Things almost seemed easier from then.
Sasori and Mina no longer had to fight or resist a lot of what they were feeling, even if they didn’t truly understand what exactly what was going on. Even if they didn’t truly understand they were feeling something in the first place. A lot was something that had been around the entire time they had known each other, after all, and therefore nothing to be frightened, nervous or uncertain about—it was just the fact it had somehow changed and altered throughout the time that had passed. And alright, there were utterly new experiences that neither had ever expected to come across considering the way they were—being a puppet and how her body functioned—but they had discovered that not everything would be as terrible as they imagined it to be.
Then again, maybe that was because it was towards each other.
When it came down to it, they understood one another better than anyone else could. Although Mina wasn’t a puppet, without her Sasori wouldn’t have been able to become one, and now that he was, Mina could comprehend the way he was, whether his actions, his thoughts or, well, the remainder of his feelings, in the same way Sasori could comprehend hers. But because of this, the idea that some of their feelings were coming to the surface wasn’t so bad; wasn’t a problem that appeared insurmountable. If it had been anyone else, it might have been different, but at least this way they knew they weren’t about to let their emotions fully out; Sasori and Mina had always been able to tell what the other meant or was going to do by the little things even with how little they used their emotions now.
Those little moments still happened every now and again, but they’d learned to accept them. There was nothing either of them could do to stop them—and in a way, they didn’t want to anymore. After Sasori had shown Mina his puppet body, going farther and showing her all the battle adaptions and everything it could do; how it had improved him, it had brought them closer. Though Mina still saw him as her master and Sasori saw her as his apprentice, with her doing things for him and being at his side, it wasn’t as prominent as before in the way she acted around him. The way their personalities acted off of each other were more personal and simply friends, on utterly equal terms—being able to be so much more casual around one another in a way that had never existed before.
Mina smirked as she thought about it, walking along with Hidan and Kakuzu, though it was small enough for neither of them to notice, but she couldn’t stop it from appearing on her face. Though she had only known Sasori six months back in Sunagakure, it hadn’t mattered. They had spent enough time around each other to know one another as if they had known each other for sixdecades. Yet even in that time, they had never acted like they did now. She had been his apprentice, he her master—that was the way it was, and neither of them said otherwise, as it was the way they liked it and accepted it. Maybe if they had tried looking at themselves in a different way…but Mina doubted it. This was something that seemed special somehow. They had been teenagers then, and hadn’t understood so much about the world. They hadn’t experienced a lot of what they had and trained their abilities to the level of what they were now. But now they were adults and things weren’t the same—now they could see things from a new perspective.
If only Mina could figure out just what that was…
But she forced herself to concentrate back on her surroundings. She was doing a bit more for the mission—this time without Sasori for the moment, just Hidan and Kakuzu. They were searching an area of forest on the outskirts of the village, just outside the walls, having spotted signs of a trail, and considering no one else would be around here, knowing it had to be from the group they were after. If they could just find where the trail led, they could group together and head straight to the hideout. Together, taking them down would be pretty easy. The only problem was that so far the Akatsuki didn’t exactly know what they were doing in this village; so while to them their trail seemed a little unpredictable, no doubt it had a purpose.
Not that it mattered to anyone right now; they seemed to be just walking around in circles, pointing out things that showed people had been past the area. The group hadn’t been hiding their tracks—they didn’t need to, considering it was pretty much all civilians here, and the ninjas that were around were like Mina’s old group, just passing in and out within a day or two. Nobody stuck around to get a good look and knew they were there, let alone what they were doing. In some ways, it was a blessing, making things easier to do and look for. But otherwise, everything was just plain boring—possibly the idea of it being easier to spot making it worse as they only had to plod along through the forest. Not that Mina complained; she considered it boring, in the same way all of them there did, but it was part of the mission and it needed to be completed, just like any other.
Hidan, however, didn’t share the same sentiments.
“For fuck’s sake, Kakuzu, are we done yet? This trail leads absolutely fucking nowhere. There’s nothing we can do; why not just go back with the others already?” He burst out, unable to take the silence after about five minutes of it.
Mina was on good terms with everyone in the Akatsuki. Not all of them were exactly the kind of people she liked to hang out with, but she had done nothing to stir up any rivalries, considering Pein had allowed her to stay with Sasori—she didn’t want anything to compromise it. But Hidan was…difficult, to say the least. Then again, the majority of people thought that. She had learnt to deal with it over time, answering him if he asked questions and generally being as patient as she could. It was like dealing with a child—give it enough attention and praise and he was happy, doing things for you and keeping his mouth shut when it was needed. Kakuzu didn’t act the same, however, as he turned and snarled back,
“No, we’re not done yet! We have our own tasks and we have to do them! The mission is absolute! And it’s not as if the traildoesn’t lead anywhere, Hidan, because it does. Take a look.”
Pointing, both Hidan and Mina looked to see it winded its way further along, twirling still but getting closer and closer to a certain section of the village wall. Evidently it was around there that the group had come out—but they didn’t get a chance to explore further, as Pein abruptly contacted them all, telling them that they needed to regroup. That they had something to talk about. Hidan was more than happy to oblige, turning round straight away, and Kakuzu followed, grumbling at his attitude, but Mina stayed, her eyes lifting to alight on the roof of a building, wires extending every which way from it. With that image, memories came back to her of the missions she had done with her old group; the ones she had done here. She remembered the areas of the village she had gone through to find information they needed; and now it was coming back to her.
They’d gone round that area when searching for info; Mina remembered the buildings. For a moment she closed her eyes, running through them in her head, and came across the one that had caught her interest, even then. It had a lot of activity going on inside of it, ninjas going around keeping an eye out. But the weirdest thing had been the wires; their destinations, she didn’t know, but they headed somewhere. Then she had figured it out when one of the ninjas had spoken up to say they’d ‘get their message’. They were for communication of some kind. Clearly for just within the village, but all originating from that building. Now Mina knew more, she knew it was the group’s building, and they had to be using it to communicate something to the different hideouts in the village. If she could shut it down…
Then Mina smirked in triumph.
It was all coming together.
