Sai gazed at Tobi silently but kept an eye on his sister type figure in case Sakura decided to be stupid. Again. Because last time it didn't end well. Sweat drop.
-:- Flashback no jutsu -:-
Sakura was bored. And when she was bored, she did stupid stuff. And when she did stupid stuff, there were consequences. And when there were consequences, for some reason what ever she did backfired on him ! Yet he never knew why. Karma probably.
Sakura stood up and threw away the book that she held. She was bored and the book was not helping.
It was actually snowing outside as they were in a no name town where it snowed throughout winter. Danzo had given them a mission and they were resting in a hotel before going back to report it as they had finished.
Sai sat there. She had went outside like she was gonna destroy some village from the amount of boredom that was stuffed in her mind and that was NOT good. Period.
He was just walking around when a HUGE pile of snow fell on him.
His head stuck out as he gazed, unamused, at a sheepish Sakura who was holding a light brown deer.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "Where did you find that, ugly ?"
Ah. That ol' nickname.
She hopped down and smiled cheekily, "Around. Why'd you wanna know, handsome ?"
He rolled his eyes before pulling himself out of the pile of snow that ambushed him and studied the deer. It looked like it was in pain and he understood why when his gaze drifted to its leg and looked like it had been dipped in red paint from the amount of blood covering it. The wound was healed by Sakura most likely but she obviously brought it back here for some food and to clean it up.
Sai looked back up at Sakura who was staring at him and he stated, "Do you happen to know what a deer likes to eat ?"
Sakura grinned.
Forty minutes later and Sai was lying in a daze from the snow that fell on him when he was coming back from dropping off the deer in a safe place.
And the hour after that, Sai discovered he had came down with a cold from all the sneezing and coughing he couldn't seem to get under control. Sakura, honestly.
-:- End of flashback -:-
Karma is a bitch.
(But obviously not karma akabane that adorable psyco cutie)
Sakura was sitting atop Deidara, to which he definitely was not happy about, and she gently pushed a strand of her hair back, an action which made him go a bit pink.
His thoughts were in chaos, he couldn't even comprehend what he was supposed to think and what he was thinking.
She was way too close for comfort and he growled out,
"Get off me , dammit, un !!"
To tease the blushing blonde to make him blush even more she leaned back down. The tip of her nose was lightly grazing against his and their eyes were leveled resulting them staring at each other with Deidara hyperaware of the fact that a little force and her lips would be on his.
The thought made him go beet red as his eyes widened from the close proximity.
She was breathing normally but with every breath she exhaled he got redder as her breath fanned his face and lips.
"Ask nicely , Dei-kun or i won't move."
'That nickname again ? God, why is she so annoying ?!'
She was aware of how annoyed he was and definitely about how hard he was blushing to which she smirked, "Well ?"
He could tell that she was persistent and really won't move until he asks nicely.
So begrudgingly he averted his eyes to a random tree and muttered,
"Please."
She smiled, "Say : Please Sakura-chan."
With every word her breath fanned his neck and he shuddered, closing his eyes for a few seconds before sighing in defeat,
"Please... Sakura-chan, un ?"
He was blushing as he asked and she backed off with a tiny squeal,
"You're so cute !'"
He was sure that he had discovered a new shade of red by now.
She got off of him and raised her hand for him to take,
"See that wasn't too hard , was it ?"
(That's what she said.)
He just glared at her, cheeks still tinted pink, and got up making sure not to even accidentally touch her.
She just shrugged and went to Sai, Deidara following behind careful to stay 10 ft away from her at all times. Tobi rolled his eye at him, not that anyone could tell, and pushed Deidara near Sakura to which she instinctively replied by flinging her arm across his shoulder and smiling innocently at him.
(A/N : Need to pee so bad that i cant think of what to write)
He shoved her arm off him with a snarl and , glaring at Tobi, walked upto him. Preffering to stand with someone he knew wasn't an enemy. No matter how annoying Tobi was.
Tobi just sighed and tried to think of ways to get Deidara to start getting comfortable with them.
"Ne, Sakura-chan ?"
Sakura hummed in reply. Not trusting her mouth as the nickname said so casually brought a painful clenching feeling in her chest as she remebered how she was called that so endearingly by her teammate.
"Can we go and eat something ? Tobi is hungry !"
She was sure that this was all an act that he had because why else would he be in the Akatsuki if he was actually this annoying and stupid.
But...in a weird way, it reminds me of Naruto.
She smiled softly, making Tobi flinch subtly that no one noticed, and nodded, "Sure, I'm feeling like some dango anyway."
Though no one could tell, Tobi and Sakura were in their own little world. Reminiscing in what was no longer something they could enjoy.
He silently longed to see that smile once more, for it reminded him of the one true person who he had in his thoughts for so many years, yet to fade from his memory.
While she thought of the person who was like her light, happy and so pure. The one who she watched the back of, as she could never reach him, and was always so far from him.
Tobi sneeked a peek at her. She looks a bit like her too.
Tobi glanced at Deidara, who begrudgingly agreed to come as they were going in the direction of the village the two needed to go to anyways,
"Isn't this nice , Deidara-senpai ?"
"No" he growled out, grinding his teeth, "it's the worst thing that happened to me all week, hm."
Sakura slipped on a teasing smirk, "jeez, chill out already. You're so tense all the time. Have some fun and socialize with us, it's not a sin you know, I mean look at Tobi, he talks with us. Are you a wuss ?"
He glared murderously at Sakura , "Why are you so comfortable ? You aren't being social , this is just plain going against your village. Talking to enemy ninja. Are you even a loyal leaf shinobi ? Doesnt seem like it, hm."
She smiled and was about to make a comment to brush off the question but when she turned around to look at him she could see he was serious about the question and not just making a witty remark. Like, he was expecting a serious answer.
Sakura dropped her smile and thought about it. Not his question, she had asked herself that so many times that she knew her answer was 'no, she wasn't loyal to the leaf or root or danzo' but she thought about how much she should tell him.
If she could trust him.
Because in the end, he isn't a friend and automatically gets slated as foe, because he doesn't see her as a friend so he could and most likely would backstab her if she trusts him without getting him easy around her and him actually trusting her.
Her eyes flickered to Tobi's lone eye, who stared at her in a sort of encouraging way that she should tell him a little bit about it.
Because in order for Deidara to get comfortable was if he knew that she wasn't planning an ambush on them after getting them to be off guard.
Sakura then gazed at Sai, who nodded lightly.
She sighed, closing her eyes before looking at Deidara with hardened eyes, "Do you want a serious answer ?"
He straightened up, not having expected for her to seriously answer him but eager nonetheless. He nodded and she sighed again,
"It's a bit... complicated. But, if you want a straight answer, then no. I'm not loyal to the leaf..... at all."
Deidara's visible eye widened with disbelief.
He thought she only acted easy around him to annoy him but he didn't think that she was actually not that loyal. An unloyal Leaf shinobi was more rare than rain in Konoha. Like, it just didn't happen unless they had a whole past behind it.
He furrowed his brows and looked at Sai who nodded and then at Tobi, only to be surprised that he was nodding too.
"You knew this ?!"
"Tobi isn't so unaware of future possible members, senpai."
Although he had the voice of an annoying 6 year old, it was serious and he knew Tobi wasn't joking around right now, surprisingly.
Sakura blinked, "wait what ?"
Tobi nodded, "it's true, Pein-sama is just waiting for you two to go rogue so we can recruit you."
Deidara stared at Tobi in disbelief, "How long have you known this ?"
"Since we first met her, senpai."
Deidara's eye twitched as a tick mark appeared, "And you didn't bother telling me, hm ?"
"Deidara-senpai never asked why we kept meeting with Sakura-chan and Sai-kun. Tobi is a good boy !"
Deidara sighed shaking his head at him.
Sakura shrugged, "well, now we know so whatever." She then turned to Tobi, "But what makes you think we'd actually even join ?"
"Because Sakura-chan and Sai-kun need support, no ?"
Sakura stared at Tobi with a blank face, Sai doing the same making Deidara blink in surprise as he never saw Sakura look so serious before. Sakura's eyes flickered to Sai who stared at her with the same contemplative gaze. After a while he nodded making her sigh and look at Tobi with a subtle glare,
"We'll think about that when we get to that point, alright ?"
"Fine by Tobi, Sakura-chan, Sai-kun."
-:-
Deidara sweatdropped as Sakura walked next to him with arm full of dango boxes, threatening to spill over.
Sakura looked at Deidara to see him staring and grinned,
"Lil' help, Dei-kun ?"
He rolled his eyes, "You're not as cute as you act, un."
She looked at him with a fake offended look, "I'm adorable as fudge, thank you very much !"
She looked at Sai who was looking ahead while scoping the area for ideas for painting.
Sakura was suddenly taken off guard when she felt weight lifted off from her arm and, tilting her head to look to her right, she saw Tobi holding some dango boxes and looking straight ahead.
She blinked once before smiling gently making Tobi look at her and immediately look back ahead, his cheeks feeling a bit hot.
He subtly squeezed the boxes keeping in mind not to squash them.
He wished for that smile to be directed at him but he didn't think that it would affect him so much.
Seeing that smile made him think of .. her. As much as he liked that smile, it brought a painful clenching feeling in is chest.
Sakura then turned towards Deidara, jabbing a thumb in Tobi's direction, while wearing a teasing smile,
"See, Tobi can be a gentleman, so you can too."
Deidara just turned his head the other way, "hm."
Sakura rolled her eyes before her eyes glazed over having a thoughtful look in them. Deidara, curious about the sudden silence, looked at Sakura and raised an eyebrow in question at her clouded eyes.
"Haruno ?"
Her eyes snapped up to his face, "hm ?"
He stared at her for a few moments then shook his head, "nothing, un."
Sakura blinked before a shit-eating grin spread on her face and he already dreaded what was about to come, "You know my name !"
He facepalmed, "it's an easy name to remember."
"But I never told you my name." Sakura smirked wiggling her eyebrows.
"Pein-sama said it when we all reported our meetings to you."
"And you bothered remembering it ?"
"For ninja purposes only, Haruno." Deidara grumbled.
"So you deemed me important enough that you remembered my name ? Even better for 'ninja purposes' ? Aww I feel loved."
He just sighs choosing to ignore her.
Tobi, not far from them and able to hear them, smirked. He could tell that Deidara didn't mind the conversation as he didn't get to talk to people, or have them talking to him casually, so often because of having to stay undercover or silent all them time.
It was sort of one of the reasons why he was so hostile towards Tobi. The way Sasori and Deidara bickered all the time was actually fun for the latter as he got the chance of a normal conversation and he missed those times that they argued and was pissed that Sasori got replaced.
Now Sakura here was treating him like a normal person instead of a criminal and he liked that. That he was being talked to as a human and not some monster that could kill her if she so much as looked at him the wrong way.
Not realizing that Tobi was watching him, he let out a tiny smile.
And Sai was in a world of his own.
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Sorry, didn't know how to end it. Lol.
Hope this satisfied you guys. I didn't even realize that I haven't updated this chapter even though I was going to at the boxes part but forgot to.
So as an apology I decided to add some more.