Minami landed without a sound, almost daintily, and watched the cockroach die. Their erratic death dance brought back memories of being much younger, when her hands were too small for spears and legs too slow for hunt. She used to smack fish out the water and watch them suffocate, wriggling in a way that never failed to make her giggle. After that, she would…
Minami stabbed the woman’s cheeks, twisting her blade to make sure it went all the way through. It was partly pragmatic, checking the target was truly dead, but it was mostly spiteful. Killing her wasn’t enough to soothe the tantrum just waiting to burst. If only humans were more durable, like the Inoue were… Oh, well. Minami placed snow onto her ‘scratches’ as Sasori worked, finding seals too dull to watch.
“Not really.” The cold stopped her from properly gauging pain, but it felt well enough. Plus, there was something bothering her. “…Umm, Master Sasori… Why did she… Why did she say those things? Ya heard, right?”
“She called you a whore.” Sasori rolled his scroll up, the body stored inside. He snapped it shut. “Your mother too, I believe. And that I wanted to have sex with you.”
He looked down at her steadily, his flat gaze giving away nothing. Sasori was taciturn on the best of days, only flaring up when his temper was stoked, but now, he was like the lake itself -- frozen, and still.
Truth be told, he never considered it until he heard the rumors himself. Then he’d thought about, if nothing else but as a thought experiment, wondering about what was possible. But it was pointless. Pursuing the girl in that way, with that intent? It would only damage her -- and then where would he be, after spending time on saving her life? He might as well have just killed her back then. No, Sasori didn’t believe in half-baked experiments. He wasn’t going to just start something and then fail on the follow-up. Minami was a long-term project, one that required careful cultivation and attention, and allowing isolated factors that could contaminate his efforts was just wasteful.
“She was wrong,” he finally said. After a moment of reflection -- he probably needed to say more if he was going to do this -- he added, “People... people will always have something to say. Many of them are wrong and foolish, but they have tongues to wag, so they will. If you cannot bear what they have to say, then destroy them. Make it so that they’re too afraid to speak.”
That felt appropriate. Sasori had observed teachers who gave similar advice to their students, giving them both advice for the future and a solution for the present. He just had to finish it with...
He pet her head. She was damp and bloody, her skull small under his soft palms.
“Nonetheless, you did very well. I am -” he looked for the right word, “- proud of you.” Pride, that was what teachers felt looking at their students, yes? They felt pride at their growth and Minami was definitely growing, this tiny needle of his.
