How many years had passed since then?
Sasori hadn’t exactly counted.
Then again, he didn’t particularly want to.
But either way, time had gone by, and when he had finally joined the Akatsuki, he had remained there, doing the missions, helping their goals, all the while furthering his own desires in the meantime. His puppet collection had increased greatly, leading him into the hundreds by now, and he was a full puppet—well, as full as he could be. A living one. The body of one; that hard, wooden shell with all the battle adaptions, halting his aging process and essentially leaving him immortal, protecting him from the majority of attacks that were aimed at him. He no longer needed to eat, drink or sleep—his organs were gone, after all, and he had gained all the strengths of this puppet body, losing all the weaknesses of his old human one.
All but Sasori’s heart, however. That still remained, the one thing he needed to stay alive, now a cylinder in his chest, and nothing more. It meant much less to him now than it had done when he had still been human. Sasori's emotions stayed, too, but after his ninja training in Sunagakure to push them aside and the added help of having this body…his emotions felt as cold as the rest of him. He couldn’t really feel anything physically anymore, and he was beginning to forget what it was like emotionally too. Only the basics hovered on the surface; true, deep emotions having faded into the blackness along with so much. Not that it mattered. He didn’t need them. He had his job to do, working on the missions first with Orochimaru before he had left the organization, and now with Deidara.
But from the looks of things, it wasn’t about to just be the two of them anymore.
It had been a usual morning, true, Sasori already awake and ready by the time Deidara appeared and began getting something to eat; something he made sure to comment on—though it was never something Deidara paid attention to as he sat down with a roll of his eyes and shot back,
“Come on, Sasori-danna! You’re a puppet, you don’t sleep or eat, so of course you’re gonna be ready before me, un! You can’t expect me to be done right away, un!”
Sasori resisted the urge to hit him and simply turned away with a glare, letting his mind wander for the moment. They were heading to the nearest hideout to meet up with Zetsu so he could give them their next mission. He wasn’t expecting anything big; those were their Jinchuuriki missions and had already been assigned. The nearest thing to that was taking out a group of ninja, maybe—but Sasori doubted it would be something along those lines. It was just a normal, regular day, and therefore there was nothing to look forward to or really think about. Not that he was overly bothered in general, as it was his life and he did what he had to. Deidara was the one who complained now and again, needing to express himself through his art more often than Sasori himself did—something else that annoyed Sasori greatly.
At least with Orochimaru they had agreed on the admiration of things that lasted.
But there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Leader had given Sasori Deidara as his partner, and he supposed their abilities could suit each other sometimes…if they tried…he guessed…even if their personalities didn’t get on. At least they got on better than Hidan and Kakuzu did—but then again, he doubted anyone could get on worse than they did, and shaking his head at that idea, glancing round to see that Deidara was done with his breakfast, he shifted, twitching his fingers to get Hiruko moving. It was time to leave and head to the hideout to meet Zetsu. Pausing only to think through the route in his mind, he calculated the time it would take, gathering if they kept up a steady pace they’d reach there about 10:30 to 11:00, and turned to Deidara to tell him this—when Pein's voice abruptly appeared in his mind, cutting him off, and looking at the expression on Deidara's face, he knew Deidara was hearing him too.
“Sasori, Deidara, I apologise, but there’s been a change in plan. You won’t be meeting Zetsu at the hideout to get your next mission. But you still need to head there and arrive at the latest by midday. I’ll explain more there.”
Without another word his voice faded, and both Sasori and Deidara paused as they contemplated his words. It sounded interesting. Generally it was Zetsu who gave out the missions, or if needs be sometimes Konan—or if Pein gave them out, he did so by mind. No one saw him face-to-face much. But to have him say they needed to get to the hideout relatively quickly in order for him to explain something to them as if something important was going on…it peaked both their curiosities, though Deidara was the one to speak up about it, smirking as he wondered out loud what it was. Sasori shrugged, his mind doing the wondering for him, stating they wouldn’t find out unless they headed over there in the first place—leaving Deidara rolling his eyes at Sasori's impatience once again.
They didn’t need to travel any faster than they would have done normally in order to get to the hideout in time, the journey mostly spent in silence. It most likely wasn’t even that big of a deal and it was just easier for Pein to do it face to face—but still neither Sasori nor Deidara to could stop themselves from wondering as they walked, and as such by eleven they’d reached the hideout. Gathering things wouldn’t be getting underway until midday, they simply stayed in the living room, watching T.V and hanging out, only to be surprised a little while later as Itachi and Kisame arrived. They tried to merely brush it off as coincidence, but with the fact Pein had acted like he had, Sasori couldn’t dismiss the idea that they might be here for the same reason they were—
And they knew it for certain when Kakuzu and Hidan turned up just before midday.
Blinking in surprise to see the rest there, Hidan immediately questioned as to their appearance in the hideout, Deidara explaining why he and Sasori had come to the hideout, Itachi and Kisame nodding along and agreeing that that was why they had come as well. Kakuzu repeated their sentiments, and so clearly things were different: and an explanation was in order as Pein arrived moments after, Hidan demanding a reason for why they all had to show up at such short notice. Pein didn’t beat around the bush, stating simply,
“I need everyone on the same mission.”
“What? Like…everyone working together?” Hidan blurted out, finding it hard to imagine the scenario—though to be honest, everyone else was, as well. It was certainly set to be interesting.
But it was necessary. Someone had been killing a lot of their subordinates recently who had been gathering information, sneaking around in places they’d been working and just generally getting in their way. Though they had figured out where he was working from they needed more information on him and knew he was working with a large group of ninjas—it wasn’t enough for just one group. There was too much work to be done; it would take weeks otherwise, and therefore Pein needed them all. They all glanced at each other, unsure how to react but knowing it was happening anyway.
But it was where it all began again.
And it was definitely going to be an interesting ride.
