It was a lot warmer than usual in her room. The sun was beating down on her form, warming her back almost uncomfortably. She slowly opened her eyes, the bright light from outside making it hard for her to see for a bit. Her head pounded slightly, a headache? No, a hangover. Her eyes then widened as the night played over in her mind. She looked down quickly. There beneath her lay a male body. Slightly sun kissed skin, blonde hair reaching out in every direction, muscular chest breathing steadily up and down, and a forearm pressed over his eyes to keep the sun from intruding upon his slumber. She just stared at him for a few minutes before scrambling off of the bed. Her actions didn't even make the male move, he sighed heavily, turning over upon his side now that her body wasn't weighing him down, his back now facing her. Sakura was almost hyperventilating. What did they do…did they…? OH NO!

"NOOOOO!"

Sakura screamed loudly, the male upon the bed jumping nearly a foot in the air from the sound, lazy eyes searching the room quickly for the source. When he finally noticed Sakura's shaking form and wide eyes on the other side of the bed, back pressed against the wall, his eyes narrowed almost angrily.

"What the hell is the matter, yeah?"

"We…you and I…we, please tell me we didn't!"

"Excuse me? What are you-"

Then his expression changed to recognition. He groaned loudly, his palms pressing against his eyes. She thought they had sex that night. Wow, and she thought he had a lot of sake?

"We didn't do anything…well, in that sense, yeah."

"Umm, what do you mean, "in that sense?"

"I mean, we didn't have sex. We…well."

He turned to look at her, one eyebrow cocked up wondering if she would remember the night. She looked downwards, trying to motivate her alcohol infused brain to think about what happened last night. Some memories started to trickle back into her mind. The bar fight, the kiss at the door, her rejection, the kiss in her bedroom, the nightmare. Her body seemed to stop shaking almost immediately. She slowly looked back at the blonde who was still staring at her.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, oh. Look, we don't have to talk about this. I was just…trying to help. We were both drunk and things got a little out of hand, yeah."

Sakura's heart almost hurt at these words. She was pretty sure the time she kissed him in her bedroom it was pretty legit. But maybe she was wrong. He didn't have feelings for her, he just wanted to get a little lucky. SCUM! She scowled at him and huffed, moving from the room. Deidara blinked, slightly confused at her sudden changes in emotions. Damn, women were way too hard to figure out.

He slowly made his way out of the bedroom, leaning against the frame of her bedroom door. She was clanging pots and pans around in the kitchen, probably for no reason, just to vent. He rolled his eyes, but was lucky to duck just in time as a frying pan came his way.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

Deidara freaked out, his stance in a defensive mode. Sakura was holding another pot, ready to hurl it his way. Deidara's eyes were wild and completely confused. Jesus this girl was crazy!

"You tried to get with me when I was drunk, didn't you? You asshole!"

Sakura growled, throwing the pot. Deidara jumped to the side as it hit the frame and made it splinter. She was using chakra to infuse her throws with more power. She was going to give him a concussion if this continued, or possibly kill him. Obviously she didn't remember the whole night, and he needed to explain what really happened before she ended up in the knife drawer. Standing up with one of the couch cushions in his hand he looked over the side as she cocked back her arm with a plate in hand.

"WAIT! Sakura, just wait, let me explain, yeah!"

Another growled ripped through her throat, but she seemed to lower the plate. Deidara held up his hand in defense, hoping she would take it as a sort of surrender, not like he had a fighting chance anyways.

"You may not remember what happened last night from the sake, but it was mutual if I'm not mistaken. You kissed me!"

"Yeah, but why the hell were you in my bed! A kiss doesn't give you an invitation!"

"Calm down! If you don't remember I asked if you wanted me to keep you company after you had a nightmare about Sasuke."

Sakura's body calmed completely. She totally forgot about him being there to comfort her. She was used to the nightmares by now, but she wasn't used to someone being there to help her through them. She looked up to see Deidara standing in front of her, his hand grasping the plate in hers. She slowly let it go and he placed it upon the table.

"You…were there for me?"

"I didn't want you to go back to sleep with another nightmare, yeah. To be honest, I don't know how much more screaming I could have taken. You were louder than the thunder."

Sakura chuckled slightly at his statement, but then her expression saddened. Why was it always like this? She wanted to be rid of Sasuke, he was nothing but a problem to her and her health. Deidara's tired eyes evaluated Sakura. He started to extend his arm to pull her in, but quickly thought better of it and placed it at his side. Sakura groaned, slumping against the side of her kitchen table.

"Does Tsunade know about your nightmares?"

"…no, nobody knows but you."

"Maybe you should tell her, yeah. I'm not an expert upon your Hokage, but I know she's a good med nin. She'd probably know how to help you, or at least find someone that does."

"I'm fine, really. I don't need help; it'll work itself out on its own. It's just a dream."

"Sakura…that's no dream. You are being haunted by your past, yeah."

Sakura's brows furrowed. She didn't need this at this time. If she wanted someone to know about her nightmare problems she would, but right now she was content with just dealing with them every night.

"Please, can we just get ready for the day, I don't wanna talk about this right now."

"Yeah, I guess."

Deidara moved out of the way for Sakura to move past him and she disappeared into her room. He didn't want her to keep going through her nightmares of Sasuke, but he also didn't have a right to tell her what to do and how to take care of it.

The rest of the morning was quiet between the two. Breakfast was eaten in silence and the walk to her work was even more awkward. Sakura felt like people were constantly staring at her and Deidara and she was paranoid that they knew that something was going on between them. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Ino came running up to her side.

"Jeez, what's your problem?"

"Uhh, nothing. What do you need, Ino?"

"Erm…could I talk to you in private?"

Ino's cautious blue eyes traveled to the blonde male standing next to Sakura. He wasn't even paying attention to the intruder, his thoughts were elsewhere. Sakura frowned slightly, he must have been dazing off the whole time acting like he didn't care.

"Yeah sure, let's go over there."

Sakura pointed to a spot near the ramen shop. Deidara looked at Sakura now, understanding she was just stepping away for a bit to talk to Ino. He just nodded his head and stared off down the road where large amounts of people were conversing. Sakura watched Deidara for a bit before she finally turned to Ino.

"I was in Tsunade's office early this morning. There were some ANBU in her office too and they were talking about Deidara and you."

"What, talking about him and me how?"

"Like, they were saying how this mission is a fail and that they are finding evidence that Akatsuki are making their way towards the Leaf village in search of him. They don't know what to do with him either. They were talking about how if they keep him, it'll just cause a huge war with Akatsuki once they reach the Leaf. Yet, if they release him then they will just be caving to their demands and it'll be one more Akatsuki they have to worry about later."

The whole time Sakura was listening to this the hairs on the back of her neck were rising. Her gaze moved towards the tall blonde in the middle of the street. He was staring off blankly at something like before, then his gaze slowly moved to hers and their eyes caught each other. His expression was blank, and then softly a small smile broke across his face which made her have to break contact. She didn't want Ino to see any emotion that they exchanged.

"Sakura, did you even listen to me?"

"Sorry Ino, I was just processing what you told me."

"So? You need to get your butt in gear and get that info out of him before they kill him or let him go, whatever it is they have in mind for him. You need that info, Sakura."

Sakura bit her bottom lip in worry. She needed to figure out what her motives were with Deidara, and fast.

After a few more words were passed between the two girls they ended up departing. Sakura went back to Deidara's side and they walked towards the Hokage's office. The silence ensued once more until they got to the large wooden doors and the loud voice of the busty woman behind it quickly sliced through the silence.

"I don't know what to do, what do you want from me?"

"Lady Tsunade, we do not mean to pressure you with this. We just need an answer, soon."

A loud sigh could be heard before she answered once more.

"I'll talk to her, just leave my presence for now before you push my last nerve."

Shuffling could be heard and a swoosh of cloaks announced that the men in the room were gone. Without even knocking, Sakura pushed the doors open and walked in calmly. Tsunade didn't even look up from where her face was buried in her hands.

"Yes?"

"I just needed to drop off some reports for you."

"Set them on the desk, please."

Sakura placed the yellow folders on her desk before turning on her heel, Deidara following closely behind her.

"Wait…stay for a minute."

The couple paused in their movements and turned to look at the female behind the large desk. Sakura bit her bottom lip, ready to take whatever was going to get thrown her way, obviously nothing good.

"I'm sorry, but this has gotten to be very desperate times."

Tsunade looked between the two before making a motion with her hand towards the door. Sakura turned to look at who it was she was bringing forth. Her eyes widened in horror. Ibiki walked casually into the room, a very blank and expressionless look upon his face.

"So where shall we do this?"

His cold voice announced, face turning towards Deidara. The blonde's nostrils flared. He knew exactly who this man was and what his perfection was. A sick and twisted smile formed on Ibiki's mouth as he grabbed the blonde's arm roughly before dragging him out of Tsunade's office. Sakura's eyes widened. She looked at Tsunade who was looking over the files Sakura had already turned in. Without saying a word, Sakura trailed behind Ibiki.

The room was dark, as most interrogation rooms were. Deidara sat in a wooden chair, arms and feet strapped to the chairs arms and legs. He looked around the room almost boringly. Sakura stood on the side of the large glass plane. She was able to see Deidara, but he wasn't able to see her. Out of the dark Ibiki emerged. His tall form loomed over the blonde.

"You know why you are here, don't you?"

"I knew why I was here from the beginning, yeah. You people just thought you could easily weasel the information out of me in the beginning by being nice. What pitiful tools."

A chuckle erupted from the blonde, but was quickly silenced as a fist made contact with his jaw. A crunch could be heard, even from behind the glass. Blood splattered across the floor, dripping from the lips of the male.

"You gonna make any more smartass remarks?

"I don't know, are you gonna keep hitting like a girl?"

The conversation and hitting kept going on for awhile before Sakura couldn't take anymore. She ended up finding herself sitting at the ramen shop, fingering a bowl of cold ramen. She knew the hitting was only a small part of interrogation. There would be even worse to come and she also knew Deidara was trained to not spill any Akatsuki information at any cost no matter how bad of the interrogation.

"Miss Haruno?"

"That's me."

Sakura turned to face a male jounin. He made a wave of his hand to show that he wanted her to follow him out of the ramen shop. She slowly made her way up from the seat. The thought of the jounin saying they accidently killed the blonde ran through her mind.

"Ibiki couldn't seem to get any information out of the Akatsuki member. They've roughed him up pretty good and they need you to treat his wounds before they can continue."

Sakura's throat constricted with many different feelings. She didn't know what to think of these feelings but she ended up following the jounin back to the interrogation room.

The jounin opened a door which was dimly lit and a form was slumped in the corner of the room. It didn't move for awhile and Sakura thought it was dead. It stirred as Sakura moved into the room.

"Deidara, is that you?"

The male slowly moved to look at her and Sakura gasped loudly. His nose was visibly broken and was positioned awkwardly on his face. A chunk of skin was missing from his right cheek and blood was pouring out of his wound. Both of his eyes were black and that wasn't even the worst of it. His hands were red and looked like the skin was going to fall off of them from possible fire. His leg was sitting oddly in next to his body, obviously broken. And sweat coated every form of his body from trying to keep his act together and keep living.

"I'll let you heal him, call me when you are down."

The jounin announced before closing the door and leaving the two alone. Sakura ran to the blonde's side. She never thought she would feel remorse for a killer, but she just couldn't possibly believe what she was looking at. There were specific med nin's assigned to heal interrogates so that they didn't die in the process of being interrogated, but she was never one of those nin's. She wanted badly to touch him, but she didn't want to hurt him. Carefully she assessed his wounds and what it would take to heal them. Her brows furrowed in pain for him, and all he did was chuckle in response.

"It's not as bad as it looks, yeah."

"Are you kidding me? You are in a heap! Your chakra is barely even pulsing!"

"Worry much?"

He made a smirk, before he leaned over and hacked up blood on the floor. Sakura gasped again, not knowing what to think of this.

"Stay still, I will heal you."

"Why bother? They won't get the information they are looking for, yeah. They will just end up killing me in the end, what do I care?"

"No, they won't. They have yet to decide your fate."

Deidara made a huffing noise, which almost sounded like a gurgle of blood.

"You knew I was going to end up in this heap at some point. You thought you could make me like you and become friends with you so that you could acquire the information out of me. Real cute, but yet look, you failed your mission of getting the information out of me, yeah. You are a pathetic excuse for a ninja."

Sakura's heart clenched, her skin flamed at what he was saying. He was just trying to get her not to heal him so he could die and not have to go through the interrogation once more. She couldn't tell if he was just saying this to get rid of her, or if he really meant it. Her hands glowed a soft blue before hovering over his hands to heal them.

"Please…stop, don't make me go back in there."

His eyes moved to look at hers. The dark circles that engulfed his eyes made the blue pop out even more. She could see the hurt and the pain behind them. He just didn't want to go through with this again; he seriously just wanted to die instead of having to go back into that room. Sakura bit her lip once more before lifting herself off the ground and moving towards the door. She opened it and looked out for the jounin who was quickly in front of her.

"Are you finished with him?"

"No, his wounds are too intense. I will need at least all night and possibly tomorrow to heal him to enough health for interrogation again. Tell Ibiki this."

The jounin looked a little worried about this, but quickly obliged and moved away from the door and down the hall to inform Ibiki. Sakura closed the door and locked it before moving towards Deidara once more.

"I'm sorry about this…all of this."

"Why are you sorry? It's your job to catch me and bring me in for interrogation, yeah."

"Because, as much of a criminal as you are, I do not wish this sort of pain upon anyone. I've never seen and interrogate like this before.

"Heh, sounds like someone is getting feelings, yeah."

Deidara joked, a chuckle escaping his lips before pain overcame his body. Sakura didn't laugh at it, because as bad as it was, it was true. She did have some sort of feelings for this man. The blue started to vanish from her fingers and slowly she stroked them across his cheeks, ever so gently. Softly she traced the bruise under his eye. His body shivered in response. Watching her every move his hand reached out towards her and she leaned in towards him, her body only hovering over his own so that she did not hurt him. Unlike last night she was sober now and she knew exactly what she was going to do. There was something about this man that made her feel for him. Feel his very pain, his hatred, his sadness, everything about him. She wanted him, as badly as it wasn't supposed to be, she wanted him to comfort her when the nightmares took control. Her fingertips traced his lips softly, eyes lulling in response to his warm breath. Very slowly she leaned in, lips making contact with his. She could taste his blood, metallic and warm. His own lips moved with hers, trying to press himself up towards her. Pain became evident and he groaned, breaking the kiss and grasping his ribs.

"It's okay, don't move, I'll take care of you."

Sakura soothed, hands glowing blue once more and moving over his mangled body. She worked for what seemed like hours and Deidara seemed to have fallen unconscious somewhere in between. She didn't know what she was going to do when they came back to take him away once more, but she had enough time to think of it as she healed him through the night.

So ya, this story is actually starting to come to a conclusion, but I do have good news. A new story will continue with another person. ;) You shall find out at the end of the story who it's with. Anyways, I know this chap is super long compared to the others, but I wanted to put a lot of info into it so that I can get to the end.

Read and review please!