A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this is late - hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 2: Sasori's Story
"The first one that comes to mind was when I was just six years old, still a student to the ninja academy. Even at that young age, our school was solidly divided into the cool guys who got all the girls and the insignificant rats who were likely to become scientists or medical Shinobi when they were older – some couldn't even throw a kunai.
"For some reason that just isn't coming to me, I wasn't one of the popular kids. I looked like them, as I was handsome, and I was just as talented, more so even. But they still left me to rot with those geeks, even if I could've taken them all out single-handedly.
"A six year old doesn't need to think about those things. I didn't really, but I look back now and think about them. Either way, I can see myself now. I was one of those cool geeks, the kind who's smart and deserving, and gets the discreet glances from the popular girls; that was me. And the cool must've been jealous, since I would get the attention they didn't.
"However, I was six, and my main focus was on my puppetry, since she taught me how to last year."
"Who's 'she'?" Deidara interrupted.
Sasori glared at him. "My grandmother. Now, don't interrupt me; it's annoying."
Deidara mumbled something, but Sasori looked away so he wouldn't have to hear it. He could feel himself delving back into the past again.
"During those last school years for me, for most would graduate at twelve, I had a friend. I can't remember his name at all, but I remember his face like a scar on the back of my hand that I changed when I swapped my real body for a puppet's.
"He had the most unfortunate appearance, with these huge, puffy lips and an equally big nose, and these tiny, tiny eyes. He was a nice guy underneath, but sometimes it was hard look past all that. Either way, he was my friend, and I hung out with him during my academy days.
"I tell you this guy was nice, but he was the fourth person after my parents and her tomake me wait. We used to live fairly close to each other, and whilst I was growing up, there was less corruption and you could walk home at night at age six with a friend without getting attacked or picked on. You can't do that nowadays.
"Me and that friend would walk home together. It was when I really started to become conscious of the time, and not making others wait for me, so I'd come five minutes early when I could. At school, it would be just on time. I would grab my textbooks and leave the classroom almost immediately, since we were in a different class, and then I'd wait for him.
"I would stand by the bush that grew red flowers beside the lamppost and I would wait there every day for him. And he would always be late. It didn't matter whether it was hotter than a fire or colder than Yukigakure, the Land of Snow, wetter than Kirigakure or drier than Sunagakure's desert. I would wait either sweating, shivering, soaking or panting for water and he would always come ten minutes late."
"What was he doing?" Deidara asked.
"I don't know," Sasori replied. "All I know is one day, on the second last day of the week, a Thursday, so close to enjoying a weekend of puppetry, I told him I'd wait for him in our usual spot. With the bush that had red flowers.
"I stayed by that bush for ages, waiting and waiting and waiting and he didn't come. For a moment, I thought it would be like my parents. That I'd be left there to wait forever, and I panicked. I thought if I left, he would come and then blame me for leaving, so I stood on that spot, shivering, since it was becoming winter, the cold, rainy season in Sunagakure.
"I know it felt like hours because of how worried I was, but it was actually twenty minutes he kept me waiting that day. Twenty, whole minutes and when he actually did come, there wasn't even an explanation. Just nothing. He said "Hi" as if nothing had happened, and we walked home that night. Unfortunately, I wasn't very talkative.
"The next day was Friday, and although I hadn't completely forgiven him, he was still my only friend, so I ate lunch with him and endured him for the day. I told him we'd meet at the usual spot.
"I came there a little later than usual and I panicked that he'd be mad at me for keeping him waiting. But my friend wasn't there. I waited for him to come, standing in the pouring rain, checking the time at ten past, which then turned to twenty past, thirty past, forty past, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety minutes past.
"The only reason I got home that day was because some teachers leave school an hour and a half later, and one of those teachers called her to come pick me up. Turns out, my friend had left without me, deeming that since I wasn't there like I usually was, I'd probably left.
"How little he understood, and it frustrated me so much. His interpretations ruined my weekend; I'd caught a cold from the rain. I have to thank him, though, as getting a cold was one of the factors I used for turning myself into a puppet. I didn't then.
"My much loved weekend was wasted lying in bed and recovering from a fever. And then I had to walk into school on Monday and pretend that our friendship was OK, when really, it was fragile after he'd snapped it in two that day."
Deidara looked at Sasori. Sasori knew he probably had a vacant, haunted expression on his face, but he couldn't help it, especially when he spoke of the times when he waited.
"Onto the next story," he said.
"There's more?" Deidara asked.
"There's always more," Sasori replied.
