Behind

Premise: Sasori was a puppeteer, a manipulator, that's why he could see right through her the moment he met her, "Sakura, join me and the Akatsuki. We can promise you something your teammates never could…to never be left behind."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 21: Blossoms

"I'm going grocery shopping, anyone want to come?" Sakura asked as she poked her head into the living area. She smiled when she saw her four boys lounging on the couches doing nothing but being lazy. Sakura didn't know when she had started calling these particular four boys her boys, just like she had no idea when seeing them being lazy had not become weird. They still weren't totally human to her, but then again after the time that she had spent with them, she wasn't sure if she was either. "Anyone?"

"You go, yeah. I'm too tired," Deidara muttered and flickered his eyes up to her, "Why are you so excited? You should be tired too, yeah." His arms were thrown over the couch in the classic Deidara fashion and Sakura squinted to imagine him in a mundane environment, maybe in a theatre within Suna with a girl in his arms. The thought almost made her choke from laughter and she knew that her comfort with the explosives genius was going one step too far. She was being absurd.

Sakura shrugged with a grin on her face in reply to Deidara's raised eyebrow, "My muscles are sore and I feel like I'm going to topple over at any moments notice, but if I do, I just know that later on I'm going to get a giant ear full from someone about there being no food."

"Shut it."

"Oh, Kisame, thank you for volunteering to go grocery shopping with me, get ready in your…err disguise and we'll head out in about ten minutes, neh?"

"Tch, bitch." Kisame refused to open his eyes as he continued to rest the back of his head on the arm of couch with his legs thrown to the side and onto the ground.

"I won't buy you any fish if you don't come with me."

His eyes flashed open as he glared at her menacingly, "Make it five minutes before we're out the door."

"A-okay!" Sakura chirped as she disappeared back into the hall to saunter back to her bedroom and get changed for her shopping trip. Sakura groaned slightly and rubbed her arms before she shut the bedroom door behind her with a happy squeal of success.

"Very nice, now you're being manipulated by her," Itachi stated as he flipped the page in his book. He had his elbow rested on the other armrest of the couch and his head was flopped lazily in his hand. His eyes were shining with a tinge of amusement as he flipped his page once more.

Kisame's eyes narrowed, "Not manipulated, I just want my fish and it's not that bothersome to help her go shopping. Even if she did get manipulative, she only got it from your crap Itachi or even you Sasori. It was probably passed on through your saliva or something."

"Ew, don't need that image yeah. I hear enough of it already, yeah."

"Ah, my crap to be sure," Itachi dawdled still amused, "But if you knew she was manipulating you then why…"

"I don't have saliva," Sasori replied calmly.

Deidara grunted, "Yeah, thank's for stopping with the images Sasori no danna. Aren't you awesome?"

"Indeed."

"Amusing to watch her flirt with the shopkeepers to get more food. Once in a while she tries to push out her non existent breasts and wiggle around…"

"She flirts with the shopkeepers?" Sasori asked from his position on the floor close to Kisame's head while not trying to imagine what Sakura flirting with mortals would be like. The images did not please him in the least. Maybe Deidara had a point with the mental images…

"Oh please, like you didn't know," Kisame snapped and stood up from his position. He stretched out before grabbing the cloak that had been hastily thrown over the back of his sofa from the last time he had gone out into the village a week or so ago. Had Sakura dragged him out that time too? He didn't want to remember, because that would be admitting something unsightly.

Sasori merely looked up at him with a blank look before going back into his realm of thoughts. "Indeed."

"I need a good fight to get myself going again, yeah," Deidara groaned as he flung his arms over his eyes, "Why haven't we had anything to do for the past week?"

"Because everyone is spring cleaning!" Sakura chirped as she appeared behind the blond. "Your opponent is dust and your barrier is everything around you. Fight hard!"

"Awful fight, yeah." Deidara looked up with her with a small smile as she smiled back down at him. They burst out laughing before Sakura turned back to Kisame.

"You ready guppy?"

"Yah…" he replied securing the cloak around his neck and following her out of the room.

Before Kisame managed to walk out of the door Sakura had disappeared from his side and he watched as she stuck her head back into the living area, "You guys should probably have this room cleaned by the time we come back. See… if you had just agreed to go shopping with me it wouldn't have to have gone down like this, and look at that Deidara, you even got your next epic battle," Sakura grinned at the three pairs of eyes that almost glared at her and shook her head with a smile on her face.

"Go die in a hole, yeah."

"I'm kidding! I'll clean this room up when I get back okay? You guys did enough yesterday, so relax and I'll make you guys an awesome meal tonight," Sakura grinned childishly. Itachi's eyebrow twitched in amusement as Deidara's face twisted in guilty resignation.

Sakura skipped back to where Kisame was waiting for her and pulled on her shoes before opening the door. Kisame followed her into the warm sun and the warm wind. "You do realize that the room will probably be clean by the time that we come back."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the sword wielder beside her and put on her best innocent smirk. When had she stopped smiling like a normal person? "I honestly doubt it. I was shocked enough yesterday when the Akatsuki volunteered to help me spring clean. Plus they all glared at me, have you ever had three Akatsuki members glare at you before? It's freaking scary…" Her voice was all squeaky and beyond amused. Although she had gotten good at manipulation she was still horrible at lying during the aftermath.

"We normally don't clean and I normally dish out the looks, so no I don't know how scary..."

"Then why did all four of you help, hm guppy?" Sakura asked as she tilted her head up to look at him in the eyes. She was teasing him. He wanted to rip off her head, but he knew he couldn't… or wouldn't. Now he wanted to rip off his own head.

Kisame paused for a bit and searched for some sort of answer that would please her, please him and get them out of this topic of conversation. She had gotten over her fear of punching him in the arm about a month ago and he decided that as much as would have liked to take revenge with every hit she made, it amused him too much when her small fist tried to do damage to his trained arm, or at least that was what he liked to tell himself. It was a legitimate enough reason. Recently however, she had been putting chakra into her punches and though he would never, EVER admit it, his arm got sore after three hits. "You just looked so much like a freaking housemaid running around with that duster and apron that we pitied you and decided to help. Just a little bit."

Sakura laughed at his answer, "A little bit? You guys helped a lot. You didn't have to. I knew what I was getting into when I decided that that habit was going to be one of the ones that would die pretty hard."

"Whatever, what's done is freaking done and I'm never going to be doing that again."

"Aww, guppy actually cares about me!"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"You really, really care about me!"

"What kind of fucked up conclusion are you coming to now?"

"That you are an adorable little fishy although you talk with big teeth. Naw, naw, naw." Sakura made ridiculous shark impressions with her teeth as she tried to get her point across and ended with a laugh.

"I can't wait for the day in which I can kill you."

"You love me too much to kill me," Sakura stated with a smirk on her face and her finger waving around as though she were stating a well-known fact. Kisame chose to stay silent although he sneered at her beneath the hood of his cloak. Sakura just laughed at his antics as they fell into a comfortable silence.

They walked down the road as the streets began to get more and more crowded with different vendors and other shoppers that were out in the afternoon. Sakura smiled and closed her eyes allowing the wind to push her short locks of hair back and forth and around her face. It was easy following Kisame around; he was always the tallest man in the crowd. Being around Kisame was like having that big protective older brother that she never had… or maybe someone she could look up to, literally in this case, like she should have had a sensei. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I know you hated me in the beginning. Hated being the understatement of the season."

"What makes you think that I don't now?"

Sakura shrugged and let a laugh escape her lips, "I honestly don't know. Nothing makes me think anything about you. You're just too unpredictable to specifically dictate, but you didn't put up that much of a resistance when I declared that you would be the one to go shopping with me."

"It wouldn't have worked if I tried to put up any kind of a resistance anyways," Kisame hissed, "The other guys would have made me go or you would have turned into a violent banshee. Oh wait, you already are one."

"It's because you're the one that is most volatile with your emotions, uh… second maybe to banshee me I guess. Or maybe we're on the same level of emotional volatility; those three just manipulate us sometimes without even realizing it. Does it annoy you?"

Kisame blinked as he stared at her for a good long time. Sakura seemed to be lost in her thoughts so she didn't even realize the irony that she had just spouted out of her mouth. "I've gotten used to it. You have to get used to it if you plan to live around them for several years. I also revel in the knowledge that I can slice all of them in half at any time I want, even Itachi if I catch him off guard... probably, tch. But that includes you, you know."

Sakura choked on her laughter, "I've gotten used to it too, though you know I'm not one to slice people in half."

"You're one to send them flying into the next country," Kisame smirked as he watched Sakura stamp her foot down in defiance. "So bitch. Why was it that you wanted me to go shopping with you anyways? You never seriously go upon your no fish threats or your no dinner threats. Plus we should have lasted another week with all the groceries you made me carry last time."

"True, you would whine too much." Sakura stopped walking just as they passed a crowd of people.

"I do not whine woman." Kisame stopped by her side and dug his hands into the pockets of his trench coat.

Sakura laughed again and turned her eyes up to the center square of their little village, "You know, until just recently I didn't even realize that this tree was a cherry blossom tree, my namesake. For a medical nin, that's pretty pathetic, even if the flowers hadn't been in bloom. Guess I was too distracted by other issues."

"Never really cared," Kisame replied putting most of his weight on one foot and staring at the tree as though wondering if it would tell him why they were staring at it.

Sakura smiled up at the tree, "I came here at about the end of summer last year or was it the beginning? I don't quite remember anymore but by that time all of the petals had fallen and I wasn't really intent on looking around here. I had more to worry about than that."

Kisame smirked, "Like the fact that you were sent to infiltrate a criminal organization where in all likelihood you would die, be beaten, or tortured depending on what Konoha thinks of us."

"Yah, something like that, though honestly I expected us to be living in a dark cavern of some sort," Sakura laughed.

"Eh, only once in a while and never for more than two nights," Kisame replied and Sakura laughed.

She stayed standing in that one spot looking up at the cherry blossom tree whose branches were large and spanned fiercely over the patch of grass that lay beneath it. "Now that I know though, it's kind of sad."

"Sad that you aren't dead? I can understand that…" Kisame grinned, Sakura shot him a glare from the corner of her eye and he chuckled, "Why's that? Even I consider the cherry blossom tree kind of nice looking and the farthest thing from sad."

"It is 'nice looking' but I never really have loved it, not like people expect me to at least. I use its petals when I teleport because nothing else comes to mind and people expect it of me but in actuality 'I pity it' would be a better expression for my feelings."

"Pity? You pity a tree… a tree in which you are named after."

"The cherry tree, the sakura tree, is celebrated because of its beauty… over such a short life time. It blooms and then it dies with the wind. It's just a little bit tragic you know. What if you were celebrated simply because your life was going to be brief?"

"You have a point, but I wouldn't mind as long as in that short life I was fighting the good fight."

"You think so?"

"I want it to be so, but what does that have to do with grocery shopping?" Kisame asked with a twitch of his eye. He scanned the center square of the village, he wasn't the type to stand around and talk about trees.

"It has nothing to do with grocery shopping," Sakura said with a smirk, "Just thoughts that have been running through my head and everything. But I did ask you to come with me for a reason."

"Oh, the bitch always has an alternative motive."

"Oh shush," Sakura snapped, "I wanted to ask you a favor."

Kisame blinked at her and raised an eyebrow in mild disbelief, "You… are asking ME… a favor?"

"Did you not hear me the first time, guppy?"

"No, it's just that that is hard to believe bitch. Why not Sasori your boyfriend… or Deidara your best friend?"

"Don't use the word boyfriend or best friend, that sounds… weird, way too civilian," Sakura shuddered as she imagined Sasori being a boyfriend in terms of dating within a village. Shikamaru and Ino came to mind and then suddenly Ino was replaced by Deidara and Shikamaru was replaced by Sasori and Sakura cut off her train of thought as fast as she could.

"Or Itachi, you two have been pretty buddy, buddy recently..."

"Buddy, buddy?"

"Anyone would have been better than me."

Sakura shrugged as her feet started moving again. She didn't want to look at the bloomed petals of the sakura tree that stood tall and steady above her. They would be gone soon anyways; the seasons would always leave them behind. The summer, blond hair, the autumn, silver locks, the winter, ebony shades, would come and go, never minding that the petals had died along with spring. Sakura frowned, she wasn't a season like her old teammates were, she was a passing glance, and something the other seasons hadn't ever seen or wish to see. 'But I'm going to fight the good fight.' She didn't need to be a season anymore.

"Because… you're the perfect one for the job. I need someone who deals mainly in close combat, that immediately takes out Deidara, no question and I need someone who won't be in any way emotionally involved with me."

"You still have Itachi then."

"Emotionally involved in what I'm going to ask you to do and Itachi is more emotionally involved than I think Sasori will be."

"Tell me what you want me to do first."

Sakura laughed, "Oh you would be a great loan shark, I can just feel it." Sakura ignored the glare that Kisame shot her, "It's not that bad of a deal. It almost guarantees a good fight too."

"Is that so?" Kisame was undoubtedly interested, "Still state the specifics."

Sakura turned around quickly and stood in front of Kisame. Her green orbs locked with his eyes and he noticed that they were glassier than usual. They had once again frozen on the spot. "It's been nine months, my deadline for my 'mission' is in three and I know you might think that it's a little bit too early to think about this, but I've been thinking about his since the very beginning. I just need to get the reassurance that I need for what I am planning to do and that's why I'm asking you this early… I need to plan, I need to know or else I won't be able to... I'm going to have to face them and I just know they are going to put up a resistance to me not coming back."

"Your old team."

"Team 7 and whoever else are going to be with them."

"What makes you think that there will be more than just the kyuubi, Itachi's little brother and the copy-nin?"

Sakura fluttered her eyes closed, "I know my Shishou and Kakashi-sensei very well. They won't be taking any chances, especially considering what class of criminal you guys are and just how valuable Shishou made me become. They may expect all four of you to be chasing after me when I escape and considering how badly they lost the first time when it was just Team 7, they aren't going to take any chances with my recovery. Or at least I would hope…" Sakura remember Shikamaru's words and how Tsunade had disgraced her, but Sakura scanned through her memory and found that she still remembered everything that Tsunade had ever shown her. Her eyes fluttered and she relaxed, a smirk adorned her face, "No, I'm sure."

Kisame kept all emotion off his face as he watched them all pass over hers. There were things she wasn't telling them, but everyone had their little secrets. "Is that so? And you want me there to help you state your case?"

"In a sense. No need to drag everyone, but I know that I'm no match for even one of the boys on my old team much less an extra set of hands that may want to take me back."

"No match for any of Team 7?"

Sakura smirked, "Only if they come at me with full strength."

"Sounds fun, I've been itching with a rematch with the copy-nin."

"No," Sakura growled fiercely, "Team 7 is mine."

"But you just said…"

"I know what I just said, but I want you to take care of the backup team. I don't want you to kill anyone obviously, but I want you to keep them busy."

"You're going against three people, all stronger than you…"

"As I said, only if they come at me at full strength, which they won't. I'm still kidnapped little Haruno Sakura to them."

"You manage to take all of the fun out of a good fight don't you?" Kisame sneered, "But if I don't get the kyuubi, the copy nin or Itachi's little brother, what says that I will get a good fight."

"They will probably send a team from the Konoha 12… 11, whatever. I know everything about every member of the Konoha 12, their histories, their medical records, strengths, weaknesses, everything that had ever been on record for all of Konoha, I know and I can tell it all to you within the three months that we have left here. Even if Shishou doesn't send someone from the Konoha 12… three months should still be enough time," Sakura grinned.

'So that's the trump card that she's been keeping…' "That's some knowledge you have there."

Sakura continued as though he hadn't just interrupted her, "I'm no match for Naruto, Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei in a fair fight, but this battle is going to be anything but fair. They think I'm still a weakling to begin with and I'm sure even if Shishou told them differently that they will not believe her until I manage to land a hit on one of them." Sakura laughed in excitement as she continued to ramble and repeat, "And even then, Shishou only knows half of it. I've gotten a whole lot stronger since I've been here with you guys. I've finally been able to develop on my natural talents and I might even be able to make a mark on medical history of my own…"

"Right…" Kisame grinned, amused by the fact that she was getting so hyped up. He recognized the glint in her eyes. It was the same as when blood splashed and bodies fell on the battlefield.

Sakura grinned as Kisame failed to understand what she had meant by the medical jutsu, "So they will lose because they won't fight at their best. They will be too emotionally involved and that is why I ask for your help. I'm asking you to distract the others while I show my old team just who they had dared to leave behind."

"I'm a pawn in your revenge game then."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "It's not revenge. It's retribution. I will wring their lives from them with my own hands. They aren't my team anymore, I'm not part of Team 7 anymore, if I ever was in the first place."

"So you're basically asking me to take out the trash," Kisame stated, the corner of his lips twitching ever so slightly as Sakura's eyes darkened and her hands shook. He watched as Sakura sneered and dug her nails into the palms of her hands to stop the shaking.

"Not even that technically, but nonetheless it will still be a good fight, and I know just how much you like your fights guppy," Sakura stated her eyes once again glowing as the slight sheen of water disappeared on their surface, "Will you please do this for me… Kisame?"

"I'll think about it," Kisame stated with a clip in his voice as he pushed past her and towards the market. Sakura clenched her fists tightly and bit her lip hard as she turned around and watched him walk away.

"Fuck, why do all men have to be such bastards," Sakura mumbled loudly while tasting fresh blood on her tongue. 'Weak, I'm weak. I can't even talk about it without shaking… why will I always be so damn weak?' She ran up to walk beside him. She stayed silent; it would be useless to continue arguing for something that was obviously being thought upon.

Blossoms

"You better be making the fish, crab AND shrimp tonight," Kisame grinned as he opened the front door of the house for her.

Sakura smiled at him, "I wouldn't dare waste such a fish that fresh. Don't worry Mr. Guppy you'll get your food." She walked down the hall and stuck her head into the living room.

Her mouth twisted in a pleased grin as Kisame looked in right after her, "I told you it would be clean."

Sakura's eye twitched as she looked up at him, she dramatically widened her mouth, "I didn't expect this at all!"

Kisame rolled his eyes, "Anyways shut up. Akatsuki are not waking people."

"Surprising considering how early all of you guys wake up," Sakura mumbled resentfully.

"Just because you're less of a morning person and look like a mother fucking bird's nest when you wake up doesn't mean that we like to be woken up from our naps."

"Aww do you take your naps too?" Sakura taunted with a wave of her finger as she skipped down the hallway humming happily.

Kisame rolled his eyes as glanced away from the three napping shinobi in the newly cleaned living area. He followed her into the kitchen placing his bags on the counter and promptly sat down in his seat at the dining table. Sakura got right to placing everything they had bought into the cupboards and into the half full refrigerator. "So what else is going to be in this brilliant feast for us?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder and smiled brightly at him. "Lots of random stuff."

"That… in no doubt answered my question."

Sakura giggled and stuck her tongue out at him, "I'm going to be making miso soup, cabbage, onigiri, sushi, barbeque squid, something Deidara told me he liked, I have the recipe and whole bunch of other things. You just need to worry about eating it all, okay?"

"No problem there."

Sakura laughed again, "I know!" She piqued and then turned her head to look at him again, "Thank you anyways."

"Ah…"

"Are you just going to be sitting around while I cook or are you going to go take a nap as well? You deserve it."

"I'll stay."

"Okay."

Silence followed for the next two hours as Kisame watched the pink haired girl race around the kitchen preparing all of the food that she had planned for the evening. He noticed that ingredients were being pulled out that had nothing to do with the menu she had listed and smiled faintly as she made an assortment of sauces and desserts. "You know for a whore, you're cooking isn't bad."

"Well that basically just came out of no where," Sakura stated as she sliced through the fish and quickly laid the long strips in the hot oil that was sitting over the stove. She hissed when some of the oil splattered onto her arm. "You need to taste good cooking someday. Shizune was a good cook; Genma is a very lucky man. Imagine her food was like the food we had the festival but even better."

"That stuff was okay, not as good though."

"Are you actually trying to compliment me?" Sakura asked as she leaned over the counter and grinned at him. Her hand was glowing a bright green as she healed the oil burns that dotted her arms. The bright red blotches disappeared instantly as Kisame remembered the first injury that she had fixed for him.

Kisame scoffed as he took his eyes off of her hands and arms, "Don't kid yourself."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sakura replied with an amused tone of voice before she reached for a pair of chopsticks to turn the many strips of fish she had lying on the pan over. Kisame continued to watch as she methodically cut more strips of the fish and fried them to a slightly darker color than the gold of perfection.

"Before you, I had never had a home cooked meal before."

Sakura looked up at him surprised for two very distinct reasons, one that he was talking about something even slightly emotional and second that he was actually talking to her civilly. "Is that so?"

"Yah. I was born and raised to kill. Every cell in my body thirsts for blood."

"I can see where that comes from," Sakura mumbled as she recalled her constant thirst for blood while in the midst of battle. Her eyes flashed as she hummed merrily.

"I didn't have parents or any one who would cook for me."

"Most of the Akatsuki don't seem like that had very much of a past before the organization."

"I had a past."

"I meant a past that they are willing to remember."

"Ah… yah I don't really care about my past. You might think it's disgusting, but it got me to where I am today, so I don't mind it all that much."

Sakura plucked the fried fish out of the pan and settled it onto the plate, "Try one and tell me what you think before the others wake up," she said as she held the plate out to him, "And then tell me your story if you really want to."

"Are you sure you want to hear it? I don't know if your weak mind will be able to take it," Sakura scowled as he took one of the strips and dropped it into his wide open mouth, "It's very different from that of the copy-nin's. I'm sure that his morals have been ingrained into you from youth. The fish is not salty enough."

"They have, but it doesn't make me understand any less why his morals wouldn't have been ingrained into other people."

"Ah ha, yah..." Kisame snickered, "I killed everyone I was ever close to in order to protect information on a mission this once. And then I destroyed those who took away the shinobi pride from my village. A market town now, that stupid place is. It's what I get for not living in Kirigakure." Kisame was blunt, short and concise.

Sakura paused as she cleaned the first pan and prepared to make the broth for her soup, "Is that so?"

"I disgust you don't I?"

"You disgust me no more now than you did five minutes ago."

"You're being mightily understanding."

Sakura laughed as she took some tofu and stirred it into the large pot that sat in front of her, "I can't relate, not one little bit. I can't even imagine killing anyone close to me, but I can understand wanting to and then the difference between wanting and doing isn't too far. I wouldn't be here still if I didn't build up the power to understand and connect similar feelings."

"Itachi's past."

"Yah… his past even affected my life. Yours didn't, but yes I can't relate and I can't say that I approve, but I can understand. To put it another way, I can't sympathize but I can empathize, but I don't think you need or even want my empathy."

"No I don't, I'm happy that I did what I did."

"To each their own. Now taste this guppy and tell me if it's too salty!" Sakura demanded as she held out a spoon with warm broth on it. Kisame slurped up the contents and Sakura pulled back cringing with repulsion. "You can't be any more civil?"

"It's fine."

"Good," Sakura chirped. "I just need to cut up the sushi now, do you mind waking up the other guys and getting the table set up with the rice and everything?"

Kisame grunted before exiting the kitchen area. Sakura followed him with her eyes as he exited and she breathed out a sigh of relief, "Never thought I would have a heart to heart with that man…"

Some groans and even a small explosion were heard down the hall followed by a long string of loud curses. Sakura laughed loudly at the commotion as she sliced up the raw pieces of fish in front of her and placed them on the plate along with wasabi and some ginger.

Within five minutes the table was filled with three drowsy shinobi and one very annoyed one. All of the dishes were set down on the table as Sakura ran back into the kitchen to grab the rice, "You guys get started first," Sakura stated with a smile as she set down the massive bowl of rice.

She walked back into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She poked at her desserts and frowned slightly, "You should come eat too."

Sakura squeaked as she stood up and turned around quickly. Sasori was standing behind her with his arms crossed. She smiled at him kindly while shutting the door that was behind her. "I'll be there in a minute. I told you to get started first, it seems that Kisame took that suggestion whole heartedly."

"Indeed."

"You," Sakura smirked and walked up to Sasori, "Have some dust…" she reached up into his bangs, "In your hair."

Sasori crossed his eyes to inspect the piece of dirt that she had between her fingers, "I can see that."

Sakura laughed and took Sasori's hand, "Help me out okay? And then we'll all eat," Sakura chirped as she walked into the corner of the kitchen and pulled out a large tray.

"You're spoiling the giant shark," Sasori stated as he retrieved the plate of crabs from her.

"Man I knew something was missing," Kisame grinned as Sasori placed the large dish on the table. Sakura laughed and sat down beside Sasori with a bucket to throw the shells in.

Itachi was nibbling on one of the onigiri when he turned his eyes to her, "Tonight Sakura, there is a place in the forest that we would like to show you. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"Yeah, that place," Deidara grinned and nodded his head. He dropped his arm on her shoulder, "Just so you know, I was the awesome person who found the place so praise me, yeah."

"Don't lie," Itachi stated.

Deidara frowned, "You're no fun, yeah."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked as she looked around at the four men. Kisame actually looked uncomfortable for once as he went through three crabs.

"You'll see when we show it to you," Sasori stated. Sakura nodded with a tilt of her head.

Blossoms

'It has to be some sort of cosmic irony,' Sakura thought as she stood in the middle of the grove. The huge assortment of sakura trees surrounded her as the four men flocked her sides. She looked up at the bloomed flowers that were gently swaying in the wind. Some of the petals were already falling off of the branches and dancing in the wind. A couple fell into her hair and she grabbed one out of the air with her fingers. "This is beautiful," Sakura murmured gently, trying to not make any eye contact with the sword wielder. She wasn't lying, but she wasn't particularly delighted.

"We found it a while ago, the blossoms were just buds then," Itachi stated as he walked towards one of the trees and plucked a pink blossom from its branches. He twirled it slowly between his fingers. "We waited for them to bloom before showing them to you. We watched the blossoms bloom, tended to their care and now they are at their strongest and most beautiful."

Sasori had a distinctly annoyed scowl on his face as he glared at Itachi and Deidara chuckled and smacked Sasori on the back. That led to Sasori elbowing Deidara and the explosives user only laughing more. Itachi had not been looking at the blossoms when he had spoken.

"I can't believe I would have missed something like this," Sakura stated as she looked around once again. She sighed as her thoughts began to crowd her mind along with the events of just earlier that day.

Silence played around the five as the wind continued to blow over the many trees that harbored the pink blossoms. The casting light of the sunset played with all the colors of the forest making the simple scene feel so much more alive. Sakura closed her eyes as she thought about the fleeting beauty that surrounded her and took in a deep breath. She was surprised when she felt herself choke on something like a sob.

When she opened her eyes again she noticed that Sasori had strayed to the other side of the grove, sitting under one of the trees waiting for her. Itachi was still standing far away observing the one blossom in his hands and Deidara was quickly inspecting every tree while still trying to hold back a laugh. Sakura grinned and shouted with a wave as she skidded to his side and gave him a large hug, "Thank you Deidara."

Deidara only laughed more and patted her head as both Itachi's and Sasori's heads both shot up to glare at him. "Your welcome Sakura, yeah!" Sakura giggled and backed away as Deidara plopped to the ground with a grunt and laid his head down on his crossed arms.

Kisame still stood beside her, his back facing away. He only spoke when a loud gust of wind passed by, "I'll do it. Let us fight the good fight."

Sakura gave a small smile as she walked to where Sasori was waiting for her, "Thank you."

The petals on the cherry blossoms continued to fall, surrounding her in their brilliance and then they danced away with the wind, dying as they fell.

Next Time on Behind

"You mean to tell me that you woke me up, this early in the morning when we DON'T have a mission."

"We're going on a date."

"What?"

"Don't let the fact that you are courting a mastermind phase you."

"I said don't get jealous, jeez. You're such a man."

Secret's Corner

I loved this chapter to bits and pieces. Keeping Kisame and Sakura in character was a lot easier than suspected for their interaction and the adding on from the first draft was a breeze unlike the last chapter.

It is official though, this story will have about 30 chapters give or take two chapters. I can't believe that I'm more than 2/3 done, this is amazing.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to reply to most of the reviews that I got for chapter 19, that was due to the fact that all of my links expired XD. I hope you guys keep on enjoying this until the very end!