Mina was desperate to see Sasori.
She might have gone on with her life after all that had happened, but that had been because she had had no choice. To begin with she had tried to search for him, to catch up with him and get back to how they had been before. But when her search had come up with nothing, she had realised that there was nothing she could do for now but do other things; find a place to live, travel around, get work and do missions, even if they weren’t with Sunagakure. Even if they weren’t with Sunagakure—none of it would be. It had been the only path in front of her, so Mina had taken it, simple as that. What else could she do, after all? She wasn’t about to sit back crying, go back to Sunagakure and hope he’d return one day or simply wait somewhere thinking that he’d know where she was and come get her.
But clearly it had all paid off.
She’d missed him, she couldn’t—or wouldn’t—deny it. There was no possible way for her to do so, anyway; not when they’d been through all that they had together and spent so much time together. When Mina thought about it, it seemed strange: they hadn’t actually known each other that long. What, about six months in total? But with the amount of time they had been around each other within that time, it felt like it might as well have been six years. Mina knew him that well—she knew she did. It was why she wasn’t going to give up on the idea of seeing him again now. It was why the possibility excited Mina in a way she hadn’t experienced before—almost frightening her, in a way, not quite understanding her emotions.
If Mina had been able to, she would have rushed up to him then and there; but there were several factors that stopped her from doing so. Even Mina herself had been a little hesitant at first, fearful at the idea that she was just making it all up in her mind to fulfil a fantasy she wanted to be true. It had only been a view that had lasted for a few seconds, after all, before the doors closed. Not to mention it had been a big group of people all standing together; it could have altered her perspective. Then her two teammates had realised she was just standing there, and had come back to tug on her arm, telling her to get a move on as they needed to get back and report on their mission, and slowly Mina had wandered backwards, glancing over her shoulder with every step, as if to check he wasn’t standing there. Even if it had been him, she couldn’t have just walked up while he was on a mission with his group like that.
But the further away Mina walked, the stronger her resolve got.
It had been Sasori. She knew it. Sure, she hadn’t seen him for long, but there could be no doubt about it. She wouldn’t have reacted the way she had if it hadn’t been him. And therefore, in much the same way, Mina knew without a doubt she would be going to see Sasori. A few doubts had crept in for a moment when she first considered doing so, but she pushed them away. Regardless of what he said of what happened, she had to see him—just because. True, the idea that she couldn’t have just walked up to him while he was in the middle of his mission with his group was right, but there were other ways Mina could go about this.
Ways that were made much easier when she finished the report for her mission and got paid, now officially rid of her employer and free to do what she wanted. So with that in mind, Mina quickly began her search to figure out where exactly Sasori was staying. Though knowing that wasn’t about to be a simple matter of asking around the inns nearby, Mina knew she was going to have to dig a little deeper, opting to see if she could find anything out about his mission. Or possibly his group—and there she began to find answers. The symbol hadn’t really clicked anything in her mind, but as she searched a little further, Mina realised Sasori was in the Akatsuki.
She’d travelled enough to hear quite a bit about them, and considering possibilities as to why they might be there, and soon Mina came up with a theory. All it took was some espionage around the village, and she knew the theory was a reality. She’d heard what Osamu had been doing while she’d been working in the village, and now she knew that the Akatsuki were here…it was obvious to Mina that the two would clash. Of course they couldn’t just storm in—most likely because they probably didn’t even know a huge amount of information about Osamu. They’d have to collect more information, make some preparations, and then they could move in. It was unusual to see them all together like this, but evidently Pein felt it necessary to have them all here.
Luckily enough for Mina.
But now she’d figured that out, there was only one more thing to learn: where exactly they were staying while they completed their mission. She doubted they’d be in the village; Osamu worked close by and would easily hear about them, and they wouldn’t want to be spotted. But with how Mina had been working in the area, she would have noticed if the Akatsuki were staying nearby—so it had to be a little further out. They weren’t in the outskirts; she would have sensed it. So she’d just have to use her abilities to sense a little further. They wouldn’t be too far away; it’d take too long to go back and forth to the village. It would have to be hidden, too—the perfect position for them to be able to regroup each day while they pooled the information they got and prepared for when they could finally confront Osamu. Mina couldn’t waste time—she didn’t know how long it would take her to find it; and she had to start now.
Sasori was a lot less focused than Mina, however.
He’d told himself that it hadn’t been Mina, that he’d only wanted it to be her and he was making it worse, but that little bit of doubt always hovered in the back of his mind. As much as he attempted to fully push it all away and dismiss all that had gone on, Sasori couldn’t stop an unexpected question from popping up every now and again. It didn’t help with the idea he couldn’t sleep—most people considered that a way to forget everything that had gone on during the day. The only thing Sasori could be grateful for was that he didn’t have to deal with any changes in behaviour towards him. No one constantly asking things about what had gone on or how strange things had seemed. Because he was as in the dark as everyone else was. He was just as confused—maybe even more. It was the reason why he simply headed to his room once they got back to the hideout. Nobody had found anything at the buildings; it wasn’t as if they had much to talk about.
It was how the night had gone on, everyone hanging out as usual—well, that was until someone coalesced on the edges of the room. To begin with, no one even noticed her; it wasn’t the kind of thing anyone expected, and as such they continued as normal until it finally occurred to them just what was going on. Instantly all jumping up, reaching for weapons and the like, Mina stood still, doing nothing to act defensively. They slowed in their reactions at the possibility she might be a subordinate, but still didn’t lower their weapons, finding the idea that she had just appeared out of nothing like that strange. No subordinates had the skill to do that. Instead they focused on something else; namely, what exactly she was doing here in the first place, and shaking off the welcome she had received, they questioned as to her directive (Classified). They just weren’t quite expecting her blunt reaction of,
“I want to see Sasori-sama.”
