Wood Bits

Summary : A puppeteer needs a puppet for the show to go on. Human with emotions and... Defiant.

Disclaimer :I do not own Naruto and it's characters.

A/N : I'll try to make it long! I've decided to continue the Sasori and Sakura interaction before Naruto & co. first! Sorry!

Warnings : Sexual implications. Language.

&.

The blank stare he gave her was unnerving... Wasn't he human now? Seriously, what was with the face? Well ok... It WAS her fault. Throwing the latest gift he brought her to the corner of the room... Once again.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura..." Sasori chastised softly as he trailed his hand across her right arm.

"Is it so hard just to please you?" He questioned gently before gripping her arm tightly.

"I tire of this. I may have been lenient, perhaps, too lenient about your behaviour," He paused to shift his hand under her chin and tilting her head up for her eyes to meet his before continuing, "If this continues... I may take harsher actions on you. I do not like to harm my puppets." She lowered her eyes but kept the emotions within with defiance.

The place he kept her was comfortable, built traditionally, and it had a beautiful garden. The walls that surrounded the place was huge, a wonder how the smaller plants managed to survive without much sunlight(as well as being blocked by the big trees). It wasn't that dark either, and it had lanterns hanging on branches of trees or floating in the big pond. The pond might as well have been a lake, with a bridge built to get across in the middle of it. The bridge had a basket built on the railing in the center that contained small torn up pieces of bread to feed the school of fishes living in the lake.

Overall, the place had a shield placed over it. The chakra woven to make the barrier was strong, as it never seemed to have wavered. She sat under a tree that was beside the lake, and from time to time, would let her hands softly run through the clear water.

She felt weak. Without her chakra, she was basically defenseless. He knew, that even a small amount of chakra that he would allow her, would be deadly. She had perfect chakra control after all, meaning that she would be able to use it to it's fullest potential. She stood up, and immediately, a servant came to hand her a towel to wipe her hands with.

A few years back, when she was still chasing after him... She might have loved this attention showered upon her. Heck, she might even envision it being him that was treating her like that.

Sakura sighed quietly and followed the servant back to the house.

&.

Her breathing was erratic and harsh.

"How did this happen?" It was a simple question, yet, the way Sasori had delivered it was enough to make anyone's knees buckle. The servant backed away from him, stammering apologies.

He sighed. 'The thing about being human is that you get sick too easily.'

"Leave."

The servant didn't need to be told twice and abruptly broke into a run to get away from the Akatsuki member.

Sakura opened her eyes and stared at Sasori before murmuring, "It's sad isn't it? A medic-nin who can't even heal herself."

"..."

"... If you stop resisting, if you stop disobeying and listen to my rules, then perhaps, maybe there is freedom for you yet."

"W-Wha-?"

"I will release your chakra points to heal yourself. In return, you do not escape when you are allowed outside and obey my orders, a rather good bargain, is it not?" She looked away and clenched her fists.

"Yes, a rather good bargain," She agreed while gritting her teeth. His lips curved up into a mischievous smile.

"Well then, perhaps a kiss on the lips to seal it?"

Sakura glared at him and angrily said, "It's bad enough that I agreed on your exchange! But a kiss?! You must be kidding me!"

He pinned her onto her bed when she had decided to stand up during her rant and replied, "I do not kid, my puppet. I control the strings here and I only offer once. Agree to it, be a good little puppet and freedom will be yours." It was getting irritating, the way he knew how to manipulate. The way he knew how to make offers tempting.

She closed her eyes, resigned, and leaned in to give him a chaste kiss on the lips. He smirked and petted her on her head when a furious blush spread across her cheeks, "There, there. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Hmph!"

&.

Sasori, had indeed, given her freedom. Also, he stood by her side following her like a hawk. She shrugged inwardly, 'A small price to pay for freedom.'

"Where is this place?" She asked the red-head following her.

"A place where people come to forget. A place where everyone accepts you, be it a missing-nin or a wanted criminal. About every different nin from all over the lands are here," He answered easily and continued, "Many types of people have houses here because this place is very prosperous. The housings, as you can see, are all rich because trade is very easy as this place is a neutral ground for everybody."

Sakura nodded. It was logical and it made sense to set up a place here to trade, rather than going back and forth.

"So that would mean..."

"Yes, the Akatsuki operates this place."

'No wonder everyone seems to keep an open path for us. He donned the Akatsuki cloak for this reason... Otherwise, we would have had a hard time walking through the place.'

"That also means that each Akatsuki member has a house here?"

He inclined his head in assent, "Correct."

"Then how is it that no one who hunts to kill the Akatsuki has found out about this place?"

"This place is under a jutsu. If you want to find it, you can see it. Also, if the person is attempting to sell this place out to someone who would harm us, the jutsu will be evoked and causes that person to commit suicide. The jutsu commences as soon as you enter the place."

Her eyes widened. "An invisible contract?"

He inclined his head once more.

"To make a jutsu like this... It must have taken huge amounts of chakra!"

'Also... It is possible that the jutsu must be renewed... And when that day comes, Sasori will be at his most vulnerable, tired from using his chakra to renew the jutsu. That is the day, when I will finally escape!'

Somehow, it didn't seem right to think like this.