Faded (Sasori Story)

Chapter 2

"Hey, please, wait up!" I tried to call after him. But for some very weird reason, my voice refused to come out. But as if he has heard me, he came to a halt.

"What do you want?" He came to a halt, but he didn't turn to look at me. I ran up to face him. I pointed at my throat and shook my head, gesturing that I was unable to speak. I tried to smile, to show him that I was grateful towards him for saving me.

"Girl, I have no business with you." He said coldly, adjusted the straw hat to pull it lower and walked past me, continuing his way.

I was left there, standing alone. I could not just let him go... simply because there was no one else around and my chances finding a way out of a forest this deep was slim. And after such a sudden attack earlier, I was quite scared of encountering similar events in the future. There was no other choice than to follow him... more like, tailing him until a village or populated place was in sight.

I kept a safe distance from the red haired man who was walking in front and tried my best to keep up with quiet steps to avoid him noticing that I was following. It was somewhat hard to keep him in sight, when there were a lot of huge trees, large branches, thick bushes and big boulders. As he turned behind a gigantic tree, I had to run after to not lose track of him. But he was just gone now... But how? How did he vanish all of a sudden? I looked left and right, and up... no one.

"Behind you." A hand gripped my shoulder.

I turned to look, and there he was. I smiled, as I thought he would finally let me tag along. But my smile quickly faded as he pulled out a kunai from his pocket, pointing it towards me.

"You had your chance. But if you insist... I wouldn't mind adding you into my collection." He smirked as his eyes narrowed.

Not having a clue what it was all about, the collection he spoke of. Having a weapon close at your face is never good. I frowned and furiously shook my head, waving my hands to tell him that I did not want that.

"Then quit following me. You think I didn't notice when you were sneaking around?" He said and retreated the weapon. "I'm giving you this as a last warning." He was turning to leave again.

But being left alone here was almost a certain death for me, in the middle of nowhere and having no place to go. I took my risks this time as I carefully reached out for his sleeve to pull him to stop. But in the split second my fingers touched the fabric of his cloth, he quickly turned. And with a swift maneuver he fell me down and pinned me to the ground with one hand.

"And now you've had your last warning."

His grip was steady, and he pressed me down so hard that it hurt. Upon looking at his face, one would believe he was a nice and a soft spoken person. But his good looks were certainly deceiving.

I struggled in his hold and panicked at the sight of the kunai he has pulled out for a second time. But it was no use. Without my voice, I had no chance not even explain myself never less to scream in fear...

But just as I thought it would be over, a loud, thunderous noise burst. Like an explosion somewhere, rolling down and closing into us. Something big, came flying, slamming towards us.

With a strong force, I was pulled up and picked up from the ground by the red haired man. His strawhat fell on to the ground we where at. It was now completely beneath and utterly crushed by the huge boulder that was flung at us. But no time was given to even breathe. The second he has dodged the boulder, hundreds of swift, long needles dart at our direction. 'This will sting!' I thought. I held tightly onto him and buried my face into his chest, shutting my eyes and making myself ready for the incoming pain. 'This must be a dream, a terrible nightmare!' I cried inside.

An arm surrounded my waist. "Such a pain..." He signed.

Sounds of metals scrapping and colliding, like thin razors cutting through each other. I waited but the hurt never came. I looked up. The shower of needles has all fallen onto the ground, forming a silver colored circle around us. He had the kunai in his hand, did he deflect and parry all of the needles for both of us with just that?

"Sasori! You will now pay for all our comrades you've killed!" A sharp, penetrating voice sounded from above.

From the sky, another man completely covered in black charged down onto us with a long katana in his hands. The red haired man, assumingly his name is 'Sasori' hurled me and basically threw me to the side and slid out a scroll from his sleeves. His quickly formed different hand signs and from a huge poff of white smoke, a large marionette appeared in front of him.

I was a small distance away, laying on my sides on the damp ground. I felt paralyzed somehow, literally too scared to make a move. I've never seen anything like this before. But still, it somehow looked familiar...

A battle has started, as the man in black dashed and cleaved towards Sasori with his sword. The latter nimbly dodged to the side. He lift his arm with a rapid movement as glowing blue threads emerged from each of his fingertips, attaching themselves onto the marionette that was now floating in the air.

"You are no match for me." Sasori smirked as he directed the puppet towards the swordsman.

The puppet had a darkish brown color, in a black coat. It's features were very much like a real person's, almost as if it was alive. Except the lifeless eyes, the dangling limbs and the creepy clattering sound it made through its joints as they moved. Sasori was able to wield it. With small, swift finger movements, the marionette revealed hidden weapons, shooting needles from its mouth, swinging out blades from its elbows... Aggressively attacking and constantly on the offense. In Sasori's hands, The puppet was a deadly weapon. The man in black was forced to use his sword and every move to defend himself. Sasori didn't spare him the slightest chance to strike back. He wanted to end this quickly. And he did. One misstep, a single mistake and the swordsman was down, heavily bleeding from his abdomen. He was done for.

"Miscalculated?" Sasori sneered at his defeated foe and retrieved the puppet back into the scroll. It vanished in a poff of smoke.

The man only smirked devilishly and pointed at Sasori's shoulder with a trembling finger. "You will fall as well, Akasuna no Sasori..." And with that, he closed his eyes. Dead.

A very small needle, thin as a straw of hair was there, on his right shoulder. Sasori quickly pulled it out, as he did, he winced in pain. Something this tiny, could hurt so much. "It is poisoned." He said, stumbling and falling onto his knees.