Training and Fruit Basket
“Sasori-san,” Shinobu asked, as she stood at his door. “I am ready to begin today’s trai-” the door slid open, and Sasori stood there with an annoyed expression on his face.
“I-I’m sorry,” Shinobu said. “Have I come too early?”
“No. Come in and we’ll get started”
Soon, Shinobu had forgotten all about Sasori’s fatigue. The urgency of her training (and she was beginning to doubt it could even be called ‘training’ at this point) once again occupied her full focus. It was brutal, and left her no luxury to think about anything else, as was the routine. Lessons were always like this, though moments of relative calm did occasionally ensue. Sasori almost never allowed breaks, he did allow the work to slow down on occasion, such as when there was something on his mind. “I heard that the amnesiac boy became a Hashira a few weeks ago. How did that happen?”
“Its true Sasori-san,” Shinobu answered. “Tokito-kun bested one of the twelve Kizuki, and was approved by Oyakata-sama, and the majority of the other Hashira.”
“I hear you can also be nominated as a Hashira after killing 50 demons,” Sasori continued.
Shinobu faltered for a moment.
“How many demons have you killed… girl?”
Shinobu looked down.
“Answer me,” Sasori ordered.
“I killed my 65th earlier this week.” She refrained from adding that she really began to stack up kills, after her training with Sasori began. “I told Oyakata-sama, that I wanted to continue as Nee-san’s Tsuguko?”
“And is that because you enjoy toddling at your sister’s side?” Sasori challenged. “Or because you are afraid to let go of her hand?”
“It's because I’m just not ready yet!” she cried louder than she had meant to. Her hands gripping the edge of the table, her body leaned forward, the overhead light reflecting off of her butterfly hairpin.
“I couldn’t care less,” Sasori scoffed. “Titles are meaningless. I just wanted to make sure that you don’t think of yourself as less than those idiots.” Sasori turned back to his workbench, his expression unchanged, his fingers deftly mixing the ingredients for a new batch of poison. Shinobu remained seated, her grip on the table loosening, and felt the uncertainty drain from her body.
“Thank you, Sasori-san.”
“Come here, look at this,” he said, beckoning her to the microscope.
She did so without question.
“What do you see there in that petri dish?”
“The blood around the poison is crystalizing,” she answered.
“And why is that?”
“Because… oh…” Shinobu trailed off, as she felt her heart skip a beat. She had seen this before… though she had never observed it in a controlled environment like this. It had happened to her on that terrifying night, the night she and Sasori had met. “This demon has an immune response to the poison. It's not reacting the way normal demon blood reacts…”
“In other words?” Sasori continued.
“In other words, regular poison would not beat this demon.” Shinobu answered.
“The demon whose blood this was; happened to be weak, though with a lucky condition that allows it to survive my poison as well as yours. If you were to encounter it in battle, you would probably be able to outrun it, but let's say you happen to meet a stronger demon with the same immunity?”
“I would have to make a new mix of poison,” Shnobu answered.
“Idiot, it's not that simple. This blood reacts the same way to all poisons. So what do you do?”
Shinobu hesitated.
“I’ll make this easier for you,” Sasori said. “What does it do?”
“The blood!” Shinobu cried. “On this particular demon, it forms a clot around the poison, preventing it from spreading, so… so in a case like this, there is more than one option.” Shinobu took a pencil from the desk, and pretended it was her blade for a moment. “If I were to stab the demon here, like this-" she demonstrated, "here in the internal carotid artery, the poison wouldn’t kill him, but the blood clot would block the demon’s blood flow to the brain and eyes.”
“An intelligent demon would rip the blood clot out,” Sasori rebuffed.
“But what if the poison is not intravenous?” Shinobu asked. “What if I injected the venom directly into a part of the body that does not contain a lot of blood? Or blood that would have a harder time clotting? Like the bone marrow? Or the stomach?”
“Are you confident that you could accurately administer such an injection into a demon that was not holding still?” Sasori’s question was meant to challenge her, but his tone was not unkind.
Before Shinobu could answer, a light knock at the door interrupted the conversation. Shinobu glanced up, startled, as Kanae walked in, her face illuminated by her usual warm smile. Shinazugawa Sanemi followed close behind her, his eyes narrowed as they fell on Sasori. "Shinobu," Kanae greeted, her voice soft as ever. She held up a small basket of fruit. "One of my patients gave me this as a gift. I thought I’d bring some fruit for you, Shinobu. You’ve been working hard."
Shinobu’s tense posture softened instantly at her sister’s presence, her eyes lighting up as Kanae set the basket on the table. "Thank you, Nee-san!" Shinobu said gratefully, taking a nectarine.
Kanae turned to Sasori, her usual warmth undeterred by his cold demeanor. "Sasori-san, would you like some as well? There’s plenty to share."
Sasori, still focused on his work, glanced briefly at the fruit before dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "I have no need for it."
Kanae, unfazed by his refusal, smiled gently. "Well, it’s here if you change your mind."
Sanemi, standing by the door, crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing slightly at Sasori. He said nothing, but the tension in the air was palpable. He had heard plenty of rumors about the foreign puppeteer, and while Kanae seemed comfortable enough around him, Sanemi’s protective instincts flared. "You’re the one they call Sasori," Sanemi said finally, his voice low but edged with more suspicion than curiosity.
Sasori didn’t bother turning around, his hands still working on his poisons. "And you must be Shinazugawa. I’ve heard an interesting story about you."
“Oh yeah?” Sanemi challenged, his temper preparing to flair as he began to move forward. “What story was that?”
Kanae smiled nervously, sensing the tension. "Let’s not stay too long, Sanemi. I just wanted to check in on Shinobu." She turned to her sister, her voice softening. "I’ll be heading back to the Butterfly Estate soon. Come visit me when you’re free."
"Of course, Nee-san," Shinobu replied, offering a small but genuine smile in return. The warmth that Kanae brought was like a soft breeze that briefly dispelled the oppressive atmosphere. Part of Shinobu would have liked to have enjoyed it longer, but knowing how impatient her teacher was, she did not get her hopes up.
“As I was saying” Sasori continued the instant Kanae left, proving Shinobu's intuition correct. “One cannot always rely on poisons. We need to make sure you are physically prepared as well.”
Shinobu gulped.
***
Shinobu stood with her blade ready, watching Sasori from the other side of the training yard. His Yahaba puppet, with its ten extra arms clicking, hovered by his side.
"Don't hold back," Sasori instructed. “You couldn’t destroy this puppet even if I let you try, and any damage you do to it can be easily repaired.” Shinobu nodded, never taking her intense and ready gaze off of the puppet. “You look like you're taking this seriously,” Sasori observed. “Thats good. Unlike this puppet, there is a chance you might die here.”
The Yahaba puppet extended its closed hand, which then clacked open to reveal an eye with an arrow on it. An invisible force shot into Shinobu, knocking her off her feet, and her eyes went wide as she didn’t even know what had hit her!
She felt her momentum slow down just a little but as she nearly crashed into the wall of Sasori’s shed. Whether that was the limits of the puppet’s attacks, or whether Sasori was showing her mercy, she did not waste time trying to figure it out. She used the wall of the shed as a springboard, launching herself into the air!
She held out her left hand in front of her, keeping the puppet in her sights as she prepared to attack!
Insect breathing, Dance of the Butterfly: Caprice!
Before she could even reach the puppet, Yahaba held out his hand again, opened his palm, and Shinobu felt the same invisible force, sending her shooting upwards into the air… with much more force than the previous attack, and Shinobu, now felt the fear of losing her lunch, as she felt the drop in her organs as she fell… followed by the terrifying realization that if she fell from this height she would actually die!
She found herself screaming! Wide-eyed in terror as the ground rapidly grew closer and closer! Until she felt her body shift, and crash through leaves and branches, until she found herself falling again, only to stop short…
Sasori couldn’t help but chuckle as he saw Shinobu now hanging by the back of her white overshirt… tangling from a thin tree branch, and dripping with pure embarrassment.
“You're a sitting duck now,” Sasori said in a calm amused tone, as the Yahaba puppet aimed his arm again.
A summoning Kanji on the puppet’s wrist summoned a Kunai knife, and then an arrow sent it shooting towards Shinobu at blinding speeds!
Shinobu slipped out of her overshirt as the Kunai hit the tree like a bullet! Exploding from the back of it causing birds to fly from their nests in panic!
Shinobu sprung off the edge of the tree, gracefully landed on the edge of the wall to Sasori’s yard, and spring forward again!
Yahaba repeated the same motions with his hands, but this time, Shinobu was ready! She propelled herself out of the path of the arrows flawlessly! Even without seeing them, she reacted to the movement’s of Yahaba’s hands, evading them in zig-zags until she had closed the distance enough for another attack!
She shot forward, only for the Yahaba puppet to evade, and send an arrow wrapping around her ankles!
“aaaAHHHhhh!” She cried as she was flung forward onto her face, and skidded in the dirt face down towards Sasori.
"This one wasn't even in the Twelve Kizuki. If you can’t manage this, it’s only a matter of time before you let your sister down, or that useless Kanao whom you keep around.”
Shinobu bit her lip to keep from crying, but she could already feel hot tears of shame gathering in her eyes.
Slowly, she got back to her feet, making sure to look away from Sasori so as not to let him see. She gripped her blade tighter, her knuckles turning white. Sasori’s words stung, but they had always stung… and whether he had meant to or not, she learned to use that sting to push herself forward, not break down.
With a flick of her wrist, she lunged at the puppet, aiming the tip of her blade at one of Yahaba's many arms. But just as she closed in, an invisible force redirected her momentum, sending her flying backward. She barely managed to flip midair, landing on her feet in a crouch.
She was starting to feel dizzy. She realized then that the only reason she had stopped, was because her back was now pressed against the wall on the other side of the yard… the Yahaba puppet, dressed in reddish rags, seemed to be taunting her from the other end.
Her chest heaved with frustration. But she wasn't about to give up, she knew how badly she needed this training, training that forced her to think more strategically. Precision. Agility. Timing… Hesitant as she was to admit it, no one had been a better teacher to her before than him.
She straightened, eyes narrowed as the puppet moved again, arrows shifting rapidly to keep her off balance. Instead of charging blindly, Shinobu darted around the yard, keeping her movements unpredictable. The Yahaba puppet's arrows continued to try and fling her, but each time she evaded by a hair's breath.
"Faster," Sasori snapped. "This demon is going to try to kill you now!"
Kunai knives poofed above the summoning seals on Yahaba’s wrists, before being propelled forward like bullets!
Shinobu twisted left and right! Evading the blades as they impacted onto the sand around her! She leapt onto a tree branch, and sprang upward again! Somersaulting over the puppet, She curved her blade, stabbing toward the demon’s torso in a fluid motion!
Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon!
For a split second, it looked like the strike would land, but the arrows from arms hidden beneath Yahaba’s cloak, hit her midair, sending her spiraling backward once more.
She hit the ground hard, but rolled to her feet again, determination burning in her eyes.
"Again," she muttered to herself. “I have to be faster, more precise…”
“...it’s only a matter of time before you let your sister down, or that useless Kanao whom you keep around.”
And then the image of Kanae… on the brink of death, her lungs destroyed by that demon of the twelve Kizuki, burned in her mind again.
“I won’t let that happen!”
With more focus, Shinobu continued to evade Yahaba’s arrows, she could almost see them now!
“Thats it! Thats it!” Sasori cried. Lets see how well you handle this !”
Now instead of Kunai, the arrows guided massive shuriken, the size of a human’s head!
They weren’t as fast as the Kunai, but they relentlessly followed Shinobu as she evaded them, running through the trees, running along the wall! Bouncing across the depot and running through the training posts as the shuriken were one by one, stuck into the ground and branches!
Her small agile stature now began to work to her advantage as more invisible arrows were shot at her from in front! As she lept over, looking down as she began to flip in mid-air, she could see the pathway… she could see how the sand shifted ever so slightly as the arrow passed over it… She could see it!
She recalled the lessons drilled into her: demons were unpredictable and relentless... Her poison had to reach the right place! And she had now learned from her last encounters with Yahaba, that It wasn't just about striking; it was about making each strike count!.
***
The setting sun cast an orange hue over the sky. “Ahhhhhhh!” Shinobu gave a soft cry of relief as she washed the last of the dirt and grime away from her face.
Sasori sat on a tree stump, eating an orange from the fruit basket. Shinobu did not expect any compliments from him, but still, after all of that hard work, she felt she had earned the right to ask him a question. “Sasori-san?”
“What is it?”
“Earlier when you spoke with Shinazugawa-san, you mentioned a story you had heard about him… a rumor. Were you just trying to get a rise out of him?”
“No, I did hear an interesting story.”
“What was it?” Shinobu asked curiously.
Sasori gave a slight chuckle. “I heard that he killed his own mother.”
“Thats not how it was!” she cried, her ears going red. “Sasori-san, the rumor that you heard… He had no choice!” Under normal circumstances, Shinobu would have never have told Sasori of Sanemi’s story, but she hated to hear such a half-true rumor about a man whom she respected so much.
“His mother was turned into a demon, and attacked her own family! Demons have no control right after they are transformed! They can only think of nourishment! She killed all of Shinazugawa-san’s brothers and sisters, and would have killed him too if she hadn’t stopped her…” her voice was heavy as she said this.
“This is why we fight the demons… this is why we struggle so hard to overcome them. They do nothing but create misery, they torture us by taking the people we love away from us in such brutal ways. It may mean nothing to you, Sasori-san, but it means so much to us… You may be helping us for your own reasons, but we…”
“So his mother tried to kill him, huh.” Sasori said, smiling lightly as a cool breeze blew past them. “My grandmother tried to kill me… actually, she might have succeeded. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve died, and this place is hell.”
Shinobu was silent, as the breeze whirled around her.
Sasori turned to Shinobu, looking her in the eyes. “Go home girl. I’ve kept you late, and your sister is probably missing you.”
“Y- yes. Thank you for your lesson today,” she said bowing, as she turned to gather her things and leave. “I-I’d better get back before it gets dark.”
Shinobu left Sasori’s estate in a hurry, wondering what the hell had happened to him in the past, and what kind of a life he could have possibly had, if in a world without demons, his last memory, was of his own family member trying to hill him.