Match

Chapter 1

Summary: Chiyo wants to find her grandson a bride, but her grandson just isn't that interested. Yet, anyway. SasoxDei. Warning: Slightly AU, and OOCness.

A/N: This story is AU, because it's not set in the world of Naruto, but it's not modern- more like Asia in ancient times (if you watch Chinese movies, you'll get what I'm talking about with the whole competition to select grooms thing). The ages are altered to fit the plot more, and the opinions of the characters are not necessarily my own opinions as well. Also, anyone with a name is NOT an OC! Also, the LINE BREAK FLASHBACK.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto, so Sasori wouldn't have such a freaky puppet body. O.O

Akasuna Sasori was walking through the streets, deep in thought. Earlier that morning, his grandmother had just lectured him about his future. He was twenty-eight years old, she'd said, and he didn't have a wife, didn't have a high rank in court- didn't have any rank in court, wasted all his time working on pointless things, like making puppets (even though- Sasori noted with some bitterness- she had been the one that taught him how to make those in the first place), and however was she going to feel reassured passing away if he was still so helpless and didn't have anyone to take care of him?

So mostly, the lecture had been about getting himself a companion for life. And it had turned into a heated argument at that point (Sasori had been silently fixing one of his puppets and zoning her out before that), for Chiyo had brought up the subject of her again.

Sasori frowned in displeasure at the thought of being married to her. The girl in question was one Haruno Sakura, the Empress Tsunade's ward. The empress treated her as if she were her own daughter, and taught her everything she knew, so that Sakura was pretty much a princess in her own right.

And lately, she had just reached the age where girls were finally able to marry. Tsunade had made sure word of that got around the country, and Chiyo had been one of the first to find out.

Grandma Chiyo used to be an advisor, and the only female official, at the royal court, so naturally, she wanted the best for her grandson. She had spent a considerable amount of time with Sakura, and decided she really liked the girl, to Sasori's dismay.

He had met her once, only once, and had taken an immediate dislike to her. Despite the fact that she was incredibly strong and had extensive knowledge of medicine, Sakura still seemed like a complete airhead to the redhead.

The way she talked and acted, her mannerisms, her annoying temper and bratty nature, and her creepy obsession with Uchiha Sasuke, one of the lords' son, was enough to convince Sasori that if he ever ended up married to her, he would take poison on their wedding night and die happy.

Unfortunately, that did nothing to convince Chiyo that Sakura was not the perfect candidate for a granddaughter-in-law. And every time she brought her up, which was quite often, Sasori would end up arguing with her for half an hour or more, resulting in him leaving the house in a fit of rage.

Today was no different. Sasori was seriously pissed, because no matter how he looked at it, it was a win-win for Chiyo. His grandmother simply wanted him to find himself a companion, so he wouldn't end up living alone for the rest of his life. She wouldn't mind if he married someone other than Sakura, as long as he married somebody.

However, this was easier said than done. He didn't know why, but he'd never really felt an attraction to anyone before. It might have been because Sasori was an extremely picky person, and the person he chose would have to be his idea of perfect art. He was an artist, and he wanted someone with whom he could discuss his art with. Too bad this place was completely lacking in the area of art appreciators.

Sasori was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the sound of hooves echoing on cobblestones from about a hundred yards away. It wasn't until the carriage was close enough to run him over had the driver not slowed down the horse in time, that he finally noticed and jumped out of the way.

"Whoa, there! You really ought to watch where you're going, sir! He could've killed you right there!" The driver leaned out of his seat and indicated to the horse. "Say, you aren't by any chance heading to Miss Suzume's groom-selection event, are you?"

Sasori's eyes narrowed as he heard the word "groom-selection".

"Eh, guess not. Oh well- it's just up ahead if you want to drop by. I'd recommend it. Our Suzume's one of the prettiest dolls in this town." The driver grinned and lifted his cap to Sasori, who nodded back and continued walking. Strange that he'd refer to his master's daughter as a "pretty doll", though it did slightly raise Sasori's interest.

He noticed the pale curtains over the carriage window drop back into place out of the corner of his eye, as if someone inside had been watching him. Probably the girl Suzume. Poor thing, getting married off to someone random in this way. At least the other girls he knew had chosen from a select group of wealthy bachelors.

He had been planning to stop at his favorite restaurant for lunch. It was a high-class place, with two stories and little tables out on the balcony. Sasori enjoyed sitting there alone and reflecting on his life.

Today, however, something was very off. For one thing, the entrance to the restaurant had been partially obscured- by a giant red stage (well, not really- it actually looked more like a boxing ring than anything)! And the tables on the balcony had been cleared away, the railings draped with a red cloth and red ribbons.

A man was standing on the stage, and there was a sizable crowd gathered around below. He had slightly graying hair, and appeared to be extremely wealthy, judging by the material his clothes were made of.

"Today, I am hosting a huge competition here in this very spot! All who are interested, please feel free to stay and listen! My daughter, Suzume, has just turned 20 and it is time to find her a proper husband! She has had so many people ask for her hand in marriage that I realized I needed a good way to figure out who is truly worthy of having her as a bride! In addition to our fabulous wealth, our family has been renowned for generations for being exceptionally skilled warriors and ARTISTS! The man my daughter marries must be intelligent, strong, AND talented, and the best way to prove that, and find that man, will be through this challenge that I have designed!"

Sasori remained rooted to the spot. Did he just say this Suzume was an artist? By this time, a HUGE crowd had gathered around the stage, most of them male, though there were quite a few female spectators, too.

"Keep in mind, the winner will receive, in addition to my daughter's hand in marriage, five hundred gold bars, a thousand acres of land, a new house on the east side of town…"

The man continued to list more items from his incredibly long list, but Sasori had stopped listening after the rules had been explained. He didn't have to listen- all these competitions were the same, anyways.

If it weren't for the fact that the man had said his family members valued art, Sasori would've moved right on. He'd been through enough of these events to be sick of them for a lifetime.

A few years back, his grandmother had gone into a matchmaking frenzy, drawing up lists of all the eligible young women of royal/noble/merchant class in the capital for him to consider. After the lists (complete with portraits and profiles on each woman) had been found shoved underneath his bed, apparently forgotten for months, Chiyo had had to find other methods to get Sasori to meet prospective brides.

The answer came in a letter from one of Chiyo's friends at court. His daughter, Temari, had reached an age where she was ready to be married off, and in order to choose the right husband for her, he had come up with a contest, to be held at his estate the following week.

The rules were very simple. Whichever man could beat his daughter in a sparring match would win her hand in marriage. Chiyo had immediately called Sasori home from his trip through the countryside in search of materials for his strange hobby of puppet-making. He was displeased to discover the cause for his homecoming, and even less pleased when he learned what he was expected to do in a few days.

Temari was the daughter of a very powerful general at court. Sasori had met her several times when he was younger, and had actually found her quite intriguing (she was probably one of the few young women in the capital who had both brains and beauty, and could hold her own with the young lords and masters), though it was so obvious that Temari wasn't the type who would be happy to just settle down and be somebody's wife.

He knew he'd just beat her in the spar, she'd just find a way to get out of the marriage, and Grandma Chiyo'd just drag him off to the next family with an eligible bachelorette.

So when the day of the contest came, Sasori, knowing that he'd never get away with making up excuses, calmly leapt out of his second-story window without bothering to land properly, twisted his ankle, and had to stay home. Unfortunately, Chiyo knew exactly what he had done, so for the next month, she kept very close watch on him, making sure he didn't find another way to escape.

One month, and six unsuccessful visits to Chiyo's friends-with-daughters' households later, another letter arrived, this time from an old business partner of Chiyo's, Yamanaka Inoichi. The man owned a chain of flower shops, and as a result, had come up with some bizarre way to find a husband for his daughter.

He'd set up a giant dome covered in thick vines (think one of those jungle gyms you see in school playgrounds, only many times as large, and with vines growing all over) in his own backyard, and had made various flowers grow among the vines. Then he drew up lists for each of the young men he'd invited, and informed them that the first to reach the top and get the rose (there was only one rose) and therefore all the flowers on the list would marry his daughter. If you fell off the dome, you were out of the competition. That was all.

Sasori didn't even glance at his own list (Since Chiyo had been keeping such a close eye on him, he didn't manage to get out of the house in time and had to show up at the "giant scavenger hunt obstacle course", as he'd decided to call it). Instead, he looked around at his "rivals".

There was that Uchiha kid, the younger one, standing right in the middle of the row, to Sasori's right. His family had a lot of influence at court, and at the moment, he seemed to have an advantage over the others (the middle looked closer to the dome than the other positions).

To Sasori's left was the young genius kid, Shikamaru. Sasori heard that he'd been recruited by the prince to draw up military strategies for the army. Impressive. He wouldn't mind losing to this kid (for Sasori had made up his mind that he would lose, no matter how mad his grandmother would be later on).

The other rivals were various people that he recognized from his visits to the palace and other wealthy households around the capital. Yamanaka Inoichi may have been a merchant, but he held a monopoly in the business here, and as a result, many notable households had shown up to see his daughter's husband being chosen.

While he had been taking note of his surroundings, the rules had been explained, and everyone was getting ready to start at Inoichi's signal. However, the signal didn't come. Instead, Sasori saw, with increasing horror, that his grandmother had stood up and Inoichi was waiting for her to speak.

"Inoichi, my friend, I couldn't help but notice that the set-up for this competition is a bit biased."

"How so?" Inoichi asked patiently.

"Well, I find it odd that Uchiha Sasuke happens to be placed right in the middle, closest to the dome. That increases his odds of winning the competition. This is supposed to be completely fair, which means everyone has to have an equal chance." Chiyo said in her commanding voice, which was surprisingly loud for an old woman.

Sasori noticed the other competitors had glanced disapprovingly at him for a second after she spoke. He felt slightly uncomfortable from the unwanted attention.

"That's where you're wrong, Chiyo. You see, I made sure when I designed this course that every single competitor was the exact same distance away from the finish."

"Not so at all." Chiyo proceeded to explain just why it was wrong, speaking super fast and pointing at Uchiha Sasuke and Sasori a lot throughout the entire explanation. Sasori felt the glares directed at him grow more intense by the second.

"Grandma, it's okay. Sasuke can stay where he is." Sasori said, but his grandmother just ignored him.

Apparently, Chiyo felt Sasori was standing too far to the left, which meant that he had to run in a diagonal line to reach the dome instead of just in a straight line like Sasuke could from his position. Either Inoichi should reposition everyone so that they were all the exact same distance from the dome or else Sasori ought to be placed in the middle, seeing as he was older than Sasuke by several years, and was more delicate and fragile in health. Of course he had to be slower, so placing him in the middle instead of Sasuke meant that it was fair for everyone.

"Grandma." Sasori repeated, louder this time, feeling his face grow redder as the families of the other competitors started to glare at him, too.

"Troublesome…" He heard the Nara kid say from beside him, sighing.

Finally, Sasori burst.

"GRANDMA, I REALLY DON'T CARE WHERE I'M STANDING! CAN WE JUST START NOW?!"

But his grandmother was sitting back down again, a smug look on her face, her hands folded neatly in her lap.

"All right, then. I think we can arrange that. Sasori, please, switch places with Sasuke. Sasuke, I hope you don't mind too much? After all, Chiyo is right- Sasori does seem much paler and more fragile than you are."

Sasori's eye twitched as several of the other competitors snickered. Sasuke didn't even say anything. He just switched places with Sasori, looking bored and eager to get this over with.

When everyone was in place, the huge bang from the explosive note sounded, and eleven young men rushed to the dome. Sasori was folding the list with the flower names on it and putting it in his basket.

"SASORI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? EVERYONE'S AHEAD OF YOU! START RUNNING!" Chiyo shouted from behind him, standing up next to the table.

The redhead sighed, taking several sprints and leaping onto the dome, next to everyone else. The others were frantically clawing at each other, attacking and kicking their opponents off of the thick vine ropes hanging from the dome.

Since Sasori was last, they hadn't taken notice of him yet. Hearing his grandmother's voice, clear and distinct, even among the seeming hundreds of other cheering, shouting voices, reminded him that he ought to at least act like he was making an effort.

So he reached out and calmly plucked an orchid that three other men were fighting over, dropping it in his basket and climbing higher up.

Ten minutes later, most of his opponents had fallen off, and Sasori still remained unscratched, unbruised, and his basket was filling up faster than he'd like. In fact, now that he looked, the only people left on the ropes were Uchiha Sasuke and Nara Shikamaru!

Their baskets were both full, and they were headed towards the top of the dome. Sasori had three items left on his list, including the rose, so he took his time navigating around the dome, searching for them.

Sasuke and Shikamaru, surprisingly, were heading back down the dome now, fighting each other using complex moves while still hanging on to the ropes, as if the filled-to-the-brim woven baskets hanging from their arms weren't any trouble to hold on to.

The Uchiha still had that bored look on his face, though he was making an effort to block the moves Shikamaru was attacking him with. All traces of boredom and laziness, Sasori noted with interest, had vanished from Shikamaru's face completely. If anything, the boy seemed very determined to beat Sasuke, judging from the fierce gleam in his eyes.

And that was when Sasori remembered.

He had been at the Yamanaka flower shop one day to get something for his grandmother's birthday, but there was no one in the store. Instead, he had spotted Yamanaka Ino conversing in whispers and giggling, behind a statue just outside of the shop, with her arms around Nara Shikamaru (though he didn't know him at the time).

Hmm. This meant that those two were already seeing each other before, and if Sasuke, who didn't really seem that interested, won, then Ino and Shikamaru would have to be separated forever. No wonder the boy was fighting so intensely. Sasori was no romantic, but he felt something tugging inside of him at the thought of Sasuke, cold, stoic, uncaring Uchiha Sasuke, marrying Ino. He'd feel sorry for anyone that married Sasuke, come to think of it.

"GET THE ROSE, SASORI! THERE'S YOUR CHANCE RIGHT NOW!!!" Chiyo's voice echoed from somewhere far off. She was right. He had found the last item in his basket, and the way to the rose was wide open at the moment.

But there was no way Sasori was going to get that rose. The thought of him winning and having to marry Ino instilled more fear in his heart than even the pity he'd feel towards Shikamaru if Sasuke married her.

At that moment, Sasuke and Shikamaru finally turned some of their attention towards Sasori, who was hanging above them, and started jumping upwards, using their ropes to hoist themselves up.

Sasori didn't want to fight them over the Yamanaka girl, whom he didn't even like, and he was sure that if they both attacked him at once, he'd be overwhelmed without the aid of his puppets. His taijutsu skills weren't bad, but he was positive he wouldn't be getting away unharmed.

So he made up his mind at that second to help Shikamaru, who was a bit behind Sasuke, out. It wasn't that hard from where he was hanging. He simply had to let go and drop…

"Oof!" He heard the Uchiha utter as his basket full of flowers landed over his head, and Sasori along with it a split second later. Shikamaru had one eyebrow raised, and just looked confused, as he watched the blur of black and red fly past him towards the ground below.

…….

"And the winner is Nara Shikamaru!" Inoichi exclaimed, in mild confusion, as his daughter ran past him to hug Shikamaru, who was just leaping off onto the ground.

Sasuke was shoving a smirking Sasori off of him and yanking the basket off his head with some difficulty. Various members of his "team" that he'd brought along with him were rushing out to help him.

Sasori got up off the ground and calmly dusted himself off, noting with grim apprehension that Chiyo baa-sama was striding briskly towards him, looking completely outraged.

"What did you just do?! You were right there! Why didn't you grab the flower?" She bellowed the moment she reached him.

"I was going to." Sasori shrugged. "You try outrunning Uchiha Sasuke and Nara Shikamaru while hanging onto a rope, without using chakra, with a basket of super-light flowers swinging from your wrist, and see if you don't fall, Grandma Chiyo!"

He took advantage of Chiyo's momentary silence as she thought about this and ran off.

Flash-forward years later, and his attitude towards the whole thing was still the same. He wasn't interested in a wife, and he wasn't going to marry just to satisfy his grandmother.

Then why the hell was he still standing here, his head tilted up towards the balcony in expectance? The girl was an artist. So what, right? It wasn't like he had to have her just because she happened to paint…

"Now, everyone, I'd like to introduce to you, my daughter- Suzume!" The man waved at his daughter, who was standing in the shadow of the rafter over the balcony. At his words, she stepped forward and leaned slightly upon the railing.

And Sasori's breath caught in his throat. The girl was wearing a thin, pale veil, and yet her facial features could be clearly distinguished through it. She had long golden-blond hair, swept to the left of her face. Her eyes were a pale crystal-blue, like the sky, like the eyes of the doll that Grandma Chiyo had sitting in a glass display case in her room. For as long as Sasori could remember, his idea of the perfect woman had always been of one who had eyes like those of that doll.

He heard the crowd around him start cheering.

"Now that's a beautiful woman!" Someone shouted, and the crowd screeched wildly.

The girl's father was beaming at everyone.

"Now, may I have the first two challengers on the stage at this moment, please?"

Immediately, two men leapt onto the stage from the front row of the crowd. They announced their names, bowed to one another, and the fight began.

Sasori barely watched any of it, his eyes remaining focused on the balcony, even though the girl was no longer there. It was so much that he was mesmerized by Suzume- it was more like, for the first time in his life, he was actually interested in participating. He didn't plan on marrying the girl, at least not yet. He just knew he had to win if he wanted to talk to her, which was all he wanted at this point, really.

Sasori had always been confident of his own ability, and right now was no exception. He was convinced that all he had to do was wait patiently until only one challenger remained. Then he would make his move and claim the prize…

Two hours passed, and still there were more new challengers climbing onto the stage to fight the winner of the previous match, though admittedly, they were getting more and more skilled as the rounds went by.

Sasori was beginning to get impatient. It was a wonder he had been willing to wait this long- everyone knew he hated waiting more than anything else.

"They're getting better, aren't they, un?" Someone asked from behind him. The redhead whirled around, his eyes locking onto a crystal-blue one, the same crystal-blue as the eyes of the doll in the display case, of the girl on the balcony...