The scent of flowers tickles my nose. Who found fresh flowers in Sunagakure? I open my eyes to a soft sunlight illuminating the room from the window. Curtains sway in the breeze. This is about all I notice in my hazy, drowsy state before I hear Ren whisper good morning to me. My eyes shift to to blurry figures at the end of my bed. My vision comes into focus and I see Ren and Suzaku staring at me tensely.
"Good morning…" I whisper back, struggling to use my coarse voice.
"Oh thank goodness you're awake! We were so worried!" Ren rushes to give me a bear hug.
"H-how long was I out for?" I swallow. My voice is louder now.
"About a week. The doctors weren't familiar with the poison in yours and Suza's bloodstream, so they had to come up with an antidote on the spot. But… you had an allergic reaction to that so they had to find something to calm your immune system AND release the poison." Ren informs me.
I ignore her and look over at Suza, awkwardly holding a bouquet of sunset tulips.
"Where did he go?!" I hiss. His gaze shifts to the floor for a split second and he brushes the back of his neck with his palm.
"I don't know… I barely remember what happened. One second I'm on my way to train with you guys, then some guy attacks me outta the blue. I didn't even have time to fight him back before I was knocked out cold. Next thing I knew I was in the hospital."
I narrow my eyes at him. He's not saying something. Why would he be coming from the south of the training grounds to train with us and not from the village entrance…? He keeps his palm on his neck and walks over to my bedside table, placing the tulips gently down.
"Anyways, you're safe now. Once you recover completely you and Ren can embarrass yourselves by attempting that lame-o taijutsu technique on me." He smirks and and lifts his chin up arrogantly, changing the subject.
Ren and I roll our eyes and I tear the covers off of me and try to stand. The room wobbles a bit as I scan for my clothes. My eyes wander to the flowers on the table and a slight movement shifting within them. I lean closer to see a scorpion, yellow and still, nearly blending in with the tulips. I gasp.
"What- what is it?!" Ren runs over to my side and Suza follows, both leaning closely and examining the insect.
"It's a death stalker," Suza says matter-of-factly.
I felt its eyes on me as it stood their nearly lifeless.
Ren snatches the bouquet and runs to the window, hurling them out as if she's been wanting to do that for some time. The corners of her mouth are slightly lifted and there's a gleam in her eyes. Suza looks pretty pissed but I can't help but giggle a bit. She walks back towards us, slapping her hands together.
"All better! Now how about we get out of this shit hole?" She says with a punch.
After we leave the "shit hole" we wander around the village. The warmth of the sunlight soothes my skin after being trapped inside for so long. Ren just complains about the heat and insists that me and Suza head over to her place. Usually everyone hangs out at Ren's; it's just more fun there.
"Actually, I'm going to head home and check in with my Aunt." I say. Aunt Tsukiko might freak out if she finds out I checked out of the hospital and disappeared.
Suza, having the short attention span that he does, ignores Ren and me as he hollers to a group of girls he knows from god knows where and rushes over to them.
Ren ignores him and says her goodbyes to me before heading towards her house in the northwest district of the village. Suza still isn't paying attention so I just leave, making my way through the centre marketplace, heading southeast. The market is always busy at this hour, as it usually is between noon and the afternoon.
As I wander the crowd, I space out think of Sasori. That asshat…he's got to live somewhere around here. But god, the village is so huge, the chances of me finding him again are slim. Something slams into me and jolts me back to reality. I look down to see a small kid who is already kneeling on the ground apologising. I lean over and assure him that everything is fine and that I won't use him for target practice. Well, apparently that'a not the right thing to say to a kid because he just looks up at me terrified before darting off into the abyss of the crowd. I just hope he won't get his mother to harass me. Just then, I notice a tall, red headed figure shifting through the crowd.
"Sasori." I mutter, gritting my teeth before racing in his direction. I dance through the mass of Suna shoppers. I'm so determined to reach him that I push anyone out of my way. Most of the time that ended up with me getting knocked around. I try to stay on my toes so I can keep my eye on him, but my height is not in my favor right now. I leap into an alley and climb a tower of crates full of sake bottles. The tower shakes and wobbles threateningly before I launch myself to the top of the roof. I fly across one building to another, keeping close enough to the edge so I can keep track of Sasori's sandy head swiftly pacing through the crowd, as if he's distracted.
I pant, having crossed at least ten buildings by now. The distance between us closes gradually and I prepare my sai blades to launch down to him. "Hahaha, I've got you now you bastard," I snicker. I bend my knees and leap about one foot into the air before the wind suddenly shifts and I slam onto the ground towards the other end of the roof, my sai blades slipping from my grasp.
"Excuse me, I was just on my way out of the village if you don't mind," a melodious an feminine voice taunts. I reach for my blades and return to my feet to see the stranger before me; her face is covered with a thin veil, the kind of fabric that only the village hidden in the cloud wears. A cloud ninja had no business here. I rush toward her with my sai blades in position. She reaches for a crescent shaped katana and meets my attack, clanging her sword against mine with equal force. She's surprisingly strong and my feet slide against the concrete.
"If you'll be a good little girl and let me pass, it'd be a shame to get blood on my clothes," she wines annoyingly.
I'm feeling nervous now and too focused on trying to keep my swords locked with hers to entertain her with small-talk. I'm actually not sure if I can beat this bitch. I'm still not fully recovered from the poison incident. I only impulsively ran after Sasori because I wasn't sure if I'd get another chance.
I decide to make the next move and perform a substitution jutsu and teleport right behind her. She spins around and slices the air with her katana several times, forcing me to back up towards the edge near the market.
I look nervously over the ledge and quickly back at her, preparing my sai blades once again. She's got the advantage on me right now.
"Why are you here!?" I ask with hostility.
"For me to know and you to guess!" She rushes toward me, pointing her katana at my heart. I prepare to block her before she suddenly releasing the katana and drops down, sliding her leg across the pavement with a powerful force, knocking the feet out from under me. I lose my balance but can manage to stay on the roof until I feel a slight shove to my collar bone, sending me soaring over the building ledge. The wind is rushing past my ears as I'm falling from at least five stories. Suddenly, everything is still and I'm floating in mid air. Shocked, I watch Sasori clench his fist tightly and yank up on the chakra strings that had kept me from a very messy death. He lifted me back onto the roof and I felt the heavenly strings disappear. "Stay out of the way!" Sasori yells as he turns to run after the Cloud Nin. His clothes billowed as he raced after the Cloud spy with incredible speed.
"The hell I will!" I shout, snatching up my sai blades and trailing after the two figures as they dash away toward the south cliff entrance.