Hime: I hope everything has been up to par with those of you reading this. If you hadn't noticed I have no REAL idea for where this story is going…^^;
Sasori: Off a cliff?
Hime: Hey! I could very well make this a Kibahina Fic!
Sasori: That mutt? Not on your life. He's barely good enough to be ACKNOWLEDGED by Hina-hime.
Hinata: H-h-hina-h-hime? *blush* Y-you think I-I'm a princess?
Sasori: *cups her face* Of course my dear. You are FAR more of a princess than our writer over there.
Hime: HEY! Shut up and try to keep your hand to yourself! I said save the romance for the story!
Sasori: *Wraps arm around Hinata*
Hime: Grrr….
Hinata: E-enjoy the story!
~x~
Tsunade and two ANBU members surveyed the area around Hinata's house, but had no luck finding any traces of Sasori. One of the ANBU tried to take the cloak, but Hinata refused, saying she would get Kiba and Akamaru to track the ex-Sand Shinobi down. This of course was a lie, but Hinata couldn't let them take her only connection to Sasori. Tsunade commissioned six guards to stay around Hinata's house for the remainder of the night, though Hinata knew there was no need. She fell asleep shortly after the commotion had been settled, curled cozily in the cloak.
Hinata awoke the next morning with something under her arm. It was a tiny Sasori puppet with a note on the back.
"I hated the thought of leaving you alone, so I made this. Now we can always be together.
~Love, Sasori"
"I-if only I knew h-how to use it…" Hinata sighed. She hugged the doll and rested it back on her bed. Getting dressed for the rest of her day, she heard a commotion outside of her window.
"I am NOT troublesome!"
"Yeah, you are. ALL women are."
"That's gonna cost ya!"
Rushing to her window, Hinata saw Temari and Shikamaru fighting in the streets with Kankuro looking helpless on the sidelines. "Kankuro!" Hinata cried, not realizing she was thinking out loud.
Kankuro looked up to he who had called, and Temari and Shikamaru did the same.
"Oy!" Kankuro called, "What's up Hinata? Are you ok? I heard what happened."
"Y-yeah, I'm fine…B-but I need your help!"
"Oh? With what?"
"Meet me i-in the training dojo in a-about ten minutes. Ok?"
"Uh...Sure, I guess." He replied, obviously confused. He looked at Shikamaru and Temari for insight but they both simply shrugged.
Hinata grabbed the puppet and carefully removed the tiny cloak so as not to arouse suspicion with Kankuro. The small Sasori wore baggy blue pants wrapped with white at the top and no shirt. She gave the doll one last hug and ran out the door with it.
She ran all the way to the dojo and when she got there, Kankuro was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room.
"So, whatdoyawant?" He quizzed.
"Um, I-I was w-wondering if y-you would t-t-teach me the p-puppet master jutsu." She replied, holding the puppet out in front of her. "I-I brought my own puppet."
Kankuro smiled, "Is that all? Sure! I'ld be happy to teach you!" He removed his own puppet from his back. "It's real simple; you should pick it up fast. You ready?"
"Yes!" Hinata chimed.
"Good. So first, concentrate your chakra to your fingertips, like so," He held up his right hand and his fingertips started to glow blue, "Your turn."
Hinata nodded and held out her right hand, concentrating the movement of her chakra to her the tips of her fingers. Soon they began to glow blue, "L-like this?" she asked showing him her hand.
"Perfect! Now, start sending it down to the puppet, like so." Threads of chakra shot from his hand on to the life sized puppet. "Then just see how it feels for a while, and see what fingers move which mechanism."
Hinata complied. She connected her chakra with the small Sasori. She found that her pinky and thumb moved the legs, her ring and pointer finger moved his arms and her middle finger moved the head and torso. A large grin spread across her face.
"Very good! You're a natural." Kankuro praised, but Hinata didn't seem to hear him. She was have the puppet dance and whirl around her. "Say, why did you want to learn about puppet mastery anyway?"
Hinata brought Sasori back to her and cradled him in her arms. "Um, w-well that's Sasori's s-specialty, right? I-I just wanted t-to see how i-it worked was all…" she murmured
"Hey, hey, I'm not accusing you of anything," He cooed, walking to her side, "I was just wondering was all. That was a good idea." He patted her head, "I'm glad you asked me, that was really smart. I AM a pretty puppet master after all." He spread a cheesy grin across her face that made Hinata laugh.
"I-I need to go now. Th-thank you," Hinata gave a quick bow, "Good bye!" She waved as she ran out of the dojo and straight home, cradling the doll the whole way.
She shut the door to her room and sat down on her bed. Laying the puppet down on the bed, she channeled her chakra to her hand. She connected it to her puppet and began making him walk across her bed. Hinata added in her other hand to see is she could make him do other things, when she detected an extra mechanism in the container looking thing where his heart would be. She opened it with a twitch of her finger and out of it a long, smooth, red string fell out, along with a note.
"I see you figured out how to use the puppet. I'm glad. This…is not one of my heart strings…if I could give you one I would, but I can't. So we can pretend, right?
~Love, Sasori."
Hinata almost burst into tears when she read that. He…he really cares about me… Hinata kissed the note and put it in a drawer in her night stand. After tying a bow in her hair with the string, she hugged the doll tightly and flopped down on the cloak that was still laid across her bed. She closed her eyes and just swam around in his scent, his memory, his love.
~x~
Hinata's eyes blinked lazily open to reveal a cinder haired Shinobi on the bed with her. She didn't panic, she didn't freak out, and she just lay there, starring into his sandstone eyes. "Hi" she whispered after some time.
"Good evening. I see you got my "heart string"." He said, touching the bow in her hair.
"Yes, thank you. It means a lot to me." She smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist.
He touched his lips lightly to hers and then brought them to her ear, "I can't stay long, I am a very busy man and it's not safe for me here. Meet me in the meadow where you fell asleep at eight o'clock tomorrow night. Ok?"
Hinata nodded, a little sad she would have to wait that long to see him again.
Sasori smiled, "Good, no go to bed my pet, it's late." It was only now that Hinata saw that the entire day had slipped away from her, but she didn't care. This was all she cared about.
Sasori gave Hinata one last long, passionate kiss and slipped away on the night breeze as he whispered, 'I love you'.
~x~
Hime: Have these been to short? They feel really short…Maybe it's just me.
Hinata: I-I like them.
Sasori: I suppose you're not a TERRIBLE writer…
Hime: Why thank you. I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me Sasori.
Sasori: Forget I said anything then…
Hinata: Saso-kun…
Hime: Notta problem Hina-chan. Stay tuned for the next chapter! There will be a cameo in the intro from Saria Mary Cross! Until next time!
