AN: Hey there, fancy reading you again ^^ Thank you so much for your reviews! Special thanks to StormDragon666 for pointing out that I stated Sasori's name backwards.

Muse: I can't belive YOU stated it wrong. Aren't you always correcting your friend when she does that?

I know, that's why it's so embarrassing!

Muse: *sigh* Anyway, she owns nothing and it's good that way...

Hey!

Muse: On with the story! Enjoy ^^

(AN2: My auto-correction hates me... It changes Hiruko to Hiroku every time, god knows why! I corrected it, sorry for the mistake.)


Sasori looked down to the girl quivering in front of him. "Listen, girl, if you bother me in any way or I'm growing tired of you, I will kill you. Understood?" The girl's eyes widened and she nodded quickly. Sasori's lips twitched. She was scared of him… Good. "Now, what is your name, girl?" She brightened visibly and beamed at him. "Haruko.", she exclaimed proudly. Sasori grimaced. 'Haruko'. 'Spring or sun child'. Perfect, just perfect really…

What kind of girl had he picked up? The scorpion huffed. "That won't fit any longer. I will give you a new name and you will listen to it. Got it?" The girl nodded and bowed her head. "Yes, master." Sasori froze. "What did you just call me?", he asked dangerously calm and silent. The girl fidget and wrung her hands nervously. "Master?", she answered hesitantly. Sasori's lips curled into a devious smirk. Maybe she wasn't as hopeless as he thought she was.

"Good girl. You will always call me that as a sign of respect for me and obedience to my rules." The girl nodded nicely and looked up at Sasori expectantly. Ah, right, the name… Sasori hummed thoughtfully. "Let's see… Your new name will be 'Noriko'. Do you know what that means?" The girl shook her head and Sasori's smirk widened. "It means 'law-abiding or observant child.' Fitting, don't you think?" The newly named Noriko forced a smile up to her master and nodded. "Yes, master." Sasori chuckled, pleased with how things developed, and turned around to pry the dead bodies out of Hiruko's iron grasp. "You will neither speak nor move unless you're told to.", he added as an afterthought.

Silence followed and when Sasori looked over his shoulder to check on his small companion, he saw the young girl shift from one foot to the other. "What?", he barked and Noriko flinched. "Master, what if I have a question or need to go to toilet?" Sasori sighed in annoyance. "Then you will address me and I will let you ask for permission unless I'm busy." Noriko hung her head. "Yes, master.", she said and the word came heavy over her lips. Sasori could basically hear how she forced down the urge to protest. "And what if…"

"Silence!", Sasori snapped, making his companion jump back in surprise. "I have better things to do than answering your pointless questions." He slung the corpses over his shoulders and sent the young girl a look that made her flinch. "Go and find yourself a room to sleep in and don't bother me. And whatever you find or see…" He turned around and fixed her with a threatening glare.

"Don't. Touch. Anything.", he growled. Noriko hung her shoulders, lowered her head and nodded shortly before Sasori turned back around and vanished in his workshop, leaving the scared and confused girl all by herself.

The young girl stood there for about half an hour, trembling and unsure of what to do. She was about having the worst day of her life! First, she had been brought to a cold and dark cave that was declared her new home, then she had been roughly thrown out of the safe wooden shell onto the hard stone ground and on top of that, she had been given a new name! Her beautiful, smooth name no longer her! Instead she had gotten a harsh name which had only one purpose and that was to remind her of her place. And now, the man had left her alone in this stupid, spooky cave!

Tears stung in her eyes as she bit her lip in order to hold back a frustrated scream. She had never felt so lost before! There had always been somebody to hold her hand, escort her to the park or play with her on rainy days. Her clan had been nothing but a large happy family and it was unfair that they were slaughtered while other, bad clans, were alive. She missed them. Even her disgusting, mean step-uncle…

Why wasn't she dead? She should be, but for some cruel reason faith decided to shove her into a murderer's arms.

The little girl shook her head and wiped the tears and their glistening trails off her cheeks. No, she had to survive. For her clan's sake. Haru… no, Noriko raised her head and took a deep breath to calm herself. What had the redhead said again? Hadn't he ordered her to find a room for herself? Well then… Noriko eyed the two doors on either side of her critically before opening both.

She would not follow him to where he had gone. She liked her head where it was, thank you very much.

She peaked first into the right hallway, then into the left and finally she chose the one that looked less creepy and smelt less rotten. So, in her case, the right one. It would prove to be the wrong choice though. The very moment she opened the first door, she froze. A dozen bars were attached to the ceiling and something hand down from the hooks, something distinctively… human.

Noriko made a few hesitant steps back. But there was no rotten smell or blood, right? So she had to be wrong, right? She didn't even notice that her breath was getting shaky.

Noriko let her gaze wander and flinched. Okay, correction: At least there was no blood on the walls. At the far end of the room was another door and though it looked almost innocent, the floor in front of it was soaked with the dark red liquid, most of it seemingly dry. Noriko gagged and quickly looked away, not wanting to know what would happen if she threw up in here. Sasori surely wouldn't be happy about it. She was close to screaming on top of her lungs, the countless dead bodies making her tremble from head to toe.

She scrambled backwards, wanting out of that horror cabinet, but in her hurry, she tripped over what looked like an arm and fell against a row of bodies, knocking a few down with her. Noriko groaned and held her pounding head. When she tried to sit up, her hands met something that felt like a foot and Noriko drew in a shaky breath. She glanced down slooowly and caught sight of a leg.

Now she did scream and loud at that. She hurriedly scrambled out of the pile of bodies and fled to an empty corner of the room, as far away as possible. Pressed against the wall, Noriko tried to keep herself from screaming her lungs out. Bodies. Dead bodies. Her new master collected them in an oversized closet! What the hell had she gotten herself into? She had had enough of corpses for a while and she had probably opened the only room filled with them! Faith had to love her…

Noriko swallowed and forced herself to take a closer look. If this was what her master did, she would have to get used to it. Or die. She had yet to decide which option was better. As her gaze swept over the corpses she noticed a similarity between all of them and sat up abruptly. Lines! They all had the exact same lines on their arms, legs and chests!

She gathered her courage and crawled over to the pile of bodies, slowly extending a hand. She ran her fingers over a leg and her eyes went wide. It was hard and smooth… and it was made of wood!

Wood! Of course! Her master didn't collect corpses, he collected puppets, like the one they traveled in! Noriko let out a sigh of relief and plopped back to the floor. Her heart was pounding away in her chest, from the aftermath of the shock or relief she wasn't sure, but she knew one thing: Always take the more rotten smelling hallway. Even a corpse was better than running into this horror cabinet…

Noriko heaved a sigh and got to her feet. Now to find herself a room to sleep in…


AN: Before I can post the next chapter, I think I'll have to explain something: Itachi, Deidara and Hidan have yet to join Akatsuki, Orochimaru has yet to leave. Sorry, no cursing Hidan for you yet ^^ But believe me, once he joins, there will be more than enough cursing XD Anyway, the next chapter will include a little contest, so stay tuned!

Tell me what you think! Reviews make me happy and my muse creative. ^^