Chapter 348: Escort

The red-headed young man was clearly barely keeping himself from retorting if the massive frown and narrowed eyes plastered on his face were any indications. It was ever so obvious to Rei that he did not deal with clients often and this was just a special circumstance.

Rei lifted his eyebrow at the three companions of the man, causing them to give him an apologetic smile which made him blink in realization. 'Wait... so, he really has no idea who we are?' He shot the redhead who was glaring at 'Nadetsu' an incredulous look before his lips twitched in amusement.

"Who would have thought they would send Akasuna no Sasori as our bodyguard." Rei quipped, earning himself two male groans and one female chuckle from Sasori's companions.

His remark did its job superbly as Sasori stopped having a stare-off with Tsunade and gave Rei an appraising look. Not a moment later, however, the tension in the air as if drained and Sasori's face became blank as he donned his professional face and nodded at Rei, "Much to my misfortune, I was ordered to take these three genins," He slowly leaned his head in the direction of his three companions, "to the chunin exams in Konoha and complete this escort mission on the way." He said in an even and monotonous voice with just a small hint of displeasure.

Tsunade snorted and crossed her hands on her chest. She knew she nor Rei requested this mission. When she saw just who was blocking their path, it was obvious why Pakura seemed so pleased when she heard about their date in Takigakure and that they intend to walk to Konoha from there. 'I will have to kick her ass during one of our spars. This is blatant gloating! She is basically showing off her genin team to me, knowing I have nothing that could match it among Konoha's teams.' Tsunade understood the subtle dig for what it was.

Sasori forcefully ignored Nadetsu's snort and continued speaking, "I am Sasori, the fan-wielding girl is Temari, the boy in the catsuit is Kankuro, and the one with the sand gourd is Gaara. We will make sure nothing happens to you on your journey to Konoha."

It was really hard to stop his lips from twitching for Rei as he watched Sasori conducting himself in the best professional manner he could. It was obvious he definitely did not want to be here and wanted to be done with the mission as fast as possible.

Rei really tried. He really did. But... It was just far too good of an opportunity not to troll him.

Inclining his head at the three genins, Rei smiled, "That's good to hear. We really needed somebody to carry our shopping bags." He started in a serious tone. "You see, I and Nadetsu are planning to stop in every single town along the road for sightseeing. According to Nadetsu, she doesn't get many chances to travel so she decided to use every opportunity she can to shop around. I am sure you will keep us safe during the following days. You have my gratitude." He said in a faux grateful tone and just watched as Sasori's eyes started to slightly widen in a barely veiled horror when he heard that

Rei could almost discern the colorful curses aimed at Pakura the redhead must have been using in his head from his disgruntled eyes as he barely kept himself from spluttering in indignation while Tsunade guffawed at Sasori's misfortune, shooting Rei a mirthful look.

'I didn't know I wanted to go on a shopping spree.' Her eyes sparkled in amusement.

'Well, now you do.' Rei's eye-smile conveyed, causing her to almost burst out in laughter straight in Sasori's barely hidden sour expression.

To be honest, she was somewhat pissed at Sasori's attitude. He and his hate for being left waiting. If she knew they would be waiting for her and Rei here, she would make it her mission to stop at a teahouse before leaving Takigakure and leave them hanging for another two hours at the very least! He should be blaming Pakura for this.

Funnily enough, Sasori wanted to hurry to Konoha because he wanted to meet and thank Tsunade Senju for making the procedure to turn his puppet body back into a human one. He didn't like being delayed since he, as an accomplished medic in his own right, knew exactly how tough and impossible that feat was and how much effort it most likely took for Tsunade to create this method. He had nothing but utmost gratitude and reverence for the woman.

"I understand." Sasori ground out, his eyes glaring at Nadetsu who was the source of the upcoming impromptu shopping trip through the cities along the way. 'Stupid, arrogant, self-centered, rich bint.' He mentally added.

"Now then," Rei turned towards the three genins and asked, "How are you three?"

Realizing that Rei didn't intend to keep their relationship secret from Sasori, they instantly got less stand-offish. Gaara's tense posture relaxed, Kankuro's scowl eased almost into a grin, and Temari...

Well, Temari disappeared in a burst of shunshin and glomped Rei into a tight embrace.

'Wait. What the heck is happening!?' Sasori looked between Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari glued to their client's chest in bewilderment. Did his team know the client or something?

Rei awkwardly patted Temari's head, making her go rigid. "It's been a while. How is your wind mastery?" He asked, looking at the girl and noticing the profound blush she tried to hide by burrowing her head into his chest.

"Mm, I got better, sensei." Temari subduedly answered. "I missed you, though." She added and her hold on Rei became a bit more possessive.

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow at that. At first, she was utterly shocked that the blonde glomped on Rei. She really did not expect it. After all, she had no idea her husband had time to frolic with young girls while she was hard at work, managing a ninja village for him.

But when she noticed how panicked and utterly lost Rei looked, she instead grinned and enjoyed his dismay.

No. From what she was seeing, Tsunade realized that her husband had no frigging idea what the heck was going on or that the girl's small crush on him had grown into a not-so-small one after he deliberately distanced himself from her.

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'If I remember correctly, his words were that it was creepy seeing a small girl eyeing him with starstruck expectant eyes full of determination. Looks like his plan totally backfired, though.' Tsunade inwardly chortled and patted the head of Fuu who was awkwardly standing next to her. Instead of making the fan girl's crush fade with time, the distance just increased it. If that wasn't hilarious, then Rei's helpless face as he realized this fact certainly was!

'And it also explains why Pakura is so hellbent to push the girl in Rei's path. It's basically the exact same situation as with Konan and Izumi.' Tsunade shook her head in amusement, deciding to enjoy the show.

'Sensei?' Sasori thought in confusion, trying to piece together what the heck was going on. He read Temari's file. All of it. Even the classified one that contained her ANBU career. There was nowhere mentioned she had a teacher for the Wind Element.

"You will show me how much you advanced during our trip to Konoha, then." Rei slightly calmed down and decided to just wing it.

"Sure." Temari pulled a bit away, just enough so she could look Rei in the eyes, "I made many new Jutsu. I will definitely manage to hurt you!" She exclaimed with a small blush creeping up on her cheeks.

Hearing her, Sasori's eye twitched, "Oi. We are here to protect them, not to hu-"

"You wish." Rei smirked at the girl in his arms.

"I do." Temari pouted.

'Eh?' Sasori raised his hand before speechlessly dropping it back, not knowing what to do. 'I was just... ignored?'

"You do?" Rei tilted his head, not expecting Temari's reply.

'Good, at least I am not the only one confused here.' Sasori released a small relieved sigh.

"Mm, I will get the promised date!" Temari stated, her blue eyes full of resolve. Even Tsunade lifted her eyebrow at that.

'How does harming the client get you a date?' Sasori inwardly pondered, his confusion only growing.

"O-oh? ... Oh!" Rei exclaimed as he remembered what she was talking about, "That's some really old promise you are swinging at me, 'Mari-chan." He jokingly chided.

"Promise is a promise." Temari firmly stated. but her gaze seemed quite uncertain and questioning as if she was asking a silent question...

'Promise is a promise.' An amused voice repeated in Rei's head, earning itself a mental nudge from Rei, causing it to retreat with mirthful laughter.

"I guess, I did promise." Rei nodded in acceptance of his fate. 'What did the past me think when making this promise? Hurt me and you get a date? Seriously, past me. That wasn't the brightest moment of my life.'

'I give up. Let's just accept that they know each other and that Temari trying to injure our client in some twisted attempt at flirting with him will be supremely annoying in the following days.' Sasori tiredly sighed and rubbed his forehead to prevent the arising headache.

He threw a look at Kankuro, silently informing him he was on the sister-watching duty from now on but the boy just lazily shrugged. He would try Gaara... if he wasn't certain the kid would just ignore him. The youngest was for some reason oddly fixated on protecting his extremely scary and violent sister that did not need any protection.

Sasori inwardly lamented his fate. Really, he just had to get the most handful team into his care...

'I really need a moment of peace. Just me and my puppets.' He wistfully shook his head.

"Akasuna no Sasori. We have come for your head." Two figures abruptly appeared in front of the group, shattering Sasori's heartfelt desire to pieces.

'You gotta be kidding me.' Sasori robotically turned his deadpan gaze at them and instantly noticed it was his past colleagues from Akatsuki as he got the sudden urge to scream himself hoarse at some unwitting poor sod.

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