Blindfolded Fools
Chapter 4
Come on people!! Review darn you or Sasori danna will never get over his mental trauma!!!
WARNING: there will be a bit of blood of gore in this chapter, viewer discretion advised…always wanted to say that…
I don't own Naruto only my own characters.
Please enjoy my works.
They say that time heals all wounds, whether or not it was true for Sasori or not he couldn't tell, the ebbing pain he felt never did completely stop and at times only Eri was to blame for bringing them about, but she didn't know she caused such a dreadful pain the marionette. He did not outright blame her for the things she did, the characteristics she shared with the ghost that lived in this house, he found that ignoring the fact she was similar to him was a more suitable way to deal with it then freaking out over something he would never let her know about.
Though now with a female about Sasori did see a lot of changes about their little living quarters. Things became cleaner and, something Sasori stumbled upon, the kitchen became well stocked, instead of desolate and forgotten. He was more surprised than guilty; after all it wasn't truly his fault.
Often Eri would, out of sheer politeness for both of them didn't recognize the emotional bond that was being built horribly slow, hand him a glass of water while he fixed a puppet or studied jutsu, accompanied with a small smile and a word of kindness. Such little things surprised and unsettled him at first, but soon he began to relax and even expect these little gestures. He also found out that he did not have to resort as often to his mental diffusion of his obsession with 'turning left.' That thought alone brightened and tore at him.
In a flash two weeks passed and now the partners were faced with a new obstacle they would need to over come mentally and physically.
The morning was bright as Sasori walked into the little kitchen. Sitting at the small table was Eri, munching on an egg sandwich. Immediately she swallowed and looked to him for instruction for the day's happenings.
"I got word last night from Leader, he has a mission for us (it no longer hurt as much to refer to them as 'us' as it once was) to accomplish. It is low rank, but still it will test your skills," he told her. For the last two weeks he had hinted his curiosity about what she was truly capable of.
"I hope so as well, Sempai," she replied using her newly obtained honorific.
"We are to intercept a trading of a scroll for Konohagakure to Sunagakure and then take the scroll to the Kirigakure Feudal Lord and get our payment there," he explained. She nodded in response.
"When do we leave, Sempai?" she asked as he poured himself a glass of water. Sasori took a sip then replied.
"We will leave tomorrow morning, so today you should gather the things you need to take with you," he said. She nodded and finished off her sandwich as he stared out the kitchen's windows.
Eri hummed to herself as she packed a small bag that she carried on the inside of her cloak with the things she needed. An extra set of clothes, some money and 2 scrolls that were unlabeled.
She also made sure to stock up on all the kunai and shuriken she would need.
Silently she thanked the room's previous owner for leaving behind a bag of both kunai and shuriken. Though inside it saddened her, the person who had lived here and who Sasori-sempai refused to talk about probably could have survived if they had taken more of these simple shinobi tools. Maybe one more kunai to fend off an attacker or a couple more shuriken to block an attack.
She stared down at the shiny tools wondering if one of them would save her life or maybe even…take it away. She shivered at the though and continued packing.
She finished quicker than she anticipated. For sometime she sat on her neatly made bed and stared about the artistic room. Calmly she let her mind wander to what kind of person this mysterious partner of Sasori-sempai's had been. She had searched the room one day when Sasori-sempai was sleeping, but found nothing more than a small rectangular box under the bed that wouldn't come open no matter what tools she used on it. So in defeat she put the box back and sat fuming for lack of any hints.
Itachi-sama had told her briefly about Sasori-sempai, how he was basically a living puppet and the he considered the puppets he created, an art. At first she was puzzled at such a though. Her prosthetic and other skills were very close to his but she didn't view what she did as neither beautiful nor artistic. When she looked at her metal arm, she did not think art, but more or less something that tied her painfully to her past. It was simply a large pieced of metal that she used to fight with. Through that she could see a connection as Sasori-sempai used his puppets as weapons as well, though her mind then would again wonder to the mystery partner.
This person clearly created sculpture, beautiful ones no doubt about it. But what weapon like purpose they were for eluded her.
Silently she continued to pack making sure such a slip up would not happen to her, not get, she still hadn't truly proved herself. That one thing hung over her like a dark ominous cloud that threatened to drown her in guilt.
The pieces of her subconscious would never allow her to relax if she didn't do that. She never proved herself to the other and look where they are now; dead and buried.
Eri shook her head, to rid herself of those terrible thoughts she would prove her worth to Sasori-sempai…or she would die trying, it was the only way.
The sun sank below the trees and cast the kitchen and living room in an eerie twilight. Dark shadows were cast about the walls, and emotions were thick as whole milk on a child's tongue. Eri said nothing to her sempai as he made his last adjustments on Hiruko.
Strange as it was, she hardly saw him in it, compared to the rest of the Akatsuki. Maybe it was the fact she was the one who was logically closest to him.
Sighing she went back to inspecting her prosthetic, making sure everything worked perfectly, or at least as perfect as her eyes could tell her. The decrease in her vision was becoming troublesome and more of a hassle than before. Fear secretly swayed and slashed around in her stomach, the fear that someday she would be rendered useless, then, she knew she'd be useless, utterly and completely useless. That, she could never allow to happen. She promised herself, she'd rather be dead than useless.
The pearl white lines that crisscrossed over her back and chest drew her from those thoughts. She knew how terribly deep those cuts had been, how the pain was so terrible she had though she sat through hell with her right arm in boiling oil.
Flashes of blood and sparks of metal flashed over her memory as she laid her tools aside. That day, someone wronged her…she knew it happened all the time and that she ought to be happy she still had her life, but the fires of restlessness burned reverently in her soul. Revenge or maybe it was justice, she didn't know and most importantly she knew she'd never be that…pathetic fool again…never prey again.
"Hm? What was that?" she said surprised at the puppet man's sudden words.
"I'm off to bed, don't stay up too long we need to be ready for tomorrow," he instructed her still a bit skittish about the word 'we'.
"Of course,' she murmured and reclined ever more in her chair, blowing him off was something she didn't do very often and she knew she was pushing it doing it before their first mission.
"Don't blame me if you're…" Sasori trailed off as his eyes slightly glazed and he turned away and raced to his room. Eri was left to stare after him in confusion.
"Don't blame me if you're so tired you mess up!" was the same sentence that ran though his mind as the conversation before the mission that killed him played in his head.
Sasori buried his face into his pillow, similar how he had when he died only it wasn't a pillow that time…no it was a cold chest with an un-beating heart.
"I'll do whatever I want to, un!' shouted the blonde in a huff, "my art won't let me down."
"But it will someday," he said.
"but it did you fool…you were only human you fool…you damn fool!" groaned Sasori in to his pillow, the blue cotton and stuffing clogged his words to the outside ears, but the words rang as loud as church bells at a funeral.
The clock on the wall rang 9 times before shutting off. Eri turned off the light and crept to her room.
Not a sound was heard but Eri could just feel it. Staring out at her from the moonlit walls, memories, that's what they were, ghosts of the past, staring at her threatening to drown her in the powerful emotions they held. Just staring at the statues that decorated the room made her dizzy. What had that mysterious person thought when he made them, what was he modeling after. Why? Just why?
Eri rolled over pulling the blankets in close to her form, but no heat warmed her body. It was going to be a cold night.
Dry tears rose
In the bright of night
One heart crushed,
One much too rushed.
Eri lay in her bed staring up at the painted ceiling with mild interest. Outside her door she could hear Sasori-sempai's footsteps on the wooden floor. It sounded like he was pacing just outside the door, contemplating whether or not to come in.
She rolled on to her right and away from the door, it squeaked open and a dim light stretched across her form.
For some time the puppet artist said nothing and just stared and her figure on the bed.
So many flashes of him in that same bed raced through this mind. So many mornings waking up to walking into that ridiculously painted room to wake the blonde he was so close too. To hear his shouts of protest as the light blinded him as he awoke.
But now a curvier form occupied the bed, and the hair that fell across the pillow as not the same color of the sun that his had been, silence greeted him now, sad terrible silence.
"Eri-san, wake up and get ready to go," he said just loud enough for her to hear. He had never had to say those words before, before he shouted them and tossed the blonde male out of the bed.
Relishing the turn, he turned left, away from the memories and the room, and walked down the hallway.
Breakfast was barely noted, they were both too tense for any easy banter, Eri ate in silence and Sasori climbed soundlessly into Hiruko.
The trip there wasn't very long and didn't take more than two hours, for them to reach the borders of the village hidden in the leaves.
Eri had never truly set foot in Konohagakure; the experience was an amazing and frightening one. Trees grew twice the width of man and towered over her in a vast expansion. Sasori did not seem troubled at the change in landscape, but then again Eri couldn't read much of an expression though Hiruko or the voice changer.
The two had walked the whole way from the River country luckily the sprint hadn't ceased for them to be on guard. The ribbons on their hats swayed to and fro as they walked and the single bell on Sasori's hat jingled to their footsteps.
It was almost noontime when Sasori stopped them. He turned and addressed Eri right on strange behavior to her.
"The trading post is right up ahead, we have a head start meaning the Konoha nins that have the scroll will be here but not the Suna. The will not be expecting an attack in broad daylight," he instructed, the masculine voice of Hiruko made Eri shiver and nod.
"Our objective is not only to capture the scroll they are carrying but also to test your skills so you will be the first one to make a move. I do not expect any survivors and at every cost do not let it known that the mist village has hired us. Understand?"
Eri nodded and was thankful for her hat to cover her unease.
"Come,' he replied shortly, Eri followed suit.
The clearing that the Konoha ninja gathered in was small and had but one wooden post in the middle which had the symbols for fire and wind on it. The ninja were lazily strewn about eating lunch. Eri smiled faintly; maybe this mission would be easy.
"The one with the blue bandana is the one with the scroll, take out the rest first," said Sasori-sempai from her left, he was well hidden with a camouflage jutsu.
Eri nodded and raised her real arm slowly so that her hand was visible. The other formed itself into a seal. Single handedly she made signs and called on her chakra.
"Hariganeha no jutsu," she whispered and flicked her wrist.
Sasori watched amused as small blades attached by wire appeared out of her fingertips. The wire was so think it was like spider webs and blades were small but precise.
One out of the four noticed the spike of chakra, but before he could announce it, the small blades and razor sharp wire had wrapped about him and twisted, brutally dismembering him in a shower of blood and gore.
In shock the rest of the team jumped up and reached for their weapons. Their eyes were wide as they tried to pinpoint the opposing ninja.
Sasori saw the glint in Eri's eyes as the crimson liquid soaked the ground. This feeling of adrenaline and power was a drug to the shinobi.
She broke again into hand signs but did not announce what the jutsu was. The sound of ripping fabric was heard as her right sleeve gave way to metal.
The normal arm was gone and in its place was a double in size claw of destruction.
Eri leaped out of her hiding spot. She pounced upon the ninja closest to her. Her new arm's weight did not bother her. He raised a kunai to deflect but her hand being larger than his head; it was ripped to shreds along with his body as she twisted all her weight to bear down on the metal blades of her fingers. Like a typhoon of metal blades.
Sickening pops and cracks were heard, this would be a closed casket funeral.
The only dilemma with this attack was that it left her open to attack from other ninja, but after all that was what Sasori-sempai was for.
Easily he crushed the attacking ninja with Hiruko's scorpion like tail. Now all that was left was the one with the scroll.
His eyes were wide and quickly he made a mad dash for the forest. Sasori was about to go after him, until Eri signaled him to stop.
"Don't worry,' she said with a smile, "he won't get far enough, and no one will hear him scream."
Sasori gazed at her, one hand rose up in the sign of the tiger and she spoke, "Namari-chudoku-no-jutsu."
Screams of terrible pain echoed so loudly through the trees, birds flew out of their nests and animals ran for cover. If Sasori could shiver he would have for the shouts of pain were some of the most terrible he had ever encountered.
Eri's eyes were closed until the shouting ceased. Before going after the ninja she transformed her arm to its normal size.
"Well let's go get our prize," she said bluntly as she began walking in the Konoha nin's direction.
The corpse was in such a state Sasori had never seen before. The eyes were bulging and the flesh looked torn away from the bones. Blood was splattered all over the trees and ground around him.
Eri leaned down to the carnage and plucked the scroll out, the only thing not covered in blood.
"May I ask what you did to him?" asked Sasori.
Eri stared at him before answering, "The wire I used on the first ninja was only a distraction so I could wrap this one in the rest, as for the screaming, I created the wires out o lead, so it shut down his nervous system. Painless yet painful. The wire simply constricted and crawled at my whim.'
She handed him the scroll and bowed deeply.
"I pray that I have become just a tiny bit more useful to you now sempai," she whispered.
Sasori said nothing, never before had he asked to be useful; he'd always thought himself as invincible. Another piece clicked together in his mind. She wasn't him no matter what she looked like or how she did things…now if he could just convince himself of that.
"Good work…Eri-san," and with that he turned left and motioned her to follow.
Eri smiled beneath her collar and followed after him quickly.
I'm so sorry my fans that this one is sooo very late, I've had a whole lot on my mind with my Danna breaking up with me and I'll be just overjoyed if you left me a review. Also in the next chapter there will be a link to fan art that I'll be putting up on deviantart! So now you'll know what Eri looks like! I hope you enjoyed this chapter I know I'm not the best at fight scenes.
Kuroi Hihane