But Sasori was pleasantly surprised.
He had sat down, grabbed what he’d been doing before and got straight back to work, avoiding looking at Mina. He had no idea what to do with her now, and the concept that she would just be sitting there, fidgeting when she began to get bored and possibly even attempting to make conversation was not one Sasori liked to picture. A part of him just wanted to throw her out. To just drop everything he was doing, turn around and tell her to leave. There was no point to this, and it was only because of that stupid—though incredibly persistent—feeling that hovered around him that meant he hadn’t been able to just say no from the start. It would make it easier on both of them; Sasori knew Mina wouldn’t want to be here. She knew nothing about it and could only be able to watch while he worked. To confirm this fact, Sasori casually glanced up, holding back the irritation he knew would come when he saw that look of tedium in her eyes…
Only to find there was none there.
As he looked up to meet her gaze, he found none of what he had been expecting. Instead, Mina simply sat waiting for him to continue with what he had been doing before; if anything interested in what he was doing. Not to mention, no matter how hard Sasori tried he found no trace of deceit there; everything he saw in her eyes was genuine. She truly did want to be there and truly did want to see what he would do. Whether she would understand it or not, Mina was willing to learn—and abruptly Sasori remembered how she had acted when they had talked before. She had figured out he was a puppeteer for herself, but she hadn’t shied away from the idea; appeared scared or unsure with the possibility. She had accepted that fact—maybe it had even been part of the reason she had asked to come with him when he left the village. But either way, it was clear she was going to do everything she could to make sure she didn’t get in his way or disrupt his work.
And Sasori found it much easier to turn back to his tasks after that.
Mina still hovered around him, it was true; but it was just as Sasori had predicted: she never got in his way or made things difficult for him. She might have followed him around everywhere, but she managed to help out where it was needed. She was quiet, not constantly chattering away and asking idiotic questions even though it was clear she was interested in what Sasori could do; attentive in a way that balanced her silence out—it allowed her to pick up on Sasori's abilities and learn how his puppets worked without having to ask too much, listening to his every word and grasping things quickly and easily. But the one thing that surprised Sasori the most was how much Mina seemed to understand him. It hadn’t taken much time of her being in the village for her to always be able to comprehend his motives instantly whenever Sasori did a thing, and soon she began to be able to predict what he would do before he’d even done it.
As such, Sasori's hesitance faded away easily, and he agreed to let Minarai hang around with him, forgetting he’d been planning on turning her into a puppet when they’d first met. Their missions were done together, having been chosen as teammates already—she had been alone and without anyone she knew in the village. Sasori having been the first person she’d come across and the first person she’d befriended, they’d opted to let him be her teammate for the time being, and found they worked well together; they became a pretty good team overall. She began spending more time at his house than she did at hers, and even when missions were over, they remained in each other’s presences and did what they liked. Sasori had worried at first that Mina would say something about him going to be leaving the village—but she never did, and he learned to trust her. After all, she was the only one who actually understood his wish to leave Sunagakure in the first place.
So they continued to be friends. People often mentioned the silence between them, but it never bothered either Sasori or Mina. They didn’t need to speak. She watched when he made his puppets and she learnt the trade that way—in a sense, she sort of became his apprentice. It had been a passing comment, but in reality, it made sense, and they were willing to accept it—it was the same way her nickname had come about. Everyone had noticed the way Mina followed Sasori around everywhere he went and did anything that he asked her to do, and with Sasori being a puppeteer, there was only one thing they were going to start calling her:
His doll, of course.
It had been a joke; Mina always obeyed Sasori like he was her master and yet it was clear they were really close, talking and hanging out like friends and spending loads of time together. Sasori never encouraged or discouraged it; though he cared about her, at the same time he couldn’t help but view her as his apprentice, too. But over time, the joke developed, and people had started calling Mina ‘Kage Ayatsuri-ningyō’ (Shadow Puppet), as no matter where Sasori was, Mina couldn’t be far behind, and for every action he took, she performed an appropriate reaction—and the name stuck, even for her own abilities used in battle.
But Sasori was still planning on leaving Sunagakure, and ever since Mina had come to Sunagakure, he had advanced his change into a full, living puppet significantly—and it was all thanks to Mina. As he had gotten to know her and learnt more about who she was, he had used her as a starting point to figure all the details out for when he would make the change from flesh and bone to a full puppet body. The difference between Mina and the rest of the population was that her body wasn’t normal. Instead of blood it was chakra that ran through her veins and nothing else. She had organs, but they weren’t truly necessary to her any more—the only reason she ate and drank was because she felt hungry and thirsty, not because she needed the sustenance to continue living. Her brain—her heart—had become more like machines than organs now. Therefore Sasori had been able to figure out how he would change himself.
It had been because of Mina that he had been able to carry it all out.
Because of this—because of all that had happened in the time he’d known Mina—something had changed within Sasori. When he’d had that first conversation with her, he’d sensed there was something different about her; something he wasn’t quite sure about, but that he knew was special. But as he had never come across it before, he hadn’t known how to react to it—it had shocked him into silence and stillness and meant he had been unable to respond when Mina had said what she had. But things had changed since then.
Sasori had gotten to know Mina. She had become his apprentice. His friend. She knew him better than anyone did now and anyone had ever done. She had given him the means to fulfil what he’d been wanting to do for so long now. And in return, he’d known just what he was going to do. He had agreed to the plea that she had given upon Sasori taking her back to his house when they had first met at the beginning—he had said he’d take her with him when he killed the Third Kazekage and left Sunagakure. He’d promised her that they’d stay together and, no matter where he went in life, she would remain his apprentice and be at his side. Before he had met her, he wouldn’t have imagined ever agreeing to something like that—but now…it was just the way he knew things were going to go. When he planned things, he planned them for them both to carry out into the future.
Only it wasn’t quite as easy as he’d first thought…
