Authoress' Note: Sorry for the wait, and I know it's shorter than the usual chapter length, but I had to end it soon. In the next chapter I hope to develop their characters more, and get them both to have some mutual trust. Not yet though! This is kind of a filler and I wanted to do something cruel to them both as well. I tried a new thing out in this chapter: different points of view! The first one is Sakura's, then it's Sasori's. I love using "I" statements in things. Enjoy and please review, they make me smile and let me know how to improve. I love feedback, so please review .

Disclaimer: Note mine, so shut yer holes already! I'm just an obsessed fangirl...jeez!

Chapter 7

Both captured-ninja-turned-escapees were now beyond the prison block itself as they crossed the room with the every-which-way walkways and platforms. They remained ever silent, neither one really wanting to talk to the other. Sakura had many questions for her freaky companion, but she didn't want to offend him and scare him away before they could depart from the Darkness village. She had to keep her manners and her wits about her.

Sasori, on other hand, was growing frustrated with the lack of enemy ninja; he wanted to hurt or maim someone a great deal, yet nobody had bothered to come and check on the prisoners. He found it both strange and unnerving. If he were the leader of a village, he would make it his top priority that any living prisoners be guarded thoroughly at all hours of the day. His prisoners would never be able to escape. Not that the puppet master ever needed to keep a person alive…once he captured someone he started adding the unfortunate ninja to his collection immediately.

The duo left the echoing abyss of a room behind and set foot, at last, in the corridor that led all the way around the inside of the Yamikage's manor. All they needed to do was follow it around for a few minutes until they found the stairs heading down. Then it was just a case of avoiding the Darkness ninja and escaping the eternally pitch-black forest - nothing to it really. The only problem that both of them now seemed to have was that their journey had been mostly absorbed with the walking through the rather short corridor which appeared to have no end to it.

Sakura's POV

This corridor has no end! We've been walking for hours, with no trouble yet, and this stupid corridor just won't come to a finish. It's like we're trapped in a genjutsu or something, but that can't be possible because I would have noticed if we were…um…I think…

Oh great, I bet this is a genjutsu! And this jerk will probably say it's my entire fault for not noticing, even though he is probably a lot better at being a ninja than I am. He did, after all, break me out of that stupid prison cell. I couldn't even do that, which just proves how lame I am. Lady Tsunade would be so disappointed with me…

Sasori's POV

Why is this corridor longer than the last time I came through it? By my calculations we should have been out of this irritating place long before now. Something feels…off. If this is a genjutsu, then I'm blaming the annoying girl's presence on my lack of noticing. She's too loud with her footsteps and her breathing is getting on my last nerve. I thought she would be spending all of the time talking, but instead she's just breathing too much! Maybe I should correct that…

Damn I probably shouldn't do that after all. I need her alive so she can get me through this stupid village. I can navigate, but I need a human shield so I don't get caught in another net and the girl is perfect for that task.

Unfortunately neither one of us will be leaving this village if we don't remove this annoying genjutsu and get out of this seemingly endless corridor.

Normal POV

Sasori stopped walking and glanced briefly at the pink-haired ninja beside him, "Girl we app-"

"It's Sakura."

The puppet master glared at Leaf ninja briefly, "Fine, Sakura, I think we're in a genjutsu. Do you have any idea what kind it might be?"

Sakura tapped her chin in thought and glanced both ways down the corridor that wouldn't end. Nothing seemed out of place, which suggested that the genjutsu was probably something that caused loops. With a satisfied smile she replied to her reluctant ally, "A looping genjutsu, most likely intended to exhaust whoever becomes trapped inside it."

The red-haired puppet-man nodded, "I thought it might be," Sakura opened her mouth to ask why he even wanted her to tell him, but he cut her off quickly, "so why don't we get rid of it now and move on?"

He raised his hands and formed a sign that would release the jutsu, which also involved sending some of his own chakra out into the genjutsu itself. Sasori's chakra was met with little resistance, so the genjutsu that the pair had been, alarmingly, caught in dissipated instantly.

At once the never ending corridor vanished and the continuous stream of doors on either side of it melted away like ice in a boiler room. At last the pair could see the stairs that led to the ground floor of the manor, and their next big step towards freedom. Sakura sprinted towards the stairs, leaping down them three at a time. Sasori was much more refined, being the mentally older of the two, and he glided down the steps like fog on a patch of grass – he made no noise and appeared to not even have touched a single step.

Sakura glared at Sasori's total lack of speed in his movements, "Hurry up! If you don't move faster we'll never be free." The pink-haired girl all but dragged her red-haired ally, even daring to reach out and almost tug his arm to make him move a second faster.

The puppet master pulled away before she could get the chance to carry through with the plan, and walked in front of the girl in utter silence. He closed his eyes and focused on any movement that could be coming from the other side of the wooden door, but nothing alerted his senses. He re-opened his eyes and slid the door to the side to create a small enough gap for both of them to fit through without attracting attention.

So far so good, as there were no Darkness ninja in the immediate vicinity, but Sakura knew that she had no luck at all when it came to danger; the second she stepped out of the building, she predicted that at least ten of the ninja would appear and gut her…or worse.

Sasori obviously noticed his companion's lack of progress, as his angry gaze pierced her very soul and split it apart into many pieces, creating a chaotic order within her own being: should she proceed over the step and risk triggering a trap, or should she just wait everything out inside the manor and hope the Yamikage himself does not arrive? Honestly, she would rather suffer than remain where the enemy leader could have free reign of her solitary self. He'd probably kill her in a heartbeat!

"Sakura, either you move now, or I shall leave you there for those Darkness nitwits to find you. In case you didn't realise, they had plans to change you into a lifeless doll, like those other puppets you saw in the prison." The pink-haired ninja's eyes focused on the puppet master's face, "Do you want that life or do you want to move on and escape?" He deepened his glare towards the girl, but it did nothing to sway her wandering thoughts.

Sakura had heard everything that Sasori had said, yet she could not erase the one thing she knew he had not meant for her to hear: concern. There was a slight sound of concern etched into his words at the mention of her becoming a 'lifeless doll'. He didn't know her, nor did he like her – she could tell straight away – however for some reason he was worried at the mere mention of her being made lifeless.

She took a small step, and nothing happened, so she took another much larger step. Now she was out of the safer zone and into the open air. If someone was plotting to attack either of them, now would be an ideal opportunity. Still nothing happened and the Leaf ninja felt more confident that nothing ever would. She grinned and strolled towards her ally, a huge smile plastered on her porcelain face.

"I guess I had nothing to worry about after all. Those stupid ninja must all be away somewhere else, which means we can escape much more easily than we first thought."

"..I suppose so…"

"Uh huh, and once we're out of this village we just have to navigate through a sightless forest! No worries at all! Smooth sailing!" Before Sakura could say any more predictable clichés, her stomach emitted a deafening rumble. She covered it with her arms and blushed as deeply as her clothes were, "I guess we should find some food first, huh?"

"Fine, but don't take too long or I'll leave on my own."

The girl nodded and skipped ahead to find any kind of food source. Luckily, someone had an artificial farm growing in their garden, with fake light providing what the sun normally would. Within the small garden, Sakura spied a few potatoes, carrots, fruits and turnips. She picked a couple of apples and some peaches, before she returned to Sasori's side once more.

"Here you go." The girl gave him an apple, "I hope you like apples, I'm afraid there wasn't a lot of food on hand anyway. This is okay though, isn't it?"

Sasori looked at the ripe fruit in annoyance, because for many years he had not needed food at all and now out of the blue some girl from the Leaf village was practically forcing him to eat again. As if he would eat something from that girl; even if he were human still he wouldn't.

He shoved the offending fruit back into the girl's smaller hands and folded his arms defensively, "Keep your stupid apple Sakura, because I don't want it. Besides, who said anything about my being hungry? You just assumed it."

"Hey mister-miserable, at least I eat something at every meal. You're wasting away into nothingness." His only response was a dark chuckle, "By the way, you never told me your name. Care to share now? It's only fair since I know everyone else I talk to."

Sighing, Sasori unfolded his arms and told her, just to shut the girl up, "My name is Sasori."

She smiled softly at that, "See? Now we both know each other!"

The Akatsuki member could only sigh once more and then stare into space while the little girl ate.