"I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on."


Mannequin

Chapter 11

"So the estimated time of travel is two hours," I muttered while reading my plane ticket.

Konan, who was sitting next to me nodded slowly. She rested her head on the tall seat. "No matter how cold it is over here, it is always hot in Iwagakure. Did you bring a swimsuit?"

"I sure did!" I grinned and she smiled back.

"That's great, well, I'm going to get some more rest. I didn't get enough sleep because I was packing everybody's things," she grumbled.

"Alright, no problem!"

"Enjoy your window seat," she said before wearing a provided blindfold and dozing off.

The trip to Iwagakure was surprisingly fun. Although Konan was asleep, I enjoyed the view from my window. I saw how the snow vanished and slowly turned into grass and water, then gradually into sand. The clouds looked like cotton candy, which made me wonder how it felt like to touch them. A flight attendant offered me food and beverages which I accepted gladly. In the middle of my snack, a voice murmured from the speaker at side of my seat.

"This is your captain speaking. We are just about to touch down at Iwagakure International Airport in about 10 minutes, and we are running on time. The weather around Iwagakure is in good condition, and we are looking at an easy descent. Thank you for flying with us today."


At the arrivals area, Pein greeted two men standing by the exit and shook their hands. The said men acknowledged the rest of the group, but only gave weird looks to me as I stood there awkwardly.

"Oh," Pein said. "This is Sakura, she's our friend. I decided to take her along. You guys don't mind, do you?"

I smiled timidly to the men and waved. "Hi."

"What else can we do? She's already here," the one with the green hair snarled. "...Just kidding! That's totally fine! Just make sure she doesn't cause any trouble with your reputation."

Is this guy schizophrenic or something?

"Sakura, this is Zetsu, our publicist," Pein pointed to the greenhead, then to a middle- aged man with spiky red hair in oversized sunglasses. "And this is Tobi, he is our manager."

"Nice to meet you both, I'm Sakura," I shifted. "I promise I wouldn't be a bother."

"Good," Zetsu said and gave me a pat on my shoulder. "Come on guys, it's quite a long walk. Be ready for cameras."

Sasori, Itachi and Pein pulled sunglasses out of their pockets. I smiled when I noticed that Itachi wore the Ray Bans that I gave him for Christmas. Sasori looked pretty cute wearing his aviators too. We made our way out of the airport and I was almost blinded from the unexpected flashes from cameras all over the place.

So that's why they wore them.

I was falling behind when Sasori took my hand and walked faster, dragging me along.

Reporters surrounded the place, with digital cameras and camcorders, asking each member a question which they just ignored.

"Hidan, do you have a message to all of your girl fans? Anything new to look forward to? A porn movie maybe?"

"Kisame, we heard that you've had an offer for a solo piano performance, did you accept and when is it going to be?"

"Pein, are you and Konan planning to get married soon?"

"Is that Sakura Haruno?"

"Isn't she Tsunade's main model for her new line?"

"Are you dating her, Sasori?"

"Deidara, what can you say about your homecoming after a long time?"

"Do you plan on visiting your old school that you blew up?"

After the walk that seemed like a mile, the man named Tobi showed us over to a big bus and we got on it.

"Man, those reporters are tough yeah," Deidara whined.

"You better not start anything here Deidara, or our reputation will go down the drain," Zetsu commanded.

"I got it unn, alright!," he bellowed at Zetsu. "Let's get to the freaking hotel already!"

At the hotel...

"Well then, get into your rooms and do whatever you want for the rest of the day," Tobi said while handing card keys over to Pein. "Tomorrow we rehearse first thing in the morning."

He and Zetsu walked away and took the elevators, followed by a bell boy who took their luggage.

"Well, I guess we have to share rooms," Pein said tiredly. "I'm taking one with Konan, see you guys." He took one card, handed the rest to Sasori then walked towards the elevators with Konan. There were three left.

Oh man, what's going to happen to me now?

"I can share a room with Hidan!," Deidara snagged a card and gave me a foxy thumbs up before dragging Hidan along with him.

"No way I will share a fucking room with you! Asshole! Go and share with Sasori like you always do! Mother fucking cunt! Let me share a room with..." Hidan's voice gradually faded as they walked away.

"I guess we'll have to share Itachi, we have to practice our synchronizing anyways, what do you say?," Kisame grabbed one of the last two cards and Itachi followed quietly. I was left alone with Sasori, he looked at me calmly and I tried to do the same. Attempting to avoid further awkwardness, I looked over to the bellboy who looked bored.

"I hate making people wait," he stated coolly. "I guess we should go to our room." He sounded as if the fact that he and I are sharing a room didn't affect him at all.

When we got to our room, I almost jumped for joy. HELL YEAH TWO SEPARATE BEDS! YESYESYESYESYESSSS! I laid my eyes on the bed by the window side, overlooking the view of the beach and the bright, blue sky.

Sasori gave the bell boy a tip and shut the door. I couldn't hold in my urge to jump on the bed that I want.

"Yo! I - call - dibs - on - this - bed!," I yelled in segments while bouncing up and down like a kid. He just stared and stayed in his side of the room.

"Sure," he said before laying on his bed and looking at the ceiling.

This sucks... We're in a somewhat vacation aren't we? Shouldn't we enjoy? Can't we just forget about everything right now?

Let's see, what is a good topic to bring up.. err...

"H-hey," I was panting from all the jumping. "How do you think Hiruko is doing?"

He slid off his shoes and placed his arms over his head. "I'm sure he is okay."

I stepped down from my bed and stood in front of him. "Who's watching him?"

He tilted his head slightly to look at me then went back to looking at something on the ceiling. "I left him at the hag's place."

You mean your grandmother right?

Ugh! He doesn't want to do anything at all! He's so lazy!

I rested my arms on my hips and forced a smile. "Hey do you want to go to the beach?"

"No."

I sighed in defeat. "Oh, alright."

"I'm just tired, so I'm going to sleep." And with that, he snuggled onto the sheets and hugged a pillow.

"Fine," I pouted. "I'm going to sleep too then."

Disappointed, I stomped back to my bed and hid my face under the thick mattress.

"Oh!" Realizing that I've forgotten something, I sat back up, got off my bed and rushed to my luggage bag. I dug in for Chibisori but he was nowhere to be found.

Oh man! Did I forget him?

What kind of...

No!

Why did I forget you.

I'm sorry.

I scratched my head in disappointment and sighed. Gritting my teeth I sighed desperately. "Sakura baka,[I'm an idiot]"


The next day came and Akatsuki worked really hard rehearsing their setlist for the New Year's concert. After practicing, they decided to relax and swim at the beach. The moment I have been waiting for has arrived!

"Man, that ice cream really took a toll on me." My excitement faded after seeing my reflection in the mirror. I pinched the half inch of chub on my belly and whined. It's not that much but...

Two knocks were heard outside the bathroom door. "Little girl, did you fall asleep? What's taking you so long when all you gotta do is put on a swimsuit?"

I blushed. Sasori is the first one who will see me in this bikini. WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH _

This is not helping, I just want to sit here forever and not come out!

"Hurry up!," he commanded. "I need to pee."

Oh no, I have no choice.

I gathered up all of my courage and got ready.

I fixed my cherry red bikini, double checked all four knots that kept it together, brushed my waist-long hair to the front of my body, and slowly opened the door.

"Sorry," I was about to bow but was abruptly stopped from doing so. He rested his hands on both of my shoulders and shook his head sideways.

"It's okay," he smirked.

Eh? He was angry earlier now he's smirking? What the heck?

"Anou, werent you gonna pee you said?," I pointed my thumb behind me towards the toilet.

"Oh," he let go of me and stepped inside the bathroom. "Could you also hand me my stuff on my bed please?"

"Sure," I walked over to his bed and grabbed his shorts, hoodie, towel and sunscreen. "Can I have some of your sunscreen when you're done?"

"Only if you let me put it on you," he said, dead-serious while taking the stuff from my hands. My eyebrows furrowed after letting his words sink in.

Wait, what? No way!

"Kidding," he said and shut the door.

I stuck my tongue out to him. Asshole!

Actually, I kind of wouldn't mind...

It's you anyways.

He came out of the bathroom topless and... I couldn't help but look. There were sparks flying around him and flowers covered the background (like a shoujo manga!) I never knew that he had a tattoo- the kanji of scorpion was printed in black on his chest, right above the heart. He was slightly ripped, not to the point that he looked lazy, but not to the point that he looked scary muscular with big chunks of loaf looking muscles popping out of his body like hernias as well. He wore long black jersey shorts and flipflops.

"Done staring?," he raised and eyebrow and tilted his head lazily.

I woke up from my trance, grabbed the sunscreen from his hand and ended up putting the damn sunscreen on myself. "I wasn't staring!"

He totally ignored what I just said and made his way to the front door.

"I really wasn't!," I tried to convinced myself more than I convinced him.

His lips formed a crooked smile while we made our way to the beach. His smiled faded and turned into a frown when we arrived at our destination.

"Wow, Sakura-chan! You look hot!," Hidan howled from Akatsuki's spot. "Aye, do you want me to put some sunscreen on you?"

Hearing this made me look over to Sasori. I grinned at him stopped when I noticed his deathly stare towards Hidan.

Calm down, Sasori.

I poked Sasori, which made him look at me questionably. I shot him a smug smile and turned my head back over to Hidan. "It's okay, Sasori got it all done already, thanks though!"

We approached the gang and Deidara went to greet us.

"Hello Danna, Sakura! We've been waiting for you, lets go swim already!," he whined before running over to the water and motioning for us to follow.

Not letting go of his hand, I dragged him over to the shore where the tide came up and down, washing away some sand and leaving it smooth again every time. I sat on the wet ground and he did as well.

"What are we doing here?," he poked the soft sand and drew a circle with a stray rock that he had found.

I huffed. "Isn't it amazing that no matter how much you tamper it, the sand turns exactly back to how it was?

...even if you made a deeper mark, somehow it just turns it back into a clean slate."

Laying down, I gazed at the bright blue sky, then at his peaceful face, still fixated on poking the sand with the pebble. "Thinking about it kind of gives me hope that I can always have a better future, once the water comes and cleans it all out."

Finding out that Sasori was now staring back at me, I blushed slightly. I turned my head back up towards the sky.

"Ettou, err... what I am trying to say is that I think, I should be thankful of the past, instead of considering it as torture."

Though I wasn't looking, I could feel that he was dead seriously looking right through me. "What made you say that?," he asked.

"Because it is what it was, and because it happened, I found out that there is actually a wave that can clear everything up," I sat back up. "I didn't know, but now I do, it's ...true."

"Nonsense." He snapped, dropping the rock he was using and letting the wave drag it away. He walked back towards Pein and I was left there laying alone. Feeling stupid by myself, I went over to the water to swim along with Deidara.


3rd ppov

Night time came and the band was still at the beach, eating grilled seafood and drinking cocktails by the bonfire.

"Where's Sakura by the way?," Deidara asked before looking from left to right.

"You're right where did she go?," Kisame muttered. "Where's Hidan?"

"Looking for her probably," Pein implied. Right after hearing that, Sasori started sprinting.

Ah, where did that little girl run off to again?

She wasn't anywhere to be found by the beach boardwalk. He could easily tell that she wasn't around from the lack of pink in the busy crowd.

Troublesome brat, why am I even looking for you?

There was nobody in their hotel room either.

Kuso.

Sasori went back to their spot at the beach but still no sign of her.

"Kisame volunteered to look for her, and Deidara too," Pein announced before letting smoke out of his mouth and passing the cigarette to Konan.

Walking along the shoreline, he reached a rocky place by the lighthouse. He could see the big windmills at the horizon, and the billions of bright stars in the sky.

"I never saw the moon this big," a voice said monotonously, followed by a hiccup.

"Yeah, neither have I."

She was crying. He felt the urge to ask why, but it was not his business to ask.

Alone in the dark with a tequila bottle in her hands.

Silly little girl.

"Sakura, we should go back."

"No!," she yelled. "Not right now, look at me. Besides..."

The drunken girl stood up stumbled her way over to Sasori. "I want to tell you something..."

He stood in place and waited for her to continue. Suddenly, she dropped the bottle, and tripped on a rock. He caught her in his arms and she held onto his shoulders. Apparently, unaware of how awkward the situation was, she just smiled.

Still not letting go, she said: "Sasori-kun. I, don't want you to be distant from me anymore. I don't! I want us to be closer..."

Is she going for a kiss?

He pushed her back to arm length and clicked his tongue. "You gotta sober up."


the tobi in this story is how tobi is not the funny stupid tobi, sadly. His personality is more like the leader type, around the ninja war time. Unn. It's so hard to put this story together and make sense at the same time .