Sasori of the Red Sand hated to be kept waiting. He always showed up precisely half an hour before the scheduled meeting time to avoid keeping whoever he was meeting with waiting, and if someone was more than a few minutes late he'd leave. Naruto had found that out the hard way on more than a few occasions, when Sasori had promised him training but Naruto had shown up late. It went to show that whoever knew him well knew not to keep him waiting, and the person he was meeting with today knew him better than anyone.
She came shuffling over the hot sand in that old-frail-woman shuffle she could pull off better than women who were actually decrepit. Her face was spotted and wrinkled with age, and her hair had faded into a lighter of shade gray, but there was no hiding the craftiness of her eyes. Age may have dulled her appearance, but it certainly hadn't dulled her mind.
"Sasori," she breathed out as she came to stand within a few feet of him. "I'm here."
Her voice said more than words could, and Sasori had to look away for a second. I'm here meant she'd shown up fifteen minutes early because she knew he'd spent his whole life waiting and he couldn't bear to wait for anyone else. I'm here meant she had come specifically for him, and she was there for him even if no one else was. I'm here was a lie, because if she'd really been there for him she would've given him what he needed all those years ago—closure.
"So I see," Sasori said coolly, glad for the puppet body that didn't betray him the way a real body did. There were no sweats, trembles, or tears; there was only a quietness where once his body had been a noisy machine. He wasn't human, so he felt nothing.
"Every time I see you," Chiyo began, her eyes tearing up. "Every time, I can barely believe you're real, that you actually came back to me."
"I didn't come back to you," Sasori said disdainfully, turning his nose up at her. "I came back for the medicine. The fact that you and I no longer share a bond hasn't changed."
Chiyo opened her mouth as if to protest, then let out a long, world-weary sigh, bowing her head.
"I can understand if you can't forgive me, Sasori," she murmured. "You have every right to be angry with this old woman. I'm only happy you've found friends you're willing to talk to me for. As a child, you never had anyone besides your puppets. The fact that you've found human friends—"
"I don't need your monologue on my life, old lady," Sasori interrupted smoothly. "I've got places to be, people I don't want to keep waiting. Do you have the medicine or not?"
Chiyo took a vial that matched the one Itachi had emptied from the sleeve of her cloak, looking sadly at the potent liquid within. It was never a big vial and the amount in it was always the same, but lately it had been getting darker and darker. Sasori accepted the vial without comment, but the ghost of a grimace crossed his face.
"To take something this potent, I'd estimate your friend has a few years at best—and that's without exertion," Chiyo said. She hesitated, then added, "It's not that boy I healed a few years ago, is it?"
"No," Sasori said shortly, tucking the vial into his own sleeve and turning to leave. He liked to keep visits with his grandmother to a minimum, because she always seemed to have some clever remark for him about how he was making a mistake with his life. He was almost waiting for her to try and get the last word in as his sandals ate up the scorching sand. She did, but her words were most unexpected.
"No matter who it is, if they're important to you, I'll do anything in my power to help them," Chiyo said to his back. Her voice carried a grave weight to it, and Sasori froze. "Ask me, Sasori."
Sasori knew what she meant when she said anything in her power. She'd discovered a new jutsu, a jutsu that could trade one life for another. The fact that she was willing to use it, to go so far for him… it angered him beyond belief. Ask her? The notion was absolutely ridiculous, to put himself into the old lady's debt again. Likely she wanted him to ask so she could trap him in some sort of deal that would benefit her own agenda.
"You must think I'm truly an idiot," Sasori laughed quietly, shaking his head. "Ask you for help? You want me to bow my head to you like some sort of subservient little boy? Ridiculous. Listen well, old woman; I will never, ever bow my head to you, as long as I live. Forget who you think I am, because that boy is gone. I am Sasori of the Red Sand, and I bow to no one."
Before she could get another word in, Sasori spun and strode away, black and red cloak billowing behind him. He didn't see Chiyo's wistful, miserable look at his back, or the tears that streaked down her age-ridden face.
On Tazuna's deck, Sakura could barely sit still waiting for Sasuke to get back from the arduous amount of training he was putting in. Her girlish crush had faded, but now she was worried as a teammate who had just put her life on the line side by side with him. She paced back and forth across the deck like a caged tiger, clenching and unclenching her fists.
"When he gets back, I'm gunna kill him for making me worry," Sakura snarled, resisting the urge to punch something. She wanted to go check on him, but Kakashi had advised against it and she knew her worry wouldn't be welcome.
"That's rather counterproductive," Sai said from beside her, where he sat inking monsters back into the scrolls he'd used up. He'd been fairly silent for most of the day, and seemed more absorbed in his painting now that Sasuke wasn't around for him to watch. Since she'd started paying more attention to people other than Sasuke, Sakura had noticed that Sai watched Sasuke a lot. She'd at first wondered if it was some sort of boy-crush-rivalry thing, but Sai always grew absolutely still when watching Sasuke, as if he were a predator studying a prey's habits. It was insanely creepy.
"It's a figure of speech," Sakura muttered, squinting down at Sai suspiciously. "But most people would know that. I don't think I ever asked you this before, but maybe I should've. Sai… where did you come from?"
Sai paused from his painting, his brush hovering just above the scroll.
"Oh, so you've noticed, have you? That I don't have parents and a normal home like other kids? Actually, I'm not surprised it took you this long—you're always too busy watching Sasuke to notice anyone else."
Sakura had to take several deep breaths to calm down and remind herself that Sai actually didn't seem to realize the things he said were rude. She let what he said slip by, then stopped her pacing to take a seat beside him, studying him closely. Everything about him seemed so put-on, like everything from his mannerisms to his emotional responses had been drilled into his body. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he was a robot or something equally as soulless. The only thing that kept her from thinking that way was the way he painted. If there was no soul in his expression, there was at least some passion in his painting.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Sakura asked as Sai kept painting. He reached up to push a lock of hair from his face, smudging ink across his nose. It was such an absentminded gesture that Sakura had to laugh, and Sai paused in his painting to look at her with mild surprise.
"You smudged ink on your nose," Sakura said, reaching into her pouch to pull out a handkerchief. Before he could ask what she meant to do with it, she reached up and wiped the ink from his nose gently, shaking her head playfully. Sai's mild surprise turned into real surprise as she tucked her handkerchief away.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, tilting his head to the side as if he didn't understand. "Have you fallen in love with me now that you're over Sasuke?"
There was a long pause, then the sound of gurgled screams could be heard as Sakura put Sai in a stranglehold. After a brief struggle, Sai gave up, slumping, and Sakura released him with a snort. As he recovered, he was silent, but Sakura could still see that he didn't understand. She sighed, crossing her arms.
"Sai, have you ever had a friend?" Sakura asked. He blinked, then his eyes grew unfocused for a second, as if remembering something he'd forgotten long ago. She wondered if he understood finally, but then his eyes came back and he shook his head, troubled. It was the first time she'd seen him think so hard about something without offering empty words and a false smile. Seeing him actually try gave her real hope.
"Well, you're going to have two now. I don't care what Sasuke says—the three of us are teammates, and if we're going to be risking our lives for each other, we should be friends."
"But won't friendship interfere with our mission?" Sai asked, genuinely puzzled. "If we're emotionally attached to each other, we could end up making bad decisions based on our feelings. For example, if we had to choose between saving the village or saving a friend, it could lead to us making the wrong decision based on emotion instead of logic."
It was the longest true conversation Sakura had ever had with Sai, and she had to admit that she was disgusted. She couldn't understand how anyone could think like that; as if having emotions and bonds made a person weak. She certainly didn't agree, although she finally felt like she understood Sai a little better.
"You're wrong," Sakura said, and before Sai could protest, she forged on. "Bonds don't make people weak—they make people stronger than ever. If someone was put in a situation like that, I think their bond would make them strong enough to save the village and their friend. When you have someone you care about, you can go beyond your normal limits."
"That makes no sense," Sai sighed. "There's no way that's true. You just haven't been on enough missions to see how wrong that is."
"And you have?" Sakura challenged, standing up and stretching. "I don't know what you grew up on, but I grew up on stories about the strongest, most incredible ninjas in history. Do you know what they all have in common? Bonds. Friends who they've endured things beyond human capacity for. I think if we live long enough, my point will prove itself."
"That's—"
"We've only been here one day, and you're already arguing? God, you're both annoying."
A familiar voice cut through Sakura and Sai's discussion, and Sakura felt her heart lighten in relief as Sasuke made his way over to them, his hands in his pockets, with a self-satisfied smirk. Everything was as it should be now, except…
"Here I thought you were training, and it turns out all this time you've been swimming," Sai chuckled. It was true—Sasuke was completely soaked, damp hair shoved back messily and water dripping from every crease in his clothes. It looked oddly like he'd tried to take a bath with his clothes on, and Sakura wondered if he'd finally completely lost it. But his smirk never faded at Sai's comment, and he shrugged noncommittally.
"You're right, I did do a little swimming. You should try it sometime. It's… enlightening," Sasuke said, a low laugh escaping his lips as if he were making a joke. Sakura didn't get it—was this the same boy she'd left frustrated at the base of a tree earlier today? His confidence and dignity levels had been completely restored, as if he'd somehow discovered something incredible about himself. Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion and Sai did the same, but Sasuke shrugged their looks off and went inside.
"We need to find out what happened," Sai said quietly, his eyes tracking Sasuke's dripping form into the house. Sakura found herself nodding along, then had to hold back a small laugh. Her and Sai were now conspiring together while Sasuke was keeping some mysterious secret to himself. What was the world coming to?
The next morning, Sasuke woke earlier than everyone else to silently slip out of the house. He pictured in his mind the way Kakashi had taken them to get to the trees, then followed it as close as he could. His feet crunched over dry twigs and leaves as he walked, scaring animals away. The loud cracking soon became the only thing he could hear as even the birds fell silent, wondering if chirping would get them eaten. He paused, waiting for the wildlife to begin making sounds again, but it remained strangely quiet. It had been like this during his training yesterday—quiet. He wondered if it had anything to do with him.
He was the boy Sasuke had met at the lake yesterday, who'd glared him down until Sasuke had finally shaken his head, unable to find anything to say. Luckily, the stranger hadn't actually been too mad; he'd laughed and told Sasuke afterwards that he was joking. Then he'd asked excitedly what Sasuke was doing, if he was training, what kind of training he was doing. He'd asked a lot of other rapid-fire questions too, but those three were the only ones Sasuke managed to answer.
"Huh? Climbing trees using chakra control?" the kid had asked, wrinkling his nose as if Sasuke had just suggested he was learning how to skin cats or something equally as offensive. "Boring. That's boring as hell, I gotta tell you. But hey, listen, there is something interesting you can do with chakra control!"
Sasuke had politely—or maybe not so politely—asked the kid to put some clothes on first, because the funny-looking seal on the kid's stomach was exceptionally distracting. After dressing in front of Sasuke completely shamelessly, the kid had demonstrated the interesting technique he was talking about. Actually, it was something Sasuke had seen when Kakashi had fought Zabuza, but he hadn't really thought about it until then. It was walking on water.
After seeing that, Sasuke had to learn it, and he'd spent the entire day being trained by someone who was probably his age. He didn't even know the kid's name; he'd asked but the kid had said it was a secret. By the end of the day, his head was spinning with the knowledge and tips he'd learned, and they'd agreed to meet back at the lake to continue the training later.
Now he was approaching the lake, but it turned out his new trainer wasn't alone. Crouched beside him was a girl prettier than any of the women Sasuke had seen in the Leaf Village, her head cocked to one side as she spoke. Usually, Sasuke had more morals when it came to eavesdropping, but he couldn't help but be curious about the scene in front of him. He knew next to nothing about the kid who was teaching him, and maybe this would help him learn something. He concealed his presence and crept up to a large oak near the lake, listening intently.
"I see. That's quite an interesting dream. And do you have anyone who's precious to you?" the girl was asking, her lips parted curiously. Sasuke's trainer grew solemn, nodding.
"Of course," he said, blue eyes bright with an emotion Sasuke couldn't place. "I have more than one person."
"Can I ask you something strange, then?" the girl asked, conflict written on her features. "Would you kill for them?"
"I would die for them," the kid answered hesitantly. "But that's not what you're asking, is it?"
The girl shook her head, leaning forward as if hanging on the kid's every word. The kid reached out and tugged a handful of grass from the ground near him, opening his palm and looking at the fresh green blades.
"When there's no other choice, I'll do what they need me to do," the kid whispered. Only the absence of any animal sounds allowed it to carry to where Sasuke sat. The kid's words made Sasuke stiffen up. He hadn't said if, he'd said when. It was like he expected to be asked to kill for the people he loved. Sasuke couldn't imagine anyone asking someone they loved to kill someone else, knowing it would hurt the person who loved them.
"Only what they need you to do?" the girl asked, and Sasuke cursed himself for his vantage point; he could only see his trainer's back so he couldn't make out his expression. Whatever it was, it seemed to be the correct answer, because the girl nodded as if she understood then turned to go. Halfway toward the trees, she turned and smiled as if amused.
"By the way… I'm a boy," she—he said, and Sasuke's blonde trainer made a shocked sound. Sasuke himself stared, wondering how it was possible for a boy to be that pretty. If that boy was in a lineup of girls, Sasuke would sooner guess that Sakura was a boy than the raven-haired beauty. He shook his head; some things were beyond his comprehension.
When the boy finally left, Sasuke waited another few minutes before leaving the tree and revealing his presence. His trainer turned, giving a huge, overenthusiastic wave. It was kind of unusual, the fact that Sasuke didn't find his trainer as annoying as other people who were that eager. Maybe it was because Sasuke could see a darkness lurking deep in those light eyes, and he couldn't help but admire how easy the blonde made happiness look.
"Sasuke, you actually showed up! Ahh, I can't believe it, I'm so excited I get to train with you again! I usually don't train with people my age, especially—"
There it was again. The kid started these crazy rants about he was so glad he could work with Sasuke, but he seemed to be holding back something he wanted to say. He'd pause, his smile frozen on his face, and the eyes that usually resembled the overhead clear sky suddenly looked like hard bits of sapphire.
"Well, anyway," the kid said, losing some of his exuberance. "Let's get started already."
They spent the rest of the morning together, the blonde demonstrating his own technique and letting Sasuke practice. He wasn't the greatest teacher in the world—when explaining things, he'd make a lot of hand movements and weird sounds, but he didn't seem to know half of the words involved with the technique he was teaching Sasuke. Still, he knew chakra control. By midafternoon, Sasuke was walking on water, albeit wobbly.
"Told you you'd have it by lunchtime," the kid said proudly, as if he was the one who had just accomplished something.
"Shut up with your predictions," Sasuke muttered, but there was no bite to it. The technique he'd mastered because of this kid was a hundred times more advanced than the easy tree climbing Kakashi had shown Sakura and Sai. In fact, after he'd mastered staying upright while the water lapped at his ankles, his trainer had told him to go ahead and try the tree technique once. Sasuke had been skeptical, but he'd tried it. And found that it was just as basic and boring as his instructor had been saying all along.
"If you learn to control it really well, you can use it in different parts of your body to make them stronger, too," his trainer told him. "Eventually, you can even do something like…"
The tiny blonde focused on his fist, staring at it intensely as if waiting for something to happen. Sasuke didn't notice any visible changes, but when the kid punched one of the massive oaks near the lake he made a hole nearly big enough for Sasuke to crawl into. Sasuke gaped at the hole, looking from it to the little grinning kid and back again.
"Some people can take down the entire tree, but for me it's impossible," the kid said, letting out a huge sigh and spreading his arms, falling onto his back to look up at the sky. "I have too much chakra to ever really master it that tiny. I don't think I'll be able to control more than two puppets, too."
"Puppets?" Sasuke asked, taking a seat beside his trainer after a moment's hesitation. They'd kept a relatively businesslike tone the entire time they'd been training, trading only light banter and every now then. Still, Sasuke couldn't help but admire the person laying beside him, who had somehow managed to gain strength beyond his years. Sasuke had asked how he'd been able to do that, too, but the kid had shaken his head and held a finger up to his lips.
"What's with your nails and hands, anyway?" Sasuke asked, finally remembering the question that had been bugging him all day. The kid blinked as if he'd forgotten there was anything off about them, then flipped his hand over and held it out to the sky, looking at the back of it.
"Where I live, we all paint our nails different," the kid said, his gaze going far away. "We do a lot of missions, so if anything ever happens and one of us is… well, if the only thing we find is an arm or hand, we'll be able to identify who it belonged to."
Sasuke wondered if it was supposed to be a joke, but the kid wasn't laughing.
"And I wrap my hands up because I break my fingers a lot. If I train too much…" he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, and Sasuke had to wonder if this was what true strength looked like. Someone who went prepared with a way to be identified by their comrades because they walked hand-in-hand with death, someone who trained until pieces of their body were broken. If so, Sasuke definitely wasn't doing it right.
"You're so far beyond me even though you're a total idiot," Sasuke breathed, gingerly easing himself until he was laying beside the kid. He studied the sky, watching clouds drift lazily across the blue, marring it only for a second before they moved on. "How is it possible to be so strong?"
"How do you think?" the kid asked, putting his hand down and closing his eyes. Now that he wasn't looking at Sasuke, Sasuke could look at him. He studied the kid's face, noting tension and lines of grief in the places most kids had lines of happiness and relaxation. Behind his lids, his eyes were moving as if watching a scene, and despite being as strong as he was, there was something about him that looked… delicate. As if he were carrying a burden that was nearly breaking him.
"Hatred," Sasuke said. "Revenge, things like that."
Blue eyes snapped open and met Sasuke's to glare at him. The kid sat up, crossing his arms, and after a moment, Sasuke followed suit, wondering what he'd said that was wrong.
"The answer is C, none of the above," the kid said sullenly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Sasuke mocked, one because his trainer was easy to make of fun, and two because talking about such a heavy topic with someone who was basically a stranger was beginning to feel awkward.
"Agh, this is serious, though!" his trainer yelled, digging his fingers into his golden locks and pouting. "If you think that's how to get strong, you'll never, ever become stronger! Don't you get it?"
"What I don't get it is the fact that there's something you get that I don't," Sasuke muttered.
"I… I don't get what you mean," his trainer said, looking between both hands and muttering Sasuke's sentence to himself, counting something off his fingers. Making this idiot so powerful must've been the universe's idea of a joke.
"Anyway! What I'm trying to say is that it's the opposite. What makes you strong isn't hatred or revenge. It's love. If you have someone or something you want to protect, it forces you to be better. I'm this good because every time I think of something happening to my important people, I have to work harder. Every time a finger breaks, I think it's a small sacrifice compared to one of them getting hurt. Every time I think I'm going to die, I think 'at least it's me and not them.' Without them, I would've given up a long, long time ago!"
At the words, something inside of Sasuke came to stuttering halt. He'd been training the entire time for the sole purpose of besting Itachi, but what if he'd had to train with an entire world of dangers in mind? What if he'd had to train thinking that someday he'd need to fight Zabuza, Kaze, or even someone as strong as the Third because someone that strong could be a threat to someone he cared about? Would he have changed his training because of that?
The overwhelming answer that came to him was yes. Everything he did, he did because he could use it against Itachi. He disregarded anything he thought Itachi would be able to repel, with the Sharingan or one of his other Uchiha techniques. He had closed hundreds of paths for the sole reason of killing his brother, but what if he'd pursued them all in case he needed to use them against someone else?
"Do you have any important people?" his trainer asked, oblivious to his inner turmoil.
From what felt like a very far place, Sasuke said, "No."
He had Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi, but right then they weren't so important that he'd dedicate his life to finding ways to protect them. He knew now that he'd made a mistake. If he trained only to kill Itachi, he'd never become strong enough to overcome the hurdles of even getting to his brother.
"Then…" a voice from far away said. "Pretend it's me."
Sasuke came back to himself all at once, focusing on his trainer's voice as if it were an anchor. The kid had his arms wrapped around his knees, looking out over the water, his painted nails tapping against the rough fabric of his dark pants.
"What?" Sasuke asked, not quite sure he'd heard right.
"Until you find someone important to you, pretend I'm your important person."
Sasuke couldn't comprehend what that was supposed to mean. Pretend this kid he barely knew was someone important enough to live for?
"If you do, I guarantee you'll get strong," his trainer told him, standing up and brushing loose grass from his pants. "Because you have to be stronger than your important person if you wanna protect them, right?"
"Or I could just make you my rival," Sasuke pointed out, and his trainer tripped and fell on his face in shock.
"I—I didn't think of that," the kid spoke into the ground, banging his forehead in the dirt. "It's so obvious too. Shitfuck."
In spite of himself, Sasuke couldn't help a snort of laughter from making its way out of his mouth. It was so funny, that this kid seemed so innocent and naïve when it came to certain things, but swore all the time. And most of the curse words didn't even make sense—they were combinations of curse words. Yeah, Sasuke felt like he'd be able to surpass this idiot eventually.
"W-well," the kid said, finally dragging himself from the ground and trying to pick his dignity up. "I have to go, but I'm sure we'll meet again. I mean, you're from Konoha and I'm visiting there, so…"
"If you're visiting Konoha, why are you in the Land of the Waves?" Sasuke asked, now completely baffled.
"Huh? The Land of Who? Aren't I just outside of Konoha?"
"Just outside?" Sasuke choked. "Where do you think you are? You're a five days' walk from the village, idiot! Across the sea! Did you not notice yourself crossing the sea?"
"F-five days… Five days?! No way! I mean, I know I wasn't paying close attention but there's no way I got that turned around! I was only an hour away a few days ago! How—Ahh! Fuckdamn!"
After letting out a scream, Sasuke's mysterious trainer turned and ran into the woods without so much as a goodbye. Sasuke frowned after him, then pressed the heel of his hand into his mouth. It wasn't much help though—the laugh bubbled up from the depths of his stomach and started coming out his nose until he removed his hand and had to lay there laughing, helplessly clutching his sides every time he remembered the utterly stunned look on the blonde kid's face.
