Sakura woke up slowly and calmly, taking a few moments for her mind to register where the hell she was and why there was a male spooning her from behind. After a minute of utter confusion, she remembered the previous night. She was angry with Sasuke. Deidara called, asking her to hang out. She said yes. They danced. Drank. And kissed. Her mind eased as she realized that they had kissed and only kissed. She gave credit to Deidara; he could have easily pressured her into more, but he clearly respected her limits. At least she hoped. He could have been too fucked up to get hard.

"Oops..." She whispered, shimmying out of Deidara's iron grip. The alarm on her cell phone was buzzing like a bee, and she quickly dashed to the floor to retrieve it. Seven missed calls. Thirteen text messages. All from one person. She dismissed her alarm and sighed, looking around the mess Deidara called his room. She noticed a hulking mass of clay not too far from the bed with a cocked eyebrow. Was that there last night? No. Damn, she needed a cigarette.

The pinkette stole a single cigarette from the pack Deidara had left unarmed on his side table. She had a lighter somewhere in her purse, and she grabbed it as she made her way to the bathroom. What time was it, again? She flipped her phone open. Fuck. Seven o'clock in the morning, and she had to get ready for work and a big meeting with Saso-

Oh. Sasori. Meeting with him. Today. Right. Regarding his new work. Would he know something had happened? Would Deidara tell him? Shit! She wasn't acting very professionally, and she knew it was because Sasuke was stressing her out big time. It was hard enough that he was a stoic asshole the majority of the time, but now that he was no longer home for extended periods of time, she was getting more than a little worried. His job had hardly ever required him to travel before, at least not for too long and not this often. Was he lying to her? She didn't know and she probably wouldn't know.

She inhaled and exhaled smoke. Sometimes she wished that she could breathe fire, warm her body and burn her enemies. Sakura could feel her anxiety acting up again, as she felt a familiar strain in her chest. Between work, her joke of a relationship and her hardly eating, Sakura was getting worn out. And fast.

She jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. A weary eyed blonde man was peering down at her, a yawn escaping his mouth. Sakura briefly remembered how soft his lips felt against her and boy did she need to focus on work right now.

"Coffee?" He offered, gesturing towards the itty bitty kitchen. Sakura nodded and followed him into the cramped space. She poured herself a cup and took a large gulp. He smiled, almost surprised. Then again, Sakura struck him as a I-like-my-coffee-black kind of chick. He poured himself a cup and hunched over the pathetically miniscule table. Fuck this apartment, he thought to himself. Deidara heard Sakura sigh and braced himself for the worst.

"Look... Deidara... Are you going to, uh, tell anyone about this?" She began, looking down into the mug below her. "Because if anyone found out that I had any sort of intimacy with one of my artists, it could cost me my job."

"No, I'm not going to tell Sasori, so don't worry, cherry, un." He winked at her, but she sensed a sort of sadness beneath his happy facade. "Just a drunken mistake, un. Deal?" Deidara extended a long, beautiful hand. She hesitated for a second before doing the same, and their hands embraced in a firm hand shake.

"I wouldn't call it that..." Sakura practically whispered, and Deidara cocked his head with a small, yet clearly present, smirk.

"Then what would you call it, un?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and walked towards the front door. The pinkette paused before returning to his room once more, only to reappear shortly after with a stolen cigarette hanging from her lips.

"I am taking one. Call me when you want to get serious about the sculpture." She muttered, making her way out the door. Deidara shook his head.

"Sure thing, cherry, un. I think I have the anatomy of your lips down pretty well, at least going from memory and all, un." He jeered back, laughing as he saw her growl before exiting his apartment. He wasn't too concerned about her seemingly bad mood and regret for what happened the night before.

She would be back. Without a doubt.

/

Sakura sat down on the floor of her marble-tiled shower, the steaming, cool glass door uncomfortably pressing against her back and spine. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Why did I do that? She thought, water running off of her face and sopping wet hair. Did that even count as cheating? Dancing and a little kissing, waking up to find yourself spooning with an almost-stranger? If she told Sasuke would he laugh at her? It didn't feel wrong. It felt almost necessary to her – she needed a break from the same old, and Deidara was the perfect opportunity for it.

Was she a bad person for doing this? Granted, she was a little drunk. As was he. The thing that truly scared her was the fact that she honestly didn't regret doing it. But would she want Sasuke to find out? Probably not. Did that make it a bad thing? She didn't know. All that she did know was that she was slowly losing her grip on reality and the life she had worked so hard to create.

"Fuck it." She told herself. Maybe it was good to live a little on edge. At least more than she had been at the moment. Sakura washed her body in the scalding water, eventually turning off the soothing water to share a warm embrace with her fluffy, coveted pink towel. She felt dizzy and lightheaded, and she soon realized it was not from the alcohol she consumed the night before. She hadn't eaten in at least two days. She had been on autopilot: meetings, galleries, parties, work work work. So much work. She was being drowned by it, consumed by it.

Her phone buzzed. A text message from Sasori. 'Meeting still on for later?' It read. Sakura groaned. She loved Sasori, he was an absolute genius when it came to his art, but just the thought of being in a stuffy, white room for hours while the two discussed payment and other details made her want to curl up and sleep forever. But, there was no time for rest in the world of art. She had to go go go.

She replied back 'Yes.' and collapsed on her luxurious, fluffy bed. Sakura sighed before waltzing to her closet and picking out a simple, structured black dress with black pumps. She shimmied into the borderline sexy number, and danced to her bathroom to fix up her hair. She looked at the blow dryer with pure hatred.

"Fuck that." She tossed some gel into her semi-wet hair and quickly braided bits back and crumpled the heaping mess into a reasonably neat bun. Sakura's style was always moderately neat and professional with some roughness around the edges. And she was ecstatic that sex hair seemed to be all the rage now; she hardly used the straightening iron any longer. The pinkette slid some silver and turquoise rings onto her petite fingers and made her way out the door.

Shit. She had forgotten her purse, as usual. Retracting her steps, she found the italian leather bag laying across the kitchen counter. She longed to lay on the floor and take a damn nap, but she knew she had to take care of business and financial matters for the gallery today. Sakura fingered her purse, checking to make sure she had all of her necessities for the day; photo identification, wallet, credit cards, cash, Starbucks gift cards galore, makeup just incase, diet pills and a few cans of diet soda to stash in her office fridge for an energy boost throughout the day. She knew she was going a bit too far with the dieting thing, but she had a huge gallery event coming up in a month and she wanted to look damn good for it. She also couldn't help but feel that something had to be wrong with her, why else would Sasuke be so busy with 'work' and his friends lately? If she lost a few pounds or shed a few dress sizes, would he notice her again? Sakura shot a puzzled look at her dress when she felt a hard, solid item at the bottom of it.

Was it a... a tiny bird figurine? No. It was a tiny bird sculpture. Looked like clay. Sakura rolled her eyes. Are you kidding me? She knew who had to have put it in her bag, there was no one else who would bother. Is this some kind of a joke? Why would Deidara stick a weird little bird thing in her bag? Regardless of the oddness of the situation, Sakura had to admit it looked quite cute. There were specks of pink in its wings and the eyes looked to be sea foam green. Did he make it specifically for her? She couldn't remember if he was next to her in the bed the entire night. She wasn't too sure of anything that had happened that night, but had shrugged it off.

'Nice bird.' She texted him quickly, before dashing to her car and speeding to her gallery's office. She waved to a few neighbors as she struggled to maintain the 25 MPH speed limit in her neighborhood. There were hardly any kids around here and she had to go go go, why couldn't they raise it to 35 or 40? Soon enough she was on the main road and nearly at the gallery on the main street of her town. It was the most modern looking building on the street and Sakura was damn proud of it; it was her little baby and her most prized possession, hands down. Her house could burn down, her car could get stolen; as long as she had her gallery she would be content.

Sakura arrived at the gallery and unlocked the front doors. It was Sunday; she would be the only person in today. Well, her and whatever guests and artists decided to show up and talk business with her. She entered her office and opened a file cabinet, beginning her tedious paperwork for the day.

/

Sasori entered the office without knocking. Sakura looked exhausted, and she nearly kissed the man when he saw him place a large cup of coffee on her desk.

"You are a saint." She took a long sip from the cardboard cup. Sasori didn't bat an eyelash.

"Wouldn't say that." And with that, he took a seat across from her at her glass desk. The desk was tidy, with only a high tech computer and some scattered paperwork lying on top of it. A jar of candies waited in a red ceramic jar; the only source of color in the room, apart from her obnoxiously pink hair. The rest of the office was either white or glass. Must be a bitch to clean, Sasori thought before turning his attention to the petite woman in from of himself. He took a swig of his coffee: black.

"So what have you got for me?" Sakura began, lacing her fingers together under her chin. Sasori scratched the back of his neck.

"They are a bit smaller, but I decided to start a new series of sorts. Seven pieces, they all have a theme, much smaller than my previous works. But just as detailed and meticulously done." He examined the writing on the coffee cup.

"The only issue is that people love bigger pieces. You know that."

"Sakura, that could be said about a lot of things." Sakura blushed briefly. "Like I said, they are still all very well done... And have a theme people seem to be dangerously attracted to."

"And what would that be?"

"The seven deadly sins."

"Ah." Sakura examined her nails. She seemed to feel Sasori's eyes digging away at her forehead.

"Yes. Pride, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth, greed... Lust..." Did he linger on the last one for a moment too long? Sakura couldn't tell if he was suggesting something or if it was all in her head. She felt her stomach growl loudly and quickly coughed to hide the noise. "Are you hungry?" Sasori asked with a partially concerned expression.

"No." Her stomach growled again. Fuck.

"Why don't we go out to grab something to eat?" Sasori suggested, a small smile on his face.

"I'm okay, thank you though. Let's get back to work. When can I expect this, uh... Series... Done by?" Sakura took a huge gulp of coffee, trying to fill her stomach with something so the damn thing would stop making noises. Honestly, it always interrupted her at the worst times.

"Sakura, you look hungry and a little pale. Why don't we discuss this over some food." Sasori wasn't asking.

"Sasori, I expect your new pieces done in the next month. If you have any questions or concerned you know where to find me." Sakura sat up to show him the door. Sasori sighed. She noticed him whip out his phone and text someone quickly before giving her a salute good-bye. Sakura sat back down and threw a piece of gum in her mouth. She gave her stomach a quick pat.

"Why do you have to be so troublesome..." She spoke to herself, opening her phone as she heard it vibrate softly on her desk.

'Glad you liked it. Food?' Deidara had finally texted her back. Took him long enough, she thought, rolling her eyes.

'Maybe later.'

'Word on the street is you're hungry. Meet you at the gallery.' Sakura sighed. Dumb fuck. She glanced at her watch and proceeded to save all of the work on her computer and put away her stubborn paperwork. Did Sasori text him? Did Sasori know? She had a biting feeling that Sasori had his suspicious, if not the knowledge, that the two had hooked up. But it was only a little hook up! No sex, no nudity! That could hardly be considered lustful of her... Besides, she was sure Sasuke wasn't being faithful to her when he was off to who knows where. If he was, she would honestly be shocked beyond belief.

Before she knew it, Deidara was standing before her.

"Don't you know?" She asked, sitting up and collecting her things. Deidara smirked.

"Not my style, yeah." He opened the door behind him and made a small gesture, signaling he would follow her out of the office. Sakura sighed. She stumbled for a moment trying to walk over, and she hoped he hadn't noticed.

"You okay?" Deidara questioned, sincere concern on his face. Fuck. He noticed. He took hold of her hand and helped her out.

"Fine!" Sakura replied, a wide, fake smile playing on her lips. She noticed Deidara's face drop for a second.

"Let's get some food in you." He spoke quietly. Sakura frowned.

"How about just coffee?" She suggested, a hopeful smile on her face. Deidara shook his head.

"You need food. You look starving and you're shaking, yeah. You need some calories in you. Have you eaten today?" Sakura knew he would see right through her lies.

"No, I have not."

Deidara waited for Sakura to lock up the gallery. He sighed as she leaned on the glass doors for support for her tiny frame. He saw the tiny bones of her wrist and shoulders. Did she do this often?

"Where are we going?" Sakura inquired, but Deidara just smiled. She gave a tiny whimper as he picked her up, bridal style, while walking in a direction she hadn't gone in a long time. "Put me down!" She yelled, pounding on his back. Deidara chuckled.

"No way, yeah. You can hardly walk. You need to save your energy for chewing and swallowing!" Sakura pouted. He was treating her like she was five, and she didn't like it one bit. She should be in control, not some blonde hoodlum!

"Bullshit." Sakura replied.

"If you eat all of your food, I'll give you a prize, yeah." Deidara winked at the pinkette. She scrunched her nose and made a disapproving face.

"Tell me where we are going, Deidara."

"You will see soon, yeah."

"Tell me."

"No. Stop asking or I'll take you to my neighborhood and leave you, yeah. You won't last a minute with those scumbags."

"Would too!" She argued. Sakura sighed as Deidara kept his eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

"No way, yeah."

"I survived a night with you, though!" She spoke a bit too loudly. Oops.

"You calling me a scumbag, yeah?" She saw the slight annoyance in his face. Sakura immediately regretted the word vomit that had come out of her mouth.

"I didn't mean it like that." Sakura said quietly. Deidara shook his head slightly.

"Right." He replied shortly. Sakura mentally kicked herself. I'm an idiot.

"Sorry." She almost whispered. She saw Deidara look down at her for a moment, his face unreadable. They continued on in silence for a few more minutes before Deidara allowed her to stand up all on her own again.

"Here we are, yeah!" He spoke proudly with a wide smile. Sakura looked.

"Uhh..." She had no clue what to say.

The two were standing outside of a large, smelly McDonald's.

"Deidara... I... Can't..." Sakura began, going into panic mode. She couldn't eat this shit right now, she would blow up within an instant. She knew she was being irrational, but eating this crap would lead to her utter downfall, or so she thought. Deidara breathed in and out, very slowly.

"Come on. You owe me, yeah." Deidara opened the door for her. She sighed and walked inside.

Thanks for reading everyone, please review! I love seeing your input and opinions, as well as suggestions!

Have a good one!

iiMNOTOKAY