"Sakura! We need you over here - stat! We have another four down!"

"Another four?! When will this end?" Sakura cried, running over to the group of shinobi - they were placing the injured ninja each on four beds. "Status report?"

"Two have received cracked ribs, one with a broken limb, and the other is poisoned…or something. We're not completely sure." The ninja said this very seriously.

Sakura sighed. "That bad, huh? Alright, I need a few washcloths and a bucket or two. Oh, and where are those bandages I asked for earlier?" She turned to a nurse standing next to her. "You! I need bandages! This is war - we can't be dawdling during these times! Move it!"

The small brunette nurse nodded. "Yes, of course…my apologies."

"Now let's see here…" She walked over to the forth man, whom was claimed to have been poisoned. Laying her fingertips on his chest, she closed her eyes and let her chakra run through his body.

'Yes…' she thought. 'he's been poisoned alright. I'll need to get this poison out immediately!'

She began extracting the poison from the ninja's body, a bubble forming in between her hands.

The brunette nurse came scurrying back, bandages and a bucket in her hand.

"Good, good." Sakura said briskly. "I want you to set that bucket right here by this guy's side - leave the bandages on that table over there. Thank you."

The nurse nodded, but continued to oversee Sakura's work. "So he's…poisoned?"

Sakura's eyes flashed from between the girl and her patient. "Yes, unfortunately. Must've been taken by surprise. He'll be fine after I get this poison out of him though."

Moments later, the last bubble came out of the man's body, and he was declared fine.

Sakura lifted up the bucket and handed it to the nurse. "This bucket is full of the poison. Take this to the tent next door - give it to the girl with her hair in a braid. She'll make an antidote out of this."

After the nurse had left, Sakura spent the remainder of her time treating the rest of her patients - all of whom were just fine. Although they were to stay in bed for at least a few more days until they could get up again.

The war between Konoha and Orochimaru's forces had been going on for two whole months now. Konoha was able to hold it's own, but in turn required nearly every ninja in the village to do so. Sakura was no exception. Since she was a med nin, she was needed along the front lines - but not to fight. No, there were plenty others to fight. She was to heal and to help the injured ninja. She worked herself hard with hardly any time to rest - she was exhausted, as was everyone else, but she never let on about it. She woke up at the break of dawn, and didn't rest until late at night. Others pleaded for her to take a break, but she refused - as long as there were others in need of healing and she was still standing, she wasn't going to stop. Especially now.

One day one of her patients told her about his adventure on the battlefield:

"--And so there I was, shuriken in hand, waiting for the brute to charge at me." The ninja's voice was filled with excitement, which in turn made Sakura smile. "He rode on a large bird, one made of…ugh, I dunno, a tan colored material. Clay maybe? Anyway, he came charging at me - flipped me over, he did! Broke my arm with a crack - said, 'Art is a bang!' Or somethin'…mighty odd he was."

Sakura stopped wrapping the man's arm and stared at him. "…what did this person look like?"

The ninja seemed a bit surprised at her sudden interest, but grinned. "I didn't really see 'em too well. Wore a black cloak though. Blonde-hair, maybe? I'm not sure."

Emerald orbs opened wide in realization. Could it have been…? Yes, very possibly. She certainly heard her fill of rumors and gossip about the Akatsuki joining Orochimaru's side. But why? They were enemies…weren't they? Unless they formed some sort of agreement… In that case, things weren't going to go down too well.

"Hey, miss? What's wrong?"

Sakura shook her thoughts off. "Oh…it's nothing. Let's finish your arm, okay?"

Weeks went by and she still hadn't heard anything about the Akatsuki, or - dare she say his name - Deidara. She wondered if what the ninja had said about seeing him was true. He could've just been showing off or some such. But even so, she wanted to know what had become of Deidara.

Work was still brutal, but she didn't entirely mind it. . All of her work was helping Konoha, so in that case she was overjoyed about doing her part.

It was a Friday, towards the end of her shift - she was organizing all of her medical supplies in her bag when somebody entered the tent.

"Sakura, we have another one."

Sakura turned to see a large ninja carrying somebody in their arms. She rushed over to the twosome. What she saw surprised her - the injured man had blond hair that was messily tied up in a ponytail, and had the exact same features as…Deidara.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's received some head trauma it looks like…I found him unconscious on the battle field, but he's still alive."

Sakura's hands cupped her face as she looked at Deidara. He looked so…peaceful. Minus the blood, scratches, and bruises of course.

"Right. Um, please set him right here…" Sakura mumbled, pointing to one of the beds.

The large ninja did as told, but still he didn't leave. Sakura ignored him for the most part as she tended to Deidara, but still - the ninja was kind of throwing off her vibe.

"…Is there anything that you need?" Sakura asked, head turning slightly to look at the ninja. "You've been here an awfully long time."

The ninja shook his head. "No."

"Are you sur--"

"Well actually, yeah there's something that I wanted to ask you." He approached Sakura, his eyes never wavering from her face. "I want you to eat dinner with me."

Sakura almost gagged. "W-what?" She croaked. "eat dinner with you?"

"Yeah babe. How about it?"

"No thank you."

"What did you say?"

Sakura swallowed hard. "No thank you."

"Hey, nobody says no to me." He grabbed her wrist, causing her to flinch in pain.

Sakura struggled against the ninja. "No! You need to let me go right now!"

"You're gonna eat with me little girl - and you're gonna like it! Then afterwards…' he gave a cold, hard laugh and began tugging at her arm, trying to get her to move.

"No!" She screeched, closing her eyes.

Suddenly the pressure was removed, and she looked up.

Deidara was standing next to the ninja and was strangling him - hands wound around his neck.

"I absolutely despise people like you, yeah."

"Deidara!" Sakura cried. "Let him go, he can't breathe!"

Deidara gaped at her. "Surely you realize what this fool was going to do to you, yeah! Now you're defending him!?"

"Yes! Now stop it, Deidara!"

"Why should I, yeah?"

"Because! Nobody deserves this - not even him! Please Deidara, please!" Sakura cried.

Deidara looked at her for a few moments, then sighed.

"I just don't believe this…"

He let go of the man's neck, letting him fall to the floor. The ninja was gasping for breath.

Deidara turned to the man. "If I ever catch you around here again, you're really gonna get it, yeah. And next time Sakura won't be able to stop me." He cracked his knuckles, as the ninja fled out of the tent.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the Lord…"

"What about me, yeah?" Deidara pouted. "You're lucky I was here!"

"Maybe so, but you still darn near killed that man! What were you thinking? He may be scum, but still! He's on Konoha's side! We need as many ninja to fight for us as possible! Oh but that's right," She huffed. "you're not on our side, are you? You took that damn Orochimaru's."

"Hey listen Pinky, I've just been doing what the Akatsuki tells me to do. It's nothing personal." He said, crossing his arms. "If you asked me, you should get over all this and -- ugh!"

Deidara crouched down on his knees, holding his head in pain. Sakura rushed over to him, panicked.

"Deidara?! What's wrong? Here," She took one of his arms and draped it over her shoulder. "Come on now." She helped him over to one of his beds, putting his head on a pillow.

"Deidara, you have to tell me what's wrong - otherwise, I can't help you!" Sakura cried out. "Please!"

Deidara's entire form was shaking, his hands still up by his head. "My head kills, yeah!"

"Ok, I'm going to make it better - don't worry!"

Sakura rushed over to her bag of medical supplies, rummaging through all of the items. She took out a roll of bandages and a moist washcloth, then returned to Deidara.

"Deidara, I need you to hold still, or try at least!"

She put her hands lightly on his forehead, using chakra to search for any injuries.

'…it's a slight blow to the head…but that would only be a minor injury! It shouldn't hurt him like this! Unless… a poison weapon was used!'

Sakura snapped her eyes open, and ran to the entrance of the tent.

"Jeanne! Do you have that antidote ready, yet? We need it now! This is an emergency!" She yelled fiercely.

The girl with the braid ran over to Sakura, holding a small vial. "Yes! I just finished it. Please let him swallow this and continue to heal his wound with chakra. He should be fine after that. But you must hurry!"

Sakura grabbed the vial out of the nurse's hand and dashed over by Deidara. Forcing him to swallow it, she continued her healing. Within a few minutes, Deidara's trembling stopped, and he seemed quite at ease.

"You…" Deidara breathed. "saved me, yeah. Why?"

Sakura smiled, sitting on the bed next to him. "Because I owed you one. Remember? You saved me from that ninja before. Let's just call it even."

Deidara laughed. "So when am I gonna be able to get outta here, yeah? I'm on Orochimaru's side, you know. I could be spying on all of your plans. I could ruin your chances of winning this war. If you were smart, you'd get rid of me right now, yeah."

Sakura crossed her arms. "Since when were you the boss of me? I can do whatever the hell I want to do! Besides," She sighed. "I don't care if you're on the other side or not. You're still a patient - and as such, I will treat you like one. You need to stay in bed for a few days longer."

Deidara groaned. "Oh come on!"

Sakura pointed a finger at Deidara. "And I mean it! No escaping."

"What would you do if I did escape?"

"I would smack you upside the head so hard that I would be forced to drag you back here - your injuries would be that bad." She cracked her knuckles.

Deidara stuck his tongue out at her, and made an attempt to fix his messy ponytail.

"Hey Sakura, what do you say we make a bet, yeah?"

"…a bet? About what?"

"A bet on how long it's going to take you to fall for me." He said, a smug grin plastered upon his features.

"What!? Why would you just say that all of a sudden?" Sakura blushed.

Deidara shrugged. "I dunno, yeah. I'm just saying - it's inevitable."

Sakura clenched her teeth and rolled her hands into tight fists. "Say that one more time, I DARE you!"

Deidara slowly looked over at her, grinning wildly.

"GAH!!! I hate you!"

"I'm going to change that, yeah!" Deidara sang.

Sakura shook her head fiercely. "We'll see about that! I want you to get some shut eye right now though. And I'd better do the same. And remember," She waved a finger at him. "No escaping. No matter what."

Deidara nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I hear ya."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yay!! X3 i am so, so happy that i'm finally doing a Deisaku fic! I've always wanted to do one and now...i finally am! ^///^ Anyway, i wish to inform you that this fic will have at most 4-5 chapters [otherwise, i'll quickly loose interest in it!] So yes. Please enjoy, and comment! I'll do my best to reply.

Thank you so much! 3 Getsuei-Hime