Chapter 4: Acquaintances

Hey, everyone! It's me again! Nothing important to say except, please review! Thanks and hope you enjoy!

Sasori awoke first, and stared out at the late morning, blue skies, not a cloud in the sky, the sun shining and birds chirping. His first concern was his parched throat, he heard a running stream nearby, and so he stood and walked towards it, knelt down and drank thirstily. As he stood, he felt much better, except for the fact that he was hungry and filthy. 'We need to find some food, and somewhere to bathe.' He looked down at the stream, it was too small and too shallow to consider bathing in it, and so he went back to the cave to see if Sakura was awake yet. Sakura stretched and looked up happily at the beautiful morning. She reached for her water container, but it was empty. "There's a stream over there." Sasori pointed it out. She nodded her thanks and walked over. Sakura spoke as she refilled her water container. "I think it's best if we find an inn or somewhere we can bathe, find some food, you're not going to recuperate any faster in these conditions." Her statement was further bolstered by a growl coming from both their stomachs. They both looked away. Sakura finished refilling the container and walked over to Sasori. "Let's get going then…um, can you…" Sasori shook his head "We'll walk." Now that he could, he wasn't going to be carried again.

They walked for about three miles, and the sun was getting hotter still. Sakura offered Sasori some of her water, and he didn't refuse. Finally, they spotted something in the distance, a village! "I'm not hallucinating, am I?" she said wearily. "No, because I see it too…let's go." Sasori responded. Before they entered the village, Sakura remembered that Sasori had on his Akatsuki cloak. "Take it off." She said, tugging at the cloak. Sasori looked at her incredulously. "What?" Sakura sighed "You're wearing your Akatsuki cloak…they'll recognize it." Understanding immediately, Sasori flipped his cloak to the reverse side, it was just black, and then they proceeded. They spotted an inn, the only inn, but it was pretty big, so they hoped it would accommodate them. Before they entered the inn, Sakura stopped Sasori. "Now what?" he hissed in annoyance. "What if they recognize you?" Sakura's eyes then brightened, like when she had an idea. She reached up and mussed Sasori's hair down over his eyes and around his face. "That will have to do until we get some new clothes." They walked into the inn, and Sakura was glad there wasn't many people in the lobby except for the receptionist, a nice looking young lady. She raised her eyebrows at their disheveled state, but didn't take much note of their appearance. "We have most of our rooms filled up, you can rent a regular suite, or if you're a couple, you can have our couple's suite at a discounted rate." She looked up at them earnestly, so Sakura didn't take any offense. She was just doing her job. "We'll take the cheaper one, thanks." She replied, ignoring Sasori's uncomfortable shifting beside her. "Alright, the couple's suite" Sakura's eyebrow twitched at the word 'couple', but she paid the woman and upon receiving their key, they went upstairs to their room.

"Why did you get a couple's suite?" Sasori asked in disbelief. "It was cheaper, you idiot, stop being so squeamish." Sakura rolled her eyes even though she was a little embarrassed as well. Just as she opened the door, Sasori pushed her up against it, his arms on either side of her head. "What?" she asked, flustered at having him…all around her. He leaned close to her, his expression serious. "I am not an idiot, and don't you ever call me that ever again." Sakura tried to not show that she was intimidated, and pushed him off her. "Fine, but next time, try to be reasonable." She avoided his eyes as she felt a blush setting her cheeks on fire. "I'm going to shower." She slammed the bathroom door before he could say anything else and, stepping under the warm spray of water, rubbed her temples. 'What the hell was that?' she thought as she recalled the feeling of Sasori surrounding her. The blush spread anew, and she tried to scrub the feeling away.

Sasori waited outside on the bed, staring at the room service menu, and thinking about what he did. He didn't exactly know why he had liked being in close proximity to her this time, actually savored the slightly intimidated look on her face. It made him feel strong again, even if he wasn't done recuperating. He smirked, and looked up as he heard the water stop running, and took off his cloak, all tattered and filthy, he cast it away onto the floor by the desk. He only had on a pair of light blue pants and sandals. He crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the door to the bathroom open. Sakura stepped out, wrapped in a towel, her hair also in a towel, glanced at Sasori then quickly looked away as she stumbled over to the bed. Once she heard the door close, she looked in the mirror at herself, and sighed, there was a blush on her cheeks as she recalled looking at Sasori half nude. 'He has a nice chest, tight abs, and girl, did you see those arms? Ooh, girl, you know you want him!' Inner inserted images and thoughts into Sakura's mind, causing Sakura to become overwhelmed and let out a small scream while shaking her head to and fro, banishing Inner and those thoughts out of her head. She was surprised to find the doorknob turning, the water was still running. Sasori stood in the doorway, a towel hastily wrapped around his waist, his whole body dripping with water. After observing that it was just Sakura, he scowled. "Why did you scream?" he asked in annoyance. "Nothing!" Sakura responded. Sasori rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, and closed the door to resume his shower. As he stepped back into the shower, he wondered why he had gotten out so fast, without even thinking about it, he just needed to know if she was alright. Shaking his head in disgust at himself, he finished rinsing his hair and turned off the water. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror as he dried his hair quickly and wrapped the white towel around his waist. 'I wonder why did she scream.' He thought to himself as he opened the bathroom door. Sakura was dressed in her old clothes, since they were the only ones she had presently, and she didn't look too pleased about it. She stood up as he walked out. "I'm going to go buy some clothes for us, you wait here." She tried not to look at his half nude self too much as she tried to estimate his size. Taking deep breaths, she set out.

Sasori stayed in his towel as he sat down on the bed to sort out his mind. He didn't know why the girl had been on his mind so much lately, and the scream incident…? What was that? He shook his head. Damn emotions. He'd sooner kill himself than admit to himself that he actually cared for the brat, after all she'd done for him. He groaned as he unwillingly recalled the image of her in only a towel, then his mind wandered back to the moment when she lied for him, she might have said it was for that Chiyo woman, but why would she go this far? Maybe she's just a noble kunoichi just trying to do what's right. He rubbed his forehead. If that was the case, the girl didn't really care about him; she was just doing what was right, out of pity then. His eyes narrowed as he heard the door open.