Sakura smiled. "It's wonderful."

"Isn't it?" Konan said, smiling, as she ran the brush through Sakura's hair. "A simple haircut can do wonders for a girl."

Sakura glanced at herself in the mirror. Her bright green eyes were much more visible now that her bangs had been moved away from her face. The cut complimented her large forehead and the delicate curve of her chin.

"Maybe you want a piercing? I can do it for you. Ears, tongue, belly button, lower lip… upper lip? Konan asked, glancing at Sakura, who quickly shook her head.

"No, but thanks for the offer." Sakura said, giving a small grin.

Konan shrugged. "Whatever. By the way, thanks for the girl time. I needed some to relax… around all these guys, you have to be on guard at all times. Except with Pein… with him, I know I'm okay."

At this, Konan gave a small sigh of contentment. Sakura giggled. "You really love him, don't you?"

"And he loves me too, you know. He's told me. He just doesn't show it like most boys do."

"He doesn't hit you, does he?!" Sakura said, giving a small gasp.

"Of course not! He actually fusses with my hair. Don't laugh… he actually does. I guess all boys express their love differently, and Pein just likes my hair. Every day, he'll try to fix my hair, even if it's perfect. He'll run his hands through it, try to curl it, everything."

"No wonder it's so messy!" Sakura joked.

"I know, really. That's the thing, though… you have to figure out how a boy says 'I love you'. Because they'll never do it verbally, at first. They're always too shy. Once you figure out how a guy says 'I love you', then the relationship will always work. That's just how it goes."

Sakura smiled.

"You know, if you've… taken an interest in one of them, I won't judge. Just tell me who."

"I don't think I ever will! They're all-"

"Crazy? Yeah. But most of them are good, deep down inside. Solid gold. It's just troubled pasts that make them any different from the regular boy. Don't tell me you've never met a boy like that."

Sakura didn't even have to think. "Yeah, I know one."

"Of course. Every girl has. At least, any girl who gets around some."

"Hey! Hey! Sakura-chan!" Tobi said happily, skipping towards her. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Oooh, wow, did you make it like that? Tobi likes your new haircut, he does!"

"Actually, Konan did. She tried to get me to get a piercing too, but I don't think I want one."

"I dunno. I bet you'd look good with an ear piercing. Just a loop." Tobi pondered. "You know, Leader-sama, all those piercing he has? He let Konan do them."

"I figured." Sakura said, giving a small grin.

"Yeah. They really are a cute couple. Tobi… he…" At this, Tobi ventured off.

"Tobi…?"

"Nothing. Anyway, Tobi has to go pick some berries. Would Sakura-chan like to come with him?"

"Of course, Tobi."

Tobi grinned. "Okay. Tobi will let you follow him to the place."

Tobi carried two baskets upon his arms, every so often adjusting his mask. Sakura followed, enjoying the light streaming in-between the leaves of the forest they walked in.

"Here we go." Tobi finally said, stopping in a small grove. Berries of many different kinds were scattered about the clearing.

"Any specific kind?" Sakura asked, taking her basket.

"Umm, nope. No specifics, Tobi remembers."

Sakura smiled, and went to berry picking.

"Tobi, you didn't finish your conversation earlier." Sakura piped up. "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing." Tobi said. "Umm, nope, nothing at all."

"All right. If you don't want to tell me, then I won't bother you about it."

"Okay." Tobi said.

There was a small pause where they did nothing but pick berries.

"Sakura-chan, you know about the big mission coming up?"

"Oh, no. Nobody told me." Sakura said, pausing in her picking. "What's it for?"

"Everybody's going on this one." Tobi explained. He suddenly seemed very nervous, for some reason.

"Tobi, is something wrong?"

"No…" Tobi said. There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Tobi…"

"Would you like to be my partner for the mission, Sakura-chan?" he asked, suddenly.

Sakura gave a gentle smile. "Is that all, Tobi? Well, I suppose I'll have to see if Zetzu got partnered up with someone else."

"Zetzu?!" Tobi cried, making Sakura jump. "He didn't ask you already, did he?"

"No, of course not. But he is your partner, so I might have to ask Pein…"

Tobi let out a small sigh of relief. "No, no, Sakura-chan. Pein is letting us choose our partners for this mission. And I was wondering if I could go with you."

Sakura gave a small nod. "I'd love to, Tobi. Mind telling me what the mission is? It's a rather unorthodox way to partner us for one mission…"

"Oh, it's a dance." Tobi said happily. "And I have a date now."

Sakura had popped a berry in her mouth as she listened, and she choked on it now. "A d-date?!"

"Yeah."

"I t-thought we'd be partners!" Sakura spluttered.

Tobi glanced at her. It unnerved her, to not know what he looked like under that mask. "There isn't much of a difference…"

"There is a difference, Tobi… I have to think about this, okay?" Sakura said.

Tobi paused. "Okay." He said, sounding rather morose. "Tobi understands, Tobi's a good boy. The mission's two days from now, so… decide before then, okay?"

Sakura felt rather bad about her reaction. "It's not that I don't like you, Tobi…"

"No, no, it's okay. Tobi knows that you have… other choices. So, you know… Tobi wants you to make sure you'll be happy, okay?"

Sakura's worried frown dissolved into a smile. "That's very nice of you, Tobi. Thank you."

Tobi nodded. "Yeah. Oh, my basket's full. Yours?"

"It's as full as it'll ever be." Sakura said, glancing at hers.

"Let's go back, then."

"You never told me about a dance!" Sakura exploded at Konan, who gave an uneasy smile.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Konan said, backing away a bit. "I figured you'd find out soon enough."

"I suppose you're already going with…"

"Pein, yeah. So that makes you a prime target for all the other guys!"

"Well, at least Itachi and Kisame are set."

"Well, that one's a bit obvious." Konan admitted. "You can't have all the red apples in the bunch."

"Huh?"

"Every group of males is bound to have a few gay guys." Konan explained.

"Oh, yeah." Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "But, still! Tobi asked me to go."

Konan grinned. "That's a position of power, right there."

"Huh?"

Konan blinked. "You haven't realized it yet! Boy, you're a dull blade…"

"What?!" Sakura said, freaked out by all these secrets. Konan leaned in to whisper.

"Tobi's the one who runs this group. He's an Uchiha; see, some spirit named Madara possessed him, and now he's giving all the orders. You date him; you could control the entire Akatsuki!"

Sakura blinked. "But, he's so sweet and nice!"

"That's Tobi, not Madara. I have to warn you, though… his Madara side is a bit demanding, though."

Sakura shuddered. "Demanding?"

"Not like that. I mean, he wants it his way or no way. I'm sure he'll still love you, on both sides."

"I don't think I want to date a guy who has a personality disorder."

"Your loss. He's nicer then most of the guys here."

Sakura shrugged. "Maybe… he's in the top three."

"Who are the other two?"

"Deidara and Hidan."

Konan spluttered wildly. "Deidara, I can understand. I mean, he likes art, and he's quite the gentleman as soon as you get him away from other guys… but Hidan?! Are you kidding me?!"

"I'm sure he's as nice as he is handsome. I haven't gone on very many missions with him, but-"

"But nothing! He drinks, he smokes… he's dated at least thirty females at a time, and he's probably had sex with twice… no, three times that many!"

"I'm certain that with a girl he knows, he's not like that."

"You're right… he's probably worse. And to top it all off, he's disrespectful to both Pein and me!"

"So, your opinion is biased."

"Not when it's true fact!" Konan objected.

"Fine… is Kakuzu any better?"

"Well… he doesn't smoke, drink, or have wild sex with three people at a time. But he is a cheapskate."

"A nice cheapskate?"

"Honestly? A bore." Konan advised.

"How do you know all this?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Our interviews are quite extensive when one wishes to join the Akatsuki." Konan said, giving a small smile. "I'd suggest Deidara or Tobi or… well…"

"Yes?" Sakura asked.

"Sasori." Konan finished, preparing herself for the outburst.

"NO! NO! ABSOLUTELY NO WAY!" Sakura screeched.

"I didn't say you had to go with him. I'd put him, at best, as your last choice. Tobi's probably best. He's… hyper, but he's really a sweet kid."

"Even with this Madara thing?"

"Yeah, even then." Konan said. "As for Deidara, he's really sweet. He's a gentleman, as long as you don't get his hormones raging. 21 and he still acts like a teenager. Oh, and the sex is interesting."

"You've had sex with him?!" Sakura said, in a mixture of shock and amusement.

Konan chuckled. "Boy, that was a wild night." She mused, just loud enough for Sakura to hear.

"Who else?" Sakura said. She couldn't help prying.

"That's a story for another time." Konan said, smiling. "Now, get going. You've got a day and a half to think it over."

Sakura paused, sipping more water from her canteen. It was icy and cold against her parched throat. Sakura had found her way back to the forest, and was now running laps around the small berry grove, and punching trees for exercise. Her knuckles were bleeding, but not too bad.

Sakura hummed a small tune she had heard a while ago. "In the heart of every girl, there's a homespun family dream. Of life that's filled, with so much joy, from a curly haired cutie to a teenage queen and-"

She stopped, hearing the bushes rustle behind her. "Tobi?"

No reply.

"Sasori…"

The bushes rustled.

"Oh, come out, I'm not going to hurt you."

The red haired boy emerged. "Why'd you think I was Tobi?"

"Oh, I figured… he might want to… talk about something." Sakura said, glancing at him.

He was silent.

"He asked me to be his partner on the mission."

Sasori drew in a sharp breath. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I didn't accept."

"Ouch."

"And I didn't reject him, either! I said I'd think about it."

"So you'll go with me?"

"Absolutely not." Sakura said, glaring at him. "If not Tobi, then maybe Deidara."

"Deidara! What does that idiot have that I don't have?!"

"Well, from what Konan tells me, he's quite the gentleman when he's not around males." Sakura said.

Sasori smirked. "She would know, wouldn't she?"

"Whatever she did it for; I hold no qualms against her. It must've been necessary."

Sasori scoffed. "Oh, yeah. You could call it that…"

There was a small pause, and then a loud thunk as Sakura's fist hit the wood, causing some chunks of wood to fly about.

"I'm not going to ask. She would've told me if she wanted me to know."

"Fine." Sasori said, as the tree finally toppled over. He walked over as Sakura pulled her fists away. He blinked.

"You're bleeding."

"Not too badly."

"But, if you let it bleed, it'll get worse."

"So?"

Sasori reached into his cloak, pulling out a small bottle.

"What's that?!"

"It's a solution that speeds up the healing process."

"I though you only made poisons." Sakura bit, as Sasori began rubbing the ointment into the wounds.

Sasori shook his head. "You see, Sakura, you don't think deeply enough."

"Are you insulting me again?!"

"No, no. Sakura… if you know enough to make dangerous poisons, then you know enough of what chemicals do what and what they do when they go together, then you know what can make things regenerate, instead of degenerate. So, if one can make poisons, then one can make healing potions too."

Sakura nodded, getting this.

"It's the same with people. If one knows exactly how to wound a person's confidence, then one knows exactly how to capture that person's attention, or say the right thing to put together their broken heart." Sasori said, giving Sakura a meaningful glance. Sakura blinked, unable to look away from his dark brown eyes. Had she ever noticed how beautiful his eyes were before?

"Let that dry." Sasori said, breaking the contact by stepping back a bit. "And don't train for a while. You'll reopen the wounds."

And with that, he vanished into the underbrush. Sakura watched him go. "Wait! I can't train now?! Damn him!"

The action gets intense as the "dance" approaches. And, the mission is to find the five tailed dog, which will be at the dance. (If it's not a dog, please send me a message(not a review) with the right animal. My friend told me it was a dog/wolf.)

By the way… there will not be any DeixKon or DeixSaku. Sorry to any fans of those pairings.