Porcelain [Sasori]

Puppet #9

Porcelain

Puppet #9

-

Did they take both Hana and Eirin? Sasori's brown eyes narrowed. He leaned down and picked up the puppet, dusting off the dirt. He held onto it as he tried to see what had conspired that night. He noted that there was definitely a struggle. The other set of large footprints was behind the small ones, which he knew now to be Eirin's.

Sasori saw something glint in the moonlight. He jumped over the bushes and kneeled onto the ground, tracking down what that shiny object was. When he saw it, he got a stick and poked it, pushing it out from under the bushes when it didn't move.

A syringe? Sasori raised a brow, picking it up. There was still residue of what was in the small container. Sasori ripped a large leaf off the bush and squirted out the remaining liquid onto the leaf. When he realised that it wasn't a corrosive poison, he took a whiff of it, and immediately knew what had been used.

A sleeping agent. Sasori left the needle behind as he saw another set of tracks going off to the side, towards the desert. Quickly, he went to follow. He was glad that they left such clear tracks behind.

The desert is beyond this. Where could they have gone? Sasori burst out of the forest and into the sandy terrain of the desert.

He was in luck, however, when he saw 2 light sets of footprints.

So it really was recent. Sasori glanced around, trying to see if he could see them in the distance. He didn't see anything, which made him raise an eyebrow in slight confusion. As he thought, he quickly followed the fading footsteps, thankful that the wind didn't pick up that night.

-

Hana coughed up blood. She felt her body and face stinging with wounds, but she would not utter a word. She remembered that she was knocked unconscious when she followed the two men into the forest. They had wanted to talk to her about a few things – they were Sunagakure ninja, but she realised that they weren't when they knew too much detail about a certain incident. That's why a fight started.

"Look at you; you're hopeless." One of the men, who she found out the name of was Yoshi, used a hand to forcibly lift up her face via the cheeks. She clenched her jaw, glaring at the man. It was dark, so she couldn't see his features too clearly. She only knew the basic features.

Hana didn't say anything. "Where the hell's the other guy?"

"The other guy? Oh, he's with your daughter." Yoshi answered, twirling a kunai around his finger. He stabbed it by Hana's arms, which were chained on the wall, smiling. "You should be glad that he won't lay a hand on her."

"Eirin?! EIRIN'S HERE?!" Hana's eyes widened and she felt herself start to panic. "What?!"

"Why are you so shocked?" Yoshi raised a brow and sat cross legged on a nearby wooden box. He rested his chin on his palm, "She actually followed us, you know, all the way until we went outside the village." He smirked when he saw the look of horror on the kunoichi's face, before it twisted into pure anger, "We only drugged her, you know. Don't make that face. She would have become a formidable enemy had she actually been a ninja. Be proud, I tried knocking her out by the neck but she somehow didn't fall unconscious." He added after a silent moment, "Oh, and she's completely unscathed, except for a few scratches from the trees. Rest easy, the princess is fine."

Hana let out a small sigh of relief, but then hardened her gaze. "How do I know you're not lying? Bring her to me! Show me proof!" She demanded.

"That's a tough request from a hostage...wouldn't you say?" Yoshi smirked, matching her eyes. They stared (or more like glared, in Hana's case) at each other for a long while, before Yoshi laughed, slapping his knee.