[ May I ]
Let me be your love
"Amazing! Ohhhhhh Look at this! It's so cool!" Sakura was practically jumping for joy after Sasori had allowed her into his workroom. He seemed a little regretful for bringing her in even though he tried to not show it.
"Are you done, like seriously?" Sasori stared, annoyed at the little girl.
"I'm sorry. It's been a while since I've came across so many awe-inspiring-"
"-Equipments." Sasori cut in while taking her wrist, lifting her arms and placed the set of keys on her hand.
"This is the key to the room. I always locked it when I'm the last to go. Be sure to check the room if it's locked before you go everytime when you're the last in the office." Sasori reminded.
Sakura nodded and clutched onto the keys. "I'll take note of it."
"I've talked to the Principle yesterday and she's rather pleased with your idea. And I've discussed the matter with her and I think that in two months time, you can complete the project." Sasori clarified.
"I…" Sakura bit her lips and her eyes slightly became watery.
"Just do a good job." He only said.
"Thank you!" She exclaimed as she flipped through the pages in the file excitedly. Sasori stared at her childish action and slightly smiled.
"Hey Sasori, after all of my work could I... Erm join you in the painting?" Sakura asked innocently, looking up. Sasori's smile immediately disappeared as his face turned into a solemn and serious expression.
"Depends, maybe." He said and walked towards the door.
"I'm explained pretty much about the equipments, and I supposed you also fully well know how to use them right?" He asked. Sakura gave a thumbs up, "I've learnt to use it before! I'll ask you if I have any enquiries." She replied.
Without further ado, he closed the door behind him and stared at Deidara who was doing on his own project.
"See? I've picked the perfect employee for you yeah." Deidara said, feeling pretty pleased with himself.
"Yeah yeah, thank you." Sasori muttered, hardly thankful at all.
He proceeded to his work, and sometimes stopped to hear any sound coming from his own workshop. After hearing some shifting noise and drillings inside the room, he felt assured and continued with his work. Deidara seemed to catch what Sasori was actually doing for the past one hour.
"Are you looking out for Sakura?" Deidara questioned.
"No." Sasori lied through his teeth.
"You're weird." The blonde drawled while molding his clay into a fine piece of sculpture. Sasori gave him a sidelong glance.
"And why am I weird?" He asked, crossing his arms in defiance.
"Don't know." Deidara shrugged, deciding to avoid the topic for now.
It was soon afternoon and Deidara volunteered to get some food for the rest of them, and there left Sasori and Sakura alone in their office. Shutting off his computer, he stared at the traffic outside his office through the clean transparent window. In just a minute, his mind started to drift, making him seemed lifeless on the chair.
"Sasori?"
The redhead immediately snapped awake as Sakura waved her hands in front of him and called out his name for the fifth time.
"Ah, yes?" He said, adjusting himself on his chair.
"I was wondering if you could help me with something." Sakura mumbled sheepishly, thinking that Sasori would scold her for being useless and annoying.
"What is it?" Sasori drawled as he stood up and walked towards the room. Sakura stared in disbelief at her boss before clearing her throat and rushed behind him.
"I was trying to draw a 170cm line and 35 degree angle at this point, but I kept making it to 55 degree angle." Sakura explained as she pointed at the board while Sasori just stared at it blankly for a few seconds.
"Here. You draw this line first, before you make a marking here. Done." In just a second, the master of his own art finished what Sakura had been trying for the past half an hour.
"You're really amazing!" Sakura said impressively. Sasori just gave soft scoff.
Sakura rubbed the back of her head and laughed. "Actually, I was afraid to ask because I thought you would scold me." She confessed while Sasori gave her a weird look.
"Am I that scary?" He asked.
"Sort of. That day when you- Never mind, thank you anyway." Sakura smiled. "And you seem to be awfully kind today." She added
"I'm always kind and caring." Sasori lightly joked. Sakura blinked and stared at Sasori with a skeptic look but remained silent. The redhead sighed and waved her off before reaching out for the door handle.
"Forget it."
Sakura suddenly felt a little guilty for not pretending to agree that he was actually a kind and caring person.
Before Sasori stepped out of the room, a thought suddenly occurred in Sakura's mind as she remembered something she wanted to ask for a very long time. "Can I request something?" She spoke quickly.
Sasori stopped on his track and slightly glanced at Sakura, indicating that he's listening.
"May I take a half-day off this coming Saturday? I have some plans to do in the late afternoon." Sakura bit her lips, feeling a little stupid for asking a leave when she worked less than a month.
Sasori raised his eyebrows in surprised.
"Actually Deidara and I had something to do on that day too. So, since you requested first, it's fine with me." Sasori replied.
"Really? Thank you!" Sakura said merrily and she went back to her own work like a robot that just finished replenishing its energy. Sasori stared at her for a moment before he turned and exited the room.
0o0
"What do you want?" Deidara asked while leaning onto the doorframe. Sasori was busy typing while Sakura tapped her feet, pondering on what should she get.
"Can I have a bag of chocolate chips cookie this time?" She said. Deidara laughed as he crossed his arms, "What about you yeah?" Deidara looked over at Sasori.
"The same old thing." He muttered mindlessly, not wanting to get distracted from a report he had started since yesterday.
"Alright." The blonde said before heading down the stairs.
Deidara began whistling as he walked past Sakura's desk before he stopped in his track and stared at the daisies he bought from the flower shop almost a week ago. He took out his wallet and began flipping through his cards until he stopped at a particular one. "Sakura's Privilege card." He read out loud.
"Sakura, here's your card." Deidara said, handing the card to Sakura at her desk, as she was busy sketching the drawing Sasori had told her to do.
"Oh, it's alright! I rarely buy flowers anyway. So you should take the card and use it." She said merrily.
"Really?" Deidara said as he looked at the card.
"Why would girls buy flowers anyway? You can use it when you get a girlfriend in the future." She winked.
Deidara flipped to the other side, staring at the address and the contact number listed on the card. He took out his phone and began dialing the number and waited for the receiver to pick up.
"Hello? This is Ino!" The receiver responded.
"This is Deidara. Remember-"
"Oh! Sakura's boss!" Ino chirped behind the phone.
"Yeah, I was wondering if you want to have," Deidara cleared his throat and glanced at the clock again so he wouldn't make a fool out of himself, "lunch together."
"Of course. I just changed shift and I was just wondering who to have lunch with." Ino said.
Deidara rubbed the back of his head, a habit that he learnt from Sakura. "Why don't we have lunch at the restaurant near your office?" Ino suggested, breaking the few seconds of silence.
"Sure yeah." He said as he pushed the door opened and the glass door slowly closed on its own.
"I'll be there in 15 minutes."
0o0
Sasori leaned back on the door as his auburn-eyes were glued to Sakura, observing her as she cut along the thin edges of the wood, making it into thin and fine slices. "How's this?" Sakura turned and winked behind the thick goggles that she had been wearing.
For the first time in a long time, she saw Sasori laughed. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand, but he was chuckling nonetheless. "What's so funny?" The rosette pouted childishly, even though she was slightly surprised that Sasori laughed for such the first time.
"The sand is all over your face. I think you got it while sawing the wood." Sasori said, trying to take in deep breathe. "And you look funny." He finally finished his sentence.
"Stop laughing!" Sakura whined as she started wiping away furiously at her chin. "There!" she said, pointing to her newly cleaned cheek.
Sasori quirked an eyebrow and stared at her in amusement before approaching towards Sakura with one hand in his jean's pocket. "You missed some." Sakura tried to look down to see the dirt Sasori was referring to on her face.
"Uh…Where?"
"Right," he used the hand that wasn't in his pocket and raised it to wipe away some sand dust that were still left at the side of her cheek with his thumb, "here." He said in a low, soft whispered, focusing on brushing of the remaining sand with his thumb on her soft and tender cheek.
Sakura stared at Sasori as he was slightly frowning when he was unable to brush off some sand on her cheek. Realizing how quiet she is, he turned his gaze and looked at Sakura, and their eyes met; emerald green and chocolate brown.
The redhead averted his eyes and immediately stopped his actions, stepping back while digging into his pocket. He fished out a packet of tissue before throwing it to the pinkette who successfully caught it with her two hands.
"Wipe it yourself." Sasori muttered. Sakura obeyed and took a piece of tissue to rub her cheek and in no time, all the sand fillings were gone.
"How's this?" She smiled gaily at him, trying to lighten their awkward moment a while ago. Sasori never said anything, but just made a small grunt in agreement.
Sakura whirled around and placed the saw back to where it was while she brought another equipment and started working with it. She was partially done on her current work as Sasori went back observing her.
'What am I doing.' The redhead questioned himself as he ruffled his red hair. After standing for a few more minutes and ensuring that everything would be fine in Sakura's hand, Sasori turned and walked out of the room as the door slowly closed behind him. Sakura immediately stopped her work and turned around to find the man who had been with her for the past half an hour missing. Sakura just slightly frowned before and mindlessly returned back to her business.
0o0
"We finally meet." Ino said after pausing as she walked towards where Deidara was sitting. He clasped his hands together and raised an amused eyebrow. "Sorry, the traffic was pretty bad." She sat down on the chair and a waiter approached them as she placed her order and the waited politely dismissed himself and went to get the food for Ino.
"I was wondering, how was Sakura in the job?" Ino asked excitedly, concern for her dear friend.
"She's perfectly fine now yeah." Deidara easily assured her with an unnecessary wink. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you about this. Does Sakura have a boyfriend?" He asked.
Ino pondered wryly before stroking her chin. "Are you interested in her?"
"No yeah." Deidara replied with a bored look on his face.
"So is it a no… or yes?" Ino asked again.
"No." Deidara sighed before he went on. "I have a habit to add a grunt or 'yeah' behind, so don't mind me." Deidara said. Ino nodded in understanding. "Sorry, I didn't know that before." Ino pulled a face.
Ino crossed her legs as she shifts her seats closer to Deidara. "Why would you want to know if Sakura had a boyfriend?" Ino asked suspiciously but still went on. "She do have a boyfriend, but he rarely had time to spent with her on dates and movies." Ino sighed, having her hands clasped together and resting before her chin.
"Actually, I did ask her to talk to him because if he continues to be like this, their relationship would be rather meaningless." Ino stated.
"She had a boyfriend…" Deidara said disappointedly.
"So... Why've you asked?" Ino repeated her questions. "I just want to know about her that's all yeah." Deidara lied. "But you do want her to find a better one right?" Deidara asked. Ino nodded grudgingly and gave an inward sigh.
"She wouldn't listen to me when I talked about this matter to her and she would regularly change the subject. If I were to find someone better, I might consider him to be her perfect new boyfriend." Ino wondered aloud.
Deidara's eye brightened up but it died down, 'I can't do that and if I did, he would be angry…'
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Deidara asked.
Ino's cheek slightly turned pink as she fiddled with the straw in her drink.
"I had one, but we've broke up… that's why I want to help Sakura. If she doesn't find the right one, she had to search for one soon! I'm just afraid that she would get hurt if this continues on." Ino said, sipping her drink.
The female blonde twirled her hair as she looked back at Deidara. "What about you?" She smirked, changing the depressing subject. "Currently I don't have… but that doesn't me I won't yeah." He boastfully said. Ino giggled as she looked at Deidara. "You're cute." She blurted out.
"Cute?" He repeated, eyes widened in incredulity. "Yup! Cute." She chuckled.
"I'm not cute. Manly is more accurate yeah." Deidara smiled contentedly to himself as he showed off his muscle.
"Ewww." Ino shook her head in disgust.
"What?" Deidara exclaimed as the two blonde continued to enjoy their chat before their meals came.
0o0
"I cut myself again." Sakura groaned as she walked out of the workroom, a little irritated with herself for being so clumsy and careless all the time. Sasori gave a heavy sigh before he walked towards Sakura as he stared at the opened wound on her finger. He grabbed a tissue and passed to her before walking off.
"It's 2 in the afternoon already." Sakura mumbled worriedly as she stared at the clock, crumpling the tissue in her hand instead of stopping her bleeding. Right on the cue, her phone rang as she tried to take her phone in her pocket with her other hand that was not injured.
"Where the hell could that Deidara be at this time…" Sasori grumbled, walking towards his workroom after he had inspected her wounds before he began to search for something in the lower cabinet. Flipping open her phone, she responded to the call.
"Hello? Oh, I'm ready! I'll be down in 5 minutes." Sakura exclaimed into the phone before she cut her call.
"I'll be leaving now, take care." She put her phone back in the pocket, poking her head into the workroom to inform Sasori for her departure. Without waiting for his response, she walked off and opened the glass door, wiping the blood on her finger with the tissue that Sasori had gave her a while ago.
Sasori was so focused in finding the plaster that he didn't realize that Sakura was gone. He stood up with a small plaster in his hand, which he had taken from a first-aid kit walked out of the room to find Sakura disappeared. Just as he was about to reach for the glass door to search for Sakura, he turned to find a familiar figure running out of the office through the clear glass window.
By the car park lot, a nice looking dark blue BMW car was parking by the road while the owner of the car got out of the vehicle and opened the door for Sakura, who was running towards him, the mysterious guy took her bag and gave her a slight kiss on her cheek.
From Sasori's view, he could tell that the two of them were talking about something before they headed back into the car, driving off into another direction.
Sasori watched the whole scene, he began to release his grip from the door handle as it slipped back to his side. The redhead paused for a moment before lowering his gaze and looked at the plaster in his hand. He stared at it for a whole minute, deep in thought. The crimson-haired artist was so distracted that he didn't realize Deidara walking up the stairs, looking at him through the transparent glass door.
"Sasori!"
Sasori slightly jumped when Deidara suddenly pushed opened the glass door and shouted his name as he laughed afterwards. The blonde went to place the food on his table while clutching onto his stomach, chortling behind his hand, as if Sasori couldn't see it.
"You're childish Deidara." Sasori looked threateningly at him.
Deidara started to recover as he wiped a small tear of the corner of his eye.
"This is the first time I've managed to give you a fright." Deidara tried to control his laughter again but ended up in fits of giggles. "When I saw you jumped, you look hilarious!" He chuckled.
"Where have you been all these while? You fully know how much I hate to wait."
"Alright alright." Deidara rolled his eyes before glancing around. "Where's Sakura?"
"You just missed her. SHe left."
The blonde took in a deep breathe before exhaling. "I shall leave her cookies in the fridge, yeah." He remarked while looking at his watch.
"You know, we should get ready now for Itachi's party in two hours time." Deidara reminded him, handing the sandwich to Sasori as he reached out to take his food.
"What's with the plaster?" Deidara asked, noticing the plaster in his hand when the redhead took the sandwich. Sasori looked at it before placing it on the table and unwrapping his sandwich, taking a bite.
"Nothing." He mumbled while he multitasked, eating while packing up his things.
Deidara watched the artist began packing his stuff to leave as he follow suit. The blonde noticed there's something wrong with Sasori when he was so distracted standing by the glass door and looking at the window a while ago.
Sasori rarely showed any emotions, other than being pissed and angry at everything he disliked. But a while ago, Deidara seemed to descry an emotion in his eyes when he was creeping up on him.
'Sadness and disappointment?'
Sasori stuffed the remaining sandwich into his mouth as he picked up several files, walking towards the shelves and put them back while Deidara stopped his packing, observing his movements.
The blonde felt extremely motivated by what Ino had said during lunch. Deidara; the new matchmaker of the season, had decided that he was going to help Sasori find his happiness if he wouldn't find it himself.
To be continue