Sooo… I know it's been an eternity since the last time I've updated and time machines don't exist, meaning I can't go back to post this earlier. Oh well, I'm posting it now, so yay!

Chapter 4

Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigake Kisame stood before them, looking all mighty and in your face. Something was definitely wrong here. These two criminals weren't known for hanging around the scene of the crime and their chakra signatures just felt wrong. The fear she had felt when her team had first encountered Itachi just wasn't there and his eyes - she had heard that the sharingan was almost always activated, but here he stood with no sharingan in sight.

"Let go of him!" Sakura yelled, already in her battle stance. Naruto was unconscious, she could see the bump on his head from where she stood. It really was odd, Naruto wouldn't have gone down so easily, and even if he did he would've made a lot of noise.

"Make us," Itachi said smugly.

It was then that Sakura raised an eyebrow at the two s-ranked criminals before them. She knew that Itachi was always calm and expressionless. And this Kisame was awfully quiet. Now, Sakura wasn't sure, but she was going to take a chance. She would rather die fighting then watch them take Naruto away.

She glanced nervously at Sasori, she still couldn't believe it was him and 'zombie' kept popping up in her head. But what she needed to know was which side he was on. Judging from his appearance and lack of chakra, she'd say he was on her side… fat load of good that would do.

Sasori watched as she charged at the two criminals before them. He could tell that they were impostors, probably some chuunin trying to get into the Akatsuki's good books, so he was sure she could take them out on her own. The only problem was that she was too predictable. She never used ninjutsu or genjutsu, only trusting her chakra-enhanced strength. Now, he admitted before that she was extremely powerful, but charging in with a raised fist wont always work. He was just unlucky, because he just had too many smash-able things, including his body. He was certain their fight would've ended sooner if she added ninjutsu and genjutsu, but she seemed to enjoy making things difficult for herself. Or maybe she was just stupid.

'Itachi' charged towards Sakura, another odd thing. He always waited for you to come to him. Because he was cool like that. Sakura stopped running and landed a chakra-enhanced punch to the ground, surprising 'Itachi' and causing him to stumble and then fall unceremoniously into the dirt. Sakura felt something within her stir, something that had left years ago, Inner Sakura burst out laughing and Sakura sweat-dropped. Really? Seriously?

She smirked at her two opponents and charged once again. The fight was over in minutes, it turned out that the two criminals really were impostors. Sakura sighed, and here she thought she was really awesome fighting the infamous Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigake Kisame.

"You're not that good," Sasori said with a smirk. He watched as her face turned red with embarrassment and then anger.

"What did you say?" she growled. Oh, she was going to kill him again. She stomped to him and grabbed him by the collar of the stupid rag he wore.

Sasori was nervous, she could break him easily in the state he was in, but he was Sasori of the Red Sands dammit, she did not scare him one bit, even as she raised her fist again. Nope, he wasn't scared.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked groggily. He rubbed the bump on his head as his eyes searched for his teammate.

"Baka!" Sakura yelled furiously at the blonde, immediately letting go of Sasori. "How could you let your guard down like that? You could've been taken away by that!" she pointed at the two unconscious ninja.

"But Sakuraaa," Naruto whined. "They snuck up on me while I was trying to cook some ramen."

This earned him another bump on top of the bump on his head.

…...

"So what are we going to do with him?" Naruto asked, gesturing at Sasori.

She wondered about their situation. She could convince herself that he really was a zombie, chop off his head and be on her way. No one would know… except Naruto. She sighed, Naruto still had no clue about who he was or his previous affiliation. She should really kill him, it was her duty, but she already did. He deserved a second chance, right? Right?

"So what will you do now?" Sakura asked. Because asking him would make her decision so much easier.

"Find home," Sasori replied.

"You could come to Konoha with us," Naruto said excitedly, still having no clue as to who this boy was.

Sakura's eyes bulged at this, "You can't just invite a complete stranger into our village, you moron!"

"But, you just said he was a friend of yours," Naruto said, scratching his head in confusion.

Sakura thought for a moment, no one besides herself knew his true identity. He could always use a different name and make up some story about wandering around for years, it wasn't like Konoha to not allow strangers in, it happened all the time. Well, they've never willingly let criminals just come and go, but he was almost literally reborn. He wasn't the same person he was before, or maybe he was pretending so that she would feed him. She didn't know why, but she wanted him to accompany them back to Konoha. She had too many questions and she needed answers.

"You could come with us… Sora," she said quietly, as if still lost in thought. She'd decided to call him Sora because it was the closest thing to 'Sasori' and she'd just forget anything else, and she was sure he wouldn't complain.

"You're coming with us," she said more firmly. She wasn't sure if this decision was up to her, but after learning that he was alive again… it just wouldn't sit well with her to just let him be on his merry way as if nothing happened.

…...

That's it for chapter 4. I'm really sorry it's so short, especially after my long absence, but if I were to carry on with this chapter it would've turned out worse. Sigh… please leave a review, I'd love to know what you think. It would also be nice if you made some suggestions, because this fic really is just hanging on a thread.