~Art's Most Valuable Form~

~Act No. 4~

Gesture

Walking with Deidara and Sasori was a lot more different than she had expected. At first, when they had left the park and headed down the more busy streets she had thought they would hail a taxi service or call for a limo driver. The opposite was true, and it was far more exciting this way, they simply walked everywhere they went.

Sasori who was on her right was either taking pictures when he could, or creating quick, barely comprehensible drawings. When he had started to do some, she was intrigued. She watched the simplicity in the drawing, it was very unlike him to practically scribble, she thought with confusion.

Sasori had noticed her curious interest in his work, and he glanced toward her with lazy eyes. He could see the furrow of her brows, questioning his work. Then he stated,"It's called a gesture drawing."

She looked up at him with wide eyes that yearned for knowledge. This girl was very easily mesmerized. To get so sucked into the movement of a leaf, like in the park, or his simple drawings as they walked along the streets.

"Why is it so plain?" She asked in confusion.

He placed the camera that had been around his neck back into the messenger bag. "It is used to catch movement in the act, just the most simple of movements."

"It's like just the twitches of a finger, or a leg coming up from the ground while walking, un," Deidara explained, who was walking to the left of her. He had his hand's over his head, just like Naruto had earlier that morning. Sakura kinda thought they were alike in some ways.

Sakura did considered it an interesting aspect, but there was one thing she didn't understand."But why would a person like yourself even want to do something like this?"

"The smallest detail can change an entire artwork," Sasori replied, looking up momentarily from time to catch a different angle of a person walking or of a different building.

Deidara then furrowed his brows, "But I thought you had a photographical memory, Sasori, my man."

"I do," Sasori answered truthfully, his eyes aimed right at Sakura. "However, there is always a different movement to find. A new building, or object to draw. Everything has a difference."

"Wait a second," Sakura said, holding her hands up to emphasize her confusion, "If you have a photographical memory, than what's your IQ?"

With lazily lidded eyes, he responded slowly, "One. Nine. Five."

Sakura's jaw dropped, and she stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. Deidara and Sasori stopping with her. Her pink brow's raised high on her forehead in shock. Deidara just kinda raised his brows slightly, and passed a hand over his face in astonishment. Luckily the sidewalk they were on was large enough for people not to glare at their sudden stop.

"You are kidding right?" Sakura questioned in disbelief.

Sasori narrowed his eyes at her, "I do not kid."

Deidara whistled loudly, his hand's now shoved deeply into his pockets, "Wowza, un. I didn't even know that!"

"That's insane," Sakura mumbled in astonishment, feeling rather defeated at just how accomplished Sasori Akasuna was compared to herself. "Your a master artist, and a genius?"

Sasori nodded curtly, barely acknowledging the compliment she had given him. It was mostly because of his mind that he had become a master craftsmen in the first place. Had he not been able to remember the microscopic details within different artworks he probably wouldn't have come this far. Simply remembering small details helped him achieve his goal.

It was then that Deidara snickered, as if he had remembered something juicy, mixed with mischievousness. "I'm pretty sure Itachi is smarter than that, yeah."

"It is unknown," Sasori stated emotionlessly. "He had never given out his IQ to anyone. However it would be stupid to say that he isn't intellectually advanced."

"Then you both should play Chess against one another," Sakura suggested with a small smile, slowly getting over the fact that Sasori was a complete genius. She already knew that Itachi was considered a genius as well, and in her later years of high school she would often ask him to play Chess with her. However, the end result was always with her loss.

"Yeah!" Deidara exclaimed enthusiastically. "Or Scrabble. You both don't talk much, but you often have big words when you do, yeah."

"Scrabble," Sasori repeated flatly, taking a moment to let his words sink in, "Whatever peaks your interests is what you may believe."

Deidara and Sakura deflated partially at his complete lack of enthusiasm, but it was to be expected. The tabloids always did say that he wasn't much of a talker, nor was he specifically considered a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. They would say though that an emotional trauma created the hollowness in him, but no one could ever get the correct story of his past. It seemed that it had been a mess of different tales, but none seemed to really add up. It was one of the mysteries that surrounded Sasori Akasuna.

Then Sasori started to walk again, his long strides creating distance between the two groups quickly. Deidara yelled out loud, "Hey!" and he ran after the Puppet Master of the infamous Akatsuki Productions. Sakura followed suit almost directly after Deidara started into a dead sprint, and she caught up to him easily. They searched hastily for Sasori, but now immersed in a crowd, he was hard to decipher between people. Then Sakura spotted a man with scarlet red hair in the distance. She gasped, and grabbed Deidara's wrist, making him follow her.

They bypassed people rudely. Either halfway knocking them over, or elbowing their way pass people. They both got a few curses at first, but then people started noticing Deidara, and starstruck girls were starting to run after them, as well. Sakura started to panic from the sudden shrill screams that emitted from girls that were chasing after them. 'Oh God,' Sakura thought in dismay.

She looked back a couple of times to find rosy red hearts above the girl's heads, and Sakura paled visibly. She's seen fangirls chase after Sasuke and Itachi in the past with her around. She nearly got ran over a couple of times, and very nearly punched quite a few times, as well. She seriously didn't want that to happen the week when she was in Vegas. Why is it that she is always with really good looking guys? How a curse it was, at times.

They were nearing the man with the crimson locks, but as were the girls that were chasing after them. She sped up her speed, Deidara barely able to keep up with her incredible pace.

Then she stopped abruptly, and stepped in front of the man whom she had thought to be Sasori. Instead it was a man in a dark red business suit, and aqua green eyes with black kohl encircling them. Sakura's eyes widened. He seemed familiar, but she had no idea why. She smiled a fleetingly sheepish smile at him before dragging Deidara behind her. She called out an apology to him before they were out of sight.

Deidara was starting to tire from the nearly constant sprinting pace that Sakura had forced upon him. He knew that it was rather necessary, but even so, it was exhausting. How this petite, pink haired girl could run this long and fast was an amazing feat in itself. He started to gasp for breath after a little while longer, however his desire to get away from all the fangirls was causing a small determination in him.

"Where do you think he went?" Sakura asked suddenly, still rushing past people.

At that, Deidara looked around frantically, and found somewhere that Sasori just might be. Even if he wasn't they might be able to get away from the girls, and cease the frantic running. He pointed to a random museum, "There!"

Sakura followed his finger, and dashed even faster to get to their destination, causing Deidara to yelp.

The Sun was beating down on both of them hard. Sakura could already feel the burning of the Sun on her skin, marring her perfectly pale complexion. It would be very bad if they stayed out here any longer without the protection of sunscreen. They were both drenched in sweat at this point, and Sakura could feel the drops falling into her eyelids, burning them. The top of her head looked like she was just taken out of the shower, while her ends were matted from running so fast. Deidara seemed to have the same issue, and perhaps even worse since she had to be the one to pull him around.

Before they knew it, they were running across a street which, and with complete luck there was a stop in the cars, allowing streetwalkers like themselves to pass safely across. There was still a whole large group of Deidara's fangirls following them, and within seconds they would catch up. Sakura absolutely refused to get tossed around like a dishrag again by conceded fangirls.

They were inside the museum in seconds, quickly making their way up to the reception desk to pay for themselves to walk around. Sakura slammed at least thirty dollars onto the desk, surprising the neat lady behind it. With that, they dodged themselves into an animal display room filled with different species from Africa, called the Hall of African Mammals. She and Deidara practically threw themselves into one of the benches, and gasped for breath.

Deidara gripped his throat, as if that could help at all, while Sakura just panted. His throat wheezed when he breathed, and it was rather discomforting. After awhile, they could both hear the sound of distant screams, and they both went alert, ready to run away again if need be. However, it didn't last long, for the sound was steadily dying down. They could only hope that the receptionist threw them out for their behavior.

They both stayed like that for awhile, simply breathing in the air from the conditioned room. It felt wonderful to them. However, Sasori was nowhere in sight. Obviously they had lost him for the rest of the day. Either that, or Sasori was waiting to see if they would ever find him, albeit reluctantly and impatiently.

When they were finally calmed down enough, Deidara brushed through his hair with his fingers, scowling at the imperfections that contorted his silkily long hair. His hands were damp with sweat still, turning into cold droplets quickly. Finally he stared at Sakura with a small smirk, "So tell me Sakura, how the hell did you not only manage to go that entire way, but drag me with you, un?"

Sakura chuckled lightly, paining her throat slightly, "I was a volleyball player back in high school. I kinda got use to legitimately sprinting long distances."

"Volleyball? But aren't you basically confined to half a court? How did you do long distances, yeah?" Deidara asked with complete confusion.

Sakura leaned forward, and propped her elbow up on her legs. She smirked slightly at the comment she got from most people. "Unlike what people believe, volleyball is distance if your position requires it. Like mine required me to get the second hit, and with that you basically go running crosscourt half the time."

Deidara quirked a brow, "Really, un?"

Sakura nodded, "Mmhhmm."

"Wow, un," Deidara sounded almost astonished. "I had no idea."

"Most people don't," Sakura added, with a small smile.

A silence ensued, and they could both hear the sound of soft music playing in the background. Sakura had begun to wonder about Sasori. Why had he ran off as he did? Did he actually have something to do that Deidara hadn't know of?

"Should we give up on finding Sasori then?" Sakura inquired. She actually did want to find him. Despite his straightforwardness and partial rudeness he was kinda okay to be around.

"I guess I could call him," Deidara suggested. "But I seriously doubt that he'll answer, yeah."

"Why wouldn't he answer you?" Sakura asked with furrowed brows. "Aren't you guys best friends?"

He chuckled almost wistfully, as if there was something missing in his world. "As you've probably noticed, he's not exactly Mr. Sunshine, un."

"Go on," she counseled. It was obvious that, that just wasn't all that he wanted to say.

"He's just difficult, un," He decided to say. "I sometimes question if I'm the first friend he's ever had. He's cold to most people other than Itachi, Konan, and few of the others, yeah."

Sakura's brows knitted together in empathy for Sasori. Despite all the amazing things he can do, it's obvious that something had happened to him to cause his affections to others to be cut off, save for a few. After what Deidara was claiming, it only made sense that Deidara didn't know of whatever had happened to him. She figured that she best not ask. She barely knew either of them, but somehow Deidara trusted her, and for that she was glad.

"Then we might as well not keep him alone forever," Sakura said with a soft smile.

He smirked slightly at her words, "He does hate to be kept waiting, un."

At that, Sakura pulled her hair into a high ponytail, before wrapping the strands around it, creating a high bun. It would do well not to have her hair down at such a hot time of the day. She scanned her arms, noticing that they were kinda red, but decided not to dwell too much on it. They weren't going to be able to get sunscreen unless they stumbled upon a convenience store, and she doubted that they would run into one in the middle of the city with casinos and fancy restaurants.

"Then let's find him," Sakura announced, getting up from the bench. She still felt tired from the run, but she somehow had a determination to find the redheaded Puppet Master.

They left the museum quickly, and stepped out into the sunlight, she turned to Deidara with a sheepish smile, "So how exactly do we find him anyways?"

They walked around the main streets halfway hoping that they would simply run into him somewhere, however after about an hour of search the two came up to a small coffee shop. Sakura had insisted that he wait and get them something, but Deidara declined politely, and while Sakura was too tired to argue, all but dropped into the nearest iron table on the outside of the shop. She folded her arms onto the table, and her head dropped onto them. Her emeralds closed immediately, and she could just feel sleep coming on. She was asleep in no time. She hadn't even noticed the man that sat across from her, watching her through lazy eyelids.

When Deidara had come out with two steaming cups of coffee, he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard two words uttered with iciness, "Your late."

He slowly looked down at the person that sat across from Sakura, the shaded area making his locks even bloodier that before. Deidara's eye twitched in irritation and fear, but irritation overcame the fear pretty quickly.

"Your the one that left," Deidara replied scornfully, and slammed the two cups of coffee onto the table.

"No one ever said that I couldn't," Sasori retorted impassively.

Deidara scoffed at his words, as he sat down beside Sakura. "You would've left no matter what either of us would've said, yeah."

Sasori's gaze traveled to the pink haired girl that slept peacefully across from him. "You have her with you still."

"Unlike some of us, I actually like having company that's willing to tag along with me for however long," Deidara retorted with an edge in his tone.

"You took quite awhile," Sasori mentioned with a certain coldness in his voice. "I would assume that she dragged you along."

At that remark, Deidara became bewildered. How had he known that? "What makes you say that, yeah?"

Sasori glanced at the pinkette for a mere moment, before meeting Deidara's eye. "She's an athlete," He stated. "She's lightly toned, and gives off the presence of one when she walks. Volleyball, is my belief."

Deidara looked astounded, "I shall never see just where you get these little...Knowledgeable quirks, or something, yeah."

Sakura had started to stir, and mumbled something incoherently. Her eyes started to flutter, and soon all she could see was forms of darkness with light breaking through spaces. Finally she looked up, and blinked a few times not really seeing what was in front of her until she yawned loudly.

Suddenly she was very awake, and shock filled her to the core. There sitting across from her with perfect posture was the redhead that her and Deidara have been searching for, for almost an hour and a half.

"Sasori?" She spoke quietly. He only nodded in greeting.

Then Deidara, whom she noticed was right next to her, said, "Well, un. Where have you been Danna?"

"Here," Sasori stated. It was true. He had been sitting here the entire time. However, sitting wasn't the most descriptive way to note what he was doing. He had been drawing, yet another picture of the girl. Another. That was the reason that he had left. He didn't want Deidara breathing down his neck about it, and he certainly didn't want the girl to find out. It was simply the only way to conquer his strange desire to sketch her.

Just like the others, it was beautiful, but something was missing. A specific issue that he simply couldn't address rightfully. It was getting him rather irritated. It was like the other three, and he didn't like it.

"Here?" Deidara repeated with raised brows, as he gestured to the table. "Like here, here, yeah?"

Sasori's mask of impassiveness broke, forming a scowl, "Yes, here, brat. Where else would here indicate?"

It was at that time when Sakura's stomach growled loudly. Horror cascaded across her features, and a rosy blush found its way onto her cheeks. She could feel her heart pounding in embarrassment, and all she could do was stare at Sasori in horror. Sasori held her gaze, and the smallest of smirks made his way onto his lips. It was so faint that she wouldn't have noticed under normal circumstances. She doubted that Deidara even noticed the minor change.

She could hear Deidara chuckle, but as if it was far away. She swore that all she could look at and focus on was Sasori's chocolatey eyes. They were like little truffles of chocolate, she decided. His personality seemed completely spontaneous, and unpredictable, like truffles, and somehow that meshed with his eyes. She had noticed then a slight change in his eyes, something that she couldn't understand. Something...But she didn't know what exactly.

"I'll go get you a muffin, un," Deidara said with a chuckle that she could barely hear. Then he left, leaving Sasori and Sakura alone.

A light brush of wind caused her focus to blur, and she looked to the sky, her blush diminished. It was a clear blue, like Ino and Deidara's eyes. Not a spec of white within it's vast area. An average summer day in Los Vegas, Nevada.

"I understand that you can drag Deidara around if you so desire," Sasori said suddenly. "What I don't know, is why."

Sakura slowly turned to meet eyes, yet again with Sasori, a small smile on her lips. That had to be the most he's said so far to her all day in one interval. "Your that smart to be able to tell that I'm athletic, your IQ precedes you."

"I don't like to repeat myself," Sasori said calmly.

Sakura gazed back to the sky, as if it held all the answers for her. "You could say that I felt a sense of empathy."

"Elaborate."

"I don't know," Sakura admitted with a defeated sigh. She just wanted to not have him be alone."It's an answer beyond my reach. It was sudden."

"Thats neither a lie, nor than entire truth," He evaluated thoroughly. He was starting to get impatient with her responses. They dodged the initial question, and he was beginning to tire of it.

She gave him such a rueful look that it was almost breaking his mask, causing confusion to swell within him. What was she doing?

"I've heard stories about your past," She said slowly with a sad frown, "I don't believe any of them, however, I do think that something did happen to you."

This girl...She was breaking his perfect mask. Emotions combined, and anger was the end result. "You know nothing," He stated darkly, his glare piercing her.

She gave a desperately sad expression, and looked away. When Deidara had come back though, she looked fine, as did he. However he knew. He knew. She didn't want to hurt anyone from her actions. Ever.

.

.

.

Sakura ended up seeing the rest of the sights that she had wanted to see, and nightfall was beginning to descend on them. The sky was different tints of the rainbow by now, and Sasori demanded that they go to a very high building in order to get a good picture. So now they ended up in one of the tallest buildings in the United States; the Stratosphere Las Vegas. It was much like Space Needle in Seattle, only much taller in comparison.

Sasori whom was a regular in the hotel casino for picture taking, got them to the top very quickly. It had two observation decks, and Sakura was simply amazed at the spectacular view. She gasped at the beautiful sight. She all but sprinted over to one of the binoculars stations, before throwing a coin into a slot.

Sakura practically squealed when she saw the buildings starting to become brighter from the falling Sun. She could see and overlook nearly all of this side of Vegas from here! It was amazing.

"Both of you are so easily entertained," Sasori commented dryly, standing between the two of them, whom were both in a station. He had taken enough pictures by now.

"Sasori, you should try these too," Sakura said with a smile.

He barely quirked a brow at her statement, and walked closer to her, leaving Deidara alone. "I had done so the first time I arrived here."

They had both decided not to further the conversation of Sasori's past, and he was inwardly relived that she wouldn't pry into it. Most people would do such a thing, and not feel bad about it in the end. Only saying that they want to sympathize with him. That wasn't the word. The girl had said the correct word. Empathize was the right answer, and she seemed content not knowing just what had occurred.

They had talked about it about ten minutes prior when Deidara had to make a call to his company for some random reason, leaving them both alone for awhile. Before that point, he had cooled down from his rage, but was irritated. Then she had apologized throughly, which he just stood silent until the end of her claim. It was only after Deidara had come back had he whispered to her, 'Do not speak of it again.' It hadn't been a retort nor a warning just more a plead for him. She seemed to notice it, and just smiled at him warmly. With that, they were on normal terms, once again.

"I guess you've seen everything than," Sakura said with a shrug.

"Mostly," He replied.

Darkness was arriving quicker than expected, but light seemed to travel even more broadly as well, around the center of Vegas. The world below was a rainbow of colors, creating a beautiful sight. Sakura almost felt like heading down to a casino just to see the different colors in the lower levels.

Then her phone started to blare to life from her jean's pocket, and the song Oath by Becky G started to play. Sakura scrambled our of the station, and grabbed her phoned hurriedly. She pressed the touchscreen, and the conversation started.

"Sakura Haruno!" Ino bellowed into the phone, causing Sakura to cringe. "Where the hell are you?"

"I...um..." Sakura had no idea what to say to Ino about her disappearance.

Deidara was done with his viewing, he stalked over towards Sasori, who was watching Sakura with a slightly quirked brow. "Who's she talking to, un?"

"A friend, I suppose," He said with shrug.

"Uhh Ino..." She gazed over to her two companions, as if they could help her with her predicament. Then Sasori beckoned her over to them, "I'll call you back..."

"Wha-?" Sakura ended the call before Ino could bellow out another word, and ambled up to the two worriedly.

"You hadn't told your friend of us," Sasori stated. "And you wondering just what to say about it."

Sakura nodded. "I didn't. Deidara and I met so suddenly, then I met you, and everything went so fast, I had forgotten about them..."

"I like you, un," Deidara reminded her with a wide grin. "Perhaps us two can be your dirty little secret."

"Huh?" Sakura blushed deeply. "I..."

"That," Sasori sighed. "Is a terrible way of putting it."

When they called Ino back, Sasori had been the one to start the call, sounding very bored, but with formally, "I'm afraid that Miss Haruno is busy tonight madam. I am butler Suna, and our limo driver shall escort her home tonight presumably before twelve at the Kage Hotel. Until then, she shall remain in the company of his Master. I can assure you that she is safe, and taken care of." He hadn't even allowed Ino to reply, before ending the call from sheer boredom.

The instant that Sasori had ended the call, Deidara had started howling with laughter, throwing his head back to emphasize it. Sakura, however just smiled at him sheepishly, suppressing the slight giggle that wanted to emerge.

Sasori's eyes narrowed to almost a glare to Deidara, but met Sakura's soon after. "You owe me for this."

.

.

.

The trio headed out of the hotel, and they entered the casino portion of the place, Sasori immediately scowled, and Sakura gave an apprehensive look. Deidara, on the other hand simply grinned.

"Oh Danna, I bet you could make a fortune off some of these games, yeah!" Deidara proclaimed excitedly.

Sasori simply gave him a glance, before walking to the exit, Sakura following quickly behind him. Shocked, Deidara dashed to them with a bewildered expression.

The duo, was already on the outside, the night air much cooler than it was a few hours previous. Sakura could feel the chill from the sudden drop in temperature. She had gotten almost use to the blazing heat, that this was cold for her.

Deidara was still running after them, not understanding just why they had left so abruptly. When he finally did catch up he asked, "Don't you guys want to do some slots?"

Sakura shook her head slowly, and Sasori simply placed his hands into his pockets, his face unreadable. It was becoming obvious that neither wanted to partake in it, and Deidara nodded slowly. The trio was walking mostly walking within the shadows. Sakura stood beside Sasori, while Deidara was a few feet behind them.

Sakura marveled at the lights that were everywhere, scattered across countless buildings, some high in the sky, and some closer to the ground. Sakura had no idea where they were taking her, but knew that whatever happened it would be great. The two certainly hadn't disappointed her thus far.

"No pictures that you want?" Sakura asked after awhile.

"No," Sasori replied tonelessly.

Sakura sighed, "You don't like to overly explain things, do you?"

"And you like asking many questions, don't you?" Sasori one upped.

Sakura grinned,"Yes, yes I do."

Sasori didn't respond, and Sakura decided to add thoughtfully, "I sometimes think I'm the modern Alice in Wonderland."

"I've noticed."

Sakura's brows furrowed in confusion, "How so?"

At that, Sasori gave her a sidelong glance, "The way you get sucked into something. Photography is just an example."

"No ones ever actually noticed my trancelike states before," Sakura admitted. She was startled that the only person who had ever even noticed it was Sasori Akasuna of all people, a man she barely knew.

Sasori shrugged, and they continued on their walk in silence. They were like that for so long, Sakura was forgetting just how late it was getting. She was-as Sasori had said earlier that evening-easily entertained. Just looking at everything was astonishing enough to forget just how much time had passed.

However, they ended up back at the Dawning Theatre House. Sasori was about to start walking again, but Deidara had something else in mind. He seemed giddy enough, as if he had planned something to end the night with.

"Wait out here, un!" Deidara announced giddily, before running inside the theatre house. Sakura smiled, unsure of herself, and followed Sasori into one of the mini gardens around the area. There was a stone water-fountain in this one, and the falling of water onto the surface was a relaxing sound.

"This is probably one of the best experiences I've had in my life," Sakura admitted, watching as the water fell softly onto the surface. "Really it has, and I thank both of you dearly for it."

Sasori looked at her blankly, before Sakura met his gaze with a soft smile. Sasori felt something inside of him then, something like an ache in his stomach, a yearning. For what though, he had no idea. He had never felt something so...Odd.

Sakura could see a change in his eyes, just like she had earlier that day. It was more detectable than before, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. It was like he...Wanted something. She just couldn't say for sure.

Deidara came back with three long rainbow sparklers, and a lighter, handing one to a willing Sakura, and a reluctant Sasori. Deidara lit them, and Sakura started to twirl it around in the air, doing a few twirls herself. The light gave slight glow that danced across there faces.

Then Deidara had another call, and left them for a moment. Sakura was happily frolicking around in front of Sasori, laughing slightly as she went. He just watched her movements with his chocolate eyes that lit like honey from the sparklers' light. She hadn't even realized that she had started to spin towards him, until his arms stopped her at arm's length.

"Your welcome," He said softly, giving a reply from her thanks. She grinned at him, and drifted away again, spinning happily. The moon shined brightly on them, and Sakura felt like she was on cloud nine again.

This was how she started her life with Sasori Akasuna.

.

.

.

Art's Most Valuable Form

Author's Note:

Updated: August 21, 2013

Hey guys! I may or may not update tomorrow, but I will for sure during the weekend! Did you like the ending? I sure as heck love love love love it! I'm very happy with it! I love this story to death, and I will only update this one until I reach the 30K mark.

The rest of the Akatsuki will come in soon! That's a promise.

The Stratosphere Los Vegas is an actual place in Vegas.

Please review!

Ja-ne!

-Cassandra