Ayami sat on the park bench, tapping her foot, waiting for her contact. Watanabe should already be here! There was a rustle in the leaves and her
was standing next to her. The foremost poison specialist in this area, dealing mainly with poisons that were stored in the fatty tissue, later to be released by chemicals in the blood.
His body was gnarled, but strong. "Let's walk."
Ayami nodded and stood silently. The Kazekage's words rang in her mind. No matter what it takes, get the intelligence. The idea was repulsive; orders are orders regardless. Why had she ever decided to be a Jounin? That was a thought for another time, for now she needed to keep him talking.
He walked to a bar and ordered a bottle of sake. He sipped his while she pretended to gulp hers, using a silent jutsu to gather it in a puddle outside. Intoxication would make her job that mush harder. Even though she wasn't actually drinking, she pretended to get drunk.
"So what information do you have for me?" She carefully slurred her words and glazed her eyes over. "It had to be pretty good to bring me all the way here, nya."
"The Cutter's troops are three days north of the uppermost border. They plan to stay stationary for the next week or so. There will be plenty of time to counter if you leave for Sunagakure tomorrow morning."
"Why can't I just leave now?"
"There is the payment that we worked out, and there is the other information that you wanted to know. I gave you half the information. Pay and I'll give you the other half."
Ayami cringed inwardly, but displayed no outward signs. "Well, let's go party then, nya."
He lead her to a small room in a decrepit ryokan. The futon was mildewed and the floor was not clean. Soon the chore was finished, Wantanabe was around fifty years old.
"They have a base about three days from Hidden Fox Lake. It's no use though, if you get to close to the entrance you'll get your throat slit. There doesn't appear to be any other way in."
Wantanabe rolled over and opened a bento box and offered her a onigiri, eating one himself. Ayami picked up one of the same kind and nibbled on it, pleasantly surprised by the plum in the center. If it hadn't been for that plum, she might have noticed that he did not swallow.
When Wantanabe turned away again to put the bento box back down, Ayami shoved the point of her kunai between his forth and fifth vertebra. He was instantly paralyzed and blood splattered Ayami's face and hands. She washed her hands and put her clothes on, leaving it right where it was.
She met back with her team outside of town shortly before dusk. "Three days north of our land holdings, nya. We need to do this quick."
Ayami's bones ached a bit, but other wise she felt fine when she informed the Kazekage. He sent up two squads of ANBU and The Cutter's restance was crushed within the week. Shortly afterwards, her team was sent out again to retrieve Masahashi Kuro.
The forest seemed too close in on them as the narrowed in on his location. Suddenly, kunais flew from the branches, nailing the leader of the other team. Even from the sound of it Ayami knew that he was dead. It was a shame she had never really known the man. Thud-thud. Two of her sub-ordinates were down and the sources kept moving, darting from tree to tree. Seized by a sudden fear of death, she fled into the trees, leaving the other ninjas to their certain death.
Ayami ran, her mind utterly blank, she just ran and ran and ran until her legs cramped. She propped herself under a tree and went to sleep. When she woke she was cold, hungry and stiff. She wondered where she was and then she remembered the slaughter from the trees. She cursed herself, her forehead protector was gone. If those were Masahashi's men, those bodies would never be seen again. If she didn't go back, there would be no shame. They could all think that she had died a death befitting of a shinobi, a death in combat.
She stood, trying to get her bearing, but she was completely lost. She navigated west until she hit the shoreline then headed south along the beach until she came to a small fishing village. "Where is Sunagakure from here?"
An old shop owner looked up from his cabbage and pointed a crooked finger to the north-east. "About ten days walk that way."
She thanked the man and hurried away for no particular reason. She had no clue what she should do next.
When Ayami entered firmiliar forest about a week later, she veered away from Sunagakure and instead headed to her cousin's home in The
Village Hidden by The Waterfall. Once a great ANBU member, her sister now worked at a restaurant ryokan fusion. She walked slowly, getting there in a week and a half or so.
"Sa! What am I to do?" Ayami exclaimed once they sat in the back room, having explained the situation.
"You should do what you always wanted, that you should." Ayami looked at her quizzically. Honda Sakura scowled, girly black hair making the expression look humorous. "Don't even kid yourself, you know what I'm talking about, you do. You are not getting any younger, that you aren't. Dear god, your almost thirty-one and you haven't ever had a boyfriend, you haven't! Fools be blessed, you don't look your age, but soon you'll start feeling it, that you will! Either do something with your dream or move on, you should!"
Ayami admitted the truth and left as quickly as she had come. She stopped in the shop next door and procured a large sack of fragrant herbs which she later crushed.
Ayami stood in front of a nearly shear, apparently seamless rock wall. She put her fingers to the stone trying to feel vibrations from within it. They were coming from fifty to one hundred meters on her left. She used her chakra to slowly scrape the rock out of the way. She crawled into the hole and started to fill the space behind her, leaving a small tube for air. After an hour or so hear the footsteps through the thin layer of rock. She touched her fingers to the stone and counted the people present. Two, four, six, eight.
She waited until there was no movement, then tunneled through the remaining layer of rock and stepped into a room with a table, desks and chairs. She pulled the considerably less fragrant bag and headed into the room which appeared to be the cook room. There was a bottle of spice on the counter, nearly empty. Ayami assumed it was what they seasoned there meals with and slipped a handful in, barely changing the hight of the container's contents. She retreated back to the tunnel and sealed it, recrystalizing the rock.
She waited until there was no more movement again and she left the tunnel, this time sealing the tunnel completely, making the rock stronger than it was previously. Which room was Sasori-Sensei's? There was a short hallway to the right and a long hallway to the left. She took the longer room, the hall split again, three rooms to the right, two on the left. From where she was standing she could tell that the closest door on her right was open.
She stepped silently to the door and saw red hair bobbing as a puppet hand turned a screw-driver. The door was opened just wide enough for her to slip through with out moving the door. Sensing that there was no right way to do this, she sat on his bed. Sasori was so absorbed in his task that he did not notice the swish of red braid behind him.
"Hello Sasori-sensei, nya," Ayami said, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
Sasori spun around on his stool. "Who's there?" He had put the screwdriver down, but he absentmindedly held a syringe of poison in his left hand. Funny, she grumbled. He couldn't remember, but he meet someone who grumbled like that before, but where?
"What do you want?" He demanded, "How did you get here?" For a moment is seemed like her remembered her, like a half forgotten dream.
"Oh, you don't remember me, nya." She frowned, her eyes staring into nothing across the room, thinking aloud. "That ruins everything, nya!" She snapped out of her thoughts, and stood. "I'm sorry Sasori-sensei, my name is Takahashi Ayami and I trained under you before you left Sunagakure, nya." She bowed deeply to him.
As hard as her tried, Sasori couldn't remember her.
She took one step forward. Sasori, thinking she was going to attack, jumped from his seat using his momentum to lunge forward with the syringe. Startled by the sudden movement, she fell flat on her back, knocking the wind out of herself. Some shinobi I am, she thought. " What was -- that -- for? What -- did I -- do?" She gashed for breath, her lungs filling slowly. She laughed and got the hiccups, while still not breathing fully. "At least -- you didn't -- touch -- me with -- that needle, nya."
He stood there puzzling over her choppy speech, and then finally understood. He nodded.
The hiccups subsided as her lungs filled. In her head, she was screaming a prayer, Please, dear goddess Amaterasu, please let the the herbs have taken effect by now! By the grace of your light, please! She took a leap of faith, trusting her grandmother with her life. "Which way is the kitchen?" She tried to act like she didn't know, but she felt like he knew.
He pointed diagonally out, which would take you roughtly to the kitchen. "Thank you Sasori-sensei, nya." She bowed again and left, he was not quite what she remembered. She could remember her first day apprenticing under him. He must have been about twenty, and she couldn't have been more than seven or eight.
+ Twenty years ago, Sunagakure, Sasori's workshop
Chiyo-ba-sama stood in front with of the door and knocked twice. He had big blue eyes and unruly red curls. The man Ayami did not yet know towered over her. He had rised an eyebrow and Chiyo spoke. "Sasori, this is Ayami-kun. She's your apprentace."
Sasori just grumbled, but Ayami was awed by someone else with red hair. Both of her parents had black hair, but here was someone like her! He sat her on the workbench next to his, "Now, I want you to stay there and don't touch anything until I get back."
"Yes Sasori-sensei, nya." He smiled and as he walked off, he shook his head silently.
Ah yes, Ayami thought, puppy love. Just like the other girls like little boys, but eventually they realized that it wasn't mean to be for one reason or another and they moved on. I never got to realize that, he left too soon.