Chapter 1

"You are both idiots! Did you know that!" she said heatedly, infused with anger and hatred. "Art is not only something that is fleeting or everlasting. Art is passion and desire, it is feeling and emotion. It is fleeting in that even if it is a picture, you can't stare at it forever, you look away eventually. And it is everlasting in that the memory of it remains with you forever. Art is the impression that is left on a person. The impression, that is art. You two are a pathetic pair of artists if you've never realized that!" Sakura said with finality and with her finger pointed to the ground, brooking no room for argument.

The two artists stared at her wide-eyed and speechless. The larger one glaring at her with his ever-angry eyes while the blonde still sat on the makeshift stool he made of Gaara.

Art had never been a true passion of hers, but she knew how to appreciate it just the same. Her friend Ino worked in her parent's florist shop, the flower arrangements she did were nothing short of art in an experts eyes. And whenever she sparred against one of her friends, the movements, the intensity in their eyes and their determination to win, that was art to her. Especially for Tenten whose weapons gave her that extra deadly gleam that Sakura thought so beautiful.

Hearing the two narrow-minded self-proclaimed artists arguing about what is true art and whose art was better than whose, was sickening. Sakura couldn't stand it a moment longer. So, despite their criminal S-ranked statuses, she'd ousted them, declaring in unspoken words that they were phony.

Kakashi, Naruto and granny Chiyo stood quietly beside her, half horrified and half awed at her outburst. They were more worried about the two artists and their reactions.

With a "hn" the blonde one stood and withdrew a clay bird he'd been hiding in his sleeve.

"I don't know about you Sasori my man, but I'm going to have a little fun with these guys."

Sasori looked a Deidara with flaming eyes. "Deidara you fool!"

But the bird Deidara had crafted had already swelled to multiple times its initial size and he'd hopped onto it, flashing a grin. The bird scooped up the prone Gaara and began to swallow him.

"What are you doing to him! Give Gaara back!" Shouted Naruto, enraged.

"If you want him back, you'll have to follow me now won't you." Deidara smirked sinisterly as he soared out of the cavern and into open air. He cast one last look at the girl, contemplatingly.

Little did Sakura know, she had left one hell of an impression on Deidara. Her heated glare, her scathing words fueled by fury, it was like one huge explosion, just like art.

Deidara closed his eyes and smiled serenely. Just like his art.

His bird swerved and dived as he avoided a couple of shuriken flung at him by the ninetails host. The orange mass of energy had followed him, along with the copycat ninja. He smiled in excitement. He had other things to deal with now.

Hours latter.

"Wait for me master Zetsu!" called the annoying voice of Tobi.

It rang in his head annoyingly. He winced and remained motionless.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you. We can't remember. I take orders from nobody."

Ah, Zetsu was here and arguing with himself as usual.

Sasori groaned and shifted the weight off his body. He attempted to get up but fell back down. That had been the hardest battle he'd fought in his entire life, he deserved a long rest after this, as soon as he fixed this puppet body of his. Foolish granny Chiyo, thinking they'd done him in when they'd missed his heart entirely. If he'd really been stabbed in the heart he would have died at once, he wouldn't have been able to talk for as long as he did with that girl.

That girl was another matter entirely. Even now at the thought of her his heart sped up and a weird feeling swarmed through him, not physical, more emotional, he felt emotion.

Battling her had taken everything in him, if it wasn't so dire he'd have stopped and watched her in awe. Her movements were so fluid and the passion she showed while fighting it was superb. Her strength as she'd smashed every one of his prized puppets to smithereens was worthy of Deidara's view of art as fleeting. Her fire though, the fire in her that would never burn out…that was art. She was art. Sakura was art.

"It must be around here somewhere." Said the annoying voice. "Once I have the ring I'll be an Akatsuki too, won't I master Zetsu?"

Zetsu scanned the massacred terrain. Puppet bits were everywhere. One of the Sasori puppets had been skewered by two other puppets, and another was impaled against the wall. That one had the ring.

Tobi jumped forward and slipped the ring easily off. "I found it! Master Zetsu I found it! Now with this ring I'll finally be an Akatsuki." He made to slide the ring on his finger but fumbled when a threatening voice pierced the air.

"I believe that ring belongs to me." Sasori intoned darkly, freeing himself from his parent's deadly grasps. "I suggest you return it before I'm forced to do something sinister to you."

Tobi stuttered and backed away. "Ahhh! Master Zetsu, he's alive!"

Zetsu glanced darkly at him. "I can see that." He stood before Sasori, neither helping nor hindering him as he pulled out the blades from the fake heart. "You lost."

Sasori nodded hesitantly. "That girl, Sakura, she defeated me, along with granny Chiyo."

"This will be put in the bingo books. She'll be known as the first and only person to ever defeat the great Sasori of the red sand." Although his tone was not at all mocking, to Sasori it sounded like a jibe.

He ignored it in favor of stalking towards and trembling Tobi. He held out his hand and looked at him expectedly.

Tobi laughed nervously and yielded the ring to its original owner. Sasori accepted it and slipped it on his finger. He clenched his hand and then searched among the ruins for a cloak.

"But how did you survive? Those blades went right through your heart, you should be dead." Said Tobi, curiously.

Sasori scoffed. "It was a fake. A target I purposefully created in case anyone had caught on. My real heart is hidden elsewhere and that I shall not tell you."

Tobi held up his hands and nodded. "I won't ask, I won't ask. And if you did tell me, don't worry. I wouldn't even think of telling that girl where it is so she can kill you again-OUCH!"

Tobi rubbed his head furiously where Sasori had thrown the rock at him.

"Leader will be glad to have you back. We were worried for a while that Deidara had perished but it seems he did not. That's too bad, I would have eaten him. We are off to reunite with him."

"Deidara, the brat. So he still lives." Said Sasori.

Zetsu turned to leave. "Let's go then."

Yes, let's, thought Sasori, his mind in a tumult of information. He had to repair himself and gather some more puppets. If he were to rematch against Sakura he'd best be prepared, for the pink-haired ninja had left a huge impression on Sasori. He greatly looked forward to battling her again.

"Oh, and I thought I'd finally join the Akatsuki for real! Oh, it's not fair." In his frustration Tobi kicked out at a puppet head, although he missed and hit a rock instead. "Ow ow ow!" he bellowed in pain, hopping around on one foot. It was then he noticed the large gap between him and the two Akatsuki. "Hey! Sasori! Master Zetsu! Wait for me!"

Just an idea that came to me. For the parts that do follow the anime the dialogue may not be accurate, I basically wrote the basics of what happened from memory (while adding bits and pieces of my own), so please don't bother to point that out.