Chapter 1: The Klutzy Historian

Kankuro knocked on his brother's office door. "Gaara, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I want you to work on something for me."

"Sure thing, what is it?"

"Konoha and Suna are cooperating in making a manual of all Akatsuki members. I need you to do research on Sasori's work while he was alive. There's still many things we don't know about him. He was said to have a connection with Orochimaru before he left the Akatsuki. I've informed the library you would be conducting research and they are ready to help you with anything. I want the research to be as detailed as possible."

"Gaara we have all the information we need here. I don't need to go to a library."

"You may find unexplainable answers to be answered in the library."

"This is a lot for one person you know."

"I'm aware. That's why someone will be assisting you in this research. She'll be here shortly."

"Who's that gonna be."

As if on cue a knock was heard.

"Come in." The door opened and in came a young woman. She had light honey eyes and black hair with straight cut bangs that went past her eyebrows with a braid made into a bun. She wore a cream colored v neck t shirt with a white tank top underneath with a thin dark gray long sleeved open sweater that went past her behind. She had on navy capris that reached her mid calves with mesh armor leggings and had black standard shinobi sandals on. If she didn't look enough like a bookworm, she had on rectangular black glasses with a purple beaded string on the legs of her glasses. She must not get out in the sun much because she was sickly pale. Her forehead protector was tied around her head like a headband.

"Lord Kazekage, you summoned me?"

"Yes, thank you for coming. Kankuro, this is the woman in charge of the historical archives in the village research facility. Her name is Chieko. Chieko, this is Kankuro. You will be working together on this assignment."

Kankuro's eyes widened. He knew this girl. He went to the academy. She was smart, but she never hung out with anyone, always with her nose stuck in a book. He pointed a finger at her.

"Her? She's in charge of the history in the village? She's 17!"

"And she has skills. Don't underestimate her abilities."

"It will be a pleasure working with you Lord Kankuro." Chieko said giving a slight bow. Kankuro snorted.

If he remembered right, everyone picked on her for always reading, Kankuro included. She never talked to anyone, at one point people thought she was mute. Yeah, she grew up, but the baggy outfit she wore didn't show any of her figure, if she had one worth looking at that is. The last time she heard her name was after the graduation exam when she was placed in a team. At least her glasses weren't as big as they were when she was little.

She wasn't girly back then either. While most girls would flinch at the word beetle, she'd go out and play with them. While most girls showed off the new dresses their mom's bought them she'd never even give clothes a second thought. She was an oddball. But what he remembered most about her was that she was a klutz. She'd bump and trip over almost anything, which is why she was always the subject of pranks at the academy.

Kankuro sighed. "Let's just do this then. Come on bookworm, let's get to work."

Chieko saw Kankuro leaving and quickly bowed to Gaara before leaving and running after Kankuro. Chieko walked three steps behind. She was fiddling with her hands, she wasn't accustomed to walking around without holding a book or file or anything. Kankuro stopped walking and Chieko didn't notice, causing her to bump into his right shoulder.

"Alright look bookworm listen up, I wanna finish this as soon as possible. So we're gonna go get the files on everything we know about Sasori and take them to the Library. I don't want any complains. Got that?"

"Yes, Lord Kankuro."

Kankuro growled a bit quietly to himself. She still had that sickly timid voice. She never stuttered as far as he could remember, but her voice was laced with nervousness.

"Don't drop anything on the way over there either. I don't wanna have to stop every five seconds to wait for you to get back on your feet."

"Of course. I'll do my best." They stepped outside to the scorching sun and Chieko shut her eyes tightly for a moment. He was right, she didn't get out much. They kept walking to the research facility.

Chieko led the way to Sasori's information. They grabbed the scrolls in boxes and left. Chieko watched her steps carefully. She was happy with herself when they reached the library, a 9 minute walk from the Kazekage's office. She managed only to trip 4 times. Chieko led Kankuro to the room Gaara has put aside for them.

"Um, I don't know if Lord Kazekage informed you, but, he'd like to know the workings of the poison he used, how he developed his puppetry skills, things about when he left the village, joining the Akatsuki, and so on. I suggest we begin at the beginning, his early childhood."

"He was Lady Chiyo's grandson. His parents died when he was young and Lady Chiyo never told him, he figured it out on his own. That's when their relationship became rocky and he immersed himself with puppets even more."

"Okay, there has to be something more to it. Let's look for stuff before and during his entrance to the academy."

"Sure." The two each picked up the oldest dated scrolls and began to read them. While Kankuro began opening his scroll, he could literally hear her reading, and she wasn't saying anything. She was going through the scroll so fast, he wasn't sure if she was actually taking in all the information.

"Look I know I want to get this over with fast, but you have to read everything first, otherwise, you're just wasting time."

"Forgive me for being rude Lord Kankuro, but I am reading everything."

"No way. Nobody reads that fast."

"I do. If it bothers you so much I can read slower, though I don't see how that will benefit us."

He was sorry he spoke. She hadn't changed at all, she was still weird. He was curious as to how she was in charge of all the historical archives at 17.

"So, how long have you been working in the research facility."

"Since I became a chunin at 14."

That's not possible. He became a chunin at 14. He would've remembered a fellow countryman or woman from the exams.

"I don't remember you in the exams."

"My team took it the 6 months before most of Sunagakure went to take it later during the year."

That explains it. Most of the genin teams in Suna waited for the chunin exams after the one that followed after the destruction of the leaf village because they were scared at how others would see them. It seemed like her team was one of the brave ones that didn't care.

"And who are your teammates."

"They were a sibling pair from the Kyofu clan."

"Were?"

"They died."

"Oh, when?"

"When we took the jonin exams. They lost their matches and the proctor didn't stop the match in time."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. It happened 2 years ago."

"Did you pass?"

"Yeah."

"Must have been hard to know that you passed but your teammates didn't."

"I don't mean to sound cynical, but I was never close to them. They were just people I worked with."

Kankuro was merely talking to her because he hated silence, but now she got his attention.

"What do you mean?"

"We didn't get along very well. My relationship with them was that of a colleague, nothing more."

'Did she not like them?' "Did you guys fight a lot?"

"No."

"So, what?"

"They pulled pranks all the time on me, so I just left them alone to do their thing. I didn't want any trouble."

Her words may have sounded dark, but her voice sounded very timid, granted that was her normal voice, but he couldn't help but feel like there was something more to it. Temari would know more about her than he'd be able to get out of her. Since they began their research late, they didn't get much done. They agreed to meet again in the morning to continue their work. She stumbled coming down the stairs twice. Seems like the klutz in her never left.

In the evening when Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara sat for dinner, Kankuro asked his sister about the girl.

"Chieko? Oh you mean the one everyone calls the hermit."

"Hermit?" Kankuro wanted to laugh.

"According to everyone, she never talks to people unless she's forced to. She always works alone, lives alone, and is really socially awkward. She's said to constantly trip on anything and is supposed to be really weird. Apparently all she does is read in her free time. She's smart though, being in charge of the history of the village. She made jonin at 15. Some say she doesn't talk to anyone because according to her everyone's beneath her."

"Temari, you shouldn't believe everything you hear." Gaara warned.

"I'm just saying what I heard. Doesn't mean it's true. Why'd you ask?"

"Gaara here's making me work with her to find out more on Sasori. I asked about her teammates and she said they died in the jonin exams but she wasn't very close to them."

"Oh yeah I heard of that. She was the only survivor of her team. Some say she just killed them off."

"That's enough you too. Chieko is a smart respected Shinobi from our village who has done exceptional work. I wouldn't have her helping Kankuro in her task if she weren't good at her job."

"She's freaky. She read an entire scrolls worth of information so fast I thought for sure she wasn't reading. All you heard from her was the sound of a scroll being unrolled quickly."

"Well just make sure you come back alive." Temari joked. Gaara shot her a look. He didn't like talking about other people.

"I mean she's not even pretty Gaara! You could've at least given me something to look at."

"If you find her unattractive then it will be easier to get the job done."

"You're no fun Gaara."

"I'm the Kazekage of this village, I take my work very seriously."

"Well, I'm gonna have to make my days researching a little fun, so just get ready for anything Gaara." Kankuro said, already planning many things.

About 15 minutes from the sand sibling's house, Chieko was in her apartment. She was reading over some documents she'd had around the house. She changed out of her stuffy clothes into a white tank top and cotton blue shorts. She wasn't able to concentrate much on her reading though.

She was worried about her current assignment on Sasori. The research was easy. Working with another person? Not so much. Since the academy Chieko had been teased for being a four eyes, antisocial, a klutz, stuck up, a freak, and anything else people could think of. She didn't understand the world's fascination with making her feel bad about herself, but she never fought it. She didn't like verbal confrontations. She kept mostly to herself because she didn't think people had to know about her personal life.

She just wanted to do her work and go home every day. She was content with it. She had no aspirations to have anything more than acquaintances, she found the aspect of a relationship not appealing to her. She didn't really care much for anything since she graduated the academy.

And yet she wondered why she became a jonin, why she had accepted a high position in her work, why she accepted anything if she didn't care about anything. Her parents left when she was 5, so she didn't have anyone to please. The only thing that really bothered her was the rumors about her in the village about being a heartless team killer. It wasn't her fault her teammates teased her about her looks and pulled pranks on her so she didn't feel distraught when they passed. And the teasing, she was 17 and people found it amusing to make her trip and call her names, to which she offered no retaliation.

She didn't find a reason to live. She was a good ninja. She was good at her stuff. She was good just staying alone forever. So what? It wasn't that she was emotionally unstable and thought about killing herself. That was just pointless.

'Besides, not like anyone would care if I died, so why commit suicide.'

Her worry with working with Kankuro was just that; working with Kankuro. Chieko remembered faces and names. In the academy, Kankuro was one of the people that tormented her the most. She never asked why, she just moved on with life. Now that she had to deal with him again, she didn't know how to pursue the situation.

'Maybe I can ask Lord Kazekage to just do the research on my own.'

Chieko gave up trying to focus on her work and went to bed, not caring for the following day.