Chapter 10

Sakura could hear Sasori and Deidara's footsteps stop as Karin blurted out her statement. The air turned cold around them as the bugs and animals stopped moving. The gentle breeze that was going before had completely stilled.

Deidara was first to speak. His voice hinted more curiosity than cautiousness, "Who's this, un?"

Sakura was about to answer for a minute. But Karin beat her to the punch. She wiped her naturally red eyes once more and flipped her hair back before preparing to speak. "Hello, I am Karin. I was with Orochimaru, until damn Sasuke Uchiha killed him. I wish to join your organization." She scoffed at his name, as if it burned her tongue.

"What can you do?" Sasori was watchful of her unlike his partner. Sakura could tell he was doing the same thing she was- wondering if she was lying or a spy.

"I can track, sense chakra, and very good at trapping an enemy."

Be watchful of this girl… She could be telling a lie, or she could be your next best friend.

'Is that optimism from my Inner?'

Shut up.

Sasori grabbed Sakura and Deidara. The redhead boy pulled them close and began to whisper. "We have two choices. One, take her to Itachi and see if she is telling the truth. Or two, kill her here and now. We could use a tracker in the Akatsuki, and maybe she could teach Sakura a new trick with her chakra. What do two think?"

"I don't care, as long as she doesn't call me a girl. I couldn't really care less what we did, un. What about you, Pinky?" Deidara shrugged. His gaze turned to the female behind them, red and blue clashing. He saw sincerity behind those brown glasses.

"I think we should give her a chance. But we should definitely knock her out, just to be on the safe side." The pinkette felt slightly guilty thinking about having to knock out the poor girl. She was still holding back tears; Sakura could tell Karin was truly hurt.

Within a few seconds, Sasori was behind Karin. Shortly after he knocked her out and Deidara picked her up, they were on their way back to the base. They were at a speed that drove Sakura's breath out of her body and caused her head to spin a bit. But her medical side was telling her she'd be fine as soon as she stopped.

The group of four entered the base hurriedly. Yet they weren't fast enough to escape Kisame's curiosity. The blue man stood up and walked near the group. He circled them like a shark would and his fish scent drove Sakura to giggles. When the fish man stopped, he stared at Karin, his eyes roaming over her face slowly, as if taking in her actual presence.

"Who is this?" His voice demanded an answer. His gaze barely rising from the still passed out girl.

"Karin." Sasori's one word reply annoyed Kisame. His displeased grunt spoke for itself.

"Kisame-san, Karin was originally with Orochimaru and now wishes to join the Akatsuki." Sakura's voice was gentle as she eyed the Samehada behind his back.

"Stop with the formalities. Those are only good for the weasel, plant, and Pein-sama…" He smirked at her shocked face. Then his attention was focused on delicately pulling the barely clothed Karin away from Deidara. "Come with me to Itachi and tell me how you found Karin."

"Yes, fishy-kun." The pinkette laughed at Kisame's noticeable flinch. But out of the corner of her eye she could have sworn to have seen Sasori frown deeply. But the girl simply chose to think Inner Sakura was playing tricks on her.

It took quite a while to locate Itachi. In fact it took about fifteen minutes, until they found him attempting to stop Zetsu from murdering Tobi. At the first sight of them, Itachi beckoned for help. That was something that Sakura never imagined to see from an Uchiha. Ever.

Sakura pulled Tobi back a safe distance away from Zetsu. And to stop his frequent 'Why is Zetsu-sama mad's she showed him her chipped nail polish. The childish man started to scream and fuss before pulling her away and dragging her to fix her nails.

The cherry blossom figured that Kisame had been paying attention enough to tell Itachi the story. Or maybe she was imagining him looking interested as he stared at Karin.

He is "fascinated" with her. To say it like other Akatsuki members that is.

'Yeah, he definitely is.'

We agree for once?

'I guess we do… What a rare day.'

That indeed is true. Sooo, made a move on Sasori-kun yet?

"Sasori-kun?" the pinky repeated and looked up to find that Sasori, Tobi, and Deidara were now staring at her. She blushed madly and looked to the floor. Their expressions were burned images on her eyes. Hoping that it would make the pictures go away she shut her emerald eyes. But to her amazement Deidara's playfully hurt face was still there, along with Tobi's confused expression and the nail polish. Yet the expression still piercing its way to her eyes was Sasori's eyes. Brown pools of amusement, and accompanied with the smallest trace of a smile.

Footsteps neared, breath came close to her face, but her eyes were still shut as she pushed away the body and ran to her room. She slumped to a corner and began twirling a kunai, her emerald eyes were still shut but now were growing moist. Tears of embarrassment, those were tears she'd never cried before. Yes, there were tears of sadness, joy, excitement, and despair, but never embarrassment. Mindlessly, she wiped her eyes with her hand.

"FUCK!" Sakura screamed as the sharp kunai cut her face. She wasn't even sure how she managed to cut herself, but it only brought more tears. Soon enough waterfalls were falling down her face. And if the pain and embarrassment weren't enough, Sasori came running into the room. His stunned expression stood still. Neither of them moved except for the shaking that came with her tears.

The puppet man just stared at the watery blood. He walked over to the cherry blossom and placed a hand on her bleeding eye. The redhead kneeled by her and leaned in a bit closer.

Sakura slowly stopped crying resorting to a few soft sniffles. She looked at him with her good eye and blushed the faintest tint of pink. Her eye looked to the ground as she whispered her voice cracking. "I'm an idiot…"

"No, Sakura, you aren't." She was shocked by his caring voice. She gasped softly as wooden hands grasped her own soft and fleshy ones.

"Yes, I am Sasori. I'm a pathetic idiot with an overly large forehead." Without realizing it, Sakura had just told him all of the things she hated about herself. She wanted to slap herself and run away again, but the redhead was moving closer again.

"I love that forehead of yours. In fact, I love you…" Sasori gently pressed his lips upon Sakura's. Instinct took over and the pinkette kissed him back. Gently the two pulled away and Sakura forced both eyes open. Brown mingled with emerald as red blood bled down her face. The pinky managed a smile bright enough to blind the world before speaking.

"I love you too, Sasori-kun."

A/N Sorry if you found the ending bad. I actually enjoyed it. Kisame X Karin… It's kinda a cute picture in a way… I' m just saying. Anyway, ya'll are lucky I managed to finish this on a snow day. Maybe I can finish another chapter soon… I'm open to ideas. I failed to mention this in the past but I really am. I'm also thankful for my reviews. I love you guys and forever will love everyone who reviews and favorites this story. Bye guys, see ya next time. Oh and since I love you guys, you're going to get a new signature from me! I know you guys don't care, but still…

Yours Truly,

D.A.R.N (my "name")