Curling her legs towards her body, Mina wrapped her arms around her knees to keep them there, merely watching Sasori for a few moments longer. It almost didn’t seem believable. It had been twenty years—twenty years—since she had last seen him, and the first time it had only been for a few seconds. Though Mina didn’t want it in the slightest, it strangely felt as if she should be leaving soon. That she had come to visit Sasori; she’d spoken to him, spent some time with him, but now that that had been completed, she’d have to leave. That it had been too long with them being apart to simply start working together and spending time with each other like before. Mina would admit that, at least—it was definitely strange to suddenly be faced with that prospect. Even in Sunagakure, there had only been six months they had spent together as friends and teammates.
But she tried to shake that feeling off. Like she’d thought—she didn’t want to leave, not in the slightest. Staying with Sasori was what she’d wanted to do from the beginning when meeting him and she wouldn’t throw it away because things felt a little unusual at the start. The circumstances weren’t exactly how Mina had imagined them when they’d planned on leaving Sunagakure all those years, but they didn’t matter. In a way, they were just as good—maybe even better—than any. Sasori could get missions, and missions that were good enough for his talent. He could get plenty of puppets for his collection along the way, and although Pein had been uncertain of allowing Mina to join, it’s not as if help wouldn’t be welcome in their line of work. True, this could all start off feeling a little unbelievable…but it would only feel perfect once she settled in.
“So that Deidara…he’s your partner then, Sasori-sama?” Mina eventually said quietly, moving past their conversation about Mina finally getting the chance to become his apprentice and remain that way. Every time it was spoken about it brought up a feeling of tingly happiness inside of her, and not used to it, she attempted to dodge past it, waiting to hear Sasori's answer to her question.
“Yes—unfortunately. He’s alright—I suppose—but I had no doubt you could defeat him. Well, if Leader had allowed the match to continue,” he countered soon after, causing a smirk of pride to blossom on Mina’s face. She looked up to Sasori; admired and respected him. Hearing such a compliment made her feel utterly content to know she hadn’t disappointed him.
“His abilities were quite unlike yours. And with the sculptures…I can’t help but feel he sees what he can do as art as well—like your puppets are, Sasori-sama.”
“He does; but he thinks art is transient; that it shouldn’t last,” Sasori instantly shot back, a scowl flashing across his features. Mina narrowed her eyes; evidently there was the source of their animosity. But she could understand why, responding with a raised eyebrow in disdain,
“But what’s the point in anything if it’s not going to last? Everything is needed to last long into the future if life itself is to continue. How can you appreciate its beauty if it’s only to disappear?”
At this point Sasori could only turn to glance at Mina, unable to say anything for the moment; his only answer a soft, absentminded smile. He had never tried to force his opinion on art onto her; he told her what he did, what he believed in in terms of art, and found that she naturally agreed with him. There were times she even finished sentences for him, stating things without him even prompting a conversation. Maybe it was because she was able to live forever with the way her body was, but she admired eternity just like he did. He observed the look on her face as she spoke about Deidara, his smile remaining as he was reminded of how similar they were in many ways. Without even noticing he relaxed completely into his surroundings.
He was glad Mina was back.
It wasn’t until she glanced up at him expectantly and a little confused that Sasori realised what he was doing and snapped his gaze back round to his puppets once more. He hadn’t meant to stare at her the way he had been doing; it had just happened, his thoughts taking over to the point where he forgot what he was doing in real time. That kind of thing hadn’t happened to him in…well, he couldn’t remember, but it was a bit of a surprise to be experiencing it again. Though considering he had found out Mina was actually alive only a few hours ago, it was generally to be expected. But knowing she wanted a reply, Sasori shook off his silence and responded,
“You think I don’t know that? It’s why puppets are my art. But it’s not as if Deidara listens. He’s stuck in his own world for the most part.”
“But still…you’ve done so well, Sasori-sama. Joining the Akatsuki and all. How many puppets do you have in your collection now?”
“269. (Yes I know that’s not the amount he actually had, but it’s before he’s reached that amount, ‘kay?) But you’ve also done well, Mina,” Sasori shot back, causing Mina to blink in surprise, not quite understanding his statement. The number of puppets was impressive, but the idea she’d done well…the compliment was one Mina wanted to accept—just not one she could.
“Done well, Sasori-sama? What do you mean? I haven’t done anything special,” she protested quietly, only for Sasori shake his head and reply bluntly,
“No; but the way you held yourself out there; how you fought and what you did. You’ve always been talented, but you’ve certainly improved since Suna.”
Smirking at the mention of her abilities, Mina shrugged imperceptibly. Memories of the training she had done in the time that had passed came back to her, and the smirk remained. The idea that Sasori had left Suna, taking the Third Kazekage as a new puppet and going to be turning himself into one, greatly increasing his power, while she stayed behind, the same level at her abilities…it was not an idea she had liked. So when she had left, she had done everything she could to train herself, increasing her own power and discovering new facets to her talents. Though Mina wasn’t with Sasori as she travelled, she liked to think that she wasn’t letting him down while she went on alone.
“I trained any way I could, Sasori-sama. You were still alive, and though I wasn’t with you, I was still your apprentice. I wanted to make sure I was good enough. That—when I met you again—you wouldn’t be disappointed in me.”
But as she raised her eyes, meeting Sasori's own, wondering just what he would have to say to that, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling as he stated simply in return, a smirk on his lips and a playful glint in his eye,
“Well…we’ll see, won’t we?”
“We certainly will,” Mina returned in much the same tone, nodding towards the puppet on the table and asking what he was working on.
It was where Mina stayed for the rest of the night, catching up on some new puppet techniques Sasori had learned and seeing the battle adaptions he’d been adding to his puppets. She’d never had the chance to truly study many human puppets, having been separated from Sasori soon after, but now she was seeing so much more, and abruptly…everything fell away. Mina forgot about the Akatsuki; forgot about everything but spending time with Sasori.
She wasn’t going to be leaving any time soon—she knew that now.
She wasn’t going to be leaving at all.
