Well, this jumped into my head when I was waking up, angry with a certain metro-system and read too many fanfics the night before...
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; I only borrow the characters and torture them...
Rating: T (because I am not really sure. If I shall change it, please let me know.)
Warning: Japanese terms with Japanese grammar (as in: no "s" that shows plural) and a not perfect English grammar. I am not a native speaker!
Summary: Sakura was caught by Akatsuki. But this time, she's not the damsel in distress ...
Queen of deception
She smiled when she watched the shocked ninja in front of her. He thought he could own her, didn't he? Well, think again. On the first look she may look weak, well, at least weaker than her teammates. Okay, she wasn't a jinchuuriki or had a bloodline limit; but she was trained by Tsunade, fifth Hokage of Konoha, one of the legendary sannin, perhaps one of the strongest people you will ever meet. Weak? Her? Oh, please. She may not be the strongest but no one, I repeat NO one tries to "own" Haruno Sakura, tries to force her against her will to betray her friends, tries to more or less ruin her life and gets away with it. She smiled.
"You didn't think about this, did you? Thought you could own me." Her usually friendly green eyes now were cold. "Well, genius, did you really think I would bow down to you only because you are an Akatsuki member and scratched my forehead protector? If you thought that, then you're stupider than I thought." She was angry, very angry. But that is only natural, if you think about what happened.
She was on a mission. A normal, B-ranked mission. Or it looked like that in the beginning. No one would think that a normal B-ranked mission could go up to S-ranked in a mere second. But hers did. Why? One word: Akatsuki. A group consisting completely of S-ranked criminals, the strongest ninja alive. But still: Ninja. Human. Killable, hurtable. Mostly men. And she was a woman. A kunoichi. Kunoichi were queens of deception. They may look weak, but looks can be deceiving. Especially if you look like an innocent teenager. Easy to be underestimated. But another Akatsuki member paid this underestimation with his life. Sure, she had help with this one. His own grandmother none the less. But still he lost. One of the reasons was clearly underestimation, at least in her opinion. There might have been other reasons, but she didn't know them and she didn't care either. What she cared about was the one in front of her. Captured her by surprise. Reasons? "We can use her and exchange her life for that of the Kyuubi." A bait. Well, this plan backfired.
Men are men, even if they are part of Akatsuki. There was one female member she heard, but she never did see her. Perhaps the male members of Akatsuki also don't see this rumored female member very often. That would explain why he walked more or less straight into her trap. He was young, she was young. He was male, she female. S-ranked nuke-nin versus loyal Konoha-kunoichi, a pupil of Tsunade. On first view, the stronger one seems to be clear. But as I said, kunoichi are queens of deception. Every male can only survive so long before he falls for a female that is more or less around twenty-four seven. Akatsuki members are no exceptions of this rule. They are still only human. And he fell for her completely.
"Did you really think you can capture me and force me to join your batch? Sorry to disappoint you, but I know where my loyalties lay. They lay with Konoha, not with you. Even if my forehead protector is scratched thanks to you. Oh, I stayed with you in Akatsuki, but only for one reason: Payback. No one pulls the stunt you pulled and gets away with it. I may not be the strongest, but I will protect my friends with my life if I have to. Naruto also is one of my friends. He might be annoying, but I still care for him. I would never, ever betray him." She watched the man in front of her. "You mean nothing to me."
Okay, that is not completely true, but she will not tell him. Under different circumstances they might have been become friends, but not under this circumstances. Sure, he was hot and all, but even if she could have fallen for him, she didn't. Okay, men can only live so long before they fall for a woman that is around twenty-four seven as stated above, but that also goes the other way around. Only one thing stopped her to fall for him: Her friends in Konoha, her loyalty to her friends and the wish to protect Naruto.
He had no such barriers. He was part of Akatsuki and they have no loyalty at all. They do what they are ordered to do because their boss is even stronger than them. Sure, they work in duos, but in her opinion, they don't even trust their partners completely. And if there is no trust, than it is kind of difficult to develop loyalty. At least that was her opinion.
Was that hurt that flickered through this eyes? She nearly felt regret for her harsh words, nearly. But he had it coming. She didn't love him as he did her. Or at least she thought he could perhaps love her. The looks he sent her gave him away, at least in her opinion. But that didn't change her feelings for him. It was not hate, at least not anymore, what she felt for him, but she didn't love him either. Her feelings were neutral, if that is possible, but perhaps they leaned towards unacceptance. She didn't really accept him, be it as friend, partner or even lover. She lived next to him, but not with him. If you would ask her, he was not really a part of her life, even if he tried to. And oh, did he try.
At first their "relationship" was stressed, arguing day after day, fights. She never submitted to him, ever. Even if he won all their "sparring matches". After a few weeks, he started to tease her, she answered with sarcasm. Inner Sakura had the time of her life. Several months later, he tried to be friendly with her, she didn't care. When he started to follow her around, she ignored him. When he started to become attached to her, she decided to start her scheme. Mean, but effective as it shows now.
They became a "couple", if you want to say so. Or at least everyone thought so. Especially him. How often did he whisper into her ear "I love you", when they lay next to each other after a passionate night? She didn't count it anymore. But she always pretended to sleep or only said "I know. " She not once did say she loved him. It didn't matter; everyone thought she felt the same. Fools. Kunoichi were masters of deception, they were trained to act like this since their time as academy students. Seduction. She hated this subject then but now it comes in handy. Even when he asked her if she loved him too, she only answered with a smile and sparkling eyes: "What do you think?" He always embraced her after this sentence, not noticing the act she was playing. Seductress, actress, spy. A kunoichi is trained to be all and, if the situation calls for it, sometimes all in one. They often say kunoichi are weaker than men. That is not true. They only have another style to do their work compared with men. And not even Akatsuki is completely immune and save against this style.
The shock was clearly visible in his eyes when his world came crashing down. He really seemed to love her.
"Why?" he asked hoarsely.
"Didn't you listen to me? I protect my friends, even with my own life. If I have to sell my body for this protection, I will do so. Furthermore, you DID capture me and hold me against my will. Did you really think you will get away with this?" She laughed. "Well, think again. I was not trained by Tsunade herself only to become a lifelong hostage for Akatsuki."
"You are not a hostage. I love you. I gave you all I could and you throw it all away? That is not fair, Sakura."
She snorted. "Don't start about fairness with me. If you think what I am doing to you is not fair, than think about what YOU did to ME. If I remember correctly, it was YOU who captured ME. And for what? To use me against one of my best friends. And it is not as if you would have let me go when I wanted to. Do you think THAT is fair? I don't think so."
He lowered his eyes and looked away. "If you really do think so, then go. But remember: My feelings for you are sincere. I gave you all I could and you even took the last piece of innocence I had left. But if that doesn't matter to you, than I know for sure that I never meant anything to you."
Sakura turned away. "Under different circumstances we could have been friends, perhaps even lovers. But you belong to Akatsuki and my place is in Konoha. This automatically makes us to enemies. Especially since one of your goals is Naruto. I will not let you hurt him. The next time anyone of you tries anything against him; I will kill you, or at least defend him. It doesn't matter who it is."
As the poison Sakura chose finally took effect, Deidara slumped over and lost consciousness. Sakura smiled a little bit. "Sorry, Deidara, but you didn't let me any choice. You and me, we are enemies. But don't be afraid, the poison will not kill you. It will only leave you out of commission for several days. Time enough for me to go back to Konoha." She pressed a kiss on the forehead of the ex-Iwa-nin. "Even if I don't love you, you also took my innocence. I really wish it could have been different. But it is as it is." She sighed. "Perhaps in another lifetime there could have been a chance for you and me." A single tear made its way down her cheek. Yes, Sakura was truly a queen of deception. A queen of deception who also deceived herself.
Well, that's it. The first Naruto-fanfic I've ever written. I know that Sakura and Deidara are probably a little OOC, but well. And regarding Deidara's favorite word "un"… Well, in my opinion, he could be able to not add it after every sentence, if he is in a serious conversation. And also, if I had used this traitorous word, his identity would have been clear from the beginning and I didn't want that. If you don't want Sakura's Akatsuki-lover to be Deidara, ignore the last paragraph. Well, you can flame me, if you want to. I don't care. But it would be nice, if you leave a review. Thanks.