A/N: Yasss I'm finally home with my wifi :) anyways from now on the romance starts to get going, which leads up to major lemon (or like 5) some chapters ahead. Anyways enjoy.

Chapter 6:

"Hey!" Sasori whispered. "Kakuzu."

"Hmmuff..?" Kakuzu mumbled.

"We're at the hotel now. Why don't you put your cloak on so that the manager doesn't see your wound and cause problems."

"Ye..alright." said Kakuzu, still groggy from sleep. "Sorry I fell asleep. That must've been uncomfortable."

"It wasn't a big problem. It's fine." Sasori mumbled. Kakuzu put on his cloak, and they walked into the hotel.

It wasn't as nice as the last one; there were no really fancy hotels in this area. The hotel was a simple three-story, compared to yesterday's ten story luxury. The hotel had a hardwood flooring lobby, and in the back were a few lounge chairs and a fireplace, nothing too fancy for a hotel. To the left was the check-in counter, and to the right were the elevators. This hotel had no breakfast room, hot spring or pool, yet it did have a bar/restaurant attached to it.

"Hey, um I'm Sasori. I have a reservation." Sasori said to the man at the counter.

"Ahh yes. Here's your key, it's on the second floor." said the man. "Have a nice evening."

"You too." Sasori turned to Kakuzu. "C'mon, let's go to our room." The boys used the elevator to go to the second floor. They walked down the hallway, Kakuzu's arm slung around Sasori's shoulder for support. Sasori opened the door and they walked.

Their room definitely wasn't as glamorous as yesterday's, but it was still fine. Two double beds were to their right, and two their left was a small couch, a standard 32' TV, a dresser, and a mini fridge. Behind the beds was a the bathroom. The entire room had that shabby hotel carpet, and the walls were painted gold.

Sasori went over to the closet bed and let Kakuzu hop off and lay down on it. Sasori walked into the bathroom to get his medical supplies in order. Once he figured he had everything he would need, he walked out and sat on the bed behind Kakuzu.

"Can you take off your clothes now? I'll fix up that wound of yours." said Sasori. Kakuzu nodded and took of his Akatsuki cloak and threw it on the floor. He hesitated before taking off his shirt, probably because he felt insecure about his masks. He sighed so softly that Sasori wasn't sure that he even heard it, and took it off.

His wound was worse than Sasori had ever imagined. On his lower back, on the left side, the was a cut about an 5 centimeters tall, a centimeter wide, and 7 centimeters deep, right where the chakra blade had hit. Sasori looked at it closely. He could see damaged muscle tissue through the hole. There was also blood everywhere running down his back and legs, some of it dry by now, though.

"How bad is it?" asked Kakuzu.

"There's a deep cut that probably tore some muscle. It's worse than I expected, but nothing I can't heal with my Medical Ninjutsu. You're lucky that the kid didn't know how to infuse his chakra in it before throwing it, if he did it would've went right through you."

"Seriously? The blade would be that powerful?" asked Kakuzu.

"Yeah. You're lucky you can even walk with all the torn muscle tissue in your lower back." replied Sasori. "Don't worry, though, I'll fix you up with my Medical Ninjutsu." Sasori placed his hands on the wounds and focused on healing. Light green chakra covered Sasori's hands as he healed him.

"Gahhhh…ughhh..ehhh..uggghh." moaned Kakuzu.

"I know it hurts now, but it'll be better in a few minutes." said Sasori. Sasori healed Kakuzu for a good twenty minutes before the wound closed.

"This is as good as I can heal it. Here, let me clean up all the blood." Sasori walked into the bathroom to grab a washcloth. He wetted it under the sink and walk back over to the bed. He sat down again behind Kakuzu. He put his left hand on Kakuzu's shoulder for support and held the washcloth in his right. As gently as he could, he scrubbed the blood of the back. Kakuzu twitched when Sasori cleaned the blood directly by the wound.

Sasori grabbed the second washcloth and used it to dry off Kakuzu's back. Sasori grabbed both of the wash cloths and walked back into the bathroom. He rinsed out all the blood in the sink and set them neatly on the counter. He picked up some bandages from inside the sink cabinet and walked back to the bed. He was about to put a bandage around the wound when something caught his eye.

"Is that a tattoo?" asked Sasori, quietly.

Kakuzu nodded. A few centimeters below the wound was a tattoo of a Kanji symbol in black ink.

"What does it mean?" Sasori asked.

"It was put on me by the village elders after I failed my mission. It means failure. They put it there to remind me everyday, that it was my own failure that got me imprisoned." said Kakuzu. Sasori slowly ran his index finger over the tattoo.

His gaze drifted up to the four masks that decorated Kakuzu's back. Sasori ran his fingers slowly across them. "Wind...water…fire…lightning." Sasori said as he touched each of them. His left hand still rested on Kakuzu's left shoulder.

"I..I have a tattoo too." Sasori softly spoke.

"Really? May I see?" asked Kakuzu.

Sasori nodded. He pulled off his shirt to reveal his puppet body. He felt very insecure about showing his true form, especially to Kakuzu, but he ignored his own fear as he pointed to the marking on his chest. On the opposite side of his core was his tattoo. It was a dragon, in purple ink.

Kakuzu turned around. "A dragon…" he whispered.

Sasori nodded. "I got it right when I defected from Sunagakure. It doesn't symbolize that much to me, but I guess it means that I became strong, like a dragon, to leave behind my village."

Kakuzu moved his hand forward to touch the tattoo.

This is my chance. You never know unless you try.

Sasori grabbed Kakuzu's hand with his right hand and guided it to the dragon. He held the hand against his body with both of his own. Kakuzu looked Sasori straight it in the eye. Sasori met his gaze.

Oh shit. He does not like this.

Kakuzu gave Sasori one of his rare smile, then pulled one of Sasori's hands off his, and laced their fingers together. Sasori smiled back.

They stayed like that, hand in hand, for a long time.