Ew. This is such a filler chappie. Sorry. It's also shorter then I like.

What is with me and ankle injuries? It might be unhealthy. It's a 3 day break. And I don't have ap Calculus Homework. Thank God. I do, however, have to finish a Handmaid's Tale. Which is a good book for ap lang. I've also had a soft spot for foreign literature lately. Of course, I have to read translated versions since I'm taking Latin. I'm also a profile creep.

Disclaimer: Why do people do these? It's a fan fiction site? Duh. I don't own this.

….

Chapter Eight: Flowers.

Sasori was sitting. Which wasn't too noteworthy. He probably spent a good amount of time sitting. Or standing. Rarely did he lay down. That never happened. It felt unnatural.

He quietly side glanced to the person on his bed.

She happened to spend a good amount of time laying down. People in general did, if they weren't insomniacs. Ino was most certainly not an insomniac.

Though, Ino wasn't sleeping now.

She started to sit up and began rubbing her ankle, which got sore after training. Which, Sasori was informed of this thirty times in the last half hour, she couldn't heal because she didn't have much chakra left and Sasori also told her - about thirty times in the last half hour- not to heal it because he didn't want her to pass out.

" So this sucks," Ino mumbled for the umpteenth time. " I was supposed to go shopping too!" Hinata had gone shopping with Kisame for fish and what not in town, although that did sound so incredibly amazing to Ino. What sounded even more interesting was that Deidara was going too and that way she could creep on Hinata and the blonde.

But no.

She just had to get hurt. Typical.

" What is with women and shopping?" Sasori mumbled, turning his back on Ino messing with some of the materials on the desk. " It's never as exciting as you make it out to be."

" But I also wanted to spy on Hinata-chan and Deidara-san," Ino admitted looking bored and angry. Now Sasori knew the real reason.

She just wanted to be nosy. Typical Ino.

"I wish Hinata would hurry up and come home so she can tell me about it!" She complained.

" What did you just say?" Sasori asked, looking at her quizzically.

" That I wanted Hinata to come back?" Ino asked, looking at him a tad bit a confused. " What did you think I said?"

" Oh," Sasori sighed. " I thought you said you wanted her to come home." In fact he knew that was what she said. It baffled him on how she considered this place home.

" I did," Ino said confused rubbing her ankle still. " Home. Back. They are basically the same thing, right?"

" Isn't your home in Konoha?" The red head asked her, looking into her blue eyes. He felt a surge of an emotion after he said it. It was long time since he felt this unfamiliar pang. Maybe it was guilt? He tried to remember what guilt felt like. Was it like this?

Ino was at a lost for words. A rare occurrence that almost never happened. The blonde thought she should of said: I guess you are right. But there was another feeling somewhere. A feeling that didn't recognize Konoha as her home.

She felt the same way a couple mornings ago. She remembered faces and people but they were fading softly. A little fuzzy around the edges. People she saw everyday were still fairly clear but it was almost scary. She remembered how her father always had this distant look when he would tell her stories. Like he was sad even when he told happy stories. This must have been the feeling he felt.

It made Ino want to cry.

Sasori felt the guilt emotion get stronger. He tried to push it out. It was harder the he remembered.

" I don't know," She finally said and laid back down. " It's…" She trailed off, closing her eyes trying to recall every detail of Konoha. What was being sold a couple stores down from the flower shop? What color hair did the woman who sold those fruit have?

Would Sasori become fuzzy? Would she forget every contour of his awkward smiles? It was a sad and scary thought. A thought that really did make the blonde cry.

" It's so sad," Ino whispered, a tear escaping and running down her cheek. She put her hand over her face, a desperate attempt to hide the ugly expression she was most certainly making.

" Ino?" Sasori asked, standing up and sitting on the edge of her bed. It was all he could say. He didn't know how to comfort someone. He was pretty sure he never did. He didn't know what to say to the crying girl. He didn't know what to do. So he figured he'd just be there.

" I'm sorry," Ino blubbered, wiping her face sitting back up. " I know you probably think I'm a burden. I cry too much and I see dragons and I have sore ankles!" The blonde started to cry louder and more dramatically.

" Ino, you're being unreasonable again," Sasori told her wiping some of the tears off. " You're not that big of a burden and your ankle will heal. I also like how you can see dragons…" Ino started laughing through the sniffles.

"You also have the most horrible crying face," Sasori mumbled looking away from her. " Your smile is easier to look at."

" Thank you," Ino smiled widely wiping her face. " I hate my face. It never works how I want it too."

" I bet some girls would kill you if they heard you say that," Sasori told her as pushed her bangs out of her face. " You have a nice face."

" Thank you," Ino said through a deep red blush, she moved her ankle which hit against the bed.

" Ow," she grimaced and rubbed her ankle once more. This is when Sasori noticed how red and swelled up it was. She should have mentioned how bad her ankle was instead of complaining how she wished she was on the shopping trip.

" Wait here," He told her and disappeared.

He was gone for a while. Ino felt sure he forgot about her.

" Fine then," She sniffled, angrily. " I'll heal my ankle. Who cares if I PASS OUT! You don't!" she yelled angrily starting to summon the little chakra she had when Sasori walked in with ice and bandages.

" What are you doing, Ino?"

" Exercising..?"

" Whatever," he mumbled and used his puppet strings to get her to lay down and out her leg on him.

" You could have just asked," Ino complained and squirmed a little.

" Hold still," he told her as he wrapped up her ankle delicately and put ice on it. If he looked up he would have noticed how red Ino's face gotten. He would have noticed her expression changing into a much more delicate one.

She was able to recompose herself when Sasori was finished and put the ice to her ankle.

" I'll hold the ice," He told her, lifting her leg up with his puppet strings and setting it on his lap. " It's not cold to me so I'll be fine and you're not heavy. Just until the swelling goes down."

" Thank you," Ino murmured in a soft voice. " You're kind, Sasori," She smile and closed her eyes.

" I'm not that kind," Sasori told her coldly but she just smiled softly.

" I think you are," she told him and she closed her eyes, exhausted from training earlier that day and her complaining. Sasori just looked at her. She knew about all the lives he ruined. All the people he killed. All the bad things he did.

He wasn't even a person. He wasn't even human anymore. He had purposely forsaken his humanity.

And she still would call him kind. Things couldn't be kind. Neither could mere objects.

" Sasori, don't get fuzzy," Ino murmured suddenly, in a sleepy little voice.

" I won't, now go to sleep."

" Promise?"

" I promise."

" Kind…" Ino finally fell asleep, he could tell by her breathing and how she felt.

Suddenly another odd emotion bubbled up within Sasori. It was warmer then the last one. He had tried for many many years to lock away his emotions. He didn't want them for a long time but here she was. This girl brought them back. And he was starting to let her.

Her hair was in her face so he brushed them out, like he always did. He often wondered why she chose such an annoying hairstyle but it did make her aesthetically pleasing. But he probably liked her face uncovered more.

They stayed like that for a while. Ino sleeping and Sasori watched over her, the scene enveloped with peace.

" DANNA!" The mood was abruptly ruined when another blonde with a pony tail bust in the room. " Tell Ino to… What are you doing to Ino, Sasori-Danna un?"

" Ino-chan!" Hinata also came in, smiling widely. " We bought you- What are you doing on Sasori-sama, Ino-chan?"

" Hinata!" Konan also followed. " What did you guys- What in the hell is going on in here?"

" Her ankle is sore," Sasori told him. " I was putting ice on her ankle so the swelling would go down."

" Yeah," Deidara smirked and pointed to her forehead. " Why is your hand on her head, un?"

" Sorry," Hinata said covering her face with her hands. It was the second time they interrupted Sasori-sama's and Ino-chan's alone time. " We'll leave. Come on Deidara, Konan-chan."

" But Ino would like to know what you got…" Sasori mumbled. He looked away to the ground, shaking Ino slightly.

" Sasori-san?" Ino had also woken up, looking blankly at the man. " What's going on?"

" Nothing," The man told her lifting her leg and stand up, taking his hand off her forehead quickly. " All of these idiots came to see you." and then he left.

" I think we embarrassed him," Konan laughed.

" I didn't think Danna had the capacity to get embarrassed, un," Deidara said, rubbing his chin and laughing.

" I wonder where he's going," Ino sighed as she watched him go. Maybe something she said earlier triggered it.

" Well," Konan said, " Let him be. He'll come back."

" I feel kind of terrible," Hinata said, looking down, her face red. " Should we apologize?"

" It won't matter," Deidara told her, putting his hand on her head. " He'll just get angry, un. Let them be. Come on. Ino we have something to show you, un!"

" OK," Ino got up and tired to balance on her ankle, it felt slightly better then it did before her nap. She noticed that in between the bandages there were some herbs. She smiled warmly knowing Sasori probably got them when he left.

" Here it is, Ino-chan!" Hinata smiled when they got to the dining room. And there in front of them were flowers. Not just a few flowers. Bushels and bushels of flowers. Of all sorts of colors and fragrances. Ino covered her mouth, feeling tears forming once again.

" Sasori-Danna found us when we were shopping," Deidara explained, pointing to the flowers. " He told us to buy them. Said that you liked flower arrangements, un."

" Wow." Konan also gaped at the flowers with Ino. " They must have been a fortune!"

" Sasori gave us so much money," Hinata said shyly, rubbing her chin. " Although who knows how he got the money…"

" Come on Ino, un!" Deidara smiled. " Sasori said that after we had you see the flowers that we were to bring them to the room!"

Ino could only nod. They were all so beautiful.

" You don't know how kind you are…" She whispered, putting a rose close to her heart. Quite forgetting to ask Hinata all the questions she had about the trip and how much her ankle hurt.