Disclaimer: I do not own anything except an adorable little chibi Kakashi badge. All else belongs to the respective owners, hence the FAN part of FANfiction.

Authoress' Note: Sooo sorry for my latenes. I tried my darndest to get this done at the weekend, but I saw the new Indiana Jones film on Saturday, which distracted me for three whole days! Then I had to contend with being utterly annoyed with my youngest sibling...egads she's a pain and a half. On top of all that, I'm supposed to be revising for my final summer exams next week. I WILL have the next chapter out by Sunday, I promised you all. So please do enjoy this one and let me know what you think in a review

Chapter 8

Sakura munched her second peach in thought. Every now and then she snuck a glance at her ally, who was seated opposite her, as she tried to work out what she wanted to say. She was deeply curious about him, no doubt about that, yet she knew he'd try to dodge anything she asked him. Sakura knew only a few things: his name, he could use puppets and she could guess that he was roughly around her own age. She didn't even know what village he came from.

Plucking up some courage, which she had lots to spare of lately, she stared straight into his dark eyes, "Which village are you from Sasori?"

He glared back at her emerald green eyes, "That's none of your business."

Sakura was thankful her inner personality had nearly disappeared forever, otherwise she was pretty sure she'd have marched over to Sasori and punched him through the building he was leaning against. So, her anger settled on a nice, healthy twitch in her left eye.

"I just think it's unfair that you know where I'm from, since I'm wearing my ninja headband, but I don't have any idea about you." The pink-haired ninja took in her companion's clothing choice, hair style and facial structure with hopes of working out which ninja village he came from, but nothing really seemed similar to anything else she'd seen. His hair was like that of Gaara's, which led Sakura to believe he might be from the Sand village, yet she'd never seen anyone in that village wearing the clothes that Sasori was. Frankly, the young girl was baffled.

She huffed and looked away, taking in the village all around them. Sakura could guess that the night had long been over and day was once more upon them, because the darkness within the forest and the village wasn't quite as thick as it used to be. The torches and occasional pyres scattered about the village probably also provided some form of light against the blanket of dark. Sakura and Sasori had both sat nearby a small torch so that they could see more clearly than if they were to sit without a light source. Looking back on her decision now, Sakura supposed her real reason for wanting to sit by the torch was so she could keep a better eye on Sasori. After all, he really was a very questionable person. Plus, he didn't seem to have any hesitation with taking someone's life in a very violent and bloody way.

Looking back at her companion, Sakura took note of how pale his skin was compared to a normal person's. He almost appeared dead, but of course he couldn't be; he was moving and talking like a normal, living human being would. Something was prodding at the girl's mind, bidding her to listen to it. She knew that she'd missed something important with regards to her ally, yet she couldn't fathom what it could be.

With a shrug she dismissed that line of thought, choosing to instead strike up more conversation, "What do you think these ninja are trying to do here?"

Sasori was a little surprised that the girl had chosen to talk once again, but he was glad that she had dropped all questions about him. He closed his eyes in thought, trying to go over all the things he had seen and heard while being a prisoner among the other puppets. However, he couldn't recall anything of value. He opened his reddish-brown eyes and looked at the Leaf ninja opposite him, "I have no idea, but my best guess is that they plan for a large attack against someone. I saw a lot of puppets in their storehouses, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were to try and conquer all of the nations at once. With their strange techniques and brute strength, they could pull it off. The world wouldn't see an attack coming until it was already upon them, because they know next to nothing about these ninja."

There was no emotion in Sasori's voice, which disturbed Sakura somewhat. He certainly didn't seem concerned that these evil ninja could take over the world. That little ounce of knowledge about her companion had her thinking that perhaps he was someone less than honourable, but maybe a better person than the ninja of the village they were currently in.

Her other worry was what he had told her: they had an army ready for war. They were on the very border of the Wind Country, so they'd probably target it first. Sakura knew first-hand that there wasn't enough strength in Wind to stand against great numbers of enemies. So, they'd probably request help from the Leaf village, which would leave her home weaker.

The pink-haired teenager racked her brain for a solution, something that could be done before the fighting even began, but no plans formed in her mind.

"You look worried Sakura…why?"

Sakura glared at her ally, anger replacing her feelings of despair for a moment, "Of course I'm worried! If you're right, my home is in danger and so are all the other nations! Why are you so calm?"

He smiled at her, something that didn't radiate a speck of warmth, "I'm calm because I know that these ninja won't succeed. They have great numbers and lots of power, but they don't know much about how to fully manipulate a puppet. If they did, I'm sure they could have beaten the both of us back in that prison, because there were a couple of puppets left next to your cell. These ninja need preparation time and the element of surprise to gain victory. How else would they have captured us in the first place? Their only true skill is using the shadows to their advantage and incapacitating small groups of opponents."

Sakura blinked, "Then why did you say that they could conquer the world?"

"I said that because no-one else knows anything about them, except for you and I. Therefore the Darkness ninja have surprise on their side."

"Oh, so all we have to do is tell someone on the outside what these guys can do and then we'll have nothing to worry about."

The girl smiled at Sasori. It was something he greatly despised, but found oddly pleasing the same time. It had been many years since he had ever caused a person to smile like that and he was surprised to find he was proud he still could. Anyone who knew him would say that he was a heartless monster that couldn't make a person happy or grateful, but this girl before him now disproved such a claim. However, smiles and happy people sickened him.

"Stop smiling, stupid girl. We still have to get out of this place in one piece to inform someone of what the Darkness ninja and their leader might be plotting to do."

Sakura's smile vanished, "Oh yeah…and we can't exactly walk out of this place in one piece, we'd probably get so lost in the forest that by the time we did leave, everyone would already be dead or enslaved. Great…" She started to drum the fingers on her left hand against the stone ground, creating an irritating pattern as she tried to think over yet another problem. Just as she was about to work out a sensible plan, some other thought entered her mind and pushed out all else, "Sasori, why is it you know what these ninja are called? I don't even know that, in fact I don't think anyone does who's not actually from this village."

"I know what they are called because I was told before I came here. Satisfied now, or do you wish to know more about me?" Sasori was being sarcastic when he offered for Sakura to learn more, but either the girl didn't hear the sarcasm or she chose to ignore it entirely.

"Well, actually I do want to know more about you, but I don't think you'd tell me anyways. You really don't like talking to people much, do you? I wonder how your friends can stand you sometimes…"

The puppet master grumbled quietly, "Friends are pointless and worthless. I have no need for any."

"Come on, you must have someone who's your friend?"

He glared at her.

"Nobody at all?"

Still no answer came from Sasori.

"Don't you want any?"

He was still glaring at Sakura, annoyed with her stupid questions and wishing for her silence to come soon. Luckily for the Akatsuki member, the pink-haired girl couldn't continue with her questions because a rumbling and loud scraping noise could be heard coming from the Yamikage's manor, which drowned out her words. The puppet master pressed a finger to his lips, signalling for the girl to shut up. She did so, but only because a marching and chanting was making its way down the street where they were hiding.

Sasori looked about for somewhere they could hide and chose the roof of the building that they were next to. He pointed with his right index finger to their new hiding place and silently leapt up onto the roof. Sakura followed him a couple of seconds afterwards, although she didn't land quite as silently as he had. Once more, Sasori cursed her mortality.

He didn't reprimand the girl though and instead opted for assessing how many Darkness ninja and puppets were currently marching below them both. His best estimate was around 500 ninja, each carrying two or three puppets between them. One thing that the puppets lacked, as Sasori could easily tell, was any kind of unique weaponry. They were quite literally lifeless, hollow dolls of their human selves. The puppet master could not see the purpose for such things, but he supposed that these ninja had a plan.

Sakura, on the other hand, was busy listening to what the ninja were chanting. She poked Sasori in the side, causing him to fix her with a glare. The girl ignored his glare, used to it by that point, and whispered to him, "They're planning to invade the Wind Country. They're chanting it as they march. You were right Sasori!"

The Akatsuki member merely looked back down at the Darkness ninja as they continued to exit their own village. For some reason, as they moved the perpetual darkness seemed to dissipate and the normal light was filling its place. That could only mean…

"Sakura, the darkness in the forest was only a jutsu they created. When they leave, we can escape too."

Sasori received no response from the normally talkative girl, so he glanced over his shoulder to find her slowly climbing down the roof. He cursed silently and leapt off the roof to get ahead of her.

When Sakura dropped off the roof and landed on the floor she was met with an angry Sasori, but that wasn't anything new anymore. So, she just walked past him and started to follow the path that the Darkness ninja had previously taken, only to have a pale and ice-cold hand grab her wrist.

"What do you think you're doing? We should wait for them to leave before we make a move to go too. Do you have a death wish?"

Sakura was still shocked by how cold Sasori's hand felt against her own skin. It was like she had thought before: he felt dead. The Leaf girl shook her head and took her wrist back from the puppet master, still freaked out.

"I don't have a death wish. I just think we should try to stop them before they get out of their own village. You said it yourself that they don't know how to use their puppets properly, so why don't we do something before they attack the Wind Country?"

Sakura was pleading with Sasori, knowing that it would probably be useless; he was less human than she had first believed. Now that she was standing so close to him, Sakura realised what it was that was completely off about Sasori. His chakra was not the same. It was concentrated in a certain place, not spread throughout his body like a normal person. Only when he made great movements could Sakura sense the chakra spreading more normally. He was not human, Sakura could see that now.

At last - after the silence had stretched on ominously and the Darkness ninja's marching and chanting had faded off into the distance - Sasori spoke, "Fine, we'll try to stop them. If things become too dangerous I'm leaving though."

Sakura smiled brightly, "Thank you Sasori! You won't regret this, I promise!"

Somehow, Sasori knew that he probably would.