NEW STORY INFO AT THE BOTTOM!
Chapter TEN, the Past
WONDER
Sasori had always planned everything ages before he acted upon it. What had led him to pick up the pair of unexpecteds, he didn't know, but as he watched them struggle to catch up with his bigger strides, he hoped they were worth it. While they had been keeping up better than he had originally thought, their slower than expected paces had already thrown a wrench into his plans, putting them back by at least two days.
He mentally calculated the distance to their destination, then wordlessly looked over the two.
Suna shinobi were more often long range fighters than not, and that tended to make them neglect stamina building without really meaning to.
The two were breathing heavily. The fact that they were unused to long distance travels showed in the way they dragged their feet.
His eyes caught the strange way Sakura seemed to be balancing on her right foot and ordered a rest. As the two sat down in the side of the road, Sasori moved to crouch in front of Sakura. He wordlessly took her left foot in his hand and watched the flinch she tried to hide.
"When?" He asked.
"Two days ago." Sakura said quietly. She didn't protest as Sasori inched her sandal off with surprising gentleness.
Sasori inspected the makeshift cast created with her iron sand, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "That would work."He said finally. "However, make sure to tell me next time."
He told himself that it was so that it wouldn't slow them down.
He wondered if this was what it felt like to care.
Once he was sure that they would reach their destination by the next day, Sasori decided to set up camp.
"We are going to enter a village sometime tomorrow. It's small enough that they probably won't recognize us." He fixed the two seven year olds with a firm look. "You two are twins, Sunato and Hana, and I am your older brother, Kurenai. We are from a small village in the Fire country. We lost our parents when bandits raided our village a few days ago, and we barely managed to make it out alive."
He thanked the gods that that they were smart enough to understand his meaning.
He quickly inspected the two, then pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Sakura. "Eat it." He ordered.
Sakura unwrapped the leaf wrap and eyed the seeds in her hands, then hesitantly brought one to her mouth and chewed. When nothing happened immediately, she relaxed a little.
Gaara, as usual, took the watch. The redhead positioned himself beside Sakura, eyes wide open.
Sasori lay down on the ground.
He looked over at the two children. Sakura was softly whispering something to Gaara, who in turn seemed to relax with each word.
Sasori turned away. Making sure that his weapons were within hand reach, he closed his eyes.
He wondered if it was the fact that a demon was keeping watch that allowed him to rest without nightmares.
The next day, Sasori woke up early to Gaara's panicked voice. He slowly sat up and Gaara instantly went quiet, sticking to eyeing Sasori nervously instead. The boy was still afraid of him.
Sasori met the boy's gaze, then turned to look at the reason of his panic.
Sakura sitting up in her sleeping bag, breathing heavily. She had a hand on her head and her eyes were unfocused.
She let out a soft groan and Gaara rubbed at her back. He turned to Sasori, eyes wide. "What...what did you do to her?" He whimpered.
Satisfied that the ant weeds were already taking effect, Sasori pulled Sakura into his arms. Sakura let out a pained gasp and Gaara's eyes widened in shock and fear. "Sakura is sick and we are looking for someone who can help her." He said curtly. "She'll be fine."
Dysphania ambrosioides was a highly toxic plant that caused nausea and dizziness among other things. Sakura had consumed only a small amount, so it should be fine as long as she puked it out later, if her body didn't get rid of it first. However, it would probably be more than enough to buy the pity of a handful of civilians. Innocent looking pink haired girls in pain seemed to do the trick.
He secured Sakura in his arms and positioned her so that she looked like she was sleeping. He took Gaara's hand and walked the last few kilometer to the a small village, Sasori had to admit that it had an adequate amount of security. The guards stopped them and Sasori plastered on the most brotherly look he could manage before he looked up. He handed the first guard the papers and made a show of checking Sakura's temperature. The girl let out a weak moan and Sasori hid his smirk behind his mask of worry.
"You're good to go." The guard said. He eyed Sakura. "She okay? She looks pretty bad."
"We've been travelling for a while." Sasori said quietly. "My sister is sick, and we were hoping someone could help her."
"You're lucky, kid." The second guard called. "My wife runs a clinic. My shift ends soon, so if you can wait, I can take you there."
"Girl looks horrible." The third guard said. "Get her some help. We'll do the rest."
Sasori once again hid his smirk, this time with his hair as he lowered his head in gratitude.
He wondered what they would say if they found out why Sakura sick in the first place.
The man, whose name was Oda Ryougo, was a friendly village born in his mid thirties.
Once Sasori had told him their cover story, he generously offered them a place in his house, which Sasori had gratefully accepted.
Once they had arrived at his house, Ryougo told them to wait in the living room while he went to get his wife.
Sasori placed Sakura on the couch, then placed himself into a chair with a sigh. Gaara eyed him warily, then planted himself on the couch, by Sakura's head.
No one said anything until the silence was interrupted by two pairs of footsteps. The door opened to reveal Ryougo and a woman around his age, who was quickly introduced as Oda Satsuki.
"Ryougo tells me you came all the way from the Fire country, on foot. You must be exhausted, you poor things." She quickly moved over to Sakura, who looked like she had fallen asleep. She gently touched her forehead and tried to rouse her.
Sakura's eyes opened just a little, only for them to close again. She let out a whimper.
"She has a fever. I'll get her something for that...did she eat something bad?" Satsuki smiled. "Don't worry, I think she'll be fine after some well deserved rest." She quickly inspected Sasori, then Gaara. "Nothing wrong apart from obvious exhaustion and dehydration."
She wasn't far off and Sasori was slightly impressed.
"I'll get you some water and something to eat, then you can take a bath, then go to sleep." She smiled. "What you need is food in you stomachs, a warm bed and a good night of sleep." Satsuki stood up and moved to the kitchen, and Ryougo led them to the guest room, which included two beds. Sasori took the bed closer to the door and placed Sakura on the other.
A few minutes late, Satsuki was at the door with water and bowls of porridge. Under her arm was a roll of towels and spare clothes. Sasori gratefully took them.
"Leave the bowls in the sink. The bathroom is right opposite this room. Feel free to use it once you're done eating. " Sasori thanked her and bid her good night, before he closed the door.
Later, Sasori took Sakura to the bathroom and shoved some blood root down her throat. Not a lot, just enough to make her vomit out the remaining of the ant weed in her system. When she finally stopped convulsing and went limp, he carried her back to their room and replaced her on the bed, deciding to let her sleep it out.
Perhaps he could get used to the two. Considering their rare born-with abilities, with the proper training, they could become real assets. Sasori was an impatient person, but he was a good shinobi, and he knew that sometimes, things were worth the wait.
After all, they were nothing more than something he had picked up on a whim, or so he thought.
He wondered if one day, they could be different.
As expected, Sakura recovered after a good night of sleep. Sasori gave her a quick check up and nodded, satisfied. They would be able to move out anything the moment they needed to.
It had been a while since Sasori had felt himself relax, and he decided to take this chance to plan for the next few weeks.
Originally, he had been planning to travel around for a while, accepting mission and making a name for himself.
However, he now had Sakura and Gaara to worry about. No matter their skills and their training, Sasori knew they were nowhere near ready to start taking jobs for money. While they may not have any qualms with death or killing, there were a few things they needed to learn before they officially went around as his companions.
Until they were ready, he would have to keep them somewhere while he went around on jobs by himself. While he was confident that Suna would suspect him to be a simple Nuke-nin that had close to nothing in relations to the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, his daughter, and the youngest son of the fourth, as well as in the abilities of himself and two children, should they accidentally run into them, he did not want to risk anything so soon.
He grabbed the map he had brought along from Suna and spread it on the table. He had marked down the small villages and towns which Suna had no dealings with before he had left, and he decided that they would have to jump from place to place.
Civilians were quite easy to charm. Have ready a sob story and a sickly sibling and they were willing to help.
Sasori felt a cold kind of sympathy towards them.
Sometimes, his world seemed so different compared to theirs.
He wondered what it would have been like to be able to live in complete oblivion of the darkness and death looming right over his shoulder.
Sasori, Sakura and Gaara stayed in Sakano Village for the next few days. The people were nice and accepting, and seemed to understand their need to be alone once in a while, thought it probably wasn't for the reason they suspected.
Adults tended to be a lot more loose mouth about children, and Sasori decided to put the two children to good use. They wandered around with shy smiles and fidgety fingers, picking up everything the people talked about.
They were born and raised in Kage households, after all. They knew that knowledge was needed in order to attempt any sort of diplomacy.
Sasori knew that while a civilian village would offer them the protection in the form of ignorance, just because people weren't shinobi did not make them stupid. They could not stay here forever, but they would need a proper reason to leave so soon after the traumatic event they had sewn together as their past.
Then Sakura and Gaara brought back some news on the recent ongoings of the general area. Small civilian villages were often linked through trade routes and rumors and stories traveled fast.
The stories of an uprising against a Daimyo a few villages south caught his eye and he quickly forged a letter from some shinobi relatives who was offering to take them in after they had learnt of the death of their 'parents'.
When Sasori announced that they had decided to take the offer, Ryougo and Satsuki had been very happy for them, and as he watched the couple helped them prepare to leave to meet their relatives, he felt sorry for them. They were so gullible.
He shoved away the smaller feeling of what he knew was called 'guilt' before it could eat away at him.
Ever since the death of his parents and his grandmother's continuous lies, he had come to realize that by the time they were old enough to have a family, shinobi were far too broken to truly care for anyone.
And so, for a brief moment, he basked in the genuine smiles.
He wondered what it would have been like to be born into a family that hadn't been shattered beyond recognition before they had even really begun.
Sasori slowly took the bag of food offered to them with face hesitance and thanked Matsu, a woman who ran a grocery store, with a smile so genuinely fake that had he been anyone else, it would have hurt,.
As Ryougo, Satsuki, and the handful of other people that had come to see them off shared their final farewells with them, Sasori watched without really seeing and listened without really hearing.
"Our relatives are active shinobi who specializes in infiltration." Sasori said easily. "So we might move around a lot."
Satsuki smiled at him. "Well, write to us if you have the chance, yes?"
Sasori nodded. He let Sakura and Gaara wave one more time before he took their hands. "We are really grateful for your hospitality." Sasori said. "Thank you."
He wondered what genuine gratitude felt like, and wondered if it felt anything like the warm feeling within his chest.
Sasori learnt that Tsuji was a small village rich in raw materials.
The current Daimyo, some man named Ahokichi, had been the husband of the previous Daimyo's daughter and when the previous Daimyo had died, had threatened the heir with the life of his sister, his very own wife, to take the title.
The previous heir, Masayoshi, had been stripped of his rank, and while he hadn't been killed, had been banished from the main house. The people had been looking forward to him taking over and had been willing to follow when he started trying to overthrow the current Daimyo. He was the leader of the rebellion.
However, Ahokichi had taken advantage of the rich raw materials to hired mercenaries in order to put down the rebellion. The hired men were not afraid to resort to violence, and didn't seem to mind the jobs given to them as long as they were paid.
He knew knew news traveled fast and that it was unusual for travelers to stick their noses into such things, so he sent Gaara in with a message for Masayoshi.
The boy returned the next day with a reply.
Sasori opened the letter and smirked.
It seemed like the next Daimyo was willing to pay him for his service.
Gaara carried Sakura and Sasori with him during his next sand teleportation. The two waited patiently as he settled the final bits of their deal with Masayoshi.
"Capture Ahokichi and bring him here." Masayoshi said. "Rescue my sister."
"And the hired guards?" Sasori asked.
"I have no use for them." Masayoshi said.
He didn't say it, but Sasori knew. He might not have been a shinobi, but this man seemed to understand that sacrifices were necessary in things like this.
The man also seemed to know the unwritten policies of the most successful of Nuke-nin. They came from nowhere, did the job, took the payment, then left just as quietly as they had come. The names they made were nothing more than shadows and afterthoughts. By the time the rumors caught up, they were far, far away.
Instead of questions, he simply gave him numbers and maps to work with.
Sasori didn't want Sakura and Gaara to fight yet, but knew that first hand experience was the best sort of training. He put Gaara in charge of finding out time schedules and number of guards while he had Sakura scout the types of men Ahokichi had hired.
Masayoshi's followers didn't question them either. A few had seemed surprised by how young they were, but no one said anything. They simply let them in. They shared information and gave them food.
In two days, Sasori was ready to move in. He ordered Sakura and Gaara to stay back and left for the Daimyo's palace.
As he tore through them men that threw themselves at him without batting an eye, Sasori knew that deep down, this was where he belonged.
He wondered where the brief feeling of being 'human' had vanished.
NEW STORY:
Ivy: (Sakura x Sasuke/Sakura x Multi?)
Under orders, Uchiha Sasuke is sent to Orochimaru's side where he meets Sakura, an isolated girl willing to do anything for her father's recognition. Sasuke sees Orochimaru take advantage of his daughter's loyalty to make her do inhumane things and realizes that with her upbringing, she doesn't know any better. Deciding to dig deeper, he finds a lonely girl starved for affection.
The plants mentioned, antweed and bloodroot are both real. They are both actually very dangerous, especially antroot, and if eaten, the effects will probably not stick to a simple 'nausea' and 'dizziness' kind of thing. Bloodroot does make one vomit, but we do not know if that is enough to remove the poison from the antweed either. We also do not know if there are any side effects to the two plants being taken together. However, that is how they will work for the sake of this story.
Also, fun fact:
'Aho' in Ahokichi means idiot.
Masayoshi is written '正義' and it means justice.
Darque: Sasori is such a bastard.
Raven: Darque with the language...
Darque: What? It's true?
Raven: And you made him that way?
Darque:...
Raven: Anyways, this plant thing was all Darque knowledge, so if any of you happen to be herb/plant specialists, take your complaints to her. I'm more surprised by the fact that you know this kind of stuff.
Darque: I like this kind of stuff, remember?
Raven: Yeah. You had that huge ass book that was as thick as a fridge.
Darque:...
Raven: What? It was.
Darque: I think that's a bit off. What kind of comparison is that?
Raven: A very shocked one. What would you have compared it to, then?
Darque: It was as thick as a dictionary.
Raven: But what if your dictionary was only ten pages thick?
Raven: Why? Cause you ate the rest of the pages?
Raven: He-
Darque; Anyways, then what if your fridge was one of those huge ones that take up whole sides of the house, like the ones those chefs of TV use?
Raven:...Good point.
Darque; Even the average fridge is wider than your arm length.
Raven: Okay. I'm actually starting to see what you're trying to say, and that thought scares me for some reason. I wonder why.
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