Chapter Thirteen: Sorrow

Cyndi: I'm very sorry for the wait. High school registration kills.

Sasori: Who's going to say the disclaimer?

Aimi: I will!

Sasori: Ok, you can go.

Kaori: Look Aimi, if Cyndi didn't want you to say the disclaimer in the last twelve chapters, she wouldn't want to now..

Aimi: Cyndi does not own Naruto.

Kaori: Typical Aimi. Brainwashed Sasori.

Sasori: I'm...not...brainwashed...

Cyndi: Shall we start the story? Note the time skip. Kaori is now eighteen.

The wind was whistling, the sand was swirling in countless patterns. A silent figure sat on the floor, at the top of one building. Kaori looked down at the Sand Village from a rooftop and sighed. She held a letter in one hand, and her necklace in another.

"It's been five years..." Five years of loneliness, five years of solitude. It had been a while since she had talked to him. The ever-so-ready Saso-kun. Yes, she thought of him as Saso-kun... It was a nickname that she had made up for him. Thirteen years ago, when she first met him, when she moved into the Akasuna family. He did change... He was no longer the lonely boy she had seen, but he wasn't the Sasori she knew five years ago. The fun Sasori, the funny Sasori, the great-comeback Sasori. No, that Sasori is gone. It was gone, for a long time. "Sasori is engaged. Aimi is going to be a bride. Who knew?"

Tears streamed down her face. She didn't know of this until this morning during breakfast. Although she and Sasori still lived in the same house, it was awkward speaking to him, even as they walked down the hallway. He didn't speak to anyone, not even Granny Chiyo. She looked into a mirror. Some of her appearances have changed. Her hair was now unstyled and let loose so that the wind could blow it away. Her eyes were still a shade of gray... Just boring gray.

"Kaori?" She turned around. No one was supposed to know that she was here, except herself.

It was him. What was he doing here? Why did he come?

"Saso-kun?" she whispered, wiping the tears from her face. She simply did not want to be seen on a rooftop crying, especially by Sasori the boy wonder.

Sasori frowned. "Kaori, don't call me that. It's childish and... Unnerving. Wipe your tears, they make you less appealing." He sat down beside her and handed her a tissue. He looked at her and the necklace and frowned again. He seemed to be thinking about something.

Kaori stared at him. A tall body replaced the little thirteen year old one he used to have. Something was gained, but something was lost. His smile was lost. Not that he didn't smile when he was with Aimi, but it wasn't a true smile. She knew his true smile, just like how she knew to elbow him in the stomach right... Now. "What!"

Sasori grimaced. "What was that for?"

"Unappealing!" Kaori shouted. "And you call that soon-to-be married Aimi-pig appealing? Come on, this is a joke right? My life is a joke, right?"

"I don't know..." Sasori said quietly as he watched Kaori go on a temporary rage. "I feel like there's something wrong with me... I just can't figure it out. That necklace..." He pointed to the fire-red heart. "It's familiar."

Then it hit her. "The letter. The necklace. I have to tell him."

"You don't know?" asked Kaori looking at Sasori in a questioning way.

"Know what?" retorted Sasori, confused.

"Take a look at this." She handed him the letter. "You should know, it's your handwriting." She laughed. For such a great artist, he had the world's most horrible handwriting. Each sentence would be like a puzzle that Kaori alone would be able to solve.

He read the letter. As he read the last sentence, his eyes opened wide. Without a question, for the first time in his life, Sasori didn't know what he was doing. "What is this?"

"Your handwriting, and take a look at this..." Kaori took off her necklace and gave in to him. He stared at it for quite some time. Finally, he mumbled something under his breath. Kaori blinked. "What did you say?" Kaori guessed that love wasn't the only thing Aimi removed from Sasori. She may have removed his attention span too.

"I remember."

"What?"

"I remember everything."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this." He grabbed her awkwardly and kissed her. Kaori stumbled, confused. After five years of excommunication, he finally decides to kiss her?

Kaori's POV

"Oh my God...He kissed me! I would be freaking out right now but I really shouldn't..."

"It's your right to freak out. He remembers! And he kissed you! Your first kiss, how exciting! "

"I can't believe this! He was brainwashed all along? And your totally right, my first kiss! "

"It seems like it. Maybe Aimi was up to something. Sasori would never fall for a girl like Aimi. Or you. I wonder why he..."

"God, you're my consciousness.. Pay attention, he's looking at us!"

I pushed Sasori away. "You do that on the day before you get hitched? Not very faithful, are we?" Sasori looked a thousand times better now. He was pacing back and forth, looking like he had amnesia before and that a miracle cure had been bestowed upon him.

"I can explain. You see..." He explained about that night when I fell asleep, and he made sure to note that I snored loudly in sleep. I rolled my eyes, just glad to have to old Sasori back. He had finally concluded that Aimi came out of nowhere and had taken me hostage. The he added with rage that Aimi's father, though he was Kazekage, had no right to hold anyone hostage. Aimi's father was going to kill me if Sasori didn't agree to be brainwashed into "liking" Aimi. As he babbled on and on, I just kept smiling and nodding.

He continued. "... And you asleep the whole time."

"I was asleep the whole time?" I said, in disbelief.

"Yeah..." Sasori smirked evilly "... By the way, you still snore."

I rolled my eyes again. "You said that already." I stood up. "Are you still getting married.

"Let me guess..." said Sasori sarcastically. "Run away from this place like a fugitive and be hunted down, or get married to Aimi...Hmm, this one's hard."

"So?"

"Kaori, have you lost your mind? Of course I wouldn't marry Aimi in a million years!"

"I knew that..." I said, trying to sound confident. "So, any plans for the upcoming year?"

"Not really, but let's just say I won't be staying for long in this village."

"Why? It's not like you're going to kill someone!" I laughed.

"Or am I?" He had a serious look in his eyes that told me that he wasn't joking.

"Sasori, fine. If you're going to kill someone, kill Aimi."

"Not a bad idea. You'll see. Anyways, I have to go home and see to it that Hiruko is still usable."

"That turtle-puppet? I think it has cobwebs in it by now."

"So does Aimi's head."

He walked down the stairway, leaving me extremely confused. I just hoped that he wouldn't do anything out of hand.

Cyndi: Yes! I'm actually advancing the story!

Deidara: Yeah!

Cyndi: And I'm going to keep at it!

Deidara: Yeah!

Cyndi: Is there anything else you say than yeah?

Deidara: Yeah!

Tobi: Yeah!

Deidara: Tobi you baka!