Chapter 4 : May the winds guide you

Akira was startled when the senbon remained stuck in the arm and the sword didn't even penetrate. It didn't even... How goddamn useless, she thought as she eyed the rusty katana. She considered throwing it away, until it occurred to her that it wasn't the katana's fault the one holding her was... What was it?

The panic from before subsided, especially when the hold on her throat was loosened when Meran started to talk. She watched the quiet person who held her and only now noticed it wasn't human at all. Well... maybe 'at all' wasn't quite right. It appeared to be as much human as the unfinished puppet from before. Only this one was finished.

A strange sound caught her attention. After she pulled the two senbon out of the puppet's arm, she turned her head a bit to look at the source. With a shock she realized it was the old man she'd been looking at mere moments ago during the fight. But something wasn't right.

She looked on with a mix of horror and fascination as the man... opened up, somehow. And then the horror was completely wiped away when a young man emerged. He stepped out of the... puppet, she supposed... and looked around his quarters with what was probably disapproval. His floor was ruined after all, and they'd moved things around.

The thing she was completely floored by was his appearance. He was young, and handsome too, though she didn't much care about that. How could someone so young be so insanely strong?

She made sure not to gape, but she was aware of herself staring at him as he looked around.

He recognized Meran as a Sabaku and Hina as a Chikamatsu, which meant he was aware of different clans in Suna. Then again, considering he could do puppetry, he was probably from Suna himself.

"I was promised to be left alone, so I wonder why you were brought here..." he murmured. Akira assumed he was talking to himself, because he wasn't looking at any of them. Who promised him he'd be left alone? she thought. As a matter of fact, who is he anyway? She aimed to find out, sooner rather than later.

The puppet that held her moved to push her inside. Akira complied and didn't resist, she'd rather stay close to her friends. She could see Hina against the back wall of the building, staring wide eyed at the red haired boy as well, and she saw Meran who looked dog tired. The puppet near Meran looked strangely familiar... like she'd seen that face many times before.

With a jolt she realized she knew that face from their history classes. It was the third Kazekage, the one that'd gone missing a ages ago. Was this really...? No way, right? The third was the strongest Kazekage Suna had ever known, or so it was told.

She listened to the redhead speak, his voice soft but clear. He still wasn't giving them any attention. "I was promised to be left alone, but they didn't keep theirs. So why should I keep mine? I have no reason not to kill you..."

Her heart skipped a beat. He was debating whether to kill them. Not good. The fingers on her left hand fidgeted with the senbon as she wondered if she should throw them at him now. I could hit a vital spot... she pondered. Now. I could do it... Her breathing got shallower as she pictured the senbon flying through the air, landing in the temple beside his eye.

No. She stopped her train of thought, mentally shaking herself out of it. He was so powerful, she didn't stand a chance. He could have killed them by now, but he hadn't yet. Clearly something was stopping him, maybe that promise he was talking about? He had saved their lives by getting rid of those people who had apparently wanted their bloodline limits. Not that she'd had anything to give in that department, but they'd known her and surely would have killed her.

This man, or boy, she wasn't sure, he'd saved her and her friends. Surely he deserved some credit for that. She shouldn't be so quick to jump at an opportunity to kill him... an attempt that would probably only be detrimental to their situation.

I should try appeasement, she concluded. "I'm sorry we came here. I found this cave and it looked like a good place to spend the night before we headed back to Suna." She thought it best to be honest with him. "It looked deserted. Then this..." She waved the hand holding the senbon around, motioning at the metal building they were in. She felt a bit awkward with the senbon and katana in her hands now, because being armed didn't do much for making amends. Maybe she should put them away... but then she'd feel vulnerable. Not that she didn't already feel vulnerable with a hand around her throat. "...thing. Building. Your place. It was an accident, I don't even know how it happened..." Akira glanced at Hina. That eerie puppet arm. She gave Hina a look, urging her to continue where she left off.

Hina's feet shakily touched the ground. She was a bit tentative at first, but she felt like she could successfully stand on her own. She peeked through her eyelashes and saw that the super-scorpion was, fortunately, not a real scorpion. (Hey, it could have been a summons or something!) It was, in fact, a puppet. A puppet that opened up to let the person inside out. 'That is creepy as fuck! Who the hell comes up with something like that?!'

The apathetic redhead stepped out of the carrier-puppet and looked around the cave with a disapproving look on his face. Despite their dire situation and everything they had gone through, Hina couldn't help but think, 'Though a carrier puppet is a good idea...' No more unnecessary walking around. 'No more running!' However, she stopped thinking about avoiding any and all forms of physical exercise when the redhead started talking, finishing Meran's sentence.

He clearly knew exactly what was going on here. She felt a shock run through her when he looked at her and correctly identified her as a Chikamatsu. "I was promised to be left alone." Were the words that caused the floodgates of her thoughts to open. Her eyes grew larger and larger, her mouth slightly opening in astonishment as she stared and stared at the person in front of her, mind running at hyper speed.

The S-rank puppet arm. The half-processed human corpse. All the stories about a puppeteer, a puppet master, who could control entire armies, who turned humans into puppets. Fairytales, she had thought as a child, even though the older members of her clan insisted on their truthfulness. This recently used laboratory. The story her father had once told her about how he had controlled a puppet master, a living puppet, before Hina's mother had shushed her husband, saying those stories would give Hina nightmares. But she did remember three things: red hair, living puppet, Akasuna no Sasori.

Akasuna no Sasori. Sasori of the Red Sand. A legendary shinobi.

In the meantime Akira had started talking, telling the truth, apparently. And why not? They weren't doing anything wrong here. 'Except for the part where I opened his private scroll. And have another one in my pack right now.' She very consciously felt her pack hang against her hip, and was glad that it was large enough to entirely fit the scroll inside. It would have been terrible if the scroll had been sticking out.

"It was an accident, I don't even know how it happened..." Hina caught Akira's look. She clearly wanted Hina to continue. 'Me?! What the hell am I supposed to say?! Sorry for opening your scroll, planning on using one of your weapons, stealing a different scroll, and being the cause of all this hot mess?!'

Her eyes drifted back to Sasori, who had turned to look at Hina after he had caught Akira's glance Hina's way. She looked straight into the eyes of the man she had always heard stories about. Her throat felt dry and she swallowed hard to try and moisten it a bit before speaking.

"We didn't mean to not leave you alone." she said, in a very awkward sentence, "Like she said, we only happened upon this cave and laboratory by accident. We didn't mean to disturb you. I don't know who promised you that you would be left alone, but I promise you that if you let us go, we won't ever bother you again, and we will tell no one where your hideout is." She didn't think about the fact that this whole place could be put back inside a scroll and moved to a different location anyway. She had tried to pick her words very carefully, but she couldn't help the small, "I've heard so many stories about you." An incredulous, on the verge of admiring, tone in her voice. Her big eyes looked at him and she blurted out, "Is it true you kidnap naughty children and turn them into puppets, but leave their brains and eyes for the last so they will see everything?" As soon as the words had left her lips she realised how stupid that sounded!

All the colour drained from her face, except for two bright red cheeks. "I.. I mean! My father told me a story once when I was four. And I don't think it's true, but he said it was true, but I had just painted my mother's make up on Crow, so he was angry, and it's not true is it? I mean, you wouldn't do that, of course you wouldn't, it's just a fairytale, but yet, here you are... Akasuna no Sasori." Talking without pause had caused her to slightly run out of breath.

As the thing holding him released Meran, the boy sagged through his legs. All energy was spent and all was as futile as he thought it would be, nothing seemed to make a difference, no matter how good his tactics were, he was but a fly in this world and nothing was noteworthy. Sure he trapped some of the shinobi attacking, but it did not change te tide of the fight.
His wish to avenge his big brother had all but failed... Leaving him depressed and without energy.

Why were his tactics so futile? With a lot of effort, Meran took out his little book, in which he would note down all of his questions and seemingly absorbed, he would start to write things down. All he had noticed were described, so he could review things later. With all energy drained from his body, he would take in information without a lot of passion, only realizing the severity of the information after he finished writing things down.

When Meran read back what he had written, his eyes stumbled across the sentence. And the thing that broke through my sand and held me, looked exactly like the statue of great grandfather...

As if he was trapped in slow motion, Meran slowly turned to face the puppet that Sasori had constructed of his great grand father. As if dazed, he put the little book away. The boy stands up and slowly limps towards the puppet, cringing from the pain, softly speaking its name as he rose his hand to the face of the puppet.

Everyone would be able to see that Meran was confused by everything. Which was not surprising, as he was trapped under a lab, his leg was set, he was almost killed by dozens of shinobi wanting his bloodline, is faced with someone mostly known to him from stories and fables and now he stared into the empty eyes of what had once been his relative, which looked eerily like the boy himself, but older.

The boy gave a look at the three children, after finishing his sentence. He felt troubled: he was sure these were Suna Shinobi trying to become real Genin, but still: they found his lab and his experiments. For all he knew they could even have found some of his prototype scrolls. The boy had been quite busy with things the old man didn't know about and if he was to find out, that would be quite troublesome.

He looked and listened to Akira, but wasn't impressed at all. Who the hell was this girl, waving around with his rusty katana and some senbon. She was talking so much nonsense... You could not accidentally summon this, you had to open a scroll. He gave her an unimpressed look and mumbled something to himself, none of the Genin could really hear. The only word they would be able to hear was 'Liar.'
 
The boy turned to Hina, as she start to speak. The boy couldn't remember the last time he heard a girl talk this fast and this much nonsense, but still the girl was able to get his attention. He moved towards her and moved the puppet holding Hina. 'Stories?' he spoke, trying not to give too much emotion away - something he was quite successful in.
 There were only few people who could have heard of him, or still remember him. Nobody had seen him in at least twenty years. Besides: the only person who could remember him and was stupid enough to tell stories about him was...
Could it be..?
 When the boy heard the name Crow fall, he couldn't help himself but to give the girl a surprised look. The thing that really managed to surprise him was hearing his own name after so long. How long has it been..?

That old man would never dump his daughter anywhere close to were he himself lived. He was really sure about that. The boy - Akasuna no Sasori - didn't feel confused, but rather suprised and impressed. After all these years they still told stories about him.
 A grin appeared on his face. He moved closer to her and inspected her skull. 'The stories are true, little girl. An your brain looks perfect for my puppets... And such eyes, it would be a waste not to keep them...' He started laughing a bit sadistic, but would soon go back to his emotionless face and turn around, looking at the sobbing boy by the entrance. He could not kill these children, he could not risk it. What if this girl really was the daughter of that old man? He could always find out about that later. If he figured the girl lied, he could always kill her and her little friends.
'You there,' he said in a monotone voice, pointing at Akira, 'go comfort that Sabaku boy. You kids can stay here 'till dawn. I don't expect the Shinka to come back anytime soon. Eat something and get some rest. I'll keep an eye out.' Sasori let a silence fall, still looking at the Chikamatsu girl with piercing eyes. He assumed it was obvious to her he had been joking about turning her into a puppet. With a serious tone he spoke: 'You're Kankuro's daughter aren't you?'

When she looked back from Hina to Sasori right after she'd spoken, she caught the red haired guy looking at her with contempt while he muttered something. She didn't quite catch what he said, but she did hear the word 'liar'.

The fuck are you looking at me angry for? She kept herself from saying the words out loud, she didn't think he'd appreciate the words very much, but her grey eyes narrowed venomously. He thought she was a liar when she was being honest? Well fuck you, she thought while she stared at him. So much for honesty. She didn't have anything to do with the summoning of his lab. No, she thought, her gaze settling on Hina as the girl talked to the man she called Sasori, who was listening to her attentively. The one responsible for that would be over there, talking to you this very moment. Yet you blame me.

However, as she looked at her friend she knew she couldn't be mad. Hina was mesmerized with this guy. Speaking of him, she recognized the name from the stories Hina had told her. She hadn't been able to remember before, but now that Hina had spoken the name out loud the memories came back to her. Akasuna no Sasori, a walking legend stood before them. She felt her anger dissipate slowly as she continued to look at them. Hina held Sasori's rapt attention and when he started to tease her about turning her into a puppet, Akira almost smiled. So he wasn't all monotone and deadpan.

Then Sasori pointed at her. "You there, go comfort that Sabaku boy."
It wasn't so much the request that bothered her, though it was an odd one. Meran seemed positively out of it, but whether he needed comfort? She didn't think so. No, it was the tone he used, and the way he looked at her. What am I, a dog? Go comfort, bitch! But she wisely kept her mouth shut as he continued talking. When he said they were allowed to spend the night at his place, she did feel relief... even though she still felt offended because one, he thought she did something she had nothing to do with and called her a liar and two, he treated her like some dog and looked at her like she wasn't worth the air she breathed. Despite this, it was good to know they had a place to sleep.

Akira walked to Meran, tossed the rusty katana away, not caring where the worthless thing came down, and put a hand on his shoulder. "The third kazekage, your great grandpa," she said, and noted the subtle similarities of their faces. "Well, can't bring the dead back to life. You shouldn't want that either. He'd be what, a century old? Imagine what he'd look like." She resisted a shudder and inspected the odd human-like puppet a bit more. The third kazekage, frozen in time.

She gave Meran's shoulder a squeeze before she removed her hand. "Snap out of it Meran." She moved away and put the senbon she held back in the pack. She eyed Sasori warily, then rested her eyes on Hina. He seemed particularly interested in her, and she didn't know whether that was a good or a bad thing. He'd offered them shelter for the night, so she decided to lean towards 'good'... for now. "I'm going outside to get our water back and look for Hiten."

"Stories? The stories are true little girl." Sasori of the Red Sand was stalking towards her with a grin on his face that did little to calm Hina's nerves. "And your brain looks perfect for my puppets..." Speaking of Hina's brain: it just fried. For the second time that evening she was sure that she would die. However, the prospect of being turned into a human puppet was way scarier than dying on the battlefield while facing numerous enemies. "And such eyes, it would be a waste not to keep them..." Hina could only produce a very silent sound, which best be described as a "meep". The redhead close to her face, inspecting her skull and eyes, started laughing. It wasn't a kind laugh, but it was a laugh. 'He's joking. He has got to be joking. It's not true. No, it's not true. It's a joke.' A small nervous smile would appear on Hina's face.

She almost felt relieved when he turned away to look at the other.. two? 'Where is Hiten?' Was he still out there? Keeping guard? Why would he do that? All the enemies were gone. Then again, Hiten liked keeping guard. She watched Meran, clearly being out of it. Her heart went out to him. She knew how he felt. Everything that had happened so far was so overwhelming. She didn't understand how she was even still awake and sane after all that. And what Meran had been going through, with his leg and everything, must have been even more overwhelming. She was about to walk towards him, however, the puppet still holding her didn't budge an inch. She looked at Sasori, who still had his back turned her. 'Guess this conversation isn't over yet.'

A shock went through her as she noticed the puppet that Meran was examining. 'That's..! That's great grandfather!' The Third Kazekage of Sunagakure. She remembered his face from the pictures in the history books at school. She, however, wasn't quite as shocked as Meran. Like Akira said before she went outside to get Hiten, he would've been dead now anyway.

"You kids can stay here 'till dawn. I don't expect the Shinka to come back anytime soon. Eat something and get some rest. I'll keep an eye out." 'Shinka?' Their enemies had been Shinka?! Hina had never gotten a very clear view of their enemies, at least not clear enough to recognise them as Shinka. Her eyes were immediately filled with a mixture of hatred, and a tinge of sorrow. 'Those bastards..! They had been the ones to kill Meran's older brother, her cousin. Immediately she felt a great satisfaction about the fact that there were a number of them lying dead outside the cave. If she had known this she wouldn't have set up such a defensive strategy. She also wouldn't have killed them as quickly as Sasori had done. She'd let them suffer...

All this was idle thought, though Hina didn't realise it. If Sasori had not been there to save them, all of them would probably have died. And Hina didn't have the power to make anyone "suffer a slow death" (not considering the fact that she just wouldn't be able to kill the off quickly). Yet.

Her attention snapped back to the redhead Master Puppeteer when he turned back to her. She quickly let the anger towards the Shinka disappear from her face, not wanting to give the scary massmurderer who liked to play with corpses even the idea that she was angry at him for anything. She was scared of him, rightfully so, but at the same time she also felt respect and admiration, even though at the moment her fear was overpowering those feelings.

"You're Kankuro's daughter aren't you?" She supposed she shouldn't be surprised that he knew. After all, if her father's stories were true, of which the possibility had increased tenfold this evening, and it wasn't just another one of his wild stories, then Sasori of the Red Sand had fought her father. And she had mentioned Crow. And her father did love introducing his puppets during battle. She wondered if it was a bad thing that Sasori had this bit of information. But the fact was that he had. And there would be no use in denying it.

"Yes," she said, "I am." She decided to add a bit of curtesy as well. "Thank you for letting us stay the night here."

Meran shook his head after a while, finally things started to fall into place, this was the man that had killed his grandfather and made him into a puppet. This all came to light before Meran himself was born, but he could not believe it until he had seen it for himself. With a glance the boy checked out the body that lies on the metal slab, waiting to be finished, Meran was no puppeteer, but he could instantly see that his great grandfather was crafted way better than the one on the slab and his great grandfather must have died decades ago.

It therefore must be a treasured possession of the man from the red sand.  

Meran did not really know what to do with the situation, The man was Hina's terrain mostly, she would know best. Then the man ordered Akira to comfort Meran and that kind of ticked Meran off, he was not in need of comforting, all he needed was some time to piece things together. It was not every day the lab of a S-rank Hermit landed on top of your head, breaking your leg. Before Meran could react to the non-sense, Akira was already with him. "I know Akira, " Meran started a bit harsh, but his tone quickly changed, she did not deserve that from him, he was just bone tired.

"Please forgive me, it is just a bit too much information and experience all at once. I know this is great grandfather and he wouldn't have been alive right now anyway, but can you imagine coming face to face with someone you thought to be long dead and buried? Someone that looks like you in certain ways?"

It was clear that Meran's mind was getting in focus again. It was like a fog that had lifted from before his eyes... A FOG! Hiten!
Meran did not even hear Akira tell him to snap out of it, his focus was on Hiten, before Akira could walk away, Meran grabbed her hand. "Find him, please!" He begged of her, looking down on the puppet frame on his leg. It was hard enough for him to stand, he could certainly not go out to search for him.

Instead, he awkwardly skipped towards Sasori and Hina. The look in his eyes was that of tiredness. But he fought it and straightened up with great effort. "Akasuna-sama, " he would start with the slightest hint of a bow. Not because he would not bow deeper, but because his nose would hit the ground if he did so. His balance was a precarious thing at the moment and remaining upright is all he could do right now. "Thank you for your help sir, it is very much appreciated. I thank you for your forgiving nature. I would like to ask you for one more favor though, Hina here has bandaged my leg with a puppet part from you lab here, without her and it, I would not be able to stand. I would ask of you if we could borrow it until we finish this trial. I am sure either of our fathers could arrange a safe return for it to you, if not, I am sure we can find something else to brace it with. But as it is such a good fit, I wanted to ask this of you. We are no thieves, sir." Seeing it was an obvious feature on Meran's leg, it was most certainly noticed by Sasori already, but it could not hurt him asking and being polite.

Akira ignored the hint of irritation in his voice. If she'd experienced what he'd gone though this past hour, she wouldn't have been very happy either. She nodded at Meran's words. It wasn't like she'd ever been in a similar situation so she couldn't say she understood how he felt, but he did have her sympathy. After she said she'd go outside, Meran quickly grabbed her hand and said: "Find him, please!" He sounded desperate and from the look of him, he would've preferred to go himself had the situation allowed for it. The makeshift casket around his leg fitted beautifully, but that didn't take away the fact his leg was broken. It was a miracle in and of itself he was able to stand and get around on his own, though he did so awkwardly. "I plan to," she assured him, even though it was too soon to say she was going to succeed. But she'd try her best.

As Meran waddled over to Hina and their redhaired antihero, Akira turned to walk through the room in search of something to provide her with light outside. It was dark after all, and she'd much prefer something like a torch. It was too bad her previous torch was currently crushed underneath the building's metal floor, so she hoped she could find something else to use.

(Investigation roll: search for something that will provide light outside)

The boy didn't particularly like the conformation of the Chikamatsu girl. She was either very good at lying or speaking the full truth. He expected the last. There was no way this girl showed any signs of lying.
 'Following in the footsteps of your old man...' He smiled a little. He couldn't help finding himself intrigued by the daughter of the strongest puppeteer Suna had to offer. 'What's your name?'

He turned around and looked at the Sabaku-boy getting close to him, suddenly giving him a whole speech. Sasori looked at the leg, something he found really amusing for some reason. Inventive. 'Keep it. However, I suggest you take it off before entering the village and get rid of it. Hide it in the desert.' The redhead didn't say much more about it. 'And it would be best for you to lay down. For all three of you. Sunset is within six hours. Sabaku, it would be wise for you to use the bed' Sasori didn't seem to have much interest in both Akira and Meran. The only thing he did wonder about was why he suddenly was the babysitter of three kids.

His eyes moved to the other girl, who seemed to be scouting the room for something to... he wasn't quite sure. Something about looking for another guy. Hiten. Who was Hiten?
Before Akria could even touch anything, Sasori gave her a bit of a glare, which was scary enough to begin with. Kids these days didn't know their place. Why was she scouting his lab... his house?!
'Little girl, what do you think you're doing?' He sneered at Akira.

Akira stopped in her tracks when she heard Sasori speak to her, sounding not very amused. When she caught his gaze, her body froze instantly under the weight of his dark glare. It took her a moment to regain herself, and when she did she crossed her arms in front of her. She swallowed her fear and managed a glare herself, tapping into her own anger and suspicion.

"I hate to repeat myself," she started, trying very hard to keep her voice level, calm and unaccusing, instead of sounding snappish and bratty. She continued on, speaking the words slowly and clearly. "But I said I'm going outside to get our water back and look for our teammate Hiten, who was outside when you blitzed the place." And what an amazing blitz it was. Total annihilation and over in a flash. But this was no time for compliments, though he would probably appreciate those better than what she was currently telling him. He liked Hina well enough, and she was fawning over him. "However, it is a little dark outside, as you might have noticed." And I don't have nightvision, she wanted to add, but didn't, trying so hard to remain polite. Even though she felt like shouting at him, telling him that searching for Hiten and looking for their water was goddamn near impossible if you couldn't see a fucking thing.

But all this was lost on Sasori, though he probably noticed her thoughts were an angry turmoil and weren't reflected in her words. "And so I was wondering if there was something in here that I could use to light my way," she finished, and even managed to get rid of the glare and smile. "If it please you." Oh man, this was so hard. She really needed to work on her social skill. I may smile at you now, she thought, but in my head I've killed you twice.

Meran nodded appreciatively at Sasori, despite the insult the man directed at him. He was a Sabaku, but it would be nice to be recognized as a person. Bu he realized as well that he never made his introduction either. "I'm Sabaku no Meran, by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you Akasuna-SAN " he emphisized the honorific a tad, seeing it was only polite and an insult to remove it.

"Why would you advice me to take it off before entering Sunagakure?" Meran would look at Hina for help to move towards the bed.

Sasori's scrutinising look was unsettling to say the least. At last he spoke, "Following the footsteps of your old man..." He gave a small smile. The first real sign of kindness made all the tension in Hina fade away. She still knew this man, boy, puppet, person in front of her was very dangerous, but she also felt that he wouldn't kill them. Not tonight. Probably. 'Ugh. Crap.' she thought. Why couldn't her thoughts just let her see things simply?! He was not going to kill them! Period. "What's your name?" "I'm Chikamatsu no Hina." came the almost automatic reply. Her parents had taught her to always answer with two words or more.

Meran walked over to them. Well, walked, more like hobbled. She wanted to move to help him, but he seemed to be able to at least stand on his own for now. She would let him stand on his own while he introduced himself. She listened to the two males exchange of words. When Meran put emphasis on the "san" she slightly widened his eyes. Was he mocking Sasori? No, he couldn't. Surely he'd know that was a very, very bad idea. If not from the stories, then at least from what he had seen the puppet master do against the enemies. She tried to convey 'What did you mean? Please don't tell me you're suicidal.' through her eyes as she shot forward to help him when he asked. Meran didn't like "unnecessary help", so she helped him when he asked for it. That was a general rule of hers. Of course having his leg bent in a 90-degree angle the wrong way was an exception, no asking needed there.

She supported him to wherever he wanted to go. It was a good idea to let him sleep in the bed. Hina herself would probably sleep on the floor next to the bed, as close to it as possible. "How is the pain?" she asked softly, "Do you need any more painkillers?"

In the meantime Akira had started a.. conversation, if that's what you could call it, with Sasori. She was almost outright challenging him, and Hina cringed. 'What is wrong with them?!' she thought. They had reached the bed and she helped Meran sit down on it. She wanted to shout to Akira that she perhaps should tone it down a little bit, but that would only draw more attention to it. Instead she said, "Looking for Hiten sounds like a good idea. But perhaps you shouldn't go out there alone. Want some company?" Hopefully this would draw away Sasori's attention from Akira's challenging tone. She looked at Sasori, as if asking him permission, before she realised that she didn't need to ask him permission. They were neither his prisoners nor his students. She was allowed to go outside if she wanted to do so. Besides, he probably didn't care either way.

She glanced down at Meran. She expected him to fall asleep soon. And Akira definitely shouldn't go out there alone. She had already done that once before, a bad habit of her it would seem, and there was something about a corpse or something? Anyway. No more alone-time.

Both Akira and Meran were testing Sasori's patience. He wasn't even really angered, just annoyed. Annoyed by their tone. Were these kids the kind of kids Suna had to offer these days? Twenty years he didn't show his face and this is what happened to Suna-children? They acted like those hyperactive and rude kids from Konoha. No respect for their elders, no respect for personal belongings. No respect for anything at all. 'I... should have killed you when I had the chance.' he groaned towards Akira and Meran. His voice went back to monotone as he looked in Akira's direction. 'Especially you!'
Sasori wasn't really that angry, but he did feel sorry. Kankuro would never have to know it was him who killed them off. He could just dump their bodies somewhere and everyone would think they got killed off during their survival by falling into a pit of scorpions. He actually felt sorry for not letting them deal with the Shinka. But then again, kids. They probably had been kept close to mommy and daddy and had never seen any real danger. He looked at Meran. ‘If you want to know why it would be wise to take off the leg, ask your puppeteer friend. I’m sure she’s figured it out by now.’

Sasori turned around as he heard the Chikamatsu-girl speak. Hina, the only girl that seemed to know her place. She had helped the Sabaku to the bed and was now talking to the rude girl. That Hiten person again. Was he that important to them? And why was he with them to begin with? They already had three man in their team and the only logical reason Sasori could think of was that they were a four-man team. Again this sounded highly unlikely. Something like that was rare. He had only seen this once before, so there was only one other logical reason.
‘So you kids want to go look for this Hiten? Is he your pet ?’ He walked towards a cabinet and got himself three torches. These kids couldn’t be stopped and he needed to clear the dead bodies from his ‘front yard’ anyway. Maybe the kids did something stupid and got themselves killed in the process of looking for this person – or animal – or whatever. ‘And do you’ he looked at Meran once more. ‘want to go look for him as well? One of my puppets could carry you.’ That Hiten had to be one hell of an important pet.

Akira stood there shocked and wide-eyed after Sasori's proclamation. What... why? Why her? You're the one who started antagonizing me! she thought. And now you're angry with me because I'm not nice to you? She couldn't believe it. In any case, she kept her mouth shut, not wishing to upset him further.

"Looking for Hiten sounds like a good idea. But perhaps you shouldn't go out there alone. Want some company?" Hina asked, and Akira nodded. "I'd like that," she replied, her voice a lot friendlier than when she'd spoken to Sasori. She longed to be outside together for a moment, just the two of them, getting some fresh air and letting some of their stress drift away on the wind. And they could talk about private things... like the corpse she'd found, that she promised to tell them about later. Well, later had come sooner than expected.

But alas, this plan was thwarted. The good news was that Sasori had torches after all, one for each of them, assuming Meran stayed inside. The bad news was they wouldn't be going alone outside, for Sasori planned on joining them. This meant she wouldn't be able to tell Hina about the corpse... one of Sasori's victims, she guessed. Did he know she'd found the corpse? She didn't dare ask, because he was mad with her already. And though he didn't seem particularly volatile, with the way he composed himself... she'd seen what he could do. Best not tempt him further. In fact, she didn't wish to speak another word to him, seeing that she had difficulty keeping herself composed whenever he talked to her. God, that guy could make her blood boil... and he didn't even need to speak. The way he looked at her was enough, the disdain plain to see.

"So you kids want to go look for this Hiten? Is he your pet?" Sasori asked before he'd gotten the torches. Despite herself, a small grin tugged on her lips momentarily, and Akira shook her head at the absurdity of that question. "No, he's our teammate." She blinked, realizing that was probably pretty odd to hear. A four-man squad was unusual after all. "We're a four-man squad, by high exception," she added and felt a tinge of pride, though that quickly disappeared when she thought of Hiten's current state of being. What if we're already a three-man squad...? They needed to search for Hiten, no time to lose.

Meran looked pained as Sasori offered to go look for Hiten and to carry him with one of his puppets. He was really torn about the whole fact. He really wanted to go look for Hiten, with each moment passing Meran became more and more worried, however it was clear to Meran that he was at the end of his abilities to cope with the day's efforts. It was too damn hard for him to focus on anything really and he even hardly noticed H:ina bringing him to the bed. Meran shook his head when Hina asked him if he needed more medication. The pain was still there, but it was bearable. "Thnx Guujin, I owe you one." Meran knew he did not have to say it, in fact, Hina probably would not see it the same and knew he would have done exactly the same for her, but still, it felt right.

Both girls wanted to go and look, but he was not going to sleep before the girls came back though. If he was not worrying enough about Hiten, the girls out there was not something he really wanted added to that stack of worry.

"I thank you for your kind offer, sir, but I can't..." the words hit the boy hard. He hardly ever admitted he could not do anything without failing miserably.... in front of an audience.....  Thrice.... But he knew the success or failure of their entire survival mission would depend on his endurance in the coming 2 days. "Please allow me to assist from here. If you indicate where I should move the sand, I can do so from here. Bring me back a souvenir though.." He ended with a wink towards Hina and Akira. Trying to lift his and their spirit a bit, trying, but having a hard time of it.

Meran wanted to hug them, but that wasn't as easy either. "Also Akasuna-san, I think I already know what you are hinting at." Meran would know, hearing the same horror stories as Hina had and seeing the same clues as the two girls, he could make the link himself. It was the one thing Sasori was famous for. "but how would anyone know this was made by you? My father never confirmed the stories about your puppets and neither did my uncle. Does Oji (uncle, own family) know of this method, Hina? I don't think father knows... He never really confirmed the rumours of what happened back when he was taken by that bomb guy... I don't think he remembered much, but when we asked Oji, he never said the stories were real either."

Meran was rambling mostly to himself and partly to Hina, he was trying to work out and deduce what to do with the information he had gotten. Obviously some rumours were true, his great grandfather was puppet proof of it. But surely Kankurou would have told them about it if he knew right? And if no one knew, what would be the harm... Who would look twice at a puppet leg except Kankurou....
Or hina....

She gave a smile when Meran told her he owed her one. In her opinion, he didn't. Technically she was the one that had broken his leg... But even if she hadn't, then she would've helped him regardless.

Hina smiled back at Akira. She was a lot more relaxed now that it became clear that they hadn't been killed by the Shinka, and wouldn't be killed by Sasori. She threw a wary glance when Sasori stated he should have killed them, but still, she was positive he wouldn't. He sounded more annoyed than anything.

She looked down at the leg when Sasori said it was a good idea to bury it outside of Suna. She had expected something like that, but it was a shame really.. She would have liked to study it a bit further for it's craftsmanship. But Sasori was right, of course. It was way too telltale Sasori to be allowed inside the village. Also, she hadn't told Meran yet that the leg was made from, well, actual leg. She wasn't sure how he would react to this. To be honest, she wasn't too sure yet how she felt about human puppets herself.

She prepared herself to go outside, strapping Chouchou to her back who had been uncharacteristically far from Hina for the past moments. "Don't worry. We'll bring you back something nice." she said, with a grin and a wink back at Meran as she was about to step outside. However, hearing Meran say that he already had figured out that the leg wasn't made of wood made her stop in her tracks and turn around. 'Figures he'd figure it out..' she thought. He didn't seem to mind it, not enough to want the cast taken off at least, but he did seem slightly.. nervous about it. Talking a lot. She swiftly walked back to him and gave him a brief, but at the same time apologetic and comforting, hug. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to be bothered by it."

Sasori listened to Meran, even though he gave the impression he really didn't. He was more or less busy with lighting the torches. He just didn't really enjoy the fact that Kankuro could get to know he was still into the whole human puppetry thing.
'It just would be better not to wear it, it's simple as that...' Sasori gave Meran an anoyed look and suspected him to be son of Gaara, which made it all less of an enjoyment. Of course Gaara and Kankuro's kids get to have the special treatment. A four man team and all that. Such a drag...
When he finally got to torch do burn he gave one to Akira and moved with the other two towards the entrance of the cave, pushing one of them in the ground by the entrance and the other he put some meters away in the direction he had pushed Hiten in.

The open space was lighted by a vague light, but good enough to see the damage Sasori had done. The sand was soaked in blood, dead bodies everywhere and basically what had happened wasn't a pretty picture.
When the Shinobi would step outside they would only start to notice how cold it had gotten. The temperature had dropped to about 6 degrees Celcius and they would notice how their breath would start to show when exhaling. Sasori would completely ignore the girls stepping outside, but started to do his own thing: collecting and investigating the bodies one one and moving them in a big line with the help of three of his puppets.

'You can look for gear of you feel like it. I don't really have use for it.' He would walk back inside and started looking for something in his lab.

Meran shrugged, it was ok for him, he was just curious about it. That was all, but it became apparent to him that Sasori had no intention to talk about it. Meran was bummed out, because he really wanted to know more. Though puppetry wasn't really his thing, Secrets however were and he had the feeling that something was kept from him. And he did not like it one bit. He however did not show it, instead he made himself useful the best way he could in his current condition. First and foremost by not being a burden. He thanked Hina for her kind words, quickly giving her a hug before she heads outside.

The boy started to move the sand that was inside the cave outside while Sasori and the girls were out looking. He would have a good chance to get rid of everything. He did not bother cleaning his special sand. Somehow it always cleaned itself, no special treatment necessary. In fact it seemed cleaner already.

The boy looked outside as the trio worked there, he hoped they would find Hiten and that the boy was alright. Should he go outside and help search? He felt guilty to not do so, but he knew he should be sleeping, everyone knew he would need the rest, but they all knew he needed to know everyone was safe before he could do so... Would he be able to sleep if they could not find Hiten? Or worse... If they found him dead?

Akira offered Sasori a stiff little bow as she accepted the torch from him before stepping into the cool night air. She was very grateful for the light the torch offered, even if it revealed the gore all around them. Akira couldn't be too bothered by it though. Dead is dead. She thought back to the corpse she'd found... presumably one of Sasori's victims... She chanced a look at Hina, but thought better of starting that conversation now.

Instead she walked to the place where Sasori put a torch in the ground, around the place where she'd last felt Hiten's presence. She looked around to try and spot the water bottles. Getting those back was of paramount importance, lest they dehydrated on the way back. If she found the water bottles, she'd carry them back inside Sasori's quarters, before continuing her search for Hiten. If she didn't find the water bottles, she'd continue her search for Hiten right away. She'd try to locate his chakra signature, check the dead people in close by if their attire was somewhat similar to what Hiten had worn, and wondered through the bushes to look for any sign of him. Maybe he'd left a clue?

(Investigation roll: search for water bottles. Investigation roll: search for Hiten)

As she stepped out the sight made her stop for a second. She knew there would be bodies out here, but she wasn't quite prepared for the sight. She had never seen anything like it. Dozens of lives snuffed out in mere minutes. And how... There was blood soaking into the sand and covering the bodies, gleaming eerily in the moonlight. The bodies were covered in slashes. Hina was glad that they hadn't been killed during the heat of the day, otherwise they would probably have smelled horribly. As of now, the most potent smell, saturating the air, was the metallic tang of blood.

She let out a puff of breath at the sight and smell, and quickly rearranged the desert scarf, that miraculously had stayed around her shoulders, to warm her a bit more and cover part of her lower face. "You can look for gear if you feel like it. I don't really have use for it." Sasori spoke as he went about his own business.

She carefully approached the closest body to her, almost as if expecting the person to jump up and attack her. However, logic told her he could not. His head was bent at a weird angle, staring in her direction with a pained and scared expression in his wide, dulled over eyes. He wore the same Blood Brotherhood clothes like all the others did. All the other Blood Brotherhood members. All the other bastards.

Instant and sudden fury took over and she kicked the Blood Brotherhood bastard as hard as she could in his dead face. The nose broke. The skull cracked. Blood and something else squirted on her shoe. "AUGH!" she let out a sound of utter disgust as she looked down at her now dirty shoe. She glared at the cracked in face of the guy, as if he had filthied her shoe on purpose, and noticed with no small sense of fulfilment that he now wasn't recognisable as himself anymore. 'Serves that son of a bitch right.' she thought, as she wiped her shoe on his clothes. "Fucker." she muttered.

She looked around to see if Hiten was standing somewhere, but she couldn't see him. "Hiten?!" she called out, "If you can hear me: everything's okay now. You can come out! If you're wounded, try to make a sound and we'll come and get you." 'If you're unconscious, stay where you are, I will find you. If you're dead... stay where you are.. I will find you.' An uneasy feeling crept up on her. Why hadn't Hiten been standing here? Why hadn't he come inside the cave? Where was he?

She tried to sense his chakra signature as she bent down to the, now faceless, shinobi and searched his pockets for useful weapons. Senbon, shuriken, kunai, nin-wire.

(Rolls. I guess investigation E for trying to see if she can find Hiten, or that would be Chakra Control C for sensing. Investigation E for looting the body.)

Sasori would get back outside when Hina started her yelling spree. 'Could you... keep... It down a bit...' He muttered at Hina, slightly annoyed, giving a look at one of the bodies. He seemed disappointed/  'Or do you want the Blood Brothers to come back for you?'
Stupid children... he kept that thought to himself and really couldn't care less about this pet-human called Hiten. In stead he started moving more of the bodies.

Akira would find two water bottles in her investigation, but only because one of Sasori's puppets lifted a body. The bottles are quite bloody, with possible pieces of human insides on them though. Akira would have no clues about Hiten.

Hina would also find no clues about Hiten were she was standing, but remembered him being pushed away quite some meters into the opposite direction of the cave entrance. She wouldn't sense any of his Chakra.

For looting the bodies would Hina find at least some stuff.
- Two packs of Ninwire
- A shuriken pack
- A sealed scroll
- Two empty hip-pouches
- One pack of explosive notes, which seemed a bit odd.
- One tanto

(As Meran is still busy with his sand and nothing mayor has happened in his vision to change what he is doing, nor much time has passed with the girls outside, he would just continue moving Sand outside and removing dirty sand all the way into the desert. )

Akira was pleased, having recovered two of the three water bottles. One of the puppets had helped, at which time she threw a wary glance over her shoulder directed at Sasori. He didn't like her at all, yet he was still helping her. It didn't add up if she thought about it, but then again... there were many things she didn't understand about this man. His age for one. The stories about him were decades old, but by the looks of him you'd say he was in still his teens.

She held the water bottles in her hand. Blood was spattered all over them, but cleaning them off would be a simple matter. After she put them inside Sasori's quarters, she went back out to search for Hiten... but couldn't find a trace of him. She didn't find a single clue, even with the torchlight. She couldn't feel his chakra signature either. Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow morning, she thought, clutching the torch tight in her hand. She felt doubt claw at the back of her mind.

Next she took up Sasori's offer of searching for gear. She started with the bodies Hina hadn't looted yet, because searching the same bodies would of course be utterly pointless. Her main objectives were kunai, daggers and knives, but she'd take anything useful. Hina had found a nice collection already, she saw, and she hoped she would be equally successful.

(investigation roll: search for weapons)

As she was looting the bodies, still trying to sense Hiten, she found some weapons. She didn't find anything too special, because she was only paying half attention to what she was doing.

Two packs of ninwire, 'You're welcome, dear cousin.' A shuriken pack, 'I'll take this one.' One tanto, 'That'll be nice for Akira. Hopefully she'll like this one better than the other sword I found for her.' The rusty, broken katana hadn't been perfect, she admitted, but it'd been better than nothing. She was feeling through another shinobi's pocket when she felt something square shaped. 'What's this, then? Hmm. Explosive tags?' Well, she wasn't going to complain, that's for sure.

She looked at the little pile of weapons she had managed to find, and deemed it was alright, this should help them along nicely. She grinned at the thought of the look on people's faces when they would walk out of the desert with more than they had had when they were dropped. But how were they going to carry all this stuff..? She snatched two hip pouches from some dead guys. Empty. They had probably thrown all their weapons in panic. She strapped both hip pouches to her hip and filled them. It was a bit awkward with two hip pouches, but it worked. Besides, she could give one to Meran or Akira.

As she was about to leave something caught her eye. She narrowed her eyes and glared at the offensive sight. The end of a scroll was sticking out of the vest-pocket of a shinobi. She carefully walked over and crouched down. She didn't like scrolls. (Not anymore, at least.) She slowly reached out with one finger and poked the scroll. Nothing happened. Slowly, carefully she pulled out the scroll with two fingers and studied it. It was sealed. She tried to see if she could find anything else out about the scroll. Any hidden traps, time-space seals, known insignias. (Is it a blank seal, or does the seal actually say anything?)

She also took a look at the explosive seals, just for good measure. There had seemed something almost odd about them. And she was a careful girl now.

(Rolls: Subterfuge C (hidden stuff), Investigation E (for obvious reasons), Explosives D (don't want it to go boom, now do we?), and.. ehrm... Being-not-a-moron S :3)

As Akira came back from inside the cave Sasori had gotten all the bodies in one line, making his puppets put down the last two. He slowly moved from body to body, as if he himself was also looking for something.

Akira herself would find:
- Two soldier pills in a small bottle
- A Ninjato
- A pouch
- Inside the pouch 1 more pack of Ninwire
- A Kunai pack
And her find of the day was at the end of the line of bodies. A perfectly intact, slightly bloody backpack: medium sized.

In the meantime Hina would find nothing worth noticing or odd about the scroll. As far as she could tell someone could have sealed it just for the sake of sealing a scroll. However: the only thing that might have seemed a bit off was that the scroll was sealed with a little heart.

About the explosive notes Hina wouldn't find anything new that seemed special enough to mention. They still seemed a bit "odd."