The next night, Sasori sat at his desk, looking over a few documents while Komushi laid out on the bed, reading a book.
"You haven't heard from Kakuzu yet?" Komushi asked.
"No," Sasori answered, not looking up from his work.
"Do you think he did it?"
Sasori was about to answer when he heard someone storming through the halls. "We're about to find out," he hummed.
Within a few seconds, Kakuzu burst into the room with Hidan in tow. "You!" he growled. "You didn't tell me the fucker could turn into a snake!"
"Aaaah," Sasori hummed thoughtfully. "So it is true."
Komushi looked up from his reading and nodded. "I told you so," he smirked.
Kakuzu growled again. "You knew!" he roared.
"He ate us!" Hidan snapped from behind his master.
"Isn't it nasty?" Komushi scrunched up his nose. "Seems like he has a habit."
"I assure you I didn't find out he could do that until you were already on your way to the job," Sasori said airily.
"You better pay me extra!" Kakuzu snapped.
"Did you kill him?" Sasori challenged. "Or did you run away after he spat you out?" Kakuzu glowered at Sasori's smug smirk and started to growl again deep in his throat. "I didn't think so," Sasori scoffed. "I'll pay half of what was agreed because you got half the job done," he started then stopped, pausing for a second. "Were you even able to injure him?"
"Of course we did!" Hidan lied.
Komushi squinted, skeptical over Hidan's sudden rush to defense. "Oh, yeah?" he smirked. "How did you injure him?"
"Yes," Sasori agreed, "how? This will be vital for how we carry out our plan." He had a feeling that these two barely even touched Orochimaru.
Kakuzu glared down at his stammering slave. He was not going to help the silver-haired man out of this one. "You idiot," he hissed.
Hidan rubbed the back of his neck while shifting his eyes away from the waiting eyes of the room. "We, uh, threw him around a lot. We had to have hurt him at least a little?" he offered.
"So you aren't sure if you hurt him," Komushi smirked. "A second ago you sounded pretty confident. But now, not so much."
"We did!" Hidan doubled down. "There is no way he got out of our fight—"
Kakuzu slapped Hidan hard across the face. "Stop talking!" he ordered.
Both Komushi and Sasori grimaced at the nearly orgasmic sound Hidan made after being slapped. "Right..." Komushi said after a few seconds.
"So you didn't even injure him," Sasori continued, "and you expect to get paid."
"Sounds like you're running a scam," Komushi smirked.
"Did you even get to deal with the rest of the family?" Sasori asked. Kakuzu did not answer at first, not wanting to admit that they were beaten by Orochimaru and did not even get a chance to move on to the rest of the family. Sasori smirked again, knowing exactly what Kakuzu's silence meant. "Thought so," he said.
"Sounds like you can go," Komushi waved them off. "You know where the door is." He folded his arms, smirking wider. Kakuzu glared at Sasori but the young lord did not flinch.
"You're welcome to try again," Sasori smirked. "But if you don't want to, I'll just call on my other contacts," he said easily with a shrug. He really did not have anyone else to call for this sort of work but he could bluff. Bluffing was a big part of the underground world.
Kakuzu growled again, staring both Komushi and Sasori down for another minute. "Let's go, Hidan," he finally said, turning to leave.
Hidan's eyes widened, looking at his master. "But, Lord Kakuzu—" He was cut off by a strong glare from the older man.
"I said. Let's. Go."
"Okay," Hidan sighed and followed Kakuzu out of the room and out of the house.
"Those two are..." Komushi started, trying to find the right words to use, "gross."
"And inefficient," Sasori added. "Without her father dead or at least injured, he's still a major obstacle standing in my way of getting to her."
"Do you have any other ideas on how to deal with him?" Komushi asked, getting up to lean against the edge of the desk.
Sasori shook his head, letting out a long stressed breath. "He's a fucking snake so he's going to be resistant to poison." He ran a hand through his hair, pulling it a little. "Our best hitman couldn't even land a physical blow on him..." he paused, trying to wrack his brain for anything to use against them.
"Maybe we should just go for her brother first," Komushi recommended.
Sasori shook his head. "Her brother is the one that was at my house that night," he said. "He looks exactly like their father and I can only assume he can also turn into a snake. Not only that, going after her brother makes us an even bigger target for her father who we're trying to avoid."
They stayed silent for another few moments, coming up with plans on how to get to Azumi. In their silence, they heard Sasori's father speaking with someone at the front door. Sharing a look, they crept down the hall to listen to the conversation. As they got closer, they heard it was Sachiko and Shira. Sachiko was asking where Sasori was and if his father had seen him since the night they encountered Orochimaru. Much to Sasori's relief, he heard his father tell her no and that he had no idea where Sasori was.
"We stopped by Komushi's to see if he was there," Sachiko said.
"She went to my house?" Komushi whispered, almost a little too loud. Sasori quickly covered his mouth, muttering under his breath to shut the fuck up.
"I'm sure Sasori doesn't want to be visited by anyone," he heard his father say.
"I know, I'm just worried about him," Sachiko lied.
"Bullshit," Sasori grumbled, rolling his eyes.
"I brought this basket for you and your wife," Shira said. Sasori heard the transferring of a food basket from the chef's arms to his father's.
"Thank you, Shira," his father said.
"If you see Sasori," Sachiko said, "please tell him I'm worried."
It took every ounce of his father's strength to not roll his eyes in front of Sachiko. He knew she was bullshitting and what her true intentions were for stopping by. "Will do," he said. "Thank you."
Immediately, Sasori and Komushi went back to the bedroom. "So they're looking for me," Sasori hummed.
"Is that really surprising?" Komushi snorted. "They want you dead."
Sasori stayed quiet for a moment. "Shira," he said finally. "Shira is probably the safest way to get to Azumi. He's Gaara's best friend so he has to know she's expecting. And if there's one thing he loves more than my aunt," he smirked.
"It's cooking," Komushi chuckled. "He'll want to bring her food all the time because of the cravings."
"We can use him to get to her."
"Perfect," Komushi grinned. "Do you want me to swing by his restaurant or are you going out into the world?"
"I can't leave just yet," Sasori shook his head, "now that I know they're actively looking for me. So any and all interactions will have to be through you," he hummed, squinting at Komushi. "You can handle that, right?"
Komushi rolled his eyes. "Have I let you down yet?"
Sasori leveled him with a hard look. "You don't want me to answer that truthfully," he said.
"No," Komushi said, "I really don't."
"Just follow him to her but stay out of sight. We just need to get her alone. But we need to get closer to her to do that."
"Fine. I'll go tomorrow."
Sasori's father came into the room, holding the large basket of food Shira had given him. "You're being looked for," he told Sasori.
"So I've gathered," Sasori sighed. "You kept the food?"
"Turning it down would have been suspicious." He stayed quiet for a moment. "Do you two want it?"
Neither Sasori or Komushi answered at first. They looked at each other for a few seconds and then nodded when they telepathically decided that yes, they did want the food. They both turned to his father and nodded a second time. "We'll take it," Komushi said.
Sasori's father nodded and set the basket down on Sasori's desk. "Your mother already took out what she wanted. You two can have the rest."
"Thank you, Father," Sasori said.
His father nodded again and turned to leave, stopping in the doorway to look back at him. "Whatever you two are planning...just be careful," he said just before disappearing down the hall.
"That was a bit ominous," Komushi hummed.
"He's just worried," Sasori rolled his eyes. "We'll be fine as long as you don't fuck up tomorrow."
"No pressure or anything," Komushi smirked, looking into the basket. "It will be easy. I'm sure even if I get caught at your aunt and uncle's, I can play off like I'm looking for you, too." He pulled out a spoonful of food. "Oh!" he grinned. "Let's make everyone think you died," he joked.
"Fake my death?" Saori rolled his eyes. "No one would believe that," he snorted. His pride would not let him even consider that at the moment. Not when it would indicate he had succumbed to Orochimaru's attacks. "Bottom line: don't get caught. And make yourself a plate, you animal!"
"I am not an animal!" Komushi pouted through a mouthful of food.
Sasori pushed past him so he could peer into the basket. He considered for a moment that the food could be poisoned but his mother was already eating it so they would have known by then if it was. Also, it was not in Shira's character to poison people. He reached into the basket, grabbing a few things to put onto a plate and then sat back down. He could never deny that Shira's food was good. He ate the food rather quickly and then stood up for seconds. He looked into the basket again, pushing a few things aside. He came across a cake he had never seen before. "What the hell is this?" he muttered, picking it up. It was only half of a larger cake.
Komushi looked at it, getting a little closer. "Chocolate cake?" he asked, looking at the layers. "The frosting looks weird." He used his finger to taste the frosting. "Oh, but it's really good. Like a coconut frosting without the coconut."
Sasori's eyes widened slightly, remembering that was how Azumi described a cake from her region. "Then this is a chantilly cake," he said softly.
"Whatever it's called, it's good," Komushi grinned. He took it from Sasori and set it down so he could cut them each a piece of it. "It doesn't sound familiar. How do you know what it is? Are you getting back into baking?" he teased his friend.
Sasori glared at Komushi as he reloaded his plate. "I was never into baking. Mother got into it and dragged Father and me along," he rolled his eyes. "It's a cake Azumi described to me from where she's from."
Komushi chuckled, taking a bite of the cake. "It's really good. It must be popular there."
"She said it's her favorite so it must be," Sasori muttered.
"I can see why." Komushi took a few more bites of the cake then gave Sasori a hard look. A smirk started to appear on his lips. "Lure her with this," he suggested. "I can get her alone and you can pull her away with her favorite cake. She's pregnant, she won't be able to resist it."
"It's devious and excellent," Sasori grinned.
"Guess we should save some of this then shouldn't," Komushi glanced down at the cake.
"There's nearly a full cake there," Sasori shrugged. "It's not like we were going to eat it all in one night anyway." Komushi pouted a little. Sasori looked at him in slight disgust. "You would think you could put a whole cake away."
"I can," Komushi smirked. "Just watch me."
"I am not going to watch you," Sasori groaned. He took a bite of his slice and bit back a satisfied hum. It was good. And while he did not think he could finish the whole cake in one night, he could see how one would feel like they could.
"You're lucky I want some of this for tomorrow," Komushi scoffed.
"Uh-huh," Sasori hummed, turning back to his papers. Half of them were useless now that he knew Orochimaru was still alive but he could salvage a few. He just had to move a few pieces around.
Komushi finished off his first slice and cut himself a second, mentally telling himself that he was going to stop after that one. He watched Sasori for a moment and then smirked. "You miss her," he teased.
"I do not!" Sasori snapped back.
"Oh, but you do," Komushi nudged his fork towards Sasori's cheek. "Otherwise you wouldn't be working this hard."
"I'm working this hard because she is my property and I have jobs for her to do," he snapped back bitterly.
Komushi nodded, eating another forkful of cake. "Whatever lie you need to tell yourself," Komushi chuckled.
"Just shut up and eat your cake," Sasori grumbled.
"I miss her, too," Komushi shrugged, finishing off his second slice and sitting on the bed. Sasori rolled his eyes. They fell into silence. There was only the sound of papers shuffling coupled with light taps of their forks. Sasori marked his notes, hunching closer to them as he wrote. "Sasori, you need to get some sleep," Komushi spoke up.
Sasori blinked as if coming out of a trance. His face twisted in irritation first at being interrupted and then for the light touch Komushi put down on his shoulder. He heard the click of a plate being put down on his other side. "I'm fine, Komushi. If you're tired then go to sleep." He jerked the concern off with the hand on his shoulder. He did not need concern. He needed to be certain.
Komushi frowned and then sighed. "You'll need to be rested to deal with her," he suggested. "I know you don't want to hear it, but you might act irrationally on no sleep and it'll be harder to get her to come back."
Sasori stopped writing, groaning low in his throat. He hated when Komushi of all people made sense. "Fine but we are taking a bath first," he caved as he got up. "Both of us. If you are sleeping in my bed, you are bathing."
Komushi backed up to get out of Sasori's way. "Fine by me," he chuckled with his hands up in surrender.
Sasori sighed and headed toward the bathroom. He ran his hand through his hair as he headed down the hall. Once in the bathroom, he grabbed a towel to set next to the tub and started running the water for his bath. His movements were slower than normal and only got slower as he lost himself in his thoughts while he put the oils and salts in. He did not want to be setting up a bath for himself. That was the job of his slave. He slowly stripped down and then shut the water off as he got into the tub. He let out a soft sigh as the hot water stung his skin in the best way. After a couple of moments, he completely relaxed and closed his eyes, tilting his head back while he ran through his plans in his mind. He needed to figure out how to get rid of her family because his plans to take her back would only truly work if they were out of the picture.
He had fallen asleep for a few minutes and woke up to the sound of a servant walking by the bathroom and dropping something. With a soft groan at his now racing heartbeat, he sat up and started bathing himself. He was suddenly drained and now he knew he was being looked for. There were too many obstacles in the way. He did not want to deal with any of them. He just wanted to go back to how things were.
Moving a little faster, he finished washing up and got out of the tub. He quickly dried off and put his robe on then headed back to the bedroom.
"I thought you died in there," Komushi smirked, standing up to head to the bathroom.
"And you didn't even think to come to check on me," Sasori teased.
"I did," Komushi tapped his chin. "But then I figured there is no way Sasori would die so quietly." He grinned at his best friend.
Sasori rolled his eyes, laying down on his bed. "I suppose you're right about that," he groaned softly, settling into the soft mattress and closing his eyes. Sleep almost retook him instantly. He heard Komushi say something back to him but he was already drifting back to his plans. How drastic was he willing to get, he wondered, all for a slave?