First pairing: DeiSaku
Rating: T
Summary: Sakura wants to make a Valentine for a "special someone", and goes to Deidara for some help.
Hallways upon hallways upon hallways. That's all the Akatsuki's base was. Sakura had only been a member for about a month, and she hadn't found the time to learn all of the twists and turns. Sometimes, she wondered if Pein made the base this way just to fuck with the members. Because she was certainly lost, and usually got lost on a daily basis. Of course all the different members' rooms had to be in different hallways, and she had enough trouble finding her own room every night. Now, searching for Deidara's, she knew she was totally screwed.
Two hours, a thousand twists and turns and a few dead-ends later, she arrived at her destination. She knew it was his, because it had the same symbol for blue-green on it that his ring has. She slowly raised her hand to knock and paused. She felt nervous.
All of a sudden her confidence was lost and she felt that she couldn't do this. This plan would be a failure all because she was a loser. Her mind drifted back to her earlier conversation with Kisame.
"Hey, Kisame," Sakura called as she walked into the kitchen. This was the only room she knew the way to by heart. This, and the bathroom.
The large blue man looked up at a very disheveled-looking Sakura, standing with her arms crossed and her gaze on her own feet. Kisame raised an eyebrow.
"Sakura. What's wrong?" He asked carefully, not wanting to anger the girl.
"I need your help. Or just an idea on what the fuck to do," Kisame raised an eyebrow, so she continued. "...Tomorrow is Valentines Day."
"Sakura, I know what day it is. What's your point?"
"Well..." She sucked in a breath. "...IthinkIlikesomeoneandIneedyo urhelp."
"...What?"
She sighed in annoyance.
"I have a crush on someone here. A really big crush. And I need your help." She said slowly, making sure he heard every last word. He chuckled.
"So you like Deidara."
Sakura sputtered and gaped at him, eyes wide open. She looked even more fishlike at that moment than he did. He chuckled at the thought.
"Wha- How did you know that?" She gasped, before lowering her eyes to the ground. "Do I really make it that obvious?"
"Well, you're always staring at him, you laugh at all of his jokes even if they aren't funny, and you spend most of your time following him around the base and talking to him. So, yes. It's obvious."
Sakura blushed, and looked almost ashamed.
"Do you think he knows?"
"Nope."
Sakura raised her eyes back up to him, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Yep. He's completely clueless. He probably wouldn't realize it unless you told him yourself. And even then he may not get it." Kisame grinned at her, and Sakura couldn't help but giggle.
"Well, I don't think I have the courage to tell him to his face like that... But since tomorrow is Valentines Day, I really wanted to somehow tell him without actually telling him, you know?"
Kisame nodded and pondered this for a minute, coming up with a plan in his mind. Until finally, he snapped his fingers and grinned.
"I've got the perfect plan. Here's what you have to do..."
So now, here she was, about to carry out Kisame's ingenious plan, and she was hesitating. Why was she hesitating? This was a nearly flawless plan, and Sakura's confidence issues were getting in the way. She was about to turn away when the door swung open and a familiar blonde man came rushing out, knocking her right onto her backside. She stared up in shock at the bomber, and he reached his hand down to help her back onto her feet. The mouths on his hands were grinning at her. She grinned back at them and took his hand, giggling when the tongue licked her. Deidara smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry, un. They kinda have a mind of their own." He explained, holding up a grinning hand.
"It's fine. So, uh, why were you in such a rush?" She asked quietly. He shrugged.
"I was just going to the bathroom. Did you need to talk to me?"
Sakura sucked in a breath and nodded, hoping he didn't spot her blush.
"Well, you can wait inside on my bed if you want. I'll be back in just a minute, un." And he sprinted away, leaving Sakura in his bedroom. She'd been in his bedroom a few times before, but never alone. It felt... Different. She looked around, spotting the various art tools and kunai knives and pottery wheels and things she couldn't name.
She was looking at the pictures on his desk when he came back in. He walked over to her and noticed her looking at the picture of him when he was young.
"Dei-kun, you were so cute!" She exclaimed, grinning up at him. He frowned.
"Does that mean I'm not cute now?" Sakura giggled at his pout and pinched his cheek.
"Aw, you know I still think you're adorable."
Deidara chuckled lightly at this and sat down on his bed. "So, why'd you come here, un?"
"Why, do you not want me here?" She asked with a playful pout. Deidara shook his head, smiling.
"I don't mind you being here, un. But you said you wanted to talk to me. Something the matter?" He asked, looking concerned. Sakura gulped. She somewhat wished he hadn't asked, so that they could just continue their playful banter and she wouldn't embarrass herself completely. But she knew she had to do it; Otherwise, she felt she'd explode.
"Well... You know that tomorrow is Valentines Day, correct?" He nodded his head. "Well, I wanted your help with something."
"And what would that be?"
"You see... I have this crush, on this guy here... And I wanted to make him something to kind of confess to him. So, I wanted you to teach me sculpting!" She said, her voice wavering. Deidara frowned at her.
"Sakura... You know all the guys here are total psychopaths. Dating them may not be a good idea." He said carefully, and her heart dropped. Was he turning her down before she even confessed?
"Well... I really like him, and he's a really nice guy..."
"Just be careful, Sakura. Akatsuki members are dangerous." He warned her. She pouted.
"So, you won't teach me...?"
"I will, un." She smiled hopefully. He smiled back.
"What were you planning to make for this mystery man?" He asked her. Her smile faltered. She hadn't thought that far.
"Um... I don't know really... You're the artistic one. Can't you think of something?"
"Well, my interests and likes are probably completely different from this guy you like, so my opinions may not be so helpful here." He told her. She inwardly grinned.
"Oh, I'm sure whatever you choose will be just fine for him." She giggled slightly. He ignored it, fishing for an idea inside his mind.
"How about a hummingbird? I can teach you how to infuse your chakra into it, and you could make it fly. Or explode, I can show you how to make it do that too." He grinned at her.
"Sure!"
He stared at her incredulously.
"Even the explosion part? I was actually joking about that. Do you really think he'd be able to handle an exploding valentine?"
"I'm sure he'll love it. Can we make the explosion say 'Be Mine'? Or something slightly less corny?" She asked. He chuckled at her.
"'Be Mine' is fine, un."
He led her to his work bench, in front of his piles of clay. She looked at his grinning hands and then back up to him, suddenly feeling nervous. What if she can't sculpt? What if it turns out completely awful, and he hates it? What if she makes it explode and it hurts him? What if-
"Sakura, you look troubled. What's wrong?"
She looked away from him, blushing.
"I just... What if I'm not good at sculpting? I don't want to make an awful blob and have him hate it..."
Deidara pulled her to look at him, his bright blue eyes burning through her green ones. She blushed even harder.
"Sakura, whatever you make will be perfectly fine. Even if it looks like an awful blob, I'm sure this guy will love it." Sakura's heart jumped at his words, and he smiled down at her.
"Thank you, Deidara-kun."
"No problem. So let's get to sculpting."
It took her a few hours, but she finally learned how to fuse her chakra into the clay and make it explode. A few more hours got her to perfecting the words in the explosion. Now, she just had to learn how to sculpt things that didn't look like white balls of shit.
"Deidara, I can't do this! I'm so awful at sculpting. I'll never be as great as you.." She let a frustrated tear slip from her eye before she wiped it away angrily, wishing it had never fallen.
"Well, obviously you won't be as good as me in just a couple of hours. I've been working on my art since I was three. It's been seventeen years. You're doing pretty darn well for someone who hadn't sculpted before six hours ago, un."
"But... It's almost midnight, which means Valentines Day is in an hour and a half. I don't think I can make a hummingbird by then!" She shouted. He hugged her shoulders lightly.
"Who cares? Make a flying blob. I'm sure he'll be paying more attention to the explosion than the blob itself." She nodded her head in agreement, sniffling.
Another hour and twenty minutes went by and she hadn't made much progress. She only had ten minutes left to make a bird, and she only really had a winged slug. She was shit outta luck and she knew it. She started to worry again, but tried to keep the look of fear off her face. She wasn't sure she could take any more of Deidara's reassurance without kissing him right on the spot, which would be the completely wrong approach.
A few more minutes went by and her slug was more enhanced, but still nowhere near the hummingbird she had pictured. She decided this would have to do, and infused her chakra into it while moulding the beak on. She held it out to Deidara for him to inspect it, clearly embarrassed. Deidara hummed.
"It really isn't that bad for a beginner. I didn't learn how to make birds until I had been sculpting for almost five years." He told her, and she smiled. Maybe he would like it. Maybe this would all go alright! Maybe-
"Well, you'd better get going now." He told her, nearly pushing her out the door.
"Wait, but, Deidara-"
"Tell me how it goes tomorrow, Sakura!" And the door shut behind him. She stood there awkwardly in front of his door, teary-eyed and shaking for a full three minutes. She wasn't sure if she wanted to this now. He clearly wanted her out of there. He threw her out as if she were on fire.
Apparently, her sniffling nose had been making a lot of noise because in the middle of her thoughts, Deidara opened the door again, looking confused. But before he could say anything, she made the bird-slug explode in her hands, flashing "BE MINE" right into Deidara's face. He was shocked, to say the least.
"Sakura..."
"..."
"...Do you need to make another one now?"
She felt the urge to smack herself on the forehead. Kisame was right, he really was clueless.
"No, Deidara." She sniffed.
"Why? Did you change your mind just because your bird didn't look like a bird, un? 'Cause I thought it was completely fine-"
"Deidara! Shut up for a second!"
He looked down at her, shocked, but stayed silent.
"Deidara... I blew it up just now for a reason." She said quietly. He gave her a confused gaze, but still remained quiet. "I... I made it for you. You're the guy I've been talking about." She told him, refusing to look into his eyes and instead focusing on one of the red clouds on his cloak. He stayed quiet for a few more minutes, and she was starting to get restless.
"I understand if you don't feel the same. I just really felt like I had to get it off my chest. This was all Kisame's idea though, and-"
"Sakura. Shut up for a second."
Her head snapped up and her tearful green eyes met his sparkling blue ones. He was happy. His eyes were showing it.
"Sakura... When you came into my room asking me to help you make a gift for some other guy, my heart fell. I told you to be careful because I didn't want you to be with anyone else. But, I knew I couldn't say no to you... So I helped you anyway. And I pushed you out of my room so fast because I didn't want to think about you giving someone else a valentine. I didn't like the fact that you liked someone else. So, I think... I think that means that I have feelings for you too."
By the end of his little confession, Sakura was in tears. She couldn't believe that Deidara actually had feelings for her too! Apparently, her tears freaked him out, because he began frantically wiping them away from under her eyes.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! Did I say something-"
She cut him off by pressing her lips to his in a light kiss. There was almost an electric current passing between their lips when they met. She couldn't believe this feeling. She was kissing Deidara of the Akatsuki, and she didn't think she could ever be happier.
When they pulled away from each other, neither of them could stop smiling.
"So... Does this mean we're together now?"
"Deidara, you really are an idiot."
Hope you all liked it. Loved it or hated it, please review. Constructive criticism wanted!
Next pairing: SasoSaku.
