Sakura watched as the shoji doors snapped shut, sealing her great-grandmother and sensei inside. She resisted the urge to bit her lip as she wondered what they were going to talk about; obviously, they were talking about her, but what exactly? She was getting sick and tired of having adults talk about her without her being present, and potentially deciding her fate without her input. Orochimaru was better, but time after time, he would send her away while he talked to those in her life. Maybe he was following tradition, maybe he had other reasons. So far, he had alterative motives that would be less threatening if she was present.

When they had gone to visit her old classmates, she knew he sent her away so he could talk to their parents privately. With their children out of the room, they would talk more freely and allow him to twist them to his will. But, could he possibly do the same tactic with Reiko?

The image of both of them sipping tea and having a battle of wits sent a shiver down Sakura's spine.

On second thought, she was glad she wasn't in there. She didn't need to be crushed between their impressive egos.

"So…"

Glancing over to her silent companion, Sakura frowned. He was wearing a tan cloak that covered his whole body, and if she had to guess, he had Suna origins. His face was passive and emotionless as he stood next to her like a statue. There was something almost uncanny about him that she couldn't put her finger on, but knowing Reiko, the woman wasn't above hiring people with questionable backgrounds. She had to wonder if he was from Suna, if he knew Gaara and his siblings; or, she was simply assuming. Just because they looked a bit similar didn't mean they were related. After all, everyone assumed she had gotten her hair color from her mother and they were always surprised to see her mother.

At the sound of her voice, his eyes flickered over to her, and she swore he looked slightly annoyed at her mere presence. Puffing her cheeks out, Sakura glared back.

"You don't have to babysit me. I have enough already."

"Reiko-sama's orders are to guard you." His voice was flat, still not fully facing her as if she wasn't worth the effort.

"Didn't she hire you to be her bodyguard? Just stay here and wait for her."

"You don't get to tell me what to do, little girl."

"Little?!" She yelped. Balling up her fist, she took a step closer to him, shoving her face close to his. "You're one to talk! You're barely taller than me!"

Instead of answering, he sent her a scathing look. Clenching her jaw, Sakura wanted to punch him, but refrained only because she didn't need to get in trouble for fighting with her grandmother's bodyguard. Who knew how much she was paying him.

Glaring at him did nothing to change anything, so Sakura decided to use what she could to get a rise out of him. Growing up, she had gotten used to her parents hiring bodyguards for when they traveled, either as a family or in a caravan. Back then, she had enjoyed having an adult forced to stay with her at all times and thus a captive audience to bombard either with random facts she had read about, or like most children, a flurry of questions. She had chased a few bodyguards away when she had started to learn how to be a shinobi and how to kill people. Her father claimed that she had been called 'a little demon' quite a few times.

Thinking back to those times, Sakura let an evil smile spread across her face.

Just like those times, this bodyguard was required to stay with her no matter what she did or where she went. With the way he still barely looking in her direction, Sakura began to formulate a plan.

"Nee, what's your name, anyway?"

"Sasori."

"I think we're going to have a lot of fun together, Sasori-kun," she said sweetly. At her tone, his head snapped over to her, eyes slightly wider. She didn't bother hiding her devilish smile.

In the next second, she was gone.

She could just barely hear Sasori's small noise of surprise as she ran through the Orochi compound, pushing chakra through her feet and into the ground. Vines began to sprout out of the soil, wrapping around Sasori's legs as he tried to follow after her. Another, but louder, sound of annoyance came from the man, and Sakura cheered internally.

Willing the vines to grow stronger, she raced out of the compound and into the village properly. The compound was on the outskirts of the village, the road leading back towards a shinobi district. So, when she jumped on to a wall and began running atop of it, she didn't receive any looks, not even when she heard feet pounding after her. A small look over her shoulder confirmed that Sasori was indeed behind her, an irritated expression growing on his face. Wiggling her fingers in greeting, Sakura pushed chakra into her legs and jumped onto a nearby roof.

Sasori was much older than her and had been a shinobi much longer than her, no doubt. Understandably, he was allowing her to lead him on this chase, but she knew that he wouldn't dare risking hurting her if he did shunshin in front of her. There were too many risks, even if the results were only small scratches. However, Sakura had the advantage of knowing the layout of Konoha.

Jumping from roof to roof, Sakura had to keep her giggles of excitement in as she practically bounced off walls, over walls, and landed back on the ground. Her mental map of Konoha was leading her straight into the largest civilian sector and she smirked. Her advantage was about to grow even larger.

It was obvious as soon as they entered the civilian neighborhood as she heard gasps and screams of joy from children as they cheered on the ninja they didn't see often. Keeping lower to the ground, Sakura heard shouts as she and Sasori weaved through a crowded street. They were getting closer and closer to the market square, her home turf. Almost every day after school, she would race in between stalls and people, delivering messages or packages for her parents. Everyone knew her clan's symbol, so they would keep an eye on her, even if it was simply to garner favors from her parents by keeping her safe. Even now, she saw familiar faces flying by as she entered the wave of people that always made up the market.

Once she was in the center of the crowd, she stopped and took a deep breath.

Her chases with Kakashi had helped her learn to conceal her chakra signature. He had gotten annoyed with her using that tactic and had begun using his superior smelling sense instead. However, she was sure Sasori couldn't do the same. Concentrating, she imagined her core of chakra inside of her shrinking slowly until it wasn't bigger than those around her. Satisfied that her signature looked like a civilian's, she kept her stride even as she matched those around her.

She was just another civilian in the crowd.

Sasori's own chakra was dimmed, as was normal for powerful shinobi to do when in a village of other shinobi. There was no use in bringing attention to yourself. But, even with it being smaller, she had made sure to familiarize herself with it before she took off running. He was still close behind her, but had faltered when she had cloaked her chakra.

Looking to the roofs, she tried to spot a flash of silver hair, but didn't see anything. It was a tossup if Kakashi would let her see him or not when he was following her around. She had yet to figure out his pattern, as it seemed to really be based on his mood, but she was betting that he wasn't following her today.

With Reiko's arrival, no doubt the village was on edge with her presence and security had been increased. Alongside her arrival, many members of the Haruno clan had brought their own goods to sell, which drew other merchants and traders from all over. The gates had been incredibly busy since the day before, so she wouldn't be surprised that it was all hands-on deck. Tenzo had been summoned specifically by the Hokage for Anbu duty, so Sakura had to wonder if Kakashi would be too, or at least for surveillance on the influx of people from outside the village.

The only way to really know was to take the risk of him not following her.

Moving through the crowd was like second nature as she weaved through people, around stalls, and ducked through small streets and alleyways. The market was more of her home than her childhood house. Not feeling Sasori's chakra on her heels anymore, she finally broke off of the stream of people and hid in a narrow space between buildings. Keeping her chakra cloaked and breathing even, she listened to her surroundings.

There were the normal sounds, the small dripping of a pipe to her right, and the whistle of a teapot from an open window above her. No sign of Sasori.

"I did it!" She cheered quietly, pumping her arm in excitement. She really out smarted her grandmother's bodyguard! Now, she could finally have a moment to herself and perform—

"Did what?" A voice drawled behind her. Jumping almost a foot in the air, Sakura swirled around to see Sasori leaning against the brick wall with a sneer. His arms were crossed as his body stayed loose as if he hadn't chased her across the whole village. "All I saw what a little girl running around."

"Shut up, you bastard!" She growled. "Just leave me alone! I won't tell Reiko-sama."

"That's not how it works."

"I don't care!" She yelled at him. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes, and she willed them to stay there. She refused to cry in front of this pompous asshole! "Why can't I get one day without being followed?!"

"Who's following you?" Sasori asked, genuine curiosity filtering through his face. Of course, that was what got him to show real emotion, Sakura rolled her eyes. Still fuming, she stormed past him, not even caring if she bumped his shoulder rudely as she shoved past him. He dutifully followed after her as she entered the market square again. Might as well treat herself if she was stuck with him.

"My old sensei keeps watching me after I snuck out to practice a few jutsu." Sakura grumbled as Sasori kept pace with her with ease. Her eyes scanned the stalls; she swore she had seen a taiyaki stall around here somewhere during their chase. "He says I shouldn't practice jutsu without someone watching, but I'm not allowed to learn any jutsu until I get my chakra reserves and stamina up."

"Training alone can be dangerous," Sasori nodded. He seemed to be looking over the foods being sold as well. Finally spotting the taiyaki stall, Sakura didn't bother asking if he wanted on before buying two. Shoving the treat into his hands, Sakura turned on her heel and started off again. She could still force him to follow her.

"There's a ton of people I could train with," she bit off the faux fish's head. Eating the treat didn't dimmish her pout in the least. "But, they don't want me hurting myself or doing something stupid. I do my research! I know the dangers and make sure that nothing will go wrong."

"Sounds overconfident to me."

"Shut up."

They were quiet as they wandered out of the market square and in a random direction. There weren't as many people on the street they were on, and Sakura was half tempted to start up their chase again before Sasori spoke up.

"What is it that you want to practice?"

Blinking, Sakura frowned. He was looking at her from the corner of his eye, looking as if he was barely committed to the conversation, even though he was the one to ask the question. Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Sakura had to wonder what his intentions was.

Was he just making conversation? He didn't seem the type to spend energy on small talk. Simply curious? Perhaps. Or, was he offering to actually watch over her? Only one way to find out.

"I've been wanting to practice my summoning." She conveniently left out the 'reverse' part.

"Summoning takes a lot of chakra," Sasori told her. "It's not surprising that your sensei would want you to have larger chakra reserves before doing so. There's no need to exhaust yourself and have you call a summons for no reason."

"I can handle it!" She insisted. Was he…?

He looked away from her as they continued their slow stroll through the village. She couldn't help but continue to glance at him with excitement. If he was letting her practice, then it would be easy to distract Yua and Asahi, both of whom were sleeping peacefully in her bun. How they had not woken up from all the running she could only assume was because they were used to Orochimaru running around with them on his person.

"I don't have a summon myself," Sasori began. "I prefer using storage scrolls that I can summon my… weapons from. So, I will not be much help to you, but I can spot chakra exhaustion and stop you."

"Really?"

"Why not?"

Sakura couldn't stop the squeal of excitement that left her, and she threw herself at her bodyguard. He nearly toppled over from the sudden assault and glared at her. She didn't care—she was finally going to do the reverse summoning!

"Thank you! I'll tell Reiko-sama to give you a raise!"

"Whatever."

Forcing herself not to drag Sasori through the village, she kept her pace even as she led him back to her house. Her parents were out with the rest of her visiting family, no doubt expanding their contacts list. If she had been in their shoes, it would be the most exciting thing to happen since she graduated, but as it stood, she had more important things in store. Their house was unchanged as the entered. She didn't bother giving Sasori a tour, but he heard him make a noise as they passed a few pictures of her distant family. Following his gaze, she had to guess he was looking at her of her many great-uncles from Suna. That confirms that suspicion, she thought to herself. Sasori didn't say anything though, so she didn't either.

Making a brief stop in the kitchen, Sakura grabbed a bottle of sake from her parents stash and two decent sized cups. Sasori had opened his mouth to scold her, but she gave him a flat look. As if she was going to get drunk and perform a summoning. Who did she look like? Tsunade-hime?

Leading him towards her parents' office, she nodded at the room; perfect. It was completely closed off, especially if Sasori kept guard at the door. Activating the seals, she moved the table against the wall. Setting the sake and cups on the table, she gently pulled her the snakes out of her hair.

"Momoko?" Yua yawned.

"You already have summons, why do you need to practice?" Sasori asked suspiciously.

"These are Orochimaru's. They're my other babysitters." Placing Yua down, Asahi barely opened his eyes as he was deposited on the table. "Yua, Asahi, my parents got you a present."

Immediately, Yua perked up as Asahi lifted his head.

"What you got, snakelet?" Asahi hissed.

"This is sake from the Land of Tea. It's one of the most expensive kinds you can find," she smiled sweetly. "They wanted you to have it for looking after me."

There wasn't a doubt in her mind that the summons knew exactly what she was up to, but neither seemed too bothered to play along. Pouring the sake into the cups, both snakes greedily slithered inside. Yua submerged herself completely as Asahi blew bubbles.

"They're worse than humans," Sasori deadpanned.

"Yeah, but they're really fun having around," Sakura smiled at the two summons. She was about to receive her own! She could barely contain her excitement.

Moving away from the table, she crouched in the middle of the room where she had enough space. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Sasori. He was leaning against the door, looking at her expressionlessly, but she could see the spark of interest in his eyes. So, he was just as excited as her, it seemed.

Carefully, she went through the signs of the reverse summoning technique. It was nearly the same as normal summoning, with only one hand sign difference to redirect where the chakra was going. Instead of the user chakra pulling the summon to them, they were pushing themselves towards the summons.

Feeling her chakra rushing through her, she bit her thumb and felt the blood swelling.

This was it.

She was finally going to get her summons.

"Shannaro!"

Slamming her hand on the floor, she watched as a seal formed underneath her hand. Watching in wonder, she felt her stomach drop into her feet as the world tipped suddenly. The last thing she saw was Sasori's panicked face as she felt herself being dragged downwards and darkness swallowed her whole. She didn't know if a scream left her as wind filled her ears and something impossibly tight wrapped around her, crushing her lungs. Her body went cold as her other sense began to shut down, leaving her eyes to finally slip shut as her back slammed against something hard.

Then she knew nothing else.