A/N: Hi, everyone! Here's the next chapter: just to inform you if you don't see it on my profile, but I am without internet or my computer as I go away tomorrow (Sat 15th) and will not be back until next week! So, the next chapter may be posted on either Sun (23rd) or Mon (24th)! Have a good week and a great Valentine's Day! (Remember, for some of you, being a single Pringle is just as good as a double decker burger!)

Chapter 7: Her

The next day, Sasori and Deidara continued their journey to the meeting place. This day was just as hot as the last, and they were worn out by now.

"You said that wasn't the end, my man," Deidara said. "So what else is there, un?"

"My grandma ruined so much of my life," Sasori scowled. "She played a big part in my hatred of waiting. The first time she ever made me wait was when I was three years old. It was the year my parents departed and when I became so alone. She would often promise me that she would find a way to entertain me.

"It was one day when I was three that she told me that she'd teach me the art of puppetry. She used to make these little finger sized puppets that she'd play with to entertain me. However, that didn't work after some time. But I'd seen her with those puppets and I wanted to learn how to make puppets just like Granny Chiyo could. I wanted the ability more than I'd ever wanted anything before, which is a considerable drive for a three year old.

"I would ask often about puppetry, and many times, she would simply brush me off and tell me she was busy, and to save it for another. Another day was very long, since it didn't seem to be any of the following days in that week, or the week after. My days as a three year old were consumed by waiting for the art of puppetry to be bestowed upon me, and I can only blame her for it.

"Being a child, I was obsessed with the promise of being given a gift, and I truly believed that puppetry would be the answer to dissolving the misery of the death of my parents. The impact of this promise was much greater than she probably thought, but I knew that this could change my life, no matter how short it had been so far.

"Granny Chiyo kept avoiding everything I said; she was always busy. It came to the point of my fourth birthday, and although me constantly begging to learn how to make puppets distracted me from the deaths of my parents most of the time, it couldn't keep me happy. I was an unsatisfied little boy searching, merely, for satisfaction. Granny Chiyo continued to feed me with these false promises, until one day I asked her if she would ever get around to doing it. I was four and didn't understand politeness, but I was also desperate. Granny Chiyo told me she would teach me the art of puppetry.

"I could only ask when. She didn't answer with a date or anything, just said soon. It wasn't soon. I ended up in a paradox, constantly wondering whether the only close family member I had left remembered me or not. It was difficult, and I spent a lot of time alone, due to her being so busy.

"When my fifth birthday was nearing, I managed to reflect on what I'd been doing in the past two years. I could only come to the conclusion that I had wasted my early childhood waiting for Granny Chiyo to teach me an art I believed would create my next existence, and various other miseries she'd brought upon me.

"Granny Chiyo may have ruined my early life, but I wasn't about to let that go on. It was in those years that I started to gain that little bit of extra intelligence that would help me reach great heights. I realised that I didn't have to be so dependent on Granny Chiyo, that maybe I didn't need her. Unfortunately, I was still a four year old, and the most I could was make threats about leaving home as all little children may do at least once in their life.

"I told her I'd leave if she continued to delay teaching me about puppetry, but she laughed in my face. Even at four, I could perceive that as an insult, and on that day, I liked Granny Chiyo just a little less. I wasn't going to be taken for an idiot, so I packed my stuff and readied myself to leave.

"I had everything planned out. I'd brought my favourite finger sized puppet that looked similar to me, and also seven or eight of my favourite triple choc chocolate bars; a mix of dark, milk and white chocolate. I left that night.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get far, but at the same time, that was a good thing. Admittedly, without Granny Chiyo's early help, I may have never become as great as I am.

"She came after me and we argued that day in the night in the middle of the street. We woke everyone. I was angry at her, but she was angry at me. However, I strongly believe I was the victim. I was a lost child, abandoning all hope once it was thrown away by my own grandma."

"And you still believe you're a victim?" Deidara said with a dull expression.

"Of course," Sasori huffed. "Great people such as myself will always be victimised by those of lesser talent."

By the look of amusement on Deidara's face, he had the slight feeling that the other was thinking about Tobi, who had been sent away to gather cat pictures for Konan. The look on Pein's face when he saw that Tobi was absent had been funny enough, but when Konan admitted to the private errand, Sasori had been unable to stop laughing. The hysterics only came when Konan informed Pein that Tobi had already been gone three days without him noticing. That was the main reason as to why Sasori was on this mission rather than Tobi.

"However, it made her promise to help me make my puppets," he continued with grand hand gestures. "There's been friction between us ever since, but at least that made me realise that I could be so much better than Granny Chiyo. I reached my fifth birthday, and it was that day that she finally decided to teach me the art of puppetry.

"It was a revelation, the greatest day of my life. I had finally found something that could keep me living as well as warding off my misery. It was that day that I truly treasured the art of puppetry, and not long after, I created my first puppets; my mother and father puppets. Unfortunately, they weren't like my real mother and father, but what could I have expected?

"The art of puppetry had brought me something far more greater than new parents; it had brought me a purpose. I no longer needed to rely on my pathetic grandma to bring me happiness. Life was not my aim any more; in fact, human life itself became rather dull. For me, human life became puppetry."

"Well, yes, you'd already abandoned your friends, grandma and lover," Deidara chuckled.

Again, Sasori, with incredible skill that had been practised through experience, ignored him.