Chapter Twelve

Akatsuki Headquarters, Amegakure; Sada and Deidara

"Sunagakure hm?" Deidara repeated, I nodded in agreement.

"Leader-sama's sending me with Uchiha and Kisame-san." I said softly, trying not to upset him; Deidara clenched his fists angrily.

"I swear Sada, if he hurts you I'll kill him hm."

I lowered my eyes to the floor, sighing softly to myself at the words. Why did he always have to get so worked up, especially when there was no reason to get worked up? I knew what he was thinking about, he was thinking about that promise he made to me…and I wished that he could just forget about it. My battles were my battles, Deidara need not get himself involved, but he wouldn't back down. I knew that Deidara wasn't powerful enough to defeat the elder Uchiha and I think that he knew that as well, but he was far too stubborn to listen to me or anyone else. After all the years of us being together, there was one thing I'd learned about him…he never let a grudge go. No matter who it was, if they'd done something to get on his bad side, he wouldn't drop it until he killed them…and that wasn't who Deidara truly was.

Grudges were terrible things, they turned a person into something that wasn't who they truly were…just like what they were turning me into. This wasn't me…I didn't do the things I did for personal gain, I fought for a reason. What was my reason for fighting the elder Uchiha? I thought for a moment, the only thing I could think of was Sasuke. I was fighting him, trying to kill Itachi just because he'd hurt Sasuke terribly. Hadn't Sasuke said that he was the only one that could kill Itachi? No one else could do it, he was the last of the Uchiha and it needed to be done by Uchiha hands. Maybe…I just needed to drop my grudge against Uchiha Itachi and just move on with my life. Itachi hadn't made Sasuke go to Orochimaru, he hadn't held a kunai to his throat and forced him…Sasuke had went on his own free will. Maybe that was something I needed to realize, maybe…I just needed to let go.

I groaned quietly at all the thoughts running through my head and hid my face in my hands, not knowing what I needed to do. I was slowly but surely, going completely and utterly insane.

"Sada-chan?" Deidara questioned, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine Dei." I swore, moving my face away from my hands. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"Stuff."

"…"

Awkward silence…those weren't fun.

Deidara nodded a little, knowing I didn't want to talk about it and flopped down on my bed. That was one of the many things I loved about Deidara, he wouldn't push me to talk about something that I didn't want to talk about. I smiled a little to myself and opened my weapons chest, filling my weapon's pouch with the essentials. I tilted my head to the side curiously, a grin stretched its way across my lips.

"Deidara."

"Nani hm?" he inquired, moving across the bed towards me.

"Remember these?"

I held up my sais, he chuckled softly.

"That sure was an interesting day hm." He reminisced; I nodded my agreement at the memory from so long ago.

"I found the both of them out in the forest around three last night, Hokage-sama." the Jounin guy said...what was his name again?

"And how long have you kept them here Riku?" the Hokage asked, not sounding very interested; oh so that's what his name was...like it really mattered.

"Since around...four or so." Riku answered, sounding skeptical.

"So you've kept them here for about three hours?" the Hokage guessed, not sounding very impressed. "And you thought I would do something similar, not in a thousand years."

"Demo Hokage-sama-" Riku started.

"Enough, not another word out of you." the Hokage interrupted, I grimaced slightly at his tone and cuddled closer to Deidara.

I heard footsteps across the floor and glanced up through my bangs, the Hokage was walking over to us. He didn't look angry with us; he looked rather calm and collected. I blinked curiously, he was hiding something. I searched his eyes, trying to find it. He was tired, worried, something serious must've been going on in Konahagakure to make the Hokage this worried…but what was going on? I glanced up at Deidara and he smiled softly, trying to assure me that everything would be alright.

"Konnichiwa Sada, Deidara."

"Ooi." Deidara said nonchalently.

"Hi." I whispered.

"What were you both doing out passed curfew?" the Hokage asked, not seeming as though the question interested him too much.

I didn't say anything and looked at Deidara, should we tell the truth or...what? I didn't have a clue what to say but Deidara could think of something quickly that was believable…I didn't want him to get in trouble. The blonde sighed quietly and said

"Well sir here's what happened hm. I work at an Art store and it closed late last night. After that I had to do inventory since the actual owner won't be returning until next month. I didn't finish until about somewhere close to three hm. So I walked to Sada's house because I left the key to my apartment there. She gave me my key and mentioned how she forgot one of her...what was it love? One of your..."

"Sais." I said quietly.

"Oh right, that's what it was hm." Deidara lied. "So I didn't want her walking in the forest by herself so late so I went with her. We started looking around, but we couldn't find it. So we decided to go back and search for it today hm. Then this baka came and told us we were out passed curfew and in huge trouble, hm."

The Hokage looked at Riku and finally chuckled.

"Didn't you tell him this story?" the Hokage asked, sounding amused.

"Well I didn't get the chance hm. He wouldn't let us explain anything." Deidara said, slightly annoyed.

I nodded agreeing, and the Hokage chuckled again.

"How's your training for the Chunin Exams coming Sada?" he asked randomly, I smiled slightly and said

"It's been going good. That's the reason I went looking for my sais. I was going to use them for my battle."

"Wonderful Sada." He said, I smiled a little at the praise. "Do you still believe they need to be punished?" he asked, Riku shook his head; the Hokage nodded once. "I thought the same. Go back to your houses, and get some rest. I look forward to seeing your match Sada."

"Arigato Hokage-sama." I whispered, standing up with Deidara.

We walked out of the building towards my house after bowing once to the Hokage, I glanced over at Deidara with a small smile on my lips. We were so good at getting away with stuff, Deidara was a natural born liar, but I could tell by his eyes the entire time that he was. I was good at reading him, better than most people were. I couldn't believe the Hokage believed that story.

"We're so good." Deidara commented, I giggled slightly and he hugged me tightly, spinning my around in a circle.

"Eek, no." I whined; Deidara laughed heartily and set me on my feet, holding me close to him.

"You're amazing hm. You're so important to me." He whispered, I nodded in agreement.

'Haku…is this who you sent to me?'

I smiled a little to myself and attached my sais to my sides, grabbing my Akatsuki cloak from the bed. I slipped my arms through the sleeves, turning my eyes to Deidara as I buttoned it.

"Love, be careful hm." He asked of me; I nodded, I knew he would be worried the entire time I was gone.

"I will Dei, don't worry so much." I pleaded; he nodded and jumped to his feet, hugging me tightly. "Deidara?"

"I love you so much Sada." He told me, I buried my face in his shoulder at his tone of voice.

"I love you to Deidara, please don't worry about me. Kisame-san won't let anything happen to me, I was his friend's apprentice…he won't let me get hurt." I whispered, I felt his lips press into my blue-violet hair. "Will you walk me to the exit?"

"Yeah hm." He agreed, moving out of the hug.

He took my hand in his and we exited my room, walking down the hallway together. I sighed softly to myself, moving closer to Deidara. He released my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist, keeping my body as close to his as possible. I didn't mind in the least, I knew I was going to miss Deidara. Even if this was just a week long mission, I hated being away from him for any amount of time…even the thought was tearing me up on the inside. I would miss everything about him, his kisses, his hugs, the way he held my hand…I didn't know if I was going to manage to survive a week away from him. We'd been together every day for two months, from dawn until dusk; this was going to be a long mission. I looked up through my bangs, blinking dumbly when I saw the entire Akatsuki (minus Pein) standing at the exit. Deidara's arm moved to around my shoulders instead of around my waist, I looked at him curiously.

"What's everyone doing here?" I inquired, he grinned cheekily.

"It's tradition hm. We always see each other off on their mission, Konan-san wanted us to feel more like a family hm." He said, I nodded a little; the Akatsuki really were like their own little family.

We stopped once we made it to the group, Konan smiled slightly. She looked sad, worried….afraid? Why would she be afraid? I couldn't even begin to understand what was going through the bluenette's head. She held her arms out to me, hugging me tightly. I blinked dumbly before wrapping my arms around her, hugging her back. She sighed quietly and said

"Good luck Sada-san, I know you'll be brilliant."

"Arigato Konan-san…I'll miss you." I said quietly, she nodded her agreement.

"Me too."

She pulled back from the hug, smiling sadly and ruffled my hair affectionately. I giggled quietly, fixing my hair as best I could. She turned to Itachi and Kisame, saying

"Take care of her alright?"

Kisame laughed heartily and nodded, grinning his normal toothy grin.

"Hai Konan-san, she'll be safe with us." He chortled, she smiled a little at the promise.

I looked around the group, my eyes stopping on Kakuzu. He groaned quietly and reached into his cloak, pulling something out. He held it out to me, I took it from his hand hesitantly. I looked at it, feeling confused…bandages?

"They're made out of a special material." Kakuzu said gruffly, I glanced up at him through my bangs…my red eyes meeting his jade ones. "If you get any life threatening injuries that can't be healed immediately with basic medical ninjutsu just wrap that area of your body with those bandages, it'll stop the bleeding instantaneously. Just don't remove them until you get back to the base and I can heal you."

"Arigato Kakuzu-san." I said quietly, feeling shocked that he would give me something so advanced…to save my life to make things even more shocking.

"Hidan…didn't you have something to give Sada-san as well?" Konan said, I turned my gaze to Hidan curiously.

He rolled his eyes and threw something at me, I easily caught it and looked down…it was a Jashin necklace?

"Jashin-sama will protect you if you wear it." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest; I raised an eyebrow and nodded a bit.

"Arigato Hidan-san."

"Whatever." He mumbled, I smiled a little at his tone and hung the necklace around my neck; Hidan nodded approvingly.

I looked at Sasori when he took a step towards me, the red head handed me a scroll and I blinked dumbly.

"I found it a good number of years ago and managed to repair it, but I'm unable to use it. It's a puppet made by a Kuraigakure shinobi." Sasori explained, I felt my heart stop in my chest at the words. "It's only able to be used by a Kuraigakure shinobi, I suppose your shinobi have a special technique to use puppets."

"Arigato Sasori-san." I said quietly, running my fingers over the scroll. "What's it's name?"

He smirked at the question.

"Tamotsu." He said easily, I nodded. "He's a beautifully made puppet, a true genius must've made him."

"Arigato." I repeated, stowing the scroll away in my weapon's pouch; now I had a piece of home with me…hopefully this wouldn't curse me.

I glanced at Zetsu, he merely nodded…I guess that was his way of saying good luck. I moved my eyes to the masked boy standing next to him…I prepared myself to be crushed to death.

"Sada-sempai, Tobi will miss you." He whined, lunging forward.

Deidara grabbed onto the boy's head, holding him back from me. He narrowed his blue eye angrily, shoving him back.

"Deidara-sempai!" Tobi whined. "Nande-"

"Shut the fuck up hm." Deidara barked, I took a step back at his tone of voice; I hated when Deidara sounded like that. "She doesn't need to be injured before she leaves for the mission."

"Let's go." Itachi said in a monotone voice, Kisame and I nodded.

I took a step towards the duo before stopping, looking back at Deidara. I knew he wanted to tell me he loved me, and I wanted to tell him I loved him…but we couldn't with everyone here. Deidara didn't want them to know about our relationship because he wanted to keep me safe. I couldn't think of anything else to say though…there was nothing in my head besides those three simple words.

"Ano…" he started, I turned towards him. "Be safe hm." He said simply, I nodded a little.

"Yeah."

"…"

Awkward silence for the second time today…damn.

"Fuck it hm!" Deidara exclaimed, I looked at him curiously.

My eyes widened in surprise when he smashed his lips against mine…right in-front of the entire Akatsuki.

Author's Note: Sorry it's taking me so long to update guys. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks so much for the reviews from the last chapter, and sorry that I left a cliffhanger like that. Review and let me know what you think the Akatsuki are going to say about Deidara and Sada being a couple. Do you think they'll get in trouble? What will Pein say? Uh oh, will they never be able to see eachother again? Let me know what you think will happen.

XOXO

Eva