Author's note:

This chapter is dedicated to His First's second reviewer januaryowl13. The question is can you ship them? If you do, I can promise you something and it depends on your answer.

I know some may get confused... sometimes I update chapters after I publish them whenever I feel like it's a little short.

Special mentions: Elizabetch, Riomi-senpai, SoraBlankShiro, alice 0, vixbee, AlmostAnne, Saara666

We carry on through the storm

Chiyo.

She clenched her fists shaking looking towards her grandson, the fear shone in her tired eyes. She wonders if she should have done things differently. The children doesn't know… doesn't know… doesn't know… It echoes inside her head. But she knows, she voted for what they will go through the Chunin exams. They needed people, men and women, who can fight for the war, not children. There was a hammering ache in her head for awhile now.

"Elder Chiyo, here's your coffee." Small hands carrying a mug and offered it to her. Hatsue has been a diligent student, almost better than Sasori. However, the girl was occasionally wandering off to find inspiration. At first she had expected the girl to be better behaved than her grandson but she was the wayward child of the two. She chuckles at the thought, one time finding Hatsue on the floor with paints and papers reasoning it helped her memorize.

"Thank you, Hatsue." Chiyo replied, taking the mug with a smile and then she asked, "Where's Sasori?"

"He's getting ready for the exams, I suppose. He's in his workshop checking his puppets again, wanting it to be perfect." The girl rolled her eyes in exasperation though the fond smile on her lips betrayed her.

Tentatively, the elder asked, "And you?"

"I'm… ready as well." The girl answered unsurely and then shrugged saying, "If I failed then I just have to try again, right?"

Chiyo's hand trembled, spilling the coffee on her hands but the scalding hot water didn't bother her as much as the guilt that assaulted her. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes but she held it in. She held it in and felt her throat ache. Hatsue seeing the coffee spilled, hurriedly try to turn away from the old woman to find cloth to wipe.

"No." The elder's voice croaked. "You can't fail."

Hatsue stopped and turned around and said she'd try her best not to fail as if that was enough to give the elder assurance but it won't. It won't. The old woman knows Sasori won't fail but the girl? This girl with her kindness that wore her grandson down, the sweetness of her character that made this old woman long for a granddaughter. Chiyo didn't have a granddaughter, although his grandson was cute enough but a granddaughter to cheer her up and pass down womanly advices was something she was missing out, and Hatsue gave her that opportunity. She is fond of the girl.

"Elder Chiyo?" Hatsue's voice cuts her thoughts.

Elder Chiyo. The old woman mocked at herself. She wants to hear the girl call her 'grandma' but she couldn't allow it. She's afraid of getting attached but no matter how guarded she was, the girl found a way to be close to her heart. The girl was fond of talking to her (Chiyo thinks Hatsue is an old soul) and she was an excellent at the art of tea ceremony. She placed the mug down on the table and beckons the girl to come over.

Kami. Please.

Chiyo took Hatsue's hands firmly but the girl felt the tremor from the old woman.

"They taught you about the different hand seals in the academy. Do you still know the seals for the Rat, Ram and Dog?"

Brown eyes looked at her with something akin to fear, the girl must have sensed her fear but this cannot wait. Hatsue nodded and she lets go of the girls' hands.

Ne. Left thumb on the outside.

Hitsuji. Left thumb on top, hands together vertically.

Inu. Left hand flat on right fist.

Nothing happens and the girl looked at her questioningly but she only said, "Again."

Rat. Ram. Dog.

"Again."

The girl repeated the hand seals over and over again just as Chiyo told her but the sun was starting to set and stars began to peek it was almost time to go home, the burn on her hand had long started itching and the redness an angry mar on her wrinkly skin, the hand seals took a toll to the girl, the chakra was undirected because the child doesn't know what the hand seals does.

Chiyo asks the gods if they were listening to let this work, the girl must learn this or else.

"Guide your chakra towards your palms, pool it there."

The girl collapses as it goes on she was weary and was shaking her head saying 'no more.' Harsh dark eyes clashed with soft brown ones and some whispers, 'you must child, you must if you want to pass the exam, please.' And the girl sees this old woman, this counsellor of Sand Village, this leader of the Puppet Brigade, this elder, she sees a lonely woman who lost so much and hears the mourning in her voice. The child sees a broken soul.

Hatsue tries again and her legs tremble from exhaustion but she tries again because Hatsue is enlightened with the thought that Sasori wasn't the only one so, so… sad. Hatsue might have said she wasn't fit to be a shinobi but there were different opinions on what a shinobi should be and her heart was strong like any of them because deep down inside of her she wants to save everyone she could reach.

A flicker of a tiny orb-like chakra appeared out of her palms and the child's eyes leapt to meet hers in surprise, Chiyo gestures for Hatsue's palms to be placed on the burn on her hand, the red mar slowly vanished like it hadn't been there before. That was then the elder allowed herself to collapse on her knees and gather the child infront of her into her arms. Thank Kami. Relief racked through her body and she cradled the child as if Hatsue was her own.

"Elder Chiyo?" Hatsue called, embarrassed and unsure what to do with the hug.

"Grandma, call me grandma, child." Chiyo said and she now allows herself to be fond of this child with no intention of holding back.

If this child at the age of eight could perform a healing ninjutsu then Sasori wasn't the only prodigy in this generation. If Hatsue shows this to the other elders of the council and to the Kazakage then Hatsue didn't have to take the general Chunin exams, medical-nins are too great of a value during this time and shouldn't be wasted in the exams just to die. Chiyo sobbed at the thought and stopped herself because it was done, she and her brother Ebizo devised this exam, an exam that meant a child has to kill to pass.

It was kill or be killed.

Tired soldiers in this war

"Are you ready? Do you have your weapons and scrolls?" Hatsue asked while combing his hair which was unnecessary since it will revert back to its messy way again. "Do you have your water and snacks? I have some extra snacks here if you want more."

Sasori nodded but Hatsue rambled on, "Oh I'm so nervous for you. And make friends okay? Kami knows you need other friends and what I meant boys I'm afraid I'll influence you with my girly things as I've heard from other kids."

"Other kids tell you that?" Sasori asked, a hint of umbrage.

Hatsue rolled her eyes and flicked the boy's forehead. Lately, Sasori had developed a tendency to be very angry on anyone who antagonizes her or anyone who questions their friendship. It was natural she guessed for someone friend-deprived for a long while and it was cute seeing the boy glare at for her sake ;when she remembers there was a time she was glared at by him too, she couldn't help but hang a smile on her lips.

"Don't worry about that, worry about your exams, slow-poke." The brown haired girl had learned the art of teasing because of Sasori. It was funny because if she ever called her other friends slow-poke, there would be trouble to ensue. It comes with the age, maybe, as kids grow up, name calling will be normal by then but right now they were at a tender age so name calling was probably unacceptable for others.

"I'm not slow!" The red head disagreed, still with that drowsy look in his eyes. "I just happen to like enjoying at my pace, besides you're an idiot."

Hatsue sputtered. "What does me being an idiot have to do with you being slow?"

"So you admit you're an idiot." He laughed. It still surprises her whenever he does but it doesn't diminish the warmth Hatsue feels.

"I am not an idiot! You're just being stupid."

"You're just stealing my words now, idiot."

"Fine! I'm not talking to you." Hatsue crossed her arms and pouted because she couldn't win. They were walking towards the the tower-like, colosseum structure, their academy. Chunin exams had the written exams and then the practical exams. The pair were accompanied by Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo who have been long amused by their banter, especially Ebizo. He had tried to visit as many times as he can for his sister's grandson, hoping to alleviate the loss their family had but he had never seen the boy as carefree since the boy's parents died, until now.

"Good. You were being fussy with me like those mothers of our classmates." Sasori sneered.

"I wouldn't like you to be my child either! You are not cute! And that would be weird since how can I be your mother when we're the same age? Stupid." The addendum was necessary, she was trying hard not to smile.

"I said like, idiot. I was comparing you to mothers. This is why you're an idiot."

"You worry me so I just become fussy when it comes to you." Her arms were flying wildly in the air in her explanation. "Oh, never mind then."

This was the time Ebizo, with a very interesting smile intervened, "Hatsue, there are only two people in this world that is allowed to be fussy to a boy. One is his mother and the other is the wife. And the same goes for the girl, the only two people who can be mad for her sake are her father and her husband, three if there's a brother."

"What's a wife? What's a husband?" Hatsue asked.

"A wife is a mother and the girl that lives with a boy in the same house, idiot. A husband is a father and the boy that lives with the girl in the same house." Sasori looked at his granduncle for confirmation.

At this, the old man laughed, "Close but you'll understand someday."

"Well, whoever becomes Sasori's wife is an idiot. He's mean and she'll put up with him? My advice to her is run far away from him." The girl smirked at the thought. Who could even survive Sasori? He's a menace.

"Whoever becomes Hatsue's husband is stupid. She's annoying and he has to live with that? When I meet him I'll tell him to hide from her, I'll even lend him a hand or better yet I'l just bury him beneath the sands that way she'll never find him." Sasori retaliated and mused. Living with Hatsue should be colorful, literally. With her paints always smeared on her face or on her clothes, it would be colorful.

Both the old siblings laughed at their banter, forgetting for a moment that today was the exam and they had just arrived.

Remember what we're fighting for

There were 38 students competing in the practical exams, the other 102 failed during the written exam. There was a riddle before beginning the written exams, whoever got the answer right automatically passes the written exam because the riddle's equivalent was 100 points and it wasn't just knowing the right answer, one has to have an explanation on how they reached their answer.

The riddle was about a family who was murdered. The father, the mother and the son was killed. The only one who survived was the daughter who hid inside a closet. Her name was Nana and she was 9 years old. When the authorities examined the bodies, they found that the father had managed to leave a message on the floor before he died. It was written in his own blood. They couldn't make sense of the strange message. It just seemed a series of random numbers. 141141.

Since the girl did not have any living relatives, one of the keisatsu (means police) volunteered to have the little girl live with his wife and kids until things have calmed down. They thought she would be safe there. After awhile, an unemployed, 34 year old man who lived in the neighborhood was arrested. The keisatsu questioned him but he said he didn't know anything about murders and had rarely left the house. They didn't believe his story and was convinced he was the murderer.

When the keisatsu officer came from home, he took Nana aside and told her that they had a suspect. When she heard this, Nana was very frightened and the officer tried to calm her down and whispered softly to her, "Don't worry Nana, this horrible ordeal will be over soon. We are going to catch the bad man who hurt your family and make him pay for what he did."

Then, the officer looked at Nana's face. The little girl was smiling and she even began to laugh.

The students didn't have any idea what to do with the riddle because it was presented as a story so most of them had given up solving it, others had tried but only one got it right. Sasori listened to the riddle but was only fixated on the numbers, the rest were just useless information that was meant to distract. He mulled over the numbers 141141. If you flip the numbers, it doesn't make sense. If you add the numbers, there wasn't any point until he noticed something. He walked up to the examiner, a tall man wearing a turban, forehead protector and Suna jacket, an ordinary looking man.

"I know the answer." The red head looked at the examiner with the same indifferent, dreamy look he gave everyone (except Hatsue, he didn't know but unconsciously his eyes light up when seeing her or mentioning her).

"Any other brats got an answer?" the man asked, loud enough to quiet down the entire room. "No? Okay, brat. Let's hear it then."

"Nana is the murderer." Sasori answered.

"Idiot. She was hiding during the time of murder." A student shouted.

Sasori glared at the source. "How would you know she was hiding? Were you there?"

That shut the others up which made the examiner curious and amused with the red head. "What made you come to that conclusion?"

"Specific information, there were only two specific information in the riddle: the numbers 141141 and the name Nana. In the alphabet, the 14th number in the alphabet is the letter N and the first letter is A. N-A-N-A. Nana." He answered as if to say that was the most obvious thing to conclude. "Afterwards, everything makes sense why she was scared when the officer told her they had a suspect and why she laughed at the end because the officer said man meaning their suspect wasn't her."

"What about the part she was hiding in the closet during the time of murder, stupid?" Another rude remark from the same source.

Sasori replied in irritation, "That detail was meant to misled. But if it happened in reality, she must have staged herself hiding in the closet."

clap. clap. clap.

"Well dumb brats, it seems only one of you who actually knows how to think and for this he's free to proceed the practical exam." The examiner laughed. "Brat, your name?"

"Sasori." He replied, already bored. He wonders how his friend was doing, grandma Chiyo told him Hatsue was going to take a special exam.

"Sasori, you will be one heck of a shinobi, one day."

Hatsue nervously tucked a hair behind her ear as she made herself presentable. Chiyo had told her she can be exempted from the general Chunin exams if she showed the Kazekage what she can do. What did grandma Chiyo mean? Her paintings? She knows the Kazekage was an important figure, some even say he was the most powerful Kazekage ever yet. It is an honor to even meet the Kazekage and she couldn't help but twist her robes in nervousness. She wished Sasori was there with her, maybe looking into his grey eyes could help him calm down.

Hatsue, holding onto Chiyo's left hand, went inside a large, round, sandy coloured building with several rows of windows, the kanji for "wind" (風, kaze) painted on the side of the building in a circle. The top of the building is flat and tiled. When they reached the Kazekage's office, it smelled like the sand which found the girl disappointed, she expected there was a special fragrance since this is the Kazekage's office. She felt a squeeze on her hand which caused her to stay alert and attentive as a tall man wearing the Kazekage attire and a Kazekage hat, turned around and she felt it was funny since the man was covered everywhere except the eyes. The Kazekage's eyes were yellow and they were upturned, wide-set, narrow eyes; it reminded her of the eyes of a stray black cat that frequents her room, disregarding the narrowness of the Kazekage's eyes since cats always have wide eyes that seemed to look into you.

"You are the little girl Elder Chiyo told the council about?" the Kazekage asked, staring at her and she shies away from the eye contact.

She lets go of the old woman's hand, tugged her robes down, wrinkling them in the process. Was she in trouble? She looked at the ground while answering, "I may or may not be. That depends on what grandma Chiyo told you about."

The Kazekage raised a brow at the girl. Such cheek. He also turned to look at the elder, dubious at the fact that this elder was never one to be called affectionately by anybody. "Elder Chiyo has told me that she made you perform hand seals. Do it again infront of me."

The girl pouted and said, quite bossily. "Say please."

"Forgive her, Sandaime." Chiyo hurriedly bowed and turned to correct Hatsue however, she was halted by the wave of the Kazekage's hand.

"Her manners will get better, she is still young." The Kazekage looked at the girl and asked, "How old are you?"

"Eight years old." She answered. What manners? He can't even say please.

"Will you please perform what Elder Chiyo taught you?" He asked her again, but it still sounded off. Though the words were a request, the tone held command.

"Okay since you ask nicely." The girl said comically which made the Kazekage smile but they couldn't see that. Hatsue did the hand seals confidently, she was practicing at home ever since she learned it. Her hand started to glow and a tiny orb of chakra came out of her palms. After a few seconds it flickered out.

"I can't hold it for more than a minute." She apologized. "I only started two days ago."

"She is only eight and has only learned medical ninjutsu just before the exams?" The Kazekage's displayed a stoic expression.

"Yes, Sandaime." Chiyo nodded, solemnly. At the adults' seriousness, Hatsue misinterpreted it as condescension so she butted in saying,

"I will get better!"

The two looked at her with an odd expression and the Kazekage said that no doubt she will. He stared at the little girl, studied her for a long while. If this girl learned to be the best medical-nin then the war against the Leaf Village would ensure less casualties. They had found a gem who needed a little polish, fortunately Chiyo discovered her talent, if not, she would've been cannon fodder in the exams. Judging by the looks of the little girl, she wasn't a killer, maybe not yet, but one day she will if the war continues. Those wide brown eyes are a dead give-away to her softness. He wonders if there comes a time those eyes would close and look away from the killing. For now, she had to be excellent.

"When you see me, greet me as your Sandaime. Report here directly to me every 8:00 am of the morning." He instructed.

"Sandaime, you don't mean?" Chiyo asked, not finishing her question.

"She'll be my student." He answered.

At the words, Hatsue and the old woman were shocked. "Pardon, Sandaime but you are not a medical-nin?"

"Yes, but I can teach her better chakra control. That is the most important factor for a medical-nin, is it not?."

"But you can't be my teacher!" Hatsue protested.

Why was this girl protesting? Even if she does not like it, she still have to do it.

"I'm sorry Sandaime but you look like a teru teru bōzu!" She blurted out.

"Shiny baldy- what?" The Kazekage looked affronted. (A's note: teru teru bozu when translated to english means shine shine monk or shiny baldyhead)

"Hatsue!" Chiyo scolded but couldn't really.

The brunette crouched down and took out a paint and a paint brush from her robes pockets and began to draw on the floor. The drawing turned out to be a ghost doll. "Teru teru bozu is a doll made of cloth hung by a string and they were used as a charm to prevent the rain. It looks like you, really." Hatsue explained proudly.

While Chiyo was apalled at her, the girl just vandalized the Kazekage's office.

There was a sudden chill in the air which was phenomenon since they were in the desert. Hatsue and Chiyo felt a cold sweat on their forehead. The Kazekage suddenly turned around and began shaking, frightening the girl and the elder.

"Sandaime, forgive the child she is young and naive." Elder Chiyo tried placating the Kazekage.

"Kuh!" A sound broke out and the next moments brought out a sigh of relief and amusement at the Kazekage's expense. He was barely trying to hold himself up trying to reign in his roar of laughter muffled because of the cloth covering half of his face. Hatsue asks what made him laugh which resulted into more laughing that also infected the old woman.

When they calmed down the Kazekage said with eyes full of mirth, "Maybe that's why Suna is a desert, because of the Kazekage's attire. We have been a living teru teru bozu preventing rain for generations."

This earned him a sweet smile from the girl. "I've never thought of that before."

The Kazekage then turned serious. "Since you've vandalized my office you will be punished through community service and your community service is to serve as my student."

Hatsue frowned at that and looked at the floor, frankly, the office looked interesting this way but she nodded anyway and accepted her fate. She was now a student of the Third Kazekage.

It had been 11 days since they last saw each other. That's how long the exams took. He had passed the exams. The relief Sasori saw in his grandma's eyes was palpable and he should like to say that he had been proud. Stone faced, he let his grandma hug him. He tried to summon that. Pride. A small corner of his lips curled, in an instant he stopped himself.

"And make friends okay? Kami knows you need friends."

Hatsue. At the thought of her, he felt a sense of shame. She was his first friend and will always have a special place in his heart. He wanted to refute her back then at the absurdity of her words and yet… he did make friends. A handful of them.

"Grandma, where's Hatsue?"

"She's at Sandaime's office. She's his student now, learning chakra control with him. She's going to be a medical-nin." Chiyo stood up and held his hand as they walked, past the clay structures they call buildings. "We're just in time to pick her up, her parents asked me this morning."

"Ah." He nodded, understanding.

When they arrived at the office, he had a glimpse of the change in her demeanor. Her back ramrod straight attentive while holding a stack of papers handed to her by the Sandaime. She was so still when Sandaime was talking to her, she almost felt foreign to him until they went inside and she saw him.

"Grandma Chiyo!" She greeted with a happy grin. "Sasori." Striding towards him, she looked at him from head to toe. "I see you passed."

Without any change in his expression, he wondered if she knows but she still looked at him the same. Hatsue turned towards her teacher asked to be excused. She sounded grown up almost. A funny sense tickled him seeing her act differently. She seemed tamed.

"Let me just file these papers then we can walk home."

They watched her go through the papers one by one and sort them in folders then stack them on shelves. "Now hug me!" She spread her arms towards him childishly. She didn't change that much. He wouldn't be Sasori if he walked towards her so he waited instead. Delight was what he felt when Hatsue wrapped her arms around him. Soft cheeks brushed against his. He hugged her back, feeling his heart slowdown in her embrace.

"Ahem."

They both broke away and looked at their audience. Hatsue had the sense to be embarrassed.

After that weeks had by, Sasori got a job with his grandma, researching deadly poisons and antidotes while Hatsue continued being a student however, they can be deployed in any needed moment as the war goes on. The citizens tried to act as normal, but with the rationing and the curfew it was hard to act like war wasn't happening outside Suna's boundary.

They were walking home as usual and the puppetmaster looked at his brown haired friend. Every sunshine of a smile she gave him reminded him of the friends he made back at the exam. He went downstairs to his workshop with another painting he received from Hatsue. He examined the painting. Another thought provoking art she made. She drew shurikens, flower-like, on branches spreading into a shape of 平和. Heiwa. Peace.

"It's funny how people wants peace but has to go to war to achieve it. What does it say about us humans?"

Sometimes he stares at her for too long and was glad she didn't participate in the exams. He closed his eyes and reminisced the feeling of gutting others precisely and carefully, just one strike to kill was desirable for intact parts. If someone lost a limb, could he build a wooden one for him? It took him eleven days to finish exam, he was having the time of his life, learning about techniques and since he had to kill everyone why not, try and gain something from it?

Every time he stared at her, he sees bloodied mouths of the people he killed, of the new puppets he made, the new friends he made.

Was he weird? He didn't think so. Hatsue would understand. She was his friend. Surely she had the morbid curiosity of looking at his innards just like he wonders about hers. And yet, he liked her alive, her pulse quickening when he held her wrist, her breath soft and slow when she's healing him.

Something broke him that day at the exams. Or changed him. Or maybe he was long broken when his parents failed to come home.

He took out some spare wood, this time just simple to emphasize the shape of the branches. Peace. And when Chiyo went down to check on him, and saw Hatsue's artwork, an intangible feeling clasped Sasori.

Here was a painting of peace on his wall made by the girl that could save his sanity, said painting is hung inside the room where he made his puppets, weapons for war, of people he killed, acts of violence that contradicts her belief.

As Chiyo turned her back on him to leave, his eyes darkened at the question in his mind.

Grandma, what have you done to me?

(A's note: Well i dont wanna jinx myself so imma shut up. Anyways if you didn't know, Chiyo and Ebizo were council members and it was hinted that they had made cruel decisions for the sake of winning the war against Konoha. Please leave a review. I'm sleep deprived. Thanks for reading.)