Sasori/Sakura/Deidara - #12 Triangle; Circle – A Lesson in Geometry

"Look, air!"

Sasori's strange eyes remained fixed on the pink kunoichi that dangled helplessly from the end of his puppet strings. His look, though mostly emotionless as was his custom, held the faint air of "how stupid do you think I am?"

Okay, so it was a long shot. Or rather, a completely ridiculous attempt that showed just how desperate she really was. Being trapped in the jutsu of an Akatsuki member did that to you.

Where was her team anyway?

"Are you some kind of triangle?"

At this Sakura blinked, her green eyes taking on the sheen of someone who had just been asked a question in another language. "Excuse me?"

Sasori looked thoughtful for a moment, his lips flattening as his eyes rolled up a bit in thought. "Or maybe it's circle? You're obviously a circle." With that he danced her closer to him, pulling on the invisible puppet strings.

"A what?"

Sakura was really confused. Why was he asking her if she were geometric shapes? What the hell went on in Akatsuki? From her experience, it seemed like the lot of them were either sociopathic, psychopathic or just plain crazy.

He had moved her close enough that he could lean forward so that his face was within inches of hers, his red hair intermingling with her pink hair. He was frowning now, studying her face as if she were the greatest puzzle in the world.

"You certainly don't look like a circle kunoichi," he said after a moment, pulling back and tilting his head. "Why do they make up such foolish terms for things that have nothing do with them? A person cannot be a circle, no matter what their personality." He looked satisfied with that conclusion.

It took a couple more minutes of thinking before Sakura figured out what the hell he was talking about. When she finally figured it out, she was torn between laughing and screaming at him in rage. How dare he think of that of her? Like he was in any position to talk! He was an emotionally retarded, psychologically unstable sociopath!

She finally settled on laughing, after a rather lengthy inner battle with herself. This earned her another strange look, along with puppet hand grasping her chin and child like face coming within inches of hers once more.

"What, is so funny kunoichi? In case you haven't noticed, you are not in any position to laugh." He said, half puzzled, half annoyed.

"Square." She replied between snickers. "The term is square. If someone is dorky and uncool then they are called a square." She burst into loud laughter once more.

At this he looked even more perplexed. "That makes no sense. A circle sounds better."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "A square has corners and doesn't fit with anything as well as a circle. Hense the term for someone uncool." She smirked. "And for the record, I'm not a square. I'll have you know, I am very popular."

He didn't look particularly convinced. "Really. Freakish strength, horrible temper and such a huge forehead. Not the makings of Miss Popularity."

Oh no he didn't! "This coming from a creepy puppet-"

A loud sigh interrupted their verbal match and both turned their heads to notice the blond new arrival, who was standing some feet away, a hand on his hip and a somewhat amused, somewhat exasperated look on his face. "I leave you for ten minutes and you start picking up chicks."

Sasori was unmoved. "Picking up chicks?"

"At least she's somewhat hot." Deidara replied instead of answering the echoed question. "For a Leaf kunoichi. And she kicked your ass first, broke your body. I never knew you liked them manly." He was smirking by that point.

"She did not kick my ass."

"Caught you by surprise then. Anyway, what is she doing here? If you're going to pick up chicks and play with them you should do it on your own time." He sighed again, just as heavily. "Leaving me to do all the work, che, I might as well be paired with that annoying recruit-"

Sakura, meanwhile, was red faced and spitting. Prissy primadonna. Somewhat hot? Manly?! This coming from a guy that looked more like a girl than Ino did! Actually, come to think of it, he kind of looked like Ino…

"What should we do with her?"

They were discussing her future now apparently, moving on from the subject of her body or the uses for it. Sasori has stepped away from her, his chakra strings loosening from her limbs.

"You picked her up, how should I know? Give her to Zetsu for food? But then, judging from the way she shattered you, she might be annoying to cart all the way to the base…" A wicked smile, "Or you could keep her, since you seem so fond of playing with her. She is a rather pretty plaything."

Sakura had had enough. Ignoring the urge to pummel the blond into the ground, Sakura used the room given by the slackened strings to perform a jutsu that broke the strings quickly with some substantial effort.

Knowing she had only a few seconds to escape, she performed another jutstu and took off into the trees of Fire Country. She just prayed that her advantage of knowing the country would actually work in her favor.

The two men watched as she took off, neither making any attempt to stop her, or follow after her. "Well, that solves that problem," Deidara said with a shrug, then leered at his partner. "I think your slipping."

Sasori shrugged too. "I let her get away. Her prattle about geometry gave me a headache."

Deidara laughed. "Welcome to women. Now you know why I swing clear."

The red head frowned, shooting his partner a look. "You don't swing clear. Last week in that village-"

"Shut up. Good art is indiscriminate of its subject."

"Square."

"What?!"