ii.
Chapter Nine: Speak (Be Silent)
"Children are like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes an impression."
She didn't know how long she'd been here. A long time. Months maybe.
She hadn't seen the sun or the moon in forever. She missed the herds. Were they getting along okay without her? She hoped the fawn were avoiding the more rapid rivers.
She thought maybe it would be the raining season soon, mushrooms would be blooming around this time. She really liked mushrooms. Maybe she could convince Raven Eyes to bring some back to cook.
A heavy sigh. And there was still no sign of Oceans.
"Whats with you." Nanami perked up, Loud Blood had sat himself next to her at the table. Which was kind of odd, he didn't normally come near her unless it was an attempt to lop off her head, or a limb, or maybe some fingers. He wasn't picky, he'd take what he could get.
He learned after the first few tries that she had some wickedly sharp baby teeth, but somehow she thought he kind of… enjoyed it when she retaliated with tooth and chakra enhanced claw. She certainly wasn't shy about showing him exactly what she thought of his 'near misses.'
He really was a creep.
"Loud Blood." She greeted, and a manic grin split his face because he enjoyed her name for him more than the others enjoyed theirs.
Whats with him today..? He was being… downright civil. Well, as much as a sadomasochist with a penchant for cursing and gore could be.
Actually, speaking of cursing… now seemed a good a time as any.
Nanami sat up off the table and took a quick look around the room. Burning Earth was on the couch, and Raven Eyes had his bedroom door open.
"Loud Blood," She whispered conspiratorially. His eyebrow rose, she heard Burning Earth shift on the couch. She leaned in closer to him, and he tilted his head, purple eyes darkening with curiosity.
"Will you learn me your bad words."
His grin became absolutely feral. (She kind of liked it, when it wasn't brought on by thoughts of her blood on the floor.)
"Teach." He corrected automatically, "And I thought you'd never ask."
Burning Earth lept over the back of the couch, "I want to help, un." His bright blue eyes danced.
She heard a resigned sigh come from Raven Eyes room.
She crept closer, chakra muted and movements silenced. (She had a natural aptitude for the cat foot, and chakra suppression, Raven Eyes had told her once, only in less words.)
The Red Cloud who had caught her attention today, was one of the ones that… less preferred her attentions. But she was curious, and she wanted to see how he made the chakra… string- things.
They were pretty to watch the few times she'd seen him do it.
Once when he'd been fixing damage to his tail, shifting screws and fitting the pieces back together from inside the scorpion's body, and the other time she'd seen him do it, it had been so mundane it had perked her interest over other possible uses.
He'd used it to turn off the bathroom sink, which Loud Blood had left on after leaving the base with Beating Hearts.
So here she was, sliding around the corner of his open bedroom door, silent as the grave. There was only one bed in this room, as opposed to two like the others had. She supposed when the only part of you that was flesh was your heart you probably didn't need to sleep. (Maybe? Perhaps he just didn't need the bed to sleep)
False Peices, (whom she never said her name for outloud, despite Loud Blood's pestering- because she liked her head on her neck thank you very much.) had removed his cloak, it hung on the far wall the largest piece of cloth any of them wore.
His main scorpion body lay in pieces around him, (this was her first time seeing the red-headed puppet in real life) the large mask-like back leaning against the wall opposite Burning Earth's bed. Spare arms and legs hung on hooks in a sort of creepy display.
Chakra strings; hundreds of them spun out from his chest and fingers as he moved and adjusted his scorpion around.
She wasn't sure what he was doing, fine tuning maybe? Adding additional weapons? But it was very pretty to watch. The strings danced around like hundreds of solid lines of rain twisting and avoiding the others as they worked.
She crept forward another step into the room and found herself dropping flat to the floor as a senbon whistled past her head to thunk into the wall behind her (She got pretty good at dodging when Loud Blood was constantly throwing a massive three pronged scythe at her; sometimes she thought it might be his sick way of contributing to the weird education she was getting here, and other times she thought he just wanted to decapitate her.)
"Oh, it's you." She looked up to find lazy, and heavily lined brown eyes watching her.
"Not meaning to disturb." She told him quietly, eyes skiping past his to watch the chakra strings continue their work without missing a beat. She tilted her head, her braid falling past her shoulder and she sat back on her haunches. (It was sadly without a feather now.)
"Nanami will be quiet." She promised. If he found her lack of reaction to his main puppet body interesting, or curious he didn't show it. (she wondered briefly if he could even have expressions, he was a puppet after all.)
His sharp brown eyes watched her for a moment before he turned back to… whatever it was he'd been paying attention to. (There was a lot going on all at once)
Nanami kept her word, and simply watched him work for a while silently, resisting to urge to step forward and touch one of the strings. That probably wouldn't end well.
"You're going to die here, you know." He said suddenly, in an offhand kind of way like he didn't really care if she did or didn't.
"Probably." She admitted. His kohl lined eyes slanted back towards her. "Why don't you try to leave then?" he said again in that same tone like he couldn't care less.
She chewed her bottom lip, considering her answer.
Nanami was here, because despite the imminent promise of her death, (and lack of option to leave) she actually… kind of, liked the Red Clouds.
Sometimes, they barely tolerated her- looking at her with eyes that promised blood. (The first time Beating Hearts had snapped at her she barely managed not to piss herself in fear, When Beating Hearts got angry he got angry.)
But other times... there was laughter, and grins and sharp teeth full of rueful enjoyment. And Nanami… well. Nanami hesitated to return to the wilds now. Because it was quiet out there. No one touched her, or spoke with her or yelled at her.
No, outside it was the great vast emptiness of… nothing. No one. And… and she was waiting. Waiting for the day they let her see Oceans. Waiting for... something.
She needed... she wasn't sure what. (she was just as broken as they were.)
She shrugged. "Nanami likes Red Clouds."
He scoffed and turned back to his work, his curiosity apparently sated with her childish response. It was quiet for a while, only the sound of turning screws and wood clicking together.
"I was alone." She offered after a while, and his intense eyes turned with part of his body to look at her again. His strings didn't pause, he was very good at multitasking.
"I felt Oceans first. Before the other Red Clouds… and he is… deep and vast. He is the sea full of life and... Nanami was without life. I wanted... " She hesitated, eyes skittering away to watch a thick bunch of senbon being loaded into some kind of chakra powered launcher that fit beneath a curved plank of wood.
"Nanami wanted a reason. To be alive." She settled finally. Yea, that sounded pretty good- even if she spoke like an 'uneducated heathen' as Loud Blood liked to put it.
Sasori's eyes held hers, as if gauging the sincerity of her statement. His head tilted slightly, fingers adjusting five strings that were working with an odd tool she didn't recognize.
"It's as good a reason as any, even if you do end up dead." He offered.
She smiled.
