All she could see was the same image over and over again in her head. Sasuke standing on the cliff, sword drawn. If she had run faster, if she had gotten their sooner, too many ifs for her to think of. It killed her that she was running faster now than she had before Sasuke killed himself. It killed her that all she could do is watch his body fall from the cliff. It killed her that she had no one to talk to.
Naruto was a close friend, but what could he really do? He was a good listener, but not for something like this. She didn't want to give him the wrong idea.
Sai was practically just a programmed personality. He could give the illusion of listening and sympathy, just before adding "I read it in a book."
All of her other friends didn't really understand her well. Ino was broken as well, so turning to her wasn't any good and Kakashi... might be a good listener if he could dig his nose out of his porn long enough to care.
When the visions did clear from her sight, everything was in a blur. Her tears clouded her eyes and the ones that fell could only be lost in the rain that poured from the sky. Those looking out their windows saw the shadow of a girl just as the lightning flashed.
It had been a week, and all Sakura could do is sleep through the day and try to drink all her thoughts away. But all the liquor did was increase the pain, not drown it away.
That's where she had been too. At the bar, about to go for attempt number seven when it happened. People cope with death differently. And in Sakura's case, the last thing she wanted were her "friends" trying to cheer her up. But their unsympothetic views towards Sasuke's death had driven her too far. She had to get away from there. Away from Konoha, away from her "friends", away from her life. She breezed past the guards at the gate who could only offer a confused look in her direction before resuming their post.
Sakura still didn't have her sandals back on, and every step through the forest that surrounded Konoha sent pain through her. It was long before all the debris of the forest had cut through the skin on her feet and left a small trail of red behind her.
She had no idea how long she was running. She didn't plan on stopping either. She would run as long as she could; feet bleeding, rain pounding down on her, breathing heavily. She felt like her stamina was at its limit, and she kept going. For all she cared, she would keep going until she died. Or that image was erased from her mind.
Maybe she should have just followed his example. Compared to the past week, sticking a sword through herself seemed like a relief. Maybe that's why Sasuke did it himself. He made the promise to kill his brother and revive his clan, but he was young and couldn't understand the burden that would present. Maybe death was the only way to lift that weight off his shoulders. Or maybe it was his final revenge at his brother; who had left him alive to escape the guilt of killing the whole clan. Now that Sasuke was dead, what would be Itatchi's fate?
Finally the weight of her mind was too much, as well as the limit of her body. She slipped on the damp grass and fell face first into a puddle of mud. She let it all out, tears falling like a waterfall and sobs escaped between the crashing thunder. She couldn't move, she was soaking wet, she was battered and bleeding, and now her face was covered in mud. This was it, she figured. The final chapter in her life would be found face down in mud.
Her head rolled to the side to get at least some of her face out to breath. The rain washed the mud off her face; if rather slowly, and through blurry eyes, Sakura saw a sillohuette of a figure between flashes of lightning.
Her body slowly got up into a sitting position, as if against her will. In her position, she could see the form a little more clearly. Somehow during her run she had left the forest and entered a field she had never seen before. The stranger stood under a lone tree in the middle of it all, facing away from her. Which to Sakura seemed like a fucking awful decision, standing next to a tall tree in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Somehow she got back to her feet, and staggered towards the stranger. With every step she took, the area slowly got more and more light. As if an invisible sun was rising from behind her. And even as that happened, the rain poured and the thunder clashed. As she grew closer to the stranger, he or she turned around slowly to face her. Sakura was able to see the stranger head on just as the source of light lit up to its fullest.
"You look bloody awful... yeah."
Sakura just stared and the person before her, clad in a long black cloak decorated with red clouds. Anger started to build up inside her.
"You... you were with that guy who took Gaara. You're with Akatsuki!" Sakura accused.
Deidara brushed his fingers through his blonde hair; his clothes and hair were perfectly dry despite the pouring rain. "What's wrong?" he asked in a soothing voice.
"What do you want? Have you come for Naruto? Can't you just... can't you just leave him alone?" Sakura asked, her voice breaking. She was exhausted, but tried her best to keep her composure.
"I don't know why... I left... yeah."
This Sakura didn't expect. "Ummm..."
"I can't express my art in such a confined organization who only views me as their demolition crew. Art is beautiful; and shouldn't be expressed through death... yeah." as he said this, he pulled out his infamous exploding clay and made three tiny birds fly small circles around Sakura's head. "Art is... a bang." with that the small bird exploded into tiny fireworks with sparks raining down around Sakura. The sparks seemed to sparkle in the strange light that eminated from behind her. "Tell me, what is art to you?" he asked.
Sakura looked down, seeing herself dirty and bleeding. She sighed. "I don't know anymore. I thought I knew..."
"What did you think?"
"I used to think art was like love... but... not anymore..."
Deidara walked up to Sakura and lifted her chin with two fingers to look her in the eye. Sakura could only see half his face, the other half hidden beneath his bangs. His uncovered eye was shining brightly and his lips revealed a smile. "So you lost your art?" he asked.
"I... I don't..."
"What makes the art any different? If you paint a painting when you're happy, then observe it when you're sad, does the painting change?"
"No..."
"So if you lost love, that means it is no longer an art form... yeah."
"Well... I-I guess not."
Deidara let out a small laugh.
And Sakura couldn't hold up anymore.
Her legs buckled beneath her, and every muscle in her body refused respond. She started to collapse, when Deidara caught her before she fell.
Tears were in Sakura's eyes again. "I'm... just such a mess."
"No... you're not." Deidara replied warmly, "You're wearing the garbs of life. They're not always going to be comfortable... yeah." He brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. "To me, you are the most beautiful piece of art I've seen... yeah."
Sakura still couldn't move; it took all her strength to move her arms around his neck. Her eyes were still full of tears, but now she honestly couldn't tell what was causing them. Her sight was starting to get blurry again, but this time not from the tears; her vision started to tunnel. She desperatly tried to say something, anything, but was stopped by a finger brushing over her lips. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Deidara slowly moving in closer...
Sakura nearly leapt out of bed, gasping for air. She blinked a few times, breathing heavily, and her head shot from side to side in confusion. Was it all just a dream?
She peeked under the covers to see if she was injured or scratched up. Her body was perfectly clean and smooth; no scars could be seen.
She sighed and leaned back against her back. She closed her eyes, and started to feel tears forming again. The last thing she wanted to do was face another awful day after facing such an awful night.
She opened her eyes, to see her vision blocked by a tan cloud. It erupted into sparks in front of her face, causing Sakura to jump back with a scream as sparked fell into her lap. She looked up and saw Deidara standing in her doorway, a confident smile on his face.
She was speechless as he moved over to her bed and sat on the side. He leaned over her, his face merely an inch away from hers, and whispered in her ear.
"You've changed my mind. Art is... love."
Deidara pressed his lips against her. Sakura's eyes were wide, before she closed them and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him closer, so she was lying on her back and he was draped over her. He moved his hand to her side and brushed the side of her face with the other. Sakura pulled him onto the bed completely, breaking off the kiss and burried her face in his chest. For the first time in a week, a smile made its way on her face. She brushed her hand across his cheek.
"Mmmm... yeah."
A/N: When I first read the chapters where Deidara debuted in the manga, I thought to myself "Wow, that's a pretty cute girl." So you can imagine my embaressment when I found out he was a guy. Which sucks, cause Deidara would make a great female character.
Anyways! This is my first oneshot story, and it didn't come out as good as I had hoped. I wanted to do a small romance story between my tied favorite Naruto girl (Sakura from Part II and Tsunade tie for my fav character. Tsunade has the edge though since I don't like Sakura in Part I) and my favorite Naruto guy who I'd go out with if I wasn't straight. Please R&R, and let me know what I can do to improve in the future.