A/N: I may mix in a little bit of a love triangle. Not a real big or serious one, just a little bit where it gives a little more story. Don't worry, Sasori's the main man no matter what.
Sasori sighed as he flipped through the pages to Sakura's drawing pad that he'd found. She was a beautiful artist. That is, he means to say, she's an artist who draws beautiful art. Well of course she's beautifu- no. Not what I mean! He groaned and leaned forward, resting his head against the smooth paper, getting pencil smudges on his forehead. After a few minutes of silence of both thought and vibration, he laughed at his own mess-ups he seemed to be getting in his head recently. A human brain, human emotions. He could feel his own hot blood streaming through his veins for the first time in decades. Sasori was human again. He wasn't forever, anymore. He would certainly not be art to anyone. That's when he was proved wrong, though.
After flipping through Sakura's art carelessly, he didn't even realize that the picture his forehead was smudging was one of himself. He was sleeping peacefully, his arm strewn over his head and his mouth hanging open slightly. He marveled at the shading, perfectly done in different dark-to-light ratios.
A pink-haired someone groaned a few feet aside from him.
Sasori's head turned so fast he nearly hurt his neck when Sakura caught his attention. "Sakura?"
She churned, tangled in her grey and white blankets. Sakura had been asleep for quite some time. Three days, to be exact. It was definitely enough time for Sasori to get used to his new dull room he shared with her. It was damp in places and his bed always seemed cold. And he still can't figure out what possessed him to put his thicker blanket over the exotically colored girl. Don't want her to catch a cold, he thought. He then stammered mentally, Because I'd catch one, too. He tried telling himself.
Sasori sighed, Sakura seemed to mumble.
"What was that..?"
Sakura huffed softly and untucked her nose from her arm, resting her head on her wrist as she lay stomach-down on her warmer bed. Her eyes opened a crack, "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice a bit hoarse.
Sasori almost wanted to smile at her morning-self. He generally woke up after she did when they shared the room in the infirmary. "Nothing at all. How are you feeling?"
She looked at her surroundings, noting the darkness, how she would hardly have been able to make out Sasori's face if she hadn't had a well-trained eye. "Okay," she tried pushing herself up, and cursed as her arms shook a bit and she fell back onto the surprisingly soft bed, back onto her frontside. "This sucks."
Sasori couldn't help but frown. "You know, it could just be from having slept for the past seventy-five hours. That kind of does things to your limbs," he said, trying to lighten her mood.
The frown fell off of her lips and Sakura found herself staring at him while she'd gotten herself lost in thought. Just over a week ago, she'd been a miserable Leaf kunoichi. Now here she was, complaining to her once-enemy, laying down in what she assumed was her now-shared room. Sakura got stuck on the fact that she'd been complaining. She learned not to anymore. All that would happen if she'd complained was that it would be completely ignored and that no one cared. No one cared that she was depressed, or that someone she'd loved died. Or that she'd gotten strange, un-healable pain in her chest that she had to take pain killers for, which she had to perscribe herself. The word caring didn't seem to apply to her from her friends, family or even boyfriend.
She had to run away just to get someone to possibly care. But she didn't run away from her home for attention. Sakura ran away to finally be free. And, strangely she found it in a group of elite criminals.
"Sakura?" Sasori gulped from saying her name again. Why was a lump growing in his throat the more she stared at him?
She blinked her eyes, shaking the capturing thoughts from her head and fixating her sights on something else. The bed. That would work. "Sorry," she mumbled "got a bit lost in thought."
It was then, she noticed she was pretty damned hungry. Her stomach was churning with want, far past the point of growling at her. From need to desperation. Seemed fitting.
Sasori understood right away and stood up, walking over to Sakura and helping her onto her feet. She tried hiding her blush and embarrassment as she wobbled, leaning against him, stretching her limbs at the same time and groaning a bit from how good it felt.
Sasori felt a small smirk light his face, "You'll have to buy me dinner first.." he teased.
She only blushed more, attempting to stand up on her own (failing rather obviously) and looked away as she mumbled again. "I'm sorry."
He wrapped his arm under hers and around her waist to hold her up straight before he started walking the both of them out of there room and into the hallway. "Why?"
"What?"
"Why are you always sorry?"
Sakura's eyebrows curved down. She hadn't apologized that much. "I just... am." she stared down the wooden steps they'd stopped infront of, wondering how hard it would be to get down without falling. "After a while, I realized I'm just a bother to everyone. And I'd hate myself even more if I didn't apologize for the things I bothered people with."
Sasori stopped in their tracks, a bit annoyed with how she thought of herself. No one should think like that. As soon as she started to let go of him and reach for the railing, he pulled her back toward him and picked her up entirely off of the floor, the nook of her legs resting in one of his arms and her back on the other. She stuttered at this. "Well, I'll say this early-on, then. Since we'll be partners, and since we're more than likely going to be spending some time together, I'm a very blunt person."
She held onto him by his shoulders still whispering stutters, half-listening to him.
"If you're bothering me, I'll tell you." He descended down the stairs with the weak kunoichi in his arms, trying not to pay attention to the fact that her face was in his neck. "If you should be sorry, or apologize to me; I'll tell you." he'd reached the bottom step but didn't bother putting her down and instead started for the kitchen, still carrying her. "I hate to wait and I hate to make people wait. But I'll only be bothered by you making me wait if it's for a totally useless matter."
Sakura was now silent, a bit tense in his arms as he turned a corner of the hallway and into an open door, showing the large, strangely home-like kitchen.
Sasori sat the girl down on the counter and made sure she was completely steady before he let her go "Have you gotten what I said into your head?" He stared at her emotionlessly and waited for her to nod before he started walking down to the very far end of the room.
The length of the room was incredible. There was a big island-counter connecting along the walls. Everything was a dim blue-colored tile. There were two fridges. One was labelled Normal people. And the other was labeled Yeah, fuck you, too. This made Sakura snicker.
Sasori turned his head and cocked an eyebrow, "The fridges?"
She nodded, smiling.
He quickly turned his head to the refrigerators to let himself smile. "The fridge on the right is Hidan's. The other one's a bit stuffed, I think."
It was then Deidara walked in. "Hey chicky, you're up, un!" he called from the doorway, walking over to Sakura and rubbing her back. "How are you feeling? Un."
She smiled at him and nodded, "Not too bad. Sasori's making sure of that."
Deidara looked across the room, finding his danna and raising his visible eyebrow. "You seem to be quite caring, un."
Sasori said nothing back to him, just continued to look into the normal fridge before taking things out and doing what he could to make a meal.
Sakura watched him take odds and ends of meat and vegetables and put it onto some bread.
Deidara called over to him, "Make me one, too! Un."
Sasori simply glared back at the man over his shoulder before going back to his work.
She sat there enjoying the friendship between the two before deciding to speak up. "Anything new? Is there any work for us?"
The blonde-hared man sat and thought about it for a second before his eye lit up with remembrance. "Oh! Yes. Nothing much. He's trying you two out as partners and you especially as a new member, un. Someone owes the Akatsuki something and seems to have run away with it, or something, un. Pein wants you to track them down and retrieve it."
Sakura nearly shied away. "Are... we supposed to kill them?"
Sasori looked her way once she said that, a bit worried. She didn't seem the murdering type.
Wait. Why should he be worried. He scoffed at himself. Finishing off the sandwich and closing the bread, he put it on a plate and started walking over towards her and Deidara. "That'll probably be more up to us. And them." Sasori told her, handing her the sandwich and leaning on the counter with his back towards the two.
Deidara simply hopped up onto the counter next to her and ruffled her hair with his hand.
"Don't you dare lick me with that, Deidara." Sakura smiled, and then smiled even wider when she realized she had friendship again, enjoying the sandwich that was made for her whether it had strange pieces of who-knows-what or not. "Thank you, Sasori."
Sasori kept his face away, mumbling a "No problem" and walked back towards the fridge. Didn't want his face to give anything away. Not that he himself knew what it would even give away. He just knew it mustn't be seen.
The day went on like that. Deidara tacked onto the two of them, most likely eager to get away from Tobi. It was easy to get used to the place and fall into the habit of going to the library with her newly befriended co-workers. The boys. Her boys.
Sakura smiled at the thought, but then immediately wiped that off of her face. Last time she had her boys they left her. "Why wouldn't they leave me..." she mumbled to herself.
"What?" asked Sasori. "Your emotions have been going a bit crazy in the last two minutes," he then put his hand on her head, petting it awkwardly and trying to show affection. "At least your face has."
Sakura looked ahead of her and found her and her partner in one of the training rooms they'd found on the lower floors. "Nothing. Just trying not to over think things."
Sasori frowned at this. He didn't know why. Shouldn't really be any of his business.
Off in the distance, Deidara was sitting against the wall, sculping something tiny out of his clay.
"You're not gonna blow anything up, are you?" Sakura shouted over at him with a smile. "I mean if you're gonna knock the tower down I'd like to get a couple of things out of my room first."
Deidara chuckled and beamed at her, looking at the tiny figure in his hand first before standing up and jogging over to her and Sasori, holding out his hand. "This clay is quite safe, un."
Sasori closed his eyes before he could look at it and went over to a large wooden pole, a thick cloth wrapped around it to soften the blows of any punches or kicks it may receive, being in a training area. He decided to really test out his limbs for the first time, and threw a punch towards it.
Sakura had her eyes on the beautiful, small sculpture of a branch with cherry blossoms bunched around it. "That's beautiful, Deidara..." she complimented, smiling a real smile, looking up at him. "Thank you so much."
He seemed bashful, looking down and smiling as he brought it closer looking at it. Sakura looked a little closer unknowingly. She thought she saw a blush on his visible cheek.
"It's for you. But it needs to harden, first. And then I'd like to paint it, un. Other wise it looks like a bland twig."
She noted how Deidara was very critical of his art. And so did Sasori. This confused him. He appeared next to Sakura and looked at Deidara, ignoring how he was quite a bit shorter. "Wasn't it your words that real art should 'go out with a bang'?" his eyebrow lifted. "Unless you plan on breaking this."
Deidara's eyebrows furrowed. "No, un!" he started walking back towards his book and clay pouch. "I figured it as... a welcoming present. It's as fragile as she is right now. It..." he huffed, "fits, un."
Sakura observed the two. Sasori was smirking and Deidara seemed flustered about something. Nostalgia overwhelmed her, and she smiled once again before going over to the same wooden post that Sasori had hit.
"What are you doing?" Sasori asked, staying close to her. "You could barely get out bed this morning. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have much strength to train like this."
She ignored him, still a bit angry with her weakness, and attempted to channel what little chakra she had through her fist. Pulling it back and punching the wooden post infront of her with what should have been enough force to send the top half of the post flying into the wall across the room. Sakura sighed when it didn't even budge, not noticing she'd almost fallen over when Sasori was holding her up by her waist.
"You okay? Un." Deidara yelled from across the room.
Sakura was silent for a minute from the concern of the two of them. It confused her. "Yes. Thank you." She tried steadying herself and standing up straight but Sasori kept his arm around her firmly.
"You need rest and relaxation and maybe try not using your chakra. I felt that."
She kept glaring at the post and nodded with a huff. Sakura decided to go and sit down next to Deidara, holding Sasori's hand and leading him there as it seemed he had to be attached to her one way or another. She noticed that the ground she sat on was a mixture of cracked stone, grass and weeds. It smelled nice. The air was clean, too. The sound of the steady wind outside of the tower and the warmth she was getting from sitting inbetween the two men relaxed her.
And thus, she fell asleep on someone's shoulder.
A/N: Hi. I know it's not much... and nothing really happened in this. Some relationship and character building. I don't know if (whoever's reading this) you're here for the relationship/romance or the story progression or both. But I'm trying to work on both and a lot of stuff in my own life has been going on lately. I seem to be projecting Sakura's personality as my own. If she'd had her mind broken like that I think this is what she'd be like. I'm going through my own long-term relationship, and I think a lot on it while I write, so I'm trying hard not to be too lovey dovey.
I know she isn't entirely Sakura-esque. All hot-headed and, well, frankly annoying. She's not supposed to be. If she were to leave her whole culture behind and move onto greater, more evil things, she'd definitely have a personality change.
Sasori will be going through some changes as well, having his emotions back in full force and going back to more of a mind-set of the young hormonal body he's in.