Chapter ten:

Sasori sat silently outside of the Akatsuki hideout, painting one of his newly made puppets when Deidara came out and joined him. The red-head gave a simple nod and watched the blonde sit down on the grass a few feet from him before he went back to his puppet. Deidara's previously naked chest was now covered in a black cloak with red clouds, which seemed to be the Akatsuki's signature dress code.

A comfortable silence stretched out between the two team-mates. They'd been working together for a few years now, and got along well with one another even though they had their differences.

Sasori created puppets as an art and secret weapon, while Deidara had specialised himself with clay; exploding clay. Their point of views on what art and beauty was was different, and they had spent countless nights arguing about who was right and who was wrong.

Breaking the silence; Sasori suddenly spoke up, "Where's the girl?"

Deidara lay down on the grass – enjoying the warm caress the sun gave his face. "I think she's in the kitchen, yeah," Sasori nodded.

"Itachi and Kisame went to see Leader,"

"Kisame told us. He said Itachi had laid down some rules, yeah?"

"Us?" The puppet-master asked.

"Yeah, the kunoichi and me," The blonde replied with a playful smile on his lips.

"You should stay out of the way," Sasori warned his team-mate. "Itachi seems to be fond of the girl and you know what he does when things get in his way,"

A confused eye opened up as the blonde shifted and held himself up with one hand. "What do you mean, yeah?"

"Just try not to get too attached to the girl," Sasori sighed and silently cursed. His conversation with Deidara had made him loose his concentration which had caused him to paint a thick black stripe across the face of the previously perfectly painted puppet in his lap.

Deidara eyed the puppet for a few seconds. "Is moustaches the new signature, yeah?" He asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Deidara…!" Sasori muttered dangerously low.

In a heartbeat the blond was up on his feet – running in through the kitchen door and almost knocking the pink haired hostage onto the floor. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, unconsciously taking a hold around Deidara's wrist and pulling him with her as well.

Groaning she opened her eyes up slowly. A blush appeared on her cheeks as she stared directly into the eyes of the clay-user whose face was merely an inch away from hers.

"Deidara!" Sasori growled and pulled his team-member off of the girl. "What did I just say?"

"It was an accident, yeah," Deidara replied and gave Sasori a childish grin before he reached his hand towards Sakura who accepted it and found herself on her own feet in a second. "Sorry Sakura, yeah" He apologized with a slight bow and left her alone with Sasori.

A confused kunoichi raised her eyebrows as she smiled uncertainly towards the red-head. He sighed quietly before closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry Sakura-san, he…" He trailed off and motioned for her to walk with him. They left the kitchen and made their way through the still dark hallway. "Itachi said you couldn't go outside unless he or Kisame was with you, so I'm locking the doors in a bit. Also, you are to sleep in his room while you're here," He opened a door and led her through another corridor. "His room is here," He added and opened a door to his left – leading her into a dark room. "There's a bathroom there," he pointed to her right, "And Deidara or I will bring you food until he's back."

"You're locking me in?" She asked uncertainly.

"Well, yes," The puppet master replied and walked over to the door. "I'm sorry Sakura-san, but it's for your own safety." He added before leaving and locking the door behind him.

A sigh escaped Sakura's lips as she threw herself onto the large bed in the middle of the room. 'Great, just great,' she rolled over onto her stomach and placed her head on top of her hands. Her feet dangled over the edge of the mattress as another sigh was heard. She rolled over a third time, feeling boredom sinking in on her.

"I hate you, Itachi," She muttered before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

"Itachi, Kisame," Leader's inhumanly voice spoke. "You failed to bring the Kyuubi, how come?"

The two men looked at the silhouette of their leader who was surrounded by darkness. A light glow shone from behind him, but it still didn't give the two team-mates any clue of what he looked like.

Kisame glanced at his comrade. It was Itachi's idea to bring the girl, which, accordingly to Kisame, meant he should be the one to explain their actions. However, Itachi stayed quiet like always; either not being in the mood to reply or waiting for Kisame to explain the situation.

"Itachi," Leader spoke sternly.

"We figured it would be better if the Kyuubi came to us, so we took a hostage instead," Itachi's soft voice replied.

"A hostage?"

"Hn, the Kyuubi's best friend," Kisame nodded to that.

"And the Kyuubi knows about the abduction?" Leader asked, not entirely satisfied with the stunt the two of his favourite members had pulled.

"Hn,"

The silhouette stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, going over the information Itachi had given him. Kisame switched rather bored from foot to foot, awaiting some kind of comment on what they had recently told their leader. Samehada grew heavier on his back as he resisted the urge to sigh.

"Very well," Leader said suddenly. "You will keep the hostage for two weeks. If the Kyuubi hasn't shown up by then, somebody's bound to get hurt,"

Kisame winched slightly. He knew what leader had done to those who had failed missions in the past, and he did not want to go through the same pain and horror they had.

"Hn," Itachi muttered. His face was calm like it always was. No emotions showed through; not even his voice gave the slightest hint of what he was feeling nor thinking.

Silence stretched out between the three. They were bound to stay until he dismissed them. "Who is the hostage?"

Itachi had hoped that question would have stayed un-asked. He did not want his leader to get suspicious.

"Uchiha Sakura," Kisame replied. There was no use lying to un-named person. He would eventually stumble over the truth anyway.

"Uchiha?" He echoed with a hint of curiosity in his normally robotic voice. If shadows hadn't hidden his face, they both would have seen a very unpleasant mischievous grin playing on his lips. "You're dismissed," He finally said and watched as they bowed before him before leaving.

Once they were out of his place, he turned towards the shadows. "Find out what you know about this Uchiha Sakura,"

"Hai, Leader-sama," A purring voice replied.

"Uchiha Sakura," Leader repeated once he was alone. "I'm on to you Itachi," He added with a devilish laugh.

Rain poured down over the two Akatsuki members as they escaped their leader's hideout. Itachi was keeping his eyes hard on the forest before them; anger crawled through his system with an urge to kill. Kisame gazed up at the sky, cursing the weather for shifting too often for his liking. It had been sunny and warm when they got there, and now the sky was nearly black. Sighing he pumped his chakra to his feet and jumped onto a nearby tree-branch. Itachi followed him lazily.

"Seems like we're getting home earlier," The larger one of the two spoke. "You think she's been good?" He added – referring to the kunoichi.

Itachi stayed quiet. Talking wasn't his thing. Besides, the mentioning of Sakura made his heart twitch. Was he really going to let her get him hurt if the Kyuubi didn't show up?

'Killing her would be easier,' a voice in his head murmured. 'You should have taken the Kyuubi when you had the chance,' it added with a hint of mockery.

Squeezing his eyes shut – he pushed his thoughts away. He was tired and pissed off. As he opened his eyes again he noticed Kisame was watching him with a concerned look on his face. Kisame stayed quiet though, which he was grateful for.

Supressing a sigh, he allowed his thoughts to take over his mind again. They weren't mocking him now and weren't as aggressive as they had been earlier. No. Now they focused on the girl at their hideout; whose mood swings and split personality kept him on edge. He wasn't used to that, but he liked it. She was dangerous, dangerous to him.

Sakura pushed the now empty plate across the floor. Sasori had woken her up and given her dinner. It wasn't anything fancy but still eatable. A ball of rice and some chicken plus an apple she decided to save until she got hungry again. She reached for the glass of water he'd brought her and gulped it down all at once, before getting off the bed and placing the glass on top of the plate.

She walked over to the small window and sighed as she looked out of it. Rain was pouring down heavily outside. She liked the rain, but preferred sunshine. Rain was soothing and made her calm, but it also made her depressed.

Letting out a yawn she decided it was time for bed. She had no idea when Itachi would be back, but decided that if he would get back earlier than expected; she wanted to be asleep.

As she removed the cloak from her body she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Sakura, yeah, I just wanted to say good night, yeah" Deidara said from the other side of the door.

A smile tugged at her lips as she replied with content; "Good night Deidara-san,"

After stripping off the rest of her clothing, she finally slinked under the covers. An annoyed growl escaped her lips as she threw the pillows onto the floor before making herself comfortable again. Itachi smelling pillows was nothing she wanted near her right now.

A few minutes later she sat up straight, got off the bed and picked the two pillows up. Burrowing her nose into the soft material, she breathed in deeply.

'Might as well use them while I have the chance,' she mused to herself and went back to the bed; falling asleep almost immediately with one pillow underneath her head and the other one pressed tightly against her chest.

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A few hours later, the door opened up and in came a soaking wet Itachi. Stripping off his clothes he walked over to the bed and sat down. His one hand searched for his pillow, but it was no where to be found. Using his Sharingan he saw the kunoichi sleeping soundlessly with her arms tightly wrapped around it. He snatched it away from her and laid down – covering up his form with the black silky covers. He heard Sakura mumble something in her sleep and then felt one tiny arm wrap itself around his waist as her body pressed tightly into his back. He ignored the tingling feeling he felt in his chest and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.

If he thought sleep would keep the kunoichi away from him – he was wrong. Because he had a dream, a disturbingly romantic dream of a certain girl named Sakura and a man named Itachi.

A/N: You guys love me, dont you:P

I dont know where this came from. I was out having a cig and went back inside when I was done and just started writing. I think this is my longest chapter so far.

Thanks again for all the reviews you've left me. I love reading them. They make me happy and give me inspiration in a way. so thanks :)

Hope you like this chapter. I know I do. ;P

Until next time...

//Challa