Thankies to: himeko63, Sakura-101, TeenageCrisis, VALLED, Labradoodles and Muffins, xLovelessxEmox, AkatsukiGrl101, Princess of blah blah blah, flamegirl5500, eclipse ze lunachic, achildwithbloodstaineddagger, Ducky'sgirl4ever, scrockangel, LittleBloodyJ, Torry-Riddle, and DaRk-SnOw-FlOwEr24.

His eyes watched from his place below. She walked around busily, pulling test tubes out then replacing them. She acted as if he wasn't there. Which was partially correct. Most of his body wasn't there. It was in a special vault located at the back of Sakura's closet.

Only his head was to be examined today. If his head could shiver, it would. Instead it just kind of wobbled. She had been careful to hide him as she went into the hospital. He had watched her lock the door to her special medical room.

First the sliding chain, then the dead bolt, then a handle lock. Snap...click...scrape. She began to unveil her instruments. She reached down and grabbed his head and brought it eye level with hers. "Don't look at me like that Sasori-san. I just want to see how you work." she said quietly.

He said nothing. She placed his head down gently and picked up a tool. "Why are you always alone?" his disembodied head asked. "I'm not." she says as her scalpel grazes his forehead. "We both know thats not the truth." he says. She puts down her tool and puts his head away.

She leaves him inside her medical lab while she heals the injured for the rest of the day. She is disappointed at how coddled these people are. One little scratch and they rush straight to the medics. 'You'd better be careful, that might turn out to be nothing.' she thought as a woman walked away one papercut short.

Sakura sighed. The people she had known all of her life were slowly becoming whiny, self-centered, ingrates. It disgusted her. She shyed away from most civilians now. "The life of a ninja. How glamorous!" she would hear in the streets.

Yes. Because nothing says alluring like knowing someone on your squad might die. Or having to literally rip someone in half. Or feeling your bones break. Yes. Life as a nija was very glamorous...after you're dead.

She pondered Sasori's words. She hadn't really talked to someone in a long time. Tsuande was buried now. Naruto was training even harder. Sasuke refused to come back, and everyone else chased him. Noone had noticed that she wasn't as bubbly anymore.

So she hadn't noticed either. Human contact was cold and stiff at best. She didn't go to clubs like Ino. She didn't play with the children like Hinata. Her own skin felt just as it always did, but when was the last time she had touched someone else.

'I sound like Gaara.' Sakura thoguht with a sheepish grin. She looked down at ther hands. 'When was the last time I touched someone else?' Healings only required chakra and rarely called for the use of the hands to actually feel...Sasori. 'It would have to be Sasori-san I suppose.' Which was true.

He was soft. He appeared to be made of wood because of how his joints fit together. It was skin. He was covered in living skin. She traced her fingers and wondered how it was possible that a puppet had such soft skin.

The day was over. Time to go home. She went into her lab and collected her purse.

She removed his head once she got home and placed it gently on her counter. "Why so sad, little girl?" he said quietly. She pulled her head up as she unlaced her boots. "You were right." "Aren't I always?" She said nothing.

She slipped into the kitchen and cooked.

Later That Night

She placed Sasori's head on the pillow next to hers and rolled to turn off her light. Sasori glanced at her closet questioningly. She ignored him. She slid a finger across his cheek and turned her back to him. "Why?" he asked. She rolled over and grabbed his face, bringing it so very close to her own.

"Because I don't want to be alone anymore. And if you're with me, then I won't be."

Part 1 End