The forth chapter is my personal favorite. This is he last chapter with Ryo as a little girl. The next chapter and all the ones that follow it will be set during Shippuden. WARNING: sort of kind of almost rape
Story Summary: Sasori becomes the guardian of a little girl who has a talent for puppetry. He raises her, but unfortunately ends up falling in love with her. Bad things just snow ball from there.
Episode Summary: Ryo goes to play with a friend and doesn't come home. Sasori searches for her, angrier than a mother bear. The Kazekage makes life unbearable. Retaliation is fun.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasori would be alive and Kisame would talk like Jabberjaw.
Ode of a Puppeteer
4
The long awaited day had finally come. Dark clouds had been moving in since that morning, and finally, at four in the afternoon, the storm started. The only warning was a crash of thunder, and then suddenly the downpour began. Ryo squealed in delight.
"Sasori!" Ryo ran down the hall to the study where Sasori was currently modifying a puppet. "The storm's here!"
Sasori glanced up briefly from the puppet. "So I hear," he replied slightly condescendingly.
Ryo glared at him. "Sasori, you said that when the rain came I could go play with Fuyu, Kei, and Baki!"
"So I did," he sighed. Sasori stood up from the desk and stretched, various joints popping from lack of movement. "Is there any chance I can convince you to stay home?"
"Nope!" she grinned cheekily at him. "Let me go change and we'll go!"
Dashing out of the study and into her room, Ryo began the delightful task of picking out an outfit. Granny had been ecstatic when she found out that her favorite granddaughter had friends. The news that there was to be a rainy day play date meant only one thing: new clothes designed specifically for the rain. They had oil in them that made them not get soaked, the water just ran off.
Ryo pulled on a black silk shirt and pants, admiring herself in the mirror. The shirt was embroidered with gold thread to have little clouds and lightning all over it and she absolutely loved it. Her long purple-red hair was held back by a yellow headband with a yellow bow to the side. After a few more moments of admiring herself, Ryo dashed back out to the living room where Sasori waited oh so patiently.
"Ready!" she chirped happily. Sasori glanced down at his young ward as he fastened his cloak and rolled his eyes. "What?" she demanded, jutting out her chin and pouting.
Sasori chuckled and continued with his cloak. "Yellow looks horrible with your hair and your grandmother spoils you too much." Ryo stuck her tongue out at him and marched out the door leaving him to follow in her wake.
"Yes Sasori, I promise I'll be fine," Ryo laughed. Sasori was more apprehensive about her going out into the rain to play with her new friends than she was. Sasori was being more apprehensive than Ryo a lot these days. Granny would only allow her to go after being promised that Ryo would have more than just Moth with her; Sasori wasn't as easily swayed.
Sasori had been acting strange. Knowing he was overprotective and seeing it in action were two different things. It was like he didn't know what to do with himself without Ryo around. He seemed afraid that something horrible was going to happen without him around, and it only made it worse when Ryo came home happy.
"Well, be home before ten," Sasori sighed. The puppeteers were standing infront of Fuyu's house. Sasori turned to go with unhappiness obvious in his movements. Ryo rolled her eyes and tackle-hugged him from behind.
"Thanks Sasori," she squealed. She could tell he had rolled his eyes in reply. It was a habit Ryo had picked up from him.
He stepped out of her little grasp. "Be careful," he said quietly, then walked off into the rain.
Ryo hopped up to the door and knocked. A loud crash and several muffled expletives later, the door was flung wide open to reveal a woman who looked vaguely similar to Fuyu only older. "You must be Ryo," she smiled. "I'm Fuyu's mother. Fuyu has told me so much about you! Come in, please," she gestured for her to enter the warm house.
Ryo smiled and walked in, not failing to notice when the woman glanced around outside. Looking for Sasori, no doubt. "Did you walk here alone?" she asked worriedly.
As though Sasori would allow her anywhere without him. "No, Sasori left right before I knocked," you assured her, grinning on the inside. The mother seemed to relax.
"Ryo!" Fuyu squealed. She ran in and tackled her friend. Both fell on the floor, laughing. "We're meeting Baki in the square, come on!" Fuyu hauled Ryo back to her feet and they both ran out the door.
"Be careful girls!" her mother yelled as they ran out into the rain. Ryo rolled her eyes as she and Fuyu continued running. Like anything bad happened in Suna. Least of all to one in the care of Sasori and Chiyo.
Ryo and her friends played until late that night. The rain showed no signs of stopping, so they had made plans to meet again and play some more the next day after breakfast. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the road for a moment as the young puppeteer walked home.
Ryo was exhausted. And hungry. Hopefully, Sasori had dinner ready at home. Something warm, like soup. That would be nice…
In her drowsy state, Ryo failed to notice the two ninja waiting in the alley ahead of her. "Wha-" she gasped right as one of them knocked her unconscious.
Sasori sat at home in a very foul mood. Without Ryo to entertain him, he was very bored. And, as loathe as he was to admit it, he missed her. She made him happy. Ryo was the only family that he had who wasn't absolutely CRAZY.
Growling unhappily, Sasori glanced at the clock. Ten at night? Ryo should have been home long before that. She promised she'd be home by seven.
A feeling of unease coiled into the puppet master's stomach. Ryo was all right, she had to be. She had skill, not to mention that he had given her that puppet. Their favorite. Ryo had to be okay…
Sasori leapt up from his chair and dashed out the door, only pausing to grab a puppet scroll.
Ryo drifted hazily in and out of consciousness for the next hour or so. All she could tell was that she was being carried, unbound, over a man's shoulder. Suddenly, she was dropped on the ground. A ratty mattress saved her from an unpleasant landing.
"Nice one," one of the men said, lust in his voice. But Ryo was too young to know what that sounded like. What the hell is going on? "She's a pretty little thing. Never seen her around before. Who is she?"
The other man chuckled. It sounded wrong. "I don't know. But I can tell we're going to have fun with her," another chuckle, "There's no way she's training to be a shinobi. No calluses. Not going to be much fight in her."
Both men chuckled again. During the whole exchange, the young girl had been feigning unconsciousness. Ryo wasn't quite sure what was happening, but she had a feeling that it wasn't good. That was reinforced when one of the men started to take her shirt off.
Sasori ran frantically through the streets, looking for Ryo. He had stopped by her friends' houses, but to no avail. She was no where to be found. Red Ant, Black Ant, and Crow clacked wickedly behind him as he ran.
As he dashed down a side street, he noticed a yellow headband sticking out of the mud. Footprints were squished into the mud near it. Two men. Sasori narrowed his eyes. Had Ryo been caught off guard? He resumed his running, looking for signs of where they had taken his precious Ryo.
Ryo sat fearfully pressed up against the wall on the mattress as the two men bickered good-naturedly about what to do with her. Forced oral? Double-team her? What the hell did those mean?
They had already stripped her down naked. Then they had touched her. Her chest and stomach only, thankfully. But she had a feeling they wanted to touch somewhere else.
"We can play with this one for a while," one argued. "Let's take our time."
"Fine, but I get her first," the second snapped. He grabbed Ryo and shoved her onto her back. He pried her legs open. That was too far. Ryo started squirming and screaming. "Shut up, brat!" he hissed.
Ryo snapped. No one, not even Sasori, called her brat. She concentrated her chakra to her feet and kicked the man back into the opposite wall. He hit it with a satisfying thud, and Ryo heard the air forced from his lungs.
The other man stared at Ryo open mouthed. "How-" he started to demand, but Ryo hauled both men up into the air with chakra threads she had previously attached. A string of expletives poured from both their mouths. "Who the hell are you!" he yelled. She forced back the connection the threads wanted her to open; no one should have to know those two that intimately.
Ryo glanced at her captives as she put her clothes back on. Her headband was no where to be found, but that was the least of her worries. "I'm Akasuna no Ryo," she replied calmly. The two men looked suddenly very afraid.
Ryo walked out of the room they had her in out into the rainy Suna night, towing the shinobi behind her. "Where are you taking us?" one of them demanded. He tried to sound filled with bravado, but the fear still made his voice squeak.
"To Sasori," she replied simply. She glanced back at them disdainfully. "Hopefully he'll kill you."
The shinobi gulped and looked at each other. Then they started screaming. "Shut up!" snapped Ryo as she looped chakra around their mouths like a gag.
A familiar whir-click could be heard over the rain. Crow, Black Ant, and Red Ant flew into view, followed by a panting but angry Sasori. Fury rolled off him in waves.
"You are never leaving my sight again," he spat harshly at Ryo. The puppets clacked in agreement. Sasori strode over to Ryo and pulled her up into his arms. Ryo yawned into his shoulder and handed him the strings that held her two captives/captors.
"I WANT THESE SCUM KILLED NOW!" Sasori yelled. His face was flushed and his eyes were hectic with worry and anger. Ryo slept peacefully in his arms.
The Kazekage sat behind his desk, visibly perturbed. "Sasori, I'm sure that you're over reacting. These men are sick in the head. They need help, not the death penalty," he tried to reason.
Sasori was having none of that. "They need removed from society permanently," the puppet master snarled. The Kazekage was sure that, had Ryo not been in Sasori's arms, the puppet master would be inflicting irreversible physical damage to him.
"Sasori, you need to calm down," he said, holding his hands up in a peace gesture.
Sasori jerked to his feet, still holding Ryo. "You need to be a bit more angry. Two of your shinobi almost raped a little girl. Not just any girl, but Ryo. MY Ryo. Your adoptive niece. And you aren't going to have them punished? Granny was right, this city has been rapidly declining," he said harshly. His chest was heaving in anger, and Ryo stirred.
"Saso?" she asked groggily. "Are they dead yet?"
Sasori smiled with no humor. "No, Ryo. Mr. Kazekage won't let them be killed."
Ryo yawned. "Then hurt him," she mumbled against his neck. "I want those two dead."
The Kazekage stared at her, stricken. "Ryo, those men are sick. They need help, not punishment. Surely you can understand that, even if your guardian can't," he pleaded.
Ryo looked up at him, her eyes clearing. "They kidnapped me, stripped me naked, and touched me. And enjoyed it. They knew what they were doing. So no. I won't be sympathetic," she growled. In a different tone she added, "If you don't want to kill them, I'll do it for you."
Silence reigned for several minutes as the Kazekage processed all that Ryo had said. Finally, he came to a conclusion. "Ryo, I'll have your thing brought here. You're no longer staying with Sasori. He's warped your young mind with evil and can't be trusted to raise a child."
Ryo gasped. "You can't take me from Saso!" she screamed. Sasori patted her back soothingly.
"Go to hell, Kazekage. Ryo is my ward. Just try to take her from me," Sasori hissed. His eyes narrowed in challenge.
The Kazekage stood up and called another shinobi into the room. "Release the two that Sasori brought in," he ordered her coldly.
"But sir!" she gasped. "They almost raped-"
"I am Kazekage!" he yelled in frustration. "You will obey me! No one else! Do not question me!" He sounded like a petulant child.
The woman nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sasori stared at where she had just stood, not believing it. Release them?
"Come on Ryo," he said. Still carrying his protégé, Sasori walked swiftly out of the room. He moved with purpose, but what that purpose was the Kazekage couldn't tell.
"Get back here!" the Kazekage yelled. No one replied.
"Sasori, where are we going?" Ryo mumbled into the shoulder of her guardian. Rain pelted them as they ran through the empty streets of Suna. Ryo was so tired she could hardly stay awake.
Sasori slowed to a stop. "We're going to find them and kill them. Then we're running away from here. I have our stuff packed away in scrolls already, all of it. We'll go far away where no one will try to separate us," he assured her. She smiled into his shoulder.
"Okay," she chirped sleepily. "I think that they're where I lost my headband."
Without another word, Sasori ran in that direction.
"We have to get out of here man," one of the men wheezed as they panted for breath. "Sasori will kill us."
"No, he'll do much worse," the other man said, gasping for air. "My lungs are on fire!"
"We just need to get out of Suna for a while," the first man paused for breath again. "Before Sasori and Ryo find us."
"Too late," the sweet voice of a little girl said from the shadow of a nearby alley. Ryo stepped out of the dark just as lightning flashed. Blue strings could be seen from her fingers.
"Far too late," Sasori agreed as he stepped out of the dark behind them. Beside him floated a puppet. A puppet that looked familiar…
"That's the Third!" one of the men gasped. The other man looked faint. Trapped between two puppet masters with a vendetta against them was a death sentence and they knew it.
Ryo giggled. "No one ever notices my puppet with him around." Another puppet flew toward them. It was a woman with long green hair and eyes the color of blood mixed with wine. Ryo flicked her wrist. The she-puppet lifted her hand and held it steadily toward the first man. He exploded in a shower of blood.
The other man screamed. But not for long. The Third flew at him and cleaved him in two effortlessly.
The puppet masters returned their puppets to scrolls. Ryo collapsed on the ground, finally too tired to move any more. Sasori ran over and whisked her up into his arms.
"Ryo, it's all right. I'm here, sleep now," he whispered in her ear.
"Hmm," she groaned. "Night, Saso. I love you." The last part made Sasori stop in his tracks and his jaw drop in surprise. It was understood, but she had never said it before.
"I love you too, Ryo," he said softly. He started walking again. Thankfully they were close to the gate. Because of the rain, no one was on guard.
Thunder rolled and lightning flashed as Sasori walked out of the gate of Suna, hopefully never to return.