Showing Truth, Hiding Lies

Chapter 8

-For the Reviewers!!!

Satoru- Of course! I care about all of my readers, especially the ones that review! As for the end well I planned it for about 14-15 chapters. Not including the blooper one. I hope you can stick with me through it all, that and I'm stuck between a SasukexOc, ZetsuxOc, or an ItachixOc to create next. I can't decide.

Rosi-chan- Of course I'm so happy to see that you reviewed!!! Yes Eri looked like she was going to die a lot wasn't she? And Kakuzu as a rival? How about Itachi and Hidan…opps! I've said too much!!

Koji- I'm glad you think it's great.

Soundtrack for the chapter:I suggest Hero/Heroine by BoysLikeGirls or The No Seatbelt Song by Brandnew.

I don't own Naruto only my own characters.

Please enjoy my works.

It was the middle of the night when Sasori awoke. His covers were twisted and mangled about him and his pillow on the floor. His breathing pounded in his ears and the room was cold and moist, making him feel nauseas.

It was the fifth time he had awaked that night, he had never liked staying in the headquarters because of the terrible temperatures and the crazy homicidal lunatics that also shared the dwelling, but he had stayed…for her.

His dreams plagued him, waking him up mostly, with things he didn't understand and thoughts and emotions he couldn't comprehend. It was all so confusing, so strange; he couldn't quite grasp what it all meant.

Each dream…she was in it, sometimes she was warm the others cold but in each she laid there beside him…why he didn't know, but to him these dreams these phantoms…seemed so real.

He crawled out of the mass of sheets and blankets and made sure not to make sounds as he stood and walked out of his room, no one was up or about at this time of night, no one but him.

One foot after another he walked to the infirmary. The cold stone floor beneath his feet seemed to go on forever. The buzzing of the lights above and the dripping of stagnant water was all that accompanied him on his midnight walk.

Then suddenly the door loomed before him. The dark door knob was cold and untouched.

There was little noise but that itself deafened him. The click of the door opening under his hands surprised him, but noting moved…nothing but the rush of memories of days past and months spent.

She still laid there, the off white sheets tucked around her. A soft rose blush was on her cheeks where the once cold clammy once was.

And image of him flashed thought his head so violently that he clutched his head before leaning on her bedside.

"Danna…" it was his voice.

Sasori's legs grew weak.

"Danna…"

His breath hurt and his lungs ached.

"Danna…"

His vision swam and it wasn't Eri he saw… it was him. Cold, dead and in Zetsu's arms before being laid to rest under a stone. His vision warped unpredictably as he tried to bring himself from the memory but everywhere he turned his face was all he saw. Suddenly, as if someone doused him, he was chilled to the bone, like he had been thrown into an icy see, his breath caught and he began to choke.

Then the most gruesome image that his mind ever showed him literally floated up in front of him.

(It get's gross here kiddies so if you want just skip this paragraph or read and puke. Kuroi)

The flesh had been mostly eaten away and the one eye was partially gone that or a parasite had bore into it and all that remained was an ugly greenish brown residue. The once golden hair was now mostly raw red scalp and slimy yellow green strands. The lips had rotted off and the skin and gums had seceded to where the exposed tooth showed through. The only thing untouched was the mechanical eye that the socket of the eye now overwhelmed. The taunt blue, green skin twitched and the lone eyeball rolled to look at him, the clouded blue iris looked straight into his eyes and the maggot eaten jaw opened.

'Danna…"

He screamed.

A clattering of metal and plastic woke him, gasping for breath and with his vision swimming he fought to get away from the thing that held him down. He thrashed and pried, but the dream had exhausted him so his protests were no better than a child's. He gave up.

What held him down pulled at him gently, mutely complying with it in his blurry vision he obeyed and what felt like crawling was rewarded with his body collapsing onto something soft and not only that but warm. He pressed his face against it savoring the heat.

Then something warm and gentle began to stroke him. One his shoulders and neck, his face and his hair, the touches were soft and tender and he did not stray against them.

And odd sensation crept over him. The feeling of safety overwhelmed him like a large blanket, encasing him and pulling him towards it. He enjoyed this feeling for never before had he truly experienced it. It calmed him and it almost felt like he could fall asleep and know that no dreams would haunt him.

Seconds, minutes, hours, something passed by before he began wondering what was holding him…no not what…but who?

Sluggishly his mind went through a list of the members. No one, not one person even drunk would ever even dream of holding him so it had to be…her.

He had to know, was it her? He tried to speak but his throat was thick, it took him a while to just remember how to push air out through his esophagus. His first try to say her name was responded to by whatever his head laid on leapt up and down with a quick inhaling and exhaling of breath. It was a response but he wanted more. He tried again and her name came out much more clearly then before but now the soft caresses stopped and there was no response.

There was silence for awhile before one soft word was uttered.

"Where?"

He didn't know at first what she was talking about, but then it hit him. She was partially blind and had never been in the HQ for more than a day.

"Eri… you're in the infirmary," he said softly before he opened his eyes to look up at her. His own vision was blurry before clearing slightly. She was still pale but there was a flash in her eyes of concern.

He was so delirious that the words were out of his mouth before he could even think about them.

"How are you awake? You were in coma."

Eri blushed, and Sasori realized it was her hand that was lying in his hair and it was her breasts that he laid against. If he did not feel so drugged he would have gasped.

"You…you were crying Sasori-danna well... sort of… you didn't have tears but…you were so sad sounding, so helpless. I heard you Sasori-danna… and I woke up because…you needed me…"she said somewhat breathless from speaking so much. The red hue grew on her cheeks.

His eyes flicked around to find that he had collapsed onto her bed and pulled himself up upon her. He went red in the face and began to speak until her warm finger fell over his lips.

"Shh… it's ok Sasori-danna…its ok…" she cooed and pulled his head down against her shoulder and patted his hair.

He could hear her heart racing and her breathing hum in her chest. The sense of safety melted through him calming him and soothing his wounded heart.

He was surprised to fell a soft wet droplet fall onto his cheek. He peered up to see her smiling down to him tears leaking out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

"All I ever wanted Sasori-danna…was to make you happy… I wanted to see you smile and I wanted to make you proud. And when you gave me such a privilege to dance as your puppet I couldn't have been happier. But Sasori-danna I'm sorry I failed you, I didn't move quick enough," her voice now began to choke up and her smile had disappeared, "I saw…how much you loved…them…and…I wanted… you to…you to…love me as much as you loved them…I wanted…I wanted…you to love me… but I failed Sasori-danna…I'm nothing but a failure…I'm sorry."

After that she just sobbed, attempting to wipe the tears way only succeeded in letting forth more to gush down her cheeks.

Sasori's eyebrows pushed together. She really wanted him to be happy to love; she was so upset about it. Pitying him, the one thing that he didn't even let himself do for himself. She was doing the unspeakable, what shinobi tried so valiantly not too.

And now as he looked at her he couldn't believe how he could ever be angry at her. He felt so compelled to help her…to aid her…

To love her.

That is…if he could ever let go of the skeleton that hid in his closet.

Lightly and without words he crawled off of her and arranged himself besides her. He enveloped her shoulders and drew her to him like he had seen so many others do to comfort the ones that they cared about, now it was his turn.

She clutched onto him with her one good arm and bawled into his neck. Tenderly he stroked her hair and nuzzled his face into her ear and jaw, letting her warm skin prickle his senses.

He relaxed them onto the bed and positioned her between his legs. Her crying lessened down and her body ceased trembling.

"I don't think…" he began, "that words mean much…but…Eri-dono…I forgive you…"

Sasori savored the feelings that she created in him, the warmth she emitted and the friction her legs and hips made against his almost made him moan in happiness. It had been so long since he had felt such pleasures…if he ever had at all. If he could stop time he would have just so the feelings never did.

For so long he prided himself on being so emotionless, but she had broke that shell he lived in, that scared him at first but now, he simply didn't understand it, this striving that he gave in to. This drugged life feeling that she alone pulled him into, this encasing of swirling emotions that felt so good yet so terrible all at the same time. It was as if he couldn't breath yet he didn't want too.

He felt her fingers slacken on his shirt and at first he thought she was going to pull ways in rejection, when instead a soft snoring wafted up to his ears. She had fallen asleep in his arms.

She was so warm and slowly she faded into consciousness and out of sleep. She could feel the sheets pulled up to her shoulders but there was something else that was on her.

She turned about partway; a twinge erupted from her stomach. She forgot about them when she realized what was going on.

Sasori in his tight black t-shirt lay facing the wall right five inches away from her. His legs were entwined with hers.

She was in his bed.

Blood pumped to her face so quickly that she thought she might pass out from blood loss to the rest of her body. She breathed deeply to compose herself, but all was in vain as said red head rolled over and looked at her.

"Good morning," he drawled his eyes unfocused and his hair messier than normal. To Eri he looked like some kind of SEX GOD!!!

"m-morning…" she stuttered as he sat up.

He looked at her curiously before leaning over towards her.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Are you?" she almost shouted.

Sasori looked as if he'd been slapped. Eri just sat there looking violated.

"There's no reason to be so rude," he said curtly.

Eri looked like she was about to explode.

"Rude?! You think I'm rude? You're not the one who woke up in someone else's bed while totally defenseless!" she shouted.

"Oh…" Sasori looked a taken back and ashamed, "I didn't' mean it like that…"

Surprised by his emotional retort, Eri sat quietly. Sasori too sat puzzled at her outburst, to him to bring her back to his room and hide her from prying eyes sounded like a good idea but, in her mind it seemed off.

"Sasori-danna…why did you bring me back here?" she asked finally after an uncomfortable silence.

His brown eyes stared up at her; she could see him deciding his words carefully.

"When you sleep you are most vulnerable," he said, "I trusted you by my side…my life as you trusted me with yours."

It was an odd way to reply but a reply none-the-less.

"Well…that and…" he couldn't hold in the blush, "the others are coming back today…the majority men…"

Eri sat in awe of the red-headed puppet-man, he had either felt so compassionate towards her to do that or he felt that she was his only and considered her a slave to his on whims…she wanted to go with the first assumption.

"Oh, Sasori-danna…that was…really nice of you…" she said blushing just as madly as him.

"Hn," he said softly refusing to look straight at her and settled on the empty dresser on the other side of the room, it was caked with dust but in the dim light of the morning it didn't matter. No one used it anyway.

"I'm going to go get a shower if that's ok with you," she said, knocking him out of his thoughts.

"Wait…let me see your wounds," he commanded.

Eri hesitated something she hardly ever did. Slowly she glanced down at her stomach before lifting up her shirt so that he could see the bandages about her stomach. In a very embarrassing position he reached behind her and began to unravel the tape, while Eri tried not to faint because of the warm breath being released on her lower stomach.

The white cloth fell away to reveal four pale white lines across her stomach, three that were thicker and more jagged and one more farther down that was thin but had stitching scars. Sasori's eyebrows furrowed. Eri just looked down and pulled anxiously at her shirt hem.

"Eri-dono you were wounded with three gashes, why are there four scars?" he asked quickly, trying to stare her straight in the eye. He had never worried for someone but him before and he had never liked the emotion and now it was almost even worse than before.

Eri bit her lip and fumbled childishly with her shirt, she didn't want to answer that question. It was too personal, she just couldn't.

"Eri-dono…tell me…" he growled softly as he rose to her height and grasped her forearms, she stopped moving her fingers and just froze in his grip, "Eri-dono! What the hell is going on?"

Eri didn't look at him. She couldn't. She was too ashamed.

"It's about…my past… Please…Sasori-danna…you're hurting my arms," she whispered to him.

Sasori gasped and removed his arms; he could vaguely see the red marks he had caused. He couldn't believe that he was getting so worked up that he had hurt her, but DAMN someone injured her and hell he'd find out.

"Who did this to you?" he commanded, his voice hard and forceful making her stare up at him through her bangs

"I don't know…I was too young to remember…Sasori-danna…everyone had it done," she whispered, and gasped as she let out more than she wanted.

Sasori's eyes flared at her response, "What do you mean 'everyone had it done'?" he asked his voice softly deadly. She couldn't have possibly done this to herself could she have?

Eri bit her lip almost hard enough to make it bleed, she dropped her shirt and attempted to turn away when he pulled her back against him, and wrapping his arms about her so she couldn't get away he held her there while she struggled, though it was useless because her right arm was still ineffective.

After she had run out of energy she laid limp against his body. She didn't cry, she was determined to look strong even if she was in her most humiliating position ever.

Sasori sat down and pulled her onto his lap and stroked her hair gently. She just laid her head down and relaxed in his grip, his strong powerful grip.

"Everyone…everyone in the slave trade had it done Sasori-danna…only the purebred ones didn't get it done…danna…they made it so…so…I could never have children," after announcing that she began to sniff, but she cried too much the night before to cry now.

Sasori was simply outraged, why he didn't exactly know, but he wanted to kill something or someone. She was too innocent, too innocent to do such a thing to.

"Eri-dono…" he whispered delicately into her ear, "Why were you there? How were you a slave? Who made you get this done?"

Eri didn't look at him still; she buried her face into his neck before whispering…

"They did it so that no matter what they did, no one would know."

Eri felt his body tense and his breathing get deep and harsh. His arms tightened around her pulling her closer as a growl rose in his throat.

"Eri-dono…tell me who they were, I'll slaughter them Eri-dono, I'll massacre them till there's nothing left," he growled.

Eri bowed her head.

"They're already gone Sasori-danna…I destroyed them…" she said softly.

He stared down at her, she was after all strong, he had seen that, but after the events of the night, he couldn't believe that someone had ever stolen her innocence from her, she was so pure…yet as she said…she had killed.

He wanted to say 'good for you' but no words could voice how enraged he was that someone had hurt her in such a way, how cowardly they had been and how she now had to pay for their sins.

"Eri-dono…if anyone ever does something like that to you, I don't care if they are Akatsuki or someone else, you tell me and Eri-dono I'll destroy them," he whispered to her.

Eri's cloudy blue eyes stared up at him almost brimming with tears. There was nothing she could say that could repay him for what he promised. Nothing at all she could say.

So she acted.

She leaned up and closed her eyes before pressing her lips to his cheek. Her own cheeks flushed with scarlet.

Sasori stared ahead amazed at the action she had just initiated. No one, not even Chiyo baa-chan, had ever done that. He didn't know what to do, nothing in his entire life had ever prepared him for what she had did.

"I…I don't know…what to do…" he whispered to her his brown eyes wide in amazement.

A small grin graced her features as she pressed her nose to his.

"Just kiss back," she whispered.

Her lips fell to his in a chaste kiss of adoration before he woke up from his amazement and moved his lips to hers. The friction and intensity of such an act made his skin tingle and something seem to explode inside of him. This experience…was like no other. He positioned a hand behind her head and pulled her closer. He wanted to feel the friction, the heat, the passion that swept him away. Her soft lips were his, all his, this sensation was his no one else's this; this was what he desired so very much, what he had strived for as a child. The intimacy he had never gotten and the acceptation of another he never expected.

He was breathless as their lips pulled apart. It hadn't gotten as heated as what most would expect but it was still the most amazing thing that he had ever taken part of.

A smile lit up Eri's face and a soft rose color flushed her cheeks.

"I need to get a shower now," she said and got up off of his lap. She squinted her eyes and unhinged a few things before her right are just fell off, normally it didn't do that but since some of the wires were snipped it didn't have anything holding it on. Sasori stared in amazement.

"Will you hook up some new wires to that? Their Ab ones so there pretty easy to find," she asked. Sasori nodded dumbly.

She then disappeared behind the bathroom door. Sasori looked down at the metal arm beside the bed before picking it up. She was missing a part of metal that had been plucked off when the wires were cut and the wires stuck out haphazardly. He was surprised that he hadn't been stabbed by them when he was sleeping with her last night.

He cleared his throat after that thought and a blush rose to his cheeks.

The connectors were simple and he could estimate the length of the wires. Since no one was around he gave a goofy grin and went to work.

In the lobby of the Akatsuki headquarters, figures entered the doorway and met with others already there.

"Konnichiwa, Itachi-san, Kisame-san," said Pein, Konan said nothing.

"Konnichiwa, Pein-san," replied Itachi for both of them as they removed their hats.

Shortly after another group of partners walked through. After exchanging their hellos they dispersed into the vast hallways of the headquarters. Most walking down the corridor towards the rooms. Each had their own room to themselves, thought only Itachi and Kisame knew of the new addition to the Akatsuki 'family'.

Hidan and Kakuzu walked stiff-legged, something odd was in the air and as they passed Sasori's room they could hear the shower running and smell a fragrance they'd never smelled on a man before. Then it hit them that Sasori didn't shower so why was the shower running.

Hidan, having no shame, promptly opened the door to a surprised Sasori with his glasses on pouring over wires and papers.

The two stared at each other for a few milliseconds before Hidan stated, "Who's in the shower?"

"My partner," he said curtly, unwilling to answer questions to personal especially to him.

"Who might that be?" asked Hidan, now curious about the news.

"Does it matter?" replied Sasori getting annoyed.

"Well yeah, because they could be using their shower not yours," said Hidan, Kakuzu stood behind him observing it all quietly.

Sasori scowled. "If you don't want to be hurt, I suggest you leave while you're ahead."

"Why? Damn it I wanna know!" growled Hidan back.

"Yes, we might as well know who it is," came Kakuzu's reply from behind.

There was a click and the bathroom door opened but no one was there.

A cool piece of steel was pressed to Hidans' temple. He glanced over to his right to see a blonde female her hair still dripping wet and one sleeve vacant.

"Wow…" began Hidan.

"Who are you? What do you want?" she growled softly.

"Don't worry Eri-dono, he's part of us," said Sasori who watched Hidan's expression carefully.

Eri lowered her arm and the blade slithered back into her arm, making Hidan shudder, well that was before his eyes found her bosom.

"Whoa ho ho! Now may I ask you name miss?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows.

Eri scowled and walked over to Sasori's side ignoring him completely. Kakuzu chuckled and Hidan's face fell.

"Here," said Sasori as he handed the metal appendage to her. She leaned down so that he could reattach it. You could practically see Hidan drool at the lose t-shirt.

No one noticed the small piece of paper underneath Sasori's hand that had specific numbers on it.

Eri thanked him and worked it to make sure it worked right. In a flash she and Sasori were fighting it out right there in front of Hidan and Kakuzu's eyes.

"I think I missed something, why the heck are they fighting?" asked Hidan slightly alarmed.

"We're just training," said Eri who dodged a quick foot to the side of her face. She returned it with a left punch that Sasori dodged easily, arms still raised he backed off but still stayed on his toes.

"Why don't we continue this in the training room, Eri-dono," suggested Sasori.

Eri smirked, "Sure why not, you're going to get your butt kicked anyway, Sasori-danna."

Hidan's jaw literally dropped as the two walked past.

"But didn't D-." He didn't get to finish before a pair of terribly frightening brown eyes landed on him, just begging him for a reason to beat him to a pulp.

Choosing better of himself Hidan simply walked away.

From a slightly open doorway one lone red eye peered out at the happenings in the hallway. Eri's moves, he watched her fight, were not able to be picked up that well by the shagarin, he didn't know why. It was as if there was something off about her, somehow her chakra never spiked up or down. She was defiantly what some would call; exotic.

Itachi Uchiha licked his lips. It'd been so long since he'd had one in his bed. And now he had his next target, it was only the matter of the immortal puppet that stood strongly between them.

Oh now don't tell me that didn't just get you hungry for another chapter! So who will win; Hidan the romantic, Itachi the sexy beast, or Sasori the truthful puppet? MWAHhhahahaha! Remember that the last chapter will be a blooper chapter, so if you have a blooper let me know and I'll include it! Review and I'll mention you in the next chapter. Also if you have suggestions for the sound track let me know I'll include those too.

Kuroi Hihane