Final Request

Deidara loved to listen to people's last request. He found it so funny when, just as they were about to die, he asked them to say their last words, or have one last request. The hope in their eyes gave him a thrill that only encouraged him to set off the bomb inside them sooner than he planned. It was his personal enjoyment of killing, right next to the explosions. Just like Kisame liked to drown people and Sasori enjoyed turning them into puppets, Deidara loved giving them false hope. He was cruel in that way.

So, here he was, in the leader's office, awaiting his orders. Ever since Sasori was killed, he had been requesting more missions, in the hope that the young medic-nin who had killed his best friend turned up on the list of his killings. So far, no luck. The fact still stood that he wouldn't be able to tell if it was her or not from a name, since he didn't know hers. The only thing he knew was her appearance, and that was only what people spoke of in villages.

'Did you hear about that girl who killed the puppet monster?' one would say. The usual reply was 'Who hasn't? She's famous!' In other cases, people would go on about her appearance. How beautiful the girl was. How her short, cotton-candy locks blew in the wind. How her emerald green orbs captured you with a single glance. How the hips of her petite form would sway from side to side as she walked.

In Deidara's personal opinion of her described appearance, she seemed weak. Then others would speak of a monstrous strength, which would rival that of the Hokage herself. That news made him a little more nervous about confronting her, but he stood firm with his belief of him over-powering the teenage beauty. Just because she was able to kill Sasori, didn't mean that she was stronger than him…right?

Not that it mattered. The chances of him actually meeting with her again, after all this time, around a year, were zero-to-none. He would never get to witness the described movements of her attacks first hand, fell her strength rip the ground away from under his feet. Oh well, no real loss. The only loss he had was that of his partner, but the leader had given him a 'perfect' substitute. That was how he got stuck with the one-cell for a brain Tobi, numbskull of the Akatsuki.

His cerulean blue eyes drifted to the paper, which held all of the mission details for his new assassination. It wasn't actually an assassination mission, but more of a suicide. He did, after all, have to capture the nine tailed fox demon with only Tobi as back-up. The paper didn't hold much information, just the names of people they might meet on the journey or who they would probably face upon arrival.

'Hmmm.' Deidara thought to himself as he lead Tobi to a large clay bird, his eyes still glued firmly to the sheet in his hands. 'What an interesting name. I didn't know they Kyuubi associated with a girl named Sakura. Oh well, probably not important, un.'

He and Tobi flew over the landscape of the forest and came to a stop outside the gates of Konoha. They saw more of the members of the Akatsuki waiting for them, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. Not that they were there to capture the beast, they were there to fight off the ninja who might prove a problem.

"Deidara-san, Tobi-baka." Kisame greeted as Itachi and the others exchanges a brief nod or, in Tobi's case, a hug.

The four of them waited in the trees for the four-man squad of team seven to emerge for their mission, when they would capture the Kyuubi and kill anyone who interfered. Then, the gates opened. First to leave the village was their target.

The blonde vessel, Uzamaki Naruto, hopped away from the village with a hyperactive bounce in his step. He was soon followed by a boy in black clothing who had a fake smile plastered to his face, also know as Sai. Walking after those two was their sensei, Hatake Kakashi, and he called to the last member of their team, who showed herself soon after the males. She walked out with an air to her stride as though she was confident in their success in the mission.

Akatsuki don't usually care about the extras, like the Kyuubi's team were, but Deidara just stared, slack-jawed, as he saw this girl. She fit the descriptions almost perfectly, except, the words given to describe her had not prepared him for the sight he received. She was beautiful.

Her short, cotton-candy locks blew in the wind. However, they didn't only blow in the wind. The wind seemed to pick them up and carry them in graceful patterns around her face, letting them capture the sun in such a way as to make her hair glimmer with a glorious sheen.

Her emerald green orbs captured you with a single glance. Only, they did not just capture you, they entranced you into a trance far greater than the affects of any genjutsu. Not even the greatest genjutsu type ninja could have that much of an effect, no matter who the victim.

The hips of her petite form would sway from side to side as she walked. Not just swayed though. They seemed to sweep from left to right, boasting her courage and power though her deceiving looks. Not matter how lithe or small she was, her canter could instantly prove her to be fully capable of belief in her own powers.

The blonde bomb-nin couldn't stop looking at her. It wasn't until he remembered what she did to Sasori did he snap out of his trance and look to the team he was commanding for this mission. The signal was given and they all emerged from their hiding spots, surrounding the Konoha-nin. That look of fear in her eyes before she knew who was attacking them made her seem innocent and Deidara almost regretted having to kill her.

Kisame lunged straight into a battle with the oldest in the group, while Tobi fought the artist. Itachi, since it was Deidara's job to apprehend the demon, aimed an attack at the female of the group, her dodging in time to deliver a kick to his back, which he caught and threw her back into a tree.

Deidara tried for ages to keep up with the Kyuubi kid, but his power with short-ranged attacks was greater than Deidara's own, so he had to run. Not too long later he was followed my Tobi, who was being chased by an ink tiger. The blonde got rid of the art, following his tradition of fleeing beauty, and pulled Tobi into a hiding place, only for them to be joined by Kisame.

"Where is Itachi, yeah?" Deidara asked the shark man.

"Well, I'm only here to collect you two. Itachi and I got rid of the artist and the copy ninja, but the Kyuubi got back to the village. Right now, Itachi's just finishing off the girl." He explained. Deidara's one eye widened in shock.

"No!" He yelled. "I mean, I want to do it, yeah. She did, after all, kill my partner." He finished as an after though. Kisame nodded and directed him to the fight between the rosette medic and the Sharingan using murderer.

When he arrived, Itachi was about to deliver the finishing blow.

"Stop, yeah!" Deidara commanded without thinking. Itachi gave him a questioning look. "Revenge, yeah." He explained. The younger man nodded and left to find the other members of his team.

"W-Who are you?" Sakura asked him in struggled breaths.

"Deidara, yeah."

"Why did you…stop him?"

"I don't really know. I was hoping you could tell me." He said with a small grin.

"Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you anything." She hissed stubbornly.

"You killed my partner, Sasori, yeah."

"I suppose that you want revenge then?"

"No. At first I did, but not now, yeah. I will, however, kill you for revenge. Whether I want to or not, yeah. You won't survive from the injuries Itachi-san gave you anyway." He told her, not helpfully. "Any last requests?"

"Are you going to leave?"

"Yes."

"Then that's my last request." She stated, panting from the effort it took for her to speak.

"You want me to leave, yeah?"

"No. I want you to stay." She said. This only confused the teen further and he showed it, since she laughed. "I don't want to die alone…even if that means…spending my last few moments with…and killer." She explained.

He nodded and sat down. This wasn't what he usually did though. he usually listened to the last requests of his victims and killed them without a care for their final wishes. That had always been his way. However, he couldn't find it in his, supposedly non-existent, heart to leave her.

"Hey." She called to him. Deidara turned his head and their eyes met. "Am I really going to die?"

The though hit Deidara that she was slowly healing her wounds, as her file had said she could. It would have been the best thing for him to do to just kill her on the spot, before she could heal. He grinned and shook his head.

"You'll be fine, I guess, yeah." He yelled to her as he hopped away. She watched after him as Sai found her. 'Deidara…'

Said boy was now running with his team, another Kyuubi mission failed. The leader was going to have his head. Itachi was practically on the verge of killing the artist for letting Sakura heal rather than killing her, after he had got a gash in his stomach from fighting her. It didn't really hurt, but it sliced his uniform and he hated sewing.

'Sakura…'

-- One year later --

The most recent recovery mission for the Kyuubi resulted in two dead Uchiha's, since Sasuke had turned up and they both got killed in their own fight, one dead Tobi, not that anyone was really complaining, one missing demon, he had fled back to Konoha after killing Tobi, one fatally wounded Kisame, who was dying slowly, another fatally wounded and slowly dying ninja, only his name was Kakashi, one artist-nin in hiding, one fatally wounded Deidara and one wounded, but not fatally so due to healing abilities, Haruno Sakura.

She grinned down at the blonde explosives expert and he chuckled.

"You won't survive from the injuries Kakashi-sensei gave you." She told her, not helpfully, with irony lacing her words. "Any last requests?"

"Are you going to leave?" Deidara asked.

"Yes."

"Then that's my last request, yeah." He stated, panting from the effort it took for him to speak.

"You want me to leave?" She asked, mocking his words from their last encounter.

"No." He replied, grinning at his thoughts.

"You want me to stay?" She asked him.

"No."

"Then…what?" Sakura mused, humouring the Akatsuki. His grin widened and he took a breath.

"I want a kiss from a pretty girl, yeah." Deidara said, the mischievous glint in his eye gleaming brighter. She smiled.

"Okay then. As you honoured my last request, I shall honour yours." She promised as her form walked closer to his own. He closed his eyes and waited.

The feeling of soft lips pressing on his own caused Deidara to smirk into the kiss and use his arm to bring her closer. His tongue slid across her bottom lip and she granted him entrance, which he took as soon as it came. When they broke apart, Sakura looked him in the eye.

"Hey." He called to her. Sakura looked to his face and their eyes met. Emerald green and vibrant blue clashed. "Am I really going to die?"

Unlike the last time she had asked him that question, there was no sudden realisation of a healing ability that the other was oblivious to at the time. There was no miracle that was going to spare his life. Only the soft green eyes looking deeply into his own as she drifted further and further away.

"Yes." She whispered to him as she walked away, gathering the body of Kakashi into her arms and mocked Sai for running when he came back and took the body of Uchiha Sasuke into his own. He watched after her and his vision started to swim into darkness. 'Sakura…'

Sakura arrived back in the village and was getting praised by her teacher and friend, Tsunade, for fighting so well. However, at the same time, she was mourning fro the loss of her ex-team mate and sensei. Even as her friends crowded her and began asking questions, her fingers made their way to her lips and lingered there, savouring the lasting feeling of his kiss.

'Deidara…'