Five

Kankuro was in the workshop, cleaning and oiling Karasu's joints, when Temari and his father came in. The smirk on Temari's face told him something was wrong.

"What? I didn't do anything!"

"You didn't tell anyone about the attack on you," the Kazekage said.

Crap, Kankuro thought, he'll want to know why I was there next.

"Why were you there at all? It was during school hours."

Kankuro thought fast, trying to come up with an explanation that had some truth to it. There was no way he could tell an outright lie to his father and get away with it.

"I was doing research, the school library is useless. There's no stuff on puppet arts. I'm just trying to get stronger," he said, trying to look earnest.

"That's commendable, if it is true, but you know better than not to report an attack by someone like Orochimaru."

"I'm sorry, but Keiko-san reported it, so you know. So it's okay."

"Kankuro, you must report all confrontations and you must always let someone know where you are. If there had been an emergency, we wouldn't have been able to locate you."

"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."

Temari snorted. Something was up for sure, Kankuro was being too agreeable. She looked around the workshop. It was messy as always; tools and spare parts were scattered everywhere. The only tidy things were the kunai and needles that the puppet fired. They looked freshly oiled and sharpened. It was something Kankuro did before the start of any mission.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"No where. Out."

"Kankuro, what did I just say?" the Kazekage said.

Temari went on before Kankuro could say anything. "What's with the weapons? You're not supposed to load that thing up unless you're training or on a mission."

"His name is Karasu and he's not a thing! You've got your fan and you're not working."

"It's not the same thing," Temari said. "Besides, I'm responsible. I take care of my things."

"So do I!" Kankuro pointed at his puppet. "What does it look like I'm doing here, flower arranging? And like you have anything to do anyways. It's a stupid fan!"

"Better than some oversized doll."

Kankuro went red. "Doll?! Like hell! Karasu's no damn doll. If you…"

"That's enough! This bickering is not appropriate. And you must never underestimate or disrespect another's weapons. Do you both understand?"

"Yes, otō-san," they said in chorus.

"Good. So, I'll ask this time: where are you going Kankuro?"

Kankuro shifted, he had hoped that his father had forgotten about that.

"There's a storm coming, so you should stay in."

"I wasn't going to leave the village. I was going to the market area. Just to hang out."

"With whom?"

Kankuro shrugged.

"Where exactly?"

"Just around."

"Where?!"

"Around. I won't know until I get there. I'm not on duty or anything, so I can do what I want."

"Is that what you think? You are mistaken. You will stay in."

"But…"

"You will stay here." The Kazekage looked around the workshop. "Since you seem to have free time on your hands you can use it to tidy this place up. It looks like a bomb went off in here."

"If I clean, can I go out after?"

"No!"

Kankuro opened his mouth to protest further, but the Kazekage raised one hand, his eyes narrowing dangerously and chin lifting, a sure sign that he was upset. Kankuro shut his mouth and ducked his head, muttering his acceptance of the order.

"Good. So cleaning it is. And you are right about the library. Maybe we can arrange it so you can go there on a regular basis."

He turned and ushered Temari out of the work shop, she made one last face at her brother over her shoulder. Kankuro stuck his tongue out at her and then turned back to Karasu. He looked down at his puppet, chewing his lip. He did not know what to do; going out would mean disobeying a direct order from his father.

"But I said I'd be there," he muttered. "A shinobi never backs down from a challenge. And…she knows stuff. Stuff he doesn't maybe."

Sneaking out would be difficult, his father might come back to check up on him at any time.

"Nah, he'll send nosy face out to check on us. He'll be too busy reading reports and stuff."

He looked around the workshop, with its collection of spare puppet parts, broken weapons, and other, unidentifiable objects. A plan suggested itself; he felt a thrill run down his spine and was not sure if it was because of the upcoming fight or because he was about to disobey his father.

He got up and began to gather things from around the workshop. "We can do this Karasu. Real quick, out and back. Hell, Gaara does it all the time, so we can too."

-0000-

Kankuro paused, pushing up against the wall and peeking around the corner of the building. He was early, but he was still cautious. The Kazekage had been right about the storm, in the twenty minutes it had taken Kankuro to get ready and out of the house, the wind had risen and it was becoming hard to see for all the sand. He slid Karasu off his shoulders for one final weapons check. He ran his hands over the limbs, checking latches and springs to make sure everything was in working order.

"Okay, looking good Karasu," he murmured, putting his hands on the sides of the puppet's head. "Almost time. Too bad no one's around to see us kick ass."

The old woman was invisible in the shadows, her dark clothes made it easy to blend in. Her fingers brushed the monkey puppet on her shoulder and then continued on to adjust her cowl. She was surprised by how eager she was. It had been a long time since she had felt the pre-battle thrill; equal parts anticipation and fear. She remembered the huge stage that the puppeteers had used for challenges and to recreate battles for their own amusement. She wondered if Chiyo still performed there or if it had sat unused since Sasori's departure and the collapse of the puppet guild. Something like this should have an audience, to cheer the good moves, to jeer at the mistakes, and to bear witness. Witnesses were essential, to see a new puppeteer get his mask or to observe failures. Not that she intended to lose; the boy had one puppet and little experience.

But it is one of his puppets, she thought, some of his creations could almost move on their own. And you did not bother to find out which one the boy has.

That had been a tactical error, it meant she would have to improvise a strategy, but like all good puppeteers she was a master of improvisation. She was prepared to be quick and flexible and her mask reflected that (she had earned five in her time). She was sure that the meaning would be lost on the boy, but she had worn it anyways; this was a challenge and she would take it seriously.

She sensed someone nearby, alerted by the brief absence of the wind blowing sand against a wall as they passed by. She patted the monkey again and then lifted him onto a ledge.

"Be ready, Cheechee," she murmured. "The curtain rises."

It was the boy, cautiously entering their small stage. Then she realized that it was not really the boy. He was using a classic opening; she was a little surprised that someone so young was able to perform a substitution. It would be interesting to see what else he knew. She raised her hands and paused, savouring the moment; the silence before the storm. Then, with a quick gesture, she called her puppets from their hiding spots. Kamakiri unfolded himself from a pile of wood, Haiena rose from the dusty ground, and Yamori stepped away from a wall, shifting his colour from dark red to brown. She made them lunge and feint at their opponent, Kamakiri slashed with his long front arms, Haiena nipped at his legs with her teeth and claws, and Yamori lashed out with his tongue. She was not ready to destroy the puppet yet, first she would flush the boy out of his hiding spot. It would be easier to stop him than to tackle the unknown and possibly dangerous puppet. She would make him manipulate his puppet and then track him by his chakra strings. The boy's puppet dodged and whirled away with impressive agility, but eventually Kamakiri was able to slash its head, cracking the shell of sand that formed its disguise.

So, the old woman thought, it's Karasu, the harbinger of death, but not for me, not tonight. I have found you boy and now you are mine.

Kamakiri feinted at Karasu one last time and then launched into the air. "Almost done Cheechee," she murmured. "It was not much of a show after all."

High on his roof top perch, Kankuro cursed and scrambled to his feet. The old lady had figured out where he was much faster than he had planned. He had hoped to take out at least one of the puppets before she found him. A strange looking puppet with a narrow body, long spindly limbs, and big, bulging eyes in a triangular head landed on the roof in front of him. The top pair of arms were tipped with serrated scythe-like blades that slashed at Kankuro even as it landed. He blocked the strike with his kunai and then slashed at the puppet's head. The tall skinny puppet had impressive blades but its hind limbs looked weak. The puppet that looked like a lizard did not appear to have any blades or teeth and its body looked fragile. The strongest of the three seemed to be the one that was dog-like, but Kankuro could not be positive, each one might have some hidden attack, just like Karasu did.

There was a rustling noise behind him and something knocked him over; it was the tail of the lizard-like puppet. Before he could get up, the first puppet pounced on him, wrapping its arms around Kankuro's body. Kankuro twisted to try and get free; the motion made the serrated blades dig into his ribs, cutting through the heavy material of his shirt and the mesh under shirt he was wearing. He scrambled forward, grabbed the puppet's back legs, and pulled as hard as he could. The puppet's upper arms released him and began to flail around as it tried to maintain its balance. Kankuro pulled again and the puppet fell over backwards, he dodged the front arms and grabbed one of the slender back legs in both hands, put one foot on it and pulled. The end of the leg snapped off in his hands, he whirled around and threw it at the second puppet. The puppet dodged it easily, but it gave Kankuro a moment to assess the situation. Karasu was still dodging attacks from the dog puppet, Kankuro had not been able to concentrate hard enough to make him do much more than defend. Kankuro looked around, the lizard had disappeared and the big bug-like puppet was still flailing around, trying to get back on its feet. Kankuro produced some wire from his pocket and looped it around the dangerous front limbs. The puppet snapped at him, its jaws were full of sharp teeth, and tried to bite through the wire. Kankuro brought Karasu up to the roof. He descended on the thrashing puppet, arms extended to grab and crush it. The puppet was quick and agile, but Kankuro had guessed correctly that its body and limbs were relatively light and fragile. Moments after Karasu applied pressure there was a loud crack and the puppet went limp. Somewhere nearby the old lady cried out in dismay as her puppet was crushed.

The sound of Kamakiri's arms and torso splintering vibrated through her own body. The nasty boy had damaged her beautiful puppet. The old woman stepped out of her hiding place so she could see and control Haiena and Yamori better. Cheechee remained crouched on his ledge. She sent Haiena scrambling up the wall to the roof; she was slower than Kamakiri and Yamori, but her solid frame could withstand much more abuse and her jaws and claws would make short work of the boy and his puppet.

Haiena clawed her way onto the roof and advanced on her prey with a low growl. It was the strangest looking dog Kankuro had ever seen; it had an ugly squat face with a powerful looking lower jaw. Its thick back legs were longer than its front legs, so it moved with a strange gait. Kankuro thought that it was actually pretty cool that it could growl and was amazed to see the old woman manipulating so many puppets, but it would not be enough to beat him and Karasu.

"Heh, you're one ugly mutt," he taunted. "Uglier then that stupid monkey even."

He launched Karasu at the puppet. Haiena leapt into the air and caught one of Karasu's legs in her jaws. Kankuro gasped when he heard a cracking sound; he tried to jerk Karasu free, but Haiena clenched her jaws tighter and shook her head, jerking Karasu back and forth. She charged straight at Kankuro, dragging Karasu along. Kankuro scrambled out of the way and tried to think of what to do; the splintering sound was horrible to hear when it came from your own puppet. Kankuro realized that he was not going to be able to tug his puppet free, so he detached Karasu's leg and made his puppet rise into the air; he hated to leave any part of Karasu in the grip of the enemy, but it was either a leg or the entire puppet.

He was concentrating so hard on Haiena and Karasu that he did not see Yamori reappear. The puppet had somehow blended into the gathering darkness and dust from the storm. Its tongue, a long jointed length, hit him in the ribs, almost on the same spot where the first puppet had slashed him. He tumbled to the ground and both puppets were on him in a flash. Jaws clamped onto his shoulder and Haiena shook him hard. Yamori's tongue wrapped around his leg and the two puppets began to drag him to the edge of the roof. Kankuro kicked and thrashed around, trying to get loose. There was no way he was going to allow himself to be dragged to the old puppeteer like that.

Or maybe not, he thought. Maybe I should let her see exactly what she expects.

He let Karasu slump down onto the roof. The timing would have to be perfect, but he knew he could do it. He braced himself for a fall as the puppets jumped off the roof.

Yamori and Haiena dragged the boy over to the old woman. He thrashed and yelled the entire time. She peered down at him, smirking. He glared back at her; he was trying to pull his shoulder out of Haiena's grasp. His free hand was pushed into the ground, trying to claw his way free.

"As I said before, you should not have a puppet. You do not know what you are doing."

The boy growled at her and began to kick at Yamori. The puppet's skin appeared to be some sort of cloth stretched over a light wooden frame, making him light and agile. The cloth shimmered in the dusk; changing colour as sand swirled around it.

"That's enough. We are done."

"Like hell!" Kankuro grimaced, his shoulder was on fire, but it was no worse than some of the stuff that Gaara had done to him. He kept on kicking; he would do some damage to the puppet and distract the old lady at the same time.

"Foolish child. You are defeated. My puppets have you down and you have lost control of that abomination." She gestured at the roof where Karasu lay in a crumpled heap.

Kankuro was not sure what abomination meant, but he was sure that it was nothing nice.

"HIS NAME IS KARASU!" he bellowed and kicked Yamori as hard as he could. The puppet's wooden ribs collapsed with a satisfying crunch.

"Stop it!" The old woman made Haiena shake his captive until she heard his teeth rattle. "You are defeated."

"Am not!"

The old woman watched dumbfounded, as the boy began to kick at Haiena, ignoring the painful grip of the puppet's teeth and ignoring the fact that he had lost.

"You are either incredibly stupid or too inexperienced to know better, but you are done."

"Not yet!" The boy lifted his head; his grimace had turned into a sneer. "I'm just getting started." He flexed his free hand and began his attack. Controlling Karasu's limbs and body separately was the technique had not been able to practice against Gaara, he just hoped that the little practice he had managed would be enough.

The old woman glanced up at the roof, but Karasu had not moved. She snorted derisively; the boy could no longer control his puppet. She looked down again; the sneer had turned into a fierce grin. Her eyes went wide and she whipped her head around, looking for his attack. She was too late; two wooden hands grabbed her ankles and pulled her feet out from under her. She hit the ground hard and her concentration lapsed for a moment, allowing Kankuro to wrench free from Haiena. He rolled away and to his feet, rolling his shoulder to get blood and chakra flowing. Kankuro flexed his arm and shoulder one last time and then reconnected with Karasu's main body. The big puppet launched off the roof, straight at Haiena. The old lady was still sitting on the ground, unable to free her ankles, but she was still controlling her puppet. Haiena reared up and met Karasu's charge head on. The two puppets met with a crash of lacquered wood and an explosion of sand. Karasu's arms extended and wrapped around Haiena crushing her tight to his body. Haiena's powerful back legs kicked at Karasu, scratching along his torso. Kankuro made Karasu's arms tighten more until Haiena's torso started to creak. He had the old woman down, but the fight would not be over until her last puppet was disabled. He made the puppet limbs release her ankles and move to her hands, grappling for her wrists. She struggled to get free and maintain control over Haiena, Kankuro struggled to pin her and to keep her puppet from mauling Karasu. It was getting hard to concentrate, his ribs and shoulder hurt, he could feel blood and sweat trickling down his side, and the wind was whipping sand into his eyes.

This is no worse than some of the crap Gaara has done to you, he thought, so just ignore it and finish the fight.

Haiena was still struggling, but getting weaker. Kankuro was not sure if it was because of the damage Karasu was doing or because the old woman was losing her control over the puppet.

"C'mon Karasu, crack that stupid mutt like a nut," he urged his puppet on.

Karasu's arms had wound completely around Haiena's body. Kankuro made the puppet's hands work their way between Haiena's front legs and then behind her thick neck. There was a loud crack and the puppet's head flopped to one side.

"No!" the old woman exclaimed. "Haiena! Let her go!"

The old woman struggled; she could not believe how things had turned on her. This boy and his single ugly puppet had done so much damage to her beautiful puppets. She had underestimated him and was paying a heavy price for it. He had been outnumbered, but his determination and amazing chakra control had allowed him to endure. And now he was moments away from defeating her. Her wrists had been pinned to the ground and they were being squeezed so hard it was getting hard to control Haiena.

"Let her go!"

"Cut her strings!"

The old woman glared at him, her features distorted by her mask. Then she looked alarmed, something else had cracked inside the puppet's body. She made one final attempt at freeing the puppet and then relaxed.

"Alright, alright, let her go."

Kankuro made Karasu release his grip a little, and when she did not try anything, he let the puppet slip from Karasu's grasp. Kankuro took a deep breath. He had won.

"Let me go."

Kankuro did so, watching her warily as she sat up.

"I won, so now you have to tell me…"

"No, the only thing I have to do is give you what you have earned. You have won your mask."

"I want to know, did you make those?" He pointed at her puppets. "Or did Sasori make them too?"

"He did not!" she exclaimed.

"Then who did? Tell me!"

The old woman shook her head in amazement; she could not believe that someone so talented could be so ignorant. But then a possible explanation occurred to her.

"This is the Kazekage's doing. He's raising his own little Sasori alongside that evil creature. Foolish, arrogant man. And you have no idea of how badly you are being used. Foolish boy."

"He is not! Take that back!" Kankuro yelled, but a small part of him was wondering if there was maybe something to what she was saying. "I'll prove it. We can ask…" he trailed off. He could not take her to his father, that would get him in a lot of trouble. But she had to be wrong and there had to be someone who would tell her the truth.

Baki, he thought. No, he'll tell otō-san. Maybe Keiko.

The old woman went tense, thinking that the boy meant to bring his father into it. That would be disastrous. She had managed to avoid detection for many years, if the Kazekage saw her; Chiyo would know she was still alive soon after. And once that happened she would be hunted down for sure. She had to get away. Her eyes darted to the ledge where she had left Cheechee. The boy had forgotten about him.

She sneered at him. "You're being used, just like a puppet. And you do you know what happens to a puppet when it no longer has any use?"

"That's not true! Take it back!" Kankuro yelled. It had to be a lie; she was trying to make him angry. But the little voice in the back of his head suggested that there might just be something to it.

"Humph. Little, mindless puppet. That's all you are to him."

"I am not, damn it!" Kankuro clenched his fists and stepped towards her. "That's not true, he's teaching me because he…"

Kankuro did not hear the monkey puppet until it was too late. He started to turn when something slammed into the side of his head and then everything went dark.

Cheechee jumped onto the old woman's shoulder.

"I can always depend on you Cheechee," she murmured. "But what do we do now? We could just kill him and leave, no one would ever know." She looked over at Karasu. "I should destroy that thing at least."

She patted his head absently as she meditated over her options. Killing him would be easy, but she realized that it might bring her more trouble in the long run. She would have the boy's father on her trail. The Fourth Kazekage had been known for his skills as a tracker; it was said that he would go to the ends of the earth to catch his prey. If she left the boy alive, however, she might still be hunted because of what she was.

"I need to send a message to him, to get him to leave us in peace," she said. "I think I know how, Cheechee, but it will be dangerous. We must be very careful. We'll leave him a little scene…a tableau. That should make my point. Then I'll talk to him." She knelt beside Kankuro and rolled him onto his back. She took one of his hands in hers and peered at it, considering the lines in his palm. "So much potential. I wonder if he'll live long enough to grow into it." She gazed at the young puppeteer a little longer, trying to sort through the possibilities, the probabilities. "It's possible, Cheechee," she murmured. "He might just make it."

A/N: Kamakiri=Mantis, Yamori= Gecko, Haiena= Hyena, Karasu=Crow, but you knew the last one already, eh?