I do not own Naruto. obviously. I know that this story still has some grammatical errors, but the format is different.

I don't remember my parents.

Sometimes I think that I get a bit of memory, but then its gone. Like a tendril of smoke that was blown away by a strong wind.

Of course I was only two years old when they died, and you really don't remember much when you're that little. I don't exactly know how my parents died. No one would ever say. Whenever I would try to mention it, my family would laugh shakily, and change the subject.

After my parents funeral my family decided that it would be best if my fathers brother, and his wife took me away to their home.

They had two children, and it was thought that I would have some playmates. So I went to a medium sized village that was nothing like the small country home I had lived in for the whole of my short life, and after arriving, I met my cousins. A girl about five years older than me, and a little boy still little enough to be carried by the babysitter (He cried when he was put down, so she was forced to always carry him.).

To an average person just walking by this would look like a normal family home, at least that's what I thought as I stood on the front porch, looking inside at my new home. What I didn't realize was that my life would change again, and this time I had no one to turn to.

About four months after my arrival my uncle died of a rare sickness that only affected about one out of every hundred people.

After his death my aunt became bitter. She would blame us children for something that had gone wrong, especially me. Since I wasn't from her own flesh, and blood, she had absolutely no issue with hitting and yelling at me. If I didn't work hard, or if my work hadn't satisfied her (Which was more often then not.) I would be beaten and then sent to my room without food.

If it hadn't been for my aunt's daughter, who would sneak me food when I was locked in my room, I'm convinced that I would have starved.

After my first experience of going hungry in my room, I made sure that I didn't get locked in very often, but when I did was glad that someone in that house had compassion for a pathetic little girl.

The son was still to young to understand what was going on. I think the only thing that he DID understand was that his mother wouldn't hold him anymore. His sister, was the only one that ever picked him up, and when she did it was hard for her to put him down again. He still cried when he was set down, and his sobs just made his mother angrier.

And we all did what we could to avoid the she-devil, that was always waiting for one of us to mess up.

A year-and-a-half passed with us living in this hell, when the village was warned about an attack that was coming our way. My aunt, out of a rare show of concern, sent my cousins to live with her sister in the country. I, on the other hand was made to stay in the village. My aunt was not going to stop my torture that easily.

.::-::.

One night when I fell exhausted into bed I heard an explosion, and a scream outside my window. A moment later an eerie silence fell over the village. I laid there quietly, until I heard a noise at my door. I froze, knowing who it was. I could hear my aunt mumbling outside, trying to get the door open.

The portal finally swung open, and she stumbled into my room. Even with her being so far away from me, I could smell her favorite alcohol on her breath. It was like she had drenched her clothes in it.

When she took a step I saw something glittering in her hand, and I let my eyes wander down to the shinning object. My eyes widened as I saw one of my uncles daggers held tightly in her grip. She started coming closer to me with staggering steps.

"You little monster." Her voice was slurred. "You bring death wherever you go. First your parents, then my husband, and now you dare to bring it here to consume me. I, who clothed, and took care of you. I wont let you have me that easily, I'll kill you first. That way you wont be able to curse any one else!"

She lunged unsteadily at me. I dodged, and ran out my bedroom door, towards the stairs.

I didn't know how horrible the outside would be after that explosion, but at the moment I thought that it would be better then what was waiting for me inside the house.

As I neared the stairs I looked over my shoulder, seeing how close my aunt was to catching me, I saw nothing. As I looked forward again, I ran into someone's legs. I raised my head, afraid that my aunt had somehow reached the stairs before me.

I stared into the eyes of a man, that I had never seen before. He had no expression on his face as he looked at me.

I suddenly heard the faltering footsteps coming from behind me. I tried to sidestep the stranger, but he grabbed me around my waist and threw me into his arms. His skin didn't give like a normal persons, it felt like I was being held by a wooden statue.

He was staring at my aunt as she stumbled into view, panting. She hesitated when she locked eyes with him, and without waiting for her to speak, the stranger turned and started walking, while still holding me, towards the door. Over his shoulder, I saw my aunt lunge at him.

I tried to warn him, but before I could even open my mouth, a weapon type thing had pierced her through the heart, and she fell to the ground.

I buried my head into the mans shoulder, not wanting to see the blood that pooled around my aunt, or the destruction of the village. I knew, even without looking that a lot of people were dead. I could smell the blood around me, and hear the pitiful moans of the injured. The rancid smell of the smoke that was burning the houses and shops down burnt my nose.

I could hear the explosions in the distance that had caused the fire, and I cringed into my strange saviours chest. After a moment it became quiet, and I finally let my exhaustion overcome me and I fell asleep. I didn't wake up until I heard a sickening voice speaking.

"Sasori, you brought a child with you? I know that you wanted a new puppet, but I didn't realize that you would want a child."

Instinct told me not to move, and I followed it. Mostly because I was enjoying being held, and I didn't want the strange man to realize that I was awake, and release me. A moment later I felt the harsh wind against my face, as the we began moving again. I knew instinctively that we were running fast. So fast in fact that I had a feeling if I opened my eyes I would have gotten motion sickness.

We suddenly stopped moving, and the strangers arms tightened around me. I felt a strange tingle go through my body, and then we were inside: someplace dark, and damp, a big difference from the warm, and sunny outside. I shivered at the difference in temperatures, and the man wrapped his cloak around me tightly.

I heard that sickening voice again, and tried to block it out which turned out to be easier then I thought. I was comfortable, and I couldn't remember the last time someone had held me to his heart. I listened to its beating, and soon fell asleep to its rhythm.

/

I woke up a little bit later to the noise of something hitting the floor.

I opened my eyes to see a blond guy leaning over me. I gasped, and pushed myself into the headboard of the bed, I was laying on. The blond smiled at me, and I automatically relaxed. His smile was nice. Not at all luke the vicious one's that I had become accustomed to over the past year-and-a-half.

I smiled back at him, and his grin to widened, before he turned around to face the person behind him at the desk.

"Sasori-Dono, she's awake now, and she's such a cutie. I'm glad you brought her. And we get to keep her? I wonder what caused leader to decide that. Oh well it doesn't matter I'm just glad that I have someone to try my new hairstyles out on. Oh, I need to go find my magazines. I'll talk to you later. Un." As he spoke, he was steadily moving towards the door, and it closed behind him, on his last word. Though most of what he had said didn't process through my brain, I did hear something about him messing with my hair. Which caused me to frown.

My hair was a tangled mess. No one had ever showed me how to brush my hair, and so I had never learned. Normally it just did its own thing and I did mine. If I needed to, I just threw it up in a ponytail to keep it out of my face, and away from my work.

I looked over at the desk to see the man that had saved me, staring at me from his chair across the room. He looked at me for a while before turning back to his work.

I knew that I should just stay in the bed, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I walked over to the desk to look over his arm. He was making a sketch of what looked like a puppet, but it had so many markings that it made my head hurt to try to figure it out. I finally gave up, not having any hope of understanding. I jumped slightly when his voice echoed through the empty room.

"What is your name, girl?''

His eyes didn't leave the paper as he spoke, and he made a small adjustment to the puppet as he waited for my response.

I thought hard about my answer. I knew that at one point, I had had a name. but it had been so long since I had heard it, that it had slipped my memory. I hadn't been called anything besides child or…

"Brat?"

That was the only thing that my aunt had called me in the time that I was with her. He paused in his sketching, and looked at me.

"Brat? I seriously doubt that is your name. You can tell me."

I stared at him confused, and shook my head.

"No, that's really my name. My aunt called me that all the time. So that has to be my name, right?"

He shook his head.

"Did they call you anything else?"

I thought back to before my Uncle had died. What had he called me? He had called me sweetheart, but he called almost everyone that. What else did he call me?

I smiled up at him, triumphantly as I answered.

"Ria. My name is Ria."

A ghost of a smile crossed his face in response to me.

"Hello, Ria, my name is Sasori. This is the Akatsuki headquarters. You will be living here from now on, and until I can figure out which room you will be staying in, you will be sleeping in here."

After he had finished speaking, he returned to his sketching.

I watched him a little longer before becoming sleepy again. Instead of going back to the bed, and being alone I sat down on the floor, laying my head on the chair.

I was almost asleep when I felt a movement above me. Sasori had stood up, and was bending over me to pick me up. He then walked over to the bed, with me in his arms, and laid me gently on the mattress.

Thanks for reading. Review of you want.