Chapter 21: My Little Puppet

It was obvious that Itachi was going to take things too far eventually. As of now, Konan could tolerate it. He wasn't doing anything dangerous to the others. The biggest risk was the others finding out that they were under post hypnotic suggestion. However, from what Konan could tell, the blame would be focused on Itachi only. Deidara already hated him so naturally he would blame him if something went wrong. Hidan had taken notice that Itachi always seemed to be around whenever something strange occurred. At the moment, neither of them chose to act on it. It was only a theory to them. Only Konan knew the whole truth. She had managed to keep Sasori from remembering what had happened to him for the time being but it was only a matter of time before something happened. She wasn't sure what that entailed, but she didn't want to be ostracized because of it. Especially since she wasn't the only one at fault. She didn't want to be faulted when Itachi had a hand in it, too. He was the one taking it too far when all she wanted was peace among the group. He was the one having too much fun with it.

Konan stood outside Sasori's room debating whether to go in or not. She wanted to make sure everything was secure with him on the matter. She had to make sure that he didn't remember anything and wouldn't tell anyone what had happened. She had to make sure the commands were still in place.

She knocked.

"It's open."

She opened the door. Sasori had his back to her, placing one of his puppets against the back wall. He stepped back, admiring his work then turned around, facing her.

"Yes?"

"Hi."

"Hello."

Konan walked further into the room. "Is everything ok in here? I saw you hit your head on the table in the kitchen."

"Yeah…" He looked at the floor. "I guess I was pretty tired. I fell asleep right there. I'm awake now. Don't worry about it."

"Sure. Sure…" She looked at the puppet sitting against the wall. It looked really creepy.

"Is this going somewhere?"

"Hm?" She looked up again.

"It's just that I have things to do and I hate waiting. Was there something you wanted?"

"Oh. Well, uh…" She looked away. "I just wanted to make sure everything was ok with you. That's all."

"I'm doing better than the others, that's for sure." Sasori bent down and picked a rag off the floor. "Have you seen the lunatics running around this place? It's a madhouse." He started to polish the arm of his puppet.

"Yeah. It has gotten a little out of hand. I'll admit that."

"I'm surprised no one's killed anybody yet. It would be a lot quieter."

"True, but death seems a bit harsh, don't you think?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I'd do it. I mean, isn't that what you do to people who annoy you? Get rid of them."

"I know that," she said. "But annoying or not, they're still our teammates. It's bound to get crowded."

"So? You can always get more teammates."

Konan frowned. "Have you always been this morbid? What if Deidara were to die? Wouldn't you be upset?"

"No."

"You won't miss him?"

"Not really. He's there to assist me. Anyone could do that. And maybe I'll get a new partner who agrees with me and we'll see eye to eye more than Deidara ever could. That's how I see it."

"So…" she said slowly. "Even if your own partner were to die, you wouldn't be upset by his loss?"

"We're ninja. It kind of comes with the job. Anyone can die in the next few moments. Why get attached?"

"I don't know about you, but I care about my teammates and my partner. I'm upset when I lose someone close to me, even knowing the job we're in."

"And what does that accomplish?" Sasori stopped polishing and looked at her. "It's a waste of time. Why bother?"

"Come on, Sasori. It's called 'love'. Don't you have people you love in your life? People who are close to you?"

"Sure. Let me introduce you." Sasori pointed to the puppet behind his back. "Meet my mother. And over there's father." He pointed to the puppet sitting in the armchair nearby. "These are the ones I'm close to."

"But they're puppets."

"So?" he said. "They show me the same amount of love I received growing up. The only difference is that these ones don't go anywhere if I don't want them to." Sasori looked down. It wasn't a sad look. Just distant.

He was distant. From everyone. He wasn't close to anyone because no one was close to him. He didn't know what it was like to be loved. His own parents never showed him any kind of love or affection so how was he expected to? That must have been why he thought of people as expendable. He was never attached. He didn't know how to be.

It made Konan sad to know this. This poor man didn't know what it was like to be loved so he couldn't love anyone either. The only thing he cared about were his puppets. He could make them do whatever he wanted. They were always there for him because they couldn't go anywhere without him. He still needed a parent's love but didn't know how to imitate it. He never felt it. It was something he couldn't create. But he still had needs. That must have been why he would wrap himself up in his puppets. He was seeking comfort. How sad. Konan pitied him.

"So that's it, huh? You were never shown love so you don't know how to love. No one was close to you so you can't get close to anyone either. How sad."

He looked up. "Huh? Sad? I don't think so. I'm pretty happy like this. It doesn't bother me." He gestured to his puppets. "I still have my mother and father with me. It's not like I'm alone or anything."

"It's not the same. You need to know what it's like to be loved. No substitute."

Sasori noticed her walking closer to him. "I told you, I'm fine. It's not like I'm depressed or anything. I care about my puppets."

"Only because they can't leave you. They're incapable of it. And if there's something about them you don't like, you can always fix it. And if they break, you can rebuild them. You can make them again. Can't do that with a person. Once they're gone, they're gone."

"Exactly. That's why puppets are…" She was coming even closer to him, closing in. "Wh- what are you doing?"

Konan continued walking. "But you need to know what it's like to be loved by a person. A real live human being. A parent's love. It cannot be replicated. Maybe if you had that kind of love as a child, you would be different. Different values. You might even be happier."

Sasori backed up into the wall, Konan continued forward, closing the gap. She was looking down at him with a small tender smile. "Uh…" Sasori couldn't back up any further. "Uh… just what are you..?"

She tapped his forehead. "Sleep."

Itachi wasn't bored with this power over the other Akatsuki members. He was just taking a break. He was having fun with the commands he had just given the others prior to the afternoon snack and wasn't ready to change anything yet. He was pleased with how things were going so far. And there was such a thing as overdoing it. He didn't want to give them too many commands to do at once. Maybe he should leave things alone for the rest of the evening and start fresh in the morning. He hadn't decided yet.

As he walked into the kitchen to see if dinner was being prepared or not, he noticed at something was off. Before he entered the room, he could hear humming. He could also hear the sound of silverware clanging against different surfaces. Maybe Konan was cooking already and humming to herself as she did it.

He opened the door.

Konan was indeed in the kitchen cooking. But she wasn't alone. Sasori was sitting at the table writing something on a sheet of paper. There was a stack of paper beside his arm, most likely given to him by Konan herself.

Itachi was mistaken. Konan wasn't the one humming. It was Sasori. And he wasn't writing. He was drawing. Itachi moved closer and peered over his red head to look at what he was creating on the paper. It was hardly a masterpiece. It looked like something a child would draw. He was making a landscape complete with flowers and birds and trees. When Itachi got closer, he saw that Sasori was smiling.

Noticing Itachi, Sasori looked up. "Hi!"

Itachi blinked. Sasori had smiled in the past, but it was always a smirk. This wasn't. This was a pure innocent smile, much like that of a child. Even the way he greeted him was childlike. "Uh… hi."

Sasori looked back down at his picture. Giving it a finishing touch, he put down his pen and held up the piece of paper. "Look, Konan! Look what I made!" he chirped.

Konan turned around and smiled at his drawing. "That's wonderful. Very good work!" She came over and pat his head. "You're an artist alright."

He beamed at her. "You like it?"

"Of course I do. It's lovely."

Itachi stared at them. "Umm…"

Konan looked up. "Just a second, Sasori. Let me see what he wants." Konan went over to Itachi and pulled him into a corner. "What?" she hissed.

"What do you mean what?" He pointed to the human puppet at the table. "What did you do to him?"

"I gave him a chance at a happier childhood," she answered. "It's sad that he never got any love from his family. So I thought I'd fix that."

"So…" he said slowly. "You're… his mom now?"

"Kinda sorta. He doesn't call me 'mom' or anything, but he recognizes me as a kind of parent. I want him to know what it's like to be loved and experience human affection."

"That's sick."

Konan slapped his shoulder. "Where is your mind at? I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just showing him love."

"Again. Sick."

"It is not. What you were doing with Deidara and Hidan was sick. There are different kinds of love, you know. Besides, this isn't permanent. At the end of the week, he'll be back to normal like everyone else. I just want him to enjoy himself and know what it's like to be loved. That's it."

Itachi moaned. "I know. But still…" He glanced at the man at the table. "My mind's not in the gutter or anything, but I still think it's a little… you know. I mean, you're playing with his emotions, aren't you?"

"I worked out all the details. It's fine. Besides, he won't remember any of it anyway."

"Then what's the point?"

"Even if he doesn't remember it, it still happened so he has the experience. It'll be nice while it lasts. Maybe the feeling will be there somehow."

Itachi looked away again. "Yeah, yeah… It's a little creepy, just the same. I mean, he's too happy. And you were pissed at me for what I was doing, saying that I needed to be subtle. I'm pretty sure they're bound to notice something off about him."

"I'll come to that when the time comes." Konan walked away and sat at the table beside Sasori who was drawing another picture. "Whatcha got there?"

He covered the paper with his arms. "Don't look yet. It's not ready."

"Ok, ok." Konan sat there and waited. As Sasori drew, she smiled. Getting an urge to do it, she suddenly threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him. He leaned back into her embrace, smiling. She started kissing the top of his head, making affectionate growling noises and he started giggling, hugging her back. "I gotcha!"

His laughter turned into a squeal of joy and he buried his face in her chest. She had never seen Sasori look or sound so happy. It was a nice feeling to know she gave him such joy. He deserved a chance to be happy.

Itachi just stared at them. "I'm sorry, but that just looks wrong to me."

"There's nothing wrong with it. Think of it as sibling affection."

"Yeah, but the way I show affection with Sasuke is different."

"No kidding…" she muttered to herself.

Sasori looked back and forth at them with big curious eyes. "Whatcha talking about?"

Konan stroked his head. "Nothing important. I'd better get back to cooking."

Itachi looked from Sasori to Konan. Surely there was something fun he could do until dinner. He stood up and started to leave the room.

"Watch yourself," Konan warned as he left.

He knew what she meant and he didn't care. If he did his math right, there were only two days left before this hypnosis wears off and everyone would return to normal. If he counted today, that would make it three days in total. But the day was almost up. Evening was coming up fast and soon they would enter the second to last day of this. Realizing how little time he had left, Itachi decided to enjoy it as much as he could. There must have been something really fun he could do. Perhaps a chain reaction of some kind…

"Oh, that would be fun…" Itachi looked around. He had to find someone to try this out on.

Itachi found Deidara working in his room with the door wide open. Perfect. He crept inside and stood behind the blond man, his hands covered with clay he was carefully molding into the shape of a large spider. He gave his hands a sharp clap. "Sleep."

Deidara collapsed onto the table, flattening his creation under his chest. Good thing it wasn't active or they both would have been killed in the explosion. Itachi didn't bother to move him. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat down beside Deidara.

"Ok. Deidara, I want you to stand up for me. Stand up."

Deidara pulled himself off the table and stood up as if manipulated by puppet strings.

"Good. Good. Now…" Itachi smiled. Time for a little entertainment. "I want you to dance. Dance for me."

Deidara obediently started dancing. He started to spin around the room, the hem of his coat fluttering behind him. He spread his arms out like a bird and started to do a little ballet. Itachi sat back and watched. After two minutes, he got bored.

"Ok, you can stop now. Stop."

Deidara stopped and stood there awaiting further instruction.

"Alright. Now I want you to… sing for me. Start singing."

At first he was silent. Then Deidara started singing a song. It was a song Itachi wasn't familiar with. It was from Deidara's home village. He had heard it as a boy and remembered it to this day. Itachi sat back and listened. Deidara had a pretty good voice.

Another member of the Akatsuki was walking down the hall when he heard the song. Hidan's head turned towards the voice. It sounded a lot like Deidara but that couldn't be. Could it? He approached the open door and peeked inside. Keeping close to the wall, he watched Deidara sing while Itachi sat in a chair and listened.

This was strange. Deidara hated Itachi. Why would he do this?

"That's enough," said Itachi. "Stop singing."

He obediently stopped.

Hidan watched from the hall, intrigued.

"Now, whenever you hear your name, you'll bark like a dog. Got that?"

Deidara nodded.

Hidan gasped out loud. So Itachi was responsible for all of this.

Itachi's head turned, facing the open door. "Who's there?"

Hidan covered his mouth and jumped straight up.

Itachi wandered out the door. He knew he heard someone. He saw a shadow moving quickly down the hall and followed after it. Meanwhile, Hidan, carefully hidden on the ceiling above the door, jumped down and ran into the room.

"I knew it. I knew Itachi was doing something. I just knew it. So he's the one responsible." He looked at the entranced Deidara, still standing in the center of the room. "I'll fix him good." He stood in front of his fellow Akatsuki. He was certain that Itachi had gotten to him as well. Why else would everyone say that he kept insulting Deidara and not remember it? He must have been doing it without realizing it. He may have not been able to stop it, but he could get back at Itachi for it. After all, it was his fault. "Deidara, can you hear me?"

He nodded.

He had to be fast before Itachi showed up. "Listen. Every time I, Hidan, insult you, you will slap Itachi. And if you can't reach, you'll throw something at him instead. Got it?"

He nodded.

Footsteps told Hidan that Itachi was coming back and fled the room before he could be caught.

Itachi entered the room again. The shadow turned out to be Kisame rushing to the bathroom. No harm was done. Itachi stood in front of Deidara, satisfied for now.

"Ok, Deidara. Up and at 'em."

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