Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, Hallmark, or anything else that seems to belong to reality.

It's done, it's done, it's done, it's looooong! Thirteen pages without any author notes! Isn't that pretty unbelievable??? I'm completely and utterly thrilled to be finished with this, and glad that I found a title I actually liked (had one heck of a time picking one out as musicinabottle will attest to). Besides the record length of thirteen pages, this chapter has one other record…which I will tell you guys at the end XD that way you can go back and double check to make sure I'm right.

Also, congratulations to himeko63 for being the 250th review to Belonging! Your prize is showing up in the very next chapter XD hope you like it!

The title refers to all the changes that happened in Sakura's life this chapter. Obviously, unexpectedly XD

Enjoy as I drown us all in a fluff-fest!

Chapter 12: Unexpectedly

"Haruno-san."

Sakura winced internally, forcing herself not to show any outward signs of her consternation as a shadow passed over her open textbook. Schooling her features into an expression of mild curiosity, she lifted her face to the liquid-amber eyes of her most hated teacher. "Yes, sensei?"

"I'd like to see you at my desk after class; I believe we may have something to discuss."

"Yes, sensei."

'It would have been too much to hope that he'd leave me alone for good,' Sakura's mind huffed as she turned back to her reading. But it had been a handful of weeks since her first detention, and he hadn't inflicted more than small miseries on her. She'd, little by little, come to believe he might leave her alone.

Obviously that was not the case.

Warm fingers wrapped around her own, giving them a gentle squeeze.

A crimson flush passed over her elfin features as she slid her viridian eyes over to her lab partner. Sasori said nothing, his eyes trained on his textbook, but she couldn't ignore the feel of his hand around hers. And she didn't pull away.

It was strange. Now a little over a month into the school year, she was growing more and more comfortable with her housemates, to the point where this gesture of Sasori's didn't do more than cause an explosion of butterflies in her stomach; a natural reaction for a sixteen-year-old girl to an attractive senior. She hoped that maybe her guy-shy tendencies had disappeared due to her exposure to so many males, but she'd had little to no contact with guys other than Naruto, Sasuke, her housemates, and occasionally Shikamaru. So she wasn't sure.

'But it'd be nice to be normal…' With a sigh, she gently slid her fingers out of Sasori's grasp, turning the page of her textbook as she made another note on her papers.

"Essay presentations will begin next week Monday," Orochimaru admonished silkily, causing everyone in the class to jump. The entire class period had been spent quietly working on their individual essay chapters, and it was the first sound other than his soft-spoken (but somehow no less menacing) request to speak to her after class that had shattered the silence. "Class dismissed."

Sakura sighed as she shoved her textbook into her backpack, not looking forward to her upcoming conversation. "Go, Sasori," she told her housemate who lingered at her side, nodding towards the door. "Your class is on the other side of campus and you'll be late if you don't leave now…"

"Sakura."

"I'll be fine." She smiled. "Really."

Casting her a look with violet eyes that swam with doubt, the redhead nodded stiffly, conceding her request, and disappeared out the door.

"Haruno-san," Orochimaru called softly, his features tugged into a brittle smile. "I believe we need to discuss your test."

'What does he want to ask me about?' Sakura wondered, trying to keep a frown off her forehead. 'I'm pretty sure I did well on it…'

"I am…concerned for your understanding of pH and acid-base titration. Your mathematics here," he clarified when her eyes finally reflected her utter confusion. "Haruno-san, this shows that you seem to have no grasp of the concept of pKa and calculating it."

Sakura's verdant eyes landed on her untidy scrawl, noticing the question he tapped with a sinister joy.

'But that's-!'

"Sensei, this is just a simple mistake," Sakura protested, her heart beginning to pound in her ears as she clasped her trembling fingers together behind her back. "I miscalculated a few numbers, but that doesn't mean I don't understand the concept!"

"Nevertheless, Haruno-san," Orochimaru replied smoothly, his liquid amber eyes glittering with malice. "You have shifted from an old curriculum to a new one. It stands to reason that there may be gaps in your education. I believe you will benefit from a tutor."

"A tutor," she gasped, tacking on "sensei," as an afterthought. "I r-really don't think…"

"A tutor, Haruno-san," the pallid teacher told her with another knife-blade sharp smile. "I will choose one for you-,"

"I'll do it, sensei," a warm tenor sounded through the deserted classroom. "I believe you won't have any objections."

Sakura whirled around, her heart leaping into her throat as her body instinctively flinched away from the unfamiliar masculine voice.

The motion didn't go unnoticed by the chemistry teacher whose sibilant smile only grew more malicious with dark amusement.

"No, indeed, I don't have any problem with one of my Advanced Chemistry students tutoring Haruno-san here," he said, his voice suddenly too silky with victory. "I believe you are free Thursday after school?"

"Yes," Sakura answered in the affirmative as the other student echoed her word.

"Good. I expect you both here this week."

"Yes, sensei…"

The smile her chemistry teacher turned on her was icy with scorn, his eyes gleaming with exultant loathing. "I believe you will acquit yourself well, Hyuuga-san."

The chocolate-haired junior in the doorway inclined his head stiffly, his milky eyes, tinted faintly grey, fixed on the pale sophomore standing by the front desk with the huge moss-green eyes. "My name is Neji," he introduced himself in a reserved tenor. "I will see you Thursday, Haruno-san."

Sakura managed a tiny, "See you Thursday, Neji-san," before she fled the room, her pale face going crimson as soon as she was out the door.

'Not another guy!'

=*~*~*=

"Something's up, seriously."

Sakura's fingers tensed on her pencil as she scribbled notes down, not daring to glance at the sleek male sitting next to her. "There's nothing wrong," she whispered, "now stop asking before Ibiki-sensei catches us talking in class."

"Like I give a damn," Hidan replied with a smirk and a lazy, obvious stretch just before their teacher turned around.

Sakura grimaced worriedly at the outline their sensei had put on the board. Her silver-haired housemate wasn't even taking notes, his pencil twirling around between his fingers. "Well I care," she hissed softly, her eyes finally flickering over to the smirking senior beside her. "And I really don't need another teacher on my back today."

Hidan's vibrant, crimson-violet eyes narrowed instantly, his once-carefree expression melting into one of dark displeasure.

"What'd the snake-scum do?" he asked sharply, his voice low and harsh with anger.

Sakura forced herself not to blush, glad that the low lights of the classroom as Ibiki-sensei moved from writing on the blackboard to showing them an in-class documentary and constant exposure to her housemates kept the tiny amount of pinkness in her cheeks from being obvious.

The thought of her new tutor was uncomfortable enough without having to think about the reactions her housemates would have. She knew that they were aware of her guy-shy quirk now, and that they showed unusual protectiveness, making sure that she felt as comfortable in school as possible. They had achieved this by helping her avoid as many males as they could manage, which was sweet of them even if it wasn't as effective as eliminating the problem altogether.

They probably wouldn't enjoy learning that Orochimaru had picked a guy to tutor her in the chemistry classroom on Thursdays.

"Orochimaru asked to talk to me after class…I made a stupid mistake on my first test, so he questioned my abilities and assigned me a student tutor to study with me on Thursdays after school in his classroom," she explained in a soft rush, wanting to get out the majority of the information as quickly as possible. It would be enough to keep Hidan irritable and occupied for the fifteen minutes they had left of class.

"Study…with someone. In the snake-scum's class after school." She could hear the icicles on every syllable as he bit out the words with anger so tightly controlled that she couldn't stop the shiver that curled down her spine.

"Yeah…" 'And if you're going to react like that to just the information that I'm spending Thursday afternoons in Orochimaru-sensei's classroom, I'm not saying a word about my tutor,' her mind added with a flutter of nervousness.

"That bas-,"

"Hidan. Sakura."

'Oh crap…'

The rose-haired girl half-turned in her seat, cheeks paling at the familiar sound of their teacher's voice, quietly gravelly behind them.

"I do not permit students to talk during my class," he told them, his voice still pitched low so that only they could hear him. "And profanity is unacceptable," he added, his dark eyes hard as flint as they cast towards Hidan.

"S-sorry, sensei, we won't do it again," Sakura apologized quickly, her cheeks warming as Ibiki's eyes landed on her again.

His scarred head nodded in acknowledgement, accepting her apology with ease. A small knot of fear in Sakura's chest loosened. Ibiki was apparently one of the more serious teachers, who were also fair and understanding to this first infraction of hers.

Hidan, on the other hand…

The silver-haired senior had his arms crossed over his chest; every pore exuding a smug arrogance that had clashed wills with the scar-faced sensei on many occasions that Sakura had had front row seats to over the past weeks.

"Hidan."

"Yeah?" the senior asked with a quiet nonchalance that set warning bells off in Sakura's head.

"Hidan, just apologize, please," she cut in hurriedly, unintentionally interrupting their sensei with her sudden plea. She caught his dark, vibrant eyes with her own verdant gaze, growing slowly more crimson as he turned to her. Her voice caught in her throat, but she forced herself to speak, "Please…"

"I'm…sorry."

The words were surprisingly gentle, catching all three of them by surprise as they escaped the silver-haired male. Sakura's viridian eyes widened in shock, her heartbeat pounding in her ears and blocking out all other sounds as if unable to process what they'd just heard. A quick glance at Ibiki standing behind her seat showed that the teacher was equally astounded by the declaration, but swiftly recovering.

"Apology accepted, don't let it happen again."

And then he was gone, striding down between the aisles of the desks as if nothing had happened, though a telltale look of consideration gleamed in his eyes.

Silence reigned in the back of the classroom where they sat, enveloping the both of them in its blanket of soundlessness. The video reeled onward, filling the empty air with a too-detailed description of the different types of bone fractures.

"Hidan?" Sakura whispered presently, shyly letting her voice fill the void between them.

"Yeah?" the silver-haired male responded, his eyes fixed on the white screen at the front of the class.

"Thank you…"

He made a noncommittal noise. "You didn't look like you needed another teacher on your back today," he told her with contrived carelessness, repeating her earlier words.

This time, she couldn't force back the hot blush that rushed to her cheeks. "Th-thanks…"

"It's nothing," Hidan muttered as his eyes flickered to her crimson face and away, the beginning of a grin starting to tug his lips. 'Nothing compared to what Kisame has prepared tonight…and you look like you need it.' The image of Sakura's distressed expression earlier flashed before his mind's eye again, and he couldn't squash the strange ache that knotted his gut at the memory.

'I've never cared about anyone else's feelings much before, so why the hell does your pain bother me so badly?'

=*~*~*=

"Guys? Kisame? Sasori? Guys??" Her voice echoed off the walls, filling the corridor with an aura of emptiness. Sakura frowned; her fingers minutely straightening the hem of her pajama top as she mentally ticked off all the places her housemates could possibly be this late at night. It was almost ten at night and the daily ritual of eating dinner together before someone turned on the TV and half the guys argued over which show to watch while the other half tried to find someplace quiet to study or do other things had ended almost two hours ago.

She had retreated upstairs to vent her frustration on her snake-scum sensei by finishing up her chemistry homework, but having found herself stalled on a problem had made her way back down to the common room…only to find everyone gone.

"Where are they?" she mused aloud, the furrow on her brow deepening further as she padded from the kitchen (which she had already checked twice) to the stairs. She'd tried the second floor as well, and checked the bathroom, to no avail, and she was getting a little concerned. "Mou…guys…this isn't funny…"

She ascended the stairwell, the only noise she could hear the quiet shuffle of her stolen-from-Sasuke tomato-print pajama pants. It was eerie to wander such a quiet house, and not for the first time, she suppressed a little shudder.

"Hey, candy-girl."

"Kisame!" she responded, too happy to see another one of her housemates to put up her perfunctory protest at his usage of the silly nickname. "Where is everyone?"

"I'll show you," he replied, his features painted with the most mischievous grin.

Sakura's relief blotted out any apprehension she might have felt at his expression.

"Come on…"

The walked down the second floor hallway, past the rooms occupied by her male housemates, up to the third floor where she slept, and past it to one of the doors at the far end of the hall. She had never bothered to open them, knowing one of them was another room and the last of these a closet she'd never had use for. But she raised a curious eyebrow when it was the last of these Kisame led her to.

"Good thing you're dressed warmly," he commented, grinning as he took in her black and orange sweatshirt with the nine-tailed fox design that stretched over her front and curled around her torso to spread over her shoulder blades in the back.

Sakura fidgeted under his gaze, strangely relieved that he couldn't see the "Property of Naruto" sign at the back of her neck hidden by her rose-petal hair. Or the Akatsuki shirt she wore underneath it. For some reason, the thought of any of her housemates knowing that she had taken to often wearing the shirt as sleeping attire made butterflies explode in her stomach.

"Kisame, I'm pretty sure no one's in the closet…" her words died away as he opened the door, the light from the hall illuminating the interior.

A single ladder filled the space, leading up into a trapdoor in the ceiling where the soft rumble of masculine voices floated down through the opening.

"Where…"

"Go on up," Kisame ordered with a shark-toothed grin. "You're going to love it."

Nodding dumbfoundedly, the rose-haired sixteen-year-old climbed up the ladder, her head popping up through the opening to be greeted by the most amazing sight.

"Ooh…"

Her housemates, casually stretched out over a number of blankets that were laid over the gentle slope of the building's rooftop, turned at her soft gasp, their welcoming expressions clear even through the darkness.

"Wh-what...what are we…?"

"Stargazing," Itachi explained simply as he caught her hand, steadying her as she clambered barefoot over the lip of the trapdoor and onto the rough roof shingles. "The stars are particularly clear here."

"They're beautiful," Sakura breathed as she squeezed in between the elder Uchiha and Deidara, who pressed a warm, Styrofoam cup into her hands.

"We also made hot chocolate, yeah," he told her, his cheerful grin catching the moonlight alluringly as he capped the thermos bottle. "Because it's cold up here, even if we're all dressed up warm."

And they were; as far as she could tell they were similarly dressed like herself in pajama bottoms and sweatshirts, jackets, or sweaters.

"Come on, get comfortable, candy-girl," Kisame teased, gently nudging her farther downward so he could squeeze in behind her onto the large blanket the younger three occupied. "If you don't hurry, you'll miss the start."

"The start of what?" Sakura asked, humming in pleasure as she sipped the sweet, hot drink.

"Patience," Itachi murmured beside her, his voice sending a shiver through her slender frame that had nothing to do with the late October chill. "You'll find out soon enough…"

"No fair," the sixteen-year-old muttered mock-sulkily under her breath, earning her a raised eyebrow from the soft-spoken male to her right that teased a giggle from her. "Okay, okay, Itachi, I'll wait…"

She leaned back into the soft warmth of the blanket under her, abandoning her now-empty cup of hot cocoa as she gazed up at the starry expanse. "You know, patience isn't one of my – Ah!"

Stars streaked around them, like a blazing rain of light from heaven, stealing her very breath away. Hands flew to her lips to capture the cry of pleasure that escaped her, viridian eyes growing impossibly wide as the liquid light of the stars bathed her elfin features their unearthly iridescence.

She couldn't have said how long it lasted, the starfall so captivating that she lost all ability to tell the passage of time, but whether it lasted an instant or for centuries, she felt as though she didn't breathe the entire time as she stared, mesmerized, at the heavens.

A million shooting stars surrounded her, dizzyingly bright and beautifully transient.

All too soon, the luminescent beauty drew to a close, and Sakura realized that she was trembling. Feeling detached from the world, like she was part of something more than herself in that moment, she glanced to the side to realize that her housemates were finished watching the show of lights, and now regarding her with an air of anticipation.

And though being under their combined gazes would have made her unerringly nervous normally, she couldn't find herself becoming either embarrassed or shy. Affection to rival her feelings for Naruto and Sasuke, her mother, and maybe even Ino, flooded her as her eyes glanced from one housemate to another, warming her more thoroughly than the hot chocolate had. That they had planned and done this for her…

She sat up, a lump rose to her throat as a trembling smile curved her lips.

"I've never seen something so beautiful in my entire life…thank you so much everyone!"

'It was…so wonderful…'

"You should thank Kisame danna, yeah," Deidara told her, his voice dispelling the otherworldly aura that had surrounded them during the meteor shower. "He's the one who did most of the planning."

"Hey, I can hold my own against Hallmark," the lanky male chuckled as Sakura twisted around on the blanket to face him. "Did a good job, didn't I, candy-girl."

A brilliant smile lit Sakura's features as she impulsively catapulted herself into Kisame's lap, straddling him with childish carelessness as she flung her arms around the stunned senior. "It was absolutely wonderful! If I had a big brother, I'm pretty sure you'd have him completely and utterly beat!" she exclaimed into his rough, spiky cobalt hair, squeezing his neck hard enough to make him short of breath. "Thank you so much, Kisame-nii!"

Beneath her, the gill-tattooed senior stiffened, not entirely because of the sudden bundle of ecstatic female in his arms.

'Oh…crap.'

Unconscious to the sudden bolt of terror that had thrummed through the male beneath her, Sakura chattered onward, praising the one she had just staked as a surrogate brother.

Behind her, Itachi tensed, his hands clenching unexpectedly into fists at the pain that shot through his chest at Sakura's words.

'Tachi-nii!

The honorific had been the one she had given him when they were children, a special way of referring to him that she hadn't even conferred onto the two males who had been her best friends. And hearing it again after so many years, especially in conjunction with his own best friend and roommate…was excruciating.

An unexpected surge of jealousy followed the pain, making him want to do nothing so much as tear the young female from his friend's lap and lay indisputable claim upon her so that even she was made aware that she was his and no one else's.

He swallowed thickly, his better nature forcing down his basal instincts.

'It's Sakura…Sakura's decision if she wants to call Kisame that,' he reiterated to himself. 'I have no right to feel like this.'

But it didn't stop him from having to tear his eyes away from the sight of his best friend in the girl's innocent embrace.

And the only comfort he felt was in the fact that his friend seemed to understand his pain and was attempting to extricate himself from Sakura's grasp as politely as possible.

'Holy hell, Itachi's furious,' Kisame groaned mentally, catching the look in his roommate's eyes that was equal parts anger and melancholy. He knew better than anyone how deeply the dark-haired male's feelings ran for the sixteen-year-old on his lap, and could easily guess how the Uchiha felt, seeing her acting so intimate with the shark-faced senior.

'Not to mention the other guys…' This time Kisame's wince was evident as he noted his housemates who regarded him with varying expressions of irritation. 'Looks like I'll get to see what my Rules are like from the other side…'

"Come on, Sakura," he chided, cursing the nervous tint that shaded his voice. "You're heavy, candy-girl."

"Am not!" she contested hotly, though the giggle that escaped her told him she was far from annoyed at his accusation. "But I'll get off," she added, grinning as she slid from his lap back to her original seat. "Stars to see, after all…"

'Anything that keeps the others from flaying me alive…'

He liked yanking their chains as much as the next guy, they could be a pretty serious bunch when they were in that kind of a mood and could use a little loosening up, but he also liked living. And if Sakura had kept her seat on his lap, his eighteen years of living would have stopped at eighteen years.

"Thank you guys so much," Sakura breathed, breaking into Kisame's mental thank-kami-I'm-still-alive rant. "This is utterly amazing. Really."

She settled down again, her back against the roof's gently sloping shingles, as she rubbed her chilly hands together, distracted by the loveliness of stars above.

"Here, yeah."

Warm hands wrapped around her wrist, gently tugging her left hand away from her right one to gently caress the cold appendage.

Her cheeks warmed as she turned a little, her eyes catching Deidara's cerulean ones that shone in the darkness with strange emotion. "D-Deidara…"

"I'd take the other one too but then you couldn't see the stars, yeah," the blond explained, bringing the chilled hand to his lips as he let his warm breath caress her skin.

"Th-thanks…"

"No problem," he replied, massaging warmth into her left hand as he leaned towards her until his breath tickled the sensitive shell of her ear, sending hot sparks flashing through her.

The butterflies that she had hoped had vacated her stomach returned in full force as she blushed and tried to watch the stars again, pulling her sleeve over her right hand in an attempt to keep it warm.

Stars shone overhead, their softly twinkling lights beautiful and clear in the midnight sky in ways that they wouldn't have been had the school been closer to the city. Out here, a decent distance from the majority of the artificial lighting, it was possible to see the faint glimmer of the Milky Way.

"Hey, Itachi, did you know that there's a legend saying that two lovers who were separated to either sides of the Milky Way walk over a bridge made of flying ravens to see each…" her softly whispered words died away as she turned to find the elder Uchiha's eyes firmly looking elsewhere, the lines of his face deepened by some emotion she felt hesitant to name.

"Ita…"

She swallowed the rest of his name, pulling back her free hand when he stiffened at the sound of her voice.

'Wh-what…'

A strange ache squeezed her, like a vise wrapped around her ribcage, and she turned back to the ethereal beauty of the stars, wishing they would take away the curious hurt that welled up at Itachi's unresponsiveness.

'Since when did it matter this much to me?'

As if sensing her distress, Deidara scooted closer, until the strands of his blond hair spread in a corona about his head mingled with her rose-petal hair and his arm pressed to hers from wrist to shoulder. The sweetness of his gesture brought a shy smile to her lips, and she surprised them both by giving his fingers a little squeeze of affection.

His warmth soothed her, slowing her heartbeat until she felt herself beginning to drift off into a light doze, the sky becoming one gigantic nightlight to stave away unpleasant dreams, the rustling crackle of dry leaves her bizarre lullaby.

Wind in the trees flowed frozen and icy over the rooftop.

Sakura shivered, the fingers of her right hand drawing into a fist as she tried to hold in the little remaining warmth in her cold skin.

Hesitant fingers slid across her knuckles, gently unclenching the fist she had made of her dominant hand. She stiffened as the slim appendages warmed the chilled flesh, her eyes darting to the dark-haired individual on her right.

He said nothing, avoiding her gaze as he laced his fingers with hers.

'Itachi…'

His warm hands massaged heat back into her fingers, filling them with pins and needles as a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold worked its way across her shoulders.

'What is he…?'

He had turned her hand, palm up in his, and then begun to slowly, gently, trace letters across her now-warm skin.

'What? I-M-S…'

A rose-petal flush worked its way across her pale, wind-chapped cheeks as she went completely still, making certain that she hadn't mistaken the phrase Itachi traced on the palm of her hand.

After several repetitions he stopped, as if uncertain of her response, and she laid any fears he might have to rest as she gently, shyly, laced her fingers with his.

'I'm sorry.'

His words melted away the hurt she had felt earlier, leaving her warm from feelings that originated from the hands wrapped around each of her own. The stars above blurred gently as her long lashes shaded her eyes, her body becoming utterly relaxed under the combined feeling of Itachi and Deidara's hands in hers. It was too peaceful, the light of the stars and the quiet sounds of nature gently lulling her into inky oblivion.

With a final, contented sigh, Sakura let go of the very last of her nervousness around her housemates – just this one time – and let sleep claim her.

=*~*~*=

"Come on, candy-girl, get up."

"Nnh," the girl muttered, trying to turn onto her side away from Kisame's insistent voice, only to be held back by the fingers laced around her left hand.

"Come on…"

"Kisame."

"Hn?" the lanky senior asked, using the patented Uchiha all-purpose phrase as he half-turned to face one of his year-mates. "Kakuzu?"

"I will carry Sakura to her room."

Kisame raised an eyebrow, his expression plain by moonlight, obviously rather taken aback by the statement. "You?"

"It cannot be you," Kakuzu told him bluntly, luminous glass-green eyes serious. "By your own Rules, it cannot be you."

'Crap…knew this would happen…' Kisame didn't like conceding on such a point, but the fact of the matter was that Kakuzu was right. By the very Rules Kisame had set down, he couldn't just carry Sakura back to her room like it was nothing. Especially not after having had Sakura on his lap, no matter how platonic it had been. Emotionally anyway. He was pretty sure none of the others was taking it as just platonic on a physical level.

"And you're offering to do it instead?" the dark-eyed senior asked, unable to keep the note of skepticism from leaking into his voice.

"Better me than any of the others."

There he went again, making sensible points like it was nothing. Had Kisame been one to choose, he would have picked out Kakuzu or Zetsu because Itachi was probably still somewhat possessive after the 'Kisame-nii' thing, Deidara…was Deidara and his emotions could have been seen by a blind man, Sasori wasn't as good at hiding the way he looked at the girl as he thought he was, Hidan…Kisame skated over that thought remembering Itachi's reaction to what had transpired between Hidan and Sakura on the girl's first morning at Akatsuki, and he himself was out of the question.

'Damn.'

But…

"You don't usually volunteer for nothing. Will you really do nothing?"

Kakuzu's eyes flickered to the slumbering rosy-headed girl at the roof's edge, holding herself in place by clinging to the hands of Itachi and Deidara, unwilling to let go of them even in sleep. The smile he turned to the shark-featured male was brittle.

"I'm no altruist."

Neither the dark-haired junior, nor the blond, protested as they extricated their hands from Sakura's grasp and let the brunet senior spirit the girl away.

'I'm no altruist…'

"Nn…"

It was true; he would try nothing. And though the others, cleaning up the remains of their stargazing night behind him as he slowly descended the ladder with the sleeping girl in his arms, might find it surprising, it wasn't because of a lack of compensation.

Holding her like this was compensation enough.

But Kakuzu couldn't bring himself to stake some sort of claim on the girl without her consent. Like the usage of money, everything about her to him was an agreement between individuals. A transaction, almost, though with none of the mercenary feeling the word provoked.

It was a twisted sort of honor, he supposed, but one that he lived by stringently.

"Sakura." She didn't rouse, instead turning her face into his chest to block out the soft rumble of his voice, and while he thought maybe he was suffering an unexpected attack of arrhythmia from her innocent affection, he still had to get her into her bedroom. "Sakura, where are you keys?"

"Door…open," she mumbled, still asleep as far as he could tell.

But asleep or not, she could apparently still process information, because her bedroom door was indeed unlocked.

Considering they'd spirited her away unexpectedly, he could only come to the conclusion that she left the door unlocked on a regular basis…a thought that he quickly thrust away, to peruse at a later date in great detail.

And then, because he was human for all that he considered his relationship with her a transaction, he forced down the strawberry tint that threatened to color his tanned cheeks and made a clinical attempt to strip her of her vibrantly orange sweatshirt.

A grin blossomed across his sun-kissed features as a very familiar black-and-red shirt came into view.

'How often does she wear this?' he wondered as he tossed her sweatshirt over the back of a chair and pulled the covers over her.

However often it was, it was a little secret he was going to be keeping to himself. An amused smirk fluttered over his lips as he considered his thoughts. For once, he had found a piece of information he didn't even feel like pricing.

Behind him in the darkened bedroom, Sakura's chest rose and fell with her slumbering breaths, the crimson letters of the word 'Akatsuki' covered by the silken fabric of her covers.

=*~*~*=

"Awww that's adorable! I can't believe they did that!" 'Even I didn't expect them to pull something like that off,' Ino thought to herself, hiding her impressed amusement at the Akatsuki's ingenuity.

"Ino! Keep your voice down," Sakura yelped, her cheeks growing pink as heads around them turned. "Honestly…why I tell you these things…"

She was certainly glad she hadn't mentioned the affection with which she'd launched herself at Kisame the other night (knowing Ino wouldn't take it as the lighthearted, friendly affection it truly was), or holding hands with Itachi and Deidara (a thought she couldn't have without blushing just a little), or how she had woken up to find herself comfortably situated back in her own bed, stripped of her sweatshirt and tucked in as she had been as a child. 'She'd go ballistic if she knew…'

"Because if you didn't have me, you'd be clueless as to what they meant," Ino informed her with a cheeky little grin that made Sakura roll her eyes, though it didn't stop her from laughing at her friend's antics.

"Ino, it doesn't mean anything. They're just really nice guys."

"I rest my case," the blonde responded with infuriating superiority and a smug giggle. "You really would be clueless without me."

"Would not!" Sakura contested hotly, sticking her tongue out at the cerulean-eyed girl. "What's your interpretation oh miss wise one?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ino asked with a sly smile. "They like you."

"What?!"

"Wow there, girl, pipe down," the blonde said, chuckling as Sakura slapped a hand over her lips. "And I thought you didn't want to attract any attention."

"Yeah well, you were being ridiculous," Sakura replied a tad sulkily as she removed her fingers from over her mouth to eat and retort.

The blonde shook her head, golden strands of hair sliding over her slim shoulders. "Sakura, I'm going to write that off as you not having known what the guys were like before," Ino said, twirling her fork over and over in her fingers. "Because otherwise, you've got no excuse for being so clueless about the guys around you. Really, girls are supposed to pick up on these things," she teased, taking the sting out of her admonishments.

"Look," she said as Sakura huffed her indignation, "I'll show you a little proof. Who out of the Akatsuki dorm do you think likes you least? Pick someone who isn't already here in the cafeteria with us."

Sakura twisted around in her seat to scan the tables for her housemates, noting which of them had already arrived at their usual place in the lunchroom. Kisame, Itachi, and Deidara were already there, and for a second the memories of the previous night and her kisses with the last two of the trio made her cheeks flush in a way that made Ino grin into her hand.

"Um…probably…probably Zetsu?"

"The guy with the green hair right?" the blonde asked as she, too, scanned the cafeteria's layout. "He usually comes in through the North door doesn't he; the one that connects to the field."

"Yeah…Ino where are you going with this?"

"I'm going to prove to you that even the Akatsuki member whom you think is the least affectionate with you might want to be closer to you than you think. That should at least make you consider the possibility that the others like you, right?"

The rose-haired girl considered. It probably would go a long way towards making her agree to Ino's claim. She spent less time with Zetsu than the majority of her housemates, and even Kakuzu was nicer to her than the quiet, forest-haired teen. To be honest, she wasn't sure if they were really much even in the way of friends. "Yeah, okay. I think I'd find your weird claim more plausible if you could make me think Zetsu might want to get close to me."

'But there's no way we can prove that, right?'

"You don't see Zetsu at lunch really often, do you, since you leave early with Naruto and Sasuke most of the time and Zetsu gets here late from his class on the other side of campus, right?" Ino questioned, continuing on when Sakura gave her a confirmation nod, "Well you're going to have to take this one of faith but, when Zetsu usually comes in, he usually walks down the center aisle because that's makes for the shortest distance between the door and the Akatsuki table."

"Makes sense," Sakura said, twisting around in her seat to trace the path with her verdant eyes.

"Well, I think he'll take the left aisle because it'll take him past our table," Ino postulated, tossing Sakura a confident grin.

"That's ridiculous," Sakura laughed. "Zetsu hardly goes out of his way to see me at home; what makes you think he'll do that here?"

The blonde shrugged, a knowing smile gracing her lips. "Call it a hunch."

"Right…whatever you say…"

"Hey Sakura," Ino said, a thought flashing across her devious mind so fast she couldn't even give herself pause to second-guess herself before the words were out of her mouth. "Want to make a little bet out of it?"

The rosy-headed girl raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious. "What sort of bet?" she asked warily, having had enough experience with the blonde by now to know trouble when she saw it coming.

"If what I say doesn't come true, I'll dress up as Miss Piggy for Halloween next week," Ino said magnanimously. "I'll even use that prank pig-nose Naruto was carting around yesterday."

"And if what you say does come true?" Sakura asked, wanting to know the catch straight off.

The blonde's azure eyes narrowed slyly, a devious grin curving her plump strawberries-and-champagne glossed lips. "I get to pick your Halloween costume and you have to wear it no matter what."

"Ino…"

"Are you saying you might actually believe me?" Ino goaded, still grinning. "Because you don't seem all that confident…"

"I am!" Sakura told her friend with a huff of indignation. "I'll take your bet!"

"Oh good," Ino replied with a careless laugh, "Because Zetsu's just coming in. Don't turn around!" she added, lightly smacking the other girl's wrist. "If he catches your eye he'll probably think you mean to call him over and he'll come regardless and then I won't have proved anything!"

"Ow, geez, okay you slave driver," Sakura muttered, making a face at her blonde friend. "I hope you have a Miss Piggy costume all prepared."

"Oh? What makes you think I'm going to lose?" Ino asked with another smirk, her eyes trained on Sakura. To be fair, she was avoiding Zetsu's gaze too so that there'd be no way to disparage the outcome of her little test.

"Zetsu never does things inefficiently."

"Such confidence, especially when I think you'll be wrong this time, Sakura-chan."

"I'm not wro-,"

"Hello, Sakura."

The rose-haired girl's cheeks paled as she twisted about in her seat to attempt a smile. "Hey, Zetsu…"

"I was surprised to see you here. You're usually gone by the time I get here."

"Yeah," Sakura laughed uncomfortably. "Ino-chan and I ended up getting caught up in conversation…"

The verdant-haired junior nodded in understanding. "It's good to see you."

"Good to see you too…"

Ino gave her friend a gentle smile as the rose-haired girl turned back to her, iridescent eyes perturbed. "Sakura?"

To Sakura, it felt as though there were enough butterflies in her stomach to make even the most obsessive lepidopterist satisfied. It was hard to take in, Zetsu's actions so different from what she had come to expect from the amber-eyed junior.

"See? It's not as if I don't have reason to think what I do," Ino told her kindly. "Will you believe me now that they might like you, because I know exactly what I want you to wear for Halloween…"

Ino's attempt to cheer up the rose-haired girl seated across from her fell flat as the blood drained from Sakura's face, her lips forming two words that might have expressed either her disbelief of the possibility that her housemates might harbor feelings for her, or her displeasure at the idea of submitting to whatever costume the blonde chose to make her wear for the upcoming holiday, though Ino wasn't certain which.

"No way…"

Before you ask!

No, I'm not going to be putting any NejiSaku into this. Sorry for those of you who are supporters of this pairing, this is strictly AkaSaku (I'm even curbing my considerable KakaSaku tendencies because of it =P) but rest assured that I do like the pairing and may very well write a NejiSaku on that particular vein someday.

A lepidopterist is someone who studies butterflies (if you hadn't guessed XD)

The other record I mentioned up at the beginning of this chapter is the fact that I made sure EVERY Akatsuki dorm member got a moment with Sakura this chapter! I honestly wasn't shooting for it at first…but the Hidan moment just wrote itself…and then the idea for the Zetsu moment at the end hit me…and I'd already had the SasoSaku, KiSaku friendship, and ItaSaku moments planned…and then it was really just sad if I didn't throw in the adorable DeiSaku moment and go a little into Kakuzu's thoughts about Sakura…and voila!

I may someday draw that picture of Sakura asleep between Deidara and Itachi on the roof of Akatsuki dorm…if anyone else wants to do it, please feel welcome ^^ the idea just happened to explode into my head mid-scene...and then I had to write it! I also want to draw it quite avidly...

Edit: so after I finished this all up...I actually made a sketch of several scenes in Belonging and posted them up on my dA (it's under the same name as my fanfiction account but you can just search "belonging" and they should pop up...) or, to be more accurate, two scenes: Sakura's Kisame-nii scene, and Sakura asleep between Dei and Itachi ^^ badly done but if you feel like checking them out, I won't stop you.

AND IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Because I have finals next week and will be working my butt off for them, I will sadly be unable to update Belonging until the Friday of the week after! I know, I'm sorry! But rest assured that chapter 13, which involves Halloween, will be filled with many cute fluff moments as my heartfelt apology!

And finally, Happy Birthday everyone! Tomorrow, December 5th, is Aria's (that would be me ^^) 21st birthday! I know, she's so old isn't she…no, no, don't run away! Anyway, she hopes you'll have a wonderful day, and please do drop her reviews and cookies and enjoy this gift (a day early because I have to keep on schedule XD) from her to you!