Well here it is guys - my very first Deidara x Sakura fic! I got to say now - even though its a crack pairing - I absolutely adore this couple and everything about them! Ohh - I only wish it were true! :( Ah well. Rightio, I should really start on some really overdue homework soon. OH OH - New Year's Eve tomorrow - any resolutions? I know mine ;)

Enjoy! and please review!

Song recommendation for this chapter: "Awakening" by Mae.

Stardust.

By xFadingmoonx

Sakura was furious.

Furious however, being an understatement. Sakura was livid. She was the complete idiot who went and trusted Naruto's stupid smile and empty promise of helping her with a mission report for Tsunade. And did he show up? No.

She bit down hard on her lip and marched up to his apartment door, taking a deep breath and then hammering her fists on the damn thing till the paintwork began to fade.. Naruto appeared a few moments later, scowling and rubbing his obviously tired eyes.

"Wha?"

"You.." She pointed accusingly at him. "Y-You.. You .. You bastard." She moved forward and made an attempt to throttle him. He dodged her outstretched hands and retreated into the living room.

"What the hell? What did I do now?"

"What didn't you do, Naruto?"

"Well, as you can see - I didn't have time to put on any damn clothes because someone was trying to wreck my home!" She took a glance at his boxer-clad state and huffed angrily.

"Naruto - you promised me! You promised me you would help. But here you are - SLEEPING."

"PLEASE," he raised his voice. "Tell me what are you so messed up about? To come in here and try to kill me!"

"How about I just leave you a note? God forbid, you might actually learn something if it's written down," she snarled and made for the newly-dented door. "Oh - and the next time you wake up late from a long night with the blonde waitress from the bar - I HOPE YOU GET AIDS." Slam.

Naruto gaped open mouthed and a look of confusion appeared on his face.

"How did she know about me and that waitress?"

"Tough day?" An elderly barmaid gave a sympathetic smile and slid the large bottle of sake towards the kunoichi.

"You don't know the half of it," Sakura muttered darkly. "Between teachers that work you to death.. And friends that certainly don't act friendly anymore.."

"Sounds like you've been through the mill a bit, love," the barmaid patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Chin up - it only gets worse, before it gets better." And the woman took her tray and walked off to serve the other few customers.

Sakura frowned and took a sip of her beverage. What a funny thing to tell someone - that their situation would only become more dire before things actually picked up. Great. Absolutely super. That meant that Sakura would have to endure something else and be expected to paste on a stupid fake smile and pretend everything's alright. Fake.

She was now situated a few miles from the village, in a quiet little town, in the only bar existing there. Sat on a sad drooping little stool, she began to drown her sorrows in alcohol. Well, it worked for Tsunade so why shouldn't it work for her?

"I need to get away," she sighed and pushed the hair from her face. "I don't know how much more I can take."

"I recommend suicide." A voice suggested from behind her. She twisted slowly on her stall to see a blonde young man staring steadily back at her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Excuse me?"

"I recommend suicide," he repeated. "Apparently it's an easy way out. Most terminally depressed people take that route."

"Terminally depressed?" She scoffed, incredulous at his rudeness. "I'm having a bad day. I'd rather not, thank you." There was a final tone at the end of her sentence to give the message that she obviously didn't want to talk anymore. However, he didn't seem to pick up on it and he laughed airily.

"You look as if you're about to hang yourself. Just a bad day, really?" She chose to ignore him and carried on downing the sake. After a while, she felt a presence next to her and rolled her eyes as the man sat down on the next stool.

Up close, she could see that he was quite handsome in a rugged sort of way. His blonde hair was splattered slightly in mud and there seemed to be some on his face too, mixed with what looked like dried blood. His hands looked calloused as he lifted up his drink to take a sip. His sleeve dropped slightly and she could see a scar on his wrist.

"You like hell." She commented and pointed to his dirty appearance.

He smiled. "Bad day."

"We're in the same boat then - I'm Sakura by the way, Sakura Haruno." She introduced herself, half wondering why she was even talking to some dirty drunk. He took another swig of his drink and replied, "Deidara."

"That's it? No second name? No village?"

"Just Deidara. I don't really have a solid home anyway, I.." He paused. ".. I travel a lot - with some friends." She noticed that he was trying to pick his words out carefully. She smiled and rested her head on her hands.

"Must be nice.. To be able to just get away from your problems all the time, huh?"

"Un, not really," he shrugged. "They just follow you around like flies - It's better to just sort them out as they come. My life is one big problem though, it can't be helped."

Sakura was silent for a moment, wondering why a stranger was telling her all this? True, she felt an unusual sense of calm and trust with him - but was it really enough to go and spill his life story? She rather doubted he was a spy though. She didn't even know if he was a ninja or not. Normally she would probably shy away with such a conversation with a stranger. After the treatment she had received lately though, she really felt like living a little dangerously and defying all the safety rules she'd learned. Who cared and who needed them anyway? Not her.

"So what are your problems then? From what I overheard your teachers and friends are acting like jerks." Deidara's smooth voice brought her out of her little daydream.

"Well not jerks but more like.. Well, idiots," she gabbled lamely. "I mean - yeah, they probably have their own problems and I can't accuse them for th-.."

"I think they take advantage of you," Deidara said simply. "They see you as a weak target and therefore think they have the right to walk all over you."

"You - you don't even know me!"

"I can tell. I'm very good at guessing people."

Sakura was gobsmacked. She restrained herself from socking the man in his smug grin. "Well guess this!" She shouted childishly and kicked his stool away from him, sending him sprawling to the dusty floor. Before he had time to retaliate, he looked up to see her cloak swishing out of the exit and disappearing. Sakura stomped away as fast as she could, biting her lip in anger and kicking stones at her feet.

"'Guessing me?' Who the hell does he think he is? Grr - I hate people like that!"

"S-Sakura!"

"Go away!" She shrieked, not even bothering to turn round at the footsteps hammering after her. "Just go away!" A few moments later he caught up and firmly wrapped his hand around her arm, forcing her to stop in her tracks, she swung round, preparing for a fight. But stopped at the apologetic look in his azure eyes.

"I-I'm sorry I made you angry - I really didn't mean anything by what I said!"

"Then why say it?" She snarled. "What gives you the right to try and guess who I am?"

"Because you looked sad!" He fell silent and moved his gaze to the ground. "In truth Sakura, the friends I travel with - they don't really understand me at all - nor what I'm about, but regardless of whether we get on or not - I still have to work with them. Anyway, for once I was able to talk with someone like you - normal and kind and .." He blushed. ".. Pretty. It's just that .. I don't think people like you deserve to be taken advantage of, and I said it in such a blunt way. I-I'm sorry."

Sakura was speechless. Deidara thought see was pretty? Even though he had just met her? She felt her cheeks warm up as he continued to stare at her with those beautiful deep, blue eyes of his (AN: He has two eyes here, okay?) that she could tell, were laced with pain and had a hint of regret behind them. She found herself smiling weakly and nodding.

"It's alright," she whispered. "Maybe I was in denial and I didn't like to hear it out loud. After all," she closed her eyes. "It's not exactly the best thing to admit that you aren't well liked, is it?"

"No," he agreed. "That's why you should give up on making those selfish people happy all the time, and concentrate on those who are precious to you."

Sakura nodded and her cheeks flushed darker as he laughed and his lips parted to show his pearly white teeth. He reached into the pouch under his dark cloak and brought out something that resembled the play dough she used to use as a child. She watched in awe as he silently moved his hands expertly and moulded it a lumpy small bird statue. He held it in the palm of his scorched hand and made a quick hand sign. Sakura gasped inwardly and stepped back as a sudden puff of smoke engulfed both her and Deidara. She groped around blindly until her eyes refocused and two black eyes stared beadily at her. She yelped and jumped back.

A giant bird was now standing there, shifting uncomfortably from one stick leg to the other and rearing its beak. She glanced up to see the blonde chuckling to himself.

"Wanna go for a ride?" He offered and outstretched his hand, looking expectantly at her.

"No way!" Sakura shook her head. "No way am I getting on th-that.." He shrugged, nonplussed by her rejection.

"Alrighty then. It's just that - well I had this crazy idea that someone like you would maybe want to try something dangerous for once.. But I see you aren't that kind of person - I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to even offer-.."

"ALRIGHT, dammit Deidara - you're evil." She grumbled and took his hand to which he yanked her up and seated her next to him.

"You don't even know the half of it," he commented drily and spoke to the bird. "Let's go!"

The bird spread its huge wings and took off from the ground with a few flaps. Sakura immediately grabbed onto the nearest from of support, feeling that she might just drop off any second. To her dismay, that thing was Deidara. He was amused at her fear and slipped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer. But by this point, she didn't care anymore. She was on a giant bird, flying with a near total stranger and gliding hundreds of feet in the air - by now, she didn't care about anything and merely welcomed the warmth Deidara gave her.

She noted that the air grew colder soon enough and the sky was darkening considerably, until the landscape under them were just a clump of dark shapes. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the hair whipping around her face and the way her clothes rustled. Unconsciously, she pressed herself further against the body beside her but said nothing. Did she really need to when she could feel that those carved muscles?

"I want to show you something," he murmured into her ear, making her shiver slightly. "Would you mind if we went a bit further away?"

"Anywhere," she breathed. "Take me anywhere."

He replied with a sexy smile and made the bird change direction so they headed for the North-East. She turned to face him.

"So where are you whisking me off to?"

"You make it sound like kidnap - and I'm not telling, it's a surprise."

She smirked. "Why? Do you want to kidnap me?"

"Maybe," he mused. "Would it be so wrong to keep you to myself, now?"

She giggled and tried to ignore the frantic thumping within her chest. Being so close, she was sure he could hear it himself, it was so loud! Her face warmed up again and she buried her face in the soft material of his cloak, secretly inhaling his musky scent, burning it into her memory for when she was forced to return home.

"Sakura?" She could feel his voice reverberating through his chest. "Anything wrong?"

"N-Nothing," she sighed. "Just wishing time would go a little slower, that's all. It's going to suck when I go home."

A moment of silence. "Then don't." He whispered.

"What?"

"Un, nothing." His heartbeat quickened. She glanced up to ask what was wrong. Then it happened.

He kissed her.

And she did nothing to stop it. The tender feeling of his lips moving against her own ones, caused her mind to wipe blank along with her sense of awareness. His hands were suddenly wound around her hips, bringing her closer so she could hold his face and run a hand through his golden locks. They felt no need to stop for air - why would they? Why would they want to break such a moment?

A loud bang parted them. Deidara grinned. "This what I wanted to show you." he whispered.

Hundreds and hundreds of fireworks were shooting into the air and exploding, sending streams of silvers, golds, yellows, reds across the sky, so they lit up the night and caused the surroundings to be bathed in a rainbow glow. She uttered a low cry as the patterns began to change and spin before her own very dazzled eyes.

"Where have you been?" She could hear the smile in his voice. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I've been here," and she prodded his chest pointedly. "You just never realised it until now.

And they laughed. Etching the memory into their hearts forever, before they would have to return to their respective homes. But it didn't matter, the union they shared in that one moment, would last forever.

Until they would meet again.