I've only written a few stories, and none of them have been posted yet, but this one is by far my favorite. Sasori is my favorite of all the Naruto antagonists, and because of that I believe my writing was at its best on this one. But enough of my blathering, go read the story.
Story Summary: Sasori becomes the guardian of a little girl who has a talent for puppetry. He raises her, but unfortunately ends up falling in love with her. Bad things just snow ball from there.
Episode Summary: Sasori is raising a little girl named Ryo. The kazekage doesn't think it's healthy for a little girl to only have a misanthropic murdering mastermind for a guardian.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasori would be alive and Naruto and Sasuke would be a couple.
Ode of a Puppeteer
1
"Do I really have to do that?" the little girl whined up at her mentor. "Push ups with only one finger, a hundred each?"
The older ninja glared down at her. "Do you want to be a puppet master or not?" he demanded. "Finger strength. You need to build it up."
"But you don't do it," she pouted, crossing her arms defiantly.
Sasori's eye twitched in aggravation. "Ryo, do as I say. Just this once," he practically pleaded. He could tell that she wasn't going to give it up though. "I don't have to do it because I'm Sasori of the Red Sand, master puppeteer. You are just Ryo, apprentice to Sasori of everything I just said."
Ryo stuck out her tongue at him. "Fine, but I'm going to tell Granny Chiyo that you were being mean," she threatened. Well, as much as a six-year-old can threaten, anyway.
"You do that. I'll be back late, so do your push-ups and then go to bed," he ordered. Ryo opened her mouth to protest, but Sasori already knew what she was going to say. "Your dinner is on the table."
Ryo smiled up at him. "By Sasori," she hugged him tightly. "Come home soon."
Sasori smiled at her briefly before walking out the door. The cool desert air greeted him as he walked down the empty street. "Why did I take her in again?" he muttered to himself. The flashback began before Sasori could beat it back to the farthest corner of his mind.
Sasori was standing on the wall that surrounded the city with twenty other ninja. A sandstorm was about to start, and the noonday sun beat down mercilessly on them. This hadn't seemed to bother the invading ninjas from the Land of Water, though. The enemy had retreated briefly, giving the Sand time to catch their breath.
"Stay alert," he ordered the others needlessly. They knew what to do. Sasori pulled his puppet infront of him to examine it.
A sudden whirring noise and then an explosion startled him. Several other Sand Ninja fell to the ground, dead. "Sasori, watch out!" a woman yelled. She jumped between a huge shuriken and Sasori, grabbing him and pulling him into a kind of hug.
"Mei!" one of the men yelled. "No!" He jumped and grabbed Sasori from the other side, yanking him out of the way again. It didn't matter though. A huge explosion killed what was left of that cell and most of the wall.
When Sasori regained consciousness, he was half covered in rubble. And two dead ninja were holding him tightly between their bodies. "What the hell happened?" he asked no one in particular. Sasori didn't fail to notice that he was being held as he had always wished to be as a child.
"Oh good. You're awake," cackled Granny Chiyo. She was sitting on a pile of shinobi near him. Sasori rolled his eyes. "That pair gave their lives to save you. The battle is over, and you have to explain to their little baby daughter why her parents aren't coming home." Chiyo laughed again.
Sasori glared at his grandmother. "And because the same thing happened to me, I'm supposed to care?" he demanded as he stood up, roughly shoving away the arms of his saviors.
Chiyo eyed him with amusement. "No. But I've talked to the girl. She's only three, but extraordinarily bright. She's already got me wrapped around her finger. I think that she'll do the same to you," snickered the old woman. Sasori rolled his eyes.
That night he tracked down the little girl on Granny Chiyo's orders. "Ryo, your parents are dead," Sasori told the child bluntly. The little girl stared up at him with an annoyed expression.
"Everyone's told me that already. Granny Chiyo said that, Mr. Kazekage said it, and so did a bunch of other people. I get it," she snapped.
Sasori glared at her. "Fine then. If you don't care about them, then I'm sorry I bothered you!" he half yelled. He twirled around, ready to storm out, when a little hand grabbed his. He looked down to see Ryo almost in tears. "What's wrong?" The kid was wearing on his nerves.
"It's not that I don't care about my parents, 'cause I miss them. But I have a bigger problem," she whispered the last part. Ryo looked around, as though she thought someone was listening.
"And what's that?" he sighed, kneeling down to be eye level with her. From out of the other room several little dolls walked out toward Ryo. She gasped and jumped up at Sasori, who caught her and stood up. "What?!"
"Make them stop following me!" she cried into his shoulder.
Sasori almost laughed, but he knew that the little girl would probably cry even more if he did. "You're the one controlling them," he said kindly. "You make them stop, they obey you."
Ryo glared at him through her tears. "I can't! Every time I touch something, it starts to follow me! I locked most of the stuff in my closet," she sniffed.
Sasori then notice the thousand or so chakra strings attached to the poor girl. He put her back on the floor. "Here," he said. He made a pair of chakra scissors and cut all of the little threads. The dolls fell lifelessly to the floor. "See? They're gone."
"Thank you," she sniffed. "Granny Chiyo said that you would help me."
"She did?" he asked distractedly. The girl had talent, that much was obvious. And the only person who could teach her was, unfortunately, Sasori himself. "How would you like to come with me? I can show you how to do that," he pointed to the dolls, "And not have them follow you every where."
Ryo beamed up at him, her tear-streaked face looking like she had one the lottery. "Okay," she replied. Ryo grabbed Sasori's hand as they walked out. "What's your name?"
"I'm Sasori."
Sasori shook his head. Ryo had wormed her way into his heart in a matter of minutes. It was disgusting. But she had needed him; still needed him, in fact. And as reluctant as he was to admit it, he needed her too.
Sasori rounded the final turn to the Kazekage's office not really looking where he was going. He walked into a wall, his face hitting it solidly. "Crap," he muttered.
"Watch where you're walking Sasori," Granny Chiyo cackled from behind him.
Sasori sighed inwardly. "Hello Granny," he replied pleasantly.
"And how is the prodigy doing?" she asked as they walked on. "I hope you aren't being too hard on her."
"Ryo is fine. And her skills seem to double on a daily basis," he answered shortly, but still politely. Sasori knew that Granny liked to have control of the conversation any way. It was a puppet master thing.
Chiyo smiled. "I would expect nothing less from your student. I was so shocked that day when she hugged me and I was bound with chakra strings. She was destined to be your pupil from the start," Chiyo declared happily.
Sasori eyed her suspiciously. "So it would seem," he agreed. They were climbing up the stairs now. Only a few more minutes of Chiyo's company and then he would be spared from whatever point she was trying to make.
"Try to be a little more enthusiastic about having her around Sasori," Chiyo sighed. Sasori stared at her, wondering where the usual Chiyo disappeared to.
Later that evening, after the meeting with the puppet corps, Sasori was about to go home when the Kazekage stopped him.
"Sasori, I would like to speak with you and your grandmother," he said, gesturing for Sasori to take a seat.
"What is this about, lord Kazekage?" he asked politely as he sat down next to Chiyo.
The Kazekage looked uncomfortable. "Well, it's about Ryo," he began. Sasori was instantly wary. "How has she been doing?"
"Very well," Sasori replied coolly. "Her mastery of puppets impresses even me."
"That's not what I meant," the Kazekage said with a shake of his head. "How is she interacting with the other children of the village?"
"Ryo doesn't like them in the least. She says that they are boring and not worth her time. I agree with her. The younger generation is a disappointment," Chiyo said, shaking her head.
The Kazekage sighed. "I was afraid of that. She doesn't interact with them at all?" he asked hopefully. Sasori and Chiyo both shook their heads no.
"What does this have to do with anything, Kazekage?" Sasori asked, trying to get to the point.
The Kazekage fidgeted in his seat. "A few people have voiced their concerns about her, and I agree. It isn't fair for a little girl to be cooped up all the time and not have any contact with children her own age. And when I heard that she wasn't attending the academy-"
"Of course she isn't going to the Academy," Sasori said rolling his eyes. "Why should she? I didn't."
The Kazekage stared at him for a moment. Chiyo was strangely quiet, but Sasori could tell that she was trying not to laugh. "Why not let her go to the Academy? She'd have friends, learn new things…" Sasori was already shaking his head.
"What could she learn there that I can't teach her better? She's a puppet master and that's all she's meant to be. Why teach her things that she will never need to know?"
"Because if you don't, we're taking her away from you," the Kazekage said sharply. Sasori gaped at him before regaining his composure.
"Surely we can come to an agreement?" asked Chiyo reasonably.
"I'm afraid not," the Kazekage said firmly. It was a daunting task ordering these two to do any thing (because if they didn't get their way, bad things happened), but he was warming to it. "If Ryo doesn't start interacting wit the other children, I'm taking her into the care of foster parents."
Sasori glared at the Kazekage. He opened his mouth to say something that would probably get him into a lot of trouble, but Chiyo stopped him. "We will try it, but if it hinders her puppetry in any way she will not go again," Chiyo stated calmly.
"She will go whether she likes it or not," the Kazekage growled. "Puppetry or no puppetry."
Chiyo began to say something else, but Sasori tuned her out. He began attaching chakra threads to various objects in the room, most of them fragile. Sasori made a vast web so that when the Kazekage walked into it, every fragile object in the room would fall to the ground and shatter.
"Ryo is to begin school the day after tomorrow," the Kazekage said. "That should give you enough time to convince her it will be worth her time." The Kazekage had talked with the little girl before, and Ryo scared him. She was like a little girl combined with the insight of an elder.
"There is not enough time in the world to do that," muttered Chiyo. Sasori smiled thinly. "As you wish, lord Kazekage. Sasori will send Ryo to the Academy."
The Kazekage looked nervous again. "Well, that was one of the other concerns," he began slowly, almost timidly.
"And what would that be?" Sasori asked boredly.
"That you are the main influence in Ryo's life. You are a great shinobi, Sasori, but you aren't a father," the Kazekage said, trying to be delicate.
Sasori stared at him. "Of course I'm not," he said indignantly. "I could never take the place of Ryo's father. I don't want to."
"Don't you think that not having a strong paternal and maternal presence is important for her development?"
"Some of the greatest shinobi grew up with no parents, Sasori included," Chiyo pointed out. "What brought this on, all these questions and such?"
The Kazekage opened his mouth to answer, but Sasori beat him to it. "It's because of your unborn daughter," he said, comprehension dawning on him. "Your wife is pregnant. All of this over reacting is-"
"Over reacting?" demanded the Kazekage. "The care of a child is of the utmost-"
Chiyo stood up suddenly, interrupting him. "I'm afraid we must be on our way. Ryo is home alone, and I have business to attend to. Good evening," she said smiling sweetly.
Sasori stood up and followed her out of the room without a word. Even after they had closed the door behind themselves, the Kazekage stared in amazement.
"They walked out on me," he muttered, half awe-stricken and half pissed off. The Kazekage stood up and stretched. As he turned to walk toward his desk, he felt a slight resistance in his movements.
Before he could stop, the thin chakra threads that Sasori had hung pulled every thing to the ground. Every award, picture frame, and potted plant fell to the floor with a sickening crash.
"Was that the sound of glass breaking I heard?" Chiyo asked her grandson as they walked down the hall away from the Kazekage's office. She didn't look angry, not that he expected her to. Granny looked pleased and as always, mischievous.
"Yes," he replied. Less is always more around her. "But you already knew that."
Chiyo cackled a little. "Of course I did. I was going to hoist him up in the air, but your way was much more subtle," she snickered. Subtlety isn't usually one of Chiyo's strong points, so it was better that Sasori had voiced their displeasure instead of her.
"What are we going to do?" he asked, his voice monotone. An impressive feat considering the panic he was in on the inside. There was no need to elaborate on the question; they both knew that he was talking about Ryo.
Granny sighed. "I'm afraid that we have to send her to school," she replied. The puppeteers cringed. Ryo wasn't going to like the idea of going to the Academy at all.
"She's going to use everyone there as a puppet, she can't help herself. The first person that looks at her oddly will be stuck on the ceiling," Sasori muttered darkly.
Ryo had a bad temper, and her guardian did nothing to help it. Not being a patient man himself, the two clashed often. You must think it's strange, a six-year-old little girl and a twenty-year-old puppet master having a verbal sparring match. Chiyo thought it was hilarious to watch. But Ryo wasn't a normal six-year-old.
"And maybe when the Kazekage realizes that, he'll stop this nonsense," Granny added. Then her voice took on that tone she had when remembering the old days. "Sending her to school for social skills. Bah! What an idiotic notion. You never went to the Academy a day in your life and you can run circles around every shinobi in the village. Back in my day the Academy never even existed."
Sasori rolled my eyes discreetly. Granny was stuck in the past. But she was right in the fact that his skills were infinitely superior to those of every other ninja in the village. It was nice of her to remind him of that every now and again.
Granny and Sasori parted ways infront of his apartment complex. Walking silently up the stairs, Sasori tried to avoid the notice of his fellow tenants. Sadly, he could not get by the one door he wanted to avoid most.
"Sasori!" a female voice squealed behind him. Nami. Of course his stalker had to be awake at this hour. "Do you want to come in for some tea?" she asked hopefully.
"No," he replied calmly. His voice was not nice, but not rude. It got the point across. She shrank back into her apartment and locked the door.
Sasori had a group of fangirls that tried to follow his every movement. They weren't any good at it, but they were annoying. Nami was their leader because she lived closest to him, but they were always trying to overthrow her. Crazy girls.
They adored Ryo, though. It was unfathomable as to why; she hated them. Sasori pondered it as he opened the door to his apartment. Maybe because she was small and cute. No, they didn't treat her like a doll. They piled her high with gifts and sweats and had her show them her puppetry. Ryo didn't like them simply because he didn't, but she let them think that she adored them. Sneaky little child.
The hall was dark, so Sasori slipped off his shoes carefully and tried not to trip walking into the kitchen. The light above the stove was on, so he could see that Ryo had eaten her dinner and put her plate in the sink. The cupboard above the stove was open though, and upon inspection it became apparent that she had helped herself to some cookies. Oh well. The price of having a house of puppeteers: chakra threads could do just about anything. Opening cupboards and getting down cookies was the least of Sasori's worries.
In the living room Sasori found Ryo asleep on the floor. She seemed to have fallen asleep while finishing her pushups. No, she didn't really need to do them, but he had to give her something to occupy her time with while he was gone. If he didn't, she got inventive.
Sasori knelt down next to her and gently shook her shoulder. "Ryo, I'm home," he whispered.
She didn't stir. Smiling to himself, Sasori picked her up and carefully as possible to avoid waking her. "Hmm," she groaned groggily. "Sasori?"
"Time for bed," he told her quietly. "It's late."
"I hate pushups," she whined sleepily. She snuggled into his arms. "The pudding in my fingers say that the fish don't have to do them." OKAY. 0.0
The puppet master chuckled a little. Ryo talked in her sleep a lot. "Well the pudding is right," he agreed with her. There really was nothing else that could be said.
The door to her room was closed, so he put Ryo down on her feet. Of course she didn't fall over you idiots. Sasori is a puppet master: he held her up with chakra strings, like a cute little puppet.
"Sleep well," he told her as he gently made her climb into bed. "Dream good dreams, Doll Baby." Sasori called her a doll baby for obvious reasons.
Sasori walked out of the room and down the hall to his own bedroom. It looked like the workshop had exploded onto the floor and bed. Puppet arms, legs, and torsos littered the floor. The desk was covered in bottles of poison and weapons, like kunai and needles. Shuriken were stacked haphazardly on the bedside table next to a doll that Ryo had made for him. And on the bed was his latest human puppet, only half equipped. Compared to Ryo's immaculate room (and compare she often did), Sasori's was World War Four. Home sweet home.
Shoving the half-ready puppet off his bed onto the floor, Sasori picked up the little puppet on the bedside table. Ryo had made it for him shortly after Sasori had taken her in as a thank you present. It was of a little girl with brown hair in a blue dress that had a painted on face. It was very blocky; the arms, legs, neck and torso were the only things that moved. No elbows, no knees, no internal mechanisms. But it was his favorite puppet of all.
"Dance Puppet Girl," he whispered. Sasori pulled the strings and she came to life. She spun around and took a bow before raising her arms to attempt a pirouette. Puppet Girl tiptoed down the bed to the footboard and hopped up on it, pretending to struggle with the climb up the edge. She then did a cartwheel into a back flip.
"Now take a bow," Sasori murmured. Puppet Girl bowed proudly to applause that was only really in their heads. She caught the imaginary rose Sasori threw to her and bowed one last time before flying back into his hand.
Sasori placed her gently on his nightstand. Ryo had gone out of her way to make Puppet Girl as simple as she possibly could. She told him that she had made a puppet version of herself for him. No weapons, no poison, and no complicated mechanics. It looked nothing like her, but Ryo said that was the point. Sasori still didn't understand what she meant by that, but oh well.
"I call her Puppet Girl, because that's what Granny says I am. I'm a puppet girl, and so is she," he said, quoting her words from long ago. Little did Ryo know that she had inspired Sasori to attempt his greatest puppet of all. Himself.