Disclaimer for al chapters: I do not own anything. Okay!?
A/N: Honestly, I don't even remember where I got this idea, but the thought of Kankuro becoming a Batman rip-off and dragging along Kiba as his sidekick was too much to resist. Enjoy.
The Puppet Master
Chapter 1: Puppet Master Begins
It was a dark, stormy night. My parents and I were at the local Suna Theater, enjoying the show. Upper class citizens surrounded us, but not honest people like my parents; these were the cesspools of human existence, the ones who were so corrupted by their money and greed they had become nothing more than leeches, feeding of the weaker to propel themselves higher. Besides that, not a bad show.
The first show ended, and the audience clapped. The narrator announced that the main show would now begin, and the lights in the theater dimmed. We were told the name of this production was "Avenue Q". Interesting title, I thought. Little did I know of the horror that awaited me. As the show began, a sole actor came out and began reciting his lines. But I wasn't focusing on him. My gaze was directed at the puppet on his hand. It was moving its lips in conjunction to the actor, as if it was alive.
I knew that I had to act. Screaming, I jumped up from my seat. Everyone stared at me, bewildered. I ran across people's heads to the stage, making sure to put as much force into each step as possible, show these pigs what it was like to be stepped on. I jumped onto the stage and tore the puppet from the innocent mans hand. I tore into it and ripped it apart, and was still doing so when security grabbed me.
The man grabbed the puppet from my hands, and I was surprised to see that his hand was still attached to his body. "But how?" I asked, gesturing toward his non-mutilated hand.
"It's just a puppet! It's harmless!" he yelled at me.
I glared at him. "Sure, keep saying that. Just know that I warned you." I turned toward the audience. "I warned all of you!" As I was escorted off the stage by security, I smirked: best exit ever. I was promptly handed over to my parents. As we left the theater I was scolded on my brash actions. I stayed quiet, knowing I would be grounded for the next week. A small price to pay to save a life.
As we walked down the street a man came out of an alley. He begged us for money before pulling out a kunai. My father remained very calm and was going to give him his wallet, but made one wrong move and the man sliced his neck while taking the wallet. He then grabbed my mother's necklace and killed her too before running off. It was completely random and left me traumatized for life.
--
"Wait wait wait, you guys get kicked out of the theater, and then some random guy just comes out of nowhere and kills both of your parents? Doesn't that seem a little, I don't know, far-fetched?" Kiba asked.
"Look, do you want to hear the rest of my origin story or not?" Kankuro said.
"Fine, fine, continue. I'm sure I'll find more to criticize," he muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Kankuro raised his eyebrow, and then continued his story.
--
After the incident my master, Sasori, took me in. He was a puppet master, and still continued to use them even after I warned them of how evil they are. He would just laugh at me.
One day while Sasori was out, he left-
--
"Hold on, I'm sorry, but isn't Sasori a member of Akatsuki?" Kiba interrupted. "I mean, nobody ever tells me anything, but if I'm correct, didn't he leave before you were even born? Doesn't that kind of render the whole part of this story obsolete?"
Kankuro looked at him for a few seconds, and then slapped him. "Don't tell me how to tell my story. I don't see your origin story being any better."
Kiba beamed with pride and said, "That's where you're wrong! I came up with a great origin story!"
Kankuro laid down his script and looked at his sidekick. "You wrote an origin story?"
"Yep! You see, my parents were trapeze artists, and a horrible accident caused them to fall to their deaths. As it turns out, this "accident" was caused by the villain Two-Mask. While you're investigating the crime, I join forces with you and we become the dynamic duo of The Puppet Master and Isamaru, the Wonder Dog!"
Kankuro promptly face palmed. "You know what, fine. It's better than telling people I recruited you just because you're the only other person I could think of with a gimmick."
"What?" Kiba asked, tears at his face. "You said you chose me because of my charming personality and dashing good looks."
"Oh yeah, right. That," Kankuro said dismissingly, waving his hand at Kiba. "Anyways, back to my story…"
--
One day while Sasori was out, he left one of his puppets, Crow, out in the living room. I glared at it, knowing as soon as I turned around it would jump me. Therefore, I was forced to sit in front of it, with a scowl on my face. "Hey," I said. It didn't respond.
"Hey!" I yelled at it. It just sat there. "Oh, I see, not talking, eh? Fair enough. But I'm warning you, stay away from me, or I will kill you. Just like you killed my parents." It continued to sit there. "Yeah that's right, you're the reason my parents are dead. t was your fault we got kicked out of the theater."
Suddenly, realization hit me. "But if that puppet hadn't freaked me out so much, I wouldn't have attacked it. So it's still the puppets fault, but it's a little of mine as well. Because I was…scared."
"And now you realize it." I jumped up at the voice and looked around, but didn't see anybody else.
"Who are you? Where are you?"
"It's me, Kankuro." My eyes widened, and I turned to stare at Crow. It was sitting up straight now, and I could tell it was grinning. "How are you doing?"
"Holy crap you can talk! I knew it! You're here to destroy us all! Destroy us all! Destroy us all! Destroy us all! Destroy us all…" I continued to scream this for quite awhile, until Crow finally smacked me.
"Shut up, you fool." I rubbed my cheek and sat down, staring at the obviously Satan-possessed puppet.
"What do you want?"
"I want to tell you that you made a good realization just now. It was your fear of puppets that got your parents killed, and you are to blame."
I started to cry at this. "I thought you were supposed to make me feel better and reassure me that my parents deaths weren't my fault."
"Huh? Oh hell no, it's totally your fault, you little brat. I mean, holy crap, who the hell gets scared of a hand puppet? You're such a wuss!" I was failing to hold my tears in, and eventually decided to just let it out. Crow rolled his eyes at me and mumbled, "Oh great, not this again."
After I calmed down, Crow started to talk again. " Anyways, now that you're done bawling, we can continue. My point is, it was your fear of puppets that got your parents killed, but you can turn that fear around."
Wiping my eyes I asked, "How so?"
"Learn the ways of the puppet master. Have Sasori teach you everything he knows, and you shall strike fear into the hearts of the criminals of Suna." Crow stopped talking then and fell backwards, as lifeless as he had been before. But I knew he was right.
"Yes," I said to myself, thinking the idea over. "Yes, I can turn that fear into my strength. As the Puppet Master, I will strike fear into Suna's criminals, and become the hero this city needs!" I yelled as lightning struck dramatically behind me.
It was then that Sasori came in, and I could barely hear him whisper, "Oh great, now I need to get him therapy."
--
Kankuro set down the piece of paper and looked at Kiba, waiting for a response. He expected Kiba to be amazed at his storytelling ability, at the genius of his imagination and skill. What he didn't expect was the laughing. "Hey! What are you laughing at?"
"That was the worst story I've ever heard in my life!" Kiba managed to get out in between his fits of laughter. "Seriously, a talking puppet? This is too much!"
Just as Kankuro was about to protest, he saw something light up in the sky. "It's the Puppet Signal! Quickly Isamaru, to the Puppet Cave!"
Kiba stopped laughing to ask, "What?" before being dragged off into a cave Kankuro had somehow built into his house.
--Meanwhile, in downtown Suna…--
The people were panicking. Citizens ran for their lives left and right, but a black wall engulfed most. Amidst all this chaos one man stood in the center, wearing a long trench coat, half of it white, the other half black. He also wore a demonic looking mask that, like his trench coat, had one half white and the other black. He laughed at the chaos around him, before turning to the camera dramatically. "Get ready Puppet Master! Two-Mask is here!"
Who is Two-Mask? What is his motivation? And where the hell did Kankuro get a Puppt Cave? All this and more, in the enxt chapter of The Puppet Master!
(Also, I'm really aching for feedback, so please review if you read this. Even a two-word review will be appreciated, just something, as long as you're not flaming me. Constructive crticism is appreciated, though.)