Act Eight

Revelations

Authoress:

This is the grand finale, and I hope you all enjoy it

The Fifth Hokage stared coldly at Sasori as he sat in his prison cell, restrained by chakra draining cuffs on a cold metal chair. Most of Team Gai were there, barring Tenten who had begged the Hokage in private to be absent, claiming that she didn't want to be anywhere near Akasuna no Sasori. Tsunade would normally have forced her to go, but after what the kunoichi had been through she had agreed.

"So, Sasori. You know we'd be willing to strike a deal with you if you agreed to return Tenten back to the way she was."

Lee clenched his fist. "Strike a deal with him?! I will not allow it!"

Lady Tsunade glowered at Lee, though her heart went out to him. The idea of striking a deal with an Akatsuki member sat ill with her, but she could not allow Lee's emotions to get in the way. "Rock Lee, please be quiet or you will be forced to leave." She said.

"No! I will not be quiet I will-" Tsunade glanced at Neji, who struck a couple of pressure points and removed the green-clad ninja from the room.

I watched the small spectacle with a disinterested eye, finally turning towards the Hokage and said slowly and deliberately.

"Return her to the way she was? Now why would I want to do that? She is my greatest masterpiece and a true artist never destroys or allows others to destroy their greatest masterpiece." Here I winced and thought of Deidara, he had created some superb pieces of work and it had taken all my willpower not to turn away when they were destroyed in seconds.

"It would be pointless anyways, as her body and most of her organs have been…disposed of." Zetsu of course had been happy for the nourishment.

"This jutsu cannot be undone." If it could be undone, I might have undone it on myself instead of performing it on Tenten, then perhaps I could have experienced her the way Deidara had often talked about."

The look on Tsunade's face was thunderous, her fingers itching to take the box that contained his heart and smash it into little tiny splinters. Gai gulped, any one of his team could have suffered her fate. But for reasons unknown to him, he had chosen Tenten.

"Tenten!" Lee called out, Neji had undone his pressure points with a dire warning to at least pretend to be immobile by not barging back in. Lee had been surprised by Neji's actions and had not questioned them, or for once, disobeyed them. He ran to his teammate and threw his arms around her in a bear hug.

Tenten shuddered, she'd never get used to this, being able to see but unable to feel, save for the rocking of her artificial body by the force of her teammate's body. Lee looked into her listless brown eyes, eyes devoid of happiness and devoid of hope. They were empty eyes, reminding him of Gaara's eyes when they had fought in the Chunin exams. Lee repressed the urge to shudder.

"Why Tenten?" Gai asked out of the blue.

I frowned at the question. How many times had I asked myself that? Been asked by Deidara? Tenten? Yet I have never been able to answer the question in full. What made this bowl-headed monstrosity think that he would be able to pry the answers from my fevered mind? Much to my surprise I began to speak without thinking and for once I abandoned myself to my feelings.

"Because the moment I first laid eyes on her, I knew I had to have her." I began.

"For her perfection…"

Gai saw Tenten's pride at finally being able to hit every target without missing.

"For her grace…"

Gai clenched his teeth. Tenten in her own way had been every bit as graceful as Neji, a deadly dancer whose instinctive movements came as naturally to her as breathing.

"For her swiftness…"

Gai saw Tenten's rapid movements in his mind's eye, manipulating her beloved weapons with the speed of a lightning bolt and shut his eyes in sorrow.

"For her beauty…"

Gai saw Tenten smiling, laughing, crying, fighting, bringing joy to the team with her cheerful and eager demeanor and her kind heart. It was then that the man realized that he had made it to their early morning training with as much anticipation for Tenten's cheery attitude as he had for Lee's boundless enthusiasm. She was beautiful inside and out! He couldn't believe that it had taken a tragedy like this to make him see it!

Neji looked at the man in front of him and realized that the bastard was enjoying torturing them. His indifferent demeanor had all but disappeared to his eyes! He was deriving a sick pleasure from telling them this and the people around him were falling right into it. It was good that Lee had left the room.

I paused for a moment, realization dawning on me, it was the key to my obsession, opening the locked door and throwing it wide open to my view.

"And for her heart."

Neji blinked, "Excuse me?" He asked incredulously.

Sasori focused his empty, soft stare on the Hyuuga, eyes assessing him; his traits, his chakra, his power, his kekkai genkai, his weaknesses and his strengths, as though he were a prime weapon being considered for purchase. Neji remained calm, though the man's thoughts disturbed him.

"Her heart." He repeated slowly. "She has something inside her- something that made me desire to be near her, hounding me with every second out of her presence, visions of her drove me insane every night. A dull, aching, empty feeling plagued me in my chest. I have been alone for a long time and when I saw her some part of me unknowingly understood that here was someone who was worthy enough to become mine."

The strength of Gai's hands splintered the wooden arms of the chair with the slightest clenching.

Under different circumstances Neji might have been sorely tempted to laugh at what sounded like a cliché love confession found in some girl's cheesy romance novel. But instead he felt physically ill, rage and loathing and fascinated horror twisting in his gut and devouring him from the inside. He wanted desperately for Sasori to continue his lurid explanation and he wanted just as desperately to permanently silence him.

"So I decided to make her just like me. To take the one person who complimented me so perfectly and make her mine for all of eternity. As long as my heart is beating, she is mine. Even if you kill me, she will still be mine."

Neji frowned. His voice had lost that soft, unfeeling quality and had became passionate and animated.

Gai snapped. Neji grimaced, he had never see that look on his sensei's face in all the days that he had known him! It was almost frightening!

"You sick demented bastard! She is not one of your little toys! She is a human being!" He balled his fists and raced across the room with the intent to completely destroy this demon and send him into oblivion!

In one powerful strike, Tsunade felled Maito Gai as easily as a horse swatted a fly. "That's enough Gai." She said quietly, despite the power of her blow.

"She's not human anymore." I informed the man, smiling down at his prone body.

The Hokage was furious and stalked out of the room.

"Tenten! I have been so worried about you!" Lee said, tears flooding freely down his cheeks.

I didn't respond to his tears. I felt nothing now, except for a driving urge to end it all. I placed a wooden hand on my teammate's shoulder, watching Lee's muscles twitch as reinforced wood and metal met solid flesh.

"Please Lee." I said, her voice soft and slightly raspy, reminding Lee of the soft hiss of Gaara's sand. "I need to be alone for a while."

Lee nodded, suddenly glad to be out of her presence, though he prayed fervently that she had not noticed his sudden relief…or his guilt.

I slipped away early that morning and stole the compartment of Sasori's heart, drawing in deep shaky breaths as I prepared myself for what I was about to do and walked quietly towards Sasori's holding cell, quickly knocking out the guards and dragging them to a safe place. I took the key and opened the door.

I looked up at the sudden source of light and noise and smiled when I saw her standing there. She walked towards me and my eyes widened with shock when she showed my heart's container. I saw that in her other hand she had hers. She flung them into the air and with rapid succession pinned both containers to the wall opposite my cell.

I turned towards Sasori and straddled his lap.

"You may not feel this but…perhaps you'll enjoy it anyways." I said, kissing him deeply, tongue sweeping around his mouth in slow circles, licking and nipping at his lips, before leaning back to study his expression, it was obvious Sasori wasn't sure what to make of my behavior.

I watched her warily, unable to comprehend her strange behavior. I searched her chocolate eyes and saw foreign emotions there, it took me a moment to recognize them as a sort of sad relief.

I turned around in his lap and began throwing kunai at the hearts, taking grim pleasure in the way his body tensed whenever I got too close for comfort to his heart. When I had finished I moved my head over to let him look.

When she had finished she leaned over and I leaned forward, scrutinizing the kunais' unique pattern carefully. I recognized the kanji after a few seconds of uncertainty.

"Fleeting." I whispered under my breath.

She curled up in my lap, resting her head on my shoulder and nuzzling my neck.

"Sasori?" She said softly. "Do you remember all those times you told me that we'd be together for eternity? You told me how stubborn I was being and that I should learn to accept that my fate was by your side."

I nodded at her, not liking where this was going. Her hand strayed, stroking my hair and nuzzling me.

"Now I'm going to give you a lesson. One that you're going to learn a lot faster then me. One that Deidara already knows… do you know what that lesson is?" She paused for a moment and then whispered in my ear "Nothing lasts forever Sasori." She closed her eyes and I felt a tremor of fear rack her body as she fisted my cloak.

They were both gone in an instant.

"Tenten stop! Don't!" Rock Lee cried as he was running full speed while Neji was desperately trying to keep up with his distraught teammate. Byakugan activated, Neji could see Tenten's chakra spiking inside.

"Lee! Wait! Stop! Move out of the way!" Neji cried as he tackled Lee sideways-BOOM!

It wasn't a large explosion by any means, but it had left a hole in the upper wall and both jounin peered inside; each bracing themselves for the awful reality of seeing the various body parts of their teammate and the Akatsuki member scattered all over the floor.

Kunai and rubble littered the ground, but what they saw when they looked into the cell stunned them the most. The two looked oddly peaceful. Tenten was curled up in Sasori's lap, feet tucked under her, fisting his cloak. Her head was on his shoulder. Sasori's head was lolling back, eyes closed and his mouth was open, giving them the appearance that they had fallen asleep in each other's arms.

"Well…I guess we won't have to bother with that sick bastard's execution now." Came Temari's voice from behind them. Temari had never seen Neji look so downcast, Lee was bawling loudly.

Neji opened his mouth and the Sand kunoichi waved him off, "I don't think anybody's gonna be upset…about this I mean!" Then she said softly, "I would have done the same thing if I'd been in her place."

They held Tenten's funeral a few days later after they returned to Konoha. Tenten's family stood quietly, some were crying, some stared in morbid fascination at her puppet body. Her headband was tied securely and her scroll with all of her beloved weapons inside were being buried with her. Lee and Gai sensei were sobbing uncontrollably and the Hokage was staring down at Tenten with a fierce scowl on her face. Neji knew she was mentally cursing the Akatsuki for robbing them of another of their shinobi and she was cursing Sasori for robbing Tenten of her body. But at least Tenten had died as a true kunoichi and taken him down with her. She deserved her revenge. Suna had not been upset over the small hole in the wall, the guards did not hold a grudge, all claiming they would have done the same thing in her place.

Neji was the last to leave the grave, he had really begun to care for Tenten; enough to want to pursue a romantic relationship with her in another year so. The Hyuuga liked to take personal relationships very slowly, but he was now beginning to regret that. He wondered if she'd ever known how he felt about her before she died. For a brief moment he felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see her standing there, a bright sparkling smile on her face. He activated his Byakugan and caught his breath! This was no genjutsu! This was a ghost! And somehow…she seemed content.

"Tenten…I…what in the world?" She leaned forward and gave him a deep kiss. When he opened his eyes she was walking away, Sasori, who was no longer a puppet appeared behind her and glared at the Hyuuga. Neji saw the faint blue glow of chakra strings attached from his fingers to her body.

"Tenten?" He asked. She gave him a confused look and rolled her eyes in good-natured exasperation before they faded away into the dazzling sunlight.

Authoress

About the ending

I know it didn't make too much sense…

The only thing I could really think of was that

Sasori's strong bond of manic obsession and the fact that they died together tied them to each other in death.

I couldn't see it happening any other way

After all Sasori usually gets what he wants.

It just seemed fitting somehow.