Connection Between Puppets and Plants

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in it. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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She was sitting in the kitchen, enjoying her warm cup of tea while reading her new book which was about ‘plants and flowers’. As she was about to take another sip of her favorite drink, suddenly, a familiar scream was heard from upstairs, which made her almost spill her drink on the floor.

“EMMI BAA-SAMA!! THE MONSTER IS TRYING TO EAT ME!!!”

She sighed and put the cup down on the table, along with the book. She calmly dragged her feet upstairs, toward her granddaughter’s room. What could she have possibly gone into now?

She opened the door only to find Haruka whimpering on the bed in fright, staring at a certain thing on the floor in front of her.

“What is it now, dear?” she asked.

Haruka turned to face her grandmother and yelled out. “THAT MONSTER, OBAA-SAMA! IT’S GONNA EAT ME!”

Emmi rolled her eyes, thinking that it must be another cockroach or something like that. She approached the bug and noticed that it was indeed a scorpion. She stomped on it quickly and disposed its dead body into the trash bin outside. Her 4-years-old granddaughter walked after her and eyed the trash bin from behind her.

“What is that monster called, obaa-sama?” she asked. Emmi chuckled at this and ruffled her brunette hair.

“That’s not a monster, dear. That is called a scorpion. You should watch out from its tail, because it’s poisonous.” She explained.

“S-scorpion?” Haruka asked. “It sure is scary...”

Again, Emmi couldn’t help but to roll her eyes at her granddaughter. Seriously, Haruka had some fright issues. She was afraid of almost every single thing in the house! But maybe it was normal for someone her age.

“Oh, speaking of scorpion, I want you to meet a friend of mine who just moved here 2 days ago.” Emmi told her.

“Yay! A newcomer! Let’s go welcome her, obaa-sama!” she exclaimed while taking her grandmother’s hand in her own. Emmi chuckled and walked out of the house together with her granddaughter.

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~Haruka's POV~

“We’re here.” Emmi said after 5 minutes of walking. I stared at the house in front of me in excitement, but quickly hid behind my grandmother as she knocked on the door.

It’s not long before the door was opened, revealing a short white-haired old lady in it. Her face lit up when she saw Emmi lingering on her doorstep.

“Emmi! It’s been so long! Hyahyahyahya!” she laughed while hugging Ir grandmother tightly.

“Yeah, Chiyo! I’ve missed I so much! Ohohohoo!” Emmi said, hugging her friend back.

The two elders shared their hugs a weird laughter for a minute, causing my right eye to twitch a little. Then surprisingly, Chiyo turned her head to me and stopped laughing.

“Oooh, I didn’t know you have a granddaughter, Emmi!” she said while smiling at me. “What’s your name, little one?” she asked. Emmi pushed me toward her friend and I quickly bowed in respect.

“My name is Shokubutsu no Haruka and I’m 4 years old.” I said while smiling.

“You're in the same age as my grandchild, Haruka-chan!” Chiyo laughed and laughed before finally letting me and my grandmother into the house.

I took a seat across from my grandmother and Chiyo, while looking around the room interestedly. The living room is not too big, just like my own. There was some old furniture in the corners of the room, which I found rather antique since I don’t have any ancient ones back in my house.

Suddenly, Chiyo snapped me out of Ir trance by calling out my name.

“I’ll tell my grandson to come downstairs, I’m sure he’ll be happy to finally meet a friend!” she smiled before screaming her lungs out. “SASORI!!! THERE’S A GUEST HERE! YOU SHOULD COME HERE AND WELCOME THEM!”

My body tensed up when I heard her screaming. “S-S-Sasori...?” I whispered and walked over to my grandmother. She laughed at me and pat my head in a comforting way.

“No no, she didn’t mean the real scorpion, dear.” She assured me. (For those who don’t know, Sasori means Scorpion in Japanese)

“Oh. Phew...” I sighed in relief and let go of me grand mother. I could hear a sound of footsteps coming downstairs.

“You shouldn’t scream like that when we’re having a guest, Chiyo baa-sama...”

I looked at the owner of the voice, and saw a boy with red hair and lazy grey eyes staring down at his grandmother from the stairs. He didn’t seem to be interested on welcoming his guests, judging by the tone of his voice.

“Hyahahahaha... My bad...” Chiyo laughed again. “Come here, Sasori. I want you to meet my friend, Emmi, and her granddaughter, Haruka. She’s in the same age as you, I’m sure that you will both be great friends!”

Sasori stared at me when he finally got down from the stairs. His eyes bored into mine with no sign of emotions in it, making me grin in nervousness.

“Uh... hi! I’m Haruka! Nice to meet you, Sasori!” I said to him, but he just ignored me and went to greet my grandmother instead.

“Now now, Sasori, you don’t need to be so shy around Haruka-chan! You should go play with her in your room, while me and Emmi hang out here in the living room! Hyahahaha!” Chiyo said and took a seat beside my grandmother.

I looked at Sasori, who was walking upstairs on his own. He stopped in the middle of it and glanced back at me. “Well? Are you coming or not?” He asked.

I nodded and quickly caught up behind him and went inside his room.

There’s a bed in the middle of the room right next to the window, and I saw bunch of weird gears and other things near his desk. I closed the door behind me and followed him further inside.

“What are those things?” I asked, pointing at the wooden stuffs that lied in the right corner of the room.

“They’re my puppets.” He answered, still not looking at me. He went to his desk and began working on things. I took a peek from his shoulder to see what he was doing.

“Y-You make those?” I asked, feeling intimidated by the gaze of the dolls that he was making.

“Of course. Why do you ask?” he asked me back, hearing the hint of nervousness in my voice.

“Oh, nothing... they’re just kind of... scary somehow.” I said and backed away from him. Suddenly, I felt something cold was holding onto my right leg. I looked down and screamed when I saw a hand was holding onto my leg. I shook it off and ran behind Sasori.

“Wh-what is that thing?!” I asked, still shocked from the previous incident. Sasori chuckled and took the hand in his own.

“This is one of the materials that I use to make my puppets.” He explained while waving the hand in front of my face. “Don’t tell me you're afraid of it...”

“O-Of course not! I was just surprised to see it moved by itself, that’s what!” I said, defending myself.

“It didn’t move by itself. I made it move.” He said and raised his right hand in front of the puppet. The next thing I know, some blue chakra strings came out from the tip of his fingers, and attached themselves onto the hand of the puppet. When he flicked his finger, the hand jolted up and landed right on my head.

“AAAAAAH! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF!” I yelled while running around, screaming.

Sasori laughed at me when I tripped on one of the puppets on the floor and fell on the ground with a ‘thud’. I glared at the laughing Sasori while throwing the hand at him. “That’s not funny!” I yelled.

“It is to me.” He answered, still chuckling a bit.

I scowled while standing up, dusting myself. Then, the door creaked open and Chiyo came in together with my grandmother.

“I see you two are having fun here!” Chiyo smiled. “But it’s time for Haruka to go home now. She needs to help her grandmother with the grocery shopping.”

I gladly skipped my way out of the room and stuck my tongue out at Sasori. He scowled at me, muttering something like ‘scardy cat’, but I didn’t quite catch it.

“Don’t be so upset, Sasori! Haruka will come back here tomorrow to play with you while Chiyo and I go on a mission together! Isn’t that nice?” Emmi said and my face suddenly fell.

Great, I'm going to spend more times with this red-headed jerk?