Hey, hello everyone! *shifts nervously and cowers behind laptop* It's been an age, right? Well, I'm super sorry about leaving my lovely readers in the lurch, but as you can see...I've updated! Yes, it's been about a year since I posted the redone first chapter, but I've got chapter three almost done and ready to go - hopefully tonight actually, to make up for nothing at all for months.

I believe I've found all the errors before I posted this, but feel free to point any grammar mistakes or spelling errors out to me in a review. I know I'm not perfect.

Again, I'm truly sorry for not writing anything for this for a long time, but I think I'm finally out of my funk. My writing funk, anyway. The drawing one is still fully active *glares at art things*.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd have made a killing off of the gaming merchandise alone. But I'm skint, so clearly it's not mine. I'm merely borrowing the characters - and the series - to completely alter the reality of everyone to suit my needs.

Chapter Two

One Week Previously…

Much to the silver-haired jonin's disbelief, ANBU surrounded Deidara and carted him off for questioning – interrogation – without even hearing the ex-Akatsuki out. Kakashi had wanted to voice his thoughts, but the Hokage's hands had been tied regarding Deidara's status, so the copy-nin could do nothing himself. He only hoped that the loud-mouthed blonde would hold out until Tsunade could convince the council to change their minds, thereby securing his release. He couldn't keep dwelling on Deidara though, not when there were more pressing matters to deal with.

His sharingan still active, he scanned the dense foliage around the clearing for signs of the fleeing Akatsuki duo, but they were long gone after the Leaf ninja converged on the area. Relief flitted across his face, for while he knew that Konoha's numbers were greater than their enemies', he wasn't so sure that they would emerge from such a fight unscathed. Many members from that criminal group were dangerous S-class ninja, with unknown abilities and weaknesses – if indeed, they had any weaknesses.

Kakashi raised his left hand up to his forehead to move his ninja band down over his sharingan eye, when a slight movement from the farthest bushes drew his attention and gave him pause. None of the other ninja had noticed the rustling in the hedges, so Kakashi – with his Sharingan eye still in use – crept silently towards the suspicious spot. There was every chance that an animal had hidden out of sight to stay safe, but the copy-nin's gut found it more likely to be an enemy hiding in ambush.

Just as he reached the edge of the clearing, the rustling ceased and a grey-haired figure dashed away from the area. He had moved so fast that at first Kakashi was too surprised to pursue the ninja, but his still-active Sharingan accurately tracked the man's movements. The silver-haired Jonin set off to follow the suspiciously fleeing stranger, until his toes snagged on something that was bunched on the floor. The stumble was all the possible – probable – enemy needed to disappear completely from view, and so Kakashi reluctantly relented.

'I guess my curiosity won't be sated today. I hope this mistake doesn't come back to haunt me.'

Deciding to put the stranger from his mind, Kakashi's eyes flicked down to the ground and his eyebrows rose to his hairline when he saw just what had foiled his pursuit. Lying at his feet were two rather curious objects: a large, two-handed scythe sporting three blades of differing sizes; and an Akatsuki robe scrunched up in a messy bundle. Both must have belonged to the ninja that had just fled which further solidified Kakashi's belief that he had just lost sight of an enemy.

'Not just any enemy. An Akatsuki.'

Protocol demanded that the jonin turn over both items for further study, but he was unsure. If that man had been an Akatsuki member, why leave the cloak behind? In Kakashi's experiences with that group of criminals, he found that they wore their emblematic robes with pride and they definitely wouldn't waste time removing it or dumping it. Even more odd, though, was the apparently abandoned weapon.

'Maybe he was trying to retrieve the items, but I scared him off?'

It didn't seem likely that an Akatsuki would flee without the damning items that Kakashi had found. All ninja knew that a piece of clothing and a weapon that was as unique as this one could easily be traced to the source. Not many dealers or blacksmiths sold or made scythes with three blades equipped on them.

'Either this guy is really stupid, or he left these here for a reason.'

Kakashi flicked his sharp gaze back to the clearing, but the other ninja were still cleaning up the mess – 'Are they gathering pieces of Sasori's puppet body?' – so his actions had yet to be noticed. Knowing he had mere minutes before someone decided to check on him, the copy-ninja removed an empty scroll from his tool pouch and hastily, but carefully, unrolled it upon the forest floor next to the objects. Next, he folded the Akatsuki cloak into as small a bundle as he could and placed it atop one of the pre-prepared seals on the scroll. He also moved the scythe onto a second seal, as much as possible due to the weapon's size.

'Okay, here goes nothing.'

Kakashi performed the hand signs to activate the sealing scroll and both objects were quickly covered in the ink from the parchment, before disappearing without a trace. The two seals glowed green briefly to confirm that the technique had worked, while in the centre of each glyph now resided kanji to identify what had been stored: 'weapon' for one and 'clothing' for the other.

'That'll buy me some time until I can figure out what actually happened here. Once I get the whole story, I'll tell the Hokage about this unknown player. I don't know if he was fighting against Sakura or not, but I doubt she's ready to tell me anything yet.'

He turned back towards his two students, one trying to comfort the other, and silently hoped it wouldn't take too long before she came back to herself again.

Present Day…

"Sakura, perhaps you should…make yourself more presentable before we go..?" The hesitance was clear in her sensei's voice as he suggested this, for Sakura's wrath could be truly terrifying, but he just knew that she would hate herself if she went outside looking as drained as she did.

The pinkette stole a glance down at her attire, ran a hand through her untamed hair, and flushed briefly when the realisation hit her that Kakashi was right. She truly did look a mess. There was no way that she'd see Sasori – 'I can't believe he's alive, I must be dreaming or under some kind of Genjutsu' – if she looked like something from a horror flick.

"Give me ten minutes, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura mumbled, before darting into her bathroom and bolting it so she could get ready undisturbed.

Tearing off her clothes, Sakura dove under the shower head and twisted it on full-blast, washing days of dirt and grease from her skin and hair. Next she snatched her rose-scented shampoo from her shower caddy and applied a generous amount to her scalp to scrub the grime and stink out. Satisfied with her efforts, she switched the shower off and jumped out, grabbing a towel and drying as quickly as the law of physics would allow.

'It's times like these that I wish I knew some fire Ninjutsu. My hair is like a sponge when it comes to water.'

Knowing that there just wouldn't be time to pick out some fresh clothing, Sakura grabbed her used ones from the bathroom floor and put them back on. Her hair was still almost completely sopping wet, but there was very little she could do about that anyway. She stole a glance in the mirror to check that it was at least lying flat on her head, rather than flying about everywhere, and was stunned at how ill her face looked. Her cheeks had lost much of their colour and her eyes appeared almost ghoulish, with deep bags underneath them.

'How could I let myself get like this?'

A soft knocking forced Sakura to tear her eyes away from the stranger staring back at her, and Kakashi's calm voice filtered through the wooden door, "Everything alright in there, Sakura? It's been fifteen minutes already and the Hokage might be wondering what's keeping us."

The last thing Sakura wanted to do was worry Kakashi, so she turned back to her reflection and pasted on a smile until it felt real, then unbolted the door and pulled it open.

The silver-haired jonin blinked a few times when he noticed her changed demeanour, then his eye crinkled into a crescent to signal he was smiling too as he said, "You look like you're feeling better, Sakura. Shall we go?"

The smile Sakura wore settled on her face more comfortably when she remembered that they would be leaving to go and see Sasori. A Sasori that was no longer dead, and had been asking for her and her alone.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei, let's go."

It was barely midday when the jonin and the chunin made their way to the Konoha General Hospital, which was situated mere minutes from Sakura's small apartment complex. As usual, for a Tuesday, the hospital had a steady stream of patients flowing from the waiting room to the individual clinic rooms to receive treatments and advice. Medical staff and medic-nins flitted along the sterile corridors, clipboards and other paraphernalia clutched tightly in their hands as they made their rounds. Kakashi had no idea how anyone could enjoy working in such a profession. It looked like disorganised chaos to him, but for some reason the pink-haired chunin following along at his side loved coming here to work when not on field missions.

'Or rather, she used to before this week. Hopefully after today she'll start to return to her old self again.'

The duo turned down a corridor that was labelled with red signs to indicate 'Secure Ward 2' and entered the double doors that separated this part of the hospital from the more public areas. All of the rooms at this end were for prisoners being treated or dangerous patients that might react violently to the general populace. Naturally, even a former Akatsuki member would fall into this category when he was still considered hostile to most nations in the shinobi world.

The doors throughout this ward were all sealed with protective wards to prevent access unless you were ANBU or the Hokage herself. There weren't currently any other patients within these walls, but Kakashi knew from memory that the first secure ward, the less closed off one, housed at least one person that the elders in the Leaf felt belonged there – but Kakashi personally disagreed with their opinions.

'Hopefully he won't be stuck under sedation for much longer. No doubt he'll be pissed when he gets out, though. I am not looking forward to that conversation.'

The copy-nin quirked a brow in his former student's direction when he took in her pensive expression, "You're being awfully quiet, Sakura. I'd have thought you'd have more questions before we get there."

"Oh believe me, Kakashi-sensei, I do. I just don't know where to begin." Sakura's minty eyes flicked over to fix Kakashi with a glare that would normally force grown men to cower in fear, but it was only a brief flare of the old Sakura, gone before it could settle in place. A weary sigh past her lips and she focused on her feet once more as she went on, "I want to believe so badly that you're being honest with me, but I can't until I see him, you know?"

Kakashi felt confusion course through him at her words, but he merely hummed in agreement to her comment. He couldn't reassure her any more than he already had, but he was a little bit offended that she didn't trust his word when he told her that Sasori was alive once more. If proof was what she required, then that was what she would get. When the questions started, he would answer them as best as he could.

"Here we are," the silver-haired jonin announced, gesturing casually to the only unsealed door at the end of the long hallway, "Just don't be too surprised if he's blunt with you Sakura, he wasn't in the best of moods when I left to go get you."

The young teen swallowed and somehow kept her composure as she approached the steel door, but her twitching fingers told of how nervous she truly was. With a brief glance at her former sensei, who only nodded in encouragement back at her, Sakura raised her right hand to the door handle and turned it down. The door clicked open and she pushed it inwards…

Fifteen Minutes Ago…

"You really need to stop fidgeting! We still have more tests to run if we're to understand exactly what was done to you."

Sasori shot a glare at the brown-haired woman as she tried, for what felt like the millionth time, to examine his heart container that was now completely functional once more. Her chakra infused hands approached his body and he tensed up, but she pressed onwards and began her diagnostic scan, recording notes on a chart every few minutes. He didn't appreciate being scrutinised like this, especially when he himself was still trying to process how he could go from dying, to returning to the living world in his puppet body like nothing had happened.

Well, not completely nothing.

He looked to his right, where his grandmother's lifeless body lay on the bed. The blonde woman – she was the Hokage, he reminded himself – had just finished checking Chiyo to identify what the old woman had done. She explained to them that all signs pointed to Chiyo giving her life to restore his own, although it was still only in his puppet body and not a real one, using some sort of forbidden jutsu. She herself had never seen the like, but she had heard rumours that Suna were seen experimenting with such techniques not too long after the war between their two nations. The tests were never finished, so she had heard, but clearly Sasori was proof that Chiyo had achieved results.

The puppet master didn't know how to feel about his estranged grandmother sacrificing her own life for him. They'd never parted on the best of terms when he was human, and he hadn't really spoken to her when he returned to Suna in recent days. They'd never gotten closure for anything. And now he never would.

The brunette's hands finally pulled away from him and Sasori relaxed his posture in the chair he'd awoken in. He'd barely been back in the living world – only an hour, they had informed him – and he was anxious to leave this place and find Sakura. Patience, after all, had never been a virtue of his.

"Well, Tsunade-sama, his vitals – what I could find anyway – seem to be fine and there's no damage on any of his…limbs," she looked his body over with disdain and Sasori wanted to break something then, "I don't know how he lived like this before, but Elder Chiyo's technique seems to have repaired him completely. There's nothing we need to do for him here, my lady."

"Excellent!" The grin that the busty blonde sent Sasori made him nervous, although he had no experience with this woman's mannerisms, so he couldn't explain the anxiety he suddenly felt.

She moved away from Chiyo's bedside and halted when she was standing a foot from his chair, "Now then, Akasuna no Sasori, you're going to answer some questions for me. If I'm satisfied with your answers, I'll clear you to go, sound good?"

Sasori gave no thought to this when he flatly stated, "I'm not going to answer anything for you until I see Sakura Haruno. Hatake is going to bring her here, correct?"

The Hokage's grin slipped away and she took a menacing step closer, completely invading his bubble and snarled, "Listen to me, you brat. You're technically our prisoner here until I say otherwise, so why don't you quit with the attitude and co-operate?"

The red-head was about to retort with another smart comment, when all three ninjas heard the door click open and they turned to stare curiously as it swung slowly inwards. The blonde moved away from Sasori, the brunette following, when a pink-haired blur darted into the room and collided with Sasori's chest, nearly tipping over his chair in the process.

"S-Sakura?"

"I can't believe you're really here," she started crying into his chest and Sasori couldn't really process what was happening until her arms snaked around his waist and she clung to him even tighter. If he'd needed breath he very much doubted that he would get any, she was crushing him so tightly.

Eventually, Sasori's mind went back to moments when he was a little boy and his parents would comfort him when he cried. His arms lifted from their slack position at his sides and encircled her back, rubbing it up and down until he sobs petered out and finally stopped. The pinkette pulled back a little bit, even though she was still practically sat in Sasori's lap on the chair, and the puppet master finally got to take in her appearance.

Apart from the obvious redness from her crying, Sakura seemed unharmed from the events of that battle – 'was it really only a week ago?' Yet she looked thinner than he remembered and her eyes had a caged look about them, as though she had had very little sleep and far too much stress. Was she ill?

She was smiling through her tears, though, so whatever had been plaguing the fifteen year old had probably ended now. At least, Sasori hoped so.

Her beautiful – 'yes, they are beautiful' – pastel green eyes met his brown and Sasori found he couldn't look away from them. She reached out with a gloveless hand and prodded his cheek, before moving it up to gently tug at some of his hair, as though testing to make sure that he wasn't a figment or hallucination.

"You're really back," her voice held true wonderment in its tone and Sasori felt relief that she was happy to see him, "I thought I'd never see you again."

More tears began to trail from her eyes and without even pausing to think, Sasori moved his right-hand from her back to catch them as they fell. He gently wiped the rest of the tears from her cheeks and tried to find words to ease her pain, "I'm not going to leave you again, Sakura. I swear it," he attempted a smile, although he was sure it came out as more of a smirk as he was still very un-practiced at the former facial expression, "After all, my art is eternal and so am I."

That seemed to get a small giggle from pink-haired ninja, "You've still got that big head of yours, I see."

His eyes widened fractionally, "My head is not that big, I'll have you know. It is perfectly symmetrical to my body in every way."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Sasori."

Teasing, that was what they were doing. Something he had not expected to ever do. Not after dying, that was for sure. For just this moment, he felt light inside. Unburdened. There was true joy on Sakura's face now, no sign of the tears at all. He would never tire of seeing her so full of life. It was greater than any of his 'true' art. If he could freeze any moment in his mind for eternity, this would the one he'd choose.

'I won't waste this second chance, Grandmother. I'll do things right this time.'

With only a moment's hesitation, Sasori pressed forwards and his lips captured Sakura's.