Why Obanai hates Sasori even more than he hates Giyuu
It happened to be that while Sasori was waiting to meet with Ubuyashiki at his mansion, the Kocho sisters were also there. This was not uncommon, as both of their estates were close to the Ubuyashiki mansion, and both often went there. But on this day, Tokito Muichiro returned from his final selection, having passed with flying colors.
The Kochos and Ubuyashikis greeted him warmly, treated his wounds, changed him out of his dirty clothes, and continued to fawn over him, in part, to show him that he was not alone, and in part, to raise his spirits, and coax him into a celebration of his accomplishments. But Muichiro showed no positive response. To his mind, he had done what he was supposed to do, and that’s all that there was to it.
Now in the front yard, the Kocho sisters retreated to the engawa, where Sasori sat, watching. “The boy is on his way to becoming the perfect warrior,” he remarked, his gaze fixed on Muichiro. “With no memories, no sense of self, he is completely free of ego. A perfect tool.” Next to Kanae, Shinobu twitched at those remarks.
Kanae now turned to Sasori. “You are not describing an assassin, but a child.” She spoke softly, though her tone tinged with reproach. “Muichiro-kun fights because he has something to fight for, but he should one day, regain his memories, and be happy like any normal child.”
Sasori cocked his head in her direction, his brown eyes meeting Kanae’s pale purple. “If he were a boy-maid at your clinic as was previously planned, I might agree. Emotions, memories… they are distractions that cloud judgment. Muichiro’s current state is a boon. He has no distractions to hinder him. He has only the focus on killing demons. If I were Ubuyashiki, I would rejoice. The opportunity for such a dedicated, and talented puppet comes rarely.”
Shinobu bit her lower lip.
“Muichiro is no puppet, Sasori-san,” Kanae replied calmly. “Even if his mind is clouded by his amnesia, he still has a heart and soul. His worth isn’t defined by his ability to kill, and Oyakata-sama does not view any of us that way either. He sees us as-”
“Ubuyashiki is a man with a mission.” Sasori interjected. “He has a vendetta against Kibutsuji Muzan. It's admirable, and he recruits you. He sends you into battle, and just now he has sent a boy of eleven to a final selection meant to weed out the weak. Of course I understand that you follow him willingly, as do all of his swordsman. But he is still aware that pawns must be sacrificed to corner an enemy king. That is his role as your organization’s head. You might all serve him better as actual puppets”
Shinobu clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms as she held her tongue.
Kanae however, held her ground. “There may be some truth to what you say, Sasori-san. However, even though it is his role as our commander, Oyakata-sama cares for each and every one of us. He remembers each of our names. For people like us, who joined this organization because of what the demons did to us, we cannot see him the way you do. My sister and I here, lost our parents to a demon attack, and we were filled with despair, but having such a leader as Oyakata-sama, inspires hope. The same is true for Muichiro-kun. He too needs a new home.”
It was subtle, but still shocking to Shinobu as she watched… it was almost as though Sasori’s expression softened when Kanae described that to her.
“Hope is a fragile thing, Hashira,” he remarked. “It can be shattered in an instant. This is why it is best not to rely on emotions or bonds.” He looked over his shoulder, to Muichiro who now lay on his back, watching the clouds drift by, as Kagaya sat by his side and spoke softly to him. “Efficiency is the only thing that matters in the end.”
"I suppose our different moral values cannot be reconciled then," Kanae said diplomatically. "Lets just agree to disagree."
Sasori gave a derisive chuckle, as he turned back over his shoulder, and watched the scene unfold.
***
The following months continued to go by the same way as they normally had, but now, with the addition of Shinobu and Kanae also treating Muichiro for his amnesia, something which Sasori wanted nothing to do with. He still tutored Shinobu, and despite everything, despite his iciness, despite his heartless descriptions of morality, and despite how cruel and demanding he was of her… Shinobu soon realized that she enjoyed her lessons with him... Or if enjoy was too strong of a word, at the very least, that she would begin to miss her lessons if they stopped for longer breaks than usual.
It wasn’t just the fact that she was learning more and more, and becoming stronger as a result of it… Sasori showed her no patience, no sentimentality, no warmth, or any familial emotions… training with him, was the one place where she wasn’t the little sister.
The one place where she would receive no pity for her weakness and smallness.
The one place where she was expected to succeed without any safety net…
Sasori meanwhile, continued his work whether Shinobu was there or not, and he still prowled the night for stronger demons…
***
The moon hung low over the ocean, casting a silver path across the water and illuminating the rocky beach where Sasori stood, unmoving. His eyes, cold and calculating, remained fixed on the hulking figure of the demon a few paces ahead. As the waves crashed against the shore, the demon, Rokuro, snarled. His black oily hair blowing around his face in the wind, his yellow eyes full of hatred, and baring the characters:
The moon's light caste a silver path across the water and illuminating the rocky beach where Sasori stood, unmoving. His eyes, cold and calculating, remained fixed on the hulking figure of the demon a few paces ahead. As the waves crashed against the shore, the demon snarled. His black oily hair blowing around his face in the wind, his yellow eyes full of hatred, and baring the characters:
‘Waning moon. One’
Sasori unfurled his scroll, summoning his new puppet… It had neat, short hair, and its eyes were closed… other than the fact that it was dressed in the same crimson robes that Sasori’s puppets were always dressed with, and other than its once pale skin now being the color of wood, it looked exactly as he once did…
“What is that?” Growled Rokuro. “Some kind of theater trick?”
Sasori’s mouth formed a smile, as he shifted his fingers ever so slightly, the motion barely noticeable. The Yahaba puppet at his side sprang into action! Yahaba’s head tilted unnaturally, as he flew into the air in front of the puppet master, and then, with a faint whirring sound, the puppet’s arms raised, and invisible arrows shot forward from the eyes on his palms! At the same time, the demon threw two heavy shuriken-chains at Sasori! But Yahaba’s arrows struck the demon’s chains and diverted their trajectory back towards the lower moon!
“Lets see if you can keep up with this!!?” Rokuro roared! He raised his arms causing more metallic chains and spikes to materialize, and hurled hundreds of them! Yahaba’s arrows intercepted as much of them as they could, but he was soon overwhelmed! The Shuriken were linked together and broke off whenever Rokuro wanted them too, making their movements unpredictable, and their size seemingly ranged from the size of normal shuriken, to large enough to cleave a man in two! They smashed against the rocks and the clashing of mental and crushing of stone mingled with the sound of the waves in symphonic harmony.
But Sasori was having the time of his life! His experiment had proved a tremendous success! Yahaba’s blood demon art had not only been transferred to a puppet, but he had successfully made the puppet’s ability stronger than Yahaba’s had been when he was alive!
From under Yahaba’s cloak, a second pair of arms, and then a third, a fourth and a fifth lifted up, opened their hands, and revealed the demonic eyes! Twelve arms shooting arrows in every direction reverting the lower moon’s projectiles into one-another!
The demon pressed both hands to the earth, and a spiral of spiked chains rose up from the dirt at unnatural speeds, wrapping around the Yahaba puppet, and shattering it into pieces. Rokuro leaned forward and growled triumphantly at Sasori. “Not so arrogant now are you?”
Sasori merely chuckled, and flexed his fingers. The splintered remains of Yahaba began to twitch, then pulled themselves together in a grotesque dance of reassembly. Wood clicked against wood, and in less than a second, Yahaba was standing once more, his head cocked slightly to one side as though nothing had happened.
The Demon’s eyes widened, its snarl deepening into something more primal—fear. “What the hell are you? I’ve never seen a human use magic like this!?”
"No magic…" Sasori said, his fingers guiding Yahaba into position once more, “This is the puppet master Jutsu. My puppets do not break, they’re eternal… This is my newest one. I made him from a demon who wasn’t quite strong enough to become one of the twelve Kizuki… you’re supposed to be the strongest of the waning moons aren’t you?”
“Do not mock me!?” snarled the demon. He summoned more chains from either side of his arm, that looked so heavy they must have taken beyond superhuman strength to wield!
They flew through the air from both the left and the right! Converging on the Yahaba puppet, when right before they did, Sasori’s keen eye noticed that in the cavities of the links… the chains were packed with explosives.
“Oh boy,” he mused.
The chains exploded! Sasori had to yank Yahaba back lest it be destroyed beyond repair! The explosion created shockwaves that would have destroyed someone with a weaker body, followed by heavy shrapnel bursting forward at a rate impossible to dodge! So Sasori didn’t dodge. He had only been using one hand to fight this demon so far, and now… he brought out his other hand, his threads pulling up the tails of Hiruko II!
When the dust had settled, almost the entire beach had been leveled by such a massive attack. Thousands of tons of shrapnel had destroyed everything in it’s path! “Good riddance!” Rokuro growled, “there's no way he could have survived that”....
But he noticed something odd… the face of another puppet was looking at him.. this one looked even less human than a demon… more demonic than a demon. Braided hair jetted out in sharp spikes, and it's grinning mouth was uncomfortably misshapen, but on its back, spread it out like wings, we're five thick shields, fanned out like a defensive wall, and behind those shields were seven metallic tails like a scorpion's tail, and behind that defense; the demons opponent was unharmed.
Sasori smiled. “Of all my recreations, the Hiruko II is the one I've had time to improve upon the most. Since without a puppet body, I can't use him as a vehicle the way I did back in my old world, but I've significantly strengthened his defensive power… not to mention his attack power.” The demon knew none of this. He had no idea what puppet Jutsu was, this was strange and foreign to him… but he knew that against this alien menace, his strongest attack had had no effect. Waning moon one shrunk back in fear.
Yahaba surged forward from behind Hiruko II, firing another wave of arrows! Karasu II joined the fray, and together they released a volley of wooden projectiles from their mouths, hands and elbows! The demon sliced them in mid-air with his chains, only for the real weapon, poison-tipped needles to shoot forward beyond the demon’s defenses once he had attacked the decoy-cylinders!
As the demon jumped back in a zig-zag, dodging the attacks, The Black Ant puppet skittered through the sand with terrifying speed, and the demon had not even noticed until it was directly under his feet! “Soon… I’ll add you to my collection.”
The demon summoned more chains, and swung them at the Black Ant! When a blur of white and black shot past him, and with the sound of metal cutting metal; the demon’s chains were severed, clattering to the ground in a heap. Sasori’s brow furrowed as this unwelcome newcomer came into focus.
Iguro Obanai, the Snake Hashira, stood with his sword drawn, his heterochromian eyes glinting in the pale light of the moon. His serpent companion hissed softly right before Obanai vanished again.
The demon gasped, and flinched, as Obanai was upon him!
Breath of the Serpent… Third Form: Coil Choke!
Right before Obanai could behead the demon, he was pushed away by one of Yahaba’s arrows!
The Black ant Immediately pounced on the demon! Securing it in place with it’s long bladed arms as the serpent Hashira skidded across the sand.
“What the hell?!!!!” Obanai shouted irately! Immediately springing to his feet and scanning the distance. His eyes flared as he spotted Sasori on the far end of the beach, regal, and standing as straight as a post, with his puppeteering hand outstretched.
“I need this demon alive.” he said cooley, allowing the wind to carry his voice the large distance across the shore.
Even still… he had to raise his voice to reach anyone at this distance. Sasori’s good mood was deteriorating by the second now…
“Are you stupid!!!!?” Obanai shouted from across the beach. “Demons don’t need to be captured! They need to be killed!” He had realized that this was without a doubt the man, ’Sasori’ he had heard so many rumors about… the strange Gaijin who fought using puppets… who kept demons alive for experimentation… but his anger at losing his kill, pushed that knowledge to the back of his mind now.
Sasori clenched his jaw. Shouting across the beach like this grated on him. He hated having to raise his voice, hated the unstoic display it forced him into. “Your methods are wasteful!” he shot back, his tone barely hiding the edge of condescension. “This demon’s better alive for my collection!!”
"Speak up!" Obanai demanded, the wide distance an inconvenience for both normally soft-spoken fighters.
"I said your methods are wasteful!" Sasori shouted, hating to have to repeat himself.
"Obanai’s face contorted in fury. “Wasteful? You’re the one who wasted my shot! I had it right there! And where did you even come from anyway!!? What the fuck are you doing in my corps!!?”
Sasori’s fingers twitched. The impulse to kill this disrespectful little shit was now becoming an itch… but he knew Kagaya would certainly mind…
And then his eyes saw it, Obanai’s did too at the same time… The demon, bound tightly moments ago, was gone.
Sasori scanned the now-empty trap where Black Ant II had once ensnared the demon, and Obanai looked toward the shadows, a livid shadow spreading over his face.
Obanai, of course, wasted no time. “ Now look what you’ve done!” he snarled, pointing an accusatory finger at Sasori from across the beach. “That’s on you, puppet master!”
Sasori's patience had officially run out. His fingers moved to prepare Yahaba, Karasu, and Black Ant for the massacre that he was preparing to wrought onto Obanai… but his left hand grabbed his write wrist before he could summon the attacks. "Calm down! You can kill this little shit later! If you kill him now, you lose the corps!"
Obanai now ran towards him in a light sprint, leaping onto the rocks, and stopping just short of Sasori’s personal space. He pointed a finger at him, and squinted at him through wrathful eyes, dark miasma emanating off his body. “Mark my words puppet master, you will not get away with this. The blood of those killed by this demon will be on your hands. You will be punished on the authority of the corps.”
“It was you who interfered,” Sasori said with controlled venom. “Do you think the master would play favorites on your side?”
Obanai remained composed, but he was suddenly taken aback as clarity set in.
Sasori retained his composure perfectly, and his puppets each disappeared at his will. “Hashira, I cooperate with your organization for my own reasons. I don’t care about human lives. I’ve probably killed more in my 40 years alive than that demon ever will.”
“40?” Obanai contested, turning his posture to the side. “You're trying to scare me, and it isn't a working puppet master. You don’t look that much older than I. If you continue to piss me off, I’ll kill you myself.”
“You remind me of someone,” Sasori said, his lips curling. “ When I have my body back, and when I no longer need the corps, you will be the first one I kill.”
Sasori vanished from the beach, leaving Obanai under the stars, the tide crashing again against the rocks.