A Third Chance
TK Grimm
Chapter Four:
An Unlikely Bond
Sakura quickly closed her door and leaned against it, breathing heavily. She swallowed hard, hoping her father wouldn't follow her. Oh, how angry he was this time, and for the stupidest of reasons. Regardless, she certainly wasn't about to spend the rest of the night in the chateau.
When she heard someone knock on the door, she jumped. Sakura was able to relax when she recognized the following voice as one of the servants. "Sakura-hime, please just try to remember that it is dishonorable for the Kazekage's daughter to speak unless previously addressed, especially to him. I know it's not your-"
"I'm going to bed," Sakura announced, loud enough for the woman to hear her through the door. "Good night." She heard the sound of rustling fabric, and then footsteps slowly faded away. Satisfied, Sakura walked to her window and opened it, looking down. She nearly got caught the last time. If she wanted to see her twelfth birthday, she had better not take too many risks.
As she pulled off her sheets and began tying them into a rope, a small smile crossed her lips. It had been a little over a year since the first night she had snuck out of the manor. Ever since then, she had made two to three trips a week, depending on the situation. Sometimes, she was watched too closely and couldn't risk it. Tonight, however, she didn't care. Sakura just wanted out.
She tied one end of the 'rope' to her bed, making sure it was tight and secure. Then she threw the rest of it out the window. Carefully, Sakura climbed out the window and down the tied blankets, using the cracks in the manor walls to assist when needed. Luckily for her, it hadn't rained for quite some time, so the ground was dry and she could land without much trouble.
Sakura had eventually caught on to the difficulty of 'window-jumping' and took to wearing other clothing that was slightly more suited for it. Soft Capri pants, a t-shirt, pulling her pink hair back into a long ponytail – it all paid off because she was less scared of getting dirty or her hair messing up.
With a grin on her face, she walked down the main street of Suna towards the Elder's house. Sakura had left early that evening; perhaps Chiyo would take her shopping? She knocked on the door once, but didn't hear an answer. After a few seconds of contemplation, Sakura decided to enter the house anyway, since it was unlocked. Maybe Chiyo just hadn't heard her.
She closed the door behind her and took off her shoes, slipping on the guest slippers before stepping into the actual house. Sakura noticed Sasori right away – he was sitting on the floor in the living room with several papers in disarray around him. Chiyo didn't seem to be near.
"Hey," Sakura said cheerfully, walking into the living room. Sasori glanced at her and then returned to reading one of the sheets of paper. They were over the 'Sasori-ignores-Sakura-hoping-she'll-go-away' stage and had moved on to the 'Sasori-acknowledges-Sakura-with-a-glance-and-then-ignores-her' stage.
"Not today, Sakura."
Sakura blinked, tilting her head to the side. It surprised her – him using her normal name and even giving up on ignoring her and speaking so soon. It usually took him an hour to accept that she wouldn't leave him alone.
Then her mind registered his tone. Spending so much time with Sasori had somehow passed on a few maturity points to Sakura; she had grown up faster than most during the last year. "What do you mean not today?" she asked softly.
Sasori kept his gaze on the piece of paper. "Today isn't a good day." He was as vague as ever, of course. How typical.
Sakura tilted her head to the side, frowning as she tried to figure out what was going on. "I know it's not because you don't like me. Chiyo-baa-sama said you wouldn't have even given me the time of day if that was the case. What's going on? Are you mad at me?"
He was quiet for a while, and he stopped reading. With a sigh, he gathered the papers and stood up. "Today just isn't a good day." With that, Sasori turned around and walked towards the hallway. "I want to be alone."
Sakura quickly stood up and began to follow him. "Okay, I'll come, too." She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was scowling. Perhaps she should have turned around right then and there, and let him be alone. But he hadn't forced her to leave yet, so maybe in reality, Sakura wondered, he didn't really want to be alone at all. Maybe it was just a front he put on.
Sakura smiled when he didn't close the door in her face this time. She decided to be nice and shut it for him. When he sat down at his desk and continued reading, Sakura sat down on his bed, looking around his room. "You left your door open for me this time."
"I knew you were too stubborn to leave me alone."
She grinned at him, "Then why bother telling me that in the first place?"
Still reading, his monotonous reply shortly came. "Good question."
Silence soon followed, but not for too long. Sakura's magic helped her always find ways to think of a conversation. "What are you reading?" she asked pleasantly.
"Herbal notes."
Sakura blinked, "Looking up methods for healing?"
This time, he did make eye-contact and looked at her. "I'm creating a poison."
"Ah," Sakura said. "You know, if I were a medic ninja, I bet I could cure it."
"I'd like to see you try," Sasori replied, raising an eyebrow. "I've had the idea for quite a while already – it will bypass all possible antidotes."
"Sure, but not Super Special Antidote Made By Amazing Me!"
Sasori scoffed, returning his gaze to the current packet of papers he was studying. "It'll be a cold day in hell before I acknowledge you as 'amazing.'"
Sakura chuckled, not believing that he meant a word of it. "Right. You know, you don't always have to be such a sour puss."
"A what?"
"Just kidding!" Sakura assured, putting her hands up defensively. "Hey, you wanna go out tonight instead of sit there and read?"
"No."
"Aw… why not?"
He sighed again, setting the packet down. Apparently, Sasori finally realized he wouldn't get much reading done while Sakura was around. "Because. Shouldn't you be getting home by now?"
"But I just left," Sakura said, a slight pout forming on her face. "They all think I went to bed, anyway, so I can stay as late as I want. Hey, it's almost like a sleepover! Hehe, I don't think my dad would ever let me sleepover, especially at a boy's house."
Sasori rolled his eyes and faced away from her, towards the window. "You're such a headache."
Sakura frowned. "Hey, how come every time we see each other, you think of a different insult?" When he didn't answer, she decided to ignore this. Pausing for a while, she thought of a new conversation. "Hey, Sasori?"
He sighed. "What now?"
"You're a lot more tolerant of me today," Sakura said, looking towards the floor. "You don't even bother with a bunch of sarcastic comments like usual. I know something's different about today, and you don't want to talk about it. But you know, talking helps. We're friends, right?"
Another pause. "No."
Sakura's lips parted in shock. "W…what?"
He tilted his head slightly, meeting her heartbroken gaze. "I don't want or have need of friends. People annoy me."
She bit her lower lip and forced herself to look away. Sakura didn't have any friends besides him, either, but she certainly wanted them. "Do you… really mean that?"
When he didn't reply right away, Sakura shut her eyes in an attempt to block tears from falling. It resulted in one of them falling to her cheek. Her mind vaguely registered the sounds of rustling fabric, but her eyes didn't open until she felt contact there.
Sasori's index finger brushed her cheek softly, staying poised in front of her face to show he saw the single teardrop which had dripped down and landed on his fingertip. Without waiting for an explanation, he took her by the wrist carefully and walked out the door of his room, taking her with him. "Let's go out tonight. I'm not in a reading mood anymore."
Sakura checked the time on her clock. It was seven thirty. "I should take a shower before bed," she sighed, standing up. Yuki meowed with annoyance when she did this, because the weight on that side of the bed made her side move down.
Ignoring her spoiled cat, Sakura walked into the bathroom connected with her room and looked in the mirror. Her eyes widened, her hand slowly covering her mouth. She was blushing. She hadn't even felt her face heat up until she realized that truth. She had been blushing whilst reading that last scene in the book.
Quickly shaking her head to rid her mind of these thoughts, Sakura then removed her clothing and stepped in the shower, thinking of anything but the book and Sasori.
Once out of the shower, she ended up drying her hair with a towel rather than hairdryer. To her concern, Sakura was eager to read more in the book and didn't want to take the time to dry her hair properly.
She put on some pajamas, laid back down on the bed, and picked up the book once again.
To his surprise, she smiled at him, very happily. With her free hand, she rubbed her eye and dried her cheek. Another thought came to Sakura as they walked out the front door, however. "What if someone recognizes me?" She didn't have Chiyo with her to make up an excuse this time.
"They won't do anything to question me," Sasori said simply. His amber eyes drifted from one end of the busy main street to the next before he settled on looking at Sakura. "Where do you want to go?"
Sakura giggled with delight, "What a gentleman! You remembered it's the girl's choice on where to go! I'm so proud of you."
"No, I just knew I wouldn't have any say in the choice," Sasori scoffed, choosing to glare at the buildings along the way as Sakura pulled him along through the street.
"Right," Sakura said, grinning at him. "I like my idea better." With that, she happily let go of him – to his relief – only to link arms with him instead. "This will be so much fun, Sasori! Almost like a date, you know?"
Sasori opened his mouth to speak but simply couldn't find the words to say. He just stared at her, incredulous and unbelieving. "You are such a weirdo," he stated in sheer disbelief. At this, Sakura burst out laughing. Sasori put his free hand to his forehead, closing his eyes in hopes of blocking her out. "What is it now?"
"I've just never," she managed between bouts of laughter, "heard you say such a childish, ahahaha, term like, like weirdo! It's so not you! You're always so 'high and mighty' with your insults, hehehe." Sakura grinned at him again. "Maybe I'm rubbing off on you."
Sasori started walking again, knowing she was following. "For my sake, I hope that's not the case."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Sakura chuckled. One of the shops caught her eye and she pointed at it. "Let's go there first, okay?" she asked giddily.
He looked at it and then at her with a raised eyebrow. It was a flower store. "Why?"
Sakura sighed exasperatedly. "Because," she said in the same tone he had used. Before he could state that 'because' wasn't a reason, she dragged him to the small shop. "Hmm. Flowers." She glanced at Sasori. He wasn't paying attention. She nudged him with her elbow. "Flowers."
"I can see that," he said irritably.
"Yes, and you know what flowers are for?"
"Nothing?"
Sakura glared at him. "Duh! You're supposed to get one, give it to me and say something like 'it's pretty, but not as beautiful as you' or some corny line like that!"
Sasori looked at the flowers with a bored, slightly blank expression. "You've obviously had a lot of time to plan that out." He ignored Sakura's nod and instead led her away from the store. "There's no point. Flowers wither."
"So?"
He rolled his eyes, "True beauty lasts forever. But I wouldn't expect a little girl to understand that concept."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura demanded.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Sasori replied, his tone stating he didn't really care.
Sakura turned her head in the direction opposite Sasori. "One of these days you're going to wish you were nicer to me."
"Oh really."
She looked at him again, pleased to see he was looking at her, too. With big eyes and a quivering lower lip, she said, "You wouldn't want to hurt my feelings…!" Once said, she giggled and continued walking with him. "Now then… where to next…"
Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw that Sasori had once again stopped paying attention. His thoughts were elsewhere, and it bothered her. She wasn't pulling all the stops to get his mind off of whatever was there for nothing, after all. With a frown, she decided that the only way to get if off his mind was to make him talk about it. "Come on," she said, leading him back towards the Elder's house.
"You're done already?" he asked.
"I'm done taking in the sights for now. But I'm still going to bug you," she added, teasing.
"I should have known," Sasori sighed. Sakura was about to get angry and yell again, but he put his hand up, "Just kidding." She opened her mouth to say 'don't joke about that!' but instead, closed it and smiled at him. Maybe she had some influence on him after all. "Where are we going?"
"The roof," Sakura said, walking up the stairs that led past the attic of the house. Once on the roof, she let go of Sasori's hand and sat down, making herself comfortable. She looked at him with raised eyebrows, silently daring him to try to walk away. To her satisfaction, he knew she'd end up pulling him along and sat down nearby.
A comfortable silence passed by. The stores in Suna were beginning to close, some of the lights already dimming out. Fewer people began to walk along the streets and it was, overall, becoming quieter. "So," Sakura began, "let's talk." She looked at him. "What's special about today?"
He didn't return her gaze this time, and kept staring straight ahead, though he was most likely staring at nothing. It took a while for him to even reply. "Nothing."
Sakura folded her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees. "I know you don't think of me as a friend and all, but I don't have any friends. I'm stuck in the manor all the time, and there aren't a lot of opportunities for me. But I've always thought of you as a friend since that day I first snuck out of the castle, you know."
It took time for him to reply again. It was as if whatever Sakura said took that long to process in his mind. "I know."
Her green eyes slowly drifted back to him. "Can you please tell me?"
"Why does it matter?" he asked, finally meeting her gaze.
"Because I'm worried."
"Why?"
This time, she paused. "Because I care about you."
"Why?" he asked again.
"Do you not understand a word I'm saying?" She sighed and calmed down, hoping she wasn't blushing. Unable to tell, she looked away in case he noticed. "Just… you know… talking about stuff… helps."
Another silenced engulfed them for a few minutes. Sakura almost thought he was going to ignore her. "It's the anniversary of my parent's death."
All previous thoughts forgotten, Sakura looked at him, shocked. She immediately felt regret sweep over her at how pushy and annoying she must have been. She should have done what he said and left him alone. That was when she realized – last year, she must have stayed in the castle on this day and not known about what it was to him. Unable to meet his gaze, Sakura looked away, ashamed. "I'm sorry."
"I knew you would say that," Sasori said, bringing Sakura's attention back to him. The slightest of smiles was on his face – small, but she could see. "You're so predictable."
Sakura felt like crying. She just… wanted to. She held her hand to her heart, and with her eyes getting watery, she smiled at him. A simple, honest, 'you're-my-favorite-person' smile.
