Stupid With Love

The first time Sakura had ever been to Suna she'd hardly had time to consider how run down it looked or how empty the streets had been-which could have been viewed as a by-product of a recent attack. But in the years that followed, the rare ventures that brought her through the gates made clear that much of the woes Suna faced were funding related. Money couldn't buy happiness but a lack of it could cause despair and disrepair.

'That being said…' Sakura thought that time and a good deal of money had done wonders for Sunagakure. The buildings would always look scuffed up on the outside thanks to the abrating winds Kaze No Kuni was famous for but the streets weren't as empty and there was more color than she could recall from the last time she visited. The shopping districts bustled with imports that they never had a hope of seeing in the past, brightly colored banners and cloth assaulted her eyes in the busier districts but above all else, the people didn't seem like the weight of the world was about to come crashing over their heads at any moment.

It was nice. There was just one teeny, tiny problem. 'Their economic boom means they have a little more money for things like say...renovating guest housing,' and right when Sakura was due for a long stay.

Don't worry, Gaara had said pleasantly after Sasori had escorted her to the Kazekage's office. We've already arranged appropriate accommodations for you. You might as well be family, therefore you should be treated as such.

In the spirit of being treated like family Sakura would be staying on the swath of property owned by the Kazekage Clan. It wasn't nearly as big as the Uchiha compound, they had less bodies to house but that just meant it was far more intimate. There were apparently three habitable houses on the premises, the first being where Gaara and his siblings had lived their whole lives, the second where Chiyo and Ebizō had moved in together and the third where Sasori had taken ownership of his childhood home.

Before she'd even arrived it'd been decided that since Sasori had the most free space it was only logical that Sakura stay with him. It wasn't unheard of, having to room with a client or in the company of local Shinobi when one stayed over in a foreign village-though the reason for that was typically mistrust and a desire to keep an eye on external entities. Sakura liked to think that wasn't the case in her current situation.

'Still, I thought Sasori wouldn't want to share his home with…' They weren't strangers. '...anyone,' she finished the thought.

Sasori had always seemed like the type of man who liked his solitude, the people whose company he kept the most were often those he just couldn't get rid of. Family, that blond guy Iwagakure had sent over in the hopes of improving relationships between the two villages. Although Temari has once whispered that it was more like they wanted to pawn off an absolute menace and make him someone else's problem for a while. In her letters Chiyo had outright called it an attempt at inter-village sabotage or something to that effect.

Without thinking Sakura found herself looking for rare splotches of greenery amidst all the earthen toned buildings. Cacti were a given and plenty of houses had them in brightly decorated pots, sat near entryways or on window sills. Occasionally there were desert roses with stocky, twisted trunks that reminded her of the bonsai Yamato liked to keep.

The further the two of them moved from the closely cloistered streets in which the buildings had been designed to let heavy shadows fall over passerbyers, the bigger the plants became like acacia trees with sharp thorns and date palms. At the point when they crossed into the area that marked the beginning of where the Kazekage clan retained property there were massive sprawling plants with silver-green leaves and dark purple flowers. Sakura paused to admire them and the faint scent they gave off when the wind hit them right. It was a type of sage if she recalled correctly.

Sasori had stopped just over the threshold of the wide stucco archway. "I suppose I should mention there is a private greenhouse on the premises...use it as you wish." he trusted her enough to give her free range of the facility.

"Oh, thank you." As it was the only other structure Sakura knew of was the one attached to the hospital and it had been tightly controlled the last time she had needed use of it. Everything taken was catalogued, who had used it and what for. 'It takes a lot of water resources and intense work to get some of those plants to grow.' and she could hardly think of a place that had round the clock plant-tenders on hand. He started moving again and Sakura took that as her cue to follow.

"If you follow the path straight you'll hit the main residence where those three reside, to the right, that old hag and her brother." The homes were not particularly far apart, like the segmented pieces of one massive house sharing a courtyard. Sasori came to a stop in front of a door.

Sakura was instantly distracted by the bright yellow flowers clustered by it. 'And you know, the genjutsu.' She could feel it disorienting the view and for a moment she wondered if the plants were a part of it. "Kai." pressing her hands into the seal did not make the blooms disappear but their color went from a distracting shade of yellow to a deep maroon. The haziness she'd been experiencing faded.

"Good." Sasori was standing in the open door already.

"You could have warned me." Sakura huffed, because whatever the Genjutsu had been made to do left her head aching.

"You're proficient in Genjutsu, I simply had faith you would notice on your own-which you did." Sasori grabbed her by the wrist. "Come along, you don't start work for another day but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to do in the meantime," he pulled her through the door and shut it behind them. "My workshop and lab are downstairs,If I'm not inside it's locked...if I am inside you should knock," for a variety of reasons, he certainly didn't want some mechanism he was fiddling with to misfire and catch her in the eye even if she could repair the damage.

Stripping off his sandals Sasori set them on the rack by the door before donning his house slippers. "Those are yours." he gestured to the white pair standing by. "The kitchen is in that direction, use what you like but do try and keep it clean and orderly."

Sakura flinched. "You don't really have to worry about that. I can't cook." The last part was mumbled under her breath, meant to be unintelligible.

"You can't cook?" He echoed but this time there was amusement in his eyes. "But you can craft complex antidotes...and rudimentary poisons from what I hear."

"Hey! They aren't rudimentary…I just prefer to focus on other areas." Sakura crossed her arms, tapping a slipper covered foot in a way that made his eyes focus on her slim ankle. "And that's completely different then making a meal."

"Strange, I find the process to be much the same." Sasori's head canted to the side thoughtfully. "I'll make sure to prepare enough for both of us." he said, hand pressing against her waist to guide her along. The foyer and living room spoke for themselves, the kitchen and attached dining room were accessed through one of the round doorways that were indicative of Suna's style.

As bare and austere as the houses tended to be on the outside, Sasori's seemed determined to make up for it on the inside. Overlying the stucco walls were intricately carved wooden panels decorating the walls like lattice, pieces so delicate they seemed more like bits of ornamental lace then they did creations carved from hard material.

Sakura was guided to the second floor of the building without much preamble. The one thing she noted was that the house was immaculate. 'He must spend a lot of time trying to keep the sand and dirt out.' Because she couldn't spot a speck of dirt. Sasori's room was at the very end of the hall, hers apparently across from the hallway bathroom that was designated for her use. There was another door that was apparently to an empty room that had yet to find a use and a set of steps that led to an attic and the roof.

In all it was way bigger than her parents house which was basically a townhouse in one of the shopping districts of Konoha. 'Then again my parents didn't come from prestigious families.' And they had retired from Shinobi life shortly before she'd been born to run a herbal shop that Sakura never took much interest in until after she'd begun apprenticing under Tsunade.

"Take a shower, take a nap." Sasori advised, taking in her haggard appearance. "You have all of tomorrow to unpack and run errands before you start work. I'll wake you when dinner is done."

Sasori's suggestions always had a way of sounding like orders, whether from their lack of tonal inflection or the succinct wording he employed. 'Of course it could also be that he's gotten used to giving commands.' Sakura thought, dropping her travel bag on the floor of her new room with a muffled thump. Most of her things were sealed in scrolls but she had a few changes of clothes and toiletries handy. 'And I honestly cannot wait to be clean.' Her skin felt gritty, salty and it stung just a little which really served to prove that she'd been too long in the elements.. She had a good idea of how she looked and it wasn't her best.

Sakura took a moment to admire the space though it lacked many personal touches; the bed linens were crisp and white and there was a deep red carpet overlaying the wooden floor. One glance at it and she could make out desert addaxes and lions lost among scrawling floral vines. 'Cute.' She had to tear her eyes away from studying the finer details to gather what she needed.

Towels had been left in the bathroom, which like the rest of the house, was immaculate. 'I can barely keep an apartment clean and it's only like...three rooms and a balcony.' She missed her plants. Pointedly ignoring her reflection because looking would only make her cinge, Sakura dumped her dirty clothes into the empty hamper and reminded herself to ask Sasori where she could wash clothes later. 'That at least is one of the chores I excel in.'

The first drops of water against her skin made her flinch. 'Definitely some sunburn going on...or windburn.' Her arms were pink. 'And that's what you get for wearing no sleeves in a desert.' Sakura chided herself, though she still found herself perpetually puzzled at how the rest of the people she knew from Suna managed to stay so pale and unphased by the lack of cover. 'With the exception of Kankurō, he's at least covered from head to almost toe.' Sakura mused and gingerly washed away her travels with soap under the steady stream of water.

Damp haired and dressed in cleaner clothes Sakura fell asleep on top the covers almost as soon as she hit them but not so soon that she didn't think of Sasuke. 'If everything goes well he'll be back in Konoha in less than three months.' It was a little petty of her but she sort of wished he encountered every minor inconvenience possible on his escort mission. 'Rain, sleet, mud...lots of mud.' And that the client was super annoying.

The question as to what Sasuke was going to do when he came home and she wasn't there had been going through her mind since Sakura left home. 'If these three months come and go and there is no word from him...isn't that a sign that things are over?' How much longer was she willing to wait for Sasuke to get things together, another two years? 'If I keep letting things go nothing will change…' And before Sakura knew it she'd be thirty and forever alone. 'That's just not going to happen.'

That was the one thing Sakura was absolutely certain of when she fell asleep.

Given her profession she had been trained from an early age to simultaneously sleep anywhere and wake up at anything, which was why she was honestly surprised to find she hadn't stirred when Sasori opened her bedroom door, nor when he'd walked inside. No, what broke her slumber in the end was the feel of his fingers perusing her cheek, sliding a few strands of hair off her face.

"Dinner is done."

Sakura blinked a few times into the gloom. "How long did I sleep?" Had it been so deep she hadn't heard him at the door, felt when he stood over her bed? Maybe that was just the difference between her and someone with his experience, though she wondered where exactly her skill level fell when compared to Sasori's.

"Long enough, come along Little Girl."

It had been a very long time since Sakura had felt it but having chakra strings cast over her body was not an easily forgotten sensation. If one strained against them or if the puppeteer was less than fluid in their craft one could be left with pretty sore muscles afterwards. 'Or if you're inexperienced and not sure how to give yourself into the movements at first…' Chiyo's aid years ago had been indispensable but in the aftermath Sakura's body had been left feeling stiff for a variety of reasons.

Sasori's back was to her but she could see his fingers twitch and felt her limbs move to comply. "That's just not fair!" Sakura complained as she followed the pull. 'What a dirty trick.'

One glance over his shoulder told her all she needed to know. Sasori just found the complaints amusing even though he let the threads disperse as soon as she was on her feet and moving. "You give control so easily." The way the words flowed from his lips almost made Sakura stumble. Low-toned, there was something almost appreciative in the way he was looking at her head tilted to the side and neck craned to watch her.

Nibbling at her lip as she searched the floor for her slippers Sakura supposed it came down to trust. "I learned from your grandmother it's better not to struggle." Though by the end she had mostly been moving unassisted the beginning had taken some getting used to. Her mind wanted her body to move one way but Chiyo's strings pulled her another.

"A shame I wasn't there for that." Sasori was down the staircase with smooth grace that seemed more like gliding than stepping.

'Show off.' Sakura humphed, it wasn't as though she was clumsy or anything-far from it but Sasori was like fluid all while seeming careless."You only missed what was arguably the more terrifying moments of my life besides, you did have a responsibility to keep this village stable." That fight fell right below the one and only time she'd had to resort to the Yin seal after some mercenary did his best to bisect her torso around the age of 18. "Speaking of which I do have a question…"

If the smell of his kitchen was anything to go by Sasori could definitely cook but Sakura found herself blinking briefly at the chair he'd pulled out to indicate where she should sit. "What exactly does a retired Kage do?" She questioned, finishing her query as she slid into the seat.

"Abdicated." Sasori corrected, because retired made it sound as if he were old and incompetant and that was about as far from the truth as things got. "And whatever he chooses." The neck of Sakura's oversized shirt was slipping down her shoulder, showing a difference in color between what had been recently exposed to the sun and what hadn't. Sasori's gaze followed over the line of her clavicle-it was more of her than he'd seen before, she'd always favored high collared shirts for active duty.

"Which would be…?" Sakura glanced down at the dishes before her curiously, there were stir fried vegetables in some variety, fluffy white rice, miso and a fish she didn't recognize with perfectly centered grill lines.

Using his chopsticks Sasori cut the fish neatly down the center. "More or less what I did before I was in charge of three brats and a village." Rare was the occasion someone could buy a man of his skills these days and he had no interest in anything B-rank and below. 'Even those are hardly worth my time.' he thought, passing half to Sakura's dish. "Puppetry and poison are an ever evolving craft, especially after someone develops an antidote to your life's work in less than an hour."

Most people might have been bitter about such an event but not him, no. It simply taught him that he had been complacent, that he'd been too long at the tip to remember defeat. 'And it was also the moment I truly saw what she would become.' Everything after had simply watered the seed that had taken root. To him, the more brilliant Sakura became the more beautiful she was.

Sakura offered a cheeky smile at the commentary. "It's not like it was easy." she hadn't even been positive it would work but there had been no time to second guess herself with Kankurō's life on the line.

"Nothing worthwhile ever is."

From across the table there was something in his gaze that Sakura couldn't quite grasp, the light of the kitchen turning them to something closer to bright amber than sepia. She swallowed a mouthful of rice. "So...you're trying to make a more deadly poison than the last one?" or maybe he already had, she'd crafted that antidote over 8 years ago. The fish had been cooked in something sweet and citrusy, a combination she appreciated.

The faint curl of his lips-a rare sight if she ever saw one left Sakura more startled than when she'd seen him at the gate. There was a time she'd thought seeing any Uchiha besides Shisui and Mikoto smiling was rare but with Sasori it was like witnessing a once every century cosmic event. He had smirks and sneers but very few honest smiles.

It reminded her of a self satisfied cat.

"If you're so interested perhaps I'll let you peruse my works after you're better settled." Her opinion was one Sasori would value highly. 'Of course there is also the running and maintenance of a spy ring.' But part of having one of those was that no one knew the workings of it but him.

It was in part due to those long spanning threads that Sasori knew quite a bit about Sakura's life in the too long periodds he went without seeing her, along with the more anecdotal information his family provided. Especially his grandmother's letters. 'Like that business with that Uchiha.' The stupid one-though that wasn't exactly descriptive since there were so many of them. "I also work pathology for the hospital, you might see me on the premises occasionally."

Allowing Gaara to take control didn't mean Sasori was content to do nothing with his time, he had a restless mind and idle hands were made for trouble-a fact he knew all too well.

"A man of many talents." Sakura teased over her miso bowl.

"And a master of each one." Sasori countered, one did not climb as far as he had on false modesty.

"Naturally." Sakura replied with a giggle. "Except maybe teaching kids. Temari told me about the time you got her stuck in leech infested water."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Still shrieking about that is she? I can hardly be blamed for that." It had been their first mission out of Suna-the first time the Subaku's had been allowed out of the village for that matter and they had ended up in some swampy marshland...and then Kankurō, the first to follow him across the sludge fell in and came out with leeches stuck to his face.

Temari, in disgust and horror, had refused to cross in a timely manner so he simply...expedited things. "All she had to do was walk over it." Gaara hadn't had any trouble mostly due to his sand creating convenient little footholds. After that Sasori had put them through the paces of refining their control enough to adhere to whatever surface they needed to under duress or otherwise. Of course that didn't help Temari recover from her leech-phobia. 'Not my problem,' Sasori thought. 'And it's not like Kakashi was much better to his three students.'

"And the time you ditched them in the desert for a week."

"That was their perception, not reality." He'd been around because only a complete imbecile would leave Gaara to his own devices surrounded by sand and two people he couldn't decide if he hated or not. "And it was a very good survival exercise."

"They got drunk off some weird cactus and Gaara almost had a psychotic break!" Sakura probably shouldn't have laughed when Kankurō told her that story-she'd seen Gaara at his worst first hand but...there was just something oddly funny about the way the events had been related to her.

"Gaara was always having a psychotic break back then." Sasori sipped at his soup, positively serene about the subject matter.

Sakura could have pointed out that he had not exactly been helpful in preventing them from happening but then again no one in Gaara's life had been, not even his own father. 'And no one was particularly helpful regarding Sasori's own issues…' over the years she had pieced things together from what was said and unsaid to which Sakura applied a generous helping of learned experience to formulate an opinion. 'Hard times breed hard men.' Chiyo had said that to her years ago regarding the man across from her and Sakura believed that.

It was stories like his and Gaara's, like Naruto's, Kakashi's and Sai's that made her want that children's hospital so desperately. 'So that the young don't have to suffer and fall, trying to figure out things on their own.' A place that specialized in catching and caring for wounds seen and unseen before they set into the break. "He's come a long way." Sakura said at last.

"Haven't we all?" Even Sasori was not unchanged. That chuunin exam from so long ago had been the impetus behind many things. Kankurō had joked that there was just something in the air around The Leaf that created major behavioral changes and while whimsical, it was a tempting theory to explain things.

The rest of dinner passed in pleasant silence but when Sasori went to collect the dishes Sakura grabbed his arm. "You cooked, I'll clean." It was only fair and she could at least wash and dry dishes. "...and later you'll have to tell me where I can do laundry." There was a nod of his head in assent and she let go, busying herself at the sink after gathering the remnants of dinner.

In Sasori's opinion the shorts she was wearing might as well have been nothing, smaller than the ones she employed as part of her active attire. 'She's likely to get cold in the night when the temperature drops.' they were about an hour off from that and while he wouldn't have minded keeping her warm he knew that such an offer would be met with refusal and future mistrust. Sakura would just have to learn about life in the desert the hard way.

By the time Sakura had finished and found the appropriate spots for everything Sasori had wandered off without a word. "Well," Sakura said, covering her mouth and the yawn that escaped. "Back to bed I think." She was stretched her way out of the kitchen, arms knotted over her head as she went.

"Girl, come here."

'Ah yes, Sasori the lurker of dark corners.' Sakura thought wryly and turned to the voice slowly. "You know my parents designated me Sakura at birth because that's what they expected people to call me." Her arms crossed over her chest with a hmph.

"And the doctors designated you as a girl at birth." With one quirked finger, Sasori gestured for her to come forward into the living room. The motion was backed by a phantom tugging around her torso.

Sakura's feet moved on their own though, passing by the shelf full of neatly ordered books and scrolls and beyond the deep purple couch that sat before a low table. "You can't just puppeteer me anytime you grow tired of wai-ack!" His fingers were cold and slimy, dragging across her cheek. "Aloe?" The scent and feel were easily recognized, but when Sasori finished one pass over her face the sight of him scrubbing the rest of the leaf into a sappy goo just proved it.

"Stay still."

Her eyes had slid closed when his thumb passed over the edge of her orbital socket and along her brow, face scrunched slightly at the cold residue being spread over calluses Sasori possessed were faint and likely from the work it took to craft puppets but his touch was gentle if not through. It felt a bit like having her features mapped by touch. 'Its…' intimate. That was the word for it because Sakura couldn't recall anyone having touched her as long as Sasori was in the face. Not even Sasuke.

By the time Sasori's thumb was passing between her brows and down the ridge of her pert nose Sakura realized it wasn't a bad feeling-if it had been she would have put a stop to it. The places where the aloe had already been spread suddenly felt warm and she was coming to the realization that maybe she was somewhat touch starved. ' Even if Sasuke and I have been dating for two years we've been pratically virginal.' being kept like a secret did not exactly make her willing to put out. 'Okay so our relationship wasn't...isn't healthy.' she could admit that.

It was around the time that Sasori's fingers came close to her lips that Sakura opened her eyes again and saw just how close the two of them were. The former Kage only had a few inches over her in terms of height and maybe a couple more pounds of muscle due to biological differences.'But height does not mean all that much when you make up for it in...intensity.'Which Sasoru gave off in spades; fingers splayed, cupping her chin and cheek, close enough to feel the heat of his body in the space between them. "Uhm...Thanks?" her voice sounded like a squeak and that was just unbearable.

She didn't quite have a comparison for the way that he looked at her, eyelids cast lower over his eyes the shadow of his lashes making them seem darker. It seemed a bit like the way that he'd looked at her upon discovering she'd created the cure to his poison, or maybe closer to that time he'd found her wandering around Suna to meet with Naruto on their protective detail. 'And he was just as comfortable feeling up my face then as he is now...' Sakura tried to recall if anyone had mentioned him being that way before but couldn't.

There was a 50 percent chance the warmth coiling its way under her skin was just her skin flaring up from the sunburn and not a blush.

"Be mindful of the sun." Sasori advised, taking one last look at the glossy coating he'd applied to her face. "And take this," He dropped a rather hefy aloe-vera into her arms, which he noticed she automatically cradled like a baby. "You'll probably have need of it again."

"Oh," Sakura blinked down at the succulent. It was heavy and over a foot tall. "Nice." they could grow to be about 3 feet and she promptly forgot-or rather forced whatever had just passed between them out of mind as she assessed the plant. There was a spot in her room under the huge circular window that would be just perfect for it. 'Actually there might be room for a few more…' A year was a really long time not to have any plants.

Sakura was clambouring her way up the steps but paused on the third one from the top as she remembered something. "Thank you." She turned to look down stairs where Sasori was wiping his hands off on a damp cloth. A part of her was glad the plant was big enough to hide her face behind, seeing his hands just reminded her of before and she hoped the thought wouldn't become a common occurrence. "And goodnight."

Sasori's head tilted in the dim light, the gold glow of the lamps catching the red of his hair and highlighting the various shades that made up the whole. "Sleep well."

Falling back asleep was easier said than done because even after placing her new plant, brushing her teeth and climbing back into bed it honestly felt like she could still feel him touching her. That and the temperature of the house had dropped and her legs were cold. 'Fuck.' Sakura huffed and threw a pillow over her face. She'd learned to sleep through worse things and eventually she worked her way into a nice velvety blank state of mind.

That bliss ended sometime in the early morning if the sunlight dapping across the carpet Sakura had thrown herself on when the house shook was anything to judge by. "What the hell?!" listening hard enough with her ear pressed against the floor she could hear familiar voices, mostly Kankurō, Temari and one she couldn't recognize. 'It's probably better if I get dressed before going down.' It was one thing to wear pajamas in front of the person she'd be sharing a house with for a year, another to do it infront of a stranger.

Sakura was a master at getting ready in a short amount of time, her morning routine was down to an art even if her settings had changed and she found her way down the steps and to the kitchen where the chaos was still ongoing in short order "Oh, Chiyo-baasama!" the old woman was at the stove, turning something over in a wok with her chopsticks.

The kitchen which had been just her and Sasori the night before was now full of the entire living Kaze-line plus two.

"Hello dear." The old woman greeted and pointed the sticks at a chair. "Have a seat." There was a thump from the table and Sakura saw that the blonde guy she vaguely recognized as Iwa's menace was face first on the floor, sprawled out in front of the empty seat next to Sasori.

"Here, now." Sasori pointed to the empty space.

"Sasori-No-danna!" The blonde whined. "I was there first, un."

"I don't even want you in my house." Actually he didn't want anyone in his house besides Sakura, but his grandmother had an annoying habit of sneaking in no matter how he tried to keep her out and where she went her brother soon followed. It was the same with the other three. 'And since they all know Sakura's here they're congregating.' It was annoying.

"Is it always this lively in the morning?" Sakura wondered, hesitating to take the seat that someone had been thrown out of. It sort of reminded her of meals with the entirety of Team 7 and that was pleasant and familiar. 'Ah no!' Sasori's threads were at it again and soon she was stepping right on the blonde guy and into the seat. "That wasn't nice!" She glared at the man next to her. It was bad enough being moved, even worse that he'd made her step on some guy's back.

Gaara scoffed into his tea cup.

"Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Kankurō wondered, grinning all the while. "Besides, it's only Deidara."

"Screw you too, un." Deidara huffed, picked himself off the floor and dropped himself into the chair between Kankurō and Temari. "So you're the one." he squinted at Sakura and shrugged. "I just don't see i-ow!" Someone had kicked him and it was impossible to tell who because at least three people were glaring his way and Sasori had his usual bland face on display.

Sakura noted that there were already several dishes littering the table with varying contents from sliced, fresh fruit to steamed rice and pickled vegetables to bread, jam and hard boiled eggs. Sasori took a cup from the center of the table and filled it with green tea, pushing it in her direction.

"Oh how cute." Temari cooed and then cursed when her own cup mysteriously tipped over into her lap. "Damn it!"

Ebizō flipped through the newspaper he was reading, although no one was sure how considering it looked as if his eyes were long lost within his wrinkles. "It's so nice to see everyone so cheerful in the morning."

"Yes cheerful." Sasori spat the words out like venom.

Chiyo set a large dish of fried, sugar sprinkled dough in the center of the table and Sakura looked at it with loving eyes. "Uh-huh."

"So good to see you again Sakura-chan." The old woman said, patting the girl's pretty pink hair. "I do hope you enjoy your stay with us." Preferably so much so that she never wanted to leave.

Temari hoped Sasori learned to share because he was going to be having an awful lot of family meals in the coming year.

And probably long after if things went according to plan.

I headcanon that Sasori would have been a jerkface Sensei...because he's just a jerkface in general.

This thing is basically Spring Fever but without babies on the brain and everyone gets their shit together much earlier in a canon-esque setting lmao.

Sasori: Yo girl, I heard you like plants. BAM. got one right here. It's also super useful...like me.
Sakura: nice. -ignores him for plant.-
Sasori:...miscalculated but ok.

Now if you are familiar with my writing and the fact that I like to sneak things from other stories all over the place you might be thinking to yourself: Hm, that plant is awfully familiar and Hm, does that mean anything?
Idk fam. I just do not know.

PS: This was Beta'd by Tiny. Sakura so say thanks.