Finally! Chapter fifteen!! Sorry sorry sorry for the late update… I just kept messing up this chapter completely and I think I erased and typed it again for at least five times… I hope that you all like it :3
I do not own Naruto and reviews are always welcome :)
Chapter fourteen: Starry Skies
Kisame swallowed and then stared at his feet. A joke… A joke… Please, just get up with a joke…!
It was hilarious. No one could have suspected this to happen: The one person who was always able of pissing half the Akatsuki off with his lame jokes, couldn't get up with one. Perhaps it was the hangover, perhaps the tension of the situation, but Kisame's head remained as empty as when he was making math sums. Nothing. Empty.
After a few very awkward seconds had passed, Kakashi raised an eyebrow and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "If it's so hard for you to tell me then don't bother," he said, and Kisame grinned in an apologetic way, relieved.
"…Gomen, I just… well, I kinda… promised Ayoku…"
Kakashi wove him off. "As I said. Don't bother." And again it became silent, until Kakashi got a little orange book out of his pocket and started to read it. Kisame tilted his head sideways to be able to read what book it was, and Kakashi noticed. "Hm? You want to know what I'm reading?" he asked, and Kisame got up again, startled.
"Well… it looks… interesting.."
Kakashi smiled and then handed over the book. "Make out paradise," Kisame muttered, reading the title. "Sorry, I don't know that," and he gave it back to the silver haired ninja, who shrugged.
"A shame. I love these books – they're the best time killer there is. And that might come in handy sometimes, especially when you have to wait for a medic to complete their jutsu." Kakashi sighed. "Those medical jutsus can take ages." Suddenly he smiled and he folded his arms behind his head, leaning back and relaxing. "Ne, I was supposed to go to the Hokage this afternoon but I guess I've got a fair good alibi of why I didn't show up… And I had another appointment anyway… hehe… I don't mind at all." He glared at Kisame. "This is between you and me," he whispered, leaning towards Kisame who flinched. "but the Hokage sometimes scares the shit outta me. Don't tell anyone though, especially not her." He shivered. "She'll probably beat me up…"
Kisame smirked, nodding. "Don't worry. Your problem is safe with me." But on the inside, he was still thinking. They couldn't go back to the Akatsuki without Deidara – he had promised the others of taking care of the job. He blushed as he remembered that he had even said that taking Tobi with him was unnecessary, that he would be able to do it on his own.
He also remembered that the others had shared some quick glances before shoving Tobi in his direction, saying that he "at least had to work in pairs to keep the Akastuki spirit", but Kisame knew that they simply didn't want Tobi around. He sighed. The boy was, most of the time, a real pain in the ass.
"Say," he said after a while, when the awkwardness of the moments before had finally passed. "Why were those two doctors wearing handcuffs?"
Kakashi opened his only revealed eye and looked at him. "Long story," he said after hesitating for a split second. Kisame's heart beat faster.
He might not be the smartest of the Akatsuki, he wasn't dumb. He knew it when people where lying or holding back the truth. So there's more to those chains than meets the eye, eh. Interesting.
"Well," he said, smiling at Kakashi. "We've got all the time of the world, haven't we?"
Kakashi sighed. "You're not from here, are you?" he asked, although his question didn't need an answer. Kisame waited for him to go on, and so he did. "I guess not… everyone in the area around Konoha knows." He looked up at him. "Have you ever heard of the organization called 'Akatsuki'?"
Kisame's hands started to feel sweaty. Now he needed to keep his cover, stay in his act, don't show that he knew way more than the silver haired ninja ever could…
He nodded. "I've heard of it. Something about a gang… a very violent one. People who talked about them all seemed quite frightened." Kisame hoped that he didn't sound to proud of what he was saying.
Kakashi nodded. "Well, they've got reasons to. The members of that gang are all missing ninjas, and very strong ones too."
Kisame nearly yelled out of joy. He wanted to drum on his chest and roar: HA! Akatsuki ROCKS!
"All the hidden villages are looking out for them, and, if possible, taking them out." He nodded and seemed lost in memories for a couple of moments. When Kisame coughed he blinked. "Sorry for that. Where was I... oh, yeah. We are obligated of taking them out, or we should take them hostage. Two weeks ago a pair of Akatsuki members showed up and we did as we were asked to. But the taking hostage didn't work out as planned."
Now they were finally coming to the point where Kisame wanted to go to. He didn't notice leaning forwards, towards the silver haired ninja, an eager look on his face. He needed to know what was wrong with the chains, he had to consider that when making up their plan.
"…The chains Sakura-san used turned out to be rare, and their effects were unknown up to that point. We discover new things about them nearly daily, although the major effects were visible directly after the linkage."
"…Major effects? R-rare chains?" Kisame stuttered, throat as dry as the Suna desert. What kind of chains had they used? And what was Kakashi talking about, what kind of things could a set of handcuffs do?"
"Yup. Although they link the two shinobi to each other – what they obviously don't like – it has a lot of positive sides for us. One of them is that he can't kill Sakura-san. Second is that Sakura-san can feel what he is going to do or how he feels." He sighed. "And that all because of a silly pair of handcuffs…"
Kisame fell back, astounded. "How do you mean, he can't kill her?" he asked while his tongue felt as thick as leather. "I thought all Akatsuki members were cold hearted killers… why wouldn't he…?"
Kakashi smiled. "Because he would kill himself in the process. Those chains don't only connect them physically, they seem to also work mentally and their chakra network is scrambled up as well. The only problem with it is that we cant seem to find a solution, nor can we find a key. If you ask me then there simply is no key."
But Kisame wasn't listening anymore. All the prototype ideas he had been thinking on detonated inside of his head as he heard those words. This is impossible, he thought again and this time his heart sank to his feet. He tightened his own grip around his knees. There had to be a way to get Deidara out of there, there had to be…
Then the OR light went off. Kakashi put away "Make out paradise" and got up, shortly followed by Kisame who was sweating heavily due to unsuspected and unforeseen deep thinking. His body, which was used to fight without thinking, couldn't handle it perfectly and that was visible. Then the doors slid open, and a cloud of damp, muggy air whirled around their heads, making Kisame flinch. What the hell?
Then a large bed on wheels appeared, with Tobi lying in it. His only visible eye was closed like before, but this time his facial expression was calm and his eyes were no longer moving around behind their lids. Deidara pushed the bed with a carefulness you wouldn't have suspected from him if you knew him, and Sakura, who walked next to him, had put a hand on Tobi's wrist, smiling at Kakashi and Kisame.
"It's all done," she said and they stopped walking. Kisame forced a relieved smile on his face while he stepped forwards and grabbed Sakura's hand.
"Thank you, Sakura-sama," he said, bowing half. "I don't know how to thank you."
Sakura blushed and her blush deepened when Kisame bowed forwards more and kissed her hand, earning a death glare from Deidara but he didn't notice.
"I think Sakura is tired, hmm," he said, raising his voice and startling Sakura, who quickly pulled her hand back. She blushed as she looked sideways to Deidara, who glared to Tawu. That's weird, she thought while rubbing her hand absentmindedly. For a moment just now he sounded… jealous…?
His eyes narrowed for merely a split second and he coughed. "And I would also like to go home. I haven't eaten since nine in the morning, hmm." Sakura smirked. He was jealous.
Inner Sakura jumped around, punched in the air and then landed on her feet, a triumphant expression on her face. You did it lady! It doesn't matter who, when, how; EVERY guy will fall for us!
Sakura blushed faintly. But then she scolded at herself. She shouldn't make things up – perhaps she only thought he sounded jealous. She might be seeing – or hearing – things that weren't true. She decided that she had to find more evidence first. What reminds me, she thought as she looked at Deidara again. I need to…
She stopped herself in time but was still aware of what she was going to think. She needed to ask him questions about the Akatsuki, or her entire seduction wouldn't have any use at all. And getting scrambled up with her strange, awkward feelings for an AKATUSKI MEMBER for god's sake for NOTHING was not exactly what she had been aiming at.
"Tawu-san?" She said, stepping towards him. Tawu looked up at her.
"Hai, Sakura-sama?"
"Ayoku-san needs to stay in hospital for a little while. I'll send Shizune with you to get a room for him, although I'm pretty sure we've place so that shouldn't be a problem. I'll check on him tomorrow and if he's okay then you're allowed to go again."
He nodded and bowed again. Shizune stepped forwards from behind Sakura and took the hospital bed from Deidara. "Now if you please follow me?" she asked Tawu who nodded furiously before following the dark haired medic. "Oh, and before I forget," Shizune said, suddenly stopping. "You'll need to fill in a form with your names, land and town of birth, age etcetera. I'll get one for you." And then they walked out of sight.
Kakashi, Deidara and Sakura remained in the corridor, all staring at where Tawu and Shizune had disappeared. Then Deidara coughed, getting Kakashi's and Sakura's attention. "…about that lunch I talked about earlier, hmm…"
Sakura giggled. "Sorry! Got lost in thoughts!" she turned to face her old teacher and smiled at him. "Would you like to have lunch with us, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked on a whim, feeling that she wanted to speak with him. She didn't notice how Deidara tensed behind her.
He cursed inwardly as she asked the copy ninja to come and have lunch with them. The second after that he wondered why. It wasn't like he wanted to… have her for himself… right?
He swallowed as the truth slowly started to sink in. He didn't know about the wanting part, but he definitely didn't want to have Kakashi around. For some reason he wanted to be alone with Sakura, and at the mere thought his head got light and his nose startled to tickle, as he imagined her, lying in his arms, kissing him softly, whispering his name…
No no no! Stop it you baka, he thought, closing his eyes. You might get a nosebleed in front of that copy ninja, hmm! He opened his eyes when Sakura poked him lightly.
"Are you coming?" she asked and to his surprise he saw that they had both walked a little end, as far as possible. "I thought you were hungry."
A bit dizzy by his half hearted daydream he nodded and they made their way out of the hospital. Deidara watched Sakura carefully, and he quickly noticed that the medical jutsu she had used to heal the kid had taken a lot out of her. Her breath was uneven and her thoughts were foggy, and she was sweating lightly.
"You seem tired, Sakura," Kakashi said before Deidara could. "Haven't you been sleeping well?"
Deidara nearly vomited. The worried tone in Kakashi's voice might sound pleasant to Sakura, but for some weird reason he got sick by listening to it. He looked away from the conversation on purpose, focusing on the sky which had lightened up a lot after the last few muggy days. And even though he didn't want to listen to that copy ninja anymore, he still followed the conversation.
"No, that's not it," Sakura sighed. "It's just that I haven't been able of training properly and I can feel that… the problem with the training is that we're still stuck to each other and without our lv. 2 connection we're useless together."
Deidara raised an eyebrow. Lv2 connection? Was that how she called the increase in connection between them when they fought together? Kakashi seemed uninformed about their fight and titled his head.
"Lv2 connection? Did I miss something?"
Sakura smiled at him. "You don't know? Deidara and I fought Gaara-sama, like, yesterday, and we found out that in cases of fear or adrenaline the cuffs kind of melt us together… mentally. We move like we're one!" she smirked. "And calling it our 'battle connection' sounded so lame… I like lv2 way more."
Deidara smiled faintly. Hearing lv2 made him remember his own C-2 clay bombs, and for a moment he wanted nothing else than to soar through the sky while throwing bombs on cities and buildings beneath him, watching them explode in their brilliant orange and red colors…
He blinked when Sakura waved her free hand in front of his face, giving him a puzzled look. "What?" he asked, sounding rather annoyed. She grinned. "You weren't paying attention! We've arrived."
Deidara looked over her head and saw that she was right; they were indeed already standing in front of their apartment door, inside of Tsunade's office. He quickly recovered from his little mistake. "Um, well, er… Oh, has the Kage answered to our note? I don't see him here, hmm."
Sakura frowned. "What exactly makes you think it's a he! It could be a she too, you know. I mean, take our Hokage for example. She's a woman too so why wont this one…"
"O cut it out already, hmm," he sniffed, rolling his eyes. "Okay okay, he or she, whatever. Is there an answer, hmm?"
Sakura shook her head and then opened the door, letting Kakashi in first. "Nope, nothing at all. But the note is gone so I take it that the kage" she stressed the words to exaggerate that at least she wasn't making early decisions, "…has read it and has left before we arrived."
Deidara shrugged. Somehow he felt disappointed for not being able to speak with the Kage. For some weird reason he had had the feeling that he might have known him, and that same strange reason also made him believe that they were indeed speaking of a he and not of a she.
"Do you not know the Kage you were going to see then?" Kakashi asked in his always lazy tone when they had taken seats and had started to eat lunch, consisting of bread, butter, milk and cheese. Sakura shook her head and so did Deidara.
"Nope," they said at the same time, and after that they looked at each other for a split second before looking away, a faint blush creeping on their cheeks.
Darn I hate those cuffs, Sakura thought while acting like she was looking for something in her pocket, unaware of the fact that Deidara was doing exactly the same. She heard him laugh softly as he heard her thoughts and couldn't help but smile.
Kakashi tried not to notice but he did: the oh so clear evidence that there was something going on between the two in front of him. And as he watched them act clumsily towards each other and especially to him, he started to feel kind of… misplaced.
He knew about Tsunade's plan to secretly interrogate Deidara through Sakura, but as he watched them he wondered how far the results of that technique would take them. Perhaps the consequences of Sakura's part are going to get hard to ignore, he thought while he absentmindedly chewed on a piece of bread. I'll talk about it with the Hokage tomor…
His eyes flew open and he stood from the table, nearly knocking over everyone's cups and plates, earning a cry of surprise of both Sakura and Deidara. "Kakashi-sensei," Sakura exclaimed, getting up as well. "What is wrong?!"
Kakashi looked at her and then looked around the apartment, obviously searching for something. When he didn't seem to find what he had been looking for, he looked back, a nearly hysterical look on his face. "What's the time?" he yelled, nearly jumping up and down in nerves. "How late is it?!"
Sakura looked at Deidara and then back to Kakashi. "I don't know," she said, her voice slightly faster than normal. The hysterical behavior of her teacher started to affect her slightly. Where is that clock?!
Deidara, the one who seemed to stay miraculously calm under the circumstances, sighed and then pulled Sakura and Kakashi behind him towards the kitchen where the clock hung. "here," he said, sounding dead bored. "There's the clock."
As Kakashi saw it the little color that was left in his face swept away and he clamped onto the nearby wall, panting. "Oh my god she's going to kill me," he muttered, more to himself than to Sakura and Deidara. "Er, thanks for the lunch but I really need to go or I'll be dead by tomorrow!!"
He raced by Deidara and Sakura, opened the door and then left, while yelling: "See you Sakura! Good luck with… er… Everything!!"
Sakura didn't notice but her jaw had nearly dropped to the floor while staring at the empty door opening. Kakashi… the lazy, always late teacher, actually worried about being late? What was wrong with the world? Wasn't she dreaming?
Deidara though slowly started to get happier with the second. At first he hadn't realized it, but now it started to get clearer. Now Kakashi was finally gone, and he and Sakura were alone again. Alone in an apartment with a nice, comfortable and also large bed, not even to speak of the couch in the living room. He looked at Sakura and as she looked back and their eyes met she quickly closed her mouth, and before one could even speak she started to blush.
Deidara smiled. "Finally, hmm," he whispered, stepping closer to her and stroking some hair out of her face.
"F-finally what?" Sakura asked, her voice shaky and her face hot with blush. Deidara smirked and then decided that it was probably better to show her what he meant. So he bent forwards and kissed her, lips parted. She answered his kiss faster than he had expected and soon they were kissing furiously, slowly making their way towards the couch.
She didn't know when they had decided to go to the couch, but they were heading towards it and she couldn't care. Her entire being, her mind, her senses; everything was overwhelmed by Deidara and his lips, not even to speak of the action inside of their mouths…
She felt the sofa beneath her and then he lay on top of her, kissing her lips before trailing kisses down her cheek and neck, his hands roaming aimlessly on her back, pressing her close to him. She moaned as he bit her ear lightly and he chuckled.
His hands slid beneath her shirt and she uttered a cry of surprise. "…don't.." she managed to speak in between hot kisses, and she tried to push him off. As an answer he kissed her again, this time softly, before taking off her shirt.
This was a step too far and Sakura pushed him off her, panting and holding her shirt in front of her to hide away her underwear. "…it's too fast," she panted, staring at him. "too fast…"
He looked away from her and stubbornly refused to meet her gaze as a very awkward silence fell on them. Sakura bit her lower lip while trying to put on her shirt which wasn't very easy as Deidara was not exactly cooperative. In the end she ended up cutting the shirt above her left arm and putting it on that way, before trying to fix the fabric with the little chakra she had left after the operation jutsu.
After that she looked at Deidara for a long time, her stomach knitting together inside of her belly. It had been too fast, he had been the one to make early decisions. He was in no position to force her into anything, so why did she feel so bad for making a decision that was only natural for her to make?
"…Deidara," she whispered after a while, feeling guilty even though she knew that he should be feeling guilty too. He said nothing and then Sakura placed her hand on his leg, feeling him tense under her touch. He didn't shake her hand off and that gave her enough courage to go on. "Deidara… I just… don't get mad at me… it's just that I…"
He looked down and then again away from her, and Sakura's eyes flew to window in which she could see a vague reflection of his face. It startled her to see that he wasn't looking angry or frustrated, but that his face was scrambled together in an expression she could only define as… plain sad…
"I've never… never before… this would be…"
He sighed and then turned around slowly, still not meeting her eyes. "I understand, hmm," he muttered and Sakura's voice slowly died away while she looked at him. "I'm older, I've had… more experience, hmm. It's just…" he looked up and Sakura's breath hitched in her throat as she saw his eyes, which were filled with so much tenderness and emotion that she wondered for a moment if it was actually Deidara sitting in front of her. Suddenly he grasped her hands in his and leaned forwards, his face nearly touching hers.
"Just know," he said before leaning and kissing her lips swiftly, entirely different from before.
"I'd never hurt you, hmm."
Sakura's eyes widened. He had said the words in a way that was way too tender, way too sweet for a bad Akatsuki guy. It couldn't be that a murderer and bomber like he could say something like that, in a way that he touched her soul, and before she knew it, tears were streaming down her cheeks and she started shaking.
He smiled and then hugged her, and Sakura buried her head beneath his, breathing in his scent while sobbing silently. His free arm was wrapped around them while their chained hands lay intertwined in their laps, and she snuggled even closer. Then, after a while, Deidara took in a deep breath and Sakura looked up.
"…something wrong?" she asked, her voice sleepy as she had nearly fallen asleep against him, completely forgotten her interrogation plan. He was looking at the ceiling and then looked down, to her, smiling faintly.
"I was just thinking," he said and his smile got wider. "What do you think about a little trip to the stars, hmm?"
Sakura needed a moment to decide what he meant and then her eyes got wide. "Y-you mean, on one of your b-birds?" she stuttered, adrenaline soaring through her veins and she was completely aware that it was not only his. He grinned.
"Exactly, hmm."
I guess it should have been longer, looking to the title of the chapter, but at least there's some DeiSaku action in this one again and if things go on like this then perhaps in the next chapter too… But I don't promise a thing so don't get mad at me if it doesn't!
Until the next chap!