desolate minds

v. holding your fate

Back to the subject at hand, trap-making was a priority of mine, but unfortunately the supplies for it went quickly when you practiced every day. This led to where I was now: perched on Sasori's shoulders as we walked through the market.

"What do we need again?" I mumbled, resting against Sasori's head. The supplies for me, but without a list I couldn't remember the specifics of what we needed to get. Sure, I could tell you which rock could create a lethal gas if you heated it as well as transfer poison onto your fingertips if you touched it, but god forbid I remember if we needed to buy ninja wire or not. Priorities.

Sasori neared a corner and opened his mouth to reply, only to stop short when someone rounded the said corner before us at a ridiculous speed, running straight into us. Of course, my brother had sensed the stranger moments before the impact and had moved to the side in an attempt to avoid this collision. Only, the boy seemed to have tried to do the same, moving to the right when Sasori moved to the left... In short, their attempts to save an accident from occuring had failed terribly, resulting in me flipping forward and off of Sasori's shoulders.

Everything had happened so quickly; I almost didn't realize I was falling. The boy who had rounded the corner let out a shout when he noticed my predicament and did his best to try and catch me. Sasori beat him to the punch however, grasping me with his chakra strings while I was in midair. There was a silent pause before I was placed safely onto the ground.

"Are you okay, Kyojin?" Sasori asked me, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. I nodded before needlessly dusting myself off and looking to the other male that was there.

The boy that had run into us looked to be around Sasori's age, if not maybe a bit older. He had chin-length brown hair with long bangs that were kept parted in the middle. His eyes were green and seemed to be abnormally large; then again, I wasn't too sure if that was due to the awestruck look on his face or if they were just naturally that big.

Honestly, it looked like he was caught between apologizing and commenting on the stunt Sasori had just pulled with his chakra strings. It was only after Sasori turned his attention to the boy, a cold glare on his face, that he snapped out of it. With genuine shame on his face, the boy bowed his head, "S-Sorry about that! I managed to see you when I turned the corner but when I moved to dodge you... you did the same."

Sasori's eyes narrowed, "Are you saying that it was my fault?"

"N-No! Of course not! I was just explaining what happened, I— I don't have time for this!" The boy suddenly stood straight, a serious look on his face. "I have an urgent message to deliver!" At that, he pulled out a scroll and presented it to us.

Sasori and I shared a blank look. The scroll looked to be just that; a scroll. There were no coded markings on it that labeled it's importance. Not to mention that nothing about this kid screamed shinobi. The so called "urgent" message was most likely civilian related. Hah, perhaps it was a letter to one of his parents, letting the other know that they were going to be home late tonight or something of that nature.

Either way, the kid's seriousness seemed ludicrous enough for Sasori to grace him with a reply. "Oh really now? For whom is it for?"

The brunet froze for a minute, either surprised Sasori had taken an interest in his task or because he had forgotten just who he was supposed to be meeting up with. "Uh... Oh yeah! It's from a Chiyo-baa-san to a Sasori-kun. I was heading to the address she gave me when I ran into you."

I shared a look with my brother once again, but our blank expressions were now replaced with ones of confusion instead.

"Obaa-chan gave you a message for nii-sama?" I asked, cocking my head to the side absently.