Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. I DO own a cuteful Kakashi chibi badge, which is officially my lucky charm every day

Authoress' Note: I got this one out faster than I expected, but I can't be bothered to revise anyways. I'll do some tonight, but I honestly don't think I can pass the exams either way. This had to be typed on my dad's old pc because my laptop is currently with technicians at the college. Egads, I feel lost without it! Oh, I hope I don't make any nasty OOCness in this chapter, but I had to have some more character development so that I can work on at the very least a friendship for the pair. It would be awful for Sasori and Sakura to "magically" fall in love from the start. Scary too... Next chapter they should be out of the forest! Yayness!

Thankies to all my kind reviewers. You guys give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside my heart every time I see a new review. And thank you to those who favourite this story too! In fact, just thanks a bunch to everyone who reads it!

I'm thinking of changing the summary for this story too, to attract more readers. Got any suggestions folks?

Chapter 10

The new emotions beginning to fester in Sasori's mind and what remained of his heart, were strange and unsettling for the puppet master. He could not understand where they had come from, but for the time being the emotions were only going to get in Sasori's way. The girl who the feelings revolved around had started talking once more, so the red-haired Akatsuki tried his best to block out her words with his own thoughts.

"Sasori, when you said that you were a puppet, what did you mean exactly?" Sakura timidly asked her companion. Sasori offered no answer, so the Leaf girl decided to try again, though not as politely, "What do you mean when you say you're a puppet?"

The Akatsuki turned to his left where Sakura was running alongside him, and sighed in irritation. He stopped abruptly and waited until Sakura stopped as well. Then he looked at her with a serious expression, "I meant exactly what I said. I am a puppet."

The young girl still could not comprehend what he was saying, "But…how can you be a…a puppet?"

"You saw the battle back there, didn't you? You saw what I could do, yes?" Sakura nodded her head slowly. "Well, what human have you seen that can use flamethrowers in their hands, or survive a stab wound without any blood? I am no longer a mere human."

Sakura remained silent as she became lost in her own thoughts. The things that she knew about Sasori from the moment they had met were very contradictory. For one, he had no living body. For another, his chakra didn't flow like everyone else's. On top of that he could use tools and weapons from within his own body and he couldn't die by normal methods. She could agree with Sasori on one thing: his body was no longer human. Yet, for all those differences he still had a human soul. He still thought independently and he still felt emotions like every other person in the world. With those aspects, Sakura could not deny that Sasori was very much human and not a cold, lifeless puppet like he claimed to be.

She stared with her emerald eyes into his crimson ones, "You're right, you are not human…on the outside." Sasori looked at Sakura through narrowed eyes, already knowing what she would say. "However, I can tell you're still human, because you think and feel like one. Those are all you really need to justify being human or not."

Sakura gave the puppet master a small smile, but what she thought were kind words to him caused Sasori to fume with anger. He grabbed her shoulders tightly, causing blood to drip to the floor and mix with the leaves and dirt. In one quick motion he had her pinned by her shoulders against the nearest tree, while he kept his head held high and facial expression cold. The lack of emotions in those dark eyes worried the pink-haired girl, but she dared not show any fear to him.

"How dare you say that I am the same as everyone else? I am above worthless human emotions and I don't require some worthless little brat from the Leaf village talking to me as though we are equals! We are not! I should have killed you the moment you removed that net!"

Some light entered Sakura's worried eyes, the same eyes that always conveyed her emotions and feelings to the world, "Then haven't you killed me Sasori? What's stopping you?"

Sasori's grip on Sakura's shoulders lessened a small bit at her words, while the white hot anger he was feeling slowly faded and confusion momentarily passed over his face as though he was not aware of his actions. Unfortunately for Sakura, he did not remove his vice-grip on her and she was still pinned firmly to the tree.

Sasori spoke once more, but his rage was decidedly not as explosive as before, "I don't know why I haven't killed you; I don't know why I kept you around either. I'm not going to pass up the chance to kill you though…"

Sasori moved with lightning fast reflexes that Sakura couldn't follow, and wrapped his thin hands around her throat in an attempt to strangle the girl. No matter how much Sakura struggled, she could not break free from his grasp and her breathing was rapidly slowing to a stop. She tried one last ditch attempt to remove his hands from her neck, but the red-head was just too strong and Sakura's body was too weak from the lack of air. Her hands fell to her sides loosely and her eyes began to close with her last few breaths, but suddenly the pain was gone around her throat and Sakura was on the forest floor, gasping for breath.

She wheezed and coughed and sucked up all the air her lungs could manage - although she had a suspicion that those vital organs were too small for the amount of oxygen she needed – and then looked at her would-be killer.

Sasori's eyes held shock and confusion, things not seen on his face since he was a small child. The usually guarded Akatsuki member now looked very, very vulnerable and in turmoil with his own actions.

At once, Sakura felt some pity for her strangler, but stopped when he burst out laughing! Sasori was laughing at this? Maybe he was insane; it wouldn't surprise Sakura in the least if that turned out to be the truth. She didn't think his laugh sounded insane though. It seemed kind of pleasant, but she guessed it wasn't a laugh of joy at all.

The pink-haired girl scolded her mind for wandering too much – it did it at the most inappropriate times – and focused on what Sasori was muttering to himself.

"This is ridiculous! I can't even kill one little girl! All because I have some wild idea that I—"

He stopped talking when he noticed that said girl he couldn't kill was giving him her full attention. He closed his mouth and looked away from her, slightly embarrassed and very annoyed that he had nearly said something he shouldn't even be thinking. If Sasori was able to blush, he probably would be as well, but luckily he couldn't. He didn't even bother to look at Sakura when he asked her, "Does it hurt much?"

Of course it hurt her, but she couldn't be bothered to get into a shouting argument when she was still trying to regain her breath, "Not much, no."

There was a nod from the red-head, and then he offered the pink-haired girl his hand to help her up, still avoiding eye contact. Sasori knew that if he looked into her eyes again, she'd have him caught in some kind of spell. For all he knew, she could be a witch – although Sasori did not believe in magic at all…

Sakura took his hand hesitantly and then he pulled her up quickly, letting go of her hand once she was on her own two feet again. He never once checked to see if she followed him as he walked ahead along the route that they had been traversing before. The Darkness ninja that had survived the fight were no longer in sight, so this was a sign that both he and Sakura were going the right way. The faster they left the forest, the faster he could part ways with the girl and never have to look at her face again. The idea saddened Sasori somewhat, but he replaced the sadness with the rage he was so accustomed to instead.

It was at that point that he heard Sakura fall over a little ways behind him. Sasori cursed and looked back at the Leaf girl, but she didn't stand up, only clutched her ankle tightly with her hands.

"I think I broke my ankle—"

Sasori interrupted Sakura before she could finish what she was saying, "Perfect…I suppose you expect to be carried?"

The girl glanced at her ally and rolled her eyes at him. A green glow surrounded her two hands and slowly began to mend her broken ankle bone. Sasori stood perfectly still, fascinated by the medical jutsu that Sakura was using. He was more puppet than man, so he never needed to see this type of skill anymore. The others in the Akatsuki never got medic ninjas to help with their injuries either; they usually used simple bandages and ointment to heal their cuts and scrapes.

When the glow finally faded, Sakura tested her ankle and slowly got back up on her feet, although her chakra was no noticeably less than before.

"I didn't know you were a medic."

Sakura grinned at the puppet master, although it wasn't as happy as it could have been. The near-death incident with Sasori had left her somewhat afraid of him.

"There's a lot that you don't know about me…" She started walking once more and Sasori chose to walk beside her this time.

"Then…why don't you tell me?"

Sakura blinked in shock at his words. He sounded so genuinely curious, as though he cared about her. Deciding not to lose a rare opportunity like this, Sakura took a deep, calming breath and asked, "What would you like to know? I can't tell you everything Sasori, since I don't know much of anything about you either. There's a …certain level of trust that you have to earn first you know."

The puppet master nearly smiled at that, but caught himself before he could embarrass himself any further. He looked at the girl that was walking next to him, and his eyes flicked to the finger marks that had started to form around her neck. He grimaced, another thing completely unlike him to do, and looked ahead once more.

"Why were you in that village Sakura?"

Sakura put a finger to her chin in thought, "Um…I was there to learn what had happened to the missing villagers. Although technically the Kazekage forbade me to continue the mission and I was supposed to go straight home to the Leaf village." She laughed nervously at that. "Gaara's going to be mad when he finds out where I've been!" She gave Sasori a sly look, "And why were YOU in that village Sasori?"

"I…er…" Was he nervous? He never got nervous! The girl was affecting him again. "I had a mission to do…a type of reconnaissance if you want to call it that. My leader will wish to know that the village is not worth our time though."

"Oh, so your leader had some interest with the village? Somehow, I don't think I want to know what the interest might have been. It was probably nothing good."

Sasori smirked at that, "Well it all depends on your perspective."

Sakura giggled a little and then hissed in pain. Sasori held concern in his eyes at what might be causing her pain. "You don't have to look so worried Sasori, it's only my neck. Must have been from where you…" Sakura trailed off, uncomfortable with the topic at hand.

"Yes," Sasori said quietly, "your neck is all red. It'll bruise if you don't heal is now."

Some five minutes later, Sasori was pulling Sakura along the path by holding her hand while she stumbled from the lack of chakra flowing through her. Healing always took a lot out of the pink-haired medic, but with the combined effects of the fight before Sakura was near exhaustion. Sasori had merely suggested that he guarantee that she didn't collapse suddenly while they travelled, by taking her hand in his.

He refused to carry the girl, for that would be too humiliating, but he couldn't very well let her walk by her own limbs. She'd probably fall into a ditch or something, and then Sasori would have to carry her out and wait for her to rest. This way was less hassle, but Sasori didn't like having to hold Sakura's hand at all. Well, a part of him liked it, but he didn't think that it qualified as a sane part.

"I have more questions for you Sakura, but they can wait until you get your rest. And that isn't happening until we get out of this stupid forest…where is the exit?!"

"Sasori…slow…down…" Sakura whined, still tired and not at all liking the haste with which the puppet master was walking. Finally he stopped and Sakura attempted to regain her strength for a moment.

"We're almost out of this forest; can't you at least keep up until then?" Sakura shook her head in answer. "Fine, I guess I will have to carry you after all…" he grumbled in aggravation. He released Sakura's hand and picked the girl up like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey, put me down right now Sasori!"

"Alright then, if you insist."

The puppet master did exactly as she commanded and dropped her onto the hard forest floor. Sakura growled something incoherent and tried to get back up again, but she couldn't muster the strength to move much. Meanwhile Sasori was laughing at her suffering; a deep, happy laugh.

"You asked to be put down Sakura!" another chuckle. "I was just doing what you told me to."

"Well it wasn't funny. My face hurts now…"

"…Sorry…Here, let me help you up…" Sasori pulled Sakura back onto her feet, the mirth still on his face. It was at that moment, with Sakura smiling at him and he still happy, that Sasori realised just what he was doing. He yanked his hand away from Sakura and practically jumped away from the girl as though he'd been electrocuted.

"What's wrong Sasori?"

The Akatsuki member forced his face to become stern, "That never happened. Just forget all about it."

Sakura didn't understand, "I don't follow you…weren't we having fun?"

"I don't have fun, especially not with some stupid little girl from the Leaf village."

Something was bugging Sakura about what he had just said. Just what did he mean by 'little girl'? Weren't they near enough the same age? He looked about her age. So how was she just a little girl to him?

"Why do you keep acting like you're older than me? You don't look much older…"

"How old do you think I am Sakura?"

The pink-haired teenager placed her palm on her right cheek in thought, with her right elbow resting on her left arm. "You look around 15 or 16 to me."

Sasori smirked, "I'm over 30 years old."

Once again, Sakura fainted.