Apathy:
Scarlet Sins
Oneshot
Akasuna no Sasori
A/N: This is the third installment of my Scarlet Sins series, but they are not really in chronological order (yet. There will be some that logically take place before others, and some that take place in alternate universes. Confused? You won't be.)
Finally, I finished my Sasori oneshot - it was originally much longer, but as with the Zetsu fanfic "Decomposition", I split it into pieces, three, to be exact, each with a different main "sin" addressed. This particular piece will most likely not be part of the Scarlet Sins "canon"[self-advertisingmore information on which can be found in my new forum [/self-advertising
"You two are to remain behind. Destroy the pursuers, capture the Jinchuuriki. That is all." Leader-Sama broke the connection as soon as he said this, and his nameless partner followed suit. Seconds later, the Hell God statue began to sink into the earth, and both Deidara and Sasori leapt to the ground, next to the corpse of the former Godaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara.
"My, my… These Konoha brats are persistent, eh, Sasori no Danna?" Deidara grinned, and Sasori sighed silently. How could one be so excited to go into battle with only a single arm? "I mean, they took on Itachi-san and Kisame-san's Shouten Clones, un, and beat them. They must be pretty tough, un."
"It does not matter. We will defeat them. As we always do." Sasori kept his sentences short – the less time he wasted on talking, the more that could be spent on actions. Deidara was the opposite – loud, brash… he wasted air and energy on words, and words were easily forgotten. Sasori had no patience for such fickle things.
"Hey, d'you think we'll fight the ones that took on Kisame-san, or the guys that defeated Itachi-an? I want to fight the guys that beat Itachi-san, un, so you can take on the other guys, okay, Sasori no Danna?"
Sasori chose not to answer. There was no point, he had learned long ago, in engaging in conversation with the Iwa-nin; he was simply annoying, with unshakeable, ever-lasting beliefs, ironic for one who believed so fervently that art was brief. "Oi, Sasori? Don't go spacing out on me again, un. It's annoying when you do that, un."
Sasori ignored him again, and began mentally counting the weapons installed in Hiruko – making sure each was properly placed, coated with poison, slotted into the right position. There were over two thousand needles ready to be fired through the puppet's mouth alone, and a further thousand in the new addition, the forearm-mounted cluster bomb. Every last one had to be positioned perfectly – even such a work of art as this would be useless, if there was such a flaw.
With keen eyes honed by long hours of practice, Sasori took apart his puppet from the inside, and with deft, nimble fingers, crafted and modified especially to be superior to his original hands, he checked each and every individual needle. He had no fear of being scratched – he did not have the weak, frail flesh that tolerated poison – his skin was incapable of falling victim to his most deadly concoction.
He tsked as he found a faulty needle – misaligned, heavy on one end; and he disposed of it immediately, before drawing a new needle from a scroll, and fitting it expertly in place, then closing the panel once more. Further inspections yielded no other flaws, and he sighed, not with content, but due to the fact that now he had exhausted all useful options, at least those that were feasible, in the time they had left. He spared a single, wooden-eyed glance at his partner, who noticed him, and smiled.
"Hey, Sasori no Danna, you spend way too much time doing useless things, un." His smile faded soon enough when Sasori refused to respond. "Aw, Sasori no Danna, the least you could do is talk, once in a while, un. You know, we're about to go into battle. Got any strategies, or anything?"
He had strategies, not that he was willing to share them with the Iwa-nin. He was angry, and frustrated. He had expected Suna to send something better after them, something better than the pathetic, predictable excuse for a puppeteer. He could remember the name, and the face, and the attacks – Sasori's mind worked like clockwork in that regard – but he could not for the life of him remember anything else about the battle.
He had been forced to accept a disturbing fact over the years since he had made himself into a puppet – whilst combat effectiveness had been increased by over 200, due to the absence of emotion, and pain; whilst his intellect was unsullied by bouts of passion, for Akasuna no Sasori, life had become boring, almost a chore. There were so few moments that he actually felt like living for. Everything else was a dull, monotonous routine.
Deidara's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, and he grinned. "Hey, remember when we fought those brats from Oto? Y'know, when we went after Orochimaru, un."
Sasori remembered, of course, he had more than enough room for memories in the endless scope of his mind. He wasn't going to give Deidara the satisfaction of an answer, however. Satisfaction was hard to come by for the puppet master, and he would savour it for himself.
--
"So… Orochimaru. You found yourself some new toys…" The former partner of Sasori chuckled, and tilted his head to the side, where four youths were facing off against Deidara, and losing, by the sound of it. A fifth, a pale-haired child with green eyes stood by the side of the Snake Sannin.
"Oh, Sasori-kun, you have no idea… kukuku. Kimimaro-kun, why don't you show my old partner what you are capable of?" The pale-haired boy nodded immediately, and stepped in front of Orochimaru. "Kimimaro-kun will be my new body, you see. Imagine, Sasori, what will happen when my mind is merged with his body." He ran his tongue over his lips, and Kimimaro was smiling. What person in their right mind smiled at the thought of losing themselves?
"Hn. You'll be as weak as ever, Orochimaru," the puppet master replied disinterestedly, and Hiruko's tail arched, ready to strike. "I have new toys as well – let's see which are stronger."
Abruptly, he reached a hand up to the cloth covering his mouth, and tore it off, before spitting poisoned Senbon. Kimimaro took a stance, knees slightly bent, arms outstretched towards the ground, and danced. There was no other way to describe it. He dodged effortlessly the storm of needles, and then bones emerged from his palms, which he wielded like kunai, spinning them in order to deflect needles.
What an annoying brat, he thought, and tugged on the strings controlling Hiruko's tail. Kimimaro stepped aside as it crashed down where he had been standing, and then leapt high, and span into a backflip as it swept under his feet. When he landed, he held out one arm towards Sasori, challenging him with bone in hand.
"It's called the Shikotsuyuma," Orochimaru drawled. "Kimimaro-kun is the last member of the Kaguya clan that possessed that Kekkei Genkai. Impressive, no?"
"Hn." Sasori sent the scorpion tail of Hiruko out again, where it barely missed Kimimaro, and then brought it high, and pointed it to the spot Kimimaro stood on. With a whip-crack, it sped down, and Kimimaro jumped back, only for the tail to, once it penetrated the earth, turn upwards and attack him from below. Without time to dodge, the Kaguya gave a grunt of pain, as the "sting" of the tail caught him in the chest, lifted him high into the air, and then, finally, brought him crashing down to earth again.
"Not impressive," he said finally, and sighed. Kaguya Kimimaro was filed away in his mind, a name, a face, a statistic… but Orochimaru was still smiling, damn him. Then, impossibly, the Kaguya stood. Beneath the wooden exterior of his puppet, Sasori raised an eyebrow – his poison should have taken effect immediately, and rendered Orochimaru's servant useless. Then he saw, at the area where his attack should have hit, a row of bones, ribs, extending from the Kaguya's chest. Hiruko's sting lay trapped in their pale grasp. He had not been scratched.
"Oh, Sasori-kun, it looks like you've been caught," Orochimaru smiled, and Sasori did something he did only very rarely – not since he had fought Sandaime Kazekage. Within the hollow shell of Hiruko, he threw back his head and he laughed.
--
"C'mon, Sasori no Danna, you should remember that – we gave those bastards a grand display of art, un. You took out the pale kid, remember, and I sent those four brats scurrying away with a bang!"
"Hn."
"Aha! You do remember!" Deidara chuckled, and then sighed. "When will those Konoha brats get here, un? I'm itching for a fight, un." He smiled again. "What about you, Sasori no Danna? You ready for a fight?" He was ready to kill his partner, but that was about it – and, strangely, that troubled Sasori. He remembered the fight with Orochimaru – that was a memorable one, but before that… between his fight with Sandaime and Orochimaru, there was… nothing, really. There were faces, and noises, and numbers, but nothing memorable.
It occurred to him suddenly that perhaps, just perhaps, he had taken away too much, when he became a puppet – he could remember few times when he had actually felt anything, and far too many when he simply recorded events, and moved on. He didn't feel regret, but felt the memory of such an emotion, the watered down aftertaste of it. That was all a puppet could feel.
--
"So… this is your Oni Juin?" Kimimaro, breathing heavily, had a trail of black lines covering his left side, a veritable patchwork. One of his eyes had turned yellow.
"Ah yes… A most remarkable product – it boosts the power of my chosen few to levels far beyond the comprehension of others."
"I see… Then why is it that your pet Kaguya is panting like a beaten dog, but I am still standing?" he had vacated Hiruko earlier, when it became apparent that they had reached a stalemate, and now stood in all his glory, one modified body against another. Abruptly, he raised his palms, and the nozzles released a pungent smell of methane. In the moment before they took light, Kimimaro's eyes widened, and he held both arms in front of his face. Then twin jets of fire assailed him, and he screamed. Orochimaru scowled.
"Kimimaro! Use
Sasori sneered back, and then something barrelled out of the flames and he leapt back, as a creature that may once have been Kimimaro stood there, snarling and panting, darkened skin rapidly healing the burn damage, malevolent yellow eyes glaring daggers at the puppet master.
"So… interesting," Sasori said, and smiled.
--
He could hear the final preparations of the Konoha-nin outside, with one particularly loud member barking… something.
"That must be the Jinchuuriki, un. Itachi-san said he was the loud one, un." Deidara turned a grinning face to his silent partner. "Hey, Sasori no Danna, I want to fight him. Any objections?" How greedy… Deidara had already fought his Jinchuuriki, now he wanted this as well? Most likely, he would want to fight Sasori's as well, when the time came. But excessive greed, just like excessive pride, led to disastrous results.
"Do what you wish." Deidara actually started, so used to Sasori being silent. "So long as his companions are strong, I do not care."
"Sasori! You talked! It's a miracle!" Deidara rolled his eyes in mock wonder. "So, you're looking forward to this?"
Wooden silence, and Deidara sighed. So long as he could fight someone as memorable as Kimimaro, Sasori would be content.
--
"This… is my strongest attack! For Orochimaru-sama… I will kill you!" Kimimaro lunged with the giant bone that encompassed his entire right arm. Tsk… he's too quick… Sasori turned, blocked with one of his metal wings, and felt the steel bend under the force of the blow. Placing a hand on his shoulder, palm facing Kimimaro, he grinned madly.
"Or die trying," he said, and fired another burst of flame into the face of the Kaguya. He retreated, screaming curses, and Sasori saw his chance, and uncoiled his tail. Orochimaru, having played the spectator, was now occupied with Deidara, who had, it seemed, bitten off more than he could chew. Even now, he sought to evade Kusanagi, whilst Manda tried to catch him in his jaws.
"You…" Kimimaro glared at him, his face already having healed. "For Orochimaru-sama… not even you can be permitted to live!"
"Tsk. A fanatic. I've met too many like you." Kimimaro lunged again, with a roar, and Sasori evaded with ease, before grabbing the shoulders of his enemy, and whispering into his ear. "It is a shame… I enjoyed playing with you." The Kaguya's eyes widened in surprise, and then he spasmed. Sasori watched the stinger on his tail with mild disinterest as it protruded from the Kaguya's back. His poison should already be taking effect, and then… He froze as Kimimaro grabbed hold of his tail with his free hand, and looked up, eyes creased with pain, and triumph.
"Then… I regret to tell you… you lose," he said, and rammed his bone into the chest of Sasori, buckling the frame beneath the force of the attack, until his bone exited out of a hole on the other side. Then he sighed, and fell to his knees.
"No… not quite." He looked up with shock as Sasori cracked his neck. "It's not a loss, if you're the only man standing." Then he ripped his tail out, and the Kaguya passed out from the pain. Grunting, he cursed to himself – how could he have been so careless? He had underestimated Kimimaro, and almost paid the ultimate, unforgivable price. He would have to make some serious repairs, before this form became ready for battle again. Sealing Hiruko into a scroll, he blasted a jet of fire into the air, and Deidara's clay bird abruptly turned at the signal, away from Orochimaru, and towards Sasori. Sending a flock of C1 animals towards the Snake Sannin, Deidara paused long enough for Sasori to jump onto the back of his bird, and then they left, as Orochimaru howled obscenities at them, and attended to his fallen.
"So, Sasori no Danna, was it a good fight for you?" Normally, Sasori hated conversing with his partner. It was all so meaningless.
"We will have to fight Orochimaru again," he replied. "I enjoyed it." For the first time since fighting the Sandaime Kazekage, more than faces and names and numbers were filed away into the endless tracks of Sasori's memory. For the first time since then, he recorded feelings, and few had been as welcome to him as these.
--
He was shaken from his memories as the great boulder that blocked the cave was shattered, and took a deep breath as the team sent to retrieve Gaara leapt into the cave. In the gloom, he could see his grandmother, Chiyo, standing next to a kunoichi with the same piercing green eyes as Kimimaro, and a part of him decided absently that this may just be a memorable fight.
--
When Zetsu found him, impaled through the heart, poison already having taken effect, he saw something disturbing on the face of the puppet master, something so rare as to have escaped his all-seeing gaze.
On the face of the former member of Akatsuki, the recently deceased Akasuna no Sasori, was a child's grin, as if they had just received their greatest wish.
--
"Stop… Stop laughing!" Sakura screamed at the puppet master, who continued to shriek, hysteric with laughter, wooden eyes bright, artificial chest rising and heaving.
"This… this battle… It is perfect! You two, at every turn you have defied death, had the perfect counter… What will you do now, hmm?" He twisted the sword lodged in Sakura's stomach, and the pink-haired kunoichi coughed blood, similar to Kimimaro when he had the poison lodged inside him like a festering cancer.
"Sakura!" Chiyo reached out a hand, but it fell short, and Sakura spared a weak glance to Chiyo, before closing her eyes. A transparent liquid began to leak from them. Slowly, Sasori's laughter stopped, as he noticed the tears.
"No… is that it? That can't be the end – you destroyed Hiruko, destroyed Sandaime, defeated my body… You can't fail here!" Sakura fixed him with a hateful glare.
"F-for… for my friends… I… I'll k-kill…" She coughed blood again.
"No!" Sasori twisted the sword again, made her scream. To his ears it was like singing. "You won't die here! You have to have another trick! Another twist to the game! You won't die here!" His voice took on a tone of desperation. The game couldn't end yet… Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chiyo moving, chakra strings attached to her hand. Sakura had gripped his hands, keeping the sword lodged in her, entrapping Sasori. He saw the triumphant smile on her face, and matched it with one of his own – the game was not yet over.
"Y-you… lose…" she breathed out, and Chiyo jerked her hands, brought her puppets gliding towards Sasori, who detached his wrists, left Sakura holding limp hands whilst he freed himself.
"No… not quite," he said, and saw the despair enter the kunoichi's eyes, as she realised defeat. Sasori realised two things then – that he would never again have a fight as enjoyable as this, not even were he to fight Orochimaru; and that he feared – not just the memory of the emotion, but the emotion he had thought defeated – living, knowing that he would never again achieve this. It was easy to make the choice then, to stay still for that single second, and feel the swords of his parent-puppets puncture his sole weakness, the heart that both removed, and heightened his feelings. He jerked forward with the force of the blow, found his lips near the ear of Sakura. "It's not a l-loss…" he breathed, "when… when you enjoyed it s-so m-much…"
Then, he grinned, and for the first time since he made himself into a puppet, he felt alive. Seconds later, Akasuna no Sasori died, for the final time.
A/N: I have a feeling there will be some questions, so will pre-empt what I feel will probably be the most controversial one. First and foremost, no, Kimimaro was not on the level of Sasori, any more than Sakura and Chiyo were (If he was serious about killing them, he would have used Satetsu Shigure when all their shields were used, up, for example). Sasori was just playing around with him (The product of a discussion onto Kimimaro's incurable illness and Sasori's grudge with Orochimaru).
The "Sin" in this should be relatively easy to spot - tell me if it's too vague, since these oneshots are an exercise, first and foremost, in me writing the Akatsuki members as possessing these sins.
As always, reviews are appreciated - next up will either be Kakuzu, or the actual Chronological Start, featuring Pein and Konan.