Learning to Manipulate

Chapter Two- A Test in Trickery

Chapter two... Yes thank you for your reviews and interests. Great boost to my ego. Maybe I should stop writing before I get too up myself. XD Keep reading!

A test… that was what Sakura needed. She stalked silently around the few rooms she was allowed in, looking for Itachi or Deidara. What was wrong, when she hated them, she did all she could to hide, and they always came and found her. But now, she needed them to test out her idea… and there was no one in sight. Not even the other members of Akatsuki- Kisame, Hidan, Tobi, all the others who flitted in occasionally, after an 'outing'. They usually didn't stay around for long though. Sakura suspected that Itachi and Deidara had specifically asked to be the ones to guard their hostage. She wished they hadn't.

"Where the fuck is that retard now?" She muttered to herself, looking around the room she was in angrily. She had absolutely no idea what she would do if she actually found someone…. She hadn't thought that far ahead…

"And which retard would that be, yeah?" Deidara's sudden satirical voice and his hand on her shoulder made Sakura jump. "Oh… its you." Sakura said, coming up with a plan to test her idea as quickly as she could. "Who'd you think it might have been?" He asked, teasing. "Well… I was scared that it might have been Itachi. I've… I've been avoiding him all day." She looked to the floor, hiding the smirk that she couldn't keep off her face.

Already there was suspicion in his eyes, maybe even anger. "Why?" The simple word made Sakura smirk all the more. She forced it off her face and looked at him with eyes shining with tears, the innocent pink-haired girl put on a scared-bunny act easily. "This morning… he was… I-I don't want to say." She left it to his imagination. After all, he knew the ebony haired Uchiha more than she did. She almost saw his mind working through his blonde hair. "That bastard!" He scowled, turning around and heading down the hallway. Sakura smiled to herself and walked back to her bedroom. It worked… on Deidara at least. Sakura lay on her bed, looking at the ceiling. The first thing she had to do, and had done was discover her power. Now she needed to figure out how she could use it…

Deidara brought her dinner that night, said a few words that Sakura didn't reply to, and left with a cryptic smile and wink. I wonder what happened to Itachi… She laughed and got a few minutes of entertainment imagining him blown to pieces…Sakura sighed. The dreary place was boring. Still. She started counting dark spots on the ceiling… One… two… three… One that looked like Deidara… "What?!" She muttered to herself. "Why the hell am I thinking about that loser?" She mumbled. It made no sense… She turned around on her side and shut her eyes stubbornly, confident that no one would come 'visit' her in the night. She finally felt safe as she drifted off to sleep.

That morning Deidara brought her breakfast with a smug grin on his face. Maybe he thought that because she didn't like Itachi, it meant that she liked him. He put the tray down on a table and sat down next to her on the bed. Before she had time to react, her pulled her towards him and into his strong embrace. Sakura knew what was coming next… "No fucking way!" She used all of her strength to push him away from her. "Aww… don't you get lonely in here all by yourself, yeah?" He crept towards her again. "Yes." She admitted. "But if you wanted to make sure that I wasn't lonely, then you could try fucking talking to me." Sakura pointed out, glaring at Deidara. "Well… what do you want to talk about?" He seemed puzzled. "I don't want to talk at the moment." She growled. "Fine, yeah." Deidara stood up. "I'll talk to you later then." He walked out, still looking pleased with himself.

Sakura was puzzled… Maybe she had gotten the wrong impression from him. He seemed like he actually wanted her to like him, like he didn't just want to randomly sexually harass her. She cut off her thoughts suddenly. She couldn't have those kind of thoughts if she wanted to escape from this place… How could she run away if she got attached to anyone there? Sakura started eating the food, but hardly tasted it. It was finished off pretty quickly. Maybe she should have talked for a while with Deidara. She had nothing to do but wait for lunch. She wished she had a book or something to read. Something to learn, something to do… Sakura stood up after much consideration and walked out of the room. Her room only had one door which lead out into a larger room, with two lounges and a table. It was like a living room, but no one really went there. The few times she had sat there, Itachi had come to sit next to her and she had moved away. One of the doors in there led to a bathroom, pretty boring and plain. Another of the doors in the living room went to a courtyard, which she was allowed to wander in, but the gate from the courtyard was always closed and locked. She had even tried breaking it, the seemingly weak thing that was all that was between her and freedom, but it stubbornly refused to break or even bend.

Sakura wandered into the living room and sat down. She stared at the other door, set in the fourth wall of the room. Beyond there was just a hallway, with a few doors to the sides, but she was never allowed in there. Deidara and Itachi slept in there perhaps? But at the end of the hallway was a door, sometimes opened and leading straight to freedom. The front door… But that was closed off to her. She sat down and continued staring at the door. She half expected someone to come through there at any moment. Maybe she even hoped for it. But no one came, for as long as she watched. So she decided to go outside. It was equally as boring.

A tree, surrounded by grass, set next to a gate in the high walls surrounding the courtyard. She sat under the tree with a sigh. Sighing. It seemed that was all she was doing lately. A leaf fluttered down from the tree, landing in front of her. "How fucking poetic." Sakura growled. That simple thing just seemed to piss her off. "How poetic indeed, yeah." Sakura looked up suddenly at Deidara, who had suddenly appeared in front of her. She didn't even notice him until he spoke. "Lunch already?" She asked. "Well I can take it back if you don't want it…" He shrugged, setting it down on the ground near her, and sitting down next to her. "What the hell are you doing?" She asked, puzzled. "Talking, yeah. So… uh… do you like poetry?" Sakura looked away, It was kind of weird to be talking to him like this. "Yeh. I guess." She shrugged. "You like art, yeah?" She turned her head to look back at him. An artist. Of course he'd talk about art. "Well it depends on what you classify as art…" The kunoichi mumbled. "Art is something that's beautiful…" He moved his lips closer to her ear. Sakura tensed, just in case he did something… "And if that's the case…" Deidara continued. "Then, I could call you art, yeah…" He whispered in her ear. Maybe she would have done something, but she was frozen. Not by fear or even anger, but a strange feeling, a tight knot in her stomach.

"What do you mean?" Sakura's mind went blank. "I mean…" He smiled. "You're beautiful, Sakura-chan." Maybe he was trying to go a bit slower, but first he kissed her on the cheek. The touch sent a shiver down Sakura's spine, and Deidara noticed. He laughed and ran a hand through her hair. Sakura found herself unable to do anything. Maybe even unwilling. But whatever it was, Deidara noticed this as well. "Whats wrong, un?" He asked. "I'm hungry." She growled, pushing him away from her. The food was already half cold, but it was an excuse to get out of a bad situation. It didn't taste too bad, and Deidara left her to eat in peace. She finished, leaving the tray behind in the yard. Why would she care about cleaning up when she was a prisoner?

Deidara brought her dinner that night as well, but left pretty much straight away, with a look that was almost disappointment on his face. Almost as soon as she had finished, the door opened again. "Why are you back?" She growled, and looked up. Shit… It was Itachi again. She really had to start looking at who she was talking to. "What did you tell Deidara?" He asked, glaring at her. "Nothing." Sakura smiled sweetly at him. "You're even cuter when you're being evil…" Itachi smirked back at her. Shit this guy had the opposite reaction to what I expected. "What happened anyway… I haven't seen you since yesterday." And it made my day a lot better… She added to herself. "Nothing." He shrugged. "It was just his day with you."

Sakura glared at him. "His day? What, you're taking turns with me, just like I'm a toy or something?!" She shouted, standing up off the chair she was sitting in, though she barely reached his chin. She wished he had been blown to bits… "Exactly." He smirked. "And its my turn now…" He advanced on her, pushing her backwards until she fell onto the bed, and he fell on top of her, pinning her. "Get off!" She pushed uselessly against him for a few minutes before giving up. "Why do you struggle so much about a love that was meant to be?" His eyes bored into her, as she glared back. "This isn't love, this is fucking rape!" She hissed. "Don't deny it." Itachi said as he lay on the bed, pulling her up so that her head was on his chest. The heat from his body was comforting… It was making her feel sleepy. Itachi ran his hands through her hair. "You have such pretty hair…" He muttered into her ear. "Fuck off…" She muttered back, but she couldn't muster the strength to say it any louder. She suddenly felt so tired, her eyelids felt heavy. "What the fuck was in my dinner?" She managed to murmur before she fell asleep. Itachi just laughed as she fell asleep in his arms.

Sakura woke up the next morning, with the Uchiha's arms still wrapped around her. She looked back at his face. He was sleeping. It was funny how peaceful his face was when he was sleeping. She tried to get up, but even when he wasn't conscious, his grip was still strong. God… I have to wait until he wakes up… She closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep, but their closeness was just disconcerting. "God…" Sakura breathed and rolled her eyes. She wanted to get up already… She half closed her eyes and lay her head back down on his chest. Eaugh. The thought of it made her cringe, but she had no-where else to rest her head.

She stared for what seemed like hours at her favorite blank stretch of wall before he finally stirred. "Finally." She grunted as he opened his eyes. "Let me get up already." Itachi smiled down at her and tightened his grip. "Not yet…" His smile widened. "You'd better not try anything. Or I'll kill you." Sakura warned. "I'd like to see you try." Itachi replied coolly. He's not fazed by anything… It annoyed her. In her mind, everyone had at least one weakness, though Itachi didn't seem to even have one. He stroked her face with his annoyingly warm fingers. Or it was annoying the way it made her feel… "At least come back later. You have the whole fucking day with me, right?" She said dryly. She needed time by herself to gather her thoughts. "Fine." He agreed, releasing her.

She moved away from him as he left, glaring after him. They had stopped fighting over her and allocated days for them to spend with her? It was almost unbearable. And they were getting bolder with every day that passed. How to escape? The topic would need some thought. But in the meantime… Perhaps she could find some entertainment in the dreary building. Entertainment by manipulating her two pursuers. She was sure that she could make them do whatever she wanted them to.

Right done.

I apologize if it wanders a little, because it was written over quite a few days and doesn't quite connect in some places. Anyways, read, review and I'll get to writing the next chapitere

That's all for now!

s2- Envy