The castle was clean, yet dark and gloomy. Not a breath of life was in that area regardless of the dim glow of a candlestick with two arms and the ticking of a clock.
"Hello? Hello?" Sasori said. He shivered.
"Poor guy must've gotten lost in the woods." said a male voice by the candle and clock.
"Shut up! Maybe he'll go away un." said another with a low voice. Sasori turned around to face their way.
"Is someone there?" he asked.
"Not a word, Kankuro. Not one word!" said the low voice.
"I don't mean to intrude or anything but I have lost my horse, I'm injured and old, and I need a place to stay for the night." The candle began to move, it opened it very glittery and teary black eyes and looked at the stout clock.
"Oh, Deiara. C'mon, have a heart." Kankuro pleaded.
"Shhh! Shut up." The candle took action and put his hand or handle over the candle's mouth, who put his lit candle hand over Deiara's.
"Ahh, ow ow OW!" She quickly withdrew her hand and waved it around.
"Of course, dude, you are welcome here." Kankuro said. Sasori whipped around in confusion.
"Who said that?" He picked up the candle stick for light, no knowing that he was holding the speaker (well who in their right mind would?). Kankuro tapped him on the shoulder with the gold part of his hand.
"Over here." he spun around, pulling him to the other side.
"Where?" he nervously asked. Kankuro tapped him on the head.
"Konbonwa!"
"Ah!" Sasori dropped Kankuro onto the stone tiled floor. The clock jumped down from the table and waddled like a penguin over to them.
"Well, now you've done it, Kankuro. This is great, just splendid peachy -aargh!" Sasori had picked up Deiara and was looking at her from different angles.
"What kind of genjutsu or summoning are you?"
"Put me down at once!" He began to tickle the bottom of Deiara's feet, the clocked laughed. Then Sasori winded the spring on the back of Deiara's head: the clock hands on her face began to whirl around. The human opened Deiara's front and played with the pendulum. The aggravated enchanted clock smacked away the old man's hand and shut the door.
"Do you mind? Please stop doing that, again!"
"My apologies, it's just that I've never seen an inanimate object be used as a summoning and that...ahh...I mean...ah...ah-choo!" Sasori started before had sneezed on Deiara, indicating that he had caught a cold from being in the rain and having cold feet. The clock's clock hands winded around like windshield wipers to clean himself.
"Oh, you are soaked to the bone, dude, Follow me so you may warm yourself by the fire."
"Thank you so much." Kankuro hopped down the wide hallway then to the right to the den, followed by Sasori.
"No, no, no, do you know what the master would do if he finds you here?" Deiara nervously yelled at them. A large shadowy figure watched the scene below him from an overhead balcony. Deiara ran as fast as she could to the two as they entered the den.
"I demand you to stop...right...there!" she cried, panting. She tumbled down the steps. Sasori sat down in the large chair in front of the roaring fireplace.
"Oh, No! Not the master's chair!” A pillow footstool rushed past him, barking like a dog literally, and went up to Sasori.
"I'm not seeing this, I'm not seeing this!" Deiara groaned.
"Why, hello there, boy." Sasori greeted the footstool: it propped himself up under the human's feet. A coat rack came in and removed his wet coat.
"What service!" he said, astonished.
"All right, this has gone far enough. I'm in charge here and-argh!" Deiara was run over by a teacart sounding like a race-car.
"How would you like some green tea? It'll warm you up in no time!" said a white tea pot with a purple lid and highlights along the rims. She poured some tea out of her spout into a tea-cup that was chipped at the edge: it hopped into his hand.
"No! No tea, no tea!" he ordered, still laying face down on the ground. The puppet master sipped the tea.
"Ermm, his eyes creep me out sister!" said the tea cup. Sasori coughed from the shock of drink from something that talked.
"Oh, konbonwa!" Sasori said to Matsuri. The door to the den slammed open and a strong gust of wind blew through out the room: extinguishing Kankuro's flames and the fire in the fireplace. Deiara dived under the rug to hide as Temari (the teapot) began to shake in fear. Matsuri jumped back onto the teacart and hid behind her fake sister.
"Uh, oh!" she whimpered. He entered the room. He was a beastly and monstrous looking raccoon-dog with a dark purple cape wrapped around him.
"There's a stranger here." he growled with his raspy voice. Kankuro relit his flames and explained to him,
"Master, allow me to explain. This puppet was lost in the woods and he was cold and wet..." His words were drowned by the very loud growl of the tanuki monster which doused his flames once again. Kankuro bowed his head looking dejected. Deiara crawled out from under the rug.
"Master, I'd like to take this moment to say I was against this from the start. I tried to stop them, but would they listen to me? No, no, no." Once again, the monster's growl drowned out her voice. Sasori nervously looked to the left of the chair, then to the right: he saw him.
"Who are you? What the hell are you doing here?" the raccoon-dog snarled. A very frightened Sasori slowly stood up and backed away from the advancing beast.
"I-I was lost in the woods and..." he nearly stumbled from his hurt ankle. He stared into the raccoon-dog's yellow and amber eyes. It advanced to him.
"You are not welcome here!"
"I'm s-sorry." Sasori stuttered like his first daughter Jessica had when she was younger.
"What are you staring at?" he growled with his haughty voice. The puppet cowered under the him.
"Noth-noth-nothing!" He escaped from the tight spot and ran for the door. Shukaku raced around and blocked the entrance with great speed.
"So, you've come to stare at the Shukaku. Have you?" he barked.
"Please! I meant no harm! I just needed a place to stay for the night!" Sasori begged.
"Oh, I'll give you a place to stay!" the native animal of Japan and other Eastern Asian countries cackled. He picked up Sasori with great ease, carried him out the room, and slammed the door: plunging the den, along with Kankuru, Temari, Matsuri, and Deiara into darkness.
