I've finally finished this chapter. obviously since i'm posting it. From here the event in the story won't follow the anime. for those of you who care i have absolutely no intention of having the akatsuki extract Shukaku from Gaara. I cried during that episode and i don't think i can wright it. Sorry it's just too depressing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and unfortunately I never will (sighs) very unfortunate

Ch. 13: The Beginnings of Change

The girls adjusted the best they could over the next several days. They didn't try to fight because neither of them had any weapons and they were outnumbered. Sasori was the one that ended up taking care of them like bringing them food and drinks. He even escorted them to a bathroom so that they could wash up. After a few days they were even moved to a room with a bathroom attached to it. There was also another room attached and it turned out to be Sasori's room. It was filled with puppets.

Kaoru really didn't like him because he never felt anything. Something about that bugged her. It wasn't right. People should always feel something even if it was just boredom. That frustrated her. She finally got the nerve to ask him about it.

"Umm, excuse me, Sasori?" she said timidly.

He looked at her, "What is it?"

"Umm, can I ask you something?" she managed. This really was difficult for her. She wasn't exactly brave by nature. As mentioned before she was actually very shy and known for being timid. She wasn't a coward but she didn't like to be a bother to people or to disappoint them.

"You just did but you may ask me something else if you like," he stated.

"Well, I've noticed that you…don't feel anything. Why is that?"

This got Temari's attention. Kaoru hadn't mentioned this before. It was odd for her not to be able to tell what other people feel or the reason behind it. Her kekkei gengai was the strongest in the history of her clan. It made predicting the enemy easier and even how to goad them into acting irrationally. There were other uses as Kaoru demonstrated during the chunin exams. She could tell the difference between a clone and the real thing because clones didn't really feel. They just mimicked the original. She could even locate people with little to no trouble. The best way to describe it was that everyone had a unique emotional signature and she could tell them apart then pinpoint their location.

Sasori tilted his head to the side, "What makes you think I don't feel?"

Kaoru and Temari exchanged glances. Neither intended to tell him about the Tsukino clan's kekkei genkai. The Akatsuki knew that Kaoru was a medical nin but they didn't know what clan she belonged to and they didn't seem to care. So Kaoru said, "Your face or eyes never give any away. Not to mention your voice is always blank."

He seemed satisfied with the answer and said, "I'm not human."

Kaoru and Temari looked at him like he'd lost his mind. Temari then asked, "Then what are you?"

"I'm a puppet."

The light bulb clicked in Kaoru's mind, "That's right. You're Chiyo's grandson."

"Yes, I am." Kaoru gave him a look filled with pity. He raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"You don't feel."

"No I don't. I like it that way. This way I don't feel any sorrow or pain like I did before."

Kaoru's voice was low and sad when she said, "You're right. But you don't feel happiness or love either."

Temari looked at her friend in shock. Then shook her head at her. Leave it to Kaoru to feel sorry for the enemy. Sasori shook his head at Kaoru as well, "You're a strange girl to feel sorry for the enemy."

Kaoru gave a small smile, "Of course. Being a bad guy doesn't mean I can't feel sorry for you, Sasori. It just means I won't let that stop me from kicking your ass at the first given opportunity."

He smirked and then left them alone in the room. He had business to attend to anyway. It was time to extract the two tailed cat from the girl that Hidan and Kakuzu had brought in. Hopefully this would go smoothly. Then he could get back to working on his puppets. He had come up with some weapon ideas for Hiruko and wanted to try them. He was going to be one of the few members that would be physically present. It would be the first time he had been physically in the same area as any of the other members besides Deidara. When they entered the room the girl glared at them.

"Let me go. What do you want with me?" she demanded.

"We don't want you. We want what's in you,"Sasori responded coldly.

Her eyes widened, "But that will kill me."

"Yes it will. What a shame," he stated in a way that let her know he didn't care at all.

The cat like eyes narrowed at him, "Don't you have any heart?"

He just looked at her with calm uncaring eyes, "Of course not. I'm no longer human. My body is that of a puppet and puppets don't have hearts."

Something came into her eyes. He didn't know what she was thinking and frankly he didn't care. Everyone got into position and began the extracting. Then something happened. Sasori felt a searing pain through his body. He ignored it and finished the extraction and when asked afterwards he said he was fine. Sasori managed to make his way back to his room without any indication that something was wrong.

Sasori stumbled into his room. His body that wasn't supposed to feel any form of pain was throbbing with it. He collapsed onto his knees. Something had gone terribly wrong. He didn't even know what it was. While they were extracting the two tailed cat the girl had looked right at him and something had happened then. Some of the chakra had shot from her too him. He was positive that she had intended to kill him with some kind of jutsu. However he wasn't technically alive to begin with so it had done something else to him instead.

The door opened to the room adjoining his. The two girls walked in. What in the world were they doing here. The dark haired one, Kaoru, knelt down beside him. Her hands showed the green of a medical chakra as she checked him for injuries. She frowned and said, "I was right. He is in a great deal of pain. His body is changing."

"Into what," he managed between clenched teeth. Both girls looked at him.

"I'm not sure but I think it's flesh and blood."

He groaned in pain. Sweat beaded from his forehead. Temari hated him but he looked like he was in so much pain. After a mental argument with herself she went into the bathroom. When she came back out she was carrying a damp rag. She joined Kaoru beside Sasori. The wind mistress wiped his forehead with the cool rag.

Kaoru did her best to ease his pain. She couldn't figure out what was going on. His entire body was going through a huge change. Something was forcing the change at the most basic level. What was even more confusing is part of him was accepting the change while another was fighting it tooth and nail to stop it. Kaoru had a feeling that it would hurt a lot less if he didn't fight it. She tried to tell him this but he wasn't listening. The medic let out a long sigh and prepared herself for a long night.

Sasori finally fell asleep around dawn. His entire body was now flesh and blood. Kaoru worked well into the morning to heal any major injuries that had resulted from the transformation. She was so exhausted that she couldn't stand. Temari caught her friend before she fell down. She helped the medic to her bed. After a moments hesitation she went back into the puppet master's room. He was still on the floor. She managed to get him up on his bed with a lot of effort. When she made sure that he was comfortable she returned to her room. Temari fell onto her bed and fell into a sound sleep herself.

The next morning the first thing Kaoru did after waking up was check on Sasori. She found it ironic that she was helping her kidnapper. A smart person would have just let him die that way they could escape. She let out a sigh and thought, 'Well, I guess I'm not a smart person.' When she opened the door to his room she nearly fell over from the pain. It was rolling out of the room in waves and it made her feel like she was being hit by a tidal wave. She braced herself against the door and adjusted to the strength of the emotion. Normally she was always prepared for that kind of thing but she hadn't expected it from him. He never felt anything and it didn't cross her mind that it would change when he got a real body.

He looked up at her, "What the hell happened to me?"

"I'm not sure. All I could tell was that something was forcing your body to change into flesh. Did anything happen to you before you came back?" she asked him as she checked him for any injuries or illnesses.

"I was hit with a jutsu meant to kill me."

"It couldn't have been meant to kill you. The jutsu was intentionally changing you. It would take a great deal of power for someone to do something like this. It isn't a simple matter to change the chemical make up of anything. Especially something dead into something living."

He didn't respond. Temari walked in a few minutes later. She was feeling very grumpy because of the late night. Her sleepy blue eyes looked around the room for some breakfast and, when they didn't find any, focused on Sasori. Her voice was soft with sleep when she asked, "What's for breakfast?"

Sasori just looked at her. This one kept surprising him. One minute she was tough and standing in his face when normal people would cower. The next she was tender and kind like she had been last night. Now she was sleepy and...cute. Damn he hated having his feelings back. He was getting rid of them at the first given opportunity. He growled, "I don't know."

Temari's eyes came fully alert, "No need to be grumpy. It's not my fault that you're not used to actually feeling things. Maybe you should consider dealing with them instead of being a coward and getting rid of them this time...jerk."

Kaoru looked between the two in mild concern. They were now glaring at each other. She could feel the waves of annoyance and irritation coming off of them. Added to Sasori's enormous amount of pain and you had a bad mix. The strength of the emotions did affect Kaoru physically but she could usually handle it. Her endurance level for that was a lot higher than anyone else in her clan and at the moment she was at the very edge of her limit. She couldn't handle one more persons emotions or she wouldn't be able to breathe.

The medic stood up with a small smile, "I'll go find something to eat for everyone."

Temari looked over at her, "No you don't. It's his job damn it."

"Look, Temari, he's hurt. I don't mind," Kaoru stated as she headed for the door.

Sasori watched. Kaoru wasn't necessarily a timid person. She just didn't argue. The medic either agreed with you or did what she wanted anyway. It was interesting to watch someone try to convince her to do something else. The other girl, Temari, was a stubborn one. Unlike Kaoru, she would fight anyone. She obviously wasn't afraid of much. The two made interesting friends considering they were complete opposites.

Sasori got to his feet slowly. Kaoru was at his side before he could blink to help him if he should fall. A part of him appreciated the gesture and intended to repay it one day. The rest of him shoved that part into a deep dark corner to be ignored until it came to its senses. When he was standing he looked at the girls. Crimson eyes held concern. Turquoise eyes held irritation and buried deep down there was a spark of worry. He ignored both and headed for the door. When he reached the door he hesitated. Then motioned for them to follow.

----Meanwhile in Suna----

The day after the girls had been kidnapped Gaara was in Kaede's house with his siblings, Yuri, and Baki. They were all discussing options. No one bothered to ask the council because they would only want to turn Gaara over. They still seemed to think that Gaara was a threat to them and Kage had long since given up on convincing them otherwise. After exhausting all ideas for the day everyone started to go home.

"Here, Gaara-sama. I'll take Kohaku," Kaede said beside him.

Gaara looked down at the little boy with curly dark hair. Kohaku looked back up at him with those blue eyes and gripped his robe in one hand. He said his second word ever, "Ga-sma."

The Kazekage blinked in surprise. It wasn't quite his name but close enough he supposed. The kid missed a few letters. The Kage really didn't want to do this. He should just let Kaede take the little brat. He let out a sigh and knew he was going to do it. Gaara's sea foam eyes looked back to Kaede, "No. I'll take him."

"I thought you didn't like kids," Kankuro commented from the door.

"I don't. I promised Kaoru that I would watch him until she came to get him." Gaara reached down and picked Kohaku up. The boy placed his head on Gaara's shoulder and promptly fell asleep. The Kage tried not to look as amazed as he felt. The kid had been around Kaoru too long. Now he actually trusted Gaara. He looked back at Kaede, "Tomorrow have some of his things sent to the manor."

"Of course, Gaara-sama."

----Back with the Akatsuki----

Sasori led them into a kitchen. There were already three men inside. One had his blonde hair up in a ponytail with a loose chunk covering half his face. His blue eyes seemed extremely cheerful for a bad guy. The second had short silver hair brushed away from his face. He had purple eyes but there was nothing cheerful about them. The last was mostly hidden by the cloak and headband her wore. All you could see was his eyes. Every one of their head bands had a slash through them.

Kaoru briefly wondered what that meant before being distracted by the silver haired man. He was eying her and Temari like a side of meat. The waves of lust rolling off of him made her feel sick. Contrary to popular belief she did notice when men paid attention to her. She just pretended not to so that she could let them down easy. Most of the time the light waves of lust didn't make her feel like this. Coming from him those very same waves made her sick.

Sasori began to make some food. The three guys all did their own version of saying hello and ignored him. Kaoru and Temari exchanged glances and decided it would be best if they stayed way over here. Away from the other guys. It was odd. Now that they thought about it they actually trusted Sasori to at least treat them decently. The others...not so much. Kaoru stayed close to Temari. The wind mistress was not only stronger strength wise but she also had a more dominant personality. If one of the other guys tried to mess with them you could trust Temari to mess right back.

No one noticed that Sasori had changed. Apparently none of them could tell that he wasn't a puppet. Kaoru wondered about that but didn't comment. Temari started to wonder around the kitchen. Kaoru shrunk back against the wall. It made her nervous to be left alone with those waves of lust washing over her. She didn't notice that Sasori was keeping an eye on both her and Temari. When Hidan stood up and started to walk over to her Sasori's calm voice reached Kaoru, "Bring me some plates, medic."

Kaoru blinked, "Who me?"

"Do you see any other medics in the room?" he asked her calmly.

Kaoru jumped at the excuse to get near someone she actually trusted not to hurt her, "Alright. Where are they at?"

Sasori gestured and she rushed over to the cabinet. Hidan walked out the kitchen with a frown on his face. Kaoru let out a sigh of relief. She stayed near Sasori anyways when she handed him the plates. The red head didn't complain or seem to even notice. The puppet master handed her a plate with food and then one to Temari. Taking one himself he led the way back to their room. Kaoru and Temari both followed him quickly casting nervous looks over their shoulders on their way out.

After they had left the room Kakuzu looked at Deidara curiously, "I didn't think Sasori ate."

Deidara frowned, "No dana doesn't eat. What made you think he did, un?"

"They took three plates. We only have two prisoners."

"That's odd. Maybe one of them eats a lot, un."

Kakuzu shook his head, "He's only taken two plates before now."

Deidara couldn't think of anymore explanations for the puppet master's sudden desire to eat. Then he remembered that Sasori had been hit with something during the extraction last night. "You don't think that the chakra that hit no dana yesterday had anything to do with it, do you, un?"

"That's a possibility. Let's keep an eye on him until we figure out what's going on. I don't want to tell Pain anything until I know everything."

Deidara nodded in agreement then continued eating. Kakuzu shook his head at the blonde man. How one man could eat so much was beyond him. Surely he didn't need that much to survive. If he didn't he was wasting money eating more than he needed. Kakuzu managed to restrain the urge to hit Deidara and left the kitchen before his restraint went away.

Alright that's it for now. I'm working on the next chapter now. It may be a day or two because i've reached a slight snag. I what Sasori to become a good guy (obviously) but i can't decide if he helps the girls escape or if Gaara comes to get them and the girls ask him to spare Sasori. Decisions decisions...oh well i'll come up with something.

now all that i ask is that you push the little blue gray button that says 'go' and submit a review.