Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters affiliated therewith. Neither do I own Riku, who I am using with the permission of AzNcHiBi. I only own Katsuki.

This chapter may seem suggestive at parts, but believe me, I do NOT write like that and nothing really major happens.

The first thing Katsuki saw when she opened her eyes was Deidara looking at her with a tender expression on his face. For a whole minute she merely stared back at him as her mind and body readjusted to her surroundings. Finally, she realized where she was and her face turned bright red as she tried to shy away from Deidara.

"Oh! …I'm so s-sorry, Master Deidara… I-" Her stuttering was ended when Deidara's arms whipped out and dragged her back towards him.

"Where do you think you're going, yeah?" he asked her with a slightly sleepy voice. The blonde sat up, hugging the startled brunette to his chest.

"Come with me," he whispered, looking over to Riku who was sleeping on Sasori's futon. The redhead himself was nowhere to be seen; probably he went to get some more wood from Leader. Deidara stepped over to the enormous walk-in closet with Katsuki and slid the door open quietly. He shoved the girl in before following her, darkness engulfing them as he quickly shut the door behind him. For the first time, Katsuki was afraid of the blonde, and she grew even more so as he slowly advanced towards her curled-up form in a corner of the closet. She shut her eyes tight, as if awaiting a sharp reprimand, or worse, a physical one.

"Don't be afraid, yeah." The brunette looked up at Deidara questioningly. The Iwa nin smiled, genuinely smiled at the girl before sitting beside her and leaning against the wall, his good eye closed.

"…Katsuki-chan… I want a friend, yeah…" The kunoichi's eyes widened in confusion; why drag her in here just to say that? She relaxed slightly and patiently waited for him to continue.

"… I want… a girl friend… When you're in Akatsuki, we're basically all just guys working for our leader, Rei-dono… There aren't any girls here, yeah. So…" the blonde looked at her with forlorn eyes, "will you be my friend, Katsuki-chan?"

Katsuki thought it over for a second, and seeing Deidara looking so sadly at her made her feel guilty for no reason at all. Had she remembered that the blonde was an S-class criminal, or even if she didn't have feelings already for the Iwa nin, she would have refused.

"Yes, Deidara-kun. I'll be your friend." The blonde smiled at her and abruptly kissed her. Shocked, Katsuki felt herself slip down the wall and fall to the ground beneath Deidara. The kunoichi lay paralyzed as a feeling she'd never felt before washed over her, filling her with a heartache for the blonde that she'd never felt before for anyone. Slowly, she closed her eyes and returned Deidara's kiss, praying he wouldn't be disappointed with her kiss.

Sasori stopped outside the room exactly fifteen minutes after he left it when he went to get more wood from Rei. He shifted the slabs of oak, yew, and cherry wood he had in his arms so he could brush his fingertips against the door. It opened swiftly, and the redhead turned sideways to get in, nearly dropping two boards on his foot. His gaze fell first on Riku's sleeping form under the comforter of his futon. Something about the way her face looked made the Suna nin freeze in his tracks, even as he screamed at himself to move.

"Her face… so innocent… so serene… so… beautiful…"

"Master Sasori?" The redhead blinked as he heard Riku's sleep-laden voice break the silence in the room. His eyes narrowed as she slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She looked at him again, and abruptly leapt up, moving swiftly to take the boards from him and placed them on his worktable.

"P-Please, forgive me, Master Sasori. I-I didn't mean to oversl-" Sasori cut her off by forcing her back to the wall with a kiss that swept the raven-haired woman off her feet.

"This… this feeling… It's really real. She's been here for a month, a whole month, and only now do I realize… She's haunted my every thought every second of the day…"

Sasori felt something break free inside him, someplace within the very depths of his still-human heart; a feeling that filled him with a warm sensation he'd never thought he'd feel again. He allowed himself to bring the woman closer to his body, wrapping his arms around her slender form, a single, fleeting look of absolute painful desperation stealing across his face as his eyes closed.

Riku, for her part, had completely and utterly lost any train of thought. The only thing she could consciously focus on was the pressure of Sasori's cold, unfeeling lips on her own, and yet she loved how it felt. If asked how to explain what it felt like, Riku could not have answered. Not would not. Simply could not. The feeling she was currently experiencing while pinned up against a wall and being kissed by an Akatsuki member could only have been matched by…

"Genma…" Sasori's eyes snapped open upon hearing the shinobi's name slip from Riku's lips. A wave of anger and jealousy overcame him as he kissed her again, more forcefully, desperate to make her forget anything and everything about the Leaf nin. Why should that good-for-nothing Konoha nin deserve a woman so perfect such as Riku? Sasori wondered hazily. Riku's hands clutched at the back of his cloak, even as her mind was elsewhere, with Genma, Sasori knew.

Unexpectedly, the redhead heard noises coming from the closet and he broke the kiss, panting despite himself. Riku's face was flushed, but her eyes told everything her mouth did not as she looked at him with a mixture of emotions. Eyes narrowing dangerously, Sasori noticed, with a frown, that both Deidara and Katsuki had disappeared somewhere. That "somewhere" had been the closet, and judging from the way Deidara's chakra was flaring, Sasori was sincerely hoping he hadn't "taken it too far" with the woman. He released Riku, who slid down to the floor, touching her lips, eyes following Sasori, as he crossed the distance between him and the closet. Putting his ear to the door, he heard a small fit of giggling ensue.

"…Deidara… s-stop it… aha-ha! … Deidara-kun I'm gonna get you for this!! Hey, stop!"

"No, yeah… Wait, no…" Both Sasori's and Riku's faces screwed up in disgust; what were they doing in there? They hoped they wouldn't have to find out.

"Finally! I'm free of that stupid thing!"

"Ah? My cloak isn't stupid, Katsuki-chan! Hey! No! Stop it, Katsuki-chan! Stop!"

"I don't think so!"

"Nooooo!! Katsuki-chaaaaaaaaaaaan…"

Finally, Sasori and Riku couldn't take it anymore.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE!" Sasori yelled.

The noise of the scuffle suddenly stopped. Katsuki and Deidara stared at the closet door in amazement, as though it was a foreign object that had suddenly appeared in their midst.

"Tickling him," Katsuki called out matter-of-factly. "What did you think? You have a perverted mind, Master Sasori."

A/N: My apologies for such a lengthy wait between chapters. Permit me to give many thanks to everyone who reviewed my story thus far. It gives me great pleasure to know my work is appreciated as well as motivates me to continue writing.