Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ My Name is Sakura ❯ With Sasori 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Sakura and I sat down for dinner.

 

I went to the effort and making a perfect roast dinner. It seemed like a special occasion. We sipped wine out of tall glasses and gorged ourselves on side dishes and entrees.

 

I didn't eat turkey very often and took its time to cook but my Sakura was worth it. I was dressed in my finest tuxedo, bowtie and all and I had made Sakura a gorgeous white ballroom gown.

 

-I'm glad we could have this time together alone, Sakura.

 

“Me too.”

 

She raised her glass to me.

 

“You're a good man, Sasori, I mean that.”

 

-Thank you.

 

“I know the situation isn't ideal for either of us but I see that there is a heart buried deep beneath your exterior. At first I just thought you were a cruel, evil man, but lots of things have happened and I can see the good intentions you had. I'm thankful in a strange way, it could have been a lot worse.”

 

-Yes, if you had co-operated from the beginning, you could have had all these luxuries and never had any pain at all. It is strange for me too. I have been a puppeteer all my life but never have I loved any of my dolls. I play with them until they get old and then I throw them away and get something new.

 

“Was that what you were going to do with me?”

 

-No, I fell in love with you. I want to keep you forever. You will never get old as long as you stay with me. You'll remain young and beautiful forever.

 

Sakura was silent.

 

I looked over and saw that her glass was empty. I got up from the table and poured her some more wine. She sipped so slowly and delicately. Her mannerisms were very lady-like. I could see a change in her too. When I first encountered her and brought her, I could have never imagined her as an elegant lady, she was too bad tempered.

 

-Sakura, you look beautiful tonight.

 

“Thank you. You look pretty handsome yourself, Sasori. You shouldn't cover yourself up with robes all the time. You've got really broad shoulders and a big sturdy chest.”

 

-You're embarrassing me now, Sakura.

 

“Don't be embarrassed. You need to open up more. You're so artistic and creative, you need to show the world your art, not hide it down here.”

 

-What are you trying to say?

 

“Oh nothing, never mind.”

 

-Come on, eat up or all this food will go cold.

 

There was a strange silence between us.

 

After the meal I washed up whilst she sat in the bedroom looking at some of my wooden dolls. I had dressed them all up, the same way I had dressed Sakura. Cute, short dresses made of nylon and silk with flowery patterns. I had an odd affection for flowers; it may have been why I loved Sakura so much.

 

But the whole time she looked at them, she looked as if there was something she needed to say, something on the tip of her tongue, something that she wouldn't say. Sakura picked another one up. The wooden doll had bright pink hair just like she had and was wearing the same kind of pink dress that I had made for Sakura.

 

“This doll,” she said. “It looks just like me.”

 

-Yes. I remember when I first saw you in that crowded street when we bumped into each other. That was almost a year ago, I thought I would never see you again, but I couldn't get you off my mind. I made this doll of you to remind me of your beauty.

 

“It's very nice. But you know, this is a bit weird. I mean why did you stay down here crafting this in the darkness when you could have been up in the real world meeting girls just as pretty as me.”

 

-No one is as pretty as you, my darling.

 

“I'm flattered, Sasori. And I'm gonna hate myself for saying this, but I believe you have a good heart, I really do. I think you're a shy, sensitive young man who is afraid. You're afraid of reality, you're afraid of people.”

 

-Nonsense. This is reality. I'm not afraid of anything, certainly not of people.

“Then why do you make them into puppets? Why are puppets your friends? We could have been friends or maybe even lovers in so many different situations and scenarios. Why did you choose this one?”

-Because you are meant to be mine.

 

I put my hand on her cheek, but Sakura brushed it off.

 

“You see, you really do have love in your heart, I just feel it is misguided. It's that guy, Deidara. I think he is responsible for a lot of this.”

 

-Rubbish! Deidara is my closest comrade. We have been to hell and back together and there's no one I trust more.

 

“I can see the way he acts, he's very manipulative. If anything, he's the puppeteer and you're his puppet.”

 

“Shut up! Stop talking like this!”

 

I had had enough. I slapped Sakura hard across the face. She put her hand over it as tears swelled up in her eyes. I grasped her by the shoulders and shook her.

 

-Listen, I have had to put up with a lot of disobedience from you, but I won't allow you to besmirch the name of my best friend. He is a great and powerful man. He has his faults, as we all do, but I have learnt to live with them.

 

“Then why do need me at all?”

 

She choked out, with tears still streaming down.

 

-I simply cannot live without you. You are more than a comrade. You are my puppet.

 

“And you value his opinion more than mine?”

 

-In many ways, yes. Puppets don't have real opinions or real minds. They are simply my play things.

 

“For the last time, I am not yours.”

 

I thought she was going to hit me, but she obviously knew it would have been a bad idea. She simply turned around, threw the wooden doll down and went back to the bedroom.

 

I couldn't understand Sakura sometimes and there seemed to be no way to get through to her. I could hear her crying from the other room. Had I really upset her this much? But I just couldn't compare her to Deidara. Whatever else my loyalty was always with the Akatsuki.

 

Sakura was upset for an entire week following. She hardly said a word and I really did have to force food down her throat at some points just to stop her from starving to death. Sakura didn't try to escape though and she new any resistance would now be met with the harshest of force.

 

I decided to go and see Deidara during that week. I tied Sakura up. It was the first time I had done so in quite a while but if I were leaving for a long period, she would almost certainly escape.

 

Deidara and I met in the nearby forest late one night. Deidara was dressed in his fine black robes as always but I had changed into some more casual clothes, a vest and slacks. He always had a sly smile on his face as if he had some sort of cunning plan. He was pure evil and I loved him for it.

 

“How are we, Sasori? Our last few meetings didn't exactly go well.”

 

-Yeah, I'm sorry.

 

“You've seemed tense lately. It's that Sakura, isn't it?”

 

-No, no, it's not that.

 

“Look, Sasori, she's not right for you, you've gotta see that. You deserve someone so much better.”

 

-There is no one better than Sakura though.

 

“The girl is a witch. She's got you wrapped around her twisted little finger and if you don't break free, you're going to die.”

 

-Look, Deidara, don't make me angry, that's not why I'm here. I'm just going to say that I love her and there's not anything else that can change my mind.

 

“Doesn't my opinion mean anything to you, Sasori? I mean whose opinion do you value more, you're long standing comrade or a stupid little puppet girl?”

 

-I just wanted to catch up on old times. I didn't want an argument.

 

“She's changed you and manipulated you. You've given her a chance and now she's going to suck the life out of you. Haven't you learnt anything, you foolish boy? You lost control of her; I could see that the first time I saw her. She's useless now, you may as well get rid of her like all the others.”

 

-You mean kill her? No, I couldn't do that, not my sweet Sakura.

 

“It's the only way, Sasori, it's the only way to restore your life to the way it used to be. It's the only way we can get the power back to become the strongest group in the whole world.”

 

I looked in Deidara's eyes. I thought he was joking at first, but he wasn't, he was dead serious. He extended his hand out to me, opened it and passed me his kunai.

 

“Take this and slit her throat.”

 

I looked down at the sharp, metal kunai and swallowed hard. Deidara put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a look, a reassuring look, a look that told me things were going to be ok.

 

-Deidara, thanks. Thanks for being there for me. But I can't kill her. She's much prettier when her eyes are wide open and she's full of life and energy.

 

“Say what you will, but I know you'll do the right thing.”

 

Deidara didn't say another word. He turned his back and left.

 

I was stunned silent as I still held the kunai, quivering in my hand. I put it in my pocket and walked out of the forest with the moon up ahead and the owls hooting and the cicadas chirping in the background. But all of that was drowned out by the sound of my voice over and over in my mind. Could I really do what Deidara told me to do?

 

I took the kunai out of my pocket and held it up. It was so sharp; it could cut through flesh no problem. One stab, it could go all the way through, two stabs it could cut through bone. Sakura wouldn't stand a chance; she'd be dead in seconds.

 

I wish Deidara had stayed around so we could have talked it through a bit more, but that was the way he was, direct and blunt. It was one of the reasons why I respected him so much.

 

Deidara's last words kept ringing in my head. Was I doing the right thing? What was the right thing? But I took all that out of mind as I approached my little bunker and I climbed down the ladder.

 

I then took a deep breath and readied the kunai.