A/N: The newest chapter! Smile!
WARNING! ALL PREVIOUS READERS, PLEASE GO AND RE-READ CHAPTERS 2-4! THESE CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN EDITED! Thank you. :)
---
Aiko slept, curled into a tiny ball. She didn't snore or talk, but she occasionally moved, shifting and at moments, kicking Sasori.
He glared at the kicking. That was most definitely annoying. Sasori looked at her before looking up and running his plan in his head again. The brat is definitely going to be an asset to my plan, so I might as well get her close to me. And perhaps… She'll tell me about the door and its secrets. He looked down at her sleeping face again. "…" Sasori sighed and just went to sleep.
---
As the sun's rays kissed her cheek, Aiko shifted again, stretching herself out with her hands above her. She inhaled deeply, a rush of oxygen running through her system and slowly waking her. Her eyelids groggily opened, squinting from the blast of sunlight flooding her. Her eyes adjusted to the light as she sat up, rubbing the sand out of her eyes.
"Good morning, brat."
She glanced to the side and spotted Sasori, newly dressed. "'Morning, bastard," she yawned, stretching and cracking a few stiff bones in her back.
"Sleep well?" he asked, leaning against his dresser.
"Umm… I guess…" Aiko shrugged.
"Kazekage wants to see you. He said for you to get dressed, eat, find Hikaru, and then go meet him in his office."
She waved dismissingly. "Alright. I'm going." The kunochi got off of Sasori's bed and yawned a word of thanks to him as she walked back to her own room. She walked into her bathroom and stripped down for a bath, turning on the water as she did so. She pulled her shirt over her head, revealing the pale skin of her upper body and a curious scar stretching from shoulder to shoulder on her back. She slipped out of her pants and underwear before slipping into the tub and starting her bath.
---
Sasori, having had showered already, was downstairs, watching Kankuro clean up the mess from yesterday's party. He shook his head at his own actions. He had streaked, kissed another guy, and made out with the brat. It really is amazing what alcohol can do to a person when mixed with excessive sugar. Luckily, there wasn't a hangover.
Kankuro looked at him. "Help?"
"The party wasn't my idea. Why should I?"
Kankuro muttered and continued cleaning up.
Sasori looked up when Aiko came down, humming a tiny tune. "You seem well for someone who was about to barf her insides out yesterday."
She stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed breakfast. "Why wouldn't I?"
He shrugged and waved her off. "Off you go, child. The kazekage awaits."
Aiko laughed and took a bite of her apple. "Don't wait up, Sasori."
The puppeteer rolled his eyes. "As if I would."
She strolled out.
-(A few minutes later)-
Aiko and Hikaru stood before Gaara's desk. He said, "You two need to be careful on this particular mission."
The kunochi smiled. "Don't worry. We'll be fine, Kazekage-Sama."
Hikaru grinned. "Why wouldn't we? We're the best." He added, "After you that is."
His partner rolled her eyes. "Come on, Hikaru. We have a mission to complete." The two of them exited Gaara's office to go prepare.
-(At the Site of the Mission, Midnight)-
Hikaru looked at Aiko. "You know what to do, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Go. The charm in your glove will let me tap into your senses."
Aiko, in disguise, stumbled up to the fortress door, an empty bottle of alcohol in her hands. She started to sob and fell to the ground. "WAAA! NO ONE LOVES ME!" She crawled up to the door and sat against it, smashing the bottle against the door so that it would break. "STUPID ALCOHOL! STUPID COUNTRY! STUPID LIFE!"
Guards walked out to see who was disturbing the quiet environment of the fortress. They looked down at the "drunk", sobbing woman.
"WH-WHAT ARE YOU (hic) LOOKING AT?" she snapped, her eyes filled with tears and her cheeks stained with a trail of tears. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M UPSET?"
One of them asked, "Umm… Would you mind coming inside?"
"YES!" she snapped. "AS A (hic) MATTER OF FACT, I DO (hic) MIND!"
The leader rubbed his temples. "Grab her."
"GRA- HEY! GET OFF YOU IDIOTS!" Aiko snapped as they grabbed her arms, forcing her to her feet. She started trying to bite them when they ignored her.
"She reeks of alcohol," one of the blokes commented.
"WELL (hic) I WAS VERY OBVIOUSLY DRINKING, GENIUS!" she snapped irritably.
The lead commanded, "Take her to the boss unscathed. We can't deal with her."
She kicked at them as they carried her by the arms to the boss's room. The two men grimaced as she started shouting, "I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL! (Hic) I SWEAR I WILL!"
"Sure you will…" the other big guy muttered.
She kicked him in the balls with the back of her heel. "FACE THE RATH OF MY PAIN, BITCH!"
He grunted in pain. "Let's hurry up." The two tossed her into the boss's room.
She cried out in surprise and yelled, "IDIOTS!" while rubbing her backside.
The boss came in and looked at his visitor. "Hmm… And who are you?"
Aiko broke down in loud sobs again. "I'M A BRO(sob)KEN HEARTED GI(sob)RL!"
"Aww…" he said. "What happened, darling?"
She blurted out in between broken sobs and heavy intakes of breath, "MY FIANCE CHEATED ON ME!"
The man frowned. "That's not nice."
"N-no. (Sniff) it isn't," she agreed, her face in a pout, sniffing and tears still running down her cheeks.
He patted her back sympathetically. "Would you like to sit while I go do something?"
She nodded, sniffling violently, as he helped her up and led her to a chair near the window.
He walked out into the bathroom.
Aiko immediately stood and silently dashed for a safe hidden in his nightstand. She picked the lock within exactly 4.2 seconds (Her new personal record) and grabbed the object inside. She was just about to leave when the tip of a blade pressed to her neck. She sighed silently and said, "So you're smart."
"I saw your scar when I led you to the chair. I know your scar, Aiko Mira,"
She grimaced. "I abandoned that surname four years ago."
"An impressive feat for one only twelve then to have survived the great incident."
Aiko smiled ironically. "The village didn't know that I had learned the clan's secrets yet. I was smart enough to play the innocent child."
He urged her up. "Do you know what my plan was, Aiko-Chan?"
"You might as well say."
He smirked. "I was going to release the Mira seal."
Her eyes grew wide and she turned to face him, wincing slightly when the tip sliced her neck. The wound was shallow, though. "That's suicide and you know it."
"I do," he said. "But it would be worth it to meet the country's best thieves and assassins. You would do them proud if they had seen how quickly you picked that safe's lock."
"…" She glared at him through her hair. "I'm never proud to be a spawn of the Mira clan."
"Liar. You wear it on your back. That scar could've easily been healed, but yet you kept it."
"It's a reminder of the line of murders that rest behind me."
He asked," Are you any different?"
She stayed silent. "…"
BOOM!
Debris flew everywhere, pelting the two in the room. Hikaru said, leaning against the edges of the hole in the wall, "The girl is too lazy to be like her family."
Aiko shouted, "HIKARU! CATCH!" She threw the item to him.
Hikaru caught it in his gloved hands and commanded, "Let's go!"
Aiko made a dash for the door and cried as her hair was grabbed from behind and yanked, the force knocking her backwards.
Hikaru yelled, "AIKO!" stopping in his tracks to look back at her.
"HIKARU!" she shouted. "KEEP GOING, IDIOT! THE MISSION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME!" Aiko cried out in pain as her captor yanked on the hair he had in his hand. "MOVE, DUMBASS!"
The man's goons entered the room and went for Hikaru. He debated going and helping her. "Aiko, I…"
"YOU NOTHING!" she cried out, clutching her aching head. "GO, HIKARU! THEY'RE ALMOST TO YOU!!"
He clenched his teeth before placing the item in his armored bag. He turned to the enemy and whipped out a train of kunai.
"HIKARU, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Aiko shouted, crying again when the man yanked on her hair.
The shinobi threw a kunai for each man trailing him, most hitting their targets. He pulled out his sword and dashed forward, slicing through them.
While he was doing that, the man that had a hold on Aiko pulled her up by the hair, forcing her to stand and give another pained cry. The man placed cuffs on her wrists with one hand, then examining her face. "Hmm…"
"Get your filthy ass hands off of me," she spat.
He slapped her in turn. "Disrespectful bitch."
Aiko merely flinched, glaring at him icily.
Hikaru had killed all of his opponents, daggers sticking out of their skulls, guts strewn over the floor, the stone of the fortress bathed in blood, and a few organs laid within the bath of blood. He made a mad dash for his partner, clutching the bloodied sword at hand.
"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER, HIKARU!" she snapped at him.
The man threw her to the ground, still holding her by the hair. "You're both going to die anyway." He snapped her leg like a twig and pressed his foot to her back, crushing her ribs.
Aiko groaned in pain, tears starting to stream down her dirtied face.
Hikaru, despite her orders, crept closer, circling the man and her.
"Any closer and I break her rib cage," he growled, emphasizing his point by pressing his foot harder against her back.
Aiko gave out her loudest cry yet. "LET GO!"
He yanked her head up.
Hikaru looked for an opening. He remembered a certain jutsu he learned from Kankuro and attached chakra strings to a flat slab of wood. He commanded the wood forward, scraping the man's foot from Aiko's back, sending him stumbling back and yanking her into sitting position with him. Hikaru was at her side in an instant. "Your hair…"
"Cut it off…" she cried as the man started pulling again, waving a dagger in the air.
"But…"
"CUT IT OFF!" Aiko shouted before he could finish his sentence.
Hikaru took his bloodied blade and cut through the strands of her hair, freeing her from the enemy man. They moved away just in time to avoid the falling dagger, aimed at their hearts. He took his partner into his arms and ran out, fast enough as to not get caught. He ran. Ran more than he had ever ran in his life, clutching a girl and a bloodied blade in his arms.
Aiko looked over his shoulder. "He gave up on us…" Her voice was broken.
The other didn't say anything. He stayed silent, running for Sunagakure. Aiko remained silent as well, shaking a bit, her newly cut hair dripping with dead men's blood, and a curious pain in her side. She coughed, red staining the black of her gloves. "…" Neither of them said a word, yet they were thinking the same thing. This was possibly the most dangerous mission they've ever done.
After hours and hours of non-stop running, Hikaru collapsed in a bloody heap at the gates of Suna, the sword falling into the sand and Aiko still in his arms, not having been able to rest either. He called out into the dawn, "SOMEONE HELP!" before falling unconscious.
Aiko shook him. "Hikaru? Hikaru! Hikaru! Wake up!" she cried, shaking him.
"… You really fucked yourself up."
She looked up to see red hair and golden honey brown eyes. "Sasori… Please…"
---
Sasori had them both in his arms, carrying the girl gently, seeing as she had a broken leg and by the sounds of it, a few ribs as well. He had the other one draped over his shoulder as he knocked on the door of the manor, greeted by horrified gasps. "Here," he said. "Take him." He shoved Hikaru into Temari's arms, carrying the brat off.
"What about Aiko?" she called after him.
"I'll take care of her!" he shouted back.
Aiko looked at him through eyes filled with surprise, still not speaking, however.
"Don't look at me like that," Sasori told her curtly, turning into his room and sitting her on his bed. Blood from her hair dripped down her back and onto his sheets, her silence making him weary. But he asked, "Can you show me where it hurts?"
She pointed to her left lower leg, her rib cage, and her scalp.
Sasori pulled off her shoe and jostled her leg, earning him a pained look. He could even feel the fracture. He went to her room, coming back with a roll of linen bandages he knew were in her drawer. He grabbed some wood he had lying around and prepared a splint for after she was cleaned. "… Thank you," she said to him.
"You're welcome. Now, your ribs, you said?"
She nodded and he put his hands under her breasts, feeling at the ribs. They weren't fractured, thankfully, but they were incredibly close to being so. Sasori looked at her. "Where else?"
"My roots hurt like hell…"
He went to her room again and came back with her comb, running it through her hair and coming out with numerous loose strands (all looked like they were yanked out), blood and grime. "What happened to your hair?" he asked, noting that it was shorter.
"I had to cut it during the mission…" she said quietly. "He had hold of it and if Hikaru hadn't cut it, he would've killed us."
"Is all this blood your own?"
"Not the blood on my hair. But the blood on my front, most of it is."
Sasori shook his head. "You need a bath." He picked her up and carried her to her room and setting her on the chair at her desk. "Hot or cold water?"
"Warm…" she said.
He disappeared into her bathroom and a few seconds later, the sounds of running water could be heard. Sasori filled her bath and looked out. "Do you think you can do it yourself?"
She thought about before saying with a blush, "I'm going to need help undressing…"
Sasori rolled his eyes and helped her into the bathroom. "No need to blush, brat."
"…" Aiko looked at him before shaking her head and muttering, "I'm blushing because I need help from you, douche. It's shame."
"At least you're back to sounding like the regular brat," Sasori said, gently helping her out of her mission jacket. "But that's a little ungrateful, child. I'm helping you in a time of need. Something I don't normally do for just anyone."
She rolled her eyes. "Thank you so much." The kunochi paused before saying softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I really am grateful for your help."
Sasori nodded and continued unwrapping the bandages on her chest. "I think the bandages were what saved your ribs from snapping."
"Thank god…" she sighed. "At least now I know they serve a purpose."
"They shouldn't have to… Your rib cage shouldn't be getting crushed in the first place," he muttered. He stopped; surprised that he even said that.
She smiled softly. "Nice to know you care, Sasori."
He shook his head and pulled off the shoe left on before discarding it and lifting her slightly so that he could help her wiggle out of her pants. He tossed those to the ground before looking at the bit of bandages covering her lower end. "You're going to have to stand."
"Help?" she said weakly.
Sasori helped her up and left her supporting herself by her arms on the ledge of the tub. He started untying the knot of the bandages and unwrapping those as well before noticing the scar slashed across her upper back. "… What is that?"
She gripped the ledge of the tub. "It's nothing. It was when I was younger, so it's nothing."
Sasori fell silent. More mysteries. This girl, shallow as she seemed, was just full of them.
"This feels really awkward…" she commented.
The puppeteer asked, not looking up, "Really? I'm at ease."
"You're not the one who's getting undressed by the opposite sex here…" Aiko muttered.
"True," he shrugged. "It also helps that I've seen plenty of naked women in my lifetime."
"…" She looked over her shoulder. "Are you done?"
"Almost. It's really not my fault you wrap twenty feet of linen around yourself everyday."
"I could easily unwrap it in ten seconds."
Sasori said calmly, "I'm not you, am I?"
She shrugged. "True."
He finished and asked. "You need help bathing?"
"No. I think I could manage," she said. "Though I could use help getting inside."
Sasori swept her into his arms, earning a squeak of surprise from the girl. He softly deposited her inside the tub. "Is that all?"
"Yes…" she said, looking away from him. "Thank you."
Sasori walked out of the bathroom, leaving her with her thoughts and submerged in water.
"Sasori?"
He walked back in. "Yes?"
"Why were you outside?" She asked and draped her arms over her knees.
"Do you really need that answered?"
Aiko looked at him expectantly. "Sasori, you're my main mission, no matter how many others I take on. I can't trust you enough to just let you do things. Now, I'm going to ask again. What were you doing outside the manor by yourself?"
Sasori sighed and ran a hand back through his red hair. "I was taking a walk. It unnerved me that you and Hikaru were taking so damn long on a simple robbery."
"Well… I guess it was a good thing you showed up when you did," she finally said after a moment of silence. "I'll let you off the hook this time, but be warned, I'll be out of commission for a while, so next time, ask me?"
"I suppose it would be fair," he said. "Now finish your bath, Aiko."
She smiled brightly. "You finally said my name, not brat or kid."
He thought about it. "Hmm… I guess I did." Sasori turned heel, stepping outside the bathroom.
Aiko grabbed a sponge and started rubbing the blood and grime off of her skin.
---
The hairdresser looked at the brunette before her. "The cut was really uneven…"
"Can you fix it?" Aiko asked.
"Sure," she shrugged and wrapped a cloth around the girl's shoulders before taking up her scissors.
Aiko closed her eyes.
---
Gaara said to Sasori, "Are you sure you treated her well enough?"
"You think I would poison her?" Sasori asked. "I'm not evil enough to kill her while she's down. Besides," he pointed out apathetically. "I'm not the one who sent her on the mission."
"You say it like I meant to hurt her."
"Of course not. I just think you should've collected more information on the man."
"… He knew her, but she didn't know him," Gaara said. "No one can pick locks as fast or as quietly as she can."
Something hit him. "Mira."
"What about it?"
"I can't believe I didn't remember sooner," he muttered. "The Mira clan was infamous for their thievery and murder techniques while I was in the village. They were hated by everyone and were marked by…" Sasori's eyes widened. "Pale skin and a brand of Sunagakure."
Gaara looked at him. "You figured it out?"
"How couldn't I?" he snapped. "Shit…" Sasori cursed. "The brat is one of their hell children?"
"She gave up the name," Gaara said. "She tries to live outside her birth surname."
"Damn stu—" he stopped talking when the girl in question limped out of the shop with help of the stylist and looked at them with innocent curiosity. "…" There was something familiar about that cut.
"Hmm?" Aiko cocked her head to the side. "Did I miss something?"
"No," Gaara answered. "We were just talking." When Aiko wasn't looking, he shot a look at Sasori for him to stay quiet.
Sasori ignored the look and suggested, "Let's get home."
She thanked the woman so Gaara could wrap her arm around his shoulders and help her walk.
---
Sasori punched the wall of his room. Shit… Shit… Shit… A Mira? Those people were hated little assholes. But everyone was afraid of them too… No wonder I forgot them. I hadn't seen one in over ten years. He stopped and thought. Why don't I see them walking around like they used to? I mean, the brat is one of them, but no one seems to mind her. She walks around like everyone else. She acts like everyone else. She only looks like them. Gaara's words echoed in his mind. 'No one can pick locks as fast or as quietly as she can.' Dammit. He cursed mentally. God knows if she can kill as well as the rest of her clan… Sasori pressed his palm against the sandy walls of the manor. I must know everything about this situation. She's a greater threat than I imagined. His knuckles turned white.
-(End)-
A/N: Yay! End of chapter! :D Umm… So yeah. You'll all find out what happened with this whole 'Mira' mystery soon enough. Yay? I think I'm getting closer and closer the ending, which will be a whole other surprise. ;)