A/N: Yeah, it seems like my writing time is being stretched very very very thin these days, as i have to concentrate more on school-related stuff, and other stuff, lots of stuff. As you can see, i'm making excuses for my horribly slow updates, hehehe. Which i doubt will get faster any time soon. I have not edited this chapter very carefully, so if you catch mistakes, feel free to point them out. Other than that, hope you like!

In Too Deep
3. Perfect Stranger

Sakura stood dumbfounded, blatantly staring at the equally surprised man sitting before her and Sasuke. He had asked if he could help them. She wasn't quite sure what the answer was.

"Um…"

The man Sakura assumed was the owner of the house put down the mug he was holding and sighed tiredly. "Please close the door."

Now what kind of request was that? Sakura's mind immediately went into panic mode; was he going to trap them and take their money? She then realized that her pockets were empty, and if Sasuke had come as empty handed as she had, then they were completely broke. Which meant that he could get mad and kill them! She wrapped both her arms around one of Sasuke's and tugged backwards.

"Come on, Sasuke. I think we should go," she said in a lowered voice, eyes darting between the strange sitting man and the forest visible outside.

"Oh no, you misunderstand! I was merely hoping to keep out the Slinks! They tend to wander their way into my house if I leave the door open for too long."

Slinks? What the hell was he babbling about? Sakura was growing more uneasy by the minute; she really didn't feel up for dealing with a crazy man. She opened her mouth to announce one more time that they were leaving, but Sasuke spoke up for the first time since entering the house.

"What's a Slink?" he asked, suspicion evident in his low voice. Sakura shot a warning glare at the back of his head, which he obviously did not see, and then pulled on his arm again.

He turned to her with a curt, "Sakura, stop it," before focusing his attention once more on the other man. The pinkette scowled but bit back the start of an argument, and settled for leering over his shoulder at who she had unconsciously named Bowl Head. It was either that or Caterpillar Brows, and the former had a nicer ring to it, she thought.

"Oh, you do not know?" He looked rather confused, as though this Slink thing was something everyone knew about.

"We're…not from around here," Sasuke told him cautiously. The look in Bowl Head's eyes made Sakura very nervous, but thankfully it passed and he smiled in an understanding way.

"Ah, I see. Travelers, I assume?"

Sakura nodded on instinct, and Sasuke grunted a confirmation.

"Makes sense. Well, Slinks… what is the best way to describe them? Basically, they are light."

"Light?" Sakura sucked in a breath. The word had tumbled out of her mouth before she had had a chance to think about it, and her tone hadn't been too kind either. More like unimpressed and disbelieving. Really though, if they were light, they would already by inside the house because the door was open! He had to be playing mind games on them.

Bowl Head shook his bowl-shaped head. "No, no, that is not quite right. They are like orbs of light that are found in the forest, when the forest is there. They lure people after them, those who are lost and desperate to get out of the dark. But the Slinks only bring them farther into the forest. They do not cause people harm, but they do not bring any good either."

Sakura was speechless. She thought it was a load of baloney, magical orbs that bring travelers to their dark doom. It sounded like something out of a children's fairy tale. Sasuke, however, seemed more enthralled with the story than she was (and she found this quite surprising), because his next question was very serious.

"What do you mean, 'when the forest is there'?"

"I mean when the forest is there, and not when it is not. And since it is in fact right there," he motioned out the door, "I would appreciate it if you would close the door behind you, because the last time I got a Slink in here, it took me a good hour to lure it back out."

Sakura blinked. Sasuke was speechless. Bowl Head tipped his head to the side and asked concernedly, "Is anything the matter?"

Sakura was sure that he was absolutely insane by now, and pleaded a little more desperately with Sasuke. "Sasuke, come on, please. I don't like this, he's nuts. He's making it sound like we're in freaking Fairytale land!"

"Fairytale land? Is that where you are from? I've never heard of it before, is it a nice place?" Bowl Head interjected, ignoring her insult deafly.

"No, we're not from Fairytale land," Sasuke spoke up, and then looked at Sakura over his shoulder. "It's fine, close the door, he won't stop asking if you don't."

"What?! Sasuke, do you understand what you're saying? He's-"

"Sakura." He turned around and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her face with a somber expression. "He's telling the truth about those Slink things, I saw one before we went into the forest. They're real."

"Why would they not be real?" came Bowl Head's voice from the side. Sakura ignored him completely.

"Sasuke," she began slowly. "Do you understand the situation? We do not know him. He wants us to close the door so that we are in here alone with him. There are no windows, therefore it will be very dark-"

"I can turn on a light, if you would like."

"-and most of all…" here she took a deep breath and was silent for a long minute.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Most of all what?"

Looking down, Sakura muttered, "I don't know." She heard Sasuke's frustrated sigh and prickled in anger. She pushed his hands off of her shoulders roughly and whispered something under her breath.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura raised her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "Stop treating me like a little kid."

Sasuke frowned and crossed his arms. "I'm doing no such thing."

"Yes you are!"

"How, then? Tell me how I'm treating you like a child."

"You won't listen to me!" Sakura shrieked, fists balling. "You won't listen to a single word I say, you ignore me completely! You act like everything I suggest is stupid-"

"The only reason I'm not listening to what you say is because it is stupid," Sasuke cut her off with a dangerous growl in his voice. Sakura gasped, but instantly regained the deadly gleam in her jade eyes and splotches of red in her cheeks.

"Oh, fine then, I get it. I get it fine, Sasuke. Feel free to have your little tea party with your new friend over there." She gestured at the other man who they had been blatantly ignoring; his eyebrows were lost in his hair as he watched with amusement. "But since I'm not really feeling the welcome, I'll be outside."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned and headed for the door, a part of her feeling slightly hurt when she didn't notice Sasuke trying to stop her. She crushed the pain immediately. She wanted to get away from him anyway.

Once under the doorframe, she gripped the knob tightly and debated whether or not to turn around and see how the two behind her had reacted. Her pride wouldn't allow her to in the end, so she let go of the metal and stepped through the door, slamming it closed behind her with vigor, a guilty feeling of pleasure in her gut.

It hadn't taken long for dusk to come, turning the sun's light to a deep gold and stretching dark shadows out over the ground. Sakura was sitting with her back to the door, eyes fixated on the gloomy forest ahead, trying to pick out any hints of light, Slinks. Of course, and with a twinge of annoyance, she saw nothing besides trees. She was so bored.

She let her head loll to the side, immediately squinting and sitting up straight since, by moving her head, the tops of the trees were no longer blocking the sinking orb in the sky. She let out quiet groan of frustration.

The voices inside had stopped around what she estimated to be ten minutes ago. Sasuke and the stranger had spoken in low, unintelligible voices for the better part of her stay right outside the door, and the sudden quiet unnerved her a bit. She contemplated standing up and opening the door, just to make sure everything was fine, but then the sound of Sasuke's voice reached her ears.

She shifted carefully and flattened an ear to the smooth wood, focusing on the voice she knew so well on the other side of the barrier. She was sure she made out the words "stubborn" and "immature" among the stifled speech. The sound of unfamiliar laughter followed soon behind. She assumed it was Bowl Head's.

The concern flooded away in an instant, and Sakura positioned her back against the door once again, arms crossed and face scowling. "Stupid," she murmured under her breath. Her stomach growled. She told it to shut up.

Her attempt to sulk in peace was abruptly interrupted as the door was pulled open and she fell flat on her back. Staring down at her with onyx eyes showing no emotion was Sasuke.

"Um…hi?"

"There's some food on the table if you're hungry," he told her flatly, "I already ate." As he headed away, he said over his shoulder, "And we'll be staying here for a while."

Stunned, Sakura pushed herself to her feet and called after him, but he disappeared around a corner into a deeper part of the house. She frowned at the bare wall.

"Um, would you like to eat?" came a tentative voice, and Sakura's eyes landed on Sasuke's outlandish haired new 'friend.' He was standing behind a chair at the table, watching her with round, kind eyes, clearly inviting her to sit down.

Sakura, however, was still feeling obstinate. "No thanks," she muttered, and headed back outside to sit in a warm patch of sunny grass. She brought her knees up to her chest and wallowed in her thoughts.

Sasuke. What was his problem? She felt like he was leaving her in the dark, spending a good hour with a perfect stranger talking about who knows what, and then suddenly telling her that they were going to live with him for a while. And then ignoring her again! How rude. The depressing part was that she knew that she couldn't really do much about it, she knew she couldn't just leave because she feared being alone, but she had also always been wary of strangers, so the situation made her uncomfortable.

Something about her thoughts made her feel guilty. She claimed to be afraid of being alone, and yet when she had first gone through the door she had told Sasuke not to follow her. Then, when she woke up and his face was the first thing she saw, she had been at first happy, and then angry because she depended on him always being there too much.

When he was around she wanted him to go away, when he was gone she wanted him to come back. It was hopeless. She was hopeless, never able to make a decision without his input, like he had so kindly told her.

She groaned and rubbed her hands over her eyes, stretching the skin on her face in irritation.

"Excuse me?"

The voice made her jump, and a small gasp escaped her lips.

"Sorry! I did not mean to surprise you."

"Oh, no, it's okay." She recognized Bowl Head's voice as his shadow grew beside her until he was standing next to her.

He sat down slowly and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Sakura shrugged, heart beating normally again. "Fine, I guess." Lonely.

He seemed to hear her thoughts and said, "Do not worry, once the forest is gone you will feel much better."

"Ah." She pretended to understand, not enthusiastic about burying herself in another mind boggling explanation of things that made no sense, but her company seemed to be able to see through her mask.

"The forest makes people have different emotions that they normally do," he explained slowly. "It makes reserved people outspoken, kind people a bit ruder, and usually makes rude people ruder as well. It is like a stressor in a way, I hope that helps you understand."

She smiled faintly. "Makes sense."

"I am glad. Here, eat." He pushed a bowl of some thick stew into her hands. The smell was enough to make her mouth water, and the porcelain was a comfortable temperature against her hands.

"Thanks," she said, and tasted a spoonful. "It's good." All pretense of not being hungry were gone as Sakura eagerly devoured the food, glad that she received no strange glances because of her impolite behavior.

"I am Lee, by the way."

Sakura paused with her spoon in the half empty bowl. "Sakura."

He smiled, brilliantly white teeth shining. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Sakura."

She couldn't stop the smile spreading over her face, a result of his kindness. "Likewise."

She finished the rest of her stew slowly, savoring the flavor, as well as the comforting silence around the two of them. Maybe she had misjudged him. Maybe he was a perfectly kind person. Maybe she would like it here, wherever here happened to be. There were so many maybes, she was beginning to get lost in thought again. It was only when Lee stood up that she realized that he had still been sitting there, silent as a stone.

"Well, I am going to go inside. Come whenever you would like, and I would be happy to show you around."

"Okay."

He hovered over her for a second before retreating back to the house. After she was sure the door was closed, Sakura placed the bowl next to her and lay down on the grass, hands behind her head.

She felt so calm, and her eyelids were beginning to get heavy. The forest didn't seem quite so menacing only a few yards away, and thoughts of Sasuke didn't trouble her any more. She was content, and the feeling was like a drug to her. She couldn't recall many times in her life when she had been completely content, and it was because of this that she could already feeling herself growing attached to the peaceful little house and the grassy field it was perched on and the strange yet welcoming inhabitant inside its walls.

"I think I like this more than home."

A/N: So there's this button in the bottom left hand corner. Some say it's gray, others say it's purple. Personally, i think it's blueish gray. But none of that matters, because no matter the color, if you push on it, cool stuff happens. You know you wanna push the button. And then review, yes?