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NEETRUOF RETPAHC

Sakura briskly walked to the front of the school, ready to just hop on her motorcycle and leave. Get away for a bit, come back at night before the sun rose. But, she couldn't. She couldn't do that as an assassin. If she was needed, she had to be there.

Sakura sighed, changing her direction to the front doors and the principal's office behind them. She slipped inside and nodded at Shizune before going up and knocking lightly on Tsunade's door.

"Come in!"

Sakura opened the door to see Tsunade leaned back in her chair, feet on the desk, looking over a paper.

"What's up, kiddo?" Tsunade asked, sliding her feet off the desk.

"Tsunade, I need to leave for a while," Sakura said, plopping down in an empty seat. "Things are kind of brewing up and I have to do something to get my mind off everything."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, looking at Sakura. "Things aren't getting too bad, are they? Do we need to leave again?"

Sakura clenched her eyes closed, as though hit, when leaving was suggested. "No, I don't think we need to."

At least not yet, Sakura thought sadly.

"Well," Tsunade began, "We could have you scout out around where the hideout is, find the border of the genjutsu to the east. When it was being scouted out, a chakra was detected and they retreated. Do you want to go check it out? School won't be out for about another hour or two, so do you want to wait?"

"No," Sakura answered immediately. "I'll go now."

Tsunade shrugged. "Okay, whatever you want."

Sakura stood up, walking out of the office and into another room to change into her gear. Once she had it on, she felt different. Lighter, freer. She walked over to the window in the room, pulling it open and jumping out. The moment she touched the ground, she took off, racing towards the trees that would cover her. Sakura let out a small breath as she fell in between the trunks and their covering branches, before climbing up a tree, so she could jump through the branches and leave fewer footprints in the marshy ground. The forest behind the school connected to the one in the park, so Sakura just took it easy, occupying herself with the sounds of wildlife, and with adjusting all her gear.

It didn't take her long. She was trained in speed as an assassin, and soon she sensed the genjutsu when she was about ten feet away. Sakura stopped, still amazed at it. It was large, big, huge, and mostly a genjutsu that size would be able to be detected probably, oh, well, over in Water Country. But no, you had to be close to this one, real close, to detect it. Amazing.

Sakura pulled out a notepad that had a copy of the border taken so far. Walking around carrying it, she felt like one of those guys that just walk around everyone's yards to check their gas or electric meters. But this concerned murderous enemies that were probably trying to take over the world, not how high their electric meter is. Though she might check that as well.

Sakura tried to stay hidden, because even though their actual hideout was probably far in the territory, someone was probably still patrolling. Luckily, no one would be able to sense her chakra through the genjutsu, so as long as they didn't see her it would be okay.

"How long does this go?" Sakura muttered.

She was already coming to the end of the paper! Surely the trees would start thinning out soon, too, and she doubted the genjutsu would go too far near civilization in case any villagers wandered in. but it was still in pretty deep, no one would come this far into the forest, so surely that wasn't a little boy right there-

Sakura froze.

Up ahead was a little boy, probably about seven or eight, holding a leash without a dog. Tears were in his eyes as he looked around, calling out to his dog. He was walking forward, straight towards the genjutsu.

Sakura didn't have time to think and burst out of her hiding place, snatching the boy up just as he was about to step ahead. She hopped into a nearby tree and took off, hoping no one saw her.

But she hadn't missed the arm that had swung out to grab them.

Sakura touched her hand to the little boy's head, soothing him with chakra, making him fall asleep. She had no clue where he belonged, so she decided to take him back to Tsunade's office, since school was out now. When she suddenly landed on her windowsill, Tsunade jumped, spinning around.

"Sakura, why'd you sneak up on me?" Tsunade asked, eyes narrowed, until she saw the boy. "Who's this?"

"I found him wandering in the woods, searching for his lost dog. He almost wandered past the genjutsu, which is why he's here."

"Well, at least he's okay," Tsunade said.

"Yeah, but," Sakura started, "Someone saw me. Just as I grabbed the boy before he walked past the genjutsu, an arm swung out to grab us."

"Great," Tsunade groaned. "Now they know that we know about their hideout."

"But they already knew," Sakura pointed out. "They lured me towards it with that bird while I was in the park."

"That is true," Tsunade said, and was quiet for a moment as she thought. "Well, for now, you need to take that boy home. While you change I'll have Shizune wake him up and remove the memory of what just happened."

Sakura nodded, walking into the same room she changed in earlier. She only put on jeans, converses, and her black jacket, in a weak attempt to keep the look, but she mainly didn't want to scare the boy. When she came out, he was standing by Shizune, looking worried.

"Here's Sakura," Shizune said, pushing the boy forward. "She's here to take you home."

Sakura offered he hand, smiling at the boy. He took it, and she led him outside the office. She bent down to his level, giving him another smile.

"What's your name?" she asked.

He sniffled before saying, "Maru."

"Okay then, Maru, where do you live?"

"O-over by the candy store," he said. "But what happened?"

"Well," Sakura began, quickly making it up in her head, "You were out looking for your dog in the woods and stumbled out behind the school, but you hit your head. I had just come out of school and saw you, so I brought you in to the nurse. Now you're all better!"

"Thank you, Sakura!" the little boy said, giving a shy smile. He easily accepted the make-shift story.

"Now, let's take you home," Sakura said, offering him her hand. He took it and she led him out of the school.

"She's crazy," Deidara stated.

Him, Gaara, and Sasuke were all heading to Sasuke's house to hang out. They had all been put in detention after being found at the football stadium during school hours, and decided to hang out afterwards. They hadn't expected to witness what had happened.

"I don't understand Sakura," Sasuke said. "She mean, she's nice, then she's mean again, now she's nice again? But only to lost little boys?"

"Her secrets are so annoying," Gaara said. He stopped talking as they crossed a slightly busy road before resuming. "If she told us about what's going on then we could help and everything would be okay."

"But…. What if we can't really help?" Deidara asked.

"We could still try," Sasuke pointed out.

"That's true, and we should-" Deidara stopped suddenly. "Holy crap. Sasuke, that is not your house, is it?"

Sasuke looked over at the large house, the pool, the go-karts in the backyard, the gardener tending to the flowers, and the fancy cars in the driveway.

"Technically, it's my dad's," Sasuke said with a grin, and pushed open the front gate.

"Do you have a bunch of servants?" Deidara asked, eyeing the gardener who waved politely to the boys.

"Oh, no," Sasuke replied with a laugh. "We only have a gardener since, you know, my mom's not here to take care of the flowers anymore."

"Oh," Deidara said, and they walked inside.

"I think Sasuke just wanted to show off," Gaara said teasingly.

"Wait until you see my room," Sasuke replied with a grin, leading them up the stairs.

Deidara followed behind the other two, looking around. It was a pretty fancy house, especially on the inside. He'd never been in one before and it was almost…. Unnerving. It wasn't his usual habitat. The fancy house actually kind of reminded him of-

Deidara stopped. It was weird, you know, that he'd think of his mom right now. He hadn't thought about her in so long. He guessed that it was probably because this was the type of stuff she liked but could never have.

"Deidara?"

Deidara looked up to see Gaara and Sasuke standing at the top of the stairs.

"Are you… okay?" Sasuke asked.

Deidara slowly shook his head as if it would clear his mind. "Yeah…. Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about the past."

"…. how does Sakura know?" Gaara asked. "How does she know about your past?"

"I told her," Deidara replied.

"When?"

"A while back," Deidara replied simply, walking past them, into Sasuke's room. He didn't want to tell them about how she had stayed at his house and that whole other episode that had happened that night.

"When?" Gaara asked again, following him.

"A while back," Deidara repeated.

"Why won't you tell me?" Gaara said, narrowing his eyes.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" Deidara shot back.

"Because I was wondering when you had enough time with her to tell her your whole past, and why you guys weren't fighting the whole time!"

"We don't always fight!" Deidara said indignantly, spinning around. Why in the world would he fight with the girl that he had-

Wait…

What did he have?

Fe?

Fee?

Feel….

Feelings?

For her?

Deidara was still having a little trouble processing that thought.

"When?" Gaara repeated.

"When she was over at my house, geez!" Deidara said in exasperation.

"She was over at your house?" Sasuke asked in surprise. He had been quiet up until now. "But don't you live alone?"

"I wouldn't do anything-" Deidara began, but then he caught the look on Gaara's face.

"Don't you dare to do anything to her ever," Gaara threatened with a calm look now on his face.

Deidara glared at Gaara. "Why are you being so protective of her?"

"Why are so concerned about how I feel about her?" Gaara shot back. He looked Deidara in the eye. "You like her, don't you?"

Deidara stiffened. "You definitely do! That's why you're being so overprotective!"

Deidara and Gaara stood there, staring each other down, while Sasuke just stood there awkwardly.

o.O.0.O.o

I'm so sorry it's so short! I'd made it longer, but, I can't continue until I know which pairing it's gonna be.

I'm gonna leave the poll up to vote for GaaSaku or DeiSaku until SATURDAY, as in this Saturday, July 2nd.

After that, it will be decided and I can write the next chapter!

Oh, and

READ AND REVIEW! :D