Three Fangirls VS. the Naruto World (Naruto Fanfic)

Talking to a Puppet. How.... Fun

Ari's POV

The next time we saw Sasori, he found us hidden in the kitchen cabinet.

Haha, funny story....

Not really. I'd pissed Deidera off again and he tried to make me go boom, so I grabbed Scar and ran like hell. She blamed me for dragging her into this shit; I blamed her for not stopping me in the first place. Anyway, I spotted Kisame in the kitchen, pleaded desperately with my Konan-esque eyes for him to keep silent, and ducked into the cabinet with Scar in tow.

When Deidera exploded into the room, panting and undoubtedly red with rage, we heard him ask Kisame if he'd seen "that insufferable mini-Konan and the creepy mute". Kisame responded by telling him he had a pole stuck up his ass and that he was being too unfair. Deidera growled out some response I couldn't catch, then stormed away, muttering about the stuff he'd do to us once we were caught.

I had a small laughing fit in the cabinet that Scar had a field day trying to cover up.

And that's when Sasori strolled in, said nothing to the fishman, and then quietly opened up the cabinet. We stared up at him stupidly, offering wide, enthusiastic smiles. Well, I did anyway. Scar shot him a look that said "save me from the stupidity". So of course, Sasori smirked and ever-so-gently ripped Scar from out hiding spot.

I watched him drag her away and then promptly barricade himself (along with my lovestruck sister) in his room. Filled with those freaky ass puppets he was always going on about. Alright, Sasori wasn't the bragging type. Not really. He just got very invested in certain conversations and had lengthy debates with Deidera that in no way resembled a feuding yaoi couple.

Ahem.

Anyway, I turned to Kisame with a puzzled frown. "He's not gonna do.... stuff.... to her, right?" I asked, waving a hand at Sasori's closed door. His room was right across from the kitchen, which I found ironic cause he didn't even need to eat anymore..

"Define stuff," Kisame said as he propped his sandal-clad feet up on the table and linked his fishy hands behind his fishy head.

"Puppet-y.... stuff," I clarified uncertainly.

He flashed me a toothy grin. "Probably not."

Yup. I was now officially scared out of my horribly damaged mind.

Poor Scarlette. Gonna live the rest of her life as a puppet. At least she won't have someone's grubby hand shoved up her ass like back home. Eh, that'd be awkward. Or would it....? Yeah. Yeah it would. Kami, Ari, stop having these ridiculous conversations with yourself! People will think you're weird!

"Too late."

I blinked, refocusing on the scene in front of me. Kisame still sat in his chair, in the same exact position, but the grin that filled his face was fresher, and the glint in his eyes about ten times as amused.

"Ah shit," I muttered, dropping my head onto the table in an epic face-table. Just like Scar. "That wasn't in my head, was it?"

"Fraid not, little spazz."

I sighed against the polished wood. That hadn't happened to me in forever. I was usually pretty good at keeping my thoughts in thought-form and not verbalized. Unless I wanted to, anyway. But I guess being in this type of situation stressed even me out, making me spazzier than usual. I mean, Scar and I were still freaking over the whole Tobi-reveal-thing, since we had absolutely no clue on how to deal with it. And then we had to worry about Violet and Gaara, since they were, undoubtedly, coming for us. Maybe. They weren't here yet, so we still had some hope.

Too bad that hope meant we were gonna keel over either way.

I think Scar might've honestly been ok with that. Dying for our sister and our friends, I mean. She had that type of hero complex, even if we never pointed it out to her. When we were younger, it would be Scar who always came to our rescue. Even when it was just Violet who needed help, she'd be the first to say we were gonna kick ass. And she wasn't above risking her life to save another. I say it was from too many romancy novels that she got into. Violet claimed it was cause she was just sweet and kind and a billion other Violet-y words.

Me, on the other hand.... I didn't want to die. Plain and simple. I was afraid. Who wouldn't be? But it didn't mean I wanted to drag everybody else into it either. This was me and Scar's problem to deal with. And as long as they stayed out of it, whatever happened, would only happen to us.

That's what I was thinking, hoping. So, really, it's no surprise it didn't turn out like it was supposed to at all.









Scarlette's POV

Sasori was unexpectedly silent after leading me into his normally sealed room. It's not quite that I expected any sort of conversation from him. But it was admittedly awkward because of the fact that I was seated on his bed, watching him toy with some puppet or another, for a mundane ten or so minutes before a single word was spoken. And that word came from my own lips.

"Sas--" I sighed, hanging my head. I despised honorifics. They made everything horribly confusing in my opinion. "Danna," I tried again. I hated myself for sounding like Deidera, but it was unavoidable. I'd called Sasori by his given name the day before and received a terrifying glare in response before he walked off without listening to what I'd intended to say.

If anything, I was a quick learner.

In any case, Sasori looked up from his work to peer at me disinterestedly. His hands still fiddled with the odds and ends of his puppet, and the movement prompted me to take a closer look at it. I mentally cursed upon realizing just what particular piece he had spread before him. The Third Kazekage, Gaara's father's predecessor. The one he'd killed himself and later transformed into a puppet through means unknown to myself. I very much wanted to keep myself ignorant in that regard.

"What, brat?" Sasori asked when I'd remained quiet for a full minute or so. "Speak before I cut out your tongue."

I shook my head imperceptibly, trying to rid myself of thoughts unecessary to my current situation. Like how much poison was compacted into the Third Kazekage's body. More than enough to kill me, I was sure. Most likely, there was enough to murder an entire country, let alone a single Village. And if that somehow failed, as in the case with Sakura and Chiyo, there was the Third's deadly Iron Sand technique. How I didn't fancy meeting him in a fight, despite the fact that he was useless without Sasori's manipulation.

Ah, I see I'm off-topic once again. My apologies.

"Why is it that Leader-sama doesn't find the need to confine Ari and I every second of the day?" I asked. I was being bold, and I was wary of the consequences.

But Sasori merely returned to his puppet, checking over parts that could have been damaged in a previous fight. Kankuro had taught me a bit about the mechanics of puppets, as I'd asked him to show me how to use chakra strings. Ari was right in thinking it had happened during her excessive period of Kankuro-induced vomiting. Temari claims that is one of the only times she's missed the sound of Ari's voice.

"Truth be told," Sasori said mildly, eyes still firmly locked on his puppet, "I don't have any ideas about Leader-sama's motives, nor do I care to. I simply follow orders, and one of them is to keep you and your annoying brat of a sister occupied while you're held hostage here."

My hands balled into fists, catching onto my pants. He sounded so infuriatingly calm about the whole thing. As though having people's lives hanging in the balance caused nothing to stir in him. Right then, I had never been more convinced that Sasori had succeeded in rendering his human emotions obsolete.

"Why don't you just kill us?" I wondered quietly, pulling my knees up to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my cheek against my knees, eyes turned towards one bland wall. Sasori's room was fairly sparse, offering nothing more than his bed, several shelving units filled with supplies for his puppet creations and a desk and chair, which he was currently seated at. "It's not as though Gaa--" I bit my lip, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes. "It's not as though the One Tail host will know if we're really alive or not."

I felt Sasori give me a somewhat curious stare over his shoulder, though I could tell he didn't for a second stop working. "That's merely what Leader-sama decided."

No, I thought bitterly, that's what Obito has decided.

"It seems unwise to keep hostages alive," I murmured.

"Would you rather be dead at this moment?"

"More than you know."

I thought I'd been successful in keeping my murmurings to myself. I thought I'd kept the pain hidden from view, from prying eyes, from Ari even. But ht proved to be false when stiff fingers forced my chin up and brought my eyes to an dispassionate stare. Even as he spoke, I found my thoughts drifting to the hold he kept on my chin.

"You are weak," he stated bluntly, tilting my head to the side as he himself did the same. "You give up without putting up any sort of resistance. How it is that you came to be a Ninja is unknown to me."

"We must be quite the weaklings, compared to your generation," I replied in a voice that dared not betray my inner turmoil.

He smirked slightly, nothing more than the curling of his lips at the edges. "How is it that you remain so unwaveringly calm?" he asked curiously, still with his fingers gripping my chin.

"The calm comes when you accept your fate as something unchangeable."

"True enough...." His hand dropped away and my head dipped, confused at the sudden lack of support. "However...." Sasori leaned down, close enough that my shallow breathing stirred his crimson bangs. His eyes glowed with something I found to be unrecognizable, and a shivered passed down my spine. "There is something else. Have you never wondered if this is simply the calm before the storm...?"

I blinked uncomprehendingly. "The... storm....?" I echoed in confusion.

Sasori straightened and returned to his desk, settling in as though he'd never left it. His nimble fingers flexed as they dived forth and engulfed themselves in the inner workings of the Third Kazekage. His voice was decidedly passive when he spoke. "I won't lie," he said. "You interest me, Scarlette. You say you come from Suna, yet you don't have the heart of such a villager. Your sister either. But you especially. It's unfortunate that you befriended the Ichibi. Suna could certainly have benefited from a Kunoichi like yourself. Now it will forever be a miserable little patch of sand where things are sent to die."

I don't particularly remember moving, just the feeling of the air whipping past me, of the cold, hard steel pressed against my palm as I slipped the kunai around to Sasori's throat. But I remember the anger. The blistering, insatiable anger at his words that consumed my reason and common sense. I remember wanting to cut out his throat so he may not speak these words again.

He unexpectedly chuckled.

And yet it wasn't Obito who raced through my thoughts just then.

"As a Missing Nin," I hissed lowly, fighting to control the trembling of my fingers, "you have absolutely no right to speak of Suna that way. A Village you abandoned to your enemies is not one you can so idly comment on. Yes, Suna is broken, I admit that without regret. But life still blooms in the desert. There is no such thing as a wasteland condemned to nothing more than death and desolation. What is broken can be fixed, Sasori-danna. Just like with your precious puppets, there is a way to mend the scars of battle, if one takes the time to properly do so."

"Such hopeful words for a condemned soul to utter," he chuckled. His voice lacked humor. "Even that brat you call a sister hasn't been able to get a rise out of you. Not like this. Is it really just Suna you feel the need to defend?"

"Bastard!" The word came out in a strangled hiss. My shaking hands finally dropped the knife and it fell neatly into Sasori's. He picked it up and studied it, letting it catch the dim light cast by the candle that flickered on his desk.

"The clay brat probably calmed down already. His temper fades pretty quickly. I doubt you'll have trouble of you leave now."

It took a moment for his words to register through the rush of blood that filled my ears just then. When they did, I obediently turned around and walked stiffly towards the door. But, even as my hand fit around the knob, I couldn't bring myself to open it just yet. I had a final question.

"Why... why are you warm?"

The sound of tools and the hiss of strings moving stopped suddenly.

"...What?"

I swallowed hard and forced myself to keep from turning around to face him. "You're a puppet, no?" I asked unnecessarily. "Puppets are cold, without heart or care or want. Ice. But you're... warm..."

He muttered something along the lines of, "Delusional brat..." but kept silent otherwise for the next few heartbeats. "Only humans have the warmth you're talking about, annoying child."

"Were you not human once, Sasori?"

"...Do you still want to die, brat?"

I smiled softly, enough to prove I could escape my sea of dark thoughts if only for a little while. "I think... I'll save that offer for another time. It's as you said. I want to make Suna bloom once more."

He said nothing as I quietly slipped out of his room and into the kitchen that sat adjacent from it. Almost at once, I missed the quite sound of Sasori's tools.

"Ari... are you mad?"

"Huh?" She looked up from her task and offered me a cheesy grin. "She returns! Scar! I seriously thought I'd have to tell Gaara his girlfriend had gone stiff! Literally, dead and everything!"

Have you no class...?

"Never mind that," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in order to placate my growing frustration. It did little to help. "Explain to me what's going on, will you, dear sister?"

She chuckled and lifted up a hand to display familiar blond locks, captured between her fingers. With her other hand she waved a pair of scissors at me playfully as though inviting me to join her. "He let his guard down!" she chuckled enthusiastically.

Young Deidera was fast asleep, slumped against the kitchen table, the ever-attractive snot bubble puffing from his nose. He snored quietly, oblivious to the demon crouched behind him.

"Are you going to say anything?" I asked tiredly. The blue man seated across from the blonde merely grinned.

"I'm supervising," he said cheekily, waving a hand at my sister to move her along. She happily obliged, and the snip snip snip of the scissors rang through the suddenly silent kitchen.

Needless to say, Ari hid behind Hidan for the rest of the day, silently, yet hysterically laughing at Deidera whenever he passed her by, his uneven hair flowing out behind him.

It would take him until Shippuden, surely, to outgrow the damage done to him by a simple pair of steel scissors.

That day was the most I'd smiled since being kidnapped.









Violet's POV

The Chunin Exams came really quickly.

I watched Gaara, Temari and Kankuro while they talked quietly in the living room, going over last minute stuff. Well, Gaara didn't really talk. He stood by the window and just looked out at the passing clouds, kinda sadly.

I really wanted to hug him then, but his stupid sand kept getting in the way.

"Let him be," Kankuro said after I'd Ben rejected for the third or fourth time. He put a hand on my shoulder and steered me towards the door. "That kinda thing's not gonna help him. Gaara's... different. He's just..."

"Yup," I agreed, smiling a sort of bitter-sweet smile up at Kankuro. "He's definitely different!"

Kankuro opened his mouth to say something, but then just shut it and looked away, grimacing, with his arms across his chest. He shook his head after a moment, sighing. "Geeze," he muttered, "you're just as weird as when you showed up in my bedroom..."

I smiled brightly, bobbing my head in agreement. But I'd changed. I knew it even back then, even if it was only just a little. I wasn't really the same girl who'd jumped at him, squealing about how cute he was.

Scar woulda said it was frightening.

"Good luck, Kitty-chan!" I giggled. When he turned to scowl at me, I pushed off on my tip-toes and pecked his cheek quickly. "I hope you beat that creepy bug guy!"

He was blushing when I dropped back down onto my feet, though I barely noticed cause that's when Temari tugged at my arm and jerked me to her side.

"Listen Violet," she said seriously, staring down into my eyes. "You have to stay here until we come to get you, alright? You might hear things outside! but just ignore them and wait. We'll be back by the end of the day to get you, and then we'll probably be heading back to Suna. Alright?"

I giggled and threw my hands up. "Yuppy! I got it! So go win, ok?!"

Temari laughed a little and nodded, before she went off to grab her fan to leave. I spotted Gaara giving me a weird look, and smiled my brightest smile in his direction, waving cutely. He blinked, then disappeared in that stupidly familiar swirl of sand. I pouted. Just cause Scar wasn't here he was all unfeeling-y again...

I waved goodbye as Kankuro and Temari walked out the door, ready for the Chunin Exams' final round. Well I knew they weren't really ready and that things were gonna get messy for any Sand villagers. But they didn't tell me about it, so I chose not to worry so much. Besides, I had my own mission to carry out.

I waited a few minutes after the three of them had left, then ran into the room I shared with Ari and Scar and grabbed my pack from where I'd left it under my bed. The sheets and comforters were all wrinkled from my restless sleeping. That was all me this time. Ari had nothing to do with it.

Scar's bed was pretty and pristine, untouched since she'd been taken. Actually, Gaara had been lying there quite a lot lately, but he was always so still he didn't crinkle the blankets any.

Sniffing a bit, I quickly left the hotel, making sure to lock the door behind me.

"Sorry, Kitty-chan, Temari," I murmured, staring up at the drifting clouds with wavering eyes. "You might not see me for a while. But when I come back, we'll all be together again, for sure!"

That was a promise I made to myself, to Kankuro, to Temari, to Gaara. To Kiba, too. I was intent on keeping it, no matter what.

***

Suki was waiting for me by the Village Gates, just like I'd told her to. She sneered at me as I came closer.

"Ugh, you're late!" she complained shrilly. "I've been waiting for-ev-r! What took you so damn long?!"

"Sorry!" I chirped. "Just saying some goodbyes! Ready to go?"

"Tch. Whatever. Just don't lag behind, cause there's no way I'm saving your ass while we're out here."

"Likewise!" I replied cheerily.

She gave me a look of disgust, which I easily brushed off, then turned and stalked from the Village, her pack bouncing up and down against her exposed back. I watched her for a minute, then struck out after her.

Suki was going to help me find where one of the Alatsuki's hideouts were, the one Tobi-kun had showed her before. She didn't really wanna, but I threatened to expose her secret to everyone if she didn't help. Not that she was from another world, cause then I'd have to explain about me and my sisters too. I meant her secret about agreeing to betray the Village and join the Akatsuki.

I wondered if maybe everyone would see her for her true ugly self if they could find out...

But it didn't really matter. She was my temporary ally, and I had to make the most of that. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, just that they get me to where my sisters were.

When the time came, I'd finally be the one to save my family.