Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
Sasori held his hand out in front of him to knock on the compound entrance, bracing himself for what he was about to get himself into. 'Rusty' did not even begin to describe his social skills when it came to girls, yet here he was about to walk into the house of one he barely even knew.
He took a deep breath, despite his lack of dependence on oxygen. "I can do this," he whispered to himself. "I can do this!"
"Well I should hope so," a voice behind him said. "Knocking on a door isn't that difficult."
Sasori spun around, caught off-guard. A kid with large jacket and glasses stood with his hands in his pockets, and he recognised him as the Aburame who he had seen with Hinata.
"What do you want?" he asked, upset about having being disturbed. The Aburame stared straight at him, what was visible of his face completely devoid of emotion.
"I want to know what business a living puppet has in Konoha."
Sasori's eyes opened wide in alarm. How could he have been discovered already? He moved into a fighting stance, arms shoulder-width apart and firmly grounded. The boy made no move to counter his; instead, continued to stand with his hands in his pockets.
"It was quite easy to tell – my bugs picked up on the fact that you weren't real earlier today," the boy explained, reading Sasori's alarm. "I apologise for the breach of privacy, but I was suspicious – after all, you were standing out the front of my compound for approximately twenty-three minutes."
Sasori silently cursed himself. He should have known that someone would have picked up on his suspicious behaviour.
The boy paused for a moment, seemingly for effect, and then continued. "My condolences for your creator's death, by the way."
Creator's death? Sasori frowned. What the hell was he talking about? He slipped out of his fighting stance, deciding to let the boy finish talking to see what he did and didn't know.
"My father fought in the Third Great Shinobi war against a puppeteer with the same name as you," the Aburame continued. "It was said that his grandmother invented a jutsu that could bring an ordinary puppet to life, with the sacrifice of the jutsu user. I assume that you are the fruits of her labour?"
Sasori took a few seconds to wrap his head around what this boy was saying. He seriously thought he was a creation of Chiyo's? Then he wasn't exposed after all. For now, he would play along with the Aburame kid.
"I didn't come here to pick a fight – after all, the Sand and the Leaf are allies right?" he smiled at the boy. "In fact, I just came to visit a friend of mine. A girl by the name of Hinata Hyuga?"
"Hinata?" The boy sounded sceptical. "You would have thought she'd have told me if she was friends with a human puppet, wouldn't you?"
Sasori shrugged apologetically. The boy sighed.
"Then again, nobody ever tells me anything these days. It's like I'm invisible, even to my own friends." He turned and began to walk down the street.
"The name's Shino, by the way," he called out. "We may be seeing more of each other. Or maybe not."
Shino Aburame, Sasori thought to himself. Hopefully the answer is 'not'. He briefly wondered if maybe he was Shibi's son. He did say that his father had fought in the war against 'someone with his name'.
His name? Sasori had never given the boy his name.
Great, now I have a stalker to deal with, he thought. While his identity was safe for the most part, he didn't like this recent turn of events. The sooner he got out of Konoha, the better.
Which brought him back to his current objective. Swallowing his fears, he knocked on the front entrance of the compound. A servant noticed him and came over to the door.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yes – is Hinata Hyuga at home?"
The servant nodded. "I will get Lady Hinata right away for you. Who should I say is here?"
Sasori pondered for a moment. "Don't," he decided. "Make it a surprise."
"As you wish," the servant bowed, and headed into the main house.
While he waited, Sasori straightened up his clothes and tried to pat his hair down into position. He wanted to make a good impression on the girl when she came out.
"A visitor?" he heard a voice from inside the house say, and instantly recognised it as the girl's. He felt his legs begin to go weak, but held his ground.
He was going to do this – for the sake of the Akatsuki, and for his own sake as well.
