---
"I hear your team quit on you." Kakashi said paying for her ramen.
"Yeah, I heard something like that too. I also heard they died, not sure who made up that one." She said with a laugh.
"You do realise you've been through three teams in about a month." Kakashi said looking at her.
She nodded, "I know. But I guess this will keep happening till I get the right team. How's Sasuke?"
Kakashi laughed at her, "He's good, training too hard."
"You know that he wants to kill Itachi right." She said watching Kakashi.
"Yes. He said something about that today. Is that why you didn't come back from your mission with Itachi in a body bag?" Kakashi said in between mouthfuls of ramen.
"Yes, I'm not going to get in the way of Sasuke's dream." She said taking a mouthful of her ramen.
The two ate in silence before she spoke again, "I miss having him around..."
"Who Sasuke? He lives down the road from you Lei. I'm sure he'd love a visit from you." Kakashi watched as she shook her head.
"No, Itachi." There was a pause before Kakashi spoke again.
"Lei, I know you do... But you always manage to pull through. You'll do it again." Kakashi said putting his hand on her shoulder.
She nodded, "Kaka... Wanna be on my team?"
Kakashi smiled, "You never stop asking do you?"
"Nope!" She said with a smile, "I'm going to keep asking until you say yes."
---
Deidara was carrying one unconscious Leiko into the Akatsuki lair, "HELP!" He yelled as he burst into the lounge room. Itachi jumped to his feet and saw Leiko in his arms.
"Is she...?" He asked staring at her limp figure.
Deidara shook his head, "She has a faint heartbeat. But I'm not sure how long she'll be able to hold on."
"Um... Here put her on the couch, Kisame go find Kakuzu!" Itachi said cleaning up the couch.
Deidara placed her down on the couch and watched in awe as Itachi took over the whole situation.
Sasori walked into the room, "What's all the commotion?" He spied Leiko laying on the couch, "She's not dead is she?"
Itachi shook his head, "Kisame's gone to find Kakuzu."
"Itachi, didn't Kakuzu and Hidan go bounty hunting this morning?" Itachi's eyes opened wide as he realised what Sasori had said, they had no doctor, the one time they really needed one.
Kisame ran back into the lounge room, "Itachi, he's no where to be found."
Itachi checked her pulse, it was still there but it was getting weaker and weaker, "Sasori... We need... We need some adrenaline."
Sasori nodded and walked away, Kisame looked at Itachi, "How do you know that will work?"
"I'm hoping." He said as Deidara looked up at him, "Don't worry, she's strong. She'll pull through."
The door in the lounge room opened and Kakuzu stormed in followed by a angry Hidan, "Fucking Kakuzu and his fucking bounty hunting that gets us fucking no where!"
Kakuzu saw Leiko laying on the couch, "Itachi... What's going on?"
"She's dying!" Deidara cried out, everyone looked at him, "Kakashi's lighting blade struck her, over her heart..."
Kakuzu pushed everyone out of his way, and checked her pulse, "Deidara, how long has she been out?"
Deidara thought for a moment, "About half an hour, I got here as soon as I could." He looked up when Sasori came back into the room.
Kakuzu listened carefully to her heartbeat, it was slowly down and beating at irregular intervals.
"Kakuzu, here. It's adrenaline." Sasori said handing him a syringe.
He took the syringe and injected it's contents into her arm, "This should wake her up."
There was a long silence in the room, Leiko slowly opened her eyes, and everyone breathed a breath of relief.
"Deidara... I'm sorry...." She mumbled incoherently.
"It wont last long, and she probably wont make it. So I suggest everyone says their goodbyes now." Kakuzu said walking out of the room.
Hidan pushed in front of everyone, "You could join Jashin, you'd be safe then!"
"No! She'll become a puppet!" Sasori said pushing Hidan out of the way.
Itachi moved in front of them while they continued their bickering on how best to save Leiko.
"Tachi... Sasuke... He's gotten strong." She said with a smile. Itachi looked at her and smiled.
"Lei, thanks for looking out for him. You've done well." He said motioning for Deidara to talk to her.
Deidara moved and grabbed hold of her hand, as Leader-sama's face appeared on the wall.
"Deidara, Leiko. Report to my office now." And as soon as he had appeared, he had disappeared.
Itachi looked at Deidara, as he slowly stood up, walking away from everyone, avoiding eye contact.
"Deidara..." Leiko whispered, Itachi drew closer.
"Lei, he'll be back soon. I promise." Itachi said holding onto her hand.
She felt herself getting weaker, she was struggling to breathe, and everything was slowly getting blurry.
"Tachi!" she called out, panic running across her face, "I can't breathe!"
Itachi looked at her, and looked towards the door, Deidara was still nowhere to be seen, "Lei, I'm right here, calm down."
She nodded slowly and tried to breathe, every breath she took was shorter and sharper as it entered her lungs.
"Tachi... Can you do something for me?"
Itachi looked at her, and nodded, "Anything."
"Tell, Deidara that I love him." She closed her eyes, and drew her last breath.
Itachi shook her, looking for a pulse, Sasori and Hidan stopped bickering and looked over at the panicked Uchiha, "LEI! TELL HIM YOURSELF!" He was screaming, shaking her, hoping that somehow she'd wake back up from the endless sleep.
Sasori turned around to see Deidara in the doorway, he could hear Itachi's screams from half way down the hall and had run the rest of the way.
Itachi looked up, and saw tears in Deidara's eyes, "No! It can't be!" He said running over to the couch.
Deidara shook Leiko, Itachi moved away, watching Deidara, "Lei! Wake up! Your joke isn't funny anymore!" He was shouting.
"Deidara, she's gone." Sasori said, getting cold looks from everyone.
"She can't be..." Deidara turned back and looked at Leiko's body, laying limp on the couch.
"Deidara, she wanted me to tell you something..." Itachi said quietly.
"What!" Deidara snapped back, watching the Uchiha.
"She told me to tell you... That she loved you..." Itachi said crumbling to the floor.
A tear ran down Deidara's face, as he pulled the Akatsuki ring off her finger and replaced it with a different ring, "I love you too Lei."
---
"Mother that's a very pretty ring you have." She said admiring her mother's ring.
"Your Father gave it to me, when we got engaged. Someday you'll have one just as nice." Her mother said thinking back on the moment.
Okay, I know that this fanfiction wasn't really all that long. But to make up for that, I will write some OneShots off this if you like. I'll keep the poll open for a month or so, and at the end of the month, I will write a OneShot, if not two. Depends on how the results pan out.
Thanks for reading =]
Reviews would be nice, but I don't expect them.
Cheers,
PinkSpiderFelix
