The Anime Lover's Must Read: One-Shot Collection

Once Upon A December ~Sasori One-Shot~

Sasori looked momentarily surprised by that, then quickly regained his composure. "Your name is Kiru. Mosugi, Kiru."

"Mosugi... Kiru...?" She asked, feeling unsure as she said her name. It sounded different, sounded strange in her ears. Foreign.

Sasori nodded, then moved to sit down next to her. He looked behind him to see Deidara standing there, smirking at the scene before him. It seemed like his master was enjoying the woman's company, whoever the woman was. He just found it funny that his Danna, who was always so emotionless, seemed so intrigued by such a simple woman. It made no sense, but it was surprisingly humorous.

"Brat. Leave." Sasori ordered. Deidara chuckled before finding something else fun to do. Annoying the Uchiha seemed like something fun enough to do. So, he left the room to find the stoic Akatsuki member...

When Sasori turned back to Kiru, he noticed she had started staring at the flames again, transfixed. He couldn't fathom why she was so intrigued by the dancing fire, but he could tell it meant something. He didn't know what, however, and the feeling of not knowing was starting to eat away at him. What happened to her?

"Where am I?" She asked, not looking at him. Another question that had surfaced in her mind when she stared into the flames. She couldn't stop herself from gazing into them, still not sure why they were so important. What meaning did they have to her? It made no sense, none at all.

"The Akatsuki lair. I found you unconscious. So, I brought you here." He gestured around him with spread out arms.

"Oh." She said softly, as if she didn't believe him. She really didn’t know what to believe anymore. It didn’t make any sense.

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Far away, long ago
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart used to know,
Once upon a December

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The woman sat in front of the fire with a look of wonderment on her face. Green eyes stared blankly through the dark bangs that had once again fallen in front of her eyes. Sasori moved his hand from her shoulder, where it fell into his lap. He didn't know if she needed comfort or not. He couldn't get a read on her blank expression, not a single flicker of emotion surfaced on her face. It was as if she not only forgot her past, but how to feel anything. She wasn't acting cold toward him, but instead her voice sounded empty to him. Hollow.

She's changed... He thought, staring at long, dark hair that reached all the way down to her elbows. It reminded him of an Uchiha's hair, at least color wise. The only difference that made it clear she wasn't an Uchiha was the somewhat tan skin and her green eyes. It had been over twenty years since he had seen her last, when they were just ignorant teenagers. Now she was all grown up, but it was clear to him that something had happened to her. He wondered if she would hate him if she still remembered who he was.

The woman, Kiru, closed her eyes, hiding them from the flames. She willed herself to remember everything, her past, what happened, who this man, Sasori, was... But nothing surfaced through her memories. Except one thing, one thing she immediately wished she didn't recall:

The world around her was ablaze. Fire was everywhere, the violent colors of reds, oranges, golds, yellows, and blues indicating the destruction of the world as she knew it. The culprits: a few measly criminals who were drunk out of their freaking minds. Kiru's older brother and father tried to stop them, but the 'measly criminals' fought back with sharpened kunai, even though the men were unarmed. The result was some of Kiru's family being slashed to pieces in front of her. Crimson pools shimmered as firelight illuminated in them.