.

Now I'm twisting up when I'm twisted with you,
brush so lightly.

.

Deidara stared at the plate that was set before him on his lap. On the center of the, perhaps it was plastic because it certainly wasn't shiny enough to be porcelain, plate sat threes glob of pink, green, and yellow. Deidara looked up at his caretaker with the general look that said:

Right, what the fuck is this?

"Jell-O. I can't have you eating real food or else...You know what, I'll tell you later, it's graphic." Sakura said as she placed a spoon on his lap as well. Deidara sighed as he stared intently at the Jell-O on his plate. Sakura laughed; her patient was having a full-blown standoff with the Jell-O. She plucked the spoon off of his lap and carefully cut into the quivering pink mass of strawberry flavored gelatin with the side of the utensil.

"Open wide." Sakura smiled as she lifted it in front of his face. Deidara simply glared at the pinkette as he took the spoon from her and shoved it and the Jell-O into his mouth.

The hell? She's treating me as if I were a four year old, un. Deidara snorted as he chewed dolefully, gently rubbing the arm that previously had a needle in it for the IV drip to warm it up. Sakura smirked at her charge as he began poking at the flavored blobs.

"Honestly, I don't see what the deal is with the Jell-O. It's not going to eat you." Sakura said as he glared at her again and helped himself to another spoonful. Sakura turned around and pulled a chair over to his bedside before sitting down.

"Basically, you're going to be on one of those diets when, uh...You know when people get their tonsils taken out and all they eat is ice-cream and stuff?" She grinned when he nodded. "Yeah, you're so lucky."

Deidara thought the idea over for a moment. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, eating ice-cream every day and—

Wait a damn second, un. Deidara grimaced, disgusted with himself. I am—was a hardened S-Class criminal. I do not fantasize about ice-cream and other petty things. I kill people for fun and I blow shit up for the thrill, un. I should be strangling the pink bitch, un. I should be—

"I guess the wound will close up in about 3 months." Sakura suddenly told him, crashing his mile a minute train of thought into a mountainside. "But finish your Jell-O first."

Deidara would've grumbled if he could, but that required him having a voice to perform. He soon cleaned the plate off of all the Jell-O, and he took note that the green was kiwi, and the yellow was pineapple.

Deidara decided that he did not like the pineapple Jell-O.

He put the plate on his bedside table and looked at the pinkette who had gotten up to get something. She sat back down on her chair before she handed the blonde a whiteboard and a marker to write with.

"Alright, first things first, your name?" Sakura asked as she grabbed her clip board from off the side of his bed. Deidara easily wrote down his pseudonym; Katsuhiko Kawamoto. The lady doctor wrote that down on her paper and watched as Deidara erased his name and replaced it with:

My papers are in my wallet. It's in tin with my watercolors under a trap door.

"Are you serious?" Sakura asked, baffled. She and another doctor had searched through his bags for any hint to this mans identity. All they found were some lumps of charred clay, art supplies, a kunai, and a granola bar. Nothing out of the ordinary, except, Sakura couldn't help but ask herself why a wandering artist would be carrying around burnt clay.

"We searched and searched—"

Deidara shook his head and scrawled something else down on his whiteboard.

Get me my watercolors and I'll show you.

Sakura was quiet for a moment before she got up and left the room. Deidara sighed and stared at the ceiling.

Did they take me out of their bingo books too? He wondered as he glanced at the scars he had from when he got his arms stitched back together. Why haven't they recognized me? I don't look extremely different, un...Maybe the genjutsu I put on my gloves worked?

"Ne, Kawamoto-san, this is it, right?" Sakura asked as she walked into the room again with his knapsack and the watercolor tin. Deidara nodded once as she handed him the tin. He gently pulled the lid off to reveal his overused and abused set of colors. Deidara looked around for something to pry the untouched orange pigment out of its' well. He eventually settled on using the spoon from his 'meal'. When the orange came out of its place, Deidara lifted the entire thing out of the tin and pulled out his ocean-blue wallet. Sakura raised her eyebrow at what he had just done.

Such a stealthy hiding place. Sakura thought as he handed her the wallet and started putting the watercolor tin back together. She flipped through the papers, papers that Deidara had paid someone to forge to look exactly like identification documents several years ago.

"Were you a Shinobi?" Sakura asked, catching Deidara off guard. He somehow managed to keep a straight face while he wrote down his reply.

I retired right before the 4th war. Deidara inwardly grinned at his ingenious reply. Sakura nodded at the answer and then asked him:

"Why?"

Deidara sighed as he quickly came up with an answer: Injuries. Sakura gave him a puzzled look before he nodded towards his scarred arms.

"Ah." The kunoichi said as Deidara wiped away his writing on the board with the side of his arm. The blonde man was glad that his warden didn't ask more questions than necessary. However, there wasn't a chance in hell that he was going to let himself warm up to her. He just had to be a good boy for a couple weeks than then bam! He'd be right out of there. But, there was just one thing that bothered him about his plan.

Will I ever be able to talk again? He held up the whiteboard to get her attention; she was staring out into space at the window.

"Oh, I checked that over when I was getting your food... And yeah, you'll need at least 5 months of silence starting right now to let the chords heal back up." She smiled sheepishly. "Or even less since you're in good hands."

Deidara nodded slowly. He had stopped listening after he caught the 'at least 5 months' part. He laid his head back on his pillow and sighed. He wouldn't be able to order food for himself, make the usual sounds he made during a conversation like 'un', 'ugh', or 'you're a dumb ass', and worst of all: he wouldn't be able to blow his sculptures up.

Damn it, life sucks, un. Deidara thought as he thought about never being able to see his creations flare up and then disappear in a display of burning clay. He opened his eyes after a while to see Sakura putting things away.

He stole a glance at what looked like a brand new bingo book in her hands. He opened his mouth to tell her to not put it away, but then he realized that he was mute for the time being. Instead, he quickly snapped his fingers, making her turn around.

"Hm?" She asked as she came over to him. He pointed at the book and then at himself. Her eyebrow rose. "Why do you want the bingo book?"

Another half-frustrated sigh.

I just want to check for someone.

"Alright..." Sakura said as she handed him the small book. He looked up at her for a moment; she was watching him closely. He sighed again; it seemed that was all he could manage to do without his voice. Deidara had picked up dozens of these things over the years and took pride of the charming photo he had above his stats. He had also memorized who he was sandwiched between and quickly flipped over to where he should've been.

Nice. I'm officially dead. He thought when flipped over the pages a couple times to find his profile missing. Deidara looked up at Sakura and handed the book back to her.

"Kawamoto-san, I've got to go tend to the other patients now." Sakura said as she hooked the clipboard up back in its place by the door. She looked back at him with a warm smile, "I'll see you tomorrow, then,"

He faked a smile and she walked out of his room and closed the door. Deidara closed his eyes and was relieved at the silence; Sakura talked too much for her own good.

.:.:.

The next day, Deidara woke up to the smell and sound of rain. He sighed contently to himself; cold mornings were good mornings. He decided a long time ago that he liked the rain as long as he wasn't standing underneath. Especially if he had clay in his hands. It muddled with the texture and turned the clay into globs of useless material.

Deidara looked around for something to push so he could get breakfast. He quickly found the button on the side of the bed, and soon, he was brought his breakfast by a nurse.

Cute girl. Deidara smirked daringly at the nurse, who just blushed and giggled as she left. He looked down at the tray on his lap. Chicken noodle soup, soft white bread, orange juice, and oh dear god. It's back, un.

Deidara glared down at the yellow mass of Jell-O.

"Oh, good morning Sakura-sempai." The nurse said outside of his door and Deidara decided to eavesdrop while he ate. Not that he had a choice in the matter; these women were so damn noisy.

"You are so lucky," The nurse giggled. "Your patient is such a cutie. Don't you think so?"

"Uh, hehe. Thanks, Ai-chan...I think." He heard Sakura say. "I'm not in the position to say anything about—"

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting. When's your boyfriend coming back from his mission?"

"He gets to visit every 3 weeks, but the mission's probably going to last half a year."

"Does he bring you anything good?"

"Ai-chan!"

"Sorry!" Deidara rolled his eyes at the giggling. "It's just that, you know. He's rich! And good looking! And—"

"Ah, Ai-chan, I have to get to work." Sakura said, indicating that she was ending the conversation right there. There was a slight giggling/mumbling coming from Ai when Sakura opened the door to Deidara's room. First thing he noticed; she looked a hot mess. Her hair was in complete disarray and she looked dead tired.

"Good morning Kawamoto-san." Sakura greeted with a cheery tone as she put down a pair of bags on the floor. She noticed that he was finishing up everything on his plate except for the Jell-O.

"Oh, please don't tell me you don't like sweets either." Sakura smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair. Deidara raised his eyebrows at the comment. She shook her head and smiled instead. He decided he wasn't going to ask.

"Ne, how are you feeling?" She asked as she reached into one of the bags and pulled out a bunch of index cards. "Uh, snap twice if you're good, snap once if you're not good."

He snapped twice.

"That's great." Sakura nodded as she tore apart the plastic bindings on the cards. She crumpled the plastic with one hand and threw it over her shoulder. The plastic ball hit the wall above the trashcan before landing inside of it.

Deidara wasn't impressed.

She turned around and went over to the chair by his bedside and sat down. From the stack she held, she pulled out three; one red, one green, and the last was yellow.

"I don't want you to end up getting carpal tunnel with the white board." Sakura said with a pleasant smile as she pulled a pen out of her pocket and wrote on the back of each card. "Green means yes, or go. Red means no, or stop. Yellow means slow down or maybe."

Deidara lifted his eyebrows as she handed him the cards. It was just so...absurd. The blonde shook his head before he stared down at the cards. Sakura's chicken-scratch writing that was common among doctors like her amused him very slightly.

"Do you like sweets?" She suddenly asked. Deidara stared at her with narrowed eyes. She laughed. "Oh come on you big baby. Just do it, you'll thank me later."

He held up the green card.

"Then why aren't you eating the Jell-O?" She asked. He stared at her stubbornly and crossed his arms. Sakura ran her fingers through her hair.

"Is it the flavor or something?" Sakura asked and Deidara stared hard at the green card.

"Oh?" She smiled. "Really? What would you want? Lime?"

A glance at the red card.

"Strawberry?"

I can't believe I'm doing this. I feel like such a child, un. Deidara stared ahead of him for a moment before sighing and he held up the green card.

"Aw..." Sakura whined softly. "Strawberry's my favorite."

He stared at his doctor.

She was so weird.

"You know, I had to use a lot of willpower not to eat the strawberry one yesterday." She began, and Deidara sighed. He knew when women were about to start rambling, and he braced himself.

"But I thought 'Y'know, this guy just lost his voice. I feel bad'." She continued. "So, it's okay. Maybe I can stop stealing the hospital's Jell-O for however long you're going to be here. They'll be very very happy."

Is there a stronger word for weird out there, un? Deidara asked himself as the image of Tobi flashed across his mind. Oh god no.

There was a long moment of silence between them before Sakura lifted the tray off of his lap and went to the door. She gently set it down on the ground and then came back to his bedside where she took her seat.

"So, you paint, right?" Sakura asked, and he could tell she was trying to strike a conversation. He wasn't going to warm up to her, but...

He sighed in defeat and held up the green card.

"Oh, cool. I, personally, absolutely suck at drawing and stuff. Skills that girls should have in generally, really. Can't cook, can't dance, can't sing... It's pretty sad, actually." Sakura smiled as she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "But...I think I'm fine with that. I mean, you can't save someone's life by dancing and singing, right? I'm happy with what I can do."

Deidara considered her words and came to the conclusion that she wasn't a one-dimensional prude that he believed her to be. He watched as she looked out the window and took in a deep breath.

"I don't really like the rain. But I really love the smell." She said. "Someone should bottle it up and market it as cologne. I'd be the happiest girl in the world if my boyfriend smelt like that instead of dried blood and metal for once."

"But then again...I don't know, it'd might make him more depressing since he's such a sourpuss all the time." Sakura said.

Deidara, however, was busy thinking about ways to bottle up the smell of rain.

"He's like the complete opposite of me; doesn't like sunshine, doesn't like sweet things, doesn't like— Oh damn it, I'm going off again."

Deidara looked up at her as she rubbed the palms of her hands against her face. She looked up after a little bit at him.

"Sorry, Kawamoto-san." She apologized. "I get carried away sometimes and I talk too much and—"

He held the green card up. She glared, taking that as an insult. Deidara flinched as he quickly grabbed his whiteboard and scrawled something down.

I meant, 'it's ok' not 'yes you talk too much'

"Sorry." Sakura blushed and rubbed her temples. "Arghh, today is not my day."

Another long silence. Deidara felt a little bad for her, so he wrote another message down: Who's your boyfriend?

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the question and smiled gently.

"You might know him." She said with a soft laugh. Deidara then gave her the look: No I don't.

"He's pretty famous, I guess." Sakura said with a look of fondness swimming in her green eyes. His eyes narrowed slightly at the way she took in everything with a subtly he envied.

"My boyfriend is the one and only Uchiha Sasuke-kun." She finally said, not noticing the way her patient's eyes had widened and how rigid he had just went. He quickly relaxed after the initial shock, but the rain cloud of doom looming over his blonde head just wouldn't go away.

Shit, un. Deidara thought. He'll recognize me if he sees me. I am so fucke—

"But he's not coming back to visit from his mission for another three weeks. I saw him yesterday." Sakura said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "He really does hate coming to the hospital."

I can't imagine why. The blonde thought sarcastically. The hospital was the one place guys hated to go to; it reminded them of how many times they had previously needed to go there. That and most of the guys Deidara knew—used to know detested getting help from someone especially from girl doctors.

Male pride, it was a dangerous thing. Deidara personally was fine with it; cute girls in nurse costumes were nice to look at in his opinion.

"Ah, I should start helping your neck heal faster." Sakura told him as she rubbed her small hands together to make them warmer. He watched as she got up and gently pushed him so that he was lying flat on the bed. The girl put her hand directly above the wound on the cast-like brace thing and Deidara closed his eyes.

He relaxed immediately when he some of the most wonderful chakra he'd ever felt before pump into his system. It was warm, gentle, soothing, even. Deidara wanted to go to sleep all of a sudden.

Why can't sedatives ever feel like this? He unconsciously asked himself as he let a quiet, content sigh escape from his lips.

Sakura smiled down at her patient—the look on people's faces while she helped them recover faster at the hospital was greatly satisfying. She soon removed her hands away from his neck and watched, fully amused, as he groggily opened his eyes.

Ugh. That felt so damn nice, un. Deidara thought to himself as he came crashing back down back to earth.

"Feeling better Kawamoto-san?" She asked, half giggling at him when he sat up. He reached for a card on his lap and held it up for her to see. She smiled pretty again.

It was green.

.

She sinks in my mind as she sheds through her skin
touch sight tastes like fire

.

- Dance Inside by The All American Rejects