Living a Lie

Chapter Twenty-two - Fun in the Sun, Torment in the Water

Apparently, I did look pretty good in that suit. It was either that, or Deidara was shocked at the colors or something because he would not take his eyes off of me when I showed up at the lakeside with my suit on and a towel and bottle of sunscreen in my hand.

Kisame popped up out of the water somewhere off in the distance and wolf-whistled in my general direction. Itachi looked up from the book he was reading in the shade of the trees and stared for a good twenty or so seconds before determinedly returning his gaze to the novel. I was pretty sure I saw some pink on his cheeks, because he's too damn pale to just allow himself to sunbathe. He'd end up with a sunburn, and if I knew one thing about either of the Uchiha boys, it was that they hated looking less than immaculate.

Tobi popped out of the sand, having been buried up to his neck by Deidara sometime before I had arrived, and, shouting an exuberant 'hello', he pranced over to take my free hand and pulled me closer to where his and Deidara's towels were laid out. I found it odd that he was still wearing his mask while wearing his swimming trunks, because one would think that a mask would make swimming a little weird…

I guess I was wrong. Tobi jumped up into the overhanging branches of a tree and cannon-balled into the lake, screaming in excitement the whole way down.

Shaking my head, I turned and set my towel down on the sand. At that very moment, I felt chills creeping up my spine; I couldn't sense any chakra, but I just knew someone was behind me. I spun around, eyes wide and fists clenched, only to find Zetsu silently stepping out of a tree.

Yes, you read that right. Out of a tree, not out from behind a tree.

"Scare ya, Sakura?" he asked.

"Our apologies," he continued, voice deeper and considerably more respectful, perhaps sounding a tad annoyed at his other half's lack of consideration for others.

Blinking at the bi-colored ninja, I inwardly laughed at myself. I'd been with the Akatsuki for how long now? And I was still freaked out whenever Zetsu spoke like he wasn't just one person.

Maybe he wasn't…

"You look great," he said in his lighter, more laid-back tone.

Smiling at him (them?), I said 'thanks' and sat down on my towel. I grabbed the bottle of sunscreen and was just about to squeeze some of it into my hand when I felt someone sit behind me. Turning to look over my shoulder, I saw Hidan settling into a comfortable position on my towel and reaching towards my hand. I started to wonder what the heck he thought he was doing, until I felt him remove the sunscreen bottle from my grasp.

"Quit your damn gawking, woman," he griped, squirting nearly half the bottle into his hand.

"Are you…?" I started to ask if he was seriously going to be putting sunscreen on me so I wouldn't have to, but then I figured that'd make him second guess his decision to be nice for once in his life.

"What?" he asked, rubbing his hands together. His purple eyes stared into mine with no hints of malice or teasing. He was seriously being genuinely nice to me.

'Has Hell frozen over?' Inner asked, as dazed and awestruck as I was. 'Is the world ending, and Wave just hasn't gotten the memo?'

Hidan reached his hands out and started rubbing the sunscreen into my shoulders. Deciding he wasn't going to suddenly say 'syke!' and do something that would undoubtedly embarrass and/or maim me, I faced forward once again and allowed my muscles to relax under his careful ministrations.

I felt his calloused hands make smooth, soothing circles down my shoulder blades, along my spine, over the back of my rib cage.

"You know, you're actually pretty good at this," I said, closing my eyes as I felt my muscles relaxing even further.