Artistic Love, a naruto fanfic

Well I'm still practicing with writing one-shots so next pairing I decided to write for, while watching an AMV, pretty good for a song called Who Knew, Deidara and Sakura.

I really do love that pairing. It's adorable.

Anyway, onto the show!

Sakura hugged Sasuke from behind, wishing she could do something to keep him from leaving. She couldn't let him go. She loved him!

After he hit the back of her neck and her vision started going black, she barely heard the words he spoke.

Deidara was on a mission for his village of Iwagakure. He was 16 and was already a Chuunin. His kage wanted him to scope Konoha out from the sky, atop his cartoony clay birds, get a decent idea of what the village looked like. As he tried to map it out on a sheet of paper, badly since sketching really wasn't his best skill. As he flew over the wall a spot of pink caught his eye near the gate. When he went a little closer he saw a girl lying on the ground and she definitely didn't just lie down and go to sleep. Chewing his lip, Deidara decided to jump to the ground and help her. He picked her up and laid her down on the bench, unable to keep from admiring the uniqueness of her shocking pink hair.

He knelt beside her, checking her to make sure that the girl was alright. He was curious about her name. With a sigh he brushed some of her short, pink hair out of her face and stood up. He had lingered too long. He molded another bird but right before he leaped on he laid a small clay rose, not very well made actually, next to the girl. There had to be a reason she was out here, that he wasn't likely to find out, so he hoped she felt better.

With a small look over his shoulder at her he quickly took to the skies to map out the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes as she rose. She was on the bench near where Sasuke left. Small tears pooled in her eyes. Oh Sasuke, why did you have to go? she asked herself as two Chuunins passed by. She gave them a small greeting before seeing something on the side of the bench. Curious she picked it up. Her brow wrinkled as she thought about what it was. It had a stem with a top. A flower, maybe? Doing her best to not think of Sasuke she stood up, stretched her back, and walked back towards her home. Her mother was probably worried sick.

But where had the clay rose come from?

It was weeks until Deidara couldn't take it anymore. It was driving him insane! Why couldn't he get her out of his mind?! DAMN TEENAGE HORMONES TO HELL! The sun was still high when he hopped on a bird and flew out towards Konoha. He wasn't sure how to find her, but he would. If he didn't than he'd drive himself insane. After ten minutes of searching from the skies he realized that he couldn't actually see anything if he was high enough for nobody to recognize him. Groaning he went down and looked around, not paying attention to the people watching him.

The village looks so different from down here, he thought. It was an hour until he saw her. He was positive it was her. How many girls could have that hair? She was looking over her shoulder, her eyes were so beautiful, at some other girl, who he supposed was her friend, and she was smiling. Last time she had been crying, even in her sleep. Deidara became so distracted with looking at her he bumped into a fruit stand and while he fell to the ground most of the fruit did too. When he looked up the girl was already too far to have noticed.

Frowning, and cringing slightly from the loud voice of the vendor, he slowly got up only for someone to grab his ear. Hard. Deidara grunted as he was pulled along by the old man. "Hey, ouch, quit it, Old Man, that hurts, un!" he whined. The old man grunted. "Stop struggling. Once we get to my office maybe you can explain why an Iwagakure kid is in Konohagakure."

"Don't call me a kid! I'm 16 and a Chuunin, un!" Deidara hated when people thought he was younger than he was, although not nearly as much when they thought he was a girl.

As he was pulled by his ear up stairs into a large office it finally hit him as to who the old man was. The thought running through his mind: Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, OH FUCKING SHIT! The old man finally let go and sat down in his chair. "Alright then, will you tell me what you are doing here?" he asked, although his tone implied that he'd better tell the truth. Deidara's eyes hit the floor as he felt the heat rise up in his face. Did he really have to say why? It was pretty embarrassing…not to mention it made him sound like a stalker. "Well…I was, uh, looking for someone, un," he muttered.

The Hokage leaned his chin onto his hand as he raised a curious eyebrow. "And who was this person you were looking for?" Deidara's face was burning. "Well, um, I don't actually know…un."

"You don't know? I'm afraid that kind of answer isn't going to cut it," he stated bluntly. Deidara rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he said, "All I know is that she had short, pink hair and has these large, green eyes, un." He started to doze off as he began daydreaming. The old man, however, was thoughtful as he called a ninja in. "Ebisu, since my grandson is most likely still with Naruto, will you bring Miss Sakura Haruno here?" he asked, although the man Ebisu seemed embarrassed for whatever reason. It wasn't ten minutes after he had left that the girl walked inside.

Deidara's face was burning as she stared at him with curiosity lighting up her green eyes. "You needed me, Lord Hokage?" she asked, causing Deidara to get distracted by her voice. The Hokage got up and grabbed Deidara's arm, pulling him along towards her. "Well this 'young man' seems to have been looking for you. Do you know him?" he asked, Deidara's face getting redder and redder as did Sakura's. Well this is just perfect. Sakura slowly shook her head as he moved around her, planning to leave. "Well, that settles that…guess I'll just be going now, un," he said before running for it.

The Hokage grabbed him. "Not so fast. What's your name and how did you get inside our village?" he asked. Deidara hesitated before replying, "I'm Deidara and I flew here on one of my clay birds, un."

"Clay birds?" he asked. Deidara sighed and regretfully turned the palm of his hand so that the Hokage, and NOT Sakura, could see the tongue and mouth. He replied, "Bloodline trait, un." The Hokage nodded and after a few tense moments told Deidara to go back to his own village, and offered to send a team with him, although Deidara was pretty sure it would be to make sure he left. Even though all he had to 'bare' was the pink-haired girl walking with him to the gate. They walked in silence until they reached the end. "So what's your name?" she asked suddenly. His face turning slightly red but told her. She smiled and said, "Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Deidara. My name is Sakura Haruno."

From there Deidara made a clay bird, making sure she never saw his hands, and enlarged it. Only when he was high enough so that she couldn't see did he wave to her and whisper, "See ya, Sakura, un." Not once had she commented how he looked like a girl or ask about the way he talked. She was suddenly a lot better.

Sakura waved goodbye to the strange Iwagakura boy, still unsure why she had been called to the Hokage's office. Must have been so that she could see him off, to make sure he didn't stick around for whatever reason. Sure, the blond had been cute but in the end no one compared to her precious Sasuke. With a sad sigh at the thought she decided to head home. She fell back on her bed, closing her eyes when the heat of the room started to bother her. Groaning, Sakura got up, opened her window, and walked over to her bureau. She kept the picture of Team 7 there, as always. Thoughts ran through her mind while she held it, and when she put it down she opened a drawer.

The clay rose was inside. She had kept it, even though it was awhile before she was completely convinced it was a rose, because it made her feel better. As if someone was watching after her. Like her own guardian angel.

Deidara knew he couldn't be caught in the village again, so the month after he had truly met her he flew nearby and pulled off his headband. Sneaking in was kind of easy…the hard part was finding her house, the fact that it was totally dark didn't help one bit. So doing what a typical teenage boy would do, he looked through every window of every house he could find until he saw that unique pink hair sticking out of the bed. Didn't take too long to find it...only a few hours…okay so it was awhile.

He sat on the open window sill, watching her, although in his head he kept saying, Not like a creepy stalker, not like a creepy stalker, not like a creepy stalker. Eventually he pulled some paper and a pencil that he hid in his clay pouch. The paper was pretty wrinkled so it was a little hard to draw on, but he ended up with a crude picture of the sleeping Sakura. He didn't think it was all that bad…scratch that; it sucked. At least he could tell it was her, but then he knew what the picture was of. The rest of the night was him molding a piece of clay, into another rose…slightly better than before but still kind of bad.

Lightly stepping into Sakura's room he put the rose on top of the wrinkly picture on her bureau.

Sakura woke up at the crack of dawn. She wanted to train, get stronger. As she changed into her usual outfit, reaching for her headband on her desk she finally noticed another piece of clay on top of a piece of paper. Confusion, and slight concern, she picked up the clay bit. It looked very similar to the clay flower she had found next to her after waking up the night Sasuke left. Better, albeit, but still. She turned her attention to the paper and saw a VERY rough sketch of a person. After staring at it for a few minutes, literally, she recognized the hair style as her own. Her face flushed red. Where the hell had these come from? Quickly looking around as if someone was there, she wondered if they were from the person she thought to be her angel.

Laughing nervously, she dropped the flower and picture into the bottom drawer where the other clay flower was and slowly backed out of the room. Maybe when she came back at the end of the day it would be a dream.

Once again it was another month before he could see her again. He couldn't help it. Hormones just suck like that. It went the same way before had. He showed up, watched her for a bit, drew a picture, and left a clay rose. This was how it went every time. Once a month, he left a picture and rose, both forms of art getting better and better each time.

That was when he discovered it. He was training in a canyon, anything to get his mind off Sakura. He had been looking through some scrolls he found in his house that went deeper into his bloodline trait. He made his traditional cartoon clay bird, rigging it with his chakra. He sent it up into the sky, made the traditional handsign, and said, "Katsu!" The bird exploded in a ball of fire. The light shined against his wide eyes as he admired the blast. Sadly it reminded him of her and his monthly visits to see her. Quick, beautiful, and gave him lasting memories.

With a grin he immediately whipped out his bags of clay and started making more bombs. He had found his true art.

Sakura was met with a rose and picture once a month. Honestly it had creeped her out at first but as the months past and she noticed that there was never anything gone or out of place she decided that it was just a sign that somebody was looking after her. It actually made her feel a little better. She started to look forward to seeing the clay rose and picture, especially when they started to look totally perfect.

Until it stopped. Suddenly a few months past and she didn't receive a single flower or picture. Then not too long after that Naruto left the village. She was sitting on her bed, flowers and pictures lying in front of her, as she admired them. Where had her angel gone? Once his gifts stopped coming Naruto told her about his plans to go training with Jiraiya so that he could get stronger to bring Sasuke back. Two pains in her heart freshly opened.

Tears formed in her eyes. Every guy she ever really cared about seemed to just leave her.

Deidara was still thinking about Sakura. It wasn't long after he discovered explosions that he left his village for more chances to use it. True art. It had been months since he had seen her. Now when he tried to imagine her pink hair he saw the fiery reds of fire from explosions. Then they came. The Akatsuki. He didn't get much of a choice. But when he joined and became partners with Sasori, going on missions to look for the tailed-demons, eventually his memories of his beloved Sakura disappeared. He didn't even really know her, just that there was something about her that he loved. Only now his true love is explosions.

Years past.

This was where it ended. Deidara was through. Sasori was dead and he was determined to find that girl who did it. Sasori had been killed awhile ago and it wasn't until now that Deidara realized what he needed to do. He's going to take revenge.

He flew over the Village Hidden in the Leaves on his enormous clay bird, scoping out the buildings. She had to be here somewhere. This situation seemed somewhat familiar, as if he'd searched this village before looking for someone, but he shook away the feeling. He couldn't remember ever being in this village before. Returning back to the task at hand he found it faster than he thought he would. Much faster. Something in his mind seemed to tell him where to go.

Climbing in through the window he crept over to the bed, her pink hair spread out messily across her pillow. His eyes narrowed put ended up near her desk. Sure he was on a mission for vengeance…but he was still a 19 year old boy in a 15 year old girl's room. Holding back a smirk he dug through her drawers, curious as to what he would find. What he did shocked him. In the bottom drawer of the bureau was a stack of papers and in the drawer next to it: clay roses. Deidara pulled them out and ended up cross-legged on the floor, gazing at them.

He remembered. He remembered visiting this room, drawing these pictures, sculpting these roses. The girl he had fallen in love with so long ago is the same as the one who killed Sasori no danna? He sighed sadly, holding his head in his hands. Thoughts ran through his mind. He had a responsibility to Sasori but how could he kill her? So deep into his mind he never noticed the movement until the kunai was pressed against his neck.

"You're going to want to put those down right where you got them, understand?" she hissed. Even when threatening him he could remember how sweet her voice was when she had been younger. How could he have forgotten? Either way he did as he was told and slowly placed the pictures and flowers back into the bureau. She had actually kept those all this time?

"Are you going to kill me, un?" he asked, unable to hide the amusement in his voice.

"No. I'm going to take you to the Hokage, but only after you answer some questions. What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"The truth? I came here to kill you as to avenge Sasori no danna, un," he admitted, his voice monotone.

"Then why aren't I dead?"

"You kept those, un?" he asked, ignoring her question, which caught her off guard.

"Kept what?"

"The pictures and roses, un. It's been so long I can't believe you still have them, un." Her eyes narrowed.

"What would you know about it?"

"A good bit, concerning I'm the one who made them, un," he admitted.

"Impossible. We've never even met," she scoffed. Unable to stop, Deidara laughed a bit, remembering everything about his past times in Konoha.

He grabbed some clay from his bag and easily removed the sharp kunai from his neck, twisting about so that he and Sakura were facing each other. He molded the clay where she could keep her eyes on it he shaped it into a blooming rose, WAY better than what he had ever given her before. With a goofy smile he handed it to her and said, "For the pretty lady, un. Also you're quite wrong. As I recall, we met once before in the Hokage's office. Was a few years ago so it's alright if you forgot. I was the Iwagakure boy, un."

Sakura's face lightened as she also remembered that time. Her walking him out to the front of the village. He couldn't really be the angel she had always imagined, right? He grinned as he saw the recognition pass over her face. "So you do remember, un." It wasn't a question.

"So you were my own little stalker," she stated with a raised brow. Deidara's face literally turned red and with a frown he whined, "I'm not a stalker, un!" He still felt really touchy about that. She couldn't help but laugh. He was supposed to be an S-ranked criminal yet he was acting like such a child.

Well the two of them were caught at an impasse. Deidara wanted to kill her because of Sasori, but wouldn't because he loved her and Sakura was supposed to turn him in because he's a criminal, but wouldn't because he was the angel she's always wanted to meet.

They ended up talking.

About nothing in particular just…talking. Although eventually rays of light fell through the window and Sakura got up to look outside her door to check if her parents were awake and when she turned back around Deidara was gone.

Sakura couldn't believe she had spent the entire night talking with him, after all he had done, but she couldn't stop seeing the angel she always expected. The one who always showed that he was looking after her. The one who gave her strength.

She smiled throughout the day, never answering when people asked what she was so cheerful about. She trained as hard as she could, but nothing could compare to what awaited her back in her room.

A picture of her, smiling, and a perfect clay rose lay on her desk as always only now a small bird was there too. A note was under it all saying: Don't worry. It doesn't explode. Sakura couldn't help but laugh as she got ready for bed. She climbed under the sheets, snuggling into the warm body next to her. It wasn't for a moment before she twisted around in shock only to see Deidara lying next to her, fast asleep. Her gaze softened as his arms went around her…okay so he wasn't asleep. Deidara kissed her forehead and murmured, "Love you, un." Sakura's face heated up and gave an inaudible reply.

"I love you, too, Dei-chan."

Yes I know, it sucked.

Well this was only my second one-shot so I'm still working on it.

I would appreciate reviews on how to write one-shots better cause I'll get ideas than I can't write them and it really bothers me sometimes, awws.

So……yeah.

Review.