Behind Enemy Lines

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary: Its the overused plot of Sakura being kidnapped by the Akatsuki with a twist. Yay me for being original! Rated M for language, violence and later chapters. *Wink wink* Pairing: Deidara x Sakura - REWRITING IN PROGRESS!

A/N: Quite big changes were made in this chapter I'd suggest rereading, also added a bit extra :)

O O O

Missions

A young Akatsuki member was marching furiously down the hallway, slamming every open door he could find on the way. His face distorted in anger. A pair of grey eyes watched quietly from a distance, he knew better than to approach someone this pissed off, though it was tempting to go and push the blonde just that little bit further, it never failed to amuse him to see how easily the blonde was pushed over the edge. Besides he could use a bit of training, him an Itachi had not been on a mission for a while now. He just could not help himself. You only had the fun you made yourself in this hellhole. So he, against his better judgment, slowly approached the angry figure in front of him.

"Well, looks like someone is having a problem controlling their temper today." A voice chuckled from behind. Deidara turned around and was about to smack that annoying voice in the face, but he controlled himself.

"Yeah, and what the fuck do you want fish-breath, yeah?" Deidara growled, starring angrily in to two small grey eyes.

"Just a little fun. Fuck knows there's nothing else to do around here." The shark-like man answered, a smirk slowly spreading across his face. "Nothing beats boredom quite like a good old hand to hand spar, and of course it would be an easy win against your sorry ass." This earned him a seething death glare. It amused Kisame to see this man losing his temper so easily. That could very well cost him his life in a battle to the death. How he had ever been accepted into the Akatsuki was beyond Kisame's understanding. True shinobi would never let their temper get the best of them, and they would definitely never let themselves be baited in to unnecessary fights. However, apparently Pain did not share the same thoughts, since the Akatsuki was full of hotheaded idiots.

"What, you're not going to chicken out on me are you?" This time Deidara could not hold himself back, and launched himself at the blue shinobi. Kisame easily evaded Deidara's punch, and sent the blond flying back against the hallway wall.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then." Kisame smirked.

Deidara pushed himself off the wall and gave Kisame yet another death glare and a quick nod. He turned around and headed for the training grounds. Kisame followed the blonde shinobi and gave him an amused look that went entirely unnoticed. Deidara seemed deep in thought. It was unusual for him to be this quiet, Kisame wondered if he should poke whatever subject was on the others mind. He decided not to, as if he cared anyways. It would be good to come out stretch his legs. He had been sitting around waiting for missions far too long for his liking. Some sparing would do him good and lift his mood a bit.

When they reached the outside training grounds, the sky had turned a darker shade of grey and was now threatening to rain. Kisame grinned. Perfect weather for a spar. He looked at the blonde, who on the other hand was frowning. Deidara did not like the rain that was partly because his clay figures never held together for long in the when it was wet, and partly because it meant he would have to wash his hair properly again.

"No ninjutsu or genjutsu, only taijutsu." Deidara nodded and moved in to a fighting stance.

Kisame cracked his neck and waited for Deidara to make the first move. It was a simple shinobi tactic. The first one to attack was also the first to leave himself open for a counterattack. Deidara knew this well, but even so he would always strike out first. He had no patience to wait for the opponent to get his ass out of gear. For the second time this day, Deidara launched himself head-on at Kisame, who had been expecting this and was well prepared. He dodged the kick and turned to place a kick in the back, but was surprised to find Deidara behind him. He only barely managed to avoid the punch aimed at his head. He grabbed the arm and flung Deidara over his head. He landed on his feet, distanced himself and readied another attack.

"Not bad for a ranged fighter." Kisame chuckled thoroughly enjoying himself. He caught Deidara's next punch and moved to throw in a punch himself. Deidara crouched down and kicked the legs from underneath the big blue man. Kisame jumped but was unprepared for the punch that hit perfectly in his solar plexus and knocked the air out of his lungs.

This time it was Deidara's turn to grin at the big man. "That's for throwing me against the wall earlier, yeah." Kisame looked up, an almost predatory expression on his face. This was promising. He had not expected Deidara to do well with taijutsu. Last time he had spared with him, he had easily overpowered the younger male, this before Sasori was killed though, and that was well over 5 years now. Everyone had been so busy catching the jinchuuriki. It was rare that all the Akatsuki members were gathered at the base at the same time. Pain must be up to something.

His focus returned to Deidara who was now circling Kisame looking for an opening. Kisame sneered was not going to let him have one, he was well excited over Deidara's improvement and wanted to test him further. Though he knew Deidara could not defeat him in a fight, Kisame's endurance was far better than Deidara's or anyone in general. When it came to a test of endurance, no one could beat him.

Their sparing session continued for another hour, and by then Kisame had the upper hand and was raining down punch after punch on Deidara. He managed to block or dodge them all, but only just. He was at his limit and he was panting heavily.

A shout from the other end of the training grounds saved Deidara from kick to the ribs. They both looked up to see who had interrupted them. They saw Tobi running over to them.

"Deidara-senpai!" Tobi yelled.

Deidara frowned. He had no patience with Tobi, every little thing he did pissed him off to no end. Even the way he spoke his name. He was his partner though, and he admitted that Tobi had gained a considerable amount of power over the years. However, to him he would always be the noisy brat who replaced Sasori-danna.

"What?" Was the slightly annoyed response.

Tobi slowed down and walked the last few steps towards the two. "We got a mission, Tobi was told to go get you. Hurry up!" Deidara's frown deepened, how dared he give him orders. "You should go back too Kisame-san. Leader-sama is giving everyone missions."

At that, Kisame lightened up. "About goddamned time!" He roared.

O O O

Sakura was running. She was late. She ran through small streets, and took all the short cuts she knew. Sakura cursed herself for thinking she had had time to take a nap. She had taken a double shift last night at the hospital. She barely had any sleep that night, so when a messenger earlier that morning knocked on her door saying Tsunade had requested her for a meeting concerning a new mission at 12 o'clock. She had stupidly thought that 3 hours would have been enough to get a nap, a shower and food. Only her alarm never went off and when she woke up it was 12.37, and panic had overtaken her system. She had not had time for a shower and only managed to grab a piece of bread on the way out of the door.

She just could not be late. When she finally she arrived at the hokage tower. She threw open the door, and did not even think of closing it again. She flew up the stairs and ran to the door that would give entrance to the hokage's office. Sakura knocked nervously.

"Come in." Even from out in the hall she could hear the annoyance in the hokage's voice. Sakura swallowed and let herself in to the familiar office and took in the sight. The hokage, her shishou, sat at her usual place behind the desk. Sakura only all too well knew what that glare that met her meant. Tsunade was not happy, and that reason behind that was herself. Looking further around the room, she saw her team gathered. Naruto was there with his arms crossed in front of him and glaring at her. Sai stood a few feet behind Naruto and looked as expressionless as always. On the other side, she met the eye of her former teacher Kakashi-sensei. When their eyes met, he raised his hand and voiced a familiar 'Yo.'

'Oh man, even Kakashi-sensei made it here before me' Sakura thought.

"You are late!" stated the annoyed voice. "You have obviously been influenced far too much by your former teacher here." Tsunade glared at Kakashi who raised his hands in front of him as if to dismiss any fault he had in that matter.

"I'm so sorry, I was just-" Sakura said trying to apologies.

"We need to work more on your punctuality, when you get back." Tsunade said.

Sakura bowed her head in shame. She was always on time, she even prided with always being at least ten minutes early. She inwardly scolded herself for not double-checking her alarm. She had just been so exhausted, and had crashed on the couch after having sent the messenger off with her reply.

"Sakura-chaaan, why are you so late? Even Kakashi-sensei was here before you" Naruto pointed at Kakashi, who was getting a little less than happy by being blamed and looked down on, he had only been 15 minutes late. "We're finally going on a real mission, and then you're late!"

"I'm sorry Naruto. I just forgot the time, and-" Sakura started but Naruto cut her off.

"Well, you're here now." Naruto reassured "Tsunade-baachan you can tell us our mission now."

Tsunade, whose mood had not gotten any better, frowned at Naruto, now he was giving her orders too. Everyone just seemed to be so quick to order around the hokage herself. First Shizune, then the elders interfering in everything and Sakura always telling her of for drinking too much and now Naruto too. She was going to have to beat some sense in to him one of these days. Not today though, her headache had only gotten worse after her favorite student had turned out to take after Kakashi, of course it did not help that she had drunk way too much last night either.

"Now, what I was saying," Tsunade began, raising her voice. She got the teams attention. "You are going on an A-ranked mission. This is an escort mission. You will be guarding Makoto to his village on the other side of the border to the Land of Rivers." Tsunade motioned to a man standing in the corner behind Tsunade.

Sakura looked surprised at the man. She had not noticed him standing there. The man lifted a bit on his hat in greetings. The hat covered half the man's face in shadows. Naruto obviously had not seen him either. Naruto jumped in surprise and demanding the man answer his pointless questions. 'TypicalNaruto' Sakura thought. Her attention refocused on the mysterious man behind Tsunade. Why had she not noticed him the moment she came in? Had she just stressed too much about being late, that she had blocked it out? Had she been too embarrassed and afraid of being scolded by her shishou? She could understand that Naruto had not noticed the man. Naruto was always so oblivious to everything around him that it did not surprise her. However, it irked her that she had completely overseen the man herself. She blamed it on her lack of sleep and returned her attention to Tsunade.

"We have reason to believe that Orochimaru will have a certain interest in this man and you should therefore be extra careful carrying out this mission. Be on guard, Orochimaru may send some of his subordinates to get this man." Tsunade looked pointedly at Naruto. "Don't go rushing of somewhere, if any subordinates where to interfere. Remember your mission comes first. Then, when that is completed, you can chase after any subordinates that may be lurking around the area."

"Why would we…" Naruto started, but stopped seemingly realizing something. Sakura wondered what he was thinking. He opened his mouth about to say something, but no words came out. Tsunade just smiled knowingly. She then answered the question, which Naruto was about to ask, "Yes, Naruto there might be a slight chance that Orochimaru will send Sasuke out to do the job." She smiled again looking up at Sakura's surprised face.

Sakura had not even thought of that, when Tsunade told them about the mission. "Sasuke…" she whispered. She had happily forgotten about him, but now she felt her feelings for him welling up in her chest. She had never really been able to move on with her life. Sasuke had been an important friend to Naruto and her. For him to leave and betray them both had been a big blow. Naruto turned to look at Sakura. She could feel his eyes on her full of concern and sadness.

"Sakura-chan I promised you that I would get Sasuke back and I will not break that promise, that's my way of the ninja." She looked up at Naruto and smiled. How many times had she heard Naruto say that? She trusted him and believed in his words, if anyone was capable of bringing back Sasuke, it was Naruto. He had had not needed to tell her. She knew he would, though she could not help wondering what would happen if Sasuke was to return to the village. Not one of her friends and allies had been able to forgive Sasuke for betraying the village, and it was only because of the hokage's pardon that no one had said anything aloud. However, Sakura knew that if given the chance they would not hold back against him. Even her best friend and former rival, Ino would take the chance to give Sasuke a good smacking around.

Sakura sighed, she was giving up hope that everything could return to normal if Sasuke came home. A part of her almost wished that he would not show up on this mission. That would save both Naruto and her from disappointment. She was almost certain Sasuke would not willingly return with them. This was a realization she had forced herself in to seeing 3 years previously. Naruto and she had spent the best of 2 years going after Sasuke, and they had almost succeeded one time as well, though it had become painfully obvious to Sakura that Sasuke did not want to have anything to do with the pair. He considered them both weak and below his status. This had hurt Sakura far more that she had expected it to. She had thought that her feelings for this man had subsided over the years, only she had hid it under her perfect façade.

Tsunade sensed the mood and immediately redirected their focus back on the mission while explaining the details more thoroughly to the team-leader Kakashi. After Tsunade dismissed them, Kakashi gathered the team and told them a meeting place and time. Naruto then made a comment about not being late, which earned him a scowl from one pink haired kunoichi and a rude remark about his penis from the ink artist. Kakashi had already gone by then his nosed deeply burrowed in latest book of the 'Icha Icha' series. Sakura only shook her head and went out in to the streets of Konoha.

O O O

"- and you definitely need to get out more. Tell you what. When you get back from this mission, I'm gonna take you out and we'll find you a good man as well. God knows how long it's been since you had any sort of interaction with the opposite gender, and no, Naruto doesn't count. How is he feeling about this mission anyways? I bet he's as energetic as always, am I right? If someone can beat that bastard Sasuke's ass it's him and you know it. Oh, come on. Don't give me that look. Sasuke deserves a good beating for what he did to you. If it wasn't because Ibiki and dad needs my help interrogating the guy Chouji and Shikamaru brought in last night, I'd go myself." Ino rambled as they walked down the streets of Konoha. They were headed for the usual café. Ino liked to come here, because this was where Chouji had taken her on their first date.

Sakura smiled at her friend, it was so easy being around Ino. You did not have to do a lot in her company. The only thing Ino craved was your ears and your attention, and of course, the occasional agreeing to whatever she was gossiping about. She felt at ease around Ino, she never had to put up a front and pretend to be something she was not. Ino knew her for what she was and for this Sakura was eternally grateful.

"- didn't you see that guy just giving you the elevator look? Seriously Forehead, you really need to be more aware of your surroundings, and before you say anything. No, I'm positive he was looking at you, not me. Don't beat yourself up so much, gees it's like history is repeating itself. Haven't we been through this already! Sakura you're beautiful and any man would be lucky to have you. You need to open your eyes. Everyone is always staring at you. It's actually quite a bit annoying sometimes as well. You get all the attention and you don't even want or acknowledge it."

Sakura just nodded and hoped Ino would move on to the next subject. She really was not in the mood to have this conversation again. She just did not want to be the center of attention. Most times, she just ignored the men ogling her. She knew it was her hair. It was pink and not a lot of people had ever seen someone with naturally pink hair. She gave up counting the numerous times she had old ladies coming up to her and asking if they could touch her hair and the girls asking about hair products. She just was not that fussed about her hair. Sure, she used cherry scented shampoo and conditioner for the comical value, but that was about it. She had kept her hair short because it was always in the way. There had been a time, long ago, where she cared about cosmetics and hair products. She had moved on and realized there were things in life more important than looks.

They turned around the corner, Ino still chatting away. Sakura, lost in thought, bumped in to a broad chest and caught a whiff of dog. She lost balance and fell backwards. Strong arms grabbed her before she could fall on her rear.

"Gees Sakura, I know you want me and all, but you don't have to throw yourself at me." Came a snickering voice. Sakura shot the dog shinobi the best glare she could muster and he immediately let her go after she regained her balance. "Alright, alright. It was just a joke you know." Kiba said in response and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

She had not meant to be harsh. She knew Kiba was always playing around. So she chuckled "Scared of an innocent little girl are we?" Kiba snorted, but before he could respond, Ino joined in.

"Hey Kiba-kun, we're going to the café. Wanna join in?" Kiba looked at the two and then down to Akamaru who gave a short bark. He put on his best smile shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry, we're going to the training grounds, Shino is waiting for us there. Another time maybe." He grinned at Ino and winked at Sakura. "See ya around babe." Before Sakura could punch him, he had already gone.

Sakura sighed and noticed Ino staring intently at her. "What?"

Ino looked away and headed for the café on the opposite side of the street. "Nothing." Was all she said.

Sakura got a bad feeling. If Ino was quiet, it usually meant she was plotting something, and Sakura had a feeling she knew what about. "You can drop that thought right there, Ino."

Ino turned around and looked aghast "Why, I have no idea what you're talking about." She said innocently.

"Yes you do, and you're not setting me up with dog-breath." Sakura answered flatly.

Ino dropped her innocent façade and frowned. "Why not? He's hot, and he obviously has a thing for you."

Sakura rolled her eyes as they entered that café and found a table. Ino was always trying to set her up with guys, because apparently Ino's own love life was not enough for her. Ino had been together with Chouji for almost two years now, and they made a good couple. Chouji was so in love with Ino and always had to show her off to everyone who cared. Obviously, Ino loved the attention it gave her, though she would never betray Chouji. She loved him as much as he did her. Sometimes all their sweet-talking and public affection made Sakura feel sick and alone.

Sakura had slowly come to the conclusion that love was not real. Now, with her background in medicine, she knew how the body reacted and what really went on, on the inside. It was basically just a bunch of chemical reactions in your brain, it had absolutely nothing at all to do with your heart. Over time, those reactions were bound to fade. What was the point in starting a relationship with anyone when you knew that it would not last? It only meant that she would get her heart broken, again. Whenever she saw Ino and Chouji together, she would get a little sad. She knew that the kind of love they shared now was only temporary. They would eventually start to see each other's flaws and that would lead to fights, which in the end could only result in a break-up. She never said anything to her friend though, only smiled the best she could, while hurting on the inside.

"So, what do you think?" Ino asked, rousing Sakura from her thoughts.

"About what?"

"Well, about Kiba obviously." Ino rolled her eyes wondering if her friend ever actually listened to anything she said.

"Ino, stop trying to set me up with half of the village already."

"I'm just trying to help you Forehead." Ino crossed her arms in front of her. She only wanted the best for her friend, and she just could not understand why Sakura was so much against going on one single date with someone she knew and trusted. It was not as if going on a date would bind you to life with the other person. Nothing bad could come out of one date.

"Don't worry so much about me I'm fine, honest!" Sakura sighed.

"So you don't think Kiba is the slightest bit good looking?" Ino tried again.

"Well, he's not completely hard on the eyes, I suppose. But that's beside the point!"

Ino lightened up "Aha! I knew it!"

"Don't misunderstand Ino-pig!" Sakura warned.

"It's agreed then. When you come back I'll get you two on a date." A big smile started its way across the blonde girls face.

"INO! Stop it already, I've had-"

"When are you back from your mission by the way?" Ino looked out the window on to the street, the slightest hint of sadness in her voice. Shinobi did not always come back from missions alive these days. More and more people had come home in a bag or half dead. The number of missing-nins at the boarder had recently been increasing. The hokage had taken precautions by doubling the scouting missions and border controls, as well as increasing the number on members on these teams.

What was with people and interrupting her today anyways, she frowned "I don't know… We leave at dawn tomorrow the journey is only two days, but at civilian pace maybe four or five. Then there's the whole 'If-Sasuke-shows-up'-business, and you know what Naruto is like. He's not likely to just give up. Maybe a week and a half. Two weeks tops I'd say."

They were quiet for a while.

They both ordered some hot drinks. Autumn was almost upon them and the winds were bringing colder weather. Sakura had been busy lately at the hospital with people coming in with colds. Not much could be done about a cold, they were bound to happen and it was best to just let it run its course, still everyone had demanded the attention of all the nurses, so even some of the shinobi medics had been called in.

"Right I had enough of this gloomy mood." Ino stated. She then went on to talk about the latest date she and Chouji had been on and how romantic Chouji had been. Sakura just stared out of the window and listened to Ino rambling about how she had discovered a new marinade for which Chouji had praised her. Funny how Ino had changed and had gotten really in to this entire cooking thing. Sakura was not a bad cook, but she just could not be bothered spending more than 15 minutes in the kitchen. She had better things to do.

The two kunoichi sat together all afternoon talking about everything and nothing. However, Sakura still needed to get her things ready for the mission so they hugged and parted with a promise of going out when Sakura was back.