" I think love is like a prayer … something you do even though you don't have proof it will work."

Mannequin

Chapter 14

I know

His lips were soft and sweet. I started to kiss him slowly, feeling his warm breath on my lips. I can tell that he is tensed from our very close body contact. He was in a sitting position, arms held behind him for support while I sat on top of him, his lower abdomen between my legs.

I'm digging a pretty deep hole

The tip of my tongue touched his lower lip and was met by his tongue right away. My fingers unconsciously traveled from his neck to his messy hair, pushing him even closer to me. He shifted his sitting position to lean in and wrap his arms around my waist.

for myself.

Seeing the fireworks in the sky and pausing for a second probably made him think that my dare was done. But I don't think either of us wanted it to be over yet. This time, he put his hand behind my neck and pushed me back to kiss him and I gladly did.

It's too late

From behind my neck, I felt him run his fingers gently down my back, giving me goosebumps. My breasts rubbed against his chest under my bikini. His hands landed on my hips. I deepened the kiss, barely breathing for air, not even thinking about anything, or anyone around us anymore. The idea that we were doing it in the open somehow made me even want to do it more.

to change my mind now.

Sasori calmed down a bit and pulled away slowly. He gave my lips one last peck before telling me that it has been more than twenty seconds.

"I knew that," I smirked, and got off him, going back to my spot.

"Alright guys, let's continue the game," Deidara announced, handing me the bottle.

Barely over what just happened, I nodded and got up from my seat to spin it at the middle. It stopped at Pein. Everybody was pretty happy since they will get to see the leader do something crazy for a change, that is, if he doesn't take the alcohol instead. So I had to be creative.

"Pein, I dare you to ask random people if they know who you are, and not take a shot!"

Pein chuckled at this, obviously trying to keep his composure. He gracefully stood up and headed towards a big crowd close by. He asked one of the girls in the group and right away the girl nodded and went ballistic. He then said thanks then proceeded to another group of people and they said yes as well. He approached a young couple and they even asked for an autograph. He came back with a smug smile on his face and I shook my head.

The game went on until three in the morning and everybody actually got, using Hidan's words- "shitfaced". Not to mention the pills that Pein brought for all of us to take, "Ecstasy", I believe it was called. Deidara and Hidan took all four girls to their hotel room. Itachi didn't let Kisame take any girls along with them. To think about it, the bottle never stopped at Itachi. Weird. Pein carried Konan, bridal style since she was too intoxicated to walk.

Mumbling, laughing and howling in Pein's arms, Konan was awfully different than when she's sober. It is always interesting to observe attitude changes when your friends are drunk, or high. Konan turns cheerful and happy, Pein becomes arrogant and naughty, Deidara wreaks havoc, Kisame says he is manly, Hidan becomes horny, wait... he is always horny, Sasori becomes ...protective of me. Right now, he is holding me by the waist because I kept falling in my attempts to walk.

I looked away from him and hid under my hair. Secretly, I blushed and smiled.

Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?

I don't know either.

I never thought I can still feel butterflies like this.

Wait, what am I saying?

I'm falling for him?

This is not love, this is lust! I can't love!

I can't...

This is certainly not love, Sakura,

let's keep it that way. Okay?

Kissing him on New Year's Eve have never crossed my mind. Isn't that what couples do? But we aren't a couple. This situation is really screwed up.

Before I knew it, I stumbled on the floor and was on my knees again.

"That's it," Sasori sighed. "I'm carrying you back. Hop on."

I crawled towards him to climb on his back and wrapped my arms around his neck and legs around his waist. He stood up and started walking slowly. I can also tell that he was quite buzzed like everybody else. No words were said until we caught up behind Pein and Konan.

"Sakura-chan," Konan murmured between giggles then reached for something in her bra. She threw the item at me which I surprisingly caught in my hands. She giggled even louder and flashed me a smile. "You might need it!"

My eyes turned into slits as soon as I saw what was in my hands. A condom? What the-!

I threw the condom back to her. "That's!- unnecessary!" Pein chuckled at this statement. "What?"

"Sakura-san doesn't believe in no glove no love," he pat Sasori on the shoulder. "I guess that's a good thing, no?"

"Kudaranai." Sasori coolly said and headed away, towards our hotel room.

"I feel like crap," I mentioned while he was walking along the hallway to our hotel room. "I had gin and tonic, about twenty five shots of tequila, and I popped a pill."

Trying my best to hold my head up, I saw Sasori smirk. I rested my chin on his head, which he didn't seem to mind.

Aw man, his scent is to die for.

My world was spinning violently from every little move he made. There was a small lump in my throat that I can't seem to let out, and an uncomfortable warmness in my chest which felt like I can only soothe if I somehow did something crazy to distract myself.

But what?

Sasori put me down gently as he double locked the door. I stood behind him, watched his every move, and as if it had brains of its own, my lips forcibly met his. I pushed myself closer to him when he leaned on the wall. He kissed me back intensely, like he's been wanting to do this too. He lifted me once again, but this time I was in front of him, not letting go even after he laid me below him on his bed. I grabbed onto his hair as his hand caressed my breast gently from the side, and I got the hint. Arching my back, I reached for the knot and untied my bikini top. A big blush crept on my face when I saw his eyes look down at my half naked form. In my head I was curious if he liked what he saw or if he was disappointed. I closed my eyes, hoping he would stop staring already, because I was nervous and I didn't want him to know. Then I felt his warm breath on my neck as he whispered, "You're beautiful." All I could do was let out a sigh of relief.

His fingers ran through my hair, all way down to my waist while he kissed and nibbled on my neck, nearly leaving a mark. He then planted a trail of butterflies from my neck, to my jaw, my chin then my mouth and kissed me gently, blowing stimulating hot air in between our lips. I wrapped my arms around him, feeling his bare skin against mine. I moaned to feel his delicate skin on my peaks and was overwhelmed by pleasure. I ground against him to feel more of his warmth, and licked and nibbled on his bottom lip for permission to play with his tongue and he smirked at this before letting me. I tangled my fingers with his and guided it towards the knot that bound what was left of my swimsuit. He tugged on the string slowly and right before untying it, he suddenly jolted up.

Sitting straight, away from me he looked at the ceiling. "This is not right. Not when we're drunk."

I let out an exasperated moan, half conscious of what I was doing, and crawled over to him. Obviously I wanted more and he was ruining the mood. Shrugging off what he just said, I wrapped my arms around his neck only to be gently put down by his own. I pouted.

A shirt was thrown at me. "Here, wear that," he said while slipping on a shirt himself. I frowned, but put it on nonetheless.

"Sasori-kun," I squeaked.

"Hm?"

"Cuddle?," with twinkling eyes I bargained.

He half-smiled. "Sure."

The best way to wake is when you do so in you own terms. There was no alarm clock to wake us up, no Deidara or Konan to barge into our room, and the curtains kept the room as dark as night. The lack of warmth next to me was the only thing that bothered my sleep.

I stretched and squinted my eyes as soon as Sasori slid the curtain to unveil the bright Iwagakure sun. He held a cup of water in his hand while the other rubbed his eye. His hair was messier than usual, his white shirt was wrinkly, and his shorts were the same as yesterday's.

He looked over to my direction and approached me, handing over the cup. I took it in my hands and smiled at him. "Ohayo, Sasorikk..."

-Why do I have the biggest urge to call him Sasori-kun?

"Good morning," he said coolly. "You hungry?"

I nodded and pouted. "And thirsty and I have a huge headache!"

"It's already two in the afternoon. Everybody is probably still asleep or left without us," he said, more to himself than to me.

I just stared at him because I didn't know what to do or say. All that I could do was notice the tint of his slightly parted lips.

"Wanna go out?"

His question took me by surprise. Go out? What?

He noticed the astonished expression on my face and averted his gaze. "Go out to eat."

With this, my breath resumed to normal, but somehow I felt like something pricked my chest. I nodded and smiled at him, trying to conceal my stupid thoughts.

There were a lot of formally dressed people in the restaurant he took me to. I looked down to what I was wearing- a white halter neck mini dress- and inevitably felt conscious. "Sasori-kun, I'm not.. dressed properly...", I said while he was pulling out a seat for me.

"What was that?" he said from above me with a crooked smile.

I sighed. Wasn't he paying attention? "Um... I think I'm not quite dressed for this fancy restaurant."

"No, before that," he said, seating himself. He rested an elbow on the table and leaned his head on his palm, widening his grin. I definitely can't deny the fact that he looked gorgeous with that smile.

"Wha-what do you mean?," feeling the pressure of his gaze I stuttered. "Sasori?"

He raised a brow. "Eh? I know it was there somewhere just a short while ago," he sighed. "I guess I was just imagining things. How unfortunate."

"What was there?" Now it was my turn to raise a brow. I have no idea what he is saying? What DID I say earlier?.. err...

"Good afternoon, have we decided on what we're having today?", the waiter cut off my trance. Sasori slammed his menu shut and nodded. "Alright sir what would your order be?"

I scurried through the rather intricate pictures of food on the menu, nothing at all looked familiar to me, they were colorful and served in very small quantities. The prices were the opposite! The less the food the more it cost! Their chef must be a psychopath! What the hell-

"I'll have the Hot & Cold Trout Roe Tempura, for the entree, Oysters with Smoked Iberian Pancetta and the Pistachio Truffle for dessert," Sasori declared casually.

The waiter gave me a look and then I bit my lip. "Same as his please!," I smiled smugly to him then waiter-san finally walked away. Well played, Sakura! Well played!

It didn't take so long until the food came. It was surprisingly delicious despite its outrageous appearance. Throughout the meal, Sasori would look over to my plate to check how I liked the food and to show me how to eat it. I would feel anxious when he would, because I didn't want to look dumb in front of him. Though I'm pretty sure he understood that it's my first time eating "molecular gastronomic" food.

Still nobody brought up what happened to us last night. It was like it meant nothing. Like it was a dream.

However we both know at the back of our minds exactly what happened.

"That was an awesome meal! I didn't know that there was food like that! I mean it looks like something but it tastes like something else! It's hard to explain!" Our mood was definitely lightened up by the wonderful lunch that we just had. We walked out of the restaurant and headed to the boardwalk. "What now?"

"I don't know," he simply said before slipping his credit card back inside his wallet. Oh man. He looks adorable when he's looking down.

Wait- how did he know about this restaurant and its weird dishes anyways? And how did he just pay for all that! The bill must have been … sky- high!

Talking about sky-high...

"Neh, Sasori!," I poked his side.

He turned his head to me. "Yeah?"

"Wanna ride the Superskyrise?", I smiled, looking excited, hoping it would convince him.

He put his hands in his pockets and continued walking.

"No."

I stomped my feet like a kid. "Why not! It's our last day here in Iwagakure, come on!"

"Yeah come on Sasori, loosen up and have some fun will ya? Hmm!", a familiar voice yelled from nearby.

I gasped to see the whole gang following behind us. "Deidara, guys! You were here?"

"Yeah, we didn't want to miss out on the last day of our vacation," Konan came up to give me a hug.

Deidara tilted his head to the side and focused his visible eye at Sasori. "So, what do you say? Don't be a chicken!"

"Who are you calling a chicken?" He raised a brow.

Being outnumbered, Sasori had to come along and ride the two hundred feet high thrill ride with all of us. After that, we went to the bumper cars, the arcade and played some parlor games. Most of the time, he, Itachi and Pein would just watch everybody else play.

Hidan, being the meathead that he is, dragged everybody over to the haunted house, bragging about how he was not scared of ungodly things and such. The band members agreed on going in and I wasn't so thrilled about the idea but nonetheless followed along.

We walked into the dark place altogether. It was pitch black so I couldn't see a thing, I felt helpless and nervous, even though I knew that it was merely a circus attraction- a box painted black from the inside with scary mannequins and special effects. Suddenly, a loud bang was heard and people screamed. I almost felt my heart fall from my chest. All I wanted was for it to end already.

Where is that darn exit anyways!

I trudged towards a flashing white light, then I finally caught up with the gang. They didn't seem scared at all! If anything they were amused! Freaking psychos! So I had to tough it out as well. I clutched onto my chest and gathered whats left of my strength and walked forward.

"You can hold on to my shirt little girl," Sasori took my wrist and guided it to the back of his shirt. I squeezed it with all my might and followed behind.

We reached an intersection and a masked man with a chainsaw approached us from behind, picking up his pace and he started running. Sasori didn't run and just stared at the man. I tugged on his shirt and pouted, just then he walked faster.

We lost all the other Akatsuki members probably because we were split up by that intersection. Sasori and I were now inside what looked like a hospital hallway. There were bloody nurses and creepy looking people with weapons all over the place. I don't know when this started but I was now grabbing Sasori's arm really hard that it turned white.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, attempting to cover my face and hide somehow. We kept walking into this dark hallway and then we reached a dead end. Slowly a glowing little girl walked out of the darkness. She had her back turned towards us. She walked backwards and closer to us and slowly turned around. I screamed my lungs out when I saw her reveal the big hole on her stomach and guts coming out of it, and that psychotic smile...

"Ah, I can feel your heart pounding little girl," Sasori chuckled. How dare you make fun of me right now! I'm about to die of a stroke!

"Just because you're heartless doesn't mean you can make fun of me!," I hissed and punched his arm.

He teasingly stepped away from me. I quickly captured his arm and leaned right back. "I'm kidding I'm kidding, you have a heart!"

You definitely have a heart.

By the time that we got out of the haunted house, Sasori distanced himself from me, causing my hold to loosen and eventually let go.

There's that feeling again. Am I disappointed?

But why should I be?

"Wasn't that fun? I told you guys, nothing can scare me as long as I have this!," Hidan bragged, swinging his rosary up in the air. Konan chuckled at this. "You're such an extremist!"

A group of three girls went rushing towards us, holding cameras and pens. They looked like they were about the same age group as me. Their bright, undersized swimsuits stood out from their overly tanned skin and bleached hair and they looked like their boobs were fake. I mentally stuck my tongue out. Ugh.

The tallest one, with the most makeup on approached Hidan. Flirtatiously, she asked him for a photo and he gladly posed for the camera. She gave him a peck on the cheek and he gave her his number afterward. I shook my head in amusement. Then, the chubby one went up to Itachi. She seemed slightly intimidated by him but nevertheless she went ahead and asked him for a photo and an autograph. Itachi nodded politely and kept his poker face all throughout like the badass that he was. The girl was really happy.

"Um, excuse me," the last girl came up to Sasori. She flashed him a cute smile. "I really like the way that you play guitar, and I think the songs that you write are really impressive and meaningful."

I eyed her from head to toe, noticing every single feature. She had wavy, dark blonde hair, down to her lower back. Her blue eyes were radiant and her cheeks were pink. She had long, thick eyelashes and a shiny pink gloss on her lips. Her peach-colored bikini was barely covering her tan skin. Her nails were perfectly done, she had small feet and great posture. She was wearing an anklet and a bracelet made of wooden beads.

Ugh, why am I doing this anyway. Who cares if she's prettier than me?

I rolled my eyes.

"Thank you," Sasori smiled back. "I'm glad to hear that."

My jaw dropped open, but I shut it back right away before anyone noticed. Steam was coming out of my nose. I crossed my arms and tilted and rested my body on one side to try to calm myself down.

Someone's jealous.

Shut up! I'm not!

Why should I even be? Who cares!

I can't help but look back at them and see what they were talking about. The barbie girl stepped even closer to him. "You see, I play guitar too."

Sasori nodded in acknowledgment. "That's nice."

"Can you do me a favor? Please take a photo with me," the skank swayed her body around seductively while showing off the camera in between her double D-cup boobs.

"Sure," Sasori answered calmly. She looked around like she was looking for somebody. I guess her other barbie friends were too busy hitting on the band members so she looked at me.

"Hey, is it okay if you took a photo of us?," she asked ever so sweetly. I just stood there, trying to keep my composure intact. "Hello?," she tilted her head.

"Sure," I twitched an eyebrow and straightened my stance. She handed me her candy pink camera and ran over to Sasori's side.

I had to stop myself from crushing the device in pieces when the butter face posed. She wrapped her arms around him like they were close friends! And he was still smiling?

How can Sasori let this happen? Doesn't he know anything about, well you know, PERSONAL SPACE? CHA-NAROU!

After the damn picture she bowed and thanked me for my time. I flashed her a fake smile.

"Oh, Sasori," she said so innocently. She flipped her hair and twirled it. "By the way how long are you and your band going to be here? We are having a party tonight at my town house, it's just nearby-"

"Sorry," Sasori cut her off as he drew closer to me. He suddenly pulled me against him and wrapped his arm around my waist. My eyes widened as I grew speechless. He continued. "I have plans with my girlfriend."

Her face instantly turned pale. From the looks of it, she felt like she made a fool out of herself. "Umm, well I guess she can come too! Anyways," she turned to her friends and gave them some sort of hand signal, "...we gotta go, thanks again!"

And with that, the botox girls finally went away. I let out a sigh of relief and inhaled a big amount of fresh air.

While looking up at the sky I saw the beautiful sky glider chairs. They were chair lifts that slowly traveled across the whole beach boardwalk about a hundred feet high up tied on a steel cable, kind of like the seats that you take when you go skiing.

"Hey guys, I'm going to ride the sky gliders," I announced before heading to the ride. I didn't bother waiting for anybody to see me knowing that there was heat rushing to my face. Damnit. Why am I pissed?

"Ooh," I heard Kisame chortle. "Someone got jealous."

The ride attendant assisted me to a seat and before I was able to fasten my seatbelt, another person squeezed in beside me. I snapped my head to the side to see who it was. I was hoping that I could let out steam by myself, but this person, whoever it was, just ruined it!

"It's a double, isn't it? What are you glaring me at for?," Sasori teased, fastening the seat belt himself. I puffed up my chest, looked the other way and tried to ignore him. The glider traveled fairly slow, which made me frown. The chairlift drifted higher, making me realize that I really was stuck with him throughout the long ride unless I went for another suicidal attempt.

The beautiful view of the beach and boardwalk from above distracted me from my anger. The people looked like ants walking in different directions. I peered over the distance to see the tangerine sun sinking slowly into the murky water. It was breathtaking, and not something that I get to see everyday. The sky was an array of colors, pink orange and yellow. The sound of the wind was like music that I cannot understand. Sasori's voice somehow woke me from my daze. It was then that I realized that we were about halfway through the ride.

"If it was about what I told the girl earlier, I'm sorry," he said, not meeting my gaze. "She was persistent."

I adjusted myself to sit comfortably. "Don't worry about it, I'm not mad about that."

"Then what are you upset about?," he sat closer, watching my every move.

Honestly, I don't know why I am pissed myself. I don't know what to say.

Just admit it Sakura, you were jealous!

Why should it be right to be possessive of somebody who isn't your boyfriend?

Because you like him? It might not be right but that is still the case isn't it?

"No-nothing", I shrugged and sighed. "I'm alright."

He smiled that genuine smile. "No you're not," his smile transformed into a smirk. "Let me make it up to you."

Slowly, he took my head and pushed it down to lean on his shoulder. I glared at him before giving in. He probably noticed that I was getting a little scared of how high we were traveling in the air that my knuckles turned white from the tight grip I had on the metal bars of the chair.

He then pat my shoulder and rested his hand there. "Feel better?"

There was an awkward moment of silence between us two. I came to the realization that I do feel safe in his arms, and that even if I denied it, I have grown an attachment to this guy. However, I wasn't sure if it was a good thing. Because...

I decided to break the silence. "You should stop it."

"Hmm?"

"Being... so nice... to me," I stumbled upon my words.

He moved his ear closer, making his head touch my own. "What do you mean?"

"I...," I paused.

"...

...I like you."