Lost Year

Adopting!

Spend your life with people who make you happy.
Not with the ones who you want to impress.

"Stop kicking!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Then stop pulling the blankets away." Sasori tugged onto the cover as he pulled it to his side again.

After their tiring session of tug of war, they would quickly get themselves ready and have breakfast in the small restaurant supplied by the inn. With the food they sell and provided, Sakura had to admit; the life in the past wasn't as bad as she thought.

It had been a couple of weeks since their little incident in the Land of Silk. In their little room that they rent, they were forced to share the same bed for the second time, since they were often highly mistaken for a couple. They intended to change room, but it would cause them another hundred yen to get two separate rooms or having two different beds to themselves. Money was tight and they shouldn't be spending on unnecessary things like this.

Being seen together as a couple wasn't the thing that Sakura found it weird, but it was when Sasori didn't seem to care when all this commotion going on between them.

But no matter what kind of awkward or stupid situation they ended up in, he would always kept that calm and stoic expression everywhere they go, which somehow reminded her of Sasuke when they were still Genin back then.

Whenever her thoughts lead back to the Uchiha, she would always recalled the scene where Sasuke disposed her on the bench. And right before he bade her goodbye and even thanking her for some weird reason, he called her annoying.

Yes. Annoying. He had called her that twice with that irritated look he held when he jeered her like that.

Those words were the one that kept her moving and becoming stronger. She didn't want to be a burden to anyone, that's why she decided to train very hard under Tsunade's teaching and become one of the best medics in Konoha. After three years, her efforts were paid off, but the amount of praises she received still couldn't mend the words Sasuke called her at all, unless when Sasuke would take his words back willingly and perhaps compliment her or claimed her to be the same level as him.

What are you thinking? Sakura tried not to slap herself for thinking about all these useless thoughts as she continued her fast pace back to the inn they had rest in just yesterday, twisting her fingers and prayed that her kunai holster wasn't thrown or taken away.

After all these trainings and habits she learnt when she was under Tsunade's care, it was something unusual for Sakura to forget something so important like her kunai ponch. She always has the habit of putting it back onto her thigh right after she got herself ready for the day. Ninja have to be ready for any attack coming their way, so it was not a surprise for anyone to do the same thing as Sakura did.

It was exactly just like her daily routine. So when Sakura realized she had forgotten something that she had done for three consecutive years, she felt that something was amiss for her being so careless today.

All she got to do was to pray that the housekeeper had not threw her belonging away, or she'll have trouble finding or buying one from villages that didn't have any affiliates with the ninja's countries.

She reached the motel sooner that she thought as she walked over to the counter and questioned the woman who was in-charge of the inn, feeling extremely relieved when she realized they had not clear up the room yet.

Sakura easily spotted her room, which was at the far end of the second floor. As she used the keys she got for the room temporarily, she sauntered into the chamber and immediately noticed the holster that was nicely left like how it was before she went to bed yesterday. She slowly approached it, listening to her soft footsteps on the wooden floor.

Her fingers slowly grasped around the pouch as she turned to stare at the plain room she was in. Even after several weeks had passed, Sakura still couldn't believe she had share the same room and the same bed with a guy that almost killed her in the future.

Everything that's happening now was absolutely crazy for her to imagine. She was always hoping that it was a dream every time she woke up from her sleep, only to find either Sasori sleeping soundly like a child or hitting the shower already. And when she was waiting for her turn to get ready for the day, that old man who claimed to live in the star would remind her that it wasn't any dream or Genjutsu, and then he would continue reprimanding her and suggested that she should focus more on her mission than telling herself that everything that was happening now was a dream when she wasn't in one at all.

Every time when she was muttering some curses to scold back at the old man in her inner mind, she would receive weird glances by the redhead, thinking that she was either crazy or going through depression.

This mission wasn't going anywhere at that moment. They travelled around, yes, it was interesting to see all the things that Sakura never knew existed before, but it was ironic to view all these amazing scenery with a man she didn't interact much before. It would have been a fun adventure if she were travelling with Naruto or perhaps Sasuke, if that would happen at all.

But she had to say, it was still comforting for her to talk with him occasionally. Sasori is just a normal ninja that left his hometown in search for something that could help him to forget his loved ones. He's still not part of the naughty organization who kills for their own goals, so all she had to do was to think it that way, then maybe she'll be able to see him as a normal Shinobi in every sense.

However, even if she carry on believing that way, Sakura was always tempted to wonder when would it be when Sasori decided to join Akatsuki, or perhaps turning himself into a puppet.

Would it be tomorrow or next week?

She still hadn't told him the truth why she was even in the desert and ended up following him in the end. But it was a relief that he did not prey on the issue after they left the desert anymore, even though she knew he was certainly interested in her excuse.

As Sakura returned the keys to the housekeeper and briskly walked through the crowded street to find Sasori, she passed by the pharmacy store she had seen just yesterday. When she was patrolling around the town while Sasori was resting, there was a man standing outside the store, advertising the soldier pills that just came in stock that day.

She had made her own soldiers' pill when Naruto was training to improve his technique; Rasengan. But like what Sai had written in the note when he had disappeared quietly while Sakura was telling about all sorts of nutrients found in the pill, it indeed tasted horrible.

Perhaps she could do more research and experiments after trying it out, and it wouldn't harm to buy some of them to replenish her energy when they were travelling too.

She tramped into the store as she smelt all sorts of old and rare medicines she rarely seen in Konoha before. After inspecting some of the herbs out of curiosity, she finally approached to the counter to get what she wanted.

"May I get a dozen of soldiers' pills?" Sakura asked. The seller behind the counter nodded, turning around to search the stock he had in the large cabinet behind him.

"Here's a dozen. That will be 25 yen."

They quickly exchanged their goods as Sakura departed out of the pharmacy swiftly. She knew Sasori hated waiting since he had strained on that matter a lot of times, but she wasn't trying to please him by going back so fast like what he had told her so, but it was because she wanted to travel to the next town as quickly as possible since she had heard rumors that there was a famous waterfall located in that village and she really wanted to see it.

Sasori always threatened that he would kill her if she did something irritating to him, but after a few weeks of travelling with him, she was quite certain that Sasori wasn't the same person who she encountered 17 years later.

Although pissing him off by her rambling was sometimes amusing for her, she was still careful with her words and tried not to mention about subjects that might infuriates him, such as things that was related to Sunagakure or his past.

Sakura often wonders if he liked her company when they were travelling. Sure, Sasori actually talked much more ever since they got out of the desert, but he still ignored her whenever she said rather irrelevant stuffs like how the smell of his hair reminded her of strawberries or when mentioning that the man in the Dango store should get a haircut. Although that part when she mentioned about his hair smelling like strawberries, he did actually glared back at her.

"Please Doctor! Shana's Mummy is going to die!"

The voice of an obvious child tone interrupted her thoughts when she turned to stare at a wailing girl who was tugging tightly onto a man who seemed to be a physician based on how he was dressed up.

"I'm sorry. I've come over the last time and tried my best. It's already very lucky that she could still last that long." The doctor firmly gripped onto the little girl's hand and pulled her away from his cloak. "Go find the others."

"You're the last doctor who I can find! You got to save Shana's Mummy!"

"I said it's too late already!" The doctor shrugged the youngster away as she fell onto the ground with a thud. The physician brushed his coat away as he walked back into his pharmacy which was just opposite where Sakura had came out. The girl crawled back up and followed him to the door.

"Please! I don't want her to die!" The girl yelled, but the doctor just slammed the door shut in the child's face, allowing her to fall again due to the harsh impact.

Soon, the villagers started crowded around her and began muttering and pointing at the child. Everyone said they pitied her, everyone said they wanted to help. But no one did. All they did was speak and no action, and only after a few seconds then they continued their own shopping spree, completely ignoring the girl that was sobbing loudly on the ground.

Sakura glared at most of the passer-bys that cruelly just ignored the kid as the pinkette quietly approached to the girl, stuffing the packet of soldier pills into her back pocket. No matter how much her inner self was telling her to go and stop making Sasori wait, she was still determined to help the girl no matter what.

"What's wrong?" Sakura frowned, placing her hand on the child's small shoulder.

Her hiccup soon ceased as she turned to stare at Sakura's pink hair before looking right through her emerald eyes.

"Mummy is going to die." She spoke, barely loud enough for Sakura to hear clearly, but she was still able to make out the words in the end.

Dying wasn't her most favorite word in her dictionary. Her job was to save and heal people. She wouldn't allow someone who was in need of help to be left alone untreated when there might be a chance that could have save the person's life. Other than those ninja that were trying to take Sasori back to the village; that was a different story.

"Bring me to her. Maybe I can help." Sakura grabbed onto the youngster's hand as she stared at her with her bright azure eyes. She nodded eagerly and grasped back even harder, pulling the pinkette into the crowd of people.

After a few turns, they finally reached a small cottage that was not far from a small looking hill. The girl pushed open the door to let Sakura rushed in as the medic started to inspect the frail-looking female lying on the bed with nothing but a small thin blanket over her thin body.

The pinkette sat down swiftly on the side of the bed and placed one of her ears near to her chest, listening to the heartbeat. Only after a few seconds then Sakura could hear a single and weak beat coming from the scrawny lady.

"What happened?" Sakura looked over at the almost unconscious woman then to the innocent looking girl, hoping to get more information in order to know what should she be treating.

"There's a huge hump on Mummy's stomach, and it is all red and icky. Shana don't like it on Mummy's stomach." She pointed at the abdomen area, which showed a weird looking bulge under the sheet.

As Sakura took away the cover, there was an enormous swell exposed on the stomach area. Every time the lady breathes, the growth would expand before contracting back to the same size.

The mother of the child seemed to sense a presence in her house as she tried her very best to open her heavy eyelid, revealing her bright sapphire eyes. As soon as her eyes set upon the rosette, her expression changed from pain to desperation as she looked down in search for Sakura's hand that was by the side of the bed.

"Please." The lady attempted to take Sakura's hand but her weak grip slipped and her hand fell back onto the bed lightly. "B-Bring this c-child-" The woman coughed out loud as her face turned even paler and her voice was turning hoarse.

"Madam, do not speak anymore. Let me heal you." Sakura bit her lips as she hovered her hand over her abdomen that has the large tumor. Judging by her experiences in the hospital, the lady before her definitely couldn't make it in another hour. She had met a few similar cases like this, but this was even worse. The inflammation of the growth had became so big like it could burst out any second, and it was indeed really lucky that she could still hang on even though the harmful cells in the body had killed all her healthy cells and forced several of her organs to shut down and stopped working.

Although Sakura already knew she was just wasting her chakra to save her life, she still continued her attempt to heal her and probably save her from the brink of death.

Perhaps she was just trying to give the little child some hope that her mother might still survive after all the rejections she had got while asking for help.

"Mummy! Don't leave me alone!" The child grabbed onto the stiffed hand that was starting to turn cold.

"Shana…" The woman coughed once again before turning weakly to Sakura.

"Girl, stop wasting your energy. It's p-pointless already." The child's mother groaned. "All the doctors tried to h-help, but the attempts were in vain."

"It'll work. Just bear with me." Sakura lied. If only Tsunade was here, she would definitely think of a way to save the dying lady using whatever method she have in her long list of techniques she acquired throughout the years of training and researching. Tsunade could save her, she would certainly be able to save her…

But what's the point of thinking all of these when it was impossible to happen?

"Just b-bring her"

"Mummy!"

" –to the Land of O-Orchid where m-my sister lives. I beg you." The woman desperately clutched onto Sakura's hand, which had already stopped her chakra flow to heal the swelling. The lady's once beautiful and radiant aqua eyes were starting to turn dull and hazy.

"Please…"

The woman tightened the grip around Sakura's hand as she managed to whisper out a few sentence before affording a pleading smile to Sakura who was still too confused to decide. However when Sakura turned to stare at the innocent looking eyes from the child that had probably inherited from her mother, she couldn't help but agreed.

"I promise." Sakura nodded frantically, accepting the request by holding tightly back onto the hand.

"T-Thank y-" Before the woman could even show her gratitude for Sakura, the grasp from Sakura's hand slipped and fell onto the soft bed with a small thud. The lady's eyelid slowly closed as her head slightly tilted to the other side, her hair messing up her entire delicate face.

"Madam!" Sakura cried out, shaking her for a moment. She already knew that the woman before her was already dead since she couldn't sense her life presence and chakra running through her at all. The pinkette slowly glanced at the child who was already sobbing uncontrollably already.

"Mummy!" Shana yelped helplessly, shaking her mother with two of her fragile and small hands.

0o0

After a quarter of an hour passed, Sakura placed a flat yet long wooden board that Shana had wrote her mother's name on atop of the burial site.

Sakura turned to stare at the child who was silently weeping as both of them stood before the lonely grave that Sakura had dug right beside the hill and near the cottage. She had gone to Asuma's and the Third Hokage's funeral before and she knew both were equally depressing, but perhaps not as saddening and pitiful like this one.

"Mummy is gone forever. She wouldn't be telling me bedtime stories or cooking my favorite porridge anymore." Shana sniffed as more tears rolled down her puffy and swollen cheek. Sakura wasn't any great in comforting people like Shikamaru or Konohamaru when their closed one had passed on. But she just couldn't bear herself seeing the poor little girl crying when her mother had died in such terrible and miserable pain.

"Shana's mother is not gone forever. She just went to somewhere, to a more peaceful place where she will live cheerily with no pain and misery. And she will watch you from above; wishing you happiness and watching you grow up every single day. " Sakura spoke, trying her best to give the most cheerful smile she had.

There was a small pause before the little kid spoke innocently. "Is it the same place where Daddy had gone to?"

The pinkette stared down at the girl who was gazing at Sakura rather hopefully, wanting to know the answer. The question that was thrown at her almost stopped Sakura's heart for a second as she scrutinized the innocent looking girl who was still waiting for her response.

The medic slowly nodded her head. "Yes. They would be living together happily ever after." With that reply as her answer, the little girl immediately broke into a big grin and turned to stare at the small grave in front of her.

"Then Shana don't have to cry. Mummy wouldn't want that. If Mummy is living peacefully with Daddy, Shana don't have to cry."

There was a long silence afterwards while Sakura continued to peruse Shana who was standing silently as she said her prayers softly for her mother. Knowing when she finally said enough, Sakura faced the girl. "Let me take you to your aunt." Sakura spoke as she slowly clutched onto her hand, leading her away from the small grave. It brought her pain to her heart when she had to separate the child from her mother when she should be spending her entire time there, but the sun was about to set anytime and it would get dark soon. She didn't want Sasori to worry about her or anything like that.

After a small stroll back into the forest, she could sense an immense amount of fury-aura coming from the redhead when he was sitting alone in the middle of the clearing, grunting some incoherent words and breaking a branch into half.

"It took you the entire day just to get back something?" Sasori scoffed, his back still facing her since he had already sensed her presence coming from afar. The redhead only spun his head around when he also noted an unfamiliar chakra signal standing beside the pinkette. When he had turned to inspect the person, Sakura could see the confusing and rather shocked look when his eyes set upon Shana.

"Who is she?" Sasori furrowed his eyebrows as he pointed at the little girl who was holding onto Sakura's hand.

"Shana." She replied, looking down and observed the child who was slightly hiding behind her. "He's a good guy." Sakura spoke soothingly, wishing that she could believe her own words too. "He would not harm you."

"Why is she here?" He ignored the introduction for the girl, inwardly deciding that he should call the child brat too.

"Her mother died while fighting her sickness." Sakura paused for a second as she sat down and crossed her legs, turning to face the redhead who was poking the ground with a branch. "I'm bringing her along with us in order to fulfill her mother's dying wish by bringing Shana to her aunt." Sakura mumbled, her hand still clasping onto Shana's.

"No." The pinkette immediately cringed at the cold and harsh tone that was directed to her. The grip on Sakura's hand tightened as the little girl pouted and slightly glare at the redhead who was being rude to the only person she could trust in the world now.

"Shana, would you help me collect some dry leaves for the fire? There are plenty over there." Sakura pointed at the other side of the clearing as the youngster nodded obediently and proceeded to what Sakura had asked her to do.

"You said that you have nowhere to go, didn't you?" Sakura commented once she noted that Shana was nowhere in sight. "You just want to travel, as long it's a place that doesn't relate to Sunagakure. And obviously the Land of Orchid isn't related to Sunagakure."

"Oh, right. We are meddling with some unknown girl we barely know about and bringing her to a place we never even hear about. You are just too trustful. If you continue to have that attitude in the Shinobi world, you'll die."

"Maybe you should stop caring about yourself and start sparing a thought for others. Her mother just died and her father was dead too. Can't we do a small favor in bringing her back to where her aunt is so she could properly take care of her?"

"She is not the only one in the world whose parents were dead or something."

Sakura blinked. She could have almost caught the sight of Sasori's eyes softening when the words escaped from his lips. But his nut-brown eyes hardened once again as he turned to glare at her.

"One have to fight for your own and stop relying on others in order to become stronger. Let her be in the woods and find her aunt on her own."

"She's just a child! What can you expect from her? What if she ate a poison berry? Or got surrounded by carnivores? Or maybe got lost in the dark forest?"

Sasori returned a churlish look, as if he didn't even care if the things Sakura mentioned really happened to the child.

It took them quite some time to realize the silence between them was far too long for Shana to get some leaves and twigs for the fire by now. A little worried, Sakura sprang up from her seat and tromped to the direction where Shana was last seen, ignoring Sasori who actually bothered to give a glance at her and wondered what was Sakura up to before looking back at the ground again.

After a few seconds of silence in the clearing, Sakura ran back out from the dense forest and startled Sasori for the first time when she appeared before him so fast that he probably couldn't have reacted if she was actually holding a kunai and intending to stab him.

"She's gone!" Sakura panted, pointing to the forest direction.

"That's some news." He drawled.

"She must have overheard our conversation." Sakura continued quickly after trying to regain her composure. Her expression hardened as she glared at him incredulously by the little emotion Sasori had shown when she had suggested the reason why Shana was gone.

"May I know why are you looking at me like that?" He glared back.

"Whose fault is this?" The pinkette yelled as she both of her hands on her hips, looking down at the redhead who had turned away.

"I wonder whose fault is this too." He narrowed his eyes as he poked the soft ground with the branch he was still holding. "If you didn't even bring her with us, we wouldn't even be arguing like this." He muttered bitterly.

"Fine." Sakura huffed, spinning around as she went back to the direction where she had last sprinted before. She was actually expecting Sasori to react and helped her out to find Shana, but she was wrong, extremely wrong.

All the good thoughts about the redhead when she was pondering before in the town vanished and she knew that she still hated him for his cold and unfeeling attitude towards everything in the world.

"Where do you think you are going?" He spat.

"I'm going to find her by myself. You can stay here if you want." Sakura spoke, having the exact tone that she mimicked when Sasori told her to continue sleeping when he wanted to rob the minister's house previously.

Sasori remained seated, not even showing any movement that he wanted to go with her at all. Sakura growled inwardly, thinking that her plan to get him going failed terribly. But she couldn't waste anymore time, Shana could be in danger if she were to wander for too long in the woods. With a loud grunt, she dashed off.

0o0

It didn't take Sakura long enough to find Shana when the girl was screaming for help in a few seconds when the pinkette had raced into the woods.

"Shana!"

After Sakura had alerted the enemies about her presence, they were shocked, or rather substandard as they allowed the captive to escape from their grip.

"Sakura-san!" Shana cried out as she jumped into the pinkette's arms, looking mortified to see the huge and bulky man before them.

"Give her back to us." One of the men barked.

"And why should I?" Sakura bawled, her tone equally tough like the man who just shouted at her.

"This is none of your business girl. Give her back and we'll leave you alone." Another growled.

Sakura was about to reach for the kunai in her pocket when the man who seemed to be the leader signaled them to attack. It was basically impossible if Sakura had to charge back and protect Shana from them as well. But the main priority was to save Shana from all this mess that she didn't deserve.

"Daddy…" Shana whimpered softly.

Sakura stared shockingly at Shana after she watched the men coming towards them. There was no time to waste any longer as she seized the kunai from her pouch and hugged tightly onto Shana, preparing to attack as well.

But what she missed out was that all the men were actually aiming her at all direction. It was unthinkable for her to escape and attack at the same time. She squeezed tightly onto Shana and gasped, already prepared for the worst.

"Don't worry Shana." Sakura's voice echoed in the girl's ear as it immediately triggered a small part of the youngster's memory in the past.

"Don't worry Shana." A tall man which had the same hair colored hair as the child behind him spoke as he grabbed onto a kunai with one hand while the other was tightening around the toddler's wrist.

"I will protect you."

"Daddy! Save us!"

Sakura widened her eyes as the loud piercing scream escaped from that small looking child. The enemy wasn't easily intimidated by that scream as he continued his action, prepared to kill the two girls by stabbing his sword straight into both of them.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The familiar harsh tone snapped Sakura from her sudden thoughts about death.

There was a loud crack before they could react, the blade was immediately released from the man's grip as he screeched in agony when his wrist was broken. The ninja stepped away from the redhead before fainting due to the amount of pain he felt so suddenly in that short amount of time.

"Daddy!" Shana cried out to Sasori before her whimpers died down and fainted on the spot.

"Are you an idiot?" He growled, turning to face the shocked pinkette as she watched Sasori standing before her.

The man who was rumored to be a cold and heartless killer had just protected her- them. This man, Akasuna no Sasori, just-

"Why are you here?" She questioned in disbelief.

"That isn't a smart thing to ask in this situation." Sasori raised an amused eyebrow, as if he was mocking her. "It seems that I have overestimated your intelligence. Hugging that child like a doll, as though you can protect her just like that. Is your body made of steel? You can die if you got stabbed."

"That isn't a smart thing to nag in this situation either." Sakura rolled her eyes as she turned to the fainted girl in her arms. As Sakura slowly laid the child down against a nearby tree, she stomped forward and far from Shana before punching into the ground, sending everyone flying when they failed to run away in time.

Sasori was already used to the amount of strength Sakura held within her small fist whenever she felt pissed off at something during their travel. But the way Sakura just snapped back at him totally took Sasori by surprise. Up till now, he still hadn't encountered someone like her to snap at him like that. This matter didn't enrage him, but rather, he was amused that such a brat like her wasn't afraid to talk back at him like that; even in such chaotic situation.

"What an interesting girl." He said inwardly as he smirked, summoning his puppet out like usual. It didn't take both of them much time to take them down easily with the amount of training they had instead of these men who were only aware about the muscles and abs.

"We are taking that child!" The leader growled for the seventh time even after most of his teammates were taken down already.

"You are seriously testing my patience." Sasori snarled, waving his puppet strings in the air. Hiruko then swung his poison tail and struck the opponent, throwing them back on the ground and some slamming atop on others that were already dead.

"I actually thought of letting you live for another three days until the poison take over. But now, I don't intend to."

Loud screams of pain echoed in the forest as the hunters fell onto the ground, knees dislocated or neck snapped apart. Now the redhead was very sure no one was alive in the pile of corpse before him. Sasori turned to see the pinkette who had ignored the torture Sasori did to the once alive ninja as she continued observing the youngster against the tree.

The silence continued as he approached to her, watching the two of them and crossed his arm, eyeing at the girl before looking at Sakura. He wasn't a fool. A mere weak child like Shana could do nothing to enrage the group of Shinobi to attack her and attempting to take her away. She or her parents must have done something to result in this mess.

"I'll speak the truth." Sakura sighed, looking back at Sasori who was still eyeing on her.

"That group of ninja was hired by some country to take on revenge on her father, intending to make him suffer by taking his loved ones away. But it seemed that that country didn't know that her father had already died in one of the battles. Her father was one of the high-ranking officers that was responsible of the thousand of soldiers in a small war, however his mission failed and had made the country suffered a heavy toll. Her mother wanted to bring their child to her aunt's village and lived there because no one would expect them staying there. But she suddenly became sick and was down with terminal disease, that's why she couldn't bring her to safety."

With the last breath Shana's mother had, she told everything about her husband's incident before she pleaded Sakura to accept her request and died in peace. But if Sasori didn't agree, it would be usele-

"Alright But we'll do this is quick as possible." Sasori sighed, looking at the corpses of ninja and back at the child. That only response Sasori gave startled Sakura as she turned to observe the puppeteer who was staring at the unconscious girl.

Children were always innocent in revenge and war. But adults always had to pull them into the conflict and threatened them as though they had no better shit to do. Sakura nodded swiftly, a small smile etched on her face.

As she turned to place Shana softly on her back, Sasori silently offered Sakura his hand as she pulled herself up with the weight of the child on her back. They quietly trudged back to their previous spot since they couldn't have camp next to the corpses and the middle of the woods with thick roots prodding out from the ground. They quickly settled Shana down and decided their own personal roles for the night before Shana managed to wake up.

A while after Sakura decided to restock supplies for an extra person during travelling, Sasori had put up a Genjutsu in the clearing to prevent any enemies from noticing them. He was in charge of taking care of the unconscious child as he continued to stare at the warm fire before him.

"Mum and Dad are still out for mission. But don't worry, they'll be back in several weeks."

And weeks.

And weeks.

Sasori narrowed his eyes as the image of his parents waving goodbye at him for the last time flashed across his mind. He waited, waited and waited, and all he received were just lies, lies and lies.

The redhead threw the stick forcefully into the small fire, almost extinguishing it as his action created a gush of wind to blow the fire out.

Sasori wanted to be stronger, mentally and physically stronger and he had sworn to himself that he would find power and become powerful and to forget the distress he had.

Yet when he was trying to search for something in his life to cure the miserable pain he had for the years of waiting, a pink-haired kunoichi seemed to be in his way and giving him more trouble like adopting a kid from nowhere and sending them into more nuisance and problems.

"I'm s-sorry."

He widened his eyes by a mere fraction as the puppeteer turned swiftly and stared at the girl who was sitting opposite of him, looking steadily at the fire. Sasori didn't manage to sense any movement made by her when she was already conscious, yet she could easily just sit before him without him even realizing it until she called out to him.

But he was excused for not being to sense her motions since he was in deep thought about that pink-haired brat which always confused him in everything she did.

"It's fine. Just don't do stupid things again." He muttered when the girl was staring at him for not giving a reply back. In that instant, the not-even-a-conversation ended there and everything fell back into silence.

Other than the pinkette that baffled him as much as stupid emotions do, there was still something that kept him puzzled for a while. He glanced at the little girl who was rather captivated by the glinting fire in front of her.

Since she's just a child, she wouldn't find him weird or ridiculous for him to ask her that question, right? Furthermore, every child has a low memory capacity; she'll forget what he was going to ask her anyway.

"Back then when I came to prote-" He gave a pause, deciding not to use such heroic word to describe that situation. "- Prevent you two from getting killed, what did you call me again?"

The child looked away sheepishly before staring back at the redhead who was drumming his fingers rather impatiently on his lap.

"Daddy." She pouted.

"So what makes you think I look like your father?" He couldn't help but raised a curious eyebrow. Liking sweets and chocolates was actually one of his secrets that was not revealed to anyone other than his grandmother, the fact that he was better at interacting with a child rather then Sakura or any other people who almost have the same age as him or older was actually another secret of his too.

He didn't know why was he like that either, but perhaps it was because he was able to relax a while and acted a little more childish to children rather than people nearing his age or older.

When she still didn't reply after a few seconds of silence, Sasori spoke. "Do I look that old to be your father?"

"No. My Daddy is much more handsome and amazing than you are."

"Oh really?" Sasori snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Yes. Much, much more!" Shana gestured a huge circle with her short little arms as she gazed proudly at the redhead, the fire's light reflecting the pride and respect that Shana held towards her father in her bright blue aqua eyes.

The redhead tried to stop himself from commenting on the child's immaturity before he got overboard and made the child run away again. He sighed, shaking his head inwardly.

"You are such a brat."

0o0

"Buh Bye!"

It took them exactly three days to reach the Land of Orchid and successfully sending the child back without harm.

After receiving the news that her sister died, the woman that had the same aqua as the child and her sister broke down into crying fits even though she tried not to embarrassed herself too much anymore. It didn't take Sakura long enough to comfort her down with the help of Shana when she innocently told her aunt the exact same thing Sakura had told her to made the child stop feeling so sad before her mother's grave.

Shana's aunt was hoping that the two foreigners would settle down in her cottage and have some tea for a while but Sasori rejected the offer almost immediately when the suggestion escaped from the lady's lips. In the end, they bade their farewell and headed to the nearest village they just passed by when they were travelling to the Land of Orchid.

Sakura had missions that required her to spend a couple of days with children that had the same age as Shana or even younger. Babysitting was the most common one and second would be escorting, which is rather similar to the request she was attending to. Sakura was always glad to have a cheerful kids by her side and it always helped to lighten up the mood between her teammates when they were doing the mission.

Of course she wasn't actually complaining that escorting Shana was boring compared to the missions she had in Konoha, it was actually even better since it kind of helped Sasori to realize that he was somehow a little immature too. And it was a side the Sakura didn't expect to see him at all.

But what were we talking about? Before joining Akatsuki, Sasori could be anything he wanted, laughing and smiling at all the silly things Shana did. But if he were to join Akatsuki, every small attempt to laugh or smile at a joke had to be considered twice before doing so, since it could ruin your reputation and it's totally not cool.

But the matter about Sasori smiling and laughing genuinely in front her for the first time wasn't exactly the important thing that Sakura was pondering about for the whole afternoon. The thing was that none of the children she ever encountered in a mission called her mom, or her partner, dad. And that was pretty awkward when Shana called both of them as her parents.

Due to the fact that the Land of Orchid was small and quiet and didn't have any room out for rent, they had to spend their night at that nearby village that was much more populated and packed with inns and shops aligned closely together down the street. It took them several minutes to reach there since they were travelling in a much fast pace then before.

"I'm hitting the bathe first!"

"No, I am."

"Who said so?"

"I said so."

Sasori shut the door right into Sakura's face as she lifted her chakra fist furiously and was about to knock the door down before thinking twice again. If she smashed it open, she would have to bathe without any door closed and that would be something nasty that she didn't want to happen.

The inn that they were planning to stay was just the same like the other ones that spent their nights in. Equally cheap and also supplying delicious food for breakfast tomorrow.

With Shana back with her aunt and everything was much less annoying; like what Sasori claimed, even though Sakura knew he must have miss her a little, they would be going right back travelling the very next day even though strolling in the town first didn't seem a bad idea at all. The village was in fact, the busiest town Sakura had ever encountered for the past one month or so when she was travelling around Earth country with Sasori. And by far, this trip with Sasori and her alone wasn't sort of a bad idea as long as Sakura still remembers why she was even doing here in the first place.

However, when an explosion occurred a few seconds after the bathroom door was slammed into Sakura's nose, it wasn't something that would utterly please the tourists, the housekeeper and Sasori, who was about to enjoy the hot shower he was looking forward to every single day.

Author's Note:

Another long chapter. Thanks for the reviews that encouraged me to continue writing! It's a pleasure to read them again and again every time when I needed the motivation! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Anyway, Happy Halloween to those readers that celebrates Halloween out there! Treats for everyone! :D