For the next chapter or so, I need you guys to keep in mind that the point on in this story has Sasori unintentionally finding his own humanity, through the little things and that working on the physical level of one so he isn't found out by everyone else. Sasori is extremely intelligent and very good at what he does so he knows what he can or can't do to attract the proper attention. He is pretty invested in the mental games he is playing so he doesn't mind doing what he has to continue them.

I do not own Naruto or Snk~

Chapter 4:

Into the Capital part 1

It was a few hours after Sasori's impromptu meeting with the rest of the Akatsuki that that he mentally joined the land of the living again. He was snuggled up with his pillow with it tightly in between his arms and chest, his legs were halfway to his chest with the blankets intertwined between them. The puppeteer sighed, this was not something he knew how to deal with. The position Sasori was in was something he hadn't been in since before the death of his parents. 'How curious.'

Sasori rolled out of bed and trudged to shower, rubbing his temples as he went. He still had a bad headache and he was sure the mindlink across dimensions had something to do with it. Sasori would worry about it later, probably on the ride to the capital.

His shower was quick as usual and he was dressed and ready to go by the time Levi come to collect him. "What crawled up your ass and died this morning? You look like a titan tossed your scrawny ass around." the man inquired and Sasori rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't get much rest last night. It has resulted in a headache." Levi lifted a brow but he shrugged.

"Well, First we are going to eat and then we're heading out. Eat fast, we have to leave soon." He commanded and Sasori just replied with a 'Hn'. It was going to be a long day.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

There was one carriage that contained Erwin, Levi, and Sasori, while Eren Jeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlet, Jean Kirsten, Connie Springer and Sasha Brous were on horseback. They would all rotate inside the carriage as bodyguards until they reached the Capital, in which Jeager would remain inside with his superiors for protection, and Sasori would end up sneaking out to go play his role. That role would last until their actual business in the Capital would end and then he would be retrieved.

They had set off early, and Armin was in the carriage first. Armin was a bit nervous, Eren and Mikasa never really let him in the same space as Sasori without them, so he couldn't ask his questions, but now he could.

"Ah, Sasori. I was wondering if you could answer some questions?" He asked nervously. He swallowed when the russet eyes landed on him. Sasori stared at him for a moment and then motioned with a delicate hand to ask away.

"Can you tell me what sand and sea feel and look like?" He blurted out, and then covered his mouth in embarrassment. Erwin chuckled and Levi let out a snort.

Sasori was quiet for a while before answering. "The sea smells like a mix of salt and sand, with a hint of fish. The last time I went was there, there was a deep red sunrise over the ocean. It was beautiful." Sasori sighed and closed his eyes. "Sand is located in many places, by the sea, but in bulk in a desert. Sand by itself is rather soft and a golden brown color, but apply pressure or wind and sand can burn you as it rolls over your skin."

Armin brimmed with other questions and was about to ask another question when Sasori spoke. "People who sail out to sea say that it is a cruel mistress, but they love her anyway. Unpredictable weather from a devastating storm to calm sailing. What makes her particularly cruel is..." At this Sasori opened his eyes to look at the little blonde. "Imagine you are dying of thirst, brat. Now imagine being surrounded by water only to know that you can't drink any of it." At that, Armin's eyes widened and he gulped. How horrible. "The desert sun will burn you, skin nearly burned off from the sand storms, and the night will freeze you. All while you starve and dehydrate unless you know the where and how. Both these places are habitable, such very harsh."

"I brought this up because you need to know that there are worse ways to die compared to being crushed or eaten by a Titan. Once you realize this, you will be more efficient on the battlefield." Sasori said, his voice sharp yet soft, like a teacher. Armin, in a way, understood what he was trying to do. He thanked Sasori but the man scoffed.

"Don't say worthless things like that to me brat. Your enthusiasm merely reminds me of my partner."

It was comfortable silence in the carriage ride for a while after that and when Sasori's eyes closed again Erwin finally let a smirk cross his face.

Sasori meditated for a few hours after that, skimming over information from the bars and the military that his puppets gave, thought about his dimension hopping problem, and his next mission. Sasha, Connie, and Eren all took turns as the being the most talkative to their superiors, but Sasori had successfully managed to avoid talking to almost all of the scouts. Mikasa had satin silence but Jean had brought out a sketchbook which had brought Sasori out of his thoughts.

"What's your taste in art kid?" He asked and Jean looked up startled. Sasori rarely spoke to him, so he wasn't entirely ready to answer. He looked like a rat caught before a cat. Sasori merely waited for the answer until the boy was ready to give one.

"I just like to draw." He said a bit defensively and Sasori reached over and snatched the book out of his hands to look at it. "Hey! You can't just take things from people like that!" Jean growled and Sasori just raised an eyebrow before looking through the book.

"These are pretty good kid." He said after flipping through a few pages. "So, what's your definition of art?" Sasori asked leaning in a bit and Jean was felt like he was about to answer the meaning of life.

"Uh, to capture of the essence of something I found inspiring or stunning. Something that took my breath away with awe and I just have to recreate it." He answered and Sasori gave an approving nod. It was an acceptable answer. Jean let out a nervous sigh and went back to drawing when the redhead looked away, but his curiosity started to grow. "So, uh, what's your view?" He asked, a bit awkwardly.

Apparently this was the right question to ask because a small smile slipped onto Sasori's face. "Art should be eternal. Something to be viewed forever. Certainly not fleeting." He scoffed and mumbled something about a 'stupid brat' under his breath.

Soon after, Sasori went silent the entire way until they stopped for the night and until the day after. He didn't particularly look deep in thought but the puppeteer had much on his mind. A few of the squad men tried to ask if he was okay and needed anything but he would just nod and send them away. It wasn't until the next morning when it was just Erwin, Levi, and Sasori alone did the Corporal get annoyed enough to ask what crawled up his ass.

"I would rather have something crawl up my ass than deal with the multiple issues that I have to think about, including what I am going to do in the capital for however long we are going to be there. Besides of course, get 'noticed' by you guys." He replied aggravated. The redhead ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Well, you might wanna cover up that red mop of yours. You'll probably have to get fucking filthy to even make it look a different color than it is." Levi said, a scowl on his face and it twisted down further. "Don't you dare cover yourself in mud, I swear to god I with soak you in fucking bleach you if you do."

Sasori simply shrugged in response. "Whatever I do, it will be done to perfection."

In those precious moments Erwin knew he would never have the same base again. A perfectionist and a clean freak in his base, in cahoots, who share a cup or two of tea everyday. He groaned, it was like the beginning of a bad joke. It wasn't like anyone hadn't noticed, at least he was sure, that the red head seemed to have a personality that matched Levi's dark coloring yet Levi seemed to have the fiery temper expected from the red head. The blonde was fairly certain there had to be a cosmic joke in there somewhere.

He was too lost in his thoughts to pay attention to what the other two were talking about until Levi called his name."-win! Fuck you! Stop zoning out, I've called your name several times now. It's time to fucking head out." Came the bark from Levi. Erwin's eyes focused back in, forcing the entertaining thoughts of poor scouts punishments in the future, and he nodded, not bothering to apologize.

"What's got him smiling all creepy like?" Levi asked to the redhead. Sasori shrugged.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

About an hour out from the capital Sasori got off the carriage. Sasori had changed in the carriage before he actually got out as they had stopped, leaving his uniform with Levi. He was sure that they could come up with an excuse if the need arose. The redhead had donned a black sleeveless turtleneck, with a jacket with a hood to cover his arms and his red hair. His pants were appropriately snug around his legs tucked under the recently 'acquired' pair of boots that came up to his knees. He was getting rather fond of those types of shoes, after all, you could hide many weapons along the legs, in which he did, two short swords rested beside each calf, the hilts tied tightly around the calf so it wouldn't shift and move. He manually removed each sword and then used his chakra strings to bring them up to his hands. Emergency procedures never hurt.

Similar to the first time he went to the capital, he shunshin'd in causing no disturbances with the people or the guards. The puppet master thought of a way to cover his hair, he could use a henge but that might give him away when he showed up later with red hair without any sort of proof that it 'dyed' or colored. Perhaps soot would work. People had fireplaces, so he would just put that in his hair. The underground was filthy so it wouldn't be out of place.

Sasori walked around the city avoiding being seen by too many people before he headed down, passing by a man giving out free lollipops trying to gain more business for his candy shop, and Sasori grabbed one while he passed only to open it and pop it in his mouth. His eyes widened as he felt a unique calming experience that he imagined only people who smoked gained.

"Holy shit, this is good." He murmured in surprise, and rolled the lollipop over his tongue, savoring the unique flavors that the people of this land were able to use. Sasori was going back for more. Using his highly trained shinobi skills in order to rob a candy store was totally not below him, right? It was debatable, but he did it anyway without an ounce of regret.

With his 16 year old impulse out of the way he moved on to go into the underground. He needed to meet with his unwitting informant to try to gain some knowledge about the man in the Military Uniform and some soot to cover his head in. The underground had a few more guards hanging around, but he wasn't surprised. Three people had been 'mugged' and beaten that the people cared about, and one had happened in the underground itself. People talked after all.

Sasori stealthily arrived at his informants bar and sat down gaining the attention of the bartender. "Something strong if you could bartender."

"Anything for you Master." The man responded in a whisper. The man dropped off a glass of liquor and stayed standing there for a moment. "Anything else I can get you sir?" He asked in a bit more normal tone of voice .

"Soot, something to cover my hair in. I'll collect before you close for the night." Sasori answered before he took a sip of his drink. His nose scrunched a bit in distaste. Tasted like watered down jagermeister!

The bartender frowned but nodded anyway, he knew that he shouldn't ask. "Of course. Why don't you stay awhile. Your drinks will be free for the night, unless someone else pays for them." The man said, his own mind supplying that the boy would probably get people to buy them for him. He was a pretty little thing.

Sasori just shrugged in response, it's not like he truly had anything to do for the next week or so that required his immediate attention. The mission was probably going to be a mildly long one anyway. The puppeteer nursed his drink for a while before getting another 'shitty jagermeister' to simply shoot down. It wasn't until someone decided to come up to the redhead that spending time at that bar became a problem.

"What's a little thing like you doing in a bar?" A young girl, probably in her late teens Sasori's guessed, asked him. Sasori had been in enough shady bars in his life to know a prostitute when he saw one. She didn't even wait for his response before ordering him another drink. A delicate red eyebrow rose a bit in disbelief.

"Drinking away my problems like everyone else in this shithole." He answered back. She looked a bit taken back but got closer to him as he shot down his drink.

"Would you like to go outside?" She purred out her question but Sasori looked thoroughly unamused.

"Even if I did want to go outside, it wouldn't be with anyone in this bar. Stingy, ugly, human beings. No perfection, no beauty, and no talent." He snapped. The alcohol must have been pretty strong because his world had started to get a bit wobbly on the sides of his vision, and the signs that he was starting to get drunk were showing.

"You! You, I don't even-" She started, but Sasori cut her off with a glare.

"Get the fuck out of my sight, you're wasting my fucking time." He growled and she backed away to flee to the other side of the bar. The surrounding individuals stared wide eyed at the puppeteer, as they had watched him do a one eighty with his temperament.

"Damn kid, you strike like a snake. I swear I saw tears." An amused voice said off to his left. The redhead glanced up to the bartender when he was given another drink, but there was a small shake of in the man's hands. When he turned to look at the man, the muscles in his body tensed a bit but he forced them to relax. It was the man from the other day, the military officer. 'What is that man doing down here?'

"Maybe people shouldn't waste time. Especially not mine. I hate waiting." He replied,

"I suppose that's a good philosophy to live by." The man said. "I'll have what he's having. It's always good to have a break these days."

"Tastes like shitty licorice, but I can't seem to stop drinking it .So it might be perfect for drinking before, during, or after the night shift at any job." Sasori warned. The fourth drink had really started to take its toll. Sasori simply didn't have the body anymore to hold his alcohol. "It's not a philosophy either, the old hag helped in my creation to how I am now." He mumbled. While it was mostly true, it was still lacking in any real information.

Sasori finished off this drink and stood up, his eyes swimming as they tried to focus. The redhead refused to jeopardize his mission because he stuck around too long with a man that made his skin crawl. His feet were unsteady and his movements were slow but he managed to walk out of the bar without looking back or stumbling. He definitely felt those five drinks but when someone bumped into him, and slammed him into the door he hissed in annoyance.

"Watch where you're go'in, you stupid motherfucker." The man yelled and Sasori turned to look at him with annoyance in his eyes, but even in his drunken stupor that wouldn't insult him. The puppeteer stared for a moment debating on what to do. Sasori decided violence was the best decision.

His leg lashed out, hitting the man's kneecap, which pushed it backwards and the man's agonized scream echoed into the bar and the darkness of the underground. He fell to the floor onto his one good knee and several curses were flung at Sasori, including fists, but the puppeteer just silenced the man by slamming his knee into the man's jaw. The larger man had simply crumpled in pain but Sasori wasn't quite done. The redhead couched down and slid his fingers down the man's face like a lover would do and he smiled.

"I suggest apologizing to someone when you run into them. You might not get such a nice reaction next time." Sasori whispered into the man's ear. He could tell the man was angry but he was scared. Fear was something Sasori was used to, and these people would know it if they crossed him. Being drunk did not impair basic fighting skills that the assassin was intimately familiar with and these people were pathetic. It was probably a strange sight to see, after all a full grown man on the floor with a shorter man whose face conveyed nothing but a drunken flush and lidded eyes touching in familiar way after easily defeating him wasn't something you saw everyday.

The redhead stood up and left, disappearing into the darkness before anyone could really do anything or follow him. It was certainly enough excitement for one evening.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

Sasori woke up in an old bell tower, his legs hung off to the sides and a blinding headache. Thanking Jashin that it wasn't particularly that bright in the underground, he took out another lollipop and stuck it in his mouth. It would certainly calm him down from further irritability from the previous night the decisions that were going to be made from that moment on. The commotion last night was like a grand opening, he had been noticed by the underground and the plan was in motion, but he was never drinking that much again.

The puppeteer shunshined down into an alley before walking back to the bar to collect his new "hair dye". The barman just welcomed him back and handed him his prize which Sasori returned with a nod. It took the redhead twenty minutes to put enough of the black substance into his hair enough to leave it covered but not have it sitting in layers upon his head. His hard work paid off when he saw himself in a reflective surface of a window, he did not like the black hair, but it would do.

"Now I look like a vampire! I didn't think I could look any paler… "

For the next week he was like a ghost, stealing and maneuvering around, sticking around just long enough to get noticed before disappearing. Sasori learned many things about what the people thought of each branch of the military, the titans, and the King. He also gained a newfound respect for Levi as the man had grown up in the filth of the underground and got out. While he was there for only a few days before, now he was around and occasionally interacting with people, he could see where the man's OCD like issues with cleaning. Sewers, rotting animals no one bothered to clean up, alcohol and vomit seemed like a common theme in every nook and cranny. Sasori thanked the higher powers that no one ever seemed to go up into the old bell tower, not even the police. It was his home while he was there, it was cleaned daily, and had a nice little stash of candy in the corner. He was totally not addicted to those things, not at all. He would deny it till his dying breath of course.

Going into the second week was when Sasori really understood what was going on with Eren Jeager and the rest of the corps. After successfully making another three agents he learned that the government didn't think he would have control over that Titan form of his and they were trying to eliminate him if they didn't produce results that Eren could control the shift in an uncontrolled environment. Eren Jeager was a pawn in his and Erwins game, as well as being tolerable when Ackerman and Arlet were around. Unfortunately for the government, the puppeteer decided he would help prove Eren's self control, and he was going to have a bit of fun with it.

A few days later, Sasori was perched in the shadows on the clean streets on the capital. He took a higher position and watched and waited till the scheduled free day time came around. He knew Eren and the others would come out, and Erwin and Levi would be around as well, all with their gear strapped to them. It would be his cue that he was ready when they were to leave, but it wouldn't be what they were expecting. Finally as Eren wondered over to his hiding place with his friends, Sasori jumped down, grabbed him by his waist and wrapped a hand around his mouth before dragging him into the alley.

"Whatever you do, make sure you don't shift. You can struggle though." He whispered into the boys ear. He got a small nod in response before Sasori kicked out the boys legs from under him and started to remove the gear from the him. Eren fought back gaining some attention, but Sasori got annoyed quickly and hit him in the sternum with the palm of his hand, knocking the air out of the boy and then hit his jaw to make sure he would bleed a bit, then finally cuffed his ear to make him dizzy. As he finally got the gear off and strapped onto him, the scuffle grabbed the attention of everyone else around. There was a smirk on Sasori face as the kid struggled not to shift but he didn't and when Sasori fled the crime scene, his pursuers followed him and the sound of gun shots rung in his ears. Mikasa and Levi were quick to catch up, but as Sasori reached the underground entrance he spun to look at them, his hood slid down and he winked with a devious smile on his face, all while he had a lollipop sticking out of his mouth. Levi's face contorted from anger to the horror of recognition before landing on realization and understanding before Sasori fled down to disappear with his newly stolen 3DMG gear.

"That little shit, what the fuck was he thinking and when the fuck did he get into candy?"

A/N: Yay~ Part one is done. This one was a bitch to write because it didn't want to come together. Next chapter has lots of action! Candy addictions c: I do apologize for taking so long as I got into some fullmetal fanfictions. I will be updating the next chapter soon! Don't forget to Review and follow~