Chapter THIRTEEN

Sakura continued to supply small pieces of information Sasori and Deidara would have already been aware of had they properly read through the files, but there was not much else they did not know.

"Should we get the other end of the large hole checked out?" Deidara asked.

Sasori glanced over at Sakura, who once again looked lost in her own world. He sighed. "If we put it down in the report, I'm sure someone will be assigned to check it out."

"True, un."

Sakura was fingering at something on the ground. He watched as she scooped at whatever it was with her hands and watched the specks fall back onto the ground between her fingers.

"Aren't you going to stop her?"

Sasori turned to look at his partner. "What?"

Deidara shrugged, a grin on his face. "She's going to be coming back to your room," he reminded him. "You get all prissy when I treck mud onto your floors."

Sasori realized the blond was talking about the dirt. He looked at Sakura again. "She can wash her hands," he muttered.

Deidara's grin widened, but Sasori pretended not to see it.

They departed from the base later that day and arrived at the headquarters before the sun had fully set. A messenger was waiting for them at the gates, no doubt having been alerted of their return by the pieces of Konan's paper which all members kept on their person.

"Leader requests your presence in his office as soon as possible," they were told.

Sasori thanked the man and dismissed him. The three of them decided to make a quick detour to their rooms to at least change. He moved into the bathroom before doing so because Sakura appeared to have no qualms with stripping out of her own dirty clothes in the middle of the room. He listened for the sound of clothes dropping onto the ground and waited a while longer, just to be safe, before he exited.

Her casual, non-outdoor clothes were more suited to her size, or rather, did not appear to bother her as much. They had been Konan's, after all. She straightened the shirt and ran her hands through her hair before turning back towards him.

Sasori eyed the stack of clothes the girl had grabbed at the hideout, which all appeared to have been specially made for outdoors and missions, and he wondered if she had ever owned a casual piece of clothing before. He informed Sakura on where she could get her clothes cleaned, then suggested she simply leave it with his pile, since he had planned on sending out his own washing after he took a bath later that day anyways.

"Either way you're going to have to sit in those clothes for a while longer."

Sakura shrugged and hugged the clothes she had taken from the hideout closer to herself. "That's okay."

Sasori simply nodded. He held open the door for the girl, and the two of them began making their way back up towards Nagato's office. As they approached, Sasori heard his partner's voice and knew he was already there. He could hear Konan scolding Deidara for tracking dirt into the base and the blond frantically trying to explain that bone shards had rained down on them and that it was probably that. He rolled his eyes and turned towards Sakura, a snarky comment on the tip of his tongue, and blinked when he found her looking right at him, as though she too had turned to gauge his reaction. Sakura was the first to avert her eyes and he felt a sudden surge of satisfaction.

The girl might not know how deep the bond between them ran, but it was reassuring to know that he, too, was able to have some effect on her.

"Let's go?" He asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yes."

Sasori knocked, opened the door, gestured for her to go first, then closed the door behind him.

Not all of the Akatsuki were present in the room, but Nagato, Yahiko and Konan were all there. Deidara dramatically gestured for Sasori and Sakura to enter before allowing the door to close behind himself. Nagato gestured to the empty chairs and Sasori made sure Sakura was seated before he took a seat beside her.

"Welcome back," Yahiko began. "I trust you ran into no problems?"

Sasori shrugged. "We ran into none of Oroxhimari's men," he said. "No signs any of them returned to the base either."

Yahiko nodded and shared a glance with Nagato.

Nagato turned to Sakura. "Is there anything you would like to share with us?" He asked gently.

Sakura seemed to contemplate things for a moment before she lowered her head. "I am, was, usually stationed elsewhere. The Nothern hideout was ruled, I guess you could say, by someone else. I just happened to be there when you took it down."

Nagato glanced up at Konan. "Could you identify your base for us?"

Konan spread a map out on the table and Sasori recognized all their current intel on Orochimaru's strongholds neatly mapped out. There was a red cross over where the Northern base had been. Sakura leaned forward and her hand hovered over it. "Mine," she said and placed a finger on the paper.

Nagato hummed. "The South is a little down on our list of priorities," he said. "But your knowledge on it would become useful when the time comes."

Sakura nodded. "That makes sense. The North was probably the worst of it. I'll tell you everything I know," she promised.

"Anything else?"

"There were no signs of Orochimaru's men and there were no reports of them from any of the patrols either," Sasori repeated. "The clean up of the base should end within the next four days anyway."

Nagato leaned back, looking pleased. "That'll be all for today," he said.

"We expect the written report s soon as possible," Konan said, and Deidara made a face.

"Of course," Sasori said. "If that's all..." he stood up and Sakura followed without a second thought.

"Oh, Sasori!"

He turned around to face Konan. "Yes?"

"We've put in a few off days for you," she said. "Why don't you show Sakura around the base more properly? I'm afraid we can't allow her outside the base yet." Konan looked apologetic.

Sakuta shrugged. "I don't mind." She turned to him and Sasori nodded.

"Sounds good."

Deira raised a hand. "How about me, un?"

Konan blinked. "I guess you'll be off by default, your partner being off and all."

"Wow, am I an extra? Thanks, un."

Konan laughed. "Enjoy it while you can."

Deidara waved over his shoulder as Sasori led Sakura out of the office. Once outside, Sasori turned to Sakura. "Dinner first?"

Sakura nodded.

"Where're you eating?" Deira asked eagerly. "Can I join?"

"No," Sasori said immediately. When Sakura blinked in surprise, he turned to her. "He's annoying," he explained.

Sakura's lips twitched and she ducked her head. Sasori could swear she was laughing.

"Hey!"

Sasori ignored his friend as he led the way towards the dining hall. "Let's grab something to eat, then retreat to my room," he said. "We can have the clothes sent out for cleaning; they'll probably be done by tomorrow night."

Sakura's eyes brightened and she nodded eagerly. "Okay."

"Are you ignoring me, un?"

"I think Itachi'll have stored the leftovers from last night in the fridge; he usually does."

"I don't mind."

"HEY! DON'T. IGNORE. ME. UN!"

Sasori pushed through doing just that and was relatively amused when Sakura seemed willing to go with it. She did look uneasy as he closed the dining-room door behind himself and in Deidara's face, but he knew that his partner was acting up for the sake of acting up and the most retaliation he would get was extra explosives in his bombs the next time they sparred.

"Don't worry," he said. "He isn't really angry."

Sakura turned away from the door to look at him, and she nodded after a while. "Oh."

He raided the fridge, pleased to see that someone had, indeed, left last night's leftovers. He grabbed the containers and heated them up while he grabbed two sets of bowls, utensils, and water. Sakura took them from him when he held them up and he ran chakra to his hands to pick up the now hot boxes of food. He flicked a finger to send out chakra strings, opening the door again, and they made their way back to his room in comfortable silence.

"You heard Konan," he said after a while. "I have no missions for the next few days. I know you left the base just earlier, but being stuck inside in general is probably rather boring. There is an open area where we train and while I am unable to undo your chakra restraints, it still is somewhere you can stretch your legs. Perhaps find someone to spar with, even."

Sakura looked rather interested and Sasori felt himself smirking. "I will take you after we eat."

The pinkette nodded eagerly.

When Sasori and Sakura arrive at the training clearing Hidan and Kakuzu are already there, beating the crap out of each other. Sakura paused to stare in what he suspected to be morbid fascination as the two men ignored what clearly appeared to be fatal injuries as they dance around each other.

Finally, after a while, they broke apart, glaring and panting. Hidan was letting out a string of curses and Kakuzu looked less than impressed, eyes narrowed and fingers clenching.

"They're always like that," Sasori said. "At each other's throats."

Sakura tore her gaze away from them. "Are they truly immortal?"

Sasori couldn't quite remember if he had been the one to tell her that. Perhaps she had known from one of the files Orochimaru surely kept on them. "They're zombies," he told her. "Or cockroaches. You don't really know if they're killable, and just when you think they're dead they come crawling back."

"I can hear you bastard!"

"I find the thought of being on the same level as this idiot honestly offending, Sasori, and I request you take back your statement."

Sasori rolled his eyes in the direction of the zombie duo. Sakura looked thoughtful, and she turned back to him. "The strings you made earlier," she said. "How did you do that?"

Sasori blinked. He thought back to how he had used chakra strings to open the door. "This?" He held up a finger and created a chakra string. It shot out, wrapped around a small rock a little away, and brought it back to him.

Sakura nodded. "I assume your chakra works outwards," she said. "My chakra mostly works inside of me." She paused, hand instinctively going up to her collar, and Sasori tried to look anywhere but at it. Fortunately, Sakura seemed to shrug it off. "And I was curious."

"It feels like an extension of my limbs," he explained. "When you say your chakra works inside of you...?"

"My healing and enhanced strength come from me channelling my chakra to places around my body," Sakura replied. "When I punch things, that chakra is transferred as force into the object I hit. Still, it's not exactly the same as being able to command chakra into a visible, almost physical form.

Sasori leaned in, interested. Like Sakura was getting at, Sasori's chakra acted as an extension of himself, but he could not mould it with equal precision within himself. He could do it if he tried, but the speed in which he could do so was definitely too slow for him to consider it an option when in battle. The decision to punch someone could come in a split second when in combat, and the fact that Sakura could channel chakra into her limb in the following second it might take to get into a stance was fascinating.

The doors to the training grounds opened and Deidara let his entrance be known with a loud greeting. Sasori ignored the blond, who made a beeline towards Hidan to apparently pick up on a fight from earlier, which had been momentarily broken up by Konan. Sasori mentally patted himself on the back for retreating to his room for lunch and in turn avoiding the mess altogether.

Now that he thought about it, however, perhaps it was different for everyone? His affinity towards manipulating chakra outside made it difficult for him to do the same within his body. "I have difficulties moulding chakra within my body," he admitted. "Perhaps it's simply a matter of affinity."

Sakura thought this through. "Makes sense," she agreed.

An explosion cut through their conversation and Sasori glanced over his shoulder. Hidan and Deidara were now engaged in what he supposed was a spar, but really looked like the two were just trying to kill each other.

"How about your healing?" He asked curiously. Sakura's openness in talking about her abilities was a little surprising, but he was more than willing to go with it. "All your injuries were gone even though you were unconscious."

"I can't explain it well, mainly because I'm usually unconscious when it happens," Sakura said, smiling softly. "But when I'm awake, I channel my chakra to wherever I'm hurt, just like if I were trying to hit something. Orochimaru-sama once told me my chakra speeds up the natural healing of my body."

Sasori made a face at the pinkette's respectful title for Orochimaru. "I-"

There was another explosion, this one much louder than before. The ground seemed to shake and small pieces of debris showered down onto them. Sakura had jumped to her feet the moment the loud sound had gone off and she looked around, eyes wide.

"DANNA!" Deidara shouted from across the room. "LOOK OUT!"

Sasori's head snapped up, eyeing the ceiling. The room was reinforced to be able to withstand chakra based attacks, and he wondered why his blond friend was throwing around bombs that created cracks on such reinforced material. There was another cracking sound and Sasori tried to remember what was located on the floor above them because he was sure the ceiling was going to cave and he was also sure Nagato was not going to be pleased. He raised his hands, fingers spread and chakra flaring, ready to make sure none of the debris crushed any of them so that the two idiots could live to feel his wrath, when Sakura stepped up beside him.

Sasori blinked, caught off guard, as the ceiling came crashing down seconds later. The pinkette clenched her fist, pulled it back, and proceeded to shatter the biggest body of debris that came at them.

Silence followed. Sasori eyed the chakra suppressing collar, the supposed to chakra suppressing collar, then turned to stare at Sakura, who stared back at him as though she hadn't just used chakra, which she shouldn't be able to use, to shatter a reinforced slab of rock, which should be incredibly resistant to chakra based force, into a bajillion tiny pieces.

Sakura blinked before she looked at her hands, then touched her collar. "Oh," she breathed. "Oops."

Darque: Uh, hi, sorry. Raven is a little occupied right now, so it'll be just me for a bit. The update took a little (MUCH) longer than I thought it would, sorry about that DX. I don't have this story entirely planned out just yet, but I have a few major scene things planned out and it's mostly just stringing them together.

Uh, yeah.

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