Sorry this chapter is kinda short (though my darling Nare shall say it's perfect haha!) but... I plan on having more than this story updated today.

Song listened to: "Kiss me thru the phone" by Soulja Boy ft. Sammie

Oh and....

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM HONG KONG!!!!! :D

Chapter 4: Familiar feeling.

Sakura's heart thumped rapidly in her chest as he turned his attention to her fingers, licking them off. It was a very strange feeling, his tongue against her fingers. His tongue, Inner Sakura noticed, was also very long. Sakura quickly shut out her inner demon before any more naughty thoughts could come into her mind.

She glanced down at the basket and silently hoped he would eat the rest of them himself, but he just sat there calmly, staring at her.

She swallowed thickly and picked up another one, holding it to his lips. He took his sweet time eating it too, and she silently cursed him.

When he finished licking off her fingers she drew her hand back, clenching her hands in her lap, glancing at the last one. Her stomach rumbled quietly.

'Darn it... I'm so hungry myself,' she looked away, staring at the wall that was to her left. The rice ball suddenly touched her lips and she blinked, before blushing and looking at Hidan.

'He sure is q-quiet. I hadn't even heard him lift his hand out of t-the water,' she hesitantly took a bite out of the rice ball. He offered her a quick smile, before insisting she eat the whole thing by bobbing it up and down in front of her face. She carefully wrapped her hand around his wrist to stop him from moving his hand.

Sakura delicately ate the rice ball, taking her time, 'maybe I can get him to trust me this way...'

--

The feeling wasn't foreign to Hidan. Butterflies in his stomach, heart pounding in his chest... there might just be something wrong with him. He only had one love and that was -

'Jashin left you.'

He blinked, and gave up. There was no use in believing in a god that supposedly gave you immortality and then left you to rot in a who-knows-how-deep hole.

He could only stare at her, lips parted slightly as she ate the rice ball out of his hand like he had with her. The small sights he caught of her tongue proved to be distracting.

Her eyes rested on his fingers, and he wondered for a moment if she would imitate him fully by licking his fingers off. She seemed to take a shuddering breath, before licking his fingers off. Then she sat back on her heels and fidgeted with her skirt, 'damn, she's cute.'

"Uh, well, those were good. I – I'll be sure to thank Chouji later."

Hidan perked up, 'Chouji?' he'd heard that name somewhere before. It dawned on him then that Chouji was one of the students of Asuma – whom he had killed.

'Why's he being nice?' a wave of panic swept over him, 'what about that blonde girl? Will she come after me too? Or is it just Shikamaru? I bet it is, he's such a little prick... but what if - ' he shook his head and dropped his hand back in the water. Sakura perked up.

"Hidan?"

He shook his head, "oh, it's nothing then?" he nodded, "o-okay... if you insist."

He offered her a small smile, 'trying to get me to talk, eh pinky? Keep it up and... it might work, seriously.'

She smiled back at him cutely, and he twisted around fully so that he could rest his head on his arms, which were now draped over the edge of the tub. She got up after petting him on the head, and walked over to the clipboard hanging out near the cabinet. He eyed it curiously, 'I wonder what she writes on there, seriously.'

She noticed that he was staring at the clipboard, and he listened as she explained, "I'm... well, I'm just really writing observations on here. Tsunade wants to see how you progress with me so she can weigh the option of getting you to hang out with Mel. You know, the medic that helped put you together."

Hidan allowed himself to make a sound of agreement in the back of his throat. To his pleasant surprise, this made Sakura blush and she immediately scribbled down that he had made another sound besides laughing when she had tickled him.

She walked back over to him and knelt down again, only inches away. Her fingers skimmed across his left forearm, then traveled up his bicep, fingers a little green.

'Checkin' out my stitches, eh pinky?' he shifted slightly. She started scribbling on the clipboard again.

"I think you should get out of there before you turn into a prune... hm, I'll give Rill a call then. Oh, by the way, Rill is the captain of the ANBU squad that dug you up," she wrote something else down, then another word, and circled the first word she had written, "Rill will come by with some clothes for you I guess... some of his hand-me-downs," Hidan reached out suddenly, catching her face in his hand. She jumped a little, then jerked her head up and stared at him, "H-Hidan?"

He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb before glancing at the door and letting his hand drop back down. There was a knock, and Sakura hesitated before getting up to answer the door.

"Oh! Rill! That was... that was fast," she exclaimed. The door opened wider to admit Rill, and he walked in with not only a set of clothes, but a weapon as well. A scythe, to be exact.

"Hey, Sakura. And sheesh, woman, I am an ANBU captain, after all," he set the clothes down on the floor, carefully setting aside the scythe.

'I want. That scythe. Freaking now,' Hidan stared at it like it was a long lost love of his, 'damn, I miss my scythe, seriously.'

Rill scratched the back of his head before reaching up and taking off his mask, rotating it so that it sat on the side of his head. Hidan blinked at him, 'he just – he just freaking took his mask off?! I've never seen an ANBU do that, seriously.'

Rill grinned sheepishly at him, "well, Ino described your original scythe to us, but we couldn't find it anywhere in the forest where you and your partner encountered Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino and Kakashi. So we got this for you instead. The metal's tapered, and made of fine silver. I tweaked the staff a bit myself, so it's got a few tricks to it. Uh," Rill turned to Sakura, "you better take that to Tsunade-sama. I think... Hidan's more comfortable with me, if you know what I mean."

Hidan assumed that Rill had just winked at the medic, as she blushed deeply and high-tailed it out of the room. A second later she returned, and stared seriously at Hidan. He just nodded at her, 'I like this guy already. No need to be worried, pinky.'

Once Sakura was gone and the door closed, Rill turned to Hidan, "alright-y, immortal boy. Now that you're all cleaned up, let's get you dressed, heh? Uh, don't give me that face, you can totally dress yourself. I ain't gonna' do it for ya."

'Thank heaven you aren't!'

--

Tsunade was reading over Sakura's notes and she sighed, tipping her head back, 'I wonder what Hidan meant by that gesture, touching my face like that... mm...'

"Sakura."

"Yes, shishou?" Sakura straightened herself, becoming more attentive.

"You made him laugh? And smile? And make 'a sound of agreement'?"

"Yes."

Tsunade released a low whistle, "I'm impressed with this progress, Sakura. So he's a ticklish one is he? That's quite cute."

"I thought so too," Sakura agreed, then added, "who would have thought that a S-class criminal was ticklish?"

Tsunade laughed, "not me, girl, not me."

Sakura smiled, "me either."

"Still, I'm impressed. Either he really trusts you, or it's something else. Anyway, I bet you'll be able to get him talking in, oh, say a week or so. Unless something really bad happens."

Sakura released an exasperated sigh, and Tsunade gazed curiously at her, a frown coming over her features, "what is it, Sakura?"

"Look, I know he laughed, and smiled and made a muffled agreement sound, and yes, it is progress, I just wish he wasn't so – so -"

"Quiet?"

"Tacit. It's like he's just keeping it all locked inside. It's going to get to me, eventually."

"You seem upset about the fact that it will get to you," Tsunade commented, her hands making a bridge under her chin, "what's wrong, Sakura?"

"Well," Sakura fidgeted in her chair, then finally blurted out, "what if I get so mad that I – that I start yelling at him or something? And then maybe he won't want to talk to me or anything and then -"

"Sakura. Stop it. You're over-thinking this," Tsunade instructed firmly. Sakura went silent, still ranting in her mind, 'but what if that does happen? What if I get angry, and yell at him, or hit him, or do something stupid and he... that causes him to... curl up on me? To curl up in himself?'

She knew that Tsunade could see that she was still brooding the whole situation. Sakura glanced back at the door, 'now would be a great time to come through that door, Rill,' she rung her hands, 'now would be really good.'

The door was knocked on. Sakura breathed an inner sigh of relief as Tsunade called, "come in!"

The door was pushed open and Sakura turned in her chair, mouth open to call out to Rill. However, her breath caught in her throat, her eyes went wide as saucers and Inner Sakura – who had just woken up – promptly fainted.

Hope you enjoyed the utter cuteness! ^^ i know I enjoyed writing it!