Yay three more followers! :D thanks guys. The next few chapters will be dedicated to @sinfulserenity @Akatsuki-redmoon@Jamiesha1994. Thank you :) Falling slowly sequel chapter one should be up tomorrow so until then enjoy reading this :)

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto :D

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Manami's POV

I woke up in my room and noticed Sasori was no longer there so I got up and went to check the time.

"Look at the time! I must have been tired, I slept for a whole day!" I mumbled to myself.

I walked out of my room to see if I could find Sasori and thank him for the other day. I smiled when I saw Sasori walking up the stairs towards me but he wasn't his normal cheerful self.

"Sasori, are you ok?" I asked feeling slightly concerned for once. He just ignored me and walked down the hall to his room closing the door behind him. Wonder what's wrong with him? I walked downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink of water and saw Chiyo sitting at the kitchen counter with her head in her hands. "Is something wrong, Mrs Chiyo?" I questioned her. She looked up from the kitchen counter and I could tell she had been crying as her eyes were red and puffy.

"You don't have to be so formal my dear. I don't mind if you call me Chiyo or even Granny" she smiled but I could still see the sadness in her eyes. Even though I was only six years old I knew straight away that they must have received bad news about Sasori's parents.

"They aren't coming back are they?" I let the words slip out of my mouth without thinking about it. She looked at me slightly shocked and then shook her head.

"No dear, they aren't" she said saddened.

"I'm sorry Granny" I tried to comfort her but I wasn't really sure how to do that. She just smiled and continued to look down at the counter in deep thought. She eventually looked up from the counter and walked towards the cupboards to take out some groceries.

"I bet you are hungry. You didn't eat yesterday from what Sasori told me" she stated more than asked me.

"As I said yesterday, I don't really get hungry. I never ate that much when I went to live with my Aunt" I informed her and she gave me a look of pity that I chose to ignore.

"Well I know I told you to eat what you can but I also can't have you starving yourself so eat!" she smiled handing me a plate of pancakes and I just stared at them feeling sick at the thought of eating when I really wasn't all that hungry. She stared at me and ordered me to eat. I just sighed and did as she asked but after one pancake I felt full and didn't want to eat anymore.

"I guess we will have to work on that appetite of yours, hm?" she joked taking my food back of me and cleaning the dishes. I thanked her for the meal and walked upstairs again with a glass of water. I walked by Sasori's room and was tempted to enter to see if he was alright but I decided against it and walked back into my room and got ready to leave with Chiyo. I came down the stairs when I heard my name being called and noticed Sasori wasn't coming with us.

"Is he going to be alright?" I asked her quite concerned.

"He just needs some time to adjust, I'm sure he will be fine" She smiled to reassure me and I nodded.

After shopping for new clothes for me, as I only had two tops and a pair of trousers, we went to get something to eat.

"What were Sasori's parents like together?" I asked trying to start up a conversation with my new guardian.

"They were a sweet couple. My son met Sasori's mother when he was training to be a ninja. It was love at first sight between the two of them. At first I wasn't sure about the young girl my son had brought home but that didn't stop him from continuing to love her. It was clear to me after a while that they were made to be together and they were so happy when they were around each other and eventually one would not be seen without the other. They were inseparable and their love only grew stronger when Sasori was born. He was such a beautiful baby and they loved him more than anything else, he became their world" she replied and I could see the glint of happiness in her eyes as she remembered her son and daughter in law.

"What happened?" I couldn't help myself but ask and immediately scolded myself for being so nosey.

"They were sent out on a very important mission together leaving Sasori in my care for a while but I got word last night that they were KIA" she stated sadly and I looked down at my plate feeling bad about making her upset.

"How about you dear? What were your parents like together? I only ever knew your mother when she was younger before she met your father" she explained.

"I don't remember much but they seemed happy in the memories I have of them. They would also do everything together and my mother even taught me how to make puppets when I was four" I smiled for once at the thought of my mother and I spending our nights together and I saw Chiyo was happy too. She then looked at me and asked if I wanted to go to the supply store and get some more parts for my puppets and I nodded enthusiastically as I loved making my puppets more than life itself. She smiled and after paying for our food she took my hand and we walked towards a shop where we bought different pieces of wood and blueprint paper for my creations.

When we arrived home I walked up the stairs after thank Granny Chiyo and stopped in front of Sasori's room. I knocked and when I heard no answer I slowly opened the door and saw Sasori sitting on his bed looking down at something.

I walked closer to him and noticed that he was holding a picture of him and his parents when he was a baby. I went to hold his shoulder but he jumped and turned quickly to face me.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." I apologised and when he turned the light on I noticed his face was stained with tears.

"It's okay" he replied to me and wiped furiously at his eyes causing my heart to break at the sight. I sat on the bed beside him and for the first time in years I gave someone a hug.

I felt him sob into my shoulder and I rubbed his back trying to calm him down.

"It hurts so much" he cried.

"I know" was all I could think of replying as I remembered how much it hurt when my parents died.

Eventually he fell asleep and I left the room to go and work on a new puppet but couldn't stop thinking about how much I hated to see Sasori cry. I promised myself that if I could help it I would never see him cry like that again.

I awoke the next morning realising that I must have fallen asleep last night while working on my newest creation and stepped out of my room to get something small to eat for breakfast. When I went downstairs I noticed Sasori wasn't up yet and looked over to Granny. "Is Sasori not up yet?" I asked and she just shook her head sadly. I then looked down to my plate feeling very worried about the redhead but I soon jumped up from the table after eating half of what Granny made for breakfast and headed towards my room again.

"Where are you going Manami? You need to eat." she called after me.

"I have a surprise for Sasori that might cheer him up" I yelled down to her and headed to my room. I started to work really hard on my idea. It took me all of two hours of non-stop work to finish it and then I hid it in my pocket as I walked to Sasori's room and knocked.

"Come in" I heard him mumble from inside. I opened the door and asked him how he was feeling. He just muttered that he was fine and I walked over to him.

"I have something that might cheer you up" I beamed at him actually excited for once in my life. He looked up at me with a questioning look and I suddenly became very nervous. What if he doesn't like it? Was all I could think as I took it out of my pocket and handed it to him. I handed him two tiny puppets sculptures of him and I.

"I know you miss them but I thought that I could be your new family and I made them so you would always know I care" I looked away feeling slightly embarrassed and I felt him hug me really tightly causing me to tense.

"Thank you" he murmured against my shirt and I started to tap his back awkwardly. He chuckled at my odd reaction and pushed away from me and stared down at the puppets I had just given him. We then both looked around when we saw a small wooden puppet enter Sasori's room and bow. We both stared at the door as Granny Chiyo came in and made the puppet walk with her in our direction.

"How about I teach both of you how to make bigger and better puppets and show you how to move them?" she asked smiling down at us and we nodded.

She lead us down to a room in the basement where we saw puppets lying all over the ground and hanging down from the ceiling. Sasori and I both looked around amazed at the sight and Granny stayed with us for a while as she taught us how to make them and then make them move. When she left me and Sasori stayed in silent concentration as we worked on our own puppets and when I finished mine I looked over at Sasori and noticed him struggling.

"Here let me help" I offered and he nodded handing me his unfinished puppet and I fixed it showing him how to do it.

"Thanks" he said to me as I handed it back to him. "What did your aunt do to you?" he asked me after a while of silence. I looked at him confused at why he was bringing this up now. "I mean it must have been something awful if you can't feel comfortable receiving a hug" he tried to explain himself and I realised he was still thinking of my reaction to the hug he gave me earlier.

"She... She just wasn't very nice to me. I never got fed regularly and she would hit me for the smallest of things like asking too many questions, things like that" I told him leaving out the details so I didn't ruin his innocent mind. He just looked at me saddened.

"I promise I won't let anyone else hurt you, Manami. After all you're now my new family right?" he questioned smiling slightly and I nodded giving him a thankful smile.

"Well if you protect me, I promise to try my best to keep you happy" I replied and he smiled before we sat in silence again working on our puppets together.