Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters. However, Ookamika Saori and other fan made characters were created by me as is the non-canon plot.

Author's Note: Heeeeeyyy! I really did not think I'd take this long... sorry. I think the chapter ended up being something like 30 written pages, but for some reason is still shorter than the last by some 600-700 words. This one's completely in flashback, I'm sorry for you who detest reading in italics. In other news, I have achieved 200 written pages! That's right... I finally finished using the notebook with this story :D I've moved on to my next one with chapter 12 already... excited! It might be awhile yet before I can write chapter 12 though. This is only the second time I have ever completed a notebook writing a story. The first time was with the story of the very first version of Saori, otherwise known as Saisuki, a very ultra-sue. But that's behind us and I hope you don't think Saori is much of a sue. I really, really hope so as I worked extremely diligently to make sure she was not.

Ooh, before I forget, please read this: I am doing a lengthy oneshot for the end of Deception for a class at school. Anybody have an idea for a cover? I'm drawing a blank on this one, for once! None of you usually review, but if you can suggest something, anything, that would be helpful. I'd really like to have this story done by the time I have to present my oneshot project to my class so I can feature it was part of my presentation, but realistically, I don't think it's possible, as the quarter is already half gone and we haven't even yet reached the climax, when Saori falls.

Please, enjoy!

Chapter Eleven Confront Truths

"I'M WORRIED," SAID SAKURA. For once , Sasori was perplexed as to why she was concerned, if it was the child or something else. "Deidara and Saori aren't mature enough to be on their own. For all we know, Deidara probably has killed her!"

"He would not do that, trust me," Sasori replied calmly. "Let's just focus on getting information. We'll get back to them sooner." But Saori and Deidara were far from getting along. Once Saori had gotten out of the inn and Deidara had appropriated the owner's safe, Deidara blew the whole joint into smithereens.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Saori snapped at Deidara, who stood in glee of his work.

"The guy had it coming. Making me pay – you have to be out of your mind, hmm!"

"But there were other people in there!"

"So?" He saw no wrong in his actions, none whatsoever, leaving Saori thoroughly disgusted. She fully comprehended that he was a S-Rank missing-nin, an Akatsuki of all people, but she could not take that he would be so inhumane. That's what all Akatsuki are, inhumane, but she could not take that someone she thought of as her best friend would be so heartless. Will I be like that one day?

"You know, Toyotomi wouldn't have done that." The moment the words left her lips, she knew she should not have said it. She knew she crossed a line but she did not know how hard it would be to get back on other side. Deidara's blue eyes darkened in anger and unbeknownst to him, his hands became tightly wound in fists. Everybody and their mothers like the guy! Deidara hated all Ootowari but he was beginning to hate Toyotomi more than Kurotsuchi, an impressive feat by far. Saori kept on pushing him with her idolization - idolization he once thought was completely for him. He was not too keen on having to share or who he had to share it with. Idolization with Sasori, maybe he could handle. Sasori was an impressive ninja, after all. Toyotomi was nothing but an irritable entity.

"Shut up about your Ootowari crap, Ookamika. You're a rogue now – no amount of rambling or fantasizing about Toyotomi will ever bring you back to him, so freakin' get over it, hmm!" As the naturally submissive type, by all means she would have backed off in a normal situation. But she did not. She could not.

"You can hate Iwagakure all you want, you can hate the Ootowari family all you want, but one day, I'll go back home. He gave his family heirloom as a promise he'd make sure I could come back, and unlike I am with you, I fully trust him. He will bring me home, I swear!"

"You're so fucking blind, hmm. I almost feel bad for you. I know what it's like, to trust someone so much, but you'll only hit yourself later for it, if it doesn't kill you first. I had a best friend too. I thought she would follow me everywhere I went, hmm." He awkwardly stopped. "Then she died on me. So I left." He abruptly lengthened his stride so that Saori's shorter stride could not keep up with him.

"Hey!" Saori called. "Look, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just keep going."

"Do you want to stop there and get some breakfast?"

"Not if I have to fricken pay again." She inwardly sighed.

"Okay, you pick what to eat, I'll distract the owner." She did not see it, but Deidara was grinning as they strolled in. "Good morning!" Saori headed straight for the checkout line, where the only employee stood behind the aging wood.

"Awfully cheery, aren't cha?" mumbled the man. For a moment Saori thought she was Ootowari Sora again.

"Isn't there good reason to be happy? There's nothing wrong with waking up on the right side of the bed for once."

"Not when there's a war going on."

"I try to forget that."

"How can you? Times are so rough, a man like me can hardly get by. The only good force in this stinkin' place fell to the ground. We have no hope." Saori became rigid. They were finally getting somewhere, getting closer to the elephant in the room. She glanced back at Deidara, who drew closer to them. If the only "good force" fell to the ground, it could only mean one thing. Deidara dumped some cash on to the counter and pulled Saori away. When out of earshot, Saori said to him, "I think you overpaid." He had more than just paid for their food, but left generous change.

To this, Deidara spat, "You shut the hell up."

And she smiled.

"I'M JUST GOING TO ask someone. It is pointless to hope someone will just tell us the situation when we're completely capable of asking ourselves," snapped Sasori. He never was the patient type and he didn't intend to start being patient now. Sakura grumbled, quite displeased.

"We're going to raise suspicion if we ask something like that. Look – everybody here knows. They're going to wonder what rock we've been living under," she argued.

"And so? I'll kill them if they bother us."

"You're a monster, Sasori!" She withdrew. She probably hurt what little feelings he had left. "Why don't we ask something that might indirectly get us an answer? Like, why is everybody so hopeless? It's suspicious but we can pretend to be overly optimistic or idealistic." He didn't respond in words to her but abruptly turned into an empty clothing store. We wanted to mention how stupid her questions sounded as it didn't seem she realized this herself, but he did not want a fight lest they say things they would regret. Not that she already had.

"Welcome! What a pleasure it is to host two fine young adults!" Sakura chuckled upon seeing Sasori cringe a little.

"Thank you for your gracious welcome. It's nice to see a ray of sunshine every now and then."

"Why, if I may return you the favor, darling! What might I present such a lovely young lady today?" Sasori's jaw tightened but Sakura completely missed it. Her delicate, slender, pale pink fingers brushed over the clothing on display, making note of the red-slashed price tags. They were pretty steep. "You, sir? What would you prefer to view?" the attendant asked Sasori.

"How about you leave my girlfriend –"

"And okay!" Sakura nervously laughed, deftly forcing the heat form her cheeks. He had never – well, she had never been called anyone's girlfriend before and she had not really thought of their relationship that way until now, even though she had his child within her. "I always wondered, you know – why is everyone so… void of hope?" It could not be confirmed if the attendant's odd expression was the cause of Sasori's lethal glare, Sakura's less than smooth cover up, or her certainly odd question.

"Not everyone can be optimistic," the attendant responded.

"But why? Is it really that hard?" Sakura pushed. They were almost at the answer; she could taste it on her lips.

"The biggest opposition to the Akatsuki was crushed. Flattened! Who can really be optimistic?"

The red blouse in Sakura's hands fell to the ground, the wooden hanger vibrating from the force of the impact. No time for pretense. Sasori closed his brilliant brown eyes. "What did you say?"

"Konoha was conquered months ago by the Akatsuki. Didn't you already know? Where have you two been?"

"Under a rock, obviously," snapped Sasori. "She –"

"You KNEW!" Sakura screamed. "You bastard, you knew and you didn't tell me. I'm going to kill you –" She paused. What good did that do? Her hand lighted with blue chakra. The attendant yelped, dived for the counter, and fumbled about for his phone. Sasori's fingertips were encased with his sticky chakra to defend himself – that is, until he realized he was not the target.

"You crazy woman!" Sakura's hand neared her stomach but its destination was never reached. Her hand was rigid. Don't you dare harm our kid. Do you hear me?"

"How could you do this to me?" she sobbed angrily.

"I was unsure."

"Unsure? You couldn't at least warn me? We might've been able to help, you selfish jerk!"

"I did give you a hint. Several, in fact, while we were in Iwa. I know you, Haruno. YOU may think it impossible, but I need very little time to understand someone like you. I was well aware you would want to go to Konoha yourself. If you had you would have died."

"Then maybe I should be," she hissed vehemently. "My friends. My family. And you couldn't help break the news."

"How did you expect me to? Tell a pregnant woman with whom I am close that her home is gone?"

"It wasn't so hard to be heartless before, why so now?"

Sasori's eyes bored into her. "I don't need to answer that question." He strolled over to the counter and pulled the phone from the owner's hands. "Anything else happen?"

"T-the Fifth! The lady Fifth and Fifth Kazekage were both assassinated. T-there's a resistance movement, rumor has it. Please, don't hurt me. Take anything, anything you want!"

"Sakura, let's go. A unit is probably coming thanks to this buffoon." Sakura reluctantly ran with him. she hated it but in her heart she knew Sasori had been correct in his actions. She only wished he had let her down gently instead of letting her get bombed upon with such awful news. It probably wasn't his intention to find out today. And if he guessed Konoha was gone, he knew when he let me go he was leaving me alone and unprotected, yet he took me back and made me stay. He still is. But it doesn't make sense. Sasori is a heartless criminal. He doesn't protect people. He never even protected Deidara, not before anyways. Why is he even shielding me, before he knocked me up, too? I am his death sentence if the Akatsuki ever find us. Yet he kept me before and he keeps me after. Sasori was hesitant, but decided to be aggressive and grabbed Sakura's hand. The wood was smooth and soft, even warm. She absently wondered what he would have been like as a human.

Once they were well out of town, Sasori stopped before a thick tree and stuck an exploding tag to the ground. The blast revealed a neatly dug out space beneath the tree, void of roots. He gently tugged Sakura towards the space, making sure she was safely in and comfortable before climbing in himself. "Suppress your chakra," he murmured, soothingly running his thumb over her hand.

"The Fifth was like my mother," Sakura whispered. Then, laughing sadly, she added, "I spent more time with her than I did with my biological mother."

"I know it is painful." As best he could in the cramped space he leaned over and held her for a long time. When he let go, the pursuing shinobi were long gone. Some weeks ago she had done the very same thing for him. He had let her go that time, granted her wish to be free though he knew he was unwise in doing so, and promptly came back for her when he had no reasons to save her. He saved the life of the woman who had killed him and put him in this misery, this non-eternal, imperfect misery. She realize then it was witnessing her compassion repeatedly, even compassion for those who tried to harm her, that had stirred a sliver of feeling, of humanity, in him. Now he was returning the favor, right when she needed him most. "I am enamored with you, Sakura." She blinked profusely at his sudden confession. "And it kills me so. I should abhor you for what you have done but I cannot because you were doing righteously and it is because of my death that I am here. With you." He continued, "I was never happy in the Akatsuki. There I felt empty. The lives I reaped did nothing to relieve me of that feeling."

"I almost wish you could hate me," she murmured. Sasori was taken aback. Did she still hate him? Right after he admitted his inner thoughts, too! "It's cruel. You shouldn't have any other feelings towards me after all I have done to you."

Sasori smiled a little, just faintly, white teeth glistening in the sparse light. Sakura's breathe left her completely. He almost never smiled, maybe once or twice, but when he did the world stopped for her. For a moment there was no war and she could be with Sasori. "You are the only woman to have ever gained my respect. Perhaps that helped transcend my hatred. It is almost frivolous to think that we, the unlikeliest of pairs, can exist yet all others are raging a war out there simply on the basis of hatred."

"I hope this war ends soon and when it clears we can still be together. You would stay with me, wouldn't you? With us?"

Sasori sighed, chocolate eyes staring at the perceived empty space above Sakura's stomach, knowing under the genjutsu there was a bulge. His bulge. "I would try."

"Try? Just try?"

"I more than anything want to be there for our child, but I wonder if I should be. I am not a good person, Sakura. I am corrupted and I cannot be fixed. I can no longer change."

She snuggled back into his sun-warmed body. "I know even if I don't ask you to change you will."

He smirked into her cherry blossom hair. "And how would you know that, my cherry blossom?"

"Because you already have, you wonderful fool."

DEIDARA AND SAORI SOON found the puppet master and the pink-haired wonder after much frantic searching. The looks on their faces were of concern, exhaustion, and oddly, fear. Neither wanted to tell Sakura the bad news. "I already know," she said with a fake smile.

"Are you okay?" Saori tentatively queried. The fake smile was not fooling anyone.

"Sasori helped me get past it. I'm fine."

"Sasori-danna, hmm?" Deidara repeated with his golden eyebrow raised. "Have you two been a little busy, hmm?" Sakura turned a violent shade of red and stalked off, dragging Sasori with her. "Wow, dragged like a dog, hmm!"

"Shut it, brat."

"Saori, hmm," Deidara chuckled, "I think it's time for phase two of the Let's-Get-Sakura-and-Sasori-together plan."

"They're going to kill us, just so you know," Saori whispered back.

"Not if we're real sneaky about it, hmm. Got an idea, yeah?" Sasori and Sakura kept walking in blissful ignorance, completely oblivious to the lack of their troublemakers' presence behind them. Abruptly Saori laughed and tugged Deidara's sleeve so he would bend down and she could whisper in his ear. The pyromaniac grinned and laughed softly along. "Okay, but we'd better wait. Town is a ways yet, hmm." He trotted back to his Akatsuki partner and his redheaded follower stumbled after him.

He could not explain it, this grandiose feeling. When he said sit, Saori sat. When he said fetch, she fetched. She hung on his every word; she thought he was a genius and respected his art - treated them as masterpieces, even wanting to learn from him. He had only known this feeling once before, fleetingly, but the woman who had cruelly given him this fleeting taste had snuffed his fire as quickly as she had given it. Saori remained his sole admirer. It was dangerous, considering what happened the last time, but he relished the feeling of at last being respected once more.

If it happened again, he would just do the same thing. Again.

Much to the troublemakers' chagrin Sasori insisted on avoiding towns at all costs. What with Sakura's emotional explosion earlier, they could bet their lives that the whole region was on alert – not that they wanted to bet their lives or anything, just that they were sure. One look at the odd groups' hair colors and anyone, civilian or soldier, were sure to report them. Deidara ensured Saori their scheme would be worth the wait, as much as he himself hated to wait. Amidst their frustrations they missed the stolen glances between Sasori and Sakura. "You three, stay put. Brat, keep Sakura and Saori protected. I have no qualms if you have to die in order to do so," Sasori commanded, disappearing into the starry night running.

"When did he start commanding me to protect, hmm?" Deidara mumbled. "It's weird, yeah." He kicked an offending branch away and plopped down on the leaf-littered floor.

"Maybe he grew an actual heart!" Saori suggested enthusiastically but at the same time with great sarcasm. "Me'n'Sakura-san don't really serve a purpose dead and we'd be more troublesome if we were injured, I guess."

"Don't talk like that, hmm!" Deidar snapped darkly, eyes glimmering dangerously. "It isn't true, not anymore, yeah." Sakura quietly observed the two, her hand seemingly stroking air when in fact she was rubbing her rather discomforting bulge. Saori took a hesitant, small step back and from that one movement Deidara seemed ready to blow. But he withheld himself; the restraint was obvious in every toned muscle in his body. He did not want her to be scared of him. He did not want that. He patted the ground aside him and grabbed Saori's head when she obeyed him, pushing it to his shoulder. "Don't be afraid of me, yeah. Not like that, yeah."

"I won't stop until you tell me what's bothering you," she murmured.

"Nothing's bothering me, hmm."

"Deidara, I'm not stupid. I still have one functioning eye and the other's still kinda good. Sorta."

"I was," Deidara hesitated, his azure orbs wandering around aimlessly. "Bad memory, hmm."

"That's such a half-assed answer!"

"Saori, watch your mouth!" Sakura yelled. Immediately, she covered her mouth, never having intended to interrupt the conversation about when Saori added color to her language the words just spilled out of Sakura's mouth instinctually. "You're too young to be copying Deidara-san yet."

"Don't worry Sakura, hmm. It happens to all my devoted fans, hmm." She was his only.

Leaves rustled, sending all three on hyper alert, but it was only Sasori coming back. "There were some decent looking deer running around but I did not quite manage to catch them."

"That's because you're an unnatural existence. Allow me, the Queen of Stealth." Deidara raised an eyebrow at the title his younger companion had given herself and noted, as she went away, that she was quite stealthy. He wondered how he had not noticed earlier. A gurgling sound later and Saori came back dragging a carcass much bigger than her own body by her side. "Anyone care for venison tonight?"

"We don't quite have a choice, do we?" Sakura mused with a smile. Sasori dumped the last of the dry twigs he found in a pile at their center. Nothing could temper the swelling pride Saori felt upon knowing she had been useful to their group, in some way. Rat, horse, tiger.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu)!" With only a trickle of fire she gave them evanescent amber light. On a whim she turned towards Sasori, and, for some odd reason, bore an expression of hope on her face. But Sasori was ruthlessly mutilating the deer into edible chunks. Saori refrained from belching and hid a look of disappointment tainted by sadness. From across the fire Deidara glance at Saori from his peripherals, thinking he was being covert but in fact not at all, not to Sakura. He did not say a word when Saori looked away from Sasori, crestfallen. His lack of action unnerved the pinkette. He should have gone and comforted her, Sakura thought. He's supposed to be her best friend, isn't he? She even said it out loud! What is it with men and their insistence on being distant? A tiny voice in the back of her head reminded her that Deidara had never said the same to Saori, and that, in fact, he might not have felt that way at all.

None of them would believe it, but Sasori was actually the best cook of the lot. For someone unused to taste for twenty years, he had incredibly not lost his touch in the culinary arts. "I'm on watch. You three get some rest," Sasori ordered.

"Don't you need rest?" Sakura asked. The concern in her voice made Sasori's heart swell. He could not ever hope to understand the feeling he had whenever she showed him that she did not hate him. IT gave him blissful hope that they were not impossible. It gave him hope for himself, because at last someone truly cared about him. It had been such a long time since he felt anything like that of his family's affections.

"Don't worry about me, Sa-ku-ra," he teased. His smile was contagious, she admitted, especially because she knew he was smiling one of his rare, genuine smiles, for her. Out of the others' views he tucked her hair neatly behind her pale ear.

"Wake me in four hours, m'kay? I'll take over watch then." Sasori absently nodded and she knew he was not going to rouse her in the slightest. Saori plopped down next to Deidara, giving him ample space. He cracked an eye open lazily in response.

"Cold, hmm?" Not one to put himself in discomfort to ease that of another, he did not bother to offer her his shredded Akatsuki cloak or the thicker but shorter black one he wore now as his civilian apparel for town travel. He did, however, shift a bit closer to her - not too close, though. He did not like close contact and knew Saori had a tendency to freak under close contact.

"Nope," the girl replied with a note of self-satisfaction. Abruptly his cheek was whacked by the back of her hand.

"Hey!" He grabbed her offending hand. "You're warm, hmm..." He put his other hand other arm. "Really warm. It's nice, yeah!"

"Are you sick?" Sakura rushed over and placed a hand on her forehead. "But your breath is normal."

"It's just my chakra. I was cold, so I ran it through my system, that's all."

"Fire-type chakra doesn't run this warm." Sasuke had the same chakra type and he had always had perfectly cool skin.

"When you're desert folk, chakra is essential to maintaining healthy body warmth levels. In the day time, when the sun was blazing, the fuuton freaks kept ventilated through cycling their chakra. At night was our turn to laugh, though." The fuuton users, those of the wind-type chakra, would freeze in the night in the deserts devastatingly cold evenings while the katon users of the Ookamika Clan, like Saori, kept nearly as warm as they had been during the day. Saori stopped circulating the flow of her chakra, dropping her core temperature several degrees.

"Hey!" growled Deidara, annoyed. "I was using that!"

When she circulated her chakra again, she felt a deep rumble in Deidara' s chest, almost like a purr. She laughed. "If you say so, then I'll trust you," Sakura replied. She nestled on the ground next to Saori to absorb her residual warmth like Saori was a radiator of sorts. It's nice... she absently thought. Several hours later when Deidara snored loudly and Sakura murmured in her sleep and Sasori thought they had all fallen asleep, the puppeteer shrugged off his jacket and embraced the cold so he could drape the red cloth over Sakura's slumbering form. He went back to his post and did not notice the little smile on Saori's face after he had gone.

This is what it feels like to belong.

AS EXPECTED SASORI DID not wake up any of them during the night to take over his watch, not even Deidara, who by all means should have been capable and used to the job. Saori had hoped she would wake up in time to relieve him but she had in fact been very much in need of decent rest that the blessed six hours had left her completely knocked out. She woke to the warmth of the sun on her face and a very unpleasant liquid on her fingers. "Eww... did you really have to drool on me, Deidara-kun?" The young man mumbled in his sleep, shifting a bit before he cracked a brilliant azure eye open with a satisfied smile on his tanned, youthful face. "Deidara-kun, you drooled on me."

He cracked a wider grin. "Since when did you use honorifics on me, hmm? You're making me feel old, Saori- chan!"

I don't know. I just... I just felt like it." Because it feels right.

Saori wiped her slobber covered fingers on Deidara's jacket, much to his chagrin, and pulled herself to her feet, stretching her sore back. "Sasori-sama! Good morning! Please take a nap before we leave."

The crimson haired man shook his soft red locks. "We'd better get moving."

Like a child she stomped her foot and whined, "You should sleep some, Sasori-sama!"

"There will be time for resting. Stop being a kid." She pouted for extra measure and reluctantly picked up her bag and ran a hand through her dirty hair to banish tangles and dead leaves.

"Jeez, I need a wash," she muttered to herself, noting Sakura's pink hair, for the most part, was clean.

She felt a large hand descend on her head and a little biting, causing her to brighten, knowing exactly who it was. "I'll say, hmm..."

"Don't bite my hair, please." The dashing blonde flashed her a strangely white crooked grin that for a second Saori thought made her heart jump, but it must have been her imagination. Sasori had them moving again and it struck Saori odd that Sasori was helping Sakura up but she brushed it away, assuming Sakura must have been injured or something. If Deidara had bore witness to the event he would have known right away the news that would have brightened Saori's day infinitely. But alas, he did not.

"Hey. Hey, hmm!" Deidara jabbed his younger's rib cage none too lightly. "Do you see what I see?" A devious grin spread on her face. Sasori skirted the thing they saw, heading for the cover of the trees, but the devious duo was not about to let it slip away from them. Deidara held his hands out, ready to catch.

"Nghh!" In an instant Saori collapsed into herself, hand draped across her chakra-heated forehead dramatically.

"Saori-chan, hmm!" Deidara exclaimed, his voice an octave higher to feign surprise. "Sasori-danna, Sakura-chan, Saori collapsed!" Without hesitation Sakura ran to the red bundle in Deidara's arms. Sasori was more reluctant, probably having taken note of the flare of Saori's chakra when she heated her forehead.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, panicked as she checked for vital signs. Saori's breathing and heart rate were irregular and her forehead - "Gosh! That... that sort of burned!" She felt for Saori's hand, who wisely withdrew the heat from the rest of her body. "Her body's almost ice cold."

"Now, now, hmm," Deidara cut in. If Sakura continued, they would end up in a hospital, not where he intended them to go, for sure. "She's just exhausted. Probably used to getting the full eight hours instead of these quick naps. Aren't you, Saori, hmm?"

Saori cracked a gold eye open, having half a mind to tell him she in fact ran on a four hour sleep schedule but deciding against it. "Exhausted like you wouldn't believe! I could use a day of relaxation instead of this aimless wandering and dodging; that forest floor was kind of not stress-relieving at all."

"Hey!" Deidara brightened. "That town we saw - pretty big, yeah? Let's see if they have hot springs, hmm!"

"Hot springs! I could really use that."

"I don't know, Saori-san. Your forehead..." Sakura trailed off.

"Please, Sasori-sama! Sakura could use a break too, you know. She's a tough cookie but even tough cookies need breaks." The puppet master had seemed dead set to say no until Saori mentioned Sakura. He flicked his chocolate eyes over to the medic ninja. She did need relaxation, for reasons the devious duo had yet to know, so it was to their utter surprise that Sasori said, "Yes, let's go into town." He deftly and completely ignored the fact Saori jumped energetically to her feet, suddenly free of ailment.

"Yatta! Let's go, Deidara-kun!" Sakura shook her head with unrepressed amusement as Deidara dragged the trailing Saori, who struggled to keep up with his limitless energy and longer stride. Their race slowed as they approached town. In one swift motion Deidara swiftly and single-handedly unknotted and stole Saori's hitai-ate, removing his own, and stuffed them in his pockets, followed by his arm snaking below her rear and removing her shuriken holster on her thigh. Behind, Sasori just as quickly and efficiently removed Sakura's defining ninja articles.

"Loosen your muscles, yeah. If they see how much muscle you have they're going to wonder, hmm."

"But you've got more than me. Why should I have to and you not?" Saori whined.

"But I'm a guy and I'm young and I'm hot, hmm."

"Well... well I'm young, too!" Deidara mussed up her hair.

"Too young, hmm."

"Halt! Identification, please?" The guard of the town entrance looked incredibly stiff, cap dark with sweat from the heat of summer and slipping down his forehead. He was alone, and it seemed that no one had relieved him from duty for hours. If he did not believe a word from Saori's mouth in his haggard state, she would never live it down. She made a show of fussing with her red messenger bag, digging about, irritating the weary guard. She gave him the biggest, wettest shoujo eyes she could manage and added a little charming giggle of slight embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry," Saori continued, fussing with the contents of her bag. Bits of paper flew out, floating to the ground like snow. "I'm Ootonami Sasayaku, and that's my brother Ootonami Saiko, and his best friend Kaito and fiancé Fujita. I had our papers this morning - we're vacationing before the big wedding - I swear, I had the papers..." She batted her rather short eyelashes for effect. "You believe me, don't you?"

"Whose bright idea was it to let you hold the papers?" Sasori muttered audibly under his breath as his effort for the show. The guard swatted them in.

"Go, go. Don't cause trouble. Just go on already..."

"Oh, thank you, I'm so sorry, I really -!"

"Come on, hmm," Deidara chuckled like an endearing brother as he pretended to playfully pull her way from the guard. The town was bustling with activity, and Sasori and Sakura had already disappeared. In older days, Saori would have panicked, but now she had grown older and a bit more mature, become accustomed to on-the-run life. Besides, she had Deidara. One can never be alone or lost in the presence of nakama. "You know... you were pretty good, hmm."

"I was?"

"Back there, hmm. Doe eyes, batting your short ass eyelashes... I don't even know how you made it look like your bag was full of stuff, yeah. It's not. You have what? Five things in there, hmm?" He added, looking away and possibly with embarrassment, "Almost fell for it too, yeah." Saori flushed ten shades of red, deeper and darker than her own hair color.

"No one's ever complimented me on my skill."

"You had Mikaiyo for a jounin, probably no contact with any girls who cared, and otherwise surrounded by Iwa boys. Go figure, hmm."

"Was is it with guys and refusing to compliment?"

"I just did, hmm!"

Saori stopped in front of him and hugged his torso because her four foot ten figure could not reach his five foot five stature, even on her tiptoes. 'I already know that," she murmured into the soft white-blue fabric of his shirt. She ignored the incredibly uncomfortable hardness underneath against her cheek. She never imagined, as much of a beloved stuffed animal she sometimes thought him to be, that he was ever really soft. Muscles seemed to be one of Deidara's ways to confirm his masculinity, which she was seriously putting at risk at the moment by hugging him.

"Saori... get off, hmm. People are looking..."

She pulled away, just as the pyromaniac ordered. "Because it's just so weird for guys to get hugged in public, right?"

He grabbed her forearm and continued walking. "More importantly, people are going to think I'm a child-molesting pervert who charmed himself a kid for a girlfriend with my raging hot looks, hmm. Without Sasori and Sakura, we could definitely look like we eloped, hmm."

"I'm fourteen, Deidara!"

"My point, hmm. I don't want moms coming out of houses hitting me with their thickest iron-wrought woks and pans thinking I'm a child molester, hmm."

"Okay, okay, just let go of me and let's go!" Saori bounded up the less populated cobblestone covered hill where they could see Sasori's flaming hair and Sakura's pink tendrils in the distance, waiting. "You guys ditched us!"

"You were too slow," Sasori returned without skipping a beat. His tone was cold and condescending but there was a twinkle in his chocolate eyes and slight twitching at the corners of his lips. "Let's move."

Before splitting ways, Deidara pulled Saori to the side, bent over so he attained her height. He whispered in her ear, "Remember the plan, hmm. You bother Sakura and I'll work my magic on Sasori-danna, hmm. At the end of the day we should have accomplished the impossible!" Saori quietly laughed and nodded, skipping happily after Sakura, who had already gone into the ladies' side of the hot spring. Sasori eyed the partners in crime warily.

"Don't do anything stupid, stupid," Sasori warned before going in. He did not specify to whom he was speaking. On the other side of the rock wall, Sakura and Saori were about to enter the water. Sakura rented a cubby to share, placing her clothes neatly. She wrinkled her nose at Saori's unceremonious heap and proceeded to fold them for her. Like a mother.

"What did Deidara-san want?" asked Sakura.

"Ahm, the usual."

"Usual?"

"Yup. You know, were just noticing how Sasori-sama is acting differently."

"Really now?"

"Yup. You know, you maintain a pretty good relationship with him. He's a toughie, but you sure get to his soft side," Saori grinned.

"I think you forget I killed him."

"Seems to me he's gotten over that. I mean, way I heard it, it was more like his grandmother who did the killing and he purposely left himself open to it."

"No, he did not! He did not want to die. I'm sure of it." She repeated, "I'm sure of it…"

"C'mon! He is so nice to you… Think about it; he helps you to your feet, he makes breaks for you, which is a lot coming from the King of Absolutely No Rest… Aww, I think he likes you!" Sakura patted her head and dipped into the satisfying heat.

"Sure he does, Saori-san." She had a satisfied little smile on her pretty pink lips but it was not out of the pure bliss of the water, but because Saori had not a clue. If they only knew… Water splashed into the spring over the rock wall and Deidara audibly groaned in pain.

"I told you not to jump in, brat," Sasori said. He clambered into the pool with the amazing grace only expected of a puppet master. Deidara laudably ignored him, sneaking up the redhead's side.

"So, danna," the pyromaniac started casually, "awfully nice of you to agree to let us relax for once, hmm… and in town." The wheels in his head turned for a plan of attack.

"Yes," Sasori returned bluntly. He had undoubtedly keen senses and was well aware something was up between Deidara and Saori and it had everything to do with the confusion between Sakura and him. He had no intention of falling for any of Deidara's traps.

"Don't know, danna, but it seems to me you've softened a bit, hmm." No response. "I don't think it's Saori who's softened you, hmm." Still none, but Deidara was sure he saw Sasori's jaw twitch. "Might be a stretch, but I'm thinking Sakura might be the culprit. Soft, pretty pink hair, spunky attitude…" Deidara whistled. "I might want a bit of that myself, hmm."

"Help yourself. Just do it when Saori and I are not in the room. I do not need Saori to be any blinder than she already is from seeing your naked rear." Ooh, there was definite spite in his voice.

"Sure about that? I thought you'd be pissed, hmm."

"Why would I be? I have no interest in that girl."

"Hey, hey, I never said anything about interest, hmm. Now that you have, my guess is that you are."

"I. Have. No. Interest."

"Sure you don't like Sakura-chan, hmm?"

"What do you not understand about no interest?"

WHEN THEIR TIME WAS up, Sasori booked them a room in a cozy bed and breakfast for the sake of funds. Deidara was the only one who really noted this, mostly because of his few years of experience as Sasori's partner in the Akatsuki. He was still curious, however, at why Sasori had not pulled a Kakuzu and made them stay at a dirt cheap motel. But as his tense backside met the lavender-scented sheets, he really could not complain. 'You girls on that bed; Deidara and I will take the other double," Sasori flatly commanded. Since Sakura stood behind Deidara's and Saori's line of sight, only Sasori could see the look of alarm on Sakura's face. She pointed to her seemingly flat stomach and mouthed, What if Saori feels it? But she would not have to worry about that because in the next moment, Deidara's azure eyes brightened and he roughly pulled Saori's arm, causing the younger to collapse sloppily on top of him on the double bed.

"Don't be queer, yeah, Sasori-danna. I don't want to sleep in the same bed as a dude if I don't have to, hmm." He added, "And by majority vote, since each mouth is worth a vote and I've got four, Saori sleeps with me, hmm. Smallest body to go with the biggest one, you know, hmm." Sasori gave them a deadpan look before waving his hands in the air.

"You two just want me to share a bed with Haruno. You already know, Deidara. Recall what I stated whilst I locate the dinner schedule." He consequently exited the baby blue room.

"I know you two are only jesting, but please keep in mind that I more or less killed him," Sakura quietly voiced. She opened the door in the back leading to the bathroom and the shower began to run. Sasori had told her personally he had somehow gotten around that, but she feared they were rubbing salt in the wound unnecessarily. The devious duo were momentarily quiet, still, and had all the seriousness in the world before Deidara broke into a wide white grin, slightly crooked on the right.

"Sasori-danna told me I could have Sakura, hmm."

"You wouldn't!" Saori breathed.

Deidara scrunched up his face. "That wasn't what I was saying, hmm! I wouldn't want her anyways. She had no respect for my art. My woman has to at the very least respect it if not be in complete admiration of it."

"Then what's your point?"

"We should make Sasori believe I'm making a move on Sakura-chan. Jealousy hits hard, hmm."

"Genjutsu?"

"Exactly, hmm."

"Pucker up." Saori energetically rolled to her feet so she missed the look of startled discomfort on Deidara's face.

"Mask me, hmm." As instructed, Saori thinly coated the room with her chakra in pretense of doing a security sweep while Deidara began the hand seals for a genjutsu that hopefully Sasori would not be able to see through. When the puff of smoke dispersed, only Sakura remained where Saori once stood. "By the way, if those were your bedroom eyes, you're going to need to practice a bit, hmm. Or a lot."

Sakura's lips formed a pout, "I'm not that type of kunoichi."

"If you're a kunoichi, you need those skills, hmm."

"No fair! If I have to learn those skills, why don't you? Why only girls?"

"Who says I haven't, hmm?" Deidara closed the gap between their bodies in a second, lazily draping his arm over her shoulder as his fingers played with pink hair. His azure orbs darkened and Sakura's breath hitched when Deidara's other hand rested on her hip, the mouth biting at her pant's hem. He found himself leaning forward and for a second he thought Sakura was leaning forward, too.

But then the door burst open and Deidara learned he was sorry he did not get to meet those dark pink lips.

Sakura was ripped from his grasp; a very, very angry Sasori glared at the blue-eyed player. "What the hell were you doing, brat?"

Before Deidara could say a word, Sakura sputtered, "Sasori-kun, do you love me?"

Chocolate eyes pierced hers. "I already told you."

"S-say it again."

"Fine. I love her. Satisfied, brat?" To Sasori's bewilderment, Sakura began laughing and Deidara wildly grinning. He held a hand sign and let Sasori know he had been duped at last by the devious duo. Sasori let go of Saori, whom he thought was Sakura, and stalked back out the door with a loud, furious slam. From behind the door of the steam-filled bathroom, Sakura grinned a little. Having him actually say the four-lettered L word made all the difference.

Sasori came back towards midnight, well after the trio had taken dinner quietly in their room. They might have crossed the line of torturing Sasori, whose waves of clear murderous intent permeated the room. He slipped under the covers of his chosen bed, announcing his arrival to Sakura with a blast of humid summer air. She snuggled closer to him after he settled. "Don't be mad at them," she murmured. "They're just being kids."

"They could have done it some other way."

"Please, forgive their stupidity."

"If you kiss me, I'll think about it," he smirked. Sakura grinned back and granted his wish.

Two hours later and the only pair of eyes that remained open were blue. His sleeping had been rather erratic, his mind consistently flickering to that moment hours ago. His tanned fingers brushed over his lips. Had he really felt a want to kiss her? While the rest of the world saw Sakura so close to him, he, as the caster of the genjutsu, had only seen his redheaded follower. He had not had the slightest notion of romantic affections for her, ever, not even when Toyotomi discretely showed his affections towards Saori at the prison. He had not felt any jealousy, and, more importantly and highly unusual, any sense of competition. Because he had felt nothing for her.

Somehow, however, hours ago, he had felt a flicker of something when she was so near. Willing. He hardly could imagine she had ever gotten a first kiss, what with past in Iwagakure, and she had been so clearly enamored with Ootowari Toyotomi that he could not understand for what reason she would want to give her first kiss to him - and for a joke to get a rise out of Sasori.

Deidara held Saori's hair betwixt his fingers, staring intently at the girl beside him. Nothing. He did not feel much of anything. Satisfied, he rolled over and fell asleep.

Author's Note: So... quite a bit of Deidara x Saori. It not the objective in the beginning but my bestie from Germany is its only supporter (as I am the most avid supporter of her OC x Hidan, the only OCxCanon I support, but she does not recognize) and in order to get her to draw her OC and Hidan in an art trade she made me draw DeiSao. Which got a lot of thinking going. I really, really don't think and I really, really hope that DeiSao doesn't get any more intense than this. I'm happy with the way it ended, with him feeling nothing at all... please, Deidara fangirls, do not kill me. This is as intense as it will get.

I hope you guys enjoyed the SasoSaku! I can't really tell if it's OOC. I feel it might be. Sorry :(