DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only, without any intention of infringing upon any copyright. Thanks.

Desires of the Heart
Part I: Confliction

Chapter 6
An Unlikely Ally

Dinner was strained with only Tobi, Kisame and Itachi as her company. Even Tobi's childish antics didn't make it any less awkward. Deidara had chosen to skip the meal, which was not healthy at all; Sakura had made a mental note to find him up after dinner and give him a good piece of her mind.

She didn't have to search for long when she stumbled upon his faint chakra signature. She cautiously climbed over to the steep roof, not wanting her chakra disrupting any other that might be infused with the building.

Deidara was sitting there, his arm resting lightly on his knees as he faced up at the sky, his eyes closed. His blond hair had taken a paler hue under the moon's light as the light breeze played with it. He had taken off his mechanical eye-piece. He looked peaceful.

Sakura's eyes softened at the sight and she turned around to leave as silently as she could, not wanting to disturb his peace.

'It can wait,' she said to herself.

"Came to tell something, yeah?" Deidara spoke, making Sakura sigh in her failure to do the one thing that she was trained to be; silent.

"I don't wish to disturb you, Deidara-san," she said politely, making no movement either to leave, or to join him.

"Why are you here then, yeah?" He asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.

Her mere presence was a disturbance to his tranquility, it seemed. Sakura bit her lips, so he had not forgiven her.

'And why should he?' She thought bitterly. She had killed his comrade and gotten him almost killed at Itachi's hands earlier. It was reasonable that he should hate her.

"You skipped dinner," she simply said.

Deidara didn't respond to it straightaway. He cracked open his ocean blue eyes and looked up at the stars shining in the heaven.

"Is that the reason why you are here, yeah? Scolding me for skipping dinner, yeah?" He asked, his lips pressed into a thin line. If it were any different circumstances, she could tell that he would have chuckled at her antics. He was buoyant like that.

Sakura didn't know how to respond to his words. Choosing her words carefully because she didn't want him pouncing on her and she was certain that this time there would be no Itachi to stop him if her words did rile him up.

"It's not healthy to skip dinner, Deidara-san. You would know that," she said softly.

"Oh right, I forgot. You are a medic," he said, the heavy sarcasm in his words made her flinch inwardly. There was a silence and Sakura wondered if she should be leaving him to his own devices before it's too late.

Instead she switched to her medic stance and asked in concern, "Do you feel any pain anywhere, Deidara-san?"

It was because of her that he had been injured. Itachi had struck him only because he had tried to kill her, which was deemed as a threat to the elder Uchiha's mission since they need her skills. And when the need was fulfilled, she knew that they wouldn't hesitate finishing her off.

'In fact, the way things are going,' she thought, sighing, 'they will even take immense pleasure in it.'

"I'm sorry about Sasori-san," she found herself saying earnestly, "I didn't know him, but my mission, my loyalty has resulted to your loss and I apologize for the pain it has caused you."

There was a minute of stillness, where none of them moved or made a sound and Sakura held her breath, mentally preparing herself for Deidara to pounce on her. Finally Deidara looked around at her, his blue eyes boring into hers.

"I-I know that... that this is the life of a missing-nin," he spoke quietly, as if he was saying it to himself, "But Sasori-danna was different, yeah. Sure we had our quarrels about our sense of what art really was... but he was like a friend I never had, yeah..." He paused abruptly and stood up and the sad look in his eyes hardened, "You wouldn't understand." He said coldly.

Sakura's eyes flashed as she took some steps towards him, "Try me!"

There was a slight pause before a smirk broke out on his lips, "Why do you care to know about my feelings? What is it to you, yeah?"

The question had the same meaning behind it, as the one Itachi had asked just hours ago. And Sakura discovered yet again that just like then, she had no answer to it now.

"Not everything needs a reason, Deidara-san," she shot at him instead, looking him dead in the eye, "You would know all about that wouldn't you?"

"What the hell?" He looked genuinely taken aback.

"I'm pretty sure you killed a thousand lives without a second thought, without any reason, no? Did you look for a reason then? Or did your lust for blood serve as a pretty mitigating one?" Now her voice was raised, her brows draw together, "To you, not everything needs a reason. So is it so unfeasible to accept that someone else may not have any reason behind an action far more insignificant than taking lives of the innocent?"

"...I see, yeah," He didn't try to contradict her words, not there were anything to deny; but simply turned away from her. His easy acceptance of the implication of her words surprised her. After a while he asked her, still not bothering to face her, "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

He whirled around, his Akatsuki robe flapping around him. "Killing Sasori-danna?"

Sakura looked at him, his eyes were searching through her, wanting an answer; a closure. A closure that only she could give, but had no right to give. She looked up at the sky, her throat aching at the strain from the wound she received from Deidara's death grip earlier.

"No. I have no reason to regret it. My beliefs were different from his, even different from any of yours. He was in the way of my goal to protect my loved ones. I did exactly what he would have done if he had gotten the chance. I don't regret it."

Deidara just looked at her. Sakura knew it wasn't the answer he had been looking forward to hear. He had perhaps expected her to tremble with fear and say that indeed she regretted her action. But what he needed more was a closure, and a closure wasn't what one wanted to hear, but simply the truth. Only the truth would do.

In a blink of an eye Deidara was standing over her, his warm breath fanning across her face as his hands brushed over her cheeks to trace it down to her neck. His hands paused there as he held her throat within his grasp a little more firmly and tilted it back to examine the vivid red mark contrasted against her pale skin. He frowned as his fingers brushed up and down the sore mark that he had placed it there, making her wince.

"I thought you were a medic, yeah. Why didn't you heal yourself?" He asked frowning down at her.

"I didn't have enough chakra after healing..." she trailed off, "After healing you."

She had healed him for reasons unknown even to her. Perhaps she considered him as a friend from the assistance he had provided the night before? But then again, hadn't he tried to kill her in cold blood minutes before she had healed him? So what had made her do it?

"Don't you have enough chakra now?" He asked.

Sakura nodded and understood that he wanted her to heal herself. Did it bother him so much to see the injury that he had inflicted on her?

"So why are you still not healing it? Did you want to wear it long enough to make me feel guilty?" He scoffed.

Sakura was flabbergasted at such a thought. Was that how he saw it? She immediately shook her head at him, "No, Deidara-san. It was not my intention to make you feel guilty; after all it was because of me that Itachi-san hurt you..."

A dark look crossed Deidara's face as he glared at her for mentioning the very incident. Deidara certainly seemed to not get along with Itachi, now more than ever.

"...Perhaps I'm wearing it out of my own guilt." She finished at length.

Deidara's eyes flickered, "And why is it that you would feel guilty, yeah? Aren't we the ones who are mass-murderers and cold blooded killing machines, yeah?"

"Yes, oh yes," Sakura giggled at this, "Well some things cannot be expressed in words, Deidara-san."

"Stop calling me that, yeah." His words surprised her.

"Call you what?" She asked, not understanding what he meant.

"The suffix, it's annoying, yeah," he looked away from her and to the distance.

Sakura giggled, "Deidara, then."

The blonde nodded in approval.

"So why do you put your hair up in that fashion? It's extremely feminine, you know."

Deidara frowned and ran a hand through his silk strands, "No it isn't, yeah!"

"Oh really? Because I know a girl with the same haircut," Sakura giggled, thinking about her best friend back at home.

Just thinking about Ino, made her remember all about Konoha and her friends. What were they doing right now? Had they finally realized that she was missing? And if they had, Kakashi and Naruto must be having fits by now, she thought guiltily.

"What are you thinking about, yeah?" It made her look over at Deidara who seemed to have thrown off all his previous grudges against her as he gazed at her with a look akin to concern.

"...Home." She knew that he had noticed how her voice went hollow as the dull ache in her chest stirred again.

'No, no!'

She pushed back the feelings urging to burst open; she couldn't be giving into her emotions now. She had to be in control of herself and live with the decision that she had made. She had to keep her words, no matter how treacherous they were...

She sighed as she began to ponder what she had done. If only there was some way to let her friends know that she was alright. She supposed they would be imagining all sorts of horrible things happening to her. How could they ever forgive her when they found out the truth, that she had indeed agreed to help them albeit unwillingly?

And how can someone agree to something unwillingly? Was it even possible? Sakura scrunched up her nose; she was going crazy.

Pushing it away, she tried to get her mind focused on the path she had chosen. She'd come too far to stop now. There was no going back now, despite of her desperate wishes to reverse her actions.

Forcing herself to smile, which she knew Deidara didn't buy but at least he didn't question it, she looked up at the sky. It reminded her of Shikamaru and his love for cloud gazing. She giggled at the thoughts of what a hapless romantic he was. But he would be getting married to Temari soon, and she realized with a jolt, that she wouldn't be there to attend it. She sighed, life was indeed cruel.

In an attempt to distract herself from her straying thoughts, she asked Deidara who was equally engrossed in watching the sky as her, "So tell me more about yourself."

"What do you want to know, yeah?" He glanced down at her, a brow arched.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "Tell me anything."

"Let's see... I was born in Iwakagure and spent much of my childhood there before turning rouge and making a run for it, yeah."

Sakura raised a delicate pink brow at him, "I could tell as much from seeing you!"

"You could? Then why didn't you say so, yeah?"

"Argh! Are you always this infuriating?" She grumbled and decided to slip into the comfortable silence.

"Did you have friends back in Iwagakure?" She asked suddenly.

Deidara seemed to chew the insides of his mouth, but didn't look down at her as she stared at him expectantly, and finally he sighed closing his eyes, "No, not really. Sasori-danna was the friend that I never had, yeah. He was annoying, alright. But he was also a much better partner than Tobi, even if we argued all the time about art," the blonde muttered. "But Sasori was definitely wrong about intransience being the ultimate beauty of art. Something breathtakingly fleeting; there for an instant and gone in another instant is what I call art, yeah."

There was something akin to sadness in his voice. And it pleased Sakura to see that he still had such emotions buried deep within him, unlike one Uchiha Itachi.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Deidara," she said earnestly and this time Deidara nodded at her, making a huge burden that she didn't even know was there lift. Her heart felt strangely lighter.

She glanced sharply at him to find him watching her with a thoughtful expression. "What?"

"About Sasori-danna," He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, "Don't be so uncomfortable, yeah. I'm cool with it now that you apologized and all." Then to her surprise his blue eyes brightened like a thousand watt bulb as he smiled slightly, "Sasori-danna must be turning in his grave now watching me forgive you for killing him, yeah!"

Sakura took one good look at Deidara who was shaking with laughter, and remembered Itachi's question that had been nagging her for the entire time.

"Tell me, kunoichi, why are you concerned for Deidara? He is one of us, is he not?"

Why was it that she found herself caring for Deidara? He was a crazy terrorist bomber who killed innocent just for the hang of it. He enjoyed killing and he took pleasure in the sight of havoc and blood. He was an Akatsuki, hunting down Jinchuirikis just like Naruto. He had hurt Gaara and killed him, before Chiyo-san had bought him back to life. He had tried to destroy Suna. He was a killer.

But he also had that side of him; where he smiled down at her and offered her his arm when she wobbled on her feet, and was the one to invite her to have dinner with them, and then had the decency to get formally introduced to her. He was the one who had willingly offered to keep her little escape attempt hushed, he was the one who had joked with her and laughed at her antics. He was the one who now held nothing against her for taking away his only friend...

He reminded her painfully of Naruto and Ino, both of her best friends. His blond hair and blue eyes was a dead ringer for Naruto and Ino, in more ways than possible. Then there was the easy-going nature to him... just like Naruto's was. So what was it? Did she only care for Deidara because he was the closest link right now she could find to her home?

But Itachi was closer to her home than Deidara ever could be. Itachi was from Konoha. And didn't he resemble Sasuke in ways more than Deidara resembled Naruto or Ino? Did that mean that she...cared for Itachi too? No.

So what was it about Deidara that had made her accept his help when she had been struggling on her feet? Or accept his willingness to keep quiet about her escape attempt? Or agree to have dinner with them? Or joke with him? Or going as far as to heal him when she was so adamant about not helping her sworn enemies? Or dropping her guard around him when he had nothing less than hostile intentions towards her? What made her apologize to him for the pain that she had inflicted on him? For all he did, he more than deserved it.

It drew to her eventually. Deidara was the one who had shown her kindness even before she had opened her eyes to witness this hellhole. Visions and voices erupted in her mind.

"You better breathe in a lungful of air before your face turns blue like Fish-face, kunoichi, yeah."

Kindness.

"So that's what Kisame got the bruise from. I gotta hand it to you, yeah."

Approval.

"Pinky here is a fighter, yeah."

Amusement.

"Yeah man. From when does Uchiha force himself on women, yeah?"

Hilarity.

"Why don't you just agree, yeah? You are stuck with us either way."

Good humored.

"Where do you think you are going, yeah?"

Non-judgmental.

"Just how striking the blood looks coming down your cute little nose."

Creepy.

"Give her a break, Fish-face. She was being careless and bumped into me, yeah."

Lenient.

"It'll be our little secret, yeah."

Crazy.

"You look like you could do with some food in your system, yeah."

Nice.

"About Sasori-danna, don't be so uncomfortable, yeah."

Understanding.

"No, not really. Sasori-danna was the friend that I never had, yeah."

Human.

He was the closest to friend that she could claim to have around here, where loneliness and fear and home-sickness was her sole companions.

"You have enough chakra, heal yourself, yeah." Deidara's voice bought her back to the living world.

She blinked stupidly, "Huh?"

"Heal yourself, would you?" He said crossing his hands over his chest, refusing to look at her.

Sakura bit in the smile that threatened to spill, "And why is that? Don't tell me you are feeling guilty as well."

Sakura laughed at how childish he looked glaring at her like that, his nose flared in the process. She raised her hand in surrender and said through her laughter, "Fine, fine. I get it. Deidara-sama never regrets!"

"Hm."

Sakura could only laugh harder at his antics as she bought the healing chakra from her pitiful chakra reserve and concentrated it on the tips of her fingertips. She watched as Deidara turned his full attention to her fingertips and watched it over in awe. His eyes followed her every movement in silence as she bought her hand up her throat and pushed the chakra to fuse with her skin.

The redness on her skin immediately began to disappear and when the chakra flickered out from her hand, there was only unblemished skin left on its wake.

"Impressive, yeah." Deidara remarked once she was done.

Sakura smiled at him, "It's not so impressive if you are good in controlling chakra and once you understand how simple it really is."

Deidara chuckled, "That's not it. The technique can be as simple as anything, that doesn't matter."

She blinked, curious now as to what the blond nin was actually impressed about, and found herself asking, "What do you mean?"

"...The effect of your chakra molded into your healing jutsu is fleeting. It's not a blast, yeah," He broke into a grin that made her insides churn, "But it's a art!"

Sakura thought she understood him, and laughed at the thought. Deidara gave her a side-long look, "What is it, yeah?"

Sakura shook her head as she laughed softly again, "Just how funny it seems that I actually understood your perception," she could feel his eyes on her as she closed her eyes, "Even yesterday I was thinking how I will never be able to understand the thoughts of people such as yourself. It is," she contemplated over the right word, "strange how I do understand it if I think about it twice."

He nodded, understanding the meaning behind her words.

"Do you want to learn how it works?"

He blinked, "How what works, yeah?"

"The medical jutsu...?"

This time Deidara broke out laughing and Sakura suddenly realized how welcomed his laughter felt. She found herself smiling softly at him as he howled with laughter, not failing to remind her sharply about home and Naruto.

At last when Deidara sat up straight, brushing the tears of his lashes, "Oh, Sakura-chan! Fish-face was right, you are one of a kind, yeah!" He exclaimed.

Sakura arched a brow, "Why? What's so amusing about what I said?"

He looked at her incredulously, "Here you are offering to teach a killer how to heal! And you ask what's so amusing, yeah?"

And then he broke out laughing once again. Sakura crossed her hands over her chest and stuck up her nose in the air, "Hmph!"

But he was right; it did seem very bizarre to teach a killer how to heal. She really should think twice before voicing her words!

'It is all very ironic, no?' She thought bitterly to herself.

"Sasori must have been so mad that he was defeated by someone so young," he suddenly mused looking at her with an open intensity that made her fidget.

"But I had help, from Chiyo-baa-san," she reminded him, fiddling with her fingers like Hinata did all the time.

"Still. Sasori was one of the very best. He would have wanted you to be proud of it, yeah."

She thought of the retort building up in her mouth, that she didn't care about what Sasori wanted or didn't want her to be. Feeling rather uncomfortable now, she muttered, "I'm not that good. I had help, that's all."

He gave her an exasperated look. "Akatsuki only takes in the best, yeah."

"Akatsuki is not recruiting me!" Her tone was sharp and made Deidara blink twice before flashing a bitter smile.

Sakura frowned and repeated her words under her breathe, "Akatsuki is not recruiting me. I am merely...I-I..." she trailed off. Yes, what exactly was she doing with the Akatsuki?

"Look at me," Deidara's voice was mild and she easily found herself following his direction and met his cerulean eyes, "No one is judging you here, yeah."

She swallowed and then nodded, not knowing what else to say. It was hard for her to accept that she would be helping the cause of Akatsuki...It just didn't suit her. But she was helping them, right; somehow or another?

'Willingly or unwillingly?'

In order to lighten the mood and even more so to distract herself from getting lost into dark thoughts that would surely reduce her into sobbing, she began as lightly as her grief would allow, "So, you use those mouths on your palms to mold your clays into birds, huh?"

He bought forward his hand and unclenched them, palm facing upwards to reveal a smiling mouth. It was the first time she had seen it close up. Her medical side kicked in as she stared at the mouth with interest. She was almost twitching to ask him to let her inspect it.

He must have sensed it, because he grinned, "You want to take a closer look at it, yeah?"

She nodded. But to her dismay, his grin widened and he curled his fingers into a fist, blocking the mouth from her sight. "Now why should I show you, yeah?"

Her eyes narrowed, "Why won't you show me?"

"Because it's my technique, and it's just stupid to let just anyone take a good look at it," he declared rather haughtily.

"I'm not just anyone!"

Deidara looked very amused at her words, and it began to register on her mind what her words really meant. She huffed, "Fine. The next time you're dying, I won't bother patching you up."

This made Deidara laugh and at length he gave up, brushing a tear off his lashes, "Fine, you can see it, yeah."

Just as Sakura pulled his hand to her in keen interest, her green eyes glowing with enthusiasm for the first time in a while, Deidara suddenly seemed to freeze making her ears perk up immediately. Unknowingly she lowered her voice to a whisper and asked, "What is it?"

Deidara pressed his finger to his lips as a signal to keep quiet and she did as he said. He was putting his mechanical eye-piece back on as he rose to his feet. Sakura followed his suit, careful to be silent. Deidara jumped down the roof, sliding and them landing on the ground noiselessly and Sakura followed his suit. Immediately her eyes fell on the two other shadows standing on the vicinity of the porch. Kisame and Itachi.

"Where is Tobi, yeah?" Deidara asked the Mist-nin, not even sparing a glance at the Uchiha.

Kisame regarded Sakura with his dark, soulless eyes which seemed to be lightened in a way that she had never witnessed it. Then a small smirk curled at the corner of his lips and he snapped his attention back at the blond male, "He had gone scouting the area. We have company." Kisame smacked his lips in what Sakura realized with disgust, was anticipation.

And then the most terrible thought occurred to her; what if it was her comrades coming to rescue her, although it was unlikely given the small amount of time that had transpired in between? But the dread that pooled in her stomach and clenched in a painful knot made her head spin. Logic flew out of the window.

"Who is it? What country?" She found her voice strange and raspy. Has Naruto and Kakashi and the others come for her? Was she finally going to be saved from this mess and relieved of the burden that had been thrust upon her by the likes of the Akatsuki?

All three pair of eyes turned to her, observing her, before Kisame said, "We haven't confirmed yet, but you had better keep your hopes to yourself," and then he had the nerve to flash her a grin, showing off his pointy rows of teeth.

She felt like she would get sick with all the suspense.

This time Itachi spoke to her, "Whatever their origins maybe, they will not be spared, kunoichi." His vivid red eyes were even more beautiful in the contrast of the dark night as it shone clearly into her mind, "Do you understand?"

No, she didn't understand, she wanted to yell back at him. But fear for her life, for the lives of the shinobi, possibly her own comrades, rendered her voice useless. All she could do was swallow down the bile that threatened to rise up her throat.

For the next few minutes no one moved, and Sakura was rooted to the spot, her ears perked up for any kind of noise. But there was none. And just as she was about to let the air escape from her lungs, a howl of a dog, or a fox, or a man, she didn't dare think, sounded from far away.

"Deidara, remain here with the kunoichi." Itachi's instruction was firm and before Deidara could open his mouth to protest, he and his aquatic partner had disappeared in the dark of the night. All kinds of horrible thoughts rose to her mind and she found herself on her knees on the ground, her head buried in her arms.

Deidara stooped down to her and said softly, "Don't worry. For all you know, they aren't Leaf."

She raised her head, meeting his eyes with her widened emerald ones where panic lurked evidently and she whispered fervently, "And what if they are Leaf?"

Her answer was in silence.

Sakura's mind whirled and she felt sick to her stomach. The thought of Itachi or Kisame or Tobi ripping apart one of her comrades' head made bile rise up her mouth. She gagged. Deidara's hands immediately rose to support her back as she dipped her head and threw up everything that she had eaten.

When she raised her head with a determination burning deep inside her and met Deidara's gaze, there was only so much gentleness in them. She gulped.

How could she do this to him when he showed her kindness after kindness? Steeling herself, she admonished herself for letting emotions get a hold of her again in the face of an obvious enemy. She had to do what she had to do. Her life was back in Konoha with her loved ones, not with Deidara or this criminal organization.

Forcing back the tears in her eyes, she took in a couple of deep breathes. Deidara noticing the tears on her lashes, brushed them away, "What is it, yeah?" He was gentle in taking her body in his arms as he wrapped his arms around her, tracing soothing strokes on her back. He brought his mouth to her ears, his warm breath tingling in her ears as she closed her eyes in guilt and trembled with silent sobs.

"Shsssh, don't cry. Everything will be alright, yeah," he whispered softly.

Sakura opened her eyes, determination shining in her watery orbs. She had to what she had to do. This was her only chance. Pushing back her sobs, she fell limp in his arms, letting his warmth engulf her. Raising her hand behind him, she bit her lips. He would never see the blow coming if she was quick enough.

"I'm sorry, Deidara," was the last words Deidara heard escape the pinkette's mouth before a sharp pain hit the nerve on his neck and he slumped down before anything registered in his mind.

Sakura looked down at the dark pile of what was Deidara at her feet. She couldn't understand the continuous tear that poured down her cheeks despite her adamant wishes to stop them. Stooping to check his pulse, she concluded in satisfaction that she had just knocked him out as intended and not killed him by hitting the wrong nerve in her rush. Tucking his long blonde back off his face, Sakura whispered a soft goodbye in his ears and mentally apologized to him for all the wrongs she has ever done to him.

Deciding it was not wise to waste any more time, lest she was intercepted; she rose and began to walk away from him, from the house that had imprisoned her for the last three days.

The urge to glance back was overwhelming, but the determination to escape was greater. Crouching low to let the long gold crops hide her from the substantial view, she performed the necessary seal to hide the pitiful amount of chakra she had conserved within her. The little amount of chakra wouldn't serve her very well, instead would draw attention to her and get her into more trouble than it was worth.

Creating two clones, that was as much as she could afford without passing out from chakra exhaustion, she silently motioned them to spread out in different directions. The faint sounds of battles were coming from the direction of far South. So she sent one of her clone to the East and one to the West and she herself took the route to the North.

She had never been in the vicinity of Rice Country before and therefore didn't have the first clue as to where she was or where she could go. As far as she could assume was that they were in the county side, the deserted part mind you, because Akatsuki would definitely keep away from the more populated part of the Country. And that was bad news for her, because the further she was away from people, the more trouble she could fall into. At least among people she could try to blend in, perhaps with a simple henge.

So Sakura expanded her senses over the area, making a mental map of the place, but in vain. There was nothing there except fields after fields for miles all around. She cursed herself and then the Akatsuki.

She crouched low and ran as fast as her legs would carry her without the aid of chakra for hours. The battle cries from the South had long since faded. She wondered if it was indeed Leaf nin that the Akatsuki were fighting against, and wondered if they had given the Akatsuki a hard time or had the rouges killed them without a blink of an eye. She wondered if Deidara had woken up by now and was in a frenzy seeing her missing. She wondered if the others had returned by now and found her missing and if Itachi had taken it as his responsibility to punish Deidara. She cringed at the thought, it sounded just like something the elder Uchiha would do. She mentally apologized to Deidara for the trouble she had surely gotten him into again.

Vaguely she wondered that although she had left behind the Akatsuki, if her heart would ever leave the naive Tobi, or the easy-going Deidara, or the brutish Kisame, or even the dark Uchiha. She doubted she could ever forget the compassion in Tobi, or the friend in Deidara. Maybe she would try to forget the cruelty in Kisame's looks, but never could forget the gleam in them whenever he regarded her, as if he was infinitely amused by her. And Itachi, he seemed to take her breath away every time he looked at her with his intense eyes bleeding red in all its deadliness. Could she ever forget the fear, the pounding heart, the thrill that his mere look drilled into her? She thought not.

Eventually, when she decided that she had put enough distance between her and her captors behind, she slowed her sprint and dropped her pace to a walk. She could feel the exhaustion creeping up to her, but knew that she could not risk to rest now, for Akatsuki could catch up to her anytime now.

She didn't have any bag on her; the tiny bag-pack she had from her mission that seemed like ages ago, had been left behind in fear that the slightest waste of time could result to her missing her only chance of escaping. And now she found herself wishing that she had bought it with her as she licked her parched lips and swallowed to wet her dry, aching throat. She was hungry even. She groaned.

Dawn was just breaking over the horizon, the night sky turning lighter bit by bit. The night had been passed with Sakura making a fair amount of progress and there was yet no sign of any black cloaks dotted with red clouds. It was a good sign. She sighed and decided that it was safe to rest for a little while.

She sat down, having nothing to rest her back; she flexed her muscles and moaned as the knots came loose. With nothing else to do, she thought it was time to check on her clones and the progress they had made. Closing her eyes she poured the faintest bit of chakra in her hands and did the seals.

Sakura was shocked when she opened her eyes through one of her clones that she had sent East. There stood Kisame, with a sadistic grin etched on his gray lips eyeing her clone in pure amusement. He barked out a laugh and then bought up his sword and dashed it towards her. Sakura just had the time to draw back from her clone's mind as she felt a tug within her signaling that Kisame had put an end to it.

Gritting her teeth she proceeded to check on the clone she sent to the West and wasn't really surprised to see Deidara standing in front of her, his brows pulled into a frown, his arms crossed over his chest as he sulked making him look like a spoiled kid. She noted that he wasn't harmed and sighed in content knowing that Itachi had not harmed him as she had feared. That was the only good news about the situation. She drew back from the mind of the clone, not wishing to witness what Deidara might do to her clone. He looked pretty pissed.

If Kisame had intercepted her clone in the East and Deidara at the West, that left Tobi and Itachi to go to the North and South. She closed her eyes and with a sinking feeling of defeat, Sakura knew who it would be that came for her even before she saw his shadow looming over her.

"Uchiha-san," she heaved a sigh, her heart suddenly felt very heavy.

"Hn."

"Do I have to go back?" She asked feebly, letting the exhaustion finally taking a hold over her, as the last strings of determination drained away from her mind, and the adrenaline that she had been acting on vanished from her system.

"Hn."

She closed her eyes, letting the exhaustion creep up to veins.

"What does that even mean, yes or no?" She found herself asking in a whisper, welcoming the darkness that came over her with open arms.

"Hn."

"Is Deidara angry with me?" She asked, her eyes suddenly flying open against her body's painful protests.

"Hn."

Sakura sighed, letting her eyes drop again as she found the action difficult in her present condition. She smiled bitterly at the thought of freedom that seemed to very eager to escape her, as she fell back on the soft bed of gold. She felt her eyelids getting heavier by the second and lowered them.

Before her eyes could completely close off from the world, she hazily saw Itachi leaning down over her. His dark robes cascading over her, giving her a taste of the warmth that only radiated off him, she felt his lips gaze softly against her ears sending a fuzzily numb sensation throughout her body.

"And don't you want to know if I am angry with you?"

"..."

Uchiha Itachi was very angry with her; she had seen it in those beautiful eyes of his.

To be continued

A/N: Thanks a million for the reviews you guys left last chapter! I have exams going on, so haven't gotten the time to read over this chapter, but posted it anyways. I'll tie up the loose ends later on. Anyways, enjoyed? Review!