Hey everyone! I'm back!

:'( You might wanna go back and just read the end of the last chapter for a refresher. I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in... holy manure, 5 months! But, I have had a bit of a problem with my muse. See, he almost overdosed on peanut butter cookies, and it was just a very hard time for the both of us. He's been in rehab, and he just got back out a couple days ago, and we're back in business. I've got a beta! She's wonderful; her name is Deep Blue Dragon (Erica) and this chapter wouldn't have been quite so error-free without her. Give her love! Also, Rome was wonderful, and thanks so much to everyone that said they hoped I had a good time. The food was AMAZING, and the flights were long and eventless (which is a great thing; I'm still not comfortable with flying). I can't really think of anything else that's not pointless to put up here, so I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters found therein. Naruto belongs to the ever-amazing Masashi Kishimoto.

"Deidara?"

"Mm?"

I stared at the lump of clay that the blond was currently molding into something, frowning as I thought about being stuck at the lair even though I was supposedly a member. "When am I gonna get to go on missions with you guys?" I didn't want to sound too suspicious, but I also didn't want to sit around doing absolutely nothing while I waited for the guys to come back.

He looked up from his clay and stared contemplatively at me. "I'm not sure, un. You should go up and ask Leader-sama about that one." He returned his attention to his clay.

After a few moments of careful deliberation, I left Deidara's room and headed down the hall for the door that would lead to Leader's quarters. It always creeps me out when I have to go to his office. The hallways are dark and the staircase is cramped, and leader prefers to hide himself until he's sure that you'd soil your undergarments when he decides to appear; damn his ability to mask his chakra.

But, he wasn't anywhere that I could find him. I wasn't allowed to go past his office, so I had to call out to him to make sure he wasn't actually there. After receiving no response whatsoever (thankfully he hadn't tried to scare me), I huffed and went back downstairs, not even bothering to hide my irritation when I went stomping down the wooden staircase, muttering about stupid leaders not being around to do their jobs.

It was as I was stomping down said stairs that I ran into Tobi, who had been uncharacteristically quiet as he was in the process of descending the staircase. I assumed that he had come out of one of the many doors that marked the separate floors between Leader's room and the floor that we all lived on.

"Tobi! Do you know where Pain-sama is?"

"Uh, he's not here anymore. He just left when Tobi was done talking to him. Sorry, Sakura-chan," he said with a shrug.

I huffed dejectedly and walked with the masked ninja back down the stairs. Tobi turned to me and asked:

"Why did Sakura-chan wanna see Leader-sama?"

I turned to look at him and replied, "I wanted to know if I would be going on missions with the rest of you guys anytime soon. I'm getting kinda bored just sitting around here all the time, you know?"

"Ah, Tobi understands that feeling. Before Tobi joined, Tobi had to sit around all the time or follow Zetsu-san around. It wasn't very exciting."

"Hm."

It was then that Tobi decided to grab my hand. I stared wide-eyed at our joined hands and felt myself being tugged around by the seemingly oblivious young shinobi.

All of this attention from these supposedly extremely scary S-class criminals was messing with my head. I was becoming paranoid. I was looking around corners to make sure I wouldn't be glomped by an over-excited Tobi; I was completely avoiding going into anyone's room except for Deidara's (mostly because he was too busy working on his clay to make any moves on me, thankfully…); I wouldn't eat any meals with the rest of the guys except for dinner.

God. Being an Akatsuki sucked sometimes.

But, not too long after my unproductive jaunt up to Leader's room, I was given permission to go on a mission with Hidan and Kakuzu.

When I heard the word mission, I was nearly overcome with relief.

Not so much when I heard who the mission was with.

Damn it all.

"Hurry the hell up, Sakura!" Hidan's head yelled at me.

I just stared and snickered at his decapitated state. He had been recklessly fighting a jinchuuriki (who got away) when he was caught off guard and lost his head. Literally.

His expression had been priceless: just this pure mix of shock and outrage as his head went flying up above his body; when he started falling back down, his expression changed to one that clearly said, "Oh, shit."

That look was stuck in my mind as I stood above his head and laughed. (I really couldn't help it. It was just so damn funny!)

"Bitch! Stop laughing and fuckin' heal me, dammit!"

Okay. So he talked tough, but you have to admit that a shouting head isn't all that scary when all he can do is swear at you or possibly bite your ankles. I kept my distance so that he wouldn't bite, because I honestly wouldn't put it past him.

Hidan snarled at me and I tried to stop laughing. It was just the funniest, creepiest thing that I had seen since joining the Akatsuki.

"Okay!" I shouted over his constant stream of profanities while trying to keep from laughing harder. "Okay, calm down."

I reached down to pick up his head and he turned (somehow, don't ask me how) to bite me. "Hidan, you bite me and I'll use your head as a soccer ball for the rest of this mission, got it?"

He stopped and glared at me.

I reached for him again, "I mean it! Don't bite me." I picked up his head and brought it over to his body, placing it so that the vertebrae were in-line with the rest of his spine.

Taking a deep breath, I placed my hands, now covered in green medical chakra, over his neck and healed him.

"Damn," he said while sitting up. "That shit felt so much better than that bastard's freaky tentacle things."

Figuring that was the closest I'd ever come to a 'thank you' from him, I said, "You're welcome," and got up and walked back over to Kakuzu, who seemed to be fuming over the lack of money-producing jinchuuriki in the immediate vicinity.

After we had reported our (unsuccessful) results to Pain a couple days later, I was assigned a new mission with Deidara and Tobi. Somehow Leader-sama figured out that I didn't really like working with Mr. Tentacles and Mr. Mood Swings. (Hidan had a bad habit of being violently happy, and then dropping down to a dangerously violently unhappy state in a matter of seconds.) I didn't exactly feel safe in that environment.

And, honestly, tentacles just weren't my thing.

So, two days after the mission briefing, Tobi, Deidara and I headed out to round up some escaped prisoners for a very high-ranking client. I hadn't known earlier that the Akatsuki missions system worked just like the normal shinobi system: clients paid for favors and missions to be completed, we went out and kicked ass and got paid. I guess the only difference was that our missions were almost always ranked A or S.

"That's the last of them, un," Deidara said with a satisfied (if not slightly sleepy) grin. He had knocked out and tied up the last of the escapees and tossed the unconscious prisoner into the pile with the rest of the unconscious prisoners. There were about ten in total.

Tobi, Deidara and I surveyed our handiwork. "Well, I'd say we did pretty well. Didn't even take an hour to get them all," I said, wiping my gloved hands off on my Akatsuki cloak. In fact, it had only taken around forty minutes to track and round up all of the escaped prisoners and pile them in a clearing near the prison. Now all that remained for us to do was to somehow deliver said prisoners to the aforementioned prison.

I looked around, suddenly at a loss. What were we going to use to transport all ten of these convicts?

What to do…

"Um, Deidara-sempai?"

"What do you want, Tobi?" Deidara glared out of the corner of his eye at the masked shinobi.

Said shinobi brought a finger to the front of his mask (where his lips would be) in a thinking gesture. "How're we gonna bring all of these guys back to the prison? Tobi doesn't think Deidara-sempai has enough clay to build a bird and fly all of them back… Does Sakura-chan have any ideas?" He turned to face me, tilting his head questioningly.

Deidara began to fume. "Of course I have enough clay, un! Idiot! What kind of brilliant artist doesn't have enough clay for any situation?" He then proceeded to mutter profanities while stuffing his hands into the clay pouches at his waist. If I could have seen Tobi's face, I'm sure he would've had a rather sly expression.

Within a few minutes, Deidara had two giant clay birds with large beaks, perfect for stuffing five full-grown men into each. "Take that, un," he muttered irately.

Tobi clapped his hands. "Once again, Deidara-sempai has proven himself to be a true artistic genius! Tobi is so proud to have Deidara-sempai as his sempai!"

I discreetly rolled my eyes. I wondered if Tobi was faking his personality and was really a horrible evil genius, disguising himself as an innocent, young, playful shinobi.

…Nah.

We were travelling back towards the base in Amegakure an hour or so later, after collecting the payment, when Deidara told Tobi to go on ahead of us.

Tobi looked back, an air of suspicion around him, but did as he was told.

I stopped on the branch next to Deidara, and he turned to look at me. A curious look flew across his face.

And then he blushed slightly.

"Um, Sakura, un…" he started, turning his face away to look at the forest floor beneath us.

"…Yes?" After the way everyone had been acting prior to this, what with all the hugs and kisses and what not, I was a little worried that he would try something.

"Um, yeah. I didn't want Tobi to know, un, because he, like, you know, looks up to me so much, which is stupid, but, um, yeah, I, uh, kindafracturedmyfingerIthinkwhenIpunchedthatoneguy, un."

I blinked. "So, you're embarrassed that you threw the punch wrong, and didn't want Tobi to know?" I asked, amused and slightly relieved.

He nodded, a self-conscious look on his face.

I sighed. "Which hand?"

Deidara held up his right hand, looking abashedly at the forest floor. I looked down at his hand and noticed that he had an ugly bruise forming on his index finger, which was starting to spread up to the back of his hand.

"Ouch," I said in sympathy.

He made a small noise at the back of his throat, probably trying to agree without sounding like a big baby.

Men and their pride…

Looking around, I found a conveniently fallen log a little bit away from the path we were currently standing on and suggested that we sit down.

After we were settled, I turned myself so that I was sitting facing Deidara and he rested his hand on my lap. The healing process took about ten minutes, and the drop in my chakra was barely noticeable. The fracture was right on the knuckle, but it was easily healed.

"There," I said. "All done." I looked up at his face, but it looked like he was concentrating on something, so I waited a little.

And waited some more.

And that was when I noticed that his hand was still on my leg, and Deidara's face was moving steadily closer to mine.

"Um, Deidara…?"

He looked up from my lips, a hesitant look in his eyes, but his face kept moving forward, inch by inch…

Internally, I was sort of freaking out. Did I really want Deidara to kiss me? I mean, I'm a freaking spy and if I get attached to any of the Akatsuki, I won't be able to do my job right, and then I'll either die at a very young age at the hands of the Akatsuki, or I'll die at a very young age at the hands of the Godaime. And if I had to pick the way I'd die, I'd choose c) None of the above.

While I was fretting about my impending doom, I had spaced out enough that I was jolted back to reality at the feeling of Deidara's lips against my own.

Aw, shit.

Why 'aw shit', you ask? Because I was actually starting to enjoy it. That's why.

My eyes had started to slip shut, and my hands were slowly reaching up to wrap around his neck, and my lips were moving with his…

"Sempaiiii!! What are you doing to poor Sakura-chan?!" screamed an extremely flustered Tobi, who grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me up and away from Deidara.

Just in time, too. If I had gotten any more into that kiss, I dare say I would've been attached to one of the Akatsuki.

Shit.

At this revelation, I was silently sending a very heartfelt 'thank you' to Tobi.

"Tobi! What the hell are you doing here, un?! I told you to go on ahead! Dammit, un!" Deidara stood up and started to walk rather menacingly towards Tobi with a considerably murderous aura rolling off him in dark waves.

Seeing this as my chance to escape, I headed back to the path and ran full speed toward the Amegakure base.

Dammit, this is so not good…

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm working on chapter 12 right now, so don't worry about another 5 month drought. Loki is working his butt off (my muse), and I'm writing when I have the time.

Remember to review! You know I love them!

Much love and thanks for reading!

child_of_the_moon

XO