Disclaimer/ No, I do not own Naruto and I never will. Go ahead and be mean about it.
AN/I think I should just warn you now. All of these Sakura pairings are going to be pretty high up there on the crack scale. Aside from the eventual Naruto and Kiba. I really love crack. Sue me. A good dosage of Sakura crack is good for you. I'm sure of it.
Dedication:Lady Hanaka for her awesome fanart and attention.
Please review, flames are ...I do not care.
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As You Like It
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Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And tune his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat —
Come hither, come hither, come hither!
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Amiens, scene v
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"And so the sweltering summers that had chilled to harsh, harsh Autumns, froze in their bitterness, like a lamb's heart at the slaughter," She whispered to the wind, pulling her oversized hoddie closer to her chest, wincing at the taste of December winds rushing down her throat when she coughed.
Christmas was over and the new year was fast approaching, with only a few more hours to go. Of course this meant her mom was having a huge party at her house while her dad hosted one at the bar he worked at. Neither environment was appealing or inviting in the least. She knew there would be hookers and drinking at either place and of course the usual drugs that everyone seemed to want her to try.
She'd rather freeze outside in the cold than destroy her body like that.
As she guessed, most of the shops were closed, letting their workers leave for home early, most likely to party be irresponsible (in her opinion). There were a few places along the road with their lights still on, but they weren't the kind of places Sakura wanted to be seen in.
In one of the doorways a woman with a dress slit up to her thigh laughed at her and called out something Sakura refused to hear. A older man pulled her away and closed the door with a gruff tone, chiding her for talking to street scum or something else of that nature.
The girl with frayed pink hair pushed up her glasses and pulled her hood further down her face, remembering how the first person she met on the street thought she was a guy. With her height, she though that was impossible, until she remembered the super thick boots she was wearing to protect her toes from the cold. They gave her a good four inches to stand on top of putting her just below the average height of a guy. And of course, she was so flat the doubt never seemed to exist in some people's mind that she was a male bum, looking for something to eat or sleep or possibly drink until she died of alcohol overdosage.
A particularly nasty cough made her stop in her tracks and hack into the wind, not liking the sound of bile jumping around inside her lungs. She seemed to get mildly sick easily all her life. She was sort of grateful for this since she couldn't remember a single instance in her life when she was so sick she had to stay and rest in bed. No, the sickness always manifested its self in coughs and runny noses and headaches that never seemed to be too serious.
The neighborhood Sakura lived in was dark and dirty, practically perfect for the kind of business her father was and dirty. this town was perfect for those who wished to keep their dealings under the counter and away from the eyes of authority. So of course a neighborhood like this one wouldn't have anyplace decant open at this hour, so Sakura had to walk all the way over the other district to rest and warm herself up some heated facility.
Of course she had a place in mind.
Hanafuda Art Exhibit was an art museum that was always open to the public, no matter what the time. A large portion of the exibit was outside, but a smaller part of it was held inside where there was heating and benches to sit in. In Sakura's mind it was perfect place to rest. Art and heat, what more can you ask for?
Sakura stopped a moment to catch her breath and hack into the wind once more, feeling her heart burst against her chest as her lungs grew sore and raw. She doubted anyone who saw her on the other side of their windows would worry or care about her well being, so she had little worry of having someone come out to her. You wouldn't believe how high the rape and kidnappings levels were now a days for young women.
Regaining her breath, she picked up her trek once again, this time with longer strides. It took a long time, but eventually she was outside the main entrance, struggling with the glass door's long, black handle. It was cold from being in the wind so long, numbing her fingers at the mere touch.
Why did they make these doors so heavy? Weren't artist's suppose to be....delicate?
"Gah," she breathed in relief slipping in. She heard a chuckle and looked up to see a young black haired youth behind the desk. He seemed to be around her age, maybe a year or two older. He looked up with what Sakura would call fox eyes, crinkles in delight, his smile so obviously fake.
"You sick or just incredibly weak?" he asked, in what Sakura though was a mocking tone.
Of course, the smart thing would have been to just get away from this sort of guy and enjoy the art, keeping silent all the while. "T-that's n-none of your b-business," she stuttered, blaming her half frozen brain for her ignorance. She was about to say something else when a violent sneeze interrupted her train of thought.
"I take it, you're sick."
She looked up glaring with tears of embarrassment pooling at the corners of her eyes. "N-no, that's not t-true."
"Whatever you say," he sighed, looking away with closed eyes. "It's not like I care. Ugly men are so uninteresting."
'Did...he...just call me... an ugly man?' Sakura thought with a stunned expression very evident on her face. Ugly wasn't anything new to be called by other people, but an ugly man? That was new...and on some level... insulting. She was used to insults, of course, but to be mistaken for a guy was a pretty low blow to her pride.
He caught sight of her expression and smiled once again, his expression as fake as ever. "Please don't make that sort of expression. I'm not into guys so you shouldn't be disappointed."
"W-what?"
"But I'm sure there are some people out there with weird tastes, so don't be put down. No one is completely hopeless."
'And he thinks I'm gay. Just what exactly is wrong with this guy, insulting guests like this? Dose he have any form of shame to be saying such rude things to someone like me? It's a wonder he ever got a job here, even if it is on New Year's Eve.'
"You should get your eyes checked," Sakura whispered, not brave enough to make her retort audible as she turned her back on him and began to make her way down the hall of framed paintings.
"Hey, wait. What are you doing going down that way? There's only crap down that way."
"I don't care, it's none of your business!" Sakura called over her shoulder, a bit annoyed that he would go on to insult the art after making fun of her appearance.
Sai cradled his pale head in his open palm and watched the irritated teenager stomp down the hallway that was filled with older paintings that were nothing compared to the modern art that was displayed in the opposite direction. "I wonder if I said something that offended him."
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All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
Jaques, scene vii
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Deidara cursed, slamming the door behind him as he stomped up to the front desk where Sai was waiting for him with that painfully fake smile of his. Sometimes the blond wanted nothing more than to stick a few firecrackers under that smile and see how well it held up.
"What the hell is your problem, un?"
Pulling his earbuds out, Sai continued to smile, his expression failing to change. "What is the matter with you birdie?"
"You know bloody well what the hell is wrong! Stop acting like such a smart ass."
"I am sorry, but I don't see why you are so angry."
Deidara stemmed, turning a light shade of red in anger at the man behind the counter, standing in front of him. "You got me stuck with midnight duty. Didn't you bloody know it's New Year's Eve? Didn't you know I had plans for a firework display in the park, you dumb ass?"
"That is illegal, birdie."
"Shut the hell up. You think I would care? You should know by now I don't give a rat's ass what the law thinks or wants." Sai looked away, glancing down the hallway that the ugly teenager had trespassed down only minuets ago. He wondered if that ugly guy would hear Diedara screaming.
It was likely.
"Since you are here, I'm heading home to celebrate with family. I hope you have fun with the paintings and sculptures, birdie. Please do not forget to stay until your replacement comes at five. It would be bad if you wandered off before your shift ended like you did last time."
Deidara cursed once more under his breath as he watched the tall illegitimate Uchiha come out from behind the counter, carrying his oversized leather coat, lined with rabbit fur. Sai looked down the hallway that consisted of crappy art and then down at his coat mulling over his most recant thought.
"Why are you staring at your stupid coat like that, moron? Nothing is wrong with it," Deidara sneered, moving behind the counter and taking his own coat off. He tossed the dear leather jacket over his shoulder, letting it fall over the side of the swivel chair.
"There is no significant reason. However, I was considering lending it to that boy that just went down that hall. He looked sick and cold. He was not properly dressed for weather such as this. I do not need such heavy coverings, be he does. All he had was a baggy sweatshirt."
Deidara scoffed. "Just take your jacket and go. No one wantsyou here. I bet you insulted that poor guy and made him feel horrible."
Sai almost looked concerned. "That was not my intention."
"Well you're an idiot. Get lost, un."
Sai turned over his shoulder to stare at Deidara with no expression evident on his face. "Are you not insulting me now? How is that any different from my pointing out his ugliness? It's not an opinion, it's a fact. He looked too much like a girl to be manly.
" Really, was there anyone else out there that was stupider than this guy while retaining an IQ of something close to two hundred?
Deidara smacked himself in the forehead, squeezing his eyes shut and cursing his fate to be accosted with such an idiot. "Sai, you know you have a problem telling between genders, right? Did it ever occur to you that this guy, might just happen to be a girl? You remember Haku right? Just because someone looks feminine or masculine in the face doesn't mean all that much."
Sai faintly remembered his first encounter with Deidara, mistaking the sculptor for a manly woman. Deidara had not been too happy with his first nickname being 'bulldyke'. Sai shook his head. "No, he was to flat to be a female.
"You just told me he was wearing a baggy sweatshirt. Don't you think if someone was really close to being flat chested they could hide it with something like that?" Deidara paused, waiting for his words to sink in with the fellow artist who had social problems.
"I supose..."
"Damn, you're helpless. How did you ever survive for these eighteen years?" Deidara raised his hands in protest when Sai opened his mouth to explain"Don't open your damn mouth, you moron. I was being sarcastic, that wasn't a real question, gosh..."
"Fair enough. Now, I had better leave. Yamato is expecting me," Said explained, donning his jacket and stepping outside, not noticing how Deidara flipped him the bird behind his back. Another reason for the male's chosen nickname.
"I hate that guy,un."
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No sooner met, but they looked;
No sooner looked, but they loved;
No sooner loved, but they sighed;
No sooner sighed, but they asked one another the reason;
No sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy.
Rosalind, scene ii
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Sakura leaned back into the metal bench, staring up at the painting before her. A masculine female dressed in man's attire sat on the uprooted root of a great tree with a piece of paper in her outstretched hand. Another paper rested on the root behind her, most likely a twin of the one she was holding. Her cheeks were rose and her expression serene. Just looking at the painting seemed to calm Sakura down.
The caption read:
Rosalind by Walker Macbeth (British, 1848-1910)
"Pretty girly for a guy, un?"
Sakura looked up to see a feminine male with long blond hair staring down at her, his hands resting against his hips lazily. A bit confused Sakura chose to remain silent until she decided how to respond to this total stranger.
He looked her over once more and than broke out into a smirk. "Sai was an ass for assuming you were a guy. Sorry you had to hear him. That guy is an idiot that doesn't know what he's talking about. You're defiantly not a guy, un."
Sakura stiffened a little bit, getting ready to run for it if she needed to. He sounded dangerous. Images of her father and his play girls flashed though her mind. Sometimes she could hear their screams all the way upstairs. it was another one of the darker secrets that she would have liked to keep out of her head. Her innocence was so far away, it wasn't even funny anymore. Maybe that was one of the reasons she was a Erotophobia / Genophobia.
He looked a bit startled to see her so far on defense, most likely thinking him one of those bad people. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have startled you like that. My name is Dediara. I'm friends with Sasori. I think you might know of him."
"...H-how do you know S-Sasori san?" Sakura asked, meekly.
Deidara smiled. "Oh, we're old friends, but we're both artists and he works here part time as well. Do you know him?"
She paused, deciding weather she should answer or not. She didn't know anything about this guy and yet, he knew she was a girl and that she somehow knew Sasori san. "Y-yeah...he goes to my school. I don't know h-him very well though. N-not personally."
"Really, you go to the same school right?"
Sakura mentally cursed her decision to wear the jacket that had her school's logo on its armband. Even if it was the only one that could keep her remotely warm, she should have put something over her arm to cover up the school's red flame logo. "Y-yeah...I-I guess so..." Her answer was little more than a whisper.
"There's only one girl that I know of that has pink hair in that school. Sasori told me about her a few times." He cast her a sly sideways glance, grinning a bit at her stiff form. She was kind of cute when she was scared and embarrassed. "Would you happen to be the infamous Sakura chan he won't shut up about?"
"No!" she cried, standing up suddenly, glaring at him heatedly. Her fiery, emerald gaze held for about fourteen seconds before a rather violent cough forced her to double over and lean against the bench for support as hack shook through her petite body.
Deidara was surprised and a bit frightened as she continued to cough on her knees, leaning against the bench. She looked really sick from where he was standing. "Hey, hey are you really okay?You don't sound so great. Should I get you some water?"
She shook her head, adding to her dizziness, waving him away. She didn't want his help.
Ignoring her warning, he picked her up (against her choked protests) and carried her over to the water fountain and forced her to drink. "Drink, it'll help, un."
Sakura nodded weakly, a little dizzy from being picked up and moved so fast. Why was it so hard these days to stay healthy? "Th-than-thank you."
Deidara nodded, looking her over for any obvious wounds that could have happened when she fell against the bench. Her jacket was long sleeved and baggy, just like Sai had described it, so it was hard to see if she hurt an injury. "Are you really okay. You're not hurt or anything? I think we have a first aid kit somewhere around here if you need it."
"I'm f-fine," Sakura whispered, looking away and trying to put some distance between her and the blond male who was still a stranger in her eyes. Even if he was friends with Sasori and even if he did help her when she needed it, (she blushed at the memory of being carried by him to the water fountain), he was still a stranger that she just met.
"Do you like Shakespeare?"
that caught her attention.
"What?"
"That painting you were looking at. Did you know who it was of, un?" he asked, pointing back at the painting of the woman on the tree Sakura had been staring at.
"Yeah, that zRosalind, the Duke's daughter in the play As You Like It."
He gave her a weird look. "I never could get those books. What's the story about?"
She nodded, this time a bit more open. "In France there is this guy named Frederick who has taken the territory of the Duke and exiled his older brother, the Duke Senior. Anyways, the Duke has this daughter, Rosalind who has been permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend of Frederick's only child, Celia. They are also cousins, of course. There's this guy, Orlando, who is a young gentleman that falls in love at first sight with Rosalind. He's forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. He's kind of like a bad guy in the beginning."
"You mean he's a good guy in the end?"
"Shh, let me explain, Sakura cut in like a mom scolding a child.
"Sorry."
"Yeah, well, Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court. Celia and Rosalind decide to flee together accompanied by the jester Touchstone, with Rosalind disguised as a young man that why she's pained that way in that painting," Sakura explained, pointing behind her to the painting hangging on the wall of the woman dressed as a man.
"Ah, that makes sence now..."
"I thought it would."
Deidra nodded, pausing briefly. "Yeah...but...."
"What?"
"What happens after that?"
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It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino!
That o'er the green corn-field did pass
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the Spring.
Pages, scene iii
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I'm ready for Christmas! Woho, the radio stations are already playing Xmas music.
Okay, for the next chapter, I would like some feedback on who should be featured with Sakura. Please drop a review and tell me who you want to see next.
Ja ne
Vesper chan