Chapter 8: Fight

It was three hours since the departure of the five from the inn. They had made their way to a forest where Sakura was unsure of walking on, since it looked more like a jungle with all the drak plants and some snakes. Birds were there as well, but at least there weren't any tigers or wolves or any other big animals for that.

Deidara who was in front of the group stopped and formed seals. Five seconds later, you could see a 2-storey house with a tall wall and barbed wires connected to it. 'A genjutsu to hide their hideout?' Sakura thought

The blonde then knocked at the wooden door and a swirly-masked man came into view, wearing black clothes. "Ah, Deidara-sempai!" said the guy

"Let us go in now Tobi, it's nearing nightfall." Kisame said to the man whose name was apparently Tobi.

Tobi only nodded and let them pass but stared at Sakura for a second but then locked the door once again.

The house was quite big but it was dark since the walls were painted dark gray.Her eyes drooped in sleepiness and Itachi had taken notice of this and told her to sleep in his room on the second floor, the on on the farthest right.

Sakura nodded her head and thanked him as she made her way to the room and stripped her clothing, for they were indeed dirty and muddy. Not having the strenght to get other clothes, she slipped herself under the cover with her nighties on.


"I see you've awoken." Itachis voice was heard as he simply watched the pink-haired kunoichi rub her eyes.

Sitting up, green eyes met the figure with crimson eyes, leaning on the window sill, clad in a simple shirt and his usual pants. Itachi shifted his eyes away from her as he looked down the open window. The sky was bright already and she deemed the time to be afternoon. 'Have I really slept that long?' she asked herself

Sakura stood up and brought Itachis attention back to her, a smirk quickly formed on his face. "You're clothes are dirty. Use the ones in the bathroom." he said

Sakura blushed, knowing she was only wearing her undergarments... again. A soft 'hmph' was heard from her as she made her way to the bathroom to change, closing the door and making sure to lock it.

Itachi only stared at the door before he went out of the room.


Sakura turned the knob for the hot water to come out from the shower head. Once she felt satisfied about the temperature of the water, she quickly undressed and went inside the shower, rinsing off.

'You probably should scrub too, since you did sleep with Itachi half-naked.' inner Sakura said

Sakura blushed and grit her teeth. "Stop reminding me. Even though I like him, it's not right to think about thoughts like that." she said aloud but not loud enough to hear through the other side of the door leading to the bathroom.

'What? Since when did you like him?' inner Sakura asked shocked

The kunoichis eyes widened, "What!" she asked herself

'You said, 'even though I like him, it's not right to think about thoughts like that.' What the fuck? How could you think like that?' inner Sakura frantically said

'Shut up! I didn't mean it! I just... just... nevermind.' she told her inner self

She got a towel, wetted it and scrub it with soap before she scrubbed herself with it, hoping to get rid of the thoughts that was creeping to her mind about proofs of her liking the elder Uchiha.

After about 15 minutes, she dressed up in a black shirt that was a bit big for her small frame and the same spandex shorts, same length as hers since this was her extra. She would always bring extra clothes whenever on mission cause that's just one of the things shinobis must carry every so often when on missions. That's why the undergarments she was wearing right now were not smelly.


Sakura walked down the wooden stairs, her feet making soft thumps as she made her way to the kitchen. She was drying her pink-hair with the white towelette she found inside the bathroom. How she found it was quite funny.

After dressing up she quickly looked around to find a window for an escape and when she found one, her eyes twinkled. It was just beside the shower stall, so she quickly got up and stepped on the covered toilet bowl, tip-toeing to look out the window then down. Unfortunately, escape wasn't a good plan since down the window was a hundred feet below into a never-ending cliff edge.

Sighing in defeat, she jumped from the toilet bowl not fully grasping the idea that the floor was wet due to her previous shower.

Trying to regain her balance, she quickly grabbed hold of the iron bar that held towelettes on it.

So it was kinda weird, but at least she found another dry towel.

As she was nearing the kitchen, she could smell the aroma of cooked fish. When she stepped inside, she saw Itachi and Deidara in there. Itachi eating onigiris while Deidara was busy with preparing the cooked fish, whistling some random tune. He was wearing a white over-sized shirt and their trademark baggy pants.

The blonde took a sideway glance to get a plate when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura. A grin appeared on his face, the whistling stopped as he motioned for her to come to him.

Sakura smiled at him, Itachi only ignored the two, continuously eating his onigiri. "Good morning, Deidara."

"I cooked some fish for you, Sakura-chan... yeah!" Deidara stated as he pushed the plate of cooked fish to her which she gladly accepted.

The two sat on the circular table, Deidara beside Sakura who was facing Itachi.

They exchanged some questions and answers, except for Itachi who began to drink his tea. Although at some point during their conversation a sudden question from Deidara piqued Itachis interest as Sakura only lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Ne, Sakura-chan? Do you like someone in the Akatsuki... yeah?" Deidara asked the blushing kunoichi

Itachi stared at her with impassive eyes, the tea-cup held up to his face covering his mouth and the lower part of his nose, so that his eyes were the only ones you could see.

Well I... " Sakura thought about answering Deidaras question, she liked Deidara so why couldn't she answer that? The thing is, it would mean something different to her when you would normally ask her like that. It's as the question being asked is, do you love someone? "I... don't... have anyone in my mind, yet. But if it's the opposite, I'd say fish-face is the scariest of them all! " She said to Deidara giggling.

Deidara just stared at her, blinking a couple of times and then he laughed. Itachi felt his lips twitch into a smirk but hid it right away. He got up from his seat and deposited his plate and tea cup on the sink, knowing Tobi would take care of them later.

Sakura turned to looks at Itachi who was already at the doorframe, "Itachi?"

The Uchiha didn't turn to her but replied nevertheless, "Training." Then he left

The confused face of Sakura made Deidara smile at her, "After you finish eating, I'll take you to the training grounds... yeah?"

Sakura smiled a thanks to him and resumed eating.


'Sunlight never felt better.' Sakura thought as she spread her arms to feel the warmth of the sun. She looked around the area and sure enough, it was filled with kunai, senbons and shurikens, scattered all over. The grassy field was just right to be a training area, but it wasn't too big.

"This way Sakura-chan." Deidara said as he lead her to the other side of the field where she watched as Kisame and Itachi fought using taijutsu. Although, she concluded that they were allowed to use weapons as well, since Itachi threw a kunai at kisame which he barely dodged, saving him from a deep wound to his left shoulder. Itachi had such great aim, Sakura could not deny that.

A second later she found Kisame with a kunai pointed at his throat by Itachi who was behing him.

"You win." Kisame said as he walked over to where Sakura and Deidara were, mumbling things like 'why do I even bother' or 'he always does' which earned a laugh from Deidara.

Itachi walked over to them and only then did Sakura realized, he wasn't wearing any shirt at all. Just the usual pants along with the sandals.

"Oi, Deidara, when are Hidan and Kakuzu be coming back?" Kisame asked the blonde who put a finger to his chin

"Late afternoon tomorrow. Leader said he wanted to talk to them... yeah." Deidara replied

Sakura thought about the two new Akatsuki memebrs she had just heard from Deidara and Kisame. 'So, the other two are coming here as well.'

Itachi drank water from the bottle Deidara tossed him, some of it streaming down outside his mouth and down to his chin and...

Sakura shook her head, finiding herself entranced where the water was going. 'I didn't think that.' she told herself

Itachi only rose an eyebrow at the caught action but later dismissed it as he turned his attention to the frantic cries of Tobi.

Sasori and he were actually sparring, but it was more on the lines of Sasori trying to kill Tobi with his puppets of which was armed with sharp swords and other weaponry.

"Tobi... seems to be losing, doesn't he... yeah?" Deidara said as he just stared at his so-called danna, Sasori who had such an angry look plastered on his face.

"I wonder what that fool did this time." Kisame grunted before he fell into laughter

Deidara laughed as well as they saw Tobi on the ground, unfortunate enough to bump into a tree while running around.

Sakura didn't get what was happening for she knew, that sooner or later, there's gonna be bloodshed. This ain't the Akatsuki she knows. 'Bah! Who said I knew Akatsuki anyways!' she thought

Itachi crossed his arms as he leaned his back on the wall, just beside Sakura, a towel dangling around his neck. "Fool indeed."

Sakura giggled at the Akatsuki members. It felt as if she was back in Konoha and that these guys were not the bad guys, you think you know. If only life would be like that. Deidara would bew best friends with Naruto as well. They're both so hyper! Sasori might live in Suna again. And then Kisame can help in fishing. And then Itachi will be with…

'Sasuke-kun…'

Her eyes then narrowed in sadness. She remembered him again. Why wouldn't she anyway? She devoted her life to him and she is still doing so. She wanted to get him back and she wouldn't back down from that. She and Naruto made that promise that they would bring him back.

Deidara, noticing her expression smirked. Itachi, however, did not like the glint of his eye. Kisame only looked at the now calmed Sasori as he made his way towards them along with Tobi, whimpering behind him a few feet away.

"Ne, Sakura-chan… yeah…" Deidara called out to the contemplating kunoichi

Sakura made no response however, as she kept on thinking how she could get Sasuke back and how can she tell him to not fight Itachi anymore, which was very hard to come up with at that.

"Pinky!" Kisame called out

Itachi and Sasori glanced at the kunoichi, not caring whether she responded or not. Tobi just tilted his head in confusion, watching the whole gang trying to get Sakuras attention.

"Sakura-chan.. yeah? Deidara tried to call again, but nevertheless it was futile. He then walked in front of her and lifted his hand to brush some of herbangs from her face and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"De-Deidara?" she squeaked out at their close proximities

Itachi only narrowed his eyes at the two, Kisame snickered and Sasori remained passive. Tobi wasn't sure what to think.

"Ne, Kisame-san? Is Deidara-sempai hitting on her?" Tobi asked Kisame who only choked in laughter

Sakura heard it and blushed while Deidara took his hand away from her face.

"Were you gonna tell me something?" asked Sakura who looked completely clueless to the situation, but still blushing at the contact that Deidara had made and the question earlier asked by Tobi.

"Ah… fight me… yeah?" Deidara asked Sakura casually

Every ones attention was brought back to the two at the instant they heard that. Deidara kept grinning, knowing how they would've react once he had asked Sakura that. He didn't intend to get the attention of everyone, it was more of in the manner that he wanted to see Sakura fight. She was with akatsuki for quite some time now, and he knew she could be a little rusty. What better time to train her and analyze how she fights. It's the perfect chance.

"Fight you? W-why?" Sakura asked flabbergasted

Deidara shrugged his shoulders, "They got their chance to spar… yeah…" he said pointing to the others. "So do you accept… yeah?" he asked hopefully

Sakura didn't know if it was a good idea since they could pinpoint the weaknesses of her ability to fight and if she escapes, they might use it on her. Who was she kidding? Her against most of the Akatsuki? She'd definitely crumble. So what the heck? "Alright then." She agreed and smiled as she saw the happy look on Deidaras face. She glanced at Itachi who was looking away from her with a scowl on his face. Her smile faded a bit at that.

"Alright then, let's get started… yeah?" Deidara asked Sakura as he threw his shirt on the ground and got into position

Sakura didn't look away from Deidara but couldn't help the blush creeping up her cheeks when she found out he had a well-built body. Not too muscular but he almost had the perfect body like Itachi had. Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts she asked Deidara, "Are we only doing taijutsu?"

Deidara shook his head, "You can use weapons if you want. But, you could use ninjutsu as well and genjutsu… yeah. Is that alright with you… yeah?" he asked Sakura

Sakura nodded her head and she got into her stance. Deidara then trew a puch of weaopns for her to use and she strapped it at her back as he did so with his own. Itachi was still leaning on the wall, his face impassive but he was a bit interested at where the fight was going to. Kisame sat on the grass sake bottle in hand, probably ordered from the inn's bar. Tobi sat beside him drinking a cup of tea, while Sasori was under the tree, beside Tobi, watching the scene with a smirk on his face. He knew the extent of Sakuras power but he wouldn't dare say it to Deidara, just to make the fight more interesting.

Sakura and Deidara crouched into position and then after 5 seconds they both took off. Sakura tried to kick Deidara but he managed to grip her ankle to stop her and smirked. Sakura didn't frown but instead smirked as well as another Sakura grabbed his feet from under the ground. He was nearly pulled fully under but he formed a clone fortunately.

A rather quick punch was aimed as his jaw but he did got to sweep Sakura with his foot and she fell down on her back.

The sound of Kisames laughter could be heard and the smirk of Sasori could be seen as well. Itachi and Tobi watched with interest as Sakura got up and punched Deidara in the gut.

His body slid a few feet from her and he put his hand on his stomacj coughing from the impact. "That was a nice punch, Sakura-chan... yeah..." he said to the pink-haired female who only smiled in return.

"My plaesure." Sakura said as she raised her fist and punched the ground before her feet. The earth crumbled with the force and chakra explosion that came from her fist but Deidara managed to avoid it.

He whistled in astonishment and smirked at the smirking Sakura, who was currently nervous with the whole thing. Sure, she may have the upper-hand now, but she knew Deidara was holding back.

A second later a hoarse whisper was heard from her left, "Don't let your guard doen, Sakura-chan... yeah..."

Sakura turned around to find Deidara right behind her a kunai pointing directly at her throat. She sighed in exhaustion.

"I win... yeah?" Deidara asked Sakura who only smiled and closed her eyes

Kisames eyes widen and Tobi emitted a gasp. Sasori frowned and Itachi smirked. Reactions to the stunt that the kunoichi pulled.

Deidara felt a thin cold metal that was somehow pricking his neck. His eye widened as the Sakura before him turned into smoke.

"Nope, I think I won this round Deidara." Sakura said from behind the blonde

Deidara sighed in defeat and raised his hands in surrender, "That was a nice spar... yeah." he said as he turned to Sakura-chan who retracted the senbon in her hand back into the pouch of weapons Deidara let her borrow. She gave the pouch back to Deidara who smiled at her.

"It was fun." Sakura said, "Cause I get to beat another Akatsuki member." she said tauntingly for only Deidara to hear

the blondes eye twitched at her statement and grinned evilly, "Sakura-chan... you do know that I held back... yeah?" he asked containing his anger

Childish antics began to take over her as she innocently nodded her head. "Un... but... I still won." Sakura said

"Why you little--"

Sakura began to run as Deidara chased her. A cough was heard from Sasori and as soon as he got both of Deidara and Sakuras attention, he motioned his head to Itachi who entered the house once again leaving the five of them to stare at his fading figure.

"Dinner then?" Kisame asked

Tobi nodded and got up to prepare dinner. Kisame followed and Sasori later as well. Deidara was about to go in but stopped as he saw Sakura gazing at the sky with distant eyes. Did she still want to escape? Was the thought that ran through his mind. He called out to her and they both entered the house once again.


Miakoda13: I'M TELLING YOU TO NOT THROW THAT KUNAI YOU'RE HOLDING AT ME! I know I haven't updated for awhile... okay, so 2 months! But heck, major writers block! And people if I may say... I revised the whole chapter 8 just yesterday, once again... since I re-read the original chapter 8 but felt something missing.

This is longer than the last chapter and I hope you appreciate it. Sorry for the grammar and spelling mistakes you can see there. I was in a rush and I'll re-read it later. Right now, as I promised, I'd get the chapter up after 5 days. So here.

There is a lot of DeiSaku fluff here don't ya think? But sorry to those who wants more, but their relationship will just stay as friends.

The chapter that I feel excited the most to write about is coming up soon so please continue to read the fic! XDDDDDD I appreciate all you guys reading and reviweing the fic! Makes my world happy happy!

I'll be responding to signed users by the reply button and the anonymous reviewers (even with e-mails) at the end of my A/N's

Review Replies:

Angela--thank you! and I finally updated!

Silantiver--that is true... there are many stories with that. But I find myself thrilled with it, but of course... there will be the drak sides of Itachi which you never can miss mostly. Thanks for the review and it really does help me! hugs you

Aiko-chan--well, it didn't come soon and I'd robably be fending off dogs ready to bite me for not doing so. . But anyways, I thank you for your review!

Kathy Mclane--thanks for that! XDDDD And about the assumption for how will Sasuke believe it, let's just see what happens in the future chapters.

Deidaras-Girl--You've offered me enough with the review you gave me! Thank you!

Kalin--Thanks for the choir! XDDDD I imagined it in my hand and I got the lyrics you gave me messed up though, hahahahahahahaha!

Gaata killing demon--PLAESE DON'T DO IT! Gyah! I don't want to be forced into kidneys! Gaaaaaahhhhhhh! I upated! I'm so sorry it took so long, but here it is anyways! XDDDD Hope you like it and do not mutilate my body.

sailorchick23--puppy eyes... oh no... I'm falling for it, gah! You made me update as well! XDDDD Thanks anyways!

I'm so glad you guys took the time to at least greet me! hugs all of you My real life friends didn't even greet me on that day except for one . Oh well, that just makes me feel so unloved... --