Author's Note: Hi there! This is a little idea that popped into my head a while ago and I began to write it but I just finished it today. In this fic, I decided to step out of my norm of usually writing SasuSaku and instead, write a SasoSaku. I really like Sasori and I was bummed when he died.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.


"Thanks so much for helping me today at the shop," Ino sighed, walking next to Sakura down the street. "I don't know what I would have done without you. I wasn't expecting such a big crowd today."

Sakura smiled. "It was no problem."

"No. I really owe you a lot. Now because of you, I can go on my date with Shikamaru later."

"You'll have fun," Sakura told her.

"Hey! Speaking of dates, I heard that you had another one last night with Kiba," Ino said, nudging her friend's shoulder playfully. "How was it?"

Sakura inwardly sighed at the conversation turning towards her dating life.

Kiba had asked her out about a month ago and after some pushing from Ino, Sakura had said yes. Since then; they'd gone out several times. He was a nice guy and everything but Sakura knew there was something wrong. Sure, every time she went out with him, they had fun but to her, it didn't feel like a serious relationship. It was more like they were just good friends. Sakura didn't feel a spark with him at all.

"The date was fine," Sakura answered her friend finally.

Ino gave her a hard look. "Fine?! The guy's a total babe and that' all you have to say?"

"Shikamaru wouldn't be so happy if he heard you talking about another guy that way," Sakura teased, but she was also trying to turn the conversation away from her.

Ino didn't take the bait.

"So did anything interesting I should know about happen between you two," the blonde asked curiously with another playful nudge.

"No. Not really," Sakura lied and Ino gave her a look that told her she suspected what she was doing.

The truth was that something had happened. For the first time last night, Kiba had tried to kiss her and it wasn't how first kisses were supposed to be. He had walked her home after they had gone out to dinner and on her doorstep was when he tried. He had leaned in closer to her, the closest they'd ever been and surprised, Sakura had backed away without thinking. She instantly had seen the hurt in his eyes at her reaction and she apologized before escaping too her apartment.

It had all been too awkward for her and she had a feeling it had been the same for him.

"I don't think it's going to work out between us," Sakura voiced her doubts out loud to Ino.

"What? Why?"

Sakura didn't want to go on talking about this any longer and she was glad that they were standing in front of her apartment complex now. As she reached into her pockets for her keys, she answered, "I think Kiba and me are better just being friends."

Sakura put the keys in the lock as Ino watched her. "You know," the blonde said. "One day you're really going to have to forget about him. He's not going to come back."

Opening her door, Sakura asked confused, "Who are you talking about?"

"Sasuke."

Sakura froze and turned to look at Ino but she was already half way down the street, waving back at her. Sighing, she turned back to her apartment, and walked in, pulling the door shut behind her. .

As soon as Sakura stepped into her house, she knew something different. It just didn't feel right. Like something was wrong. She was sure that she wasn't the only one in her small apartment.

Peeking her head around the corner, Sakura looked down the main hall but saw no signs that an intruder was with her. Still, she took a couple kunai knives that she kept in a small drawer in a table next to the front door. She always kept weapons hidden around her house just in case one day, she would need them. It was what living a life as a ninja had done to her.

She immediately started checking the rooms. The kitchen was empty with the dirty dishes still in the sink as before. Her bedroom was the same as well with her messy bed that she still had yet to make since that morning. Walking into the bathroom to check next, Sakura had a scary shower curtain moment, and she had to summon up some courage to check to make sure no one was hiding behind it, waiting to kill her.

There was no one in the whole house. Not even a small sign that someone had ever been in the apartment but her.

"Stupid," Sakura called herself. "Don't be so paranoid."

She dropped her weapons onto the side table before sinking down onto her couch. Sighing, she closed her eyes and started to rub her temples. She felt a headache coming on due to Ino's words from earlier still running through her mind.

One day you're really going to have to forget about him…Sasuke…He's not coming back…

"She doesn't have to tell me that," Sakura whispered out. "It's not like I don't already know..."

But still, she guessed that a little part of her had always hoped and dreamed that one day, he would come back. That maybe he'd realize the mistake he'd made in his younger days but that had yet to happen and that part of her that was always hoping was dyeing away slowly now.

Throwing her arm over her eyes, Sakura let out another sigh. "Stop thinking about him!" she commanded.

"Do you always talk to yourself?" a voice asked.

Sakura sat up fast to see someone sitting in the chair that she was sure had been empty only seconds ago. She blinked a couple times, sure that her eyes were wrong. The person who was in front of her couldn't really be there. She had to hallucinating. It wasn't possible for someone she killed over a year and a half ago to be sitting in her living room. Yet there he was. The same familiar read hair sweeping into his eyes and that confident smirk staining his lips.

Sasori.

Sakura flew off the couch and accidently crashed into the table sending all the kunai knives crashing to the floor but that was the least of her worries. Raising her hand to point at Sasori, she shouted, "You're dead! You're supposed to be dead."

Sighing, the man stood. "You've kept me waiting a long time," he told her. "And you know how much I hate that."

Sakura stared at him opened mouth and Sasori offered her a wicked smile that sent her heart beating a mile per minute.

"What…" she trailed off. "How?"

"That's not important right now," he told her, taking a step closer.

Instantly, Sakura's response to his approach was to pick up one of the kunais off the floor and throw it at him. Sasori didn't even blink as he easily caught it and began to twirl it between his fingers.

"Are you scared?" he asked, his eyes lighting up at the thought.

Sakura didn't stay to answer. Instead, she turned and ran. Having no interest in playing his mind games with him. She rounded the corner into the hall just in time as the kunai that Sasori had been holding landed in the wall right where her head had been only seconds before. Sakura ran back down the hall, tipping furniture over as she passed to make it harder for the puppet master to follow her, but it was no use. Standing in front of the door like a guard was one of Sasori's many puppets, trapping her in. Sakura hesitated, not knowing what to do and in that moment, Sasori caught her.

Sakura found herself thrown against the wall and her head hit it with a sickening cracking noise making her emit a whimper of pain as the room around her started to spin. Sasori pinned both her hands above her head with one of his own and with his other, he clamped it down over her mouth so she couldn't scream for help. Sakura felt him lean closer to her until their bodies were only inches apart.

"Now, now," Sasori whispered into her ear. "Is that any way to treat a guest? Don't you know how hard it was for me to find you?"

Sakura tried to call him a bastard but with her mouth covered by him, it just came out a mumbled mess.

"To be defeated by a little girl like you is embarrassing," Sasori continued on as Sakura tried to squirm to get free. "Do you think that I'm really just going to let that go?" He looked down at her obviously amused at her being his prisoner. "Now what to do with you?" he mussed. "You need a proper punishment and I don't think making you apart of my collection is enough. You deserve something that involves more pain."

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the front door and a woman's voice rung out, asking, "Sakura? Are you okay?"

Both Sasori and Sakura turned to look at the door, wondering who was interrupting them.

"Sakura?" the voice asked again.

"Who is it?" Sasori asked, looking down at his captive. He took his hand away allowing her to answer.

"I don't know," Sakura told him truthfully.

Sasori glared at her then at the door as more urgent knocking sounds and cries of Sakura's name started.

"Answer it," Sasori commanded and Sakura looked at him bewildered. "But,"
he continued on, "If you say anything about me being her, I'll kill her along with you, understand?"

Sakura glared but gave a curt nod representing that yes, she did and Sasori after some hesitation released her but kept a solid grip on one of her wrists. He twisted it painfully behind her back and taking his own kunai out of a holster that was wrapped around his leg, he held it at her back as a clear sign that he'd easily carry out his threat if she did give him up.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura opened the door a crack to see an old woman standing there. She recognized the woman as her neighbor who lived in the apartment to the right of her own.

"Sakura!" the woman gushed with obvious relief in her eyes. "I was worried. Are you okay? I heard lots of banging noises coming from your apartment."

Sakura just stared at the woman, wondering how she could somehow get a message to her about the intruder until she felt a slight jab in her back with a kunai knife from Sasori.

"I'm…fine," Sakura answered but she made a slight head movement trying to signal to the old woman that someone was behind her.

"Are you sure?" the woman pressed, clearly not getting the message.

"Yes," Sakura answered, once again doing the head move.

This time, her neighbor gave her a strange look. One that obviously said that she thought Sakura was acting strange and that she whished she hadn't come over to check what was going on. "If you're all right, I'm going back now," the old woman said, trying to excuse herself

"No!" Sakura panicked at losing her only chance. "Wait! Don't go!"

The old woman stopped to look back at her unsure. "Sakura?" she questioned.

Sakura opened her mouth to tell her that she needed help but before she could, Sasori gave her another sharp jab in the back; a very painful reminder that he was still standing behind her. "I'll kill her," he whispered in Sakura's ear.

"Are you sure you're okay?" the woman asked. "Should I call someone for you?"

"No. Everything's okay," Sakura whispered out. "Thank you for coming to check on me."

The woman nodded before turning and quickly walked away while Sasori slammed the door shut. Once again, Sakura found herself alone with the puppet master.


So it is good? Bad? Should I continue? I'm not really sure where I want this fic to but we'll see.

Thanks for reading and please review.