Still thinking about dancer Armand au btw…. Here’s my inspo (Nicholas Palmquist on tiktok)… ficlet where multi media journalism student college dropout Daniel is picking up videographer jobs wherever he can to make some money, and there’s a dance studio hiring to make some promotional vids of their classes and so he has to film this crazy talented but frankly kinda scary dance teacher who honestly should be on Broadway himself (but he seems to like teaching more? Daniel’s gotta ask about that) and he’s crazy beautiful too but so awkward whenever Daniel tries to chat after class. Kinda off putting? Daniel thinks he can coax him into coffee if he talks about the videos he’s supposed to be producing, maybe? Anyway gratuitous scenes where Armand’s sweating through his loose dance clothes and they make out against the wall mirror
“I now have the body I’ve always desired, one that will never rot or decay. I’ve truly become a puppet in every sense of the word.“
Words spoken without heart behind them. No emotion behind the words that were spoken as what sounded like a dream come true, a rather pathetic one to one that may hear it. Laying on the forest floor, brown hues were staring up at a pair of emeralds with the owner of those green eyes holding a fist in the air. How familiar of a scene this was. He could remember so far back as to when she first delivered an earth-shattering punch to his features for no reason. Right now… was no different.
What had started as simply flanking behind enemy lines, Sasori and the team he was forced to be with would look to take out the back lines which meant their injured and healers. Using live humans as puppets couldn’t had been easier. Manipulated the injured and weak, they would turn on allies and look for blood despite being unconscious or too weak to resist. With the distraction, the others moved in to take care of the distracted or anyone else. What wasn’t planned was his positioned being noticed.
In the middle of his act, something collided into the tree he was perched in which had him leaping out. What came next would be a bone-shattering kick that he managed to block with hands. Unfortunately, the kick had enough force to send him back and crashing into another tree, nearly cracking the entire trunk with the force. Now that he was forced to a seated position, he had to wait for his body to pull itself back together. He also needed to find another puppet to use to get himself back into the fight.
Standing himself back up, he looked on ahead to see dangerous emeralds staring right at him. It took a moment, but he realized just who it was targeting him. How long had it been? He hardly recognized the woman. Her stance was different, her eyes were different, and her strength …
“To think I would be sent to fight you. Still playing doctor, I see…” A comment made but it didn’t get much of a reaction. Just a low hiss of a ‘you’ from the girl as she charged her way and delivered another hell of a right hand into his stomach. It left the puppet master unable to breathe, even if he didn’t necessarily need to, and it sent him back into the same tree from before. Another punch, but he would move himself out of the way in time to watch fist hit wood with wood completely shattering. No doubt about it… This one was going to be a mess to handle.
Leaping steps back, he would find one of the injured looking to escape the chaos. Sasori was ready to take him, but it looked like Sakura had other plans. A punch into the ground was enough to rattle Sasori as he stumbled to find his grip. Not before long, he found himself face-to-face with the woman and finding himself slammed back into the shattered ground.
“The hell are you doing…?” words spoken through gritted teeth.
“What am I doing? It looks like I’m atta-”
“That’s not what I meant!”
More anger ensued as a fist came down into his face. Brown hues continued to stare up at the woman as an amused smile came to him. How nostalgic.
“I now have the body I’ve always desired, one that will never rot or decay. I’ve truly become a puppet in every sense of the word. What I’m doing doesn’t matter. What matters is that I-”
Another shattering fist into his jaw, but it’d only be something that would quickly mend itself despite her efforts. No amusement was with him any longer. This was becoming annoying and quick.
“The hell are you doing? Being a puppet like this?” she spoke as her head hung low to the point that he couldn’t see her eyes.
“A puppet to them…? It isn’t like I have much of a choice..”
“But you aren’t even fighting it! You just laid there and told me that you were a puppet. The man I fought before wasn’t just some puppet. Seeing you now compared to you were back then, you’re the one that’s pathetic. You tossed away more than your humanity. You tossed away your pride!”
Sasori just stared at the girl with anger in his eyes. It was an improvement considering he held no feeling in them in the slightest before this. What was she going on about? He still had his pride. Right…?
“Lady Chiyo told me something during that fight we had. We shouldn’t had won. You allowed us to live. You chose death. You chose to die, then Chiyo chose to sacrifice herself to bring back the Kazekage. I never told anyone, but I was so confused by that. How someone that commented about taking his own grandmother’s life would mean nothing, yet you go and spare her and some ‘annoying brat’. Have you ever figured out why? It’s because you can’t erase your humanity, you can’t erase your soul!”
Hearing these words caused the puppet master to cringe. He didn’t want to hear any of this, and she knew that. Why was she speaking like this? Not like he could speak. She’d only end up punching him, again.
“You always went on about eternal things. Whether you realize it or not, there is something eternal that has always been there. It’s love. Lady Chiyo still loved you, and you realized that. You chose to die in the embrace of those puppets meant to resemble your parents because you loved them. You went so far into your art because you loved it. Much so that you’ve put your own heart and soul into your puppets. Kankuro took up your puppet body to honor your memory. You’ve found your eternity! So please… there’s no reason for you to hate anymore. Your suffering can end.”
crack
She was right. Everything she had said was right. He did his damnest to ignore it, but she was right.
“Maybe you’re right... Maybe my eternal life has been granted all along. Maybe that’s the form of art I’ve sought for. Right in front of me, and it took an annoying brat to make me realize this,” he commented with a slight smirk forming on his features. Slowly, his body began to deteriorate as he felt a peace take over him. Sakura looked up to him as she noticed what was happening. A bit of panic came over her, not too sure what was happening.
“Sasori...? What’s going-”
“Do me a favor. Next time you see Kankuro, tell him to take on the mother and father puppets and pass those puppets onto the next generation. They... are much more artistic as a complete set...” he spoke as the body he once held finally collapsed into paper-like ash, his soul finally parting from the world, peacefully.
“Don’t you think...” his words echoed out as his final moment.
“... Yeah... I’ll tell him to pass on your puppets, your ‘family’...” Sakura spoke, feeling a need to mourn to herself. She felt she needed to show this respect to honor a soul that had been lost for decades as well as remember Chiyo.
A torn family that finally found their peace at the true end of their life.
Once you get this you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly, then send this to 10 of your favorite followers.
Five? How am I gonna find five? Hahaha.1. How much beer I can consume.2. How many cigarettes I can consume.3. How many hours I can sleep.4. How many days I can go without sleep.5. How I write my lyrics.
