Hi. Okay, so I'm writing another Naruto oneshot. I think my first one was a little fail. But it doesn't matter, hope I improve (: So, this oneshot isn't an original, except the first part. I took Sakura and Sasori's fight from the anime/manga and used it to write this. So basically, it features Sasori's thoughts. Please review :D
The first time he saw her, she was an insignificant lump curled up underneath the playground slide. She hugged her knees tightly with her short, pale arms, body wrecked with sobs, her bubblegum pink strands of hair falling over her face, resting on her back.
He remembered wondering what a little girl of four could be doing sitting under the slide, covering her face, pretending to be a rock. He had walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
The little body had jerked up, and he saw the greenest emerald orbs stare at him with a mixture of curiosity and fear. He wasn't knowledgeable like all the adults around him, but at seven, he could tell when someone was feeling down.
'Hey,' he murmured, trying to keep his voice low, in case he ended up scaring her away. 'What's wrong?'
The girl blinked at him, and looked away, her little fingers gripping the hem of her dirtied white dress even tighter, and bit her lip, making it turn paler until it became sheer white.
'It's okay,' he urged on. 'You can tell me. Your secret's safe with me.'
Finally, the head of pink hair turned towards him and the emerald eyes lifted up to meet his dark brown ones. The girl started to cry, and he patted her head awkwardly, his eyes unconsciously scanning the playground to make sure no one else was around.
He waited, until the sobs became quieter and the emerald eyes met his again. 'Mommy…died.'
A streak of pain stabbed his chest when he heard her voice. It was the exact same tone he had used when his parents had died. He knew how she was feeling; he recognized the ache, the cause of breaking down. 'What about Daddy?'
'He…' she hiccupped. 'He died last…year.'
His heart went out to her. And he wrapped her carefully in a bear hug. 'It's okay. They're still here,' he placed a hand to her heart. 'They still live here.'
Confusion scattered in her green eyes as she stared at the hand on her heart. Slowly, she replaced his hand with her own. She felt the steady thumping of her heart and looked at him questioningly.
He offered her a weak smile, repeating the words his grandmother had said to him. 'They might have been stolen from us in body, but they still live on in our minds, and we will never forget them.'
A sliver of a smile ghosted from her pale lips and she laughed. 'So Mommy and Daddy are still here?'
'They are.'
'I'll see them again?'
He paused, trying to phrase the right answer. 'You will…one day.'
'Thank you!' the intensity of the hug she enforced upon him almost threw him off his feet. When she finally let him go, she beamed up at him in all her childish glory and grabbed his wrists with her small hands, her eyes shining. 'Can I be your friend?' she frowned at his headband, hanging from his belt. 'You're not from Konoha.'
'I'm from Suna,' he explained, showing her the plaque. 'It's not far from here.'
The girl with the bubblegum pink hair tugged at his belt and giggled. 'My name is Sakura. Haruno Sakura!'
He smiled back at her. 'I'm Sasori.'
When he saw her next, he was no longer fully human. The aspect of living forever had blinded him. He had become a puppet. A human puppet. He had risen up in the ranks of a ninja and was labeled as an S-rank.
But he no longer believed in love and good memories. The next time he saw her, he was hidden in his puppet, facing Sakura and his grandmother. The grandmother who had loved him so much, who had taught him how to use his puppets. And the girl who had wanted to befriend him.
He noted how she had grown, now preferring to wear her pink hair shorter, and how she wielded a kunai like a real ninja. How she had lost her childish innocence and how now, she no longer trusted people as easily as she used to.
But he also noted how she didn't seem to know who he was, hidden in his puppet. Clearing aside his emotions, he reflected the kunai his grandmother had flung at him, and a small part of him broke inside. But he went on with the fight. 'You know I hate to wait.'
'Soon, we will defeat you.'
His grandmother sounded so confident, as both females charged at him, expertly avoiding the poisoned needles he shot from his puppet's mouth. He saw them get closer and closer, he noted how much stronger Sakura had become, and a little part of him felt happy for her.
And as his needles exhausted themselves, they stood in front of him. He didn't want to hurt them, but he didn't know why he released his second attack. He didn't know why he shouted at them to 'die'. And he didn't know why he felt relieved when both survived his attack unharmed.
But he remembered wondering how Sakura could survive his attack unharmed. Distracted, he flung his puppet's scorpion tail at her. He heard his grandmother shouting, and the next thing he knew, his puppet was in pieces all over the place.
Sakura had broken his puppet with a single punch. He was impressed, he was glad for her, but he didn't know why, he continued to fight on. He had found out that his grandmother was controlling Sakura with her chakra strings, and that defeating them wouldn't be as easy as he had first expected. But he didn't like it that she was being controlled by someone other than him.
He didn't like the surprise on her face when he dropped his cloak to the ground, the shock in her voice as she gasped, 'is that Sasori?'
He didn't like the feeling in his chest when he realized that she no longer remembered his name, or his face, or who he had been. He didn't like it. He wanted her to remember.
He knew his grandmother would be shocked to see his face, seeing as he hadn't aged a day since he made himself a human puppet. But he had done so unconsciously wanting Sakura to remember a part of his face when she actually met him again. But she had forgotten.
In his anger he brought forward one of his favorite puppets, the Third Kazekage, enjoying the surprise on their faces. And how the fear and shock grew as he revealed more of his puppets. And then the puppets of his parents.
But he was horrified to find that his grandmother had turned her arm into a puppet. Did she do it so she could defeat me? Does nobody want to recognize me as somebody they used to know anymore?
That was when he seriously tried to kill Sakura. He tried to crush her with the blocks of iron sand, and he tried to kill her. He had never forgotten her but yet she forgot him. When they were little kids they had played together.
And he had fallen in love with her, but he never got the courage or chance to tell her. But it didn't change the fact that he had loved her, and continued to love her even as he chose his destiny as a Missing-Nin and joined Akatsuki.
She had grown impossible strong, he had to give her that, and she was quick to follow his attack styles. But he poisoned her. When she fell face down in the sand he felt that tinge of guilt but he sent his puppet over to kill her.
He never expected her to crush the puppet either. She had been faking it. She was really trying to kill him. She had really forgotten.
Sasori went mad. He threw all his puppets and moves just to kill her, and when the end came, even he was exhausted. He knew that Sakura was at her limit and so was he. But he hated to lose just as much as he hated to wait. But that small part of him couldn't stop loving her.
Couldn't stop loving her trusting emerald eyes and bright pink hair. Couldn't stop loving her glowing smiles and laugh. He couldn't stop loving her.
So when the blade was lifted, he didn't try to avoid it. He let the cold metal slide right into his heart, the only part of his human body that still lived. He let the sword stab into him, and he lifted his eyes to meet her, knowing that the puppets of his parents were the ones who had killed him.
Even my parents have forsaken me.
He stole another glance in Sakura's direction, watching her silently celebrate his downfall, and as the last of his life ebbed away, he made the last decision ever.
I think she's really the one I love.
A/N: I don't know if you think it's boring, but maybe I should cut down a bit on the describing words. But I think it's quite okay... passable. So, please review! If you haven't read my first Naruto oneshot, it's Itachi and Sakura. You can find it in my profile it's called 'It Could Have Been Different'. Yup, so please REVIEW :D