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The next chapter…


A musty smell filled Sakura's nose, as she slowly sat up. As if seeing things for the first time, she looked around in shock, her eyes scanning the surroundings. Again, she took in the white room, every detail of it. She noted that the paint was chipping slightly, and frowned on that fact. If she were to live there, then the room would have to be more well-kept. It was clean enough, though, and livable.

Groaning, the pink-haired girl forced herself out of bed. She was still wearing her clothes from the night before, having no other changes of clothing. The most she could do was to pull on the Akatsuki cloak, and cover up the wrinkled garments. Upon doing so, she stepped out, into a darker hallway.

"Sakura-chan!" A female voice called out to her. She turned around, to face Konan.

"Uhh. Do you know where the bathroom is?" Sakura questioned, before Konan could say anything else.

"Down the hallway, in the front."

"Thanks." The rosette smiled at the other woman, and headed off in the direction described.

Once she had finished making herself look acceptable, Sakura returned back to her bedroom, unsure of what to do. What was she to do? The leader hadn't assigned any missions, and she didn't know anyone well enough to strike up a conversation with them. She never realized that life in the Akatsuki would be so boring. Sighing, she sprawled herself out on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Her mind began to wander back to Konoha. What were her friends doing at that moment? Did they miss her as much as she missed them? Or did they just forget about her...regarding her as no more than a distant shadow. Closing her eyes, Sakura tried to remember what their faces looked like. A blurry image of Naruto flashed in her mind. She felt herself smiling slightly, remembering the antics of the energetic blonde. Another, darker image also appeared. Upon his face was an ever-familiar scowl, and his eyes shone with an almost unbearable intensity. Sasuke.

The realization dawned upon her that she still believed that he was good, that he could love her as much as she loved him. She would never stop believing that. She would always love him.

Now that she was in the Akatsuki, she would be wandering around the different regions more often. Chances were that she would run into some of Orochimaru's people. Chances were that Sasuke would be among them. If that happened, she promised herself that she would force him to listen. That she would bring him back to Konoha, or at least go with him, and leave the Akatsuki. Anything would be better that being in the organisation.

Standing up, Sakura decided that she would talk to the other ninjas in her team. She needed to become familiar with their techniques, in case she needed to fight them to go join Sasuke. So, she left the small room, and veered towards that which Konan showed her as being Deidara's.

Upon entering, Sakura was immediatley struck by the simplicity of the whole space. Really, the only decorations were small clay animals that rested on an old wooden table. Other than that, the only furniture was a bed.

"Who's there?" Deidara mumbled, getting up from his seat on the floor.

"Sakura."She responded.

"Ah." A white clay bird emerged from his hand, and flew to the table. The blonde straightened himself up, and averted all his attention to her. A grin spread across his face as he eyed her. "You're wearing the cloak."

She shrugged. "What else is there to wear?"

"Good point." He nodded, sitting down on the bed, still looking at her, expectant of something.

A silence filled the space between them for a moment, before the blond Akatsuki member turned back to his work. Sakura, not knowing what more to say, spun around, and left the room. Upon exiting the small space, she sighed.

"Well, that was helpful."

Suddenly, a sinister presence appeared behind her. Cool air brushed against the skin on her exposed neck. She dared not turn around, for fear of what she might see. He was annoyed, she could feel his negative energy. And they were alone...

"Haruno Sakura." All previous politeness faded away from his voice, and was replaced by a harsh, infuriated tone.

"What do you want?" She demanded, astonished by how brave she sounded, especially under the circumstances.

"Did you notice anything different about me?" He sounded like an adult scolding a young child, emmitting nuances of impatience.

Sakura was unsure of how to answer. She had noticed something different, in fact, something very different. He was human, and it was her fault!

"Sorry about that." She muttured, dreading his response.

"Sorry?" His voice became dangerously low. "You destroy all I have worked for, and all that you can say is 'sorry'?" She could sense him step closer to her. She was cornered. The only way out was to smash through the wall behind her, but that would waste chakra, and the Akatsuki would have even more reason to hate her. Gulping, the girl looked up at him.

"Look... It's over now, it's in the past. Please, can't we just forget about it?"

"Damn it, how can I forget?" He spat angrily, narrowing his eyes.

Sakura looked down, unsure of what to say. Quite evidently, he hated her. Maybe it would have been better to be on the same team as Itachi Uchiha. At least the emotionless Sharingan-wielder seemed to have nothing against her. Sasori, on the other hand, had everything against her. She had almost killed him, and had taken away his immortality.

"Are you going to kill me?" Her voice became considerably meeker. She dared glance back up.

He chuckled dangerously.

"Killing you would be too easy. You don't deserve to die."

With that, he spun around and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Sakura alone once more, frightened, and unsure of herself.


Well, the chapter didn't turn out quite as long as I would have wanted it to, but I had a terrible case of writer's block, so I couldn't think of much to put down.

Thanks for reading!

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