Stumble [Rewrite]

Just a Kid

It was actually two weeks later when Sasori managed to journey to Konoha. It was two a.m. when he arrived at her apartment where he found her knee deep in blank scrolls and ink. She greeted him with a wave as he settled beside her on her bed.

"Hello again, Sasori-san," she said, not looking up from what she was doing. "What took you so long to get here?"

"Orochimaru and Kisame were convinced that I was under some sort of genjutsu or that I was a henge and kept watch over me for a whole week after I told them that I wasn't going to transfer into my puppet body after all. They looked rather... horrified... when I told them that I wasn't going to because there's more to life than trying to live forever."

He looked up to see Sakura pause her work and squint at him disbelievingly. "I don't know you that well, but I also think there's something wrong with what you just said."

Sasori chuckled lightly, making Sakura jerk to the side in alarm. If she were a lesser person, she would've assumed that he was under some sort of genjutsu or was a henge as well.

"I couldn't have said it better myself. I was only in the void for eight years, but time runs differently there. It might as well have been eighty. With my thoughts and I alone for decades, I came to know the things I'd done wrong. For one, I wasn't living fully enough. I kept myself inside and with my puppets. But now that I have another chance, I'll do all the things I failed to do the first time," he said. Sakura considered his words for a moment before smirking softly and looking back down at her scrolls.

"It's amazing how much death can change a person, hm?"

Sasori peered at her work from over her shoulder and allowed himself to raise a brow in surprise. Seals were delicately painted on the paper, some even he couldn't recognize. Each line was drawn particularly and cautiously to leave no room for stray marks or mistakes. He was impressed. "So what is so important that it has to keep a little girl past her bedtime?" he questioned. She flashed him an irked glare before motioning towards her scroll.

"I'm practicing protection seals. Once I find Naruto, I'm placing these in his goggles and around his apartment. He's only five years old and I have to make sure he's completely safe." She waited for the ink to dry before rolling it up and placing it under her bed. She capped her ink and gathered up the other scrolls before tucking them under as well. She turned her body to face Sasori completely and crossed her legs in front of her. "What information have you gathered, Sasori-san?"

"The Akatsuki no longer desire to have Uchiha Itachi in our ranks. According to Orochimaru, 'He's pacifistic and the Uchiha Clan is nothing but good to the village.' If that much is true, then the massacre shouldn't be a problem in the future," he informed. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she brought a hand up to massage her throbbing forehead.

"Thank God, Sasuke will be safe," she whispered. "I have nothing on my end. If I find anything, I'll send one of my summons. Probably Kou-chan, a Havana Brown cat. If you carry this tag around, he'll be able to locate you."

Sakura leaned over her bed and rummaged around her nightstand drawer before pulling out another seal covered slip of paper. He took it and studied it closely. "Cats? What happened with slugs?"

"At the moment, cats are more... efficient. They can hide in plain sight without the slightest suspicion. A lot of them are also tied in with the Uchiha, courtesy of their position with the clan's weapon supplier, Nekobaa. I can gather a lot of information from them if the cats understand the situation we're in. We can never be too careful," she explained. To Sasori, she suddenly looked older. Even with her small stature and obvious young age, he could still see war carved in her bones and the weariness swimming in her eyes. And... something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. Fear? Apprehension?