Chapter SIX

Sasori knew that he could simply retreat back to his room; he could deal with the consequences of not following orders, as stupid as said orders had been, later when his mind was not such a jumbled mess.

He didn't, though, and he soon found himself standing outside Sakura's room once again. He told himself it was because Nagato could get real naggy. Then he blamed Deidara for pulling such a stupid stunt and the pinkette herself for being his Soulmate.

Because he himself was not intrigued. At all.

He opened the door without knocking because despite everything the girl was not a guest. Sakura was in the exact same position as she had been when he had left her, sitting up on the bed, and she looked up as he stepped in. He could feel her eyes on him as he sat back down in the chair. Once comfortable, he met her green gaze with his own brown ones.

Sakura flinched violently and quickly looked away. He saw the way she tensed before she slowly looked back up, hesitantly, and once again looked into his eyes. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"What?" Sasori asked. "No one here is going to hurt you, not unless you give them a reason to anyways. If you have something to say, say it." He watched her mindlessly touch her wrist

"This room is chakra repressing?" She asked after a while.

Sasori gestured at the collar around her neck. "It's that," he said. "The room itself has effects too, so don't think about running."

The pinkette continued to rub at her wrists. "How long have I been here?"

"Two days," he told her honestly. "We pulled you out three or so days ago."

Sakura nodded, still not looking up. "What do you want?" She asked quietly. "I am replaceable. I am no leverage against Orochimaru-sama."

Sasori clicked his tongue. "First, stop calling him that," he ordered. "And second, maybe you have information we don't have yet. Names? Places? Anything to share?"

Sakura's mouth stayed shut, but Sasori had a feeling it was out of fear more than stubbornness or loyalty. He wondered if she feared the information she had, or the lack of it. He sighed, wondering how much he was allowed to share. "How long have you been with Orochimaru?" he asked.

"I do not know," Sakura replied. "Years? I had nothing to keep track of days with. At one point, I gave up trying to count."

Sasori paused because a few things had just become apparent. "You were somewhere before Orochimaru's place?"

Sakura frowned. "Of course," she said.

Sasori noted this down. "Where were you?" He asked.

Sakura glanced down at her hands again. "I do not know," she said again.

He eyed her for a few seconds before he nodded. "Okay," he said. That probably meant either the snake had allies somewhere, she had been taken from another messed up location, or she was a recent victim of kidnapping. Probably the former, because if she did have a home before being brought to Orochimaru's side it would be simpler to tell him just that. It was more reasonable too, after looking back at his own history of bond shared wounds.

He could feel the girl's gaze boring into the side of his head. "Since you answered a question of mine, I'll answer something of yours," he said. "I'm sure you have questions."

He saw surprise flicker through her green orbs. He waited, holding back the urge to tap his foot impatiently on the ground. Finally, she looked up again. "Who are you?" She asked.

Sasori paused, realizing that he hadn't introduced himself. He knew Sakura's name from the files, but she did not know his. "Sasori," he said.

He saw Sakura freeze, a subtle stiffening in her frame she tried to hide. Her fingers twitched. "Of the Akatsuki?"

Sasori carefully placed both his hands onto his lap. His chakra flowed through his fingers, ready to be summoned the moment she tried to attack him. "So you know us."

Sakura nodded. "Of course," she said. "Orochimaru-sama detested you, after all."

"What lies did the snake fill you up with?" He asked before he could stop himself.

To his surprise, Sakura shook her head. "I know he lies," she said rather easily. "I just cannot tell when he speaks truth."

Sasori watched her, noting the way she slowly relaxed. "Do we not have kill-on-sight orders over our heads or something?"

"I am no longer by Orochimaru's side," the pinkette replied. "My chakra is suppressed and I still do not know where I am. It will be inefficient for me to act without knowing anything, and it will be foolish to turn you hostile when you have not hurt me yet."

"Smart," he said without thinking.

The corner of her lips twitched, and Sasori willed her to smile. She did not, though her eyes did soften. "One of us has to be."

Sasori narrowed his eyes, both at his thoughts and her words. "One of you, as in you and Orochimaru?"

Sakura blinked, hesitated, then shook her head again. "No."

Sasori decided not to press. "I see."

"What do you want with Orochimaru-sama?" Sakura asked.

Sasori pushed away the childish urge to tell her that she had asked two questions instead of one. "Do you know what he does?" He asked instead.

"He kills," she said. "He makes people cry."

Close enough, he thought. "And do you know what we do?"

"You get in his way."

Sasori felt himself smiling. "Yes."

Sakura did not seem to understand what he found funny. "You get in my way," she said, a little more softly. "He hurts us when you do."

Sasori thought of her blood covered state once again. "I know," he said. "We stop him, and no one gets hurt."

The pinkette nodded stiffly and did not look up.

"There are others like you?" He asked.

Sakura nodded a second time. "Many of us."

"I'll make sure Nagato hears about that," he promised, and watched the way her shoulders slowly began to lose their tension.

"Okay."

He was not present when Yahiko visited Sakura. After he had reported what she had told him, it had been decided that Nagato may be a little too intense for her, especially with the way she appeared to be scared and wary of them, and Yahiko had been volunteered instead. Sasori and Deidara had been sent out on a simple mission to collect the report of their men out on border patrol in what was probably a way for everyone to give him time to further clear his thoughts, as well as to give him something to do while the questioning was happening. Itachi had gone with Yahiko, and Sasori and Deidara entered the corridor to the girl's room just as the two were leaving through the door.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," Yahiko was saying. "Feel free to call anyone if you need anything, okay?" He closed the oneway glass door but did not look away.

Itachi looked up, noticing them first. "Welcome back," he said.

Yahiko glanced over as well. "Oh hey, nice timing!" He grinned. "I'm done, so she's all yours." He then turned back towards the room and opened the door a crack. "Sasori's back, Sakura-chan!"

Sasori scowled and a hand automatically shot out, slamming the door shut again. "Here," he said, and shoved the files into the man's arms.

Yahiko winced. "Are you angry?"

Sasori did not have a chance to reply, because his partner leaned in obnoxiously in front of him. "Let me meet her too," Deidara said. "Introduce me, Danna!" The blond nudged him, and Sasori hissed in annoyance. Deidara's grin widened, and he stuck his head around the doorframe. Without even realizing, Sasori reached out and yanked him back.

"She appears to be a nice girl," Itachi said helpfully.

"I agree," Yahiko said. "We can discuss things in detail later, at the meeting before dinner tonight."

"That's in less than an hour," Deidara said. "C'mon Danna, please~"

"And why must you have my permission before seeing her?" Sasori snapped. He tried to walk past the trio and head towards his room, but the blond grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Because she's your girl?"

Sasori whipped around, ready to give him a piece of his mind when a hand came down on his shoulder. He turned towards Yahiko, already extremely annoyed, when the look on his leader's face made him pause. "There's something I want to address regarding that," he said.

Sasori glanced over his shoulder and saw Sakura staring out the door at them. "If this is about you not trusting that Sakura is my Soulmate because I said it was based on a feeling, I-" he began in a harsh whisper.

"No," Itachi said. "No one said anything about not believing you."

"Then what is it?"

"It's only a suspicion, but Sakura's knowledge on the topic appears...sparse," Yahiko said.

Sasori frowned. "And that is a problem because...?"

"You have lived your entire life being pushed around by the Soulmate bond," Itachi said. Sasori glared murderously at the raven, but the Uchiha ignored him. "And yet, the reason for all your suffering does not seem aware of it."

Deidara kept glancing at him worry, and that made Sasori even more annoyed. "How-how do you know that, un?" The blond asked. "Did you mention it?"

"I may have let it slip," Yahiko admitted sheepishly. "It was not much, though, really."

"Enough that most people would understand," Itachi revealed unsympathetically. He ignored Yahiko's betrayed look. "But she did not react."

"Did not react to Danna being her Soulmate?"

Itachi shook his head. "Did not react to the concept of Soulmates at all."

"And," Sasori breathed out, successfully catching everyone's attention, "this is a problem because?"

Itachi eyed him in a way that made Sasori want to gauge them out. "If it is not a problem for you, then it hardly matters," he said, in a way that suggested he knew more then he was letting on.

"Then it should not be a problem," he said.

"Of course." Itachi nodded agreeably, and Sasori had no idea why it made him feel so much worse. From the corner of his eye, he saw Yahiko and Itachi share a look.

"I'm going to go tell Nagato what we found," Yahiko said. "Everyone is expected to attend dinner tonight, so we're all there for the meeting afterward. I had dinner made for Sakura-chan as well. Sasori-"

"Am I to bring it to her?" He asked sulkily.

Yahiko grinned. "You got that right."

Deidara raised a hand. "I can do that-"

Sasori found himself speaking up before the blond could even finish. "I'll do it," he snapped, and the moment the words left his lips he saw an insufferable grin bloom on Deidara's face.

"Well, if you really want to-"

"Shut up," he said and spun around on his heels.

"Her tray's in the kitchen-"

Sasori stormed off, fully intending to simply ignore everything else the idiots behind his called out to him.

He could just picture the smug looks being exchanged behind him.

We're so so SO sorry about the late update O.O

Darque: My laptop kind of died, and I could only upload chapters I'd already written, which really wasn't much...

Raven: Sorry, blame Darque and the ill-treatment of her laptop.

Darque: D:

Raven: I'm kidding XD

(Darque: Stuff will happen soon...

Raven: It will indeed...)

Read and Review~