-A Puppet's Promise-(Sasori one-shot II)
Memo: I'm so gonna hate myself for writing this…
It was pretty much a normal day. You woke up at the normal 7:30, got dressed in your normal clothes, and had a normal breakfast. Yea, your life was pretty much normal. Until today…
You usually had a work shift on Saturday mornings at the local ramen shop. Bearing an oddly shaped pink and blue-striped hat and apron, you stood behind the counter giving little kids delicious various flavored noodles. You also had the shift with your friend, Natsumi. And for the sake of all humanity, let's make her a spaz!
You sat behind the counter, talking with Natsumi. Business was as slow as a snail these days, so you two usually didn't have anything to do other than talk. You thought it was going to be a slow day today, but were you wrong.
Before you could blink an eye, there was a small, masked boy standing in front of the counter, jumping up and down. This caused the sound of jingling change to ring throughout the store. He was looking up at the headboard above the kitchen area that had all the different flavors on it.
"Hello there" Natsumi didn't hesitate to greet the customer. "What would you like to buy today?"
"Natsumi, don't you think it's kinda weird this little boy is here without a parental unit?" You whispered to her cautiously. She seemingly ignored you.
"Tobi wants naruto ramen!" The little boy, most likely named Tobi, half-shouted. Not every day that you get weird people like this. Then again, how many sane people were left in the world who hadn't visited the shop?
How many sane people were actually sane?
Natsumi and you went back to the kitchen to cook the ramen as Tobi waited patiently in one of the chairs, singing Footloose. "What is with that kid?!"
"I dunno, I think he's nice" Natsumi said, cheerful as ever.
"Nice…Nice…He looks like he's ready for Halloween! What's with the mask?!" You realized your voice was rising and quickly turned down the volume. "Just put in the fish and let him leave quickly."
The boy was now standing at the counter, still being bouncy and singing Footloose. You could hear Natsumi humming along herself. I think…I'm going to go home today completely insane… You thought to yourself.
Natsumi put the ramen bowl down on the counter. "That'll be one dollar"
"Tobiisagoodboy…" He said, putting, oh dear Lord help us, one hundred pennies on the counter.
You and Natsumi looked at each other. You looked at her with a "This-kid-is-insane" look and she gave you a "That's-so-hilariously-cute" look. Yep, you were sure now that your friend was insane.
"Kid, why did you pay in pennies?"
"'Kid'? Tobi's not a kid! Tobi's just a little short for his age!"(Yea, screw his height, we're making him shorter.) The boy shouted at a slightly high pitch. The thought of him being as old as you and Natsumi were freaked you out, and made your completely insane friend giggle, well…insanely.
When the boy went over to his seat again you looked over at Natsumi and whispered, "He paid in pennies! This kid is a freak!"
"Aw, don't say that, I think he's cute…"
"You think everything's cute…"
"Not dead things!"
"Tobi doesn't like dead things either!" You and Natsumi jumped, looking over to see Tobi standing at the counter again. Still wearing his lollipop mask, in all its orange-colored glory. How does he eat with that thing eating his head?!
"Tobi can come back later, right?"
"Of course!" Natsumi said in a hi-ho cheerio voice.
"If you're going to pay in quarters…" You said, not being able to finish your sentence, as a red-head came stalking inside. Stalking…yea, that word's going to fit in the future.
"What about dimes?" He asked. His voice seemed slightly more, how to put this, immature? No…childish. As if his voice didn't age with the rest of him.
Then again…the rest of him didn't look much aged either. He still had a young looking face, and was actually quite short. But his eyes told you that he was actually older than he looked. They told a story, most of it with pain.
You caught yourself staring at the boy and quickly looked away, your face turning a slight pinkish color. He leaned against the counter, his arms propping up his head. "Tobi, you're making Deidara worried, and me impatient. Can you hurry it up?"
"Sasori-san, Deidara-senpai says you're always impatient!"
Sasori...that's a familiar name. And who was this Deidara person?
You looked up from your thoughts to see the Sasori boy looking at you. He quickly turned his head away when your eyes locked, and looked over at Tobi, who was asking him a question. "Hm?"
"Are we allowed to bring people to the Akatsuki, Sasori-san?"
"What…?" His eyes looked puzzlingly over at you and Natsumi. "You mean bringing...Do you mean having them join?"
Tobi nodded.
"I don't see why not." He looked over at you and Natsumi again, his eyes twinkling as his met yours. "Do you want to come join?"
You were about to say no. I mean, he had said the Akatsuki. That, as far as you knew, was the most evil organization. According to everyone else, you didn't really know yourself. But, you still didn't want to join them. Who knows what they would make you do! But your insane friend Natsumi…
"Of course we'll come join"
You gave her this complete "You-just-sold-your-soul" look. She looked back at you, confused at your reaction to the answer. "I am not going to join." You whispered to her loudly.
"Why not? It'll be fun! Besides, you're always complaining how normal it is around here…"
"But…our families! Our job!"
Before you and Natsumi could finish your debate, Sasori cleared his throat loudly to get your attention. You looked over at him with an annoyed glare. "We…uh…if you're going to join…we should probably be leaving…now…" He stuttered, averting his gaze from yours.
"Natsumi can go, I'm not going."
"But ! You have to go! I'm not going alone!"
"No, I don't want to join some evil—" you couldn't continue your rant because Sasori had made his way behind the counter and lifted you up off the ground. One of his arms was under your legs and the other propped
up your upper body and held you closely to his chest. As others, more un-descriptive would say, he held you bridal-style.
He smelled of cinnamon and apple blossom. You looked up angrily at him to see his red hair covering his eyes shamefully. "Sorry…" Was all he muttered as he carried you off and Natsumi and Tobi talked and giggled and, help us please, sang.
You and Natsumi were left in a plain room. You were sitting in two chairs next to each other, and two other seats sat empty in front of you. You could hear many noises coming from down the halls. There was a lot of angry shouting and things crashing to the floor. This made you a little nervous.
Yea…only a little nervous.
You jumped a little as the door opened and Sasori and Tobi walked in. Well, Sasori walked in. Tobi actually skipped/danced/flew into the room. Did he ever take that mask off? Probably not…
"We, Tobi and I, will be quizzing-oh, I love that word!-you to see if you would make it into the Akatsuki. Tobi, you can take Natsumi into the other room."
Happily, Natsumi and Tobi skipped/danced/flew out of the room, shutting the door. Leaving you and the red-head kidnapper alone in the room. He actually seemed quite happy as he looked down at a small clipboard smiling.
"Okay…how would you feel about being in an organization of mostly guys?" He asked, not looking up.
". . . . ."
He looked up when you didn't answer, the smile quickly leaving his face. "What's wrong…? There's nothing to be nervous about…"
"Yes there is…" You said quietly, knowing you couldn't well speak. "There's everything to be nervous about. I was just kidnapped by an evil organization without being granted to see my family and tell them. I'm being forced to join against my will, not knowing what's going to happen to me…"
You cursed yourself as the tears that had brimming to your eyes, spilled over and slipped down your cheeks. You tried to wipe them away quickly, but they wouldn't stop. You put your hands over your face to hide it from the boy sitting in front of you, sure he would laugh or something.
Instead you heard him whisper "..." and shuffle over to the empty seat that was still sitting next to you. You felt one warm arm wrap around you, drawing you near to him, as another pushed away your hands and cupped your face. He whispered your name again as his thumb stroked your cheek.
You hiccupped slightly, but the crying had stopped. You looked up and your eyes locked onto his again. Those deep amber eyes looked softly at your tear trailed face. ", nothing bad will happen to you. I won't let anything hurt you…"
Look at this! You hardly knew the guy and you were letting him hold and comfort you. But, honestly? You thought it was actually kind of soothing. His smell of cinnamon and apple blossom, mixing and dancing together. His warm breath tickling slightly as he whispered to you. You really liked it.
"Promise…?"
You could feel him flinch away slightly. He was silent for the few moments to come, but his arm stayed around you. "...there's something you would probably want to know…" He un-hooked his cloak and pulled it down slightly, revealing joints. Not normal human joints. But, joints that a puppet may have. "I'm…kind of a puppet…"
You looked up silently into his eyes to see if this was actually a joke or something, and saw him looking down. Pain was in his eyes, along with what looked like soon-to-be tears. This caused your heart to feel sore. Sasori really looked upset.
"Do you really want a puppet's promise…?"
You looked down away from his gaze. Did you? He was a nice person, even though he kidnapped you. And he really seemed you care about you. Enough…that he actually liked you. Did you like him? If you did say you wanted his promise, would that be saying yes?
He must have taken your silence the wrong way, because when he started speaking again, he sounded as if he were choking himself. "I-I…unders-stand…b-but…please there's…one th-thing…I have…to d-do…"
You looked up to say something, but his lips pressed against yours. You could see the tears streaming down his face. You could tell that he was putting all his love into this one kiss. But, before you could kiss him back, he backed away from you, his arms slipping away back down to his sides. His hair covered his eyes again, probably trying to hide the tears that still fell from his eyes.
"I'm…s-sorry ..." He stood up and began a fast walk towards the door. Luckily, you were faster. You threw your arms around him lovingly to hold him back. He seemed quite shocked at this and pulled your
arms away slightly to turn around and look at you. "Wh-What…are you…d-doing…?"
"I do want…a puppet's promise…" You say quietly, embracing him tightly again. His arms wrapped around you again, and he tilted your chin up to look at him.
"You mean it…?"
Your reply was a mere nod, because you couldn't find any other words. Except maybe, "I love you…" The words came out so silently, that you thought he hadn't heard you. But he had…
And you could tell from the fact that he smiled sweetly before leaning over and kissing you again. This time, you were able to kiss back.
(Ahum…just like Romeo and Juliet…They just meet and fall in love and blah blah bleh!)