Beginnings

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own Naruto Shippuden and any of the characters associated with it.

Death. It had never really been something that Sasori thought deeply about. To him it was just the end of your consciousness and the gradual decay of your mortal body. Was that why he became a puppet himself? Or was it to be one with his perfect puppets? That, was the mystery. Why had he not dodged Granny Chiyo's attack then when he had been perfectly capable of doing so? That was something even he himself could not answer, maybe he just wanted to be finally laid to rest by the hands of his "parents"…

Art is everlasting…

---

The bright rays of the morning sun penetrated through his blinds, inevitably waking Sasori up. It was just another day of his boring life, he thought to himself as he stiffly got out of bed and did his usual morning routine. Take a shower, eat breakfast, brush your teeth… It was all the same, with no deviation. Getting dressed in his usual Suna ninja garb he stepped out of his house and mentally prepared himself for the day's challenges.

The night before he'd been given a mission by the current Kazekage, Gaara. It seemed pretty simple enough. He was supposed to take out some enemy ninja spies that had been slinking around the Village Hidden in the Sand.

Waving a greeting to Granny Chiyo he headed off out of the village. Granny Chiyo… She was a weird old lady, when he'd become a jounin and moved just a couple houses away from her she'd given him this weird look every time she saw him. He wasn't sure what it meant, but it was definitely odd. It was like a look of longing, confusion, and sorrow. It was like they had a relationship with each other even though he knew nothing more about her than her name.

Shaking these troublesome thoughts from his head he headed for the entrance of the village. When the village entrance was finally within sight, Sasori saw a faint outline of another ninja there waiting for him. It was Kankuro. Sasori was usually a one-man team for missions, but Gaara had evidently thought that this would be a challenging one to send someone else with him.

"You ready?", Kankuro asked with a gruff voice, showing neither kindness or rudeness.

Sasori merely nodded as an answer to the older man's question and sprinted off after him without another word as they left the village.

The mission was definitely easy. There were about twenty ninja spies, and taking them out had only taken a little over an hour, with both Kankuro and Sasori sustaining only a few minor injuries. What really intrigued Sasori about this fight however, was Kankuro's fighting style. He didn't understand how the older man's movements were still so fluid when fighting with puppets. He had been fighting efficiently, and was never a hindrance to Sasori. His movements were natural, as if he wasn't even a little deterred by fighting with such odd "weapons". Sasori didn't dare question it though, who was he to judge someone else's fighting style when it so clearly worked for them?

After the fight though, as they were taking their sweet time getting back to the village, Sasori felt the odd need to ask Kankuro about it. It wasn't really in his character to get so curious about something as trivial as this, but it was as if his heart was longing for an answer… Maybe.

"How do you fight so easily with puppets?", Sasori asked casually. It was a pretty logical question he thought. You had to control them with multiple chakra strings so it was as if you were fighting with your fingers the whole time. It seemed like a lot like hand signs, but with a lot more strings attached. Literally.

"Oh, you're interested in puppetry, kid?", Kankuro had answered back with a question. For some reasons unknown to him, Sasori thought that he could detect a nervous hint in Kankuro's voice as he answered his question. It seemed a little irrational to the red head, so he'd just put the thought out of his head for the time being.

"I might be.", he answered indifferently.

[ Kankuro's PoV ]

"I might be."

'Oh shit.', Kankuro thought to himself as Sasori answered the question. He'd really have to think carefully about his next response to the boy, as not to lead him on or anything. How would Gaara, or even Granny Chiyo react to him motivating the boy who was the spitting image of Akasuna no Sasori to take on puppetry? Not well, he knew that for sure.

But it was just a coincidence right? The same red hair, cold brown eyes, attitude…? And now the sudden interest in puppetry. Sure the real Sasori had taken up puppetry so much earlier than the Sasori before him at this moment, but what did that mean compared to all this? He didn't want to be held accountable if another Akasuna no Sasori was born because of his mistakes.

"Well?", the words and the look Sasori had flashed him then shook him out of his thoughts. He had to answer, and he had to answer now to avoid looking suspicious.

"Puppetry is a very complex skill, kid. It's not something to be learned overnight or even in a few weeks. It takes dedication to be truly able to use it in a fight.", he wondered, no hoped that he'd deterred Sasori with his words, but to his dismay it seemed that the red headed boy was even more interested now. Before Sasori could corner him with his words Kankuro decided to add another suggestion. If this was really going to happen, then the best for this job was Granny Chiyo. By all means. "If you're really sure that you're interested in puppetry, I'd say that you talk to Granny Chiyo about it. She would be better than me to teach a beginner.", he suggested with a weak smile.

Somewhere in his gut though, Kankuro had a really bad feeling about this. This definitely wouldn't end well for the Suna village, he just knew it.

[ Sasori's PoV ]

Kankuro's constant avoiding of his questions was sure interesting. He wasn't sure why he'd be so dodgy about this subject as he'd seemed to him like a puppet master who'd be eager to teach others of the art, but Sasori nodded nonetheless. If Kankuro didn't want to teach him then he'd accept it, and not badger the man until he gave in.

The rest of the trip home was carried out in silence, neither of them spoke, and neither gave any inclination of wanting to speak. The silence was rather relaxing to Sasori, he wasn't really the type of person to really enjoy long heart-to-heart conversations, so the silence was very well welcomed to him. The only thing bothering him on their return trip however, was the thought of having to talk to Granny Chiyo.

He'd grown to accept, or at least try to accept all the weird looks she'd give him on a day to day basis. It was odd, but he could always just ignore it, but now if he really wanted to learn more about puppets then he'd have to have a full blown conversation with her… This was such a hassle.

What made it worse was that he'd had no interest in puppetry what-so-ever until this day, and going on that mission with Kankuro. To him it'd always been just that to him. Just puppets, nothing really special, and nothing to laugh about, but now because of his troublesome heart he'd have to do two things that he didn't really like to do.

Get in a conversation with someone, and to actually talk to Granny Chiyo, of all the people in the Suna village.

Annnd, done. xD I dunno, I was planning on making this chapter so much longer, but then I kind of ran out of inspiration and a lot of other things occurred that kind of deterred the progress. xD So what did you think about it, people? o uo Reviews are loved~ xD )-b

I will try and make each chapter be over 1000 words long. o uo)-b But remember, things happen so don't kill me if I can't keep that promise, yeah? xD I'll also try and squeeze in at least one update a month. It's my goal to do one every week, or every other week, but yeah, I'll try and have some realistic dreams. :'D

Hm, and also, this is either gonna be a SasorixDeidara fic or a SasorixSakura fic, I'm leaning more to SS at the moment, because I know how I'd plan it out, but since I'm more of a SD fan maybe you guys can change my mind. x3 Be sure to voice out your opinions if you Review as that may alter my decision! 8D

Word Count: 1305