before they walked down the aisle as husband and wife she paused the ceremony once more determination scrawled across her pretty face.
"Did anyone get that smile on film? Please tell me someone did," she frantically called out to the crowd.
"Don't worry, it was recorded," answered a man in the back.
"I want a hundred life size pictures framed and put around the house," Kazumi sang as an embarrassed Sasori pulled her down the aisle.
The guests laughed at Kazumi's enthusiasm, while Sasori wondered why she got so happy at one of his small facial expressions. Then again his world revolved around her smile, his little fairy's wide grin. Why did it take him eleven years to learn the best way to make Kazumi's smile the prettiest? All he had to do was turn up the ends of his own mouth.
I'm such a fool, he concluded that day.
They were in a hotel room on their honeymoon- the first night- when Sasori tried his theory. It worked. Kazumi giggled and danced when she saw his smile, which only made his expression grow.
"Sasori-kun you look so cute," she cooed hugging him tightly.
"Kazumi," Sasori said losing his smile as he hugged her back.
"I love you Sasori-kun," Kazumi hummed against his chest.
He kissed her. All the happiness she gave him was in that kiss, it was almost too much for Kazumi to handle. Her legs felt weak and a shaky laugh escaped her mouth like a drunken fool. When Sasori pulled away he saw her face light up all red, the reaction made him kiss her again and again until she was a limp giggling red faced fool in his arms. Yet all he could see was his tiny fairy happy and enjoying herself. That's all he ever wanted, all he would ever need. . . .
Until Kazumi gave birth to their first child, a daughter that shared her mother's huge grin and small physique. Though she had her father's hazel eyes, red hair and love for her mother's voice. Every night they would gather to listen to Kazumi read a story with her soft and angelic voice, that could never sing properly. An unfortunate trait she past onto her daughter, but Sasori didn't mind. His sweet little fairies were all he needed to keep smiling day after day.