Disclaimers: girl, please.

My Ramblings: I'M BAAACKish~ (/ronniefangirl'd) and this is not over. not yet, kiddies. oh my gosh, i've missed you all so much. /heart

although, i have a mini announcement. i've decided that i will update, but not on a set schedule. whenever i can, i'll update. (i have a livejournal; the link's on mah profile. if there are any major/need-to-know updates, then i'll post 'em there. [eventhoughidon'tgetonitmuch.])

Dedication (because this is well deserved): to my fellow AAG-ers and christie. you guys are some of the best friends i have. as kesha and les would put it, you make my heart beat like an 808 drum.
(and to my falling in reverse cd. asdlkfjl)

Clay Hearts

Chapter Thirty-Six:

Flipside

"Danzo-sama, Sakura Haruno has escaped again."

The said man continued his silence, his back against the chair, but comfortably. He stared at the ROOT agent in front of him thoughtfully, his cane tapping lightly. That woman has escaped the prison again? Next time, the old man mused, she will be placed in ROOT's prison. She wouldn't get out so easily there.

Finally, he spoke, "When?"

The person looked at his boss through the mask's slit view, "Fifty-seven minutes ago."

"Why wasn't I told sooner?"

"We hadn't found out ourselves until five minutes ago, sir."

The sitting man's posture erected in anger, "Find the girl!"

"Danzo-sama, I apologize, but she's too far gone now."

How would she be so far from Konohagakure? Last time Danzo remembered, the pinkette was broken and bleeding—all quite literally—and she was in no condition to move. Let alone escape and run away. "Was she accompanied in her break out?"

The ROOT member cast his gaze towards the ground, hating that he wasn't sure. His superior would be irate if this wasn't solved soon. "We don't know… at the moment." He was simply waiting now for Danzo to order his detention—or something worse.

The disfigured male stood up, walking languidly towards the other figure in the room (whose heart would be beating in fear, if it wasn't for his foundation). His cane hit the ground with each step. It seemed to make the situation even more fretful. "Tera. We need Sakura Haruno in our custody. She can—and will—ruin everything if we do not have her. So find her. Because if you do not, I will make your curse mark destroy you."

A vile smile plastered itself upon Danzo's face, "And that… that is a promise."

"…Yes, sir."

Things are coming to their boiling point, thought the only person in the room. And he wish that he could say that he had everything under control, but he didn't. Not while, technically, the only witness was around and alive.

It was time to make another move.

-x-x-x-

I still couldn't stop smiling. (You couldn't blame me, could you?) I clung to Deidara's hand as he allowed me to lean my head against his shoulder. The gentle flight of the clay bird made me feel lazy, but wonderful.

Vaguely, I heard him mutter to himself, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I was taking in his body heat (it was cold up here) and watching everything below. The fields and few villages passed by quicker than I could ever think, making me think of how fast everything has went for me.

Not just Deidara and my relationship—although, I suppose it wasn't all that fast, it was just fast to commence, slow to evolve—, but everything. My becoming a missing-nin, my joining the Akatsuki, (most of) them accepting me, seeing Sasuke again… everything.

And then there was still our relationship. But I didn't think about the cons, only the good things. If it was going to work, we had to be positive. Because if we weren't, then it wouldn't happen. There were so many things against us.

I shut my eyes and blocked out all the images of quick-moving scenery and life. Squeezing Deidara's hand, I breathed in—slowly—and made sure my mind was calm.

"Deidara?"

"Yeah?" his response was immediate. He had been aware of every single thing I was doing. If I didn't like this man, I'd find that a little less endearing than I do now.

I met his blue eyes, "What—"

Damn that sexy, sexy man, Inner-me mumbled.

Deidara began to shout, "Son of a—"

I found myself falling, falling, falling—but there was no end. I wasn't hitting the ground. I opened my eyes—When had I closed them? I thought—and saw red, black, and silver. Ah, I mused, I figured as much.

"Itachi," I intoned, "Release your dojutsu." I heard a faint grunt and then the world was the proper colors again. Blue, green, brown, every color—I was grateful. I could never live in a world without color.

Once that happened, I looked around. My (my—I like the sound of that) blonde boy was still caught in the Sharingan. "Aren't you going to release him?"

The Uchiha almost smirked, or maybe grinned, "No." Then he stared back down at Deidara.

Uh…?

"Because if I do, then he won't listen to me and won't come back to Base. Or at least, not soon enough. You two were going such a slow pace," said Itachi.

Mind reader?

"Sakura, I'm no mind reader. Your facial expressions make you an open book." He muttered something that sounded like, "Even Kisame could read you."

Asdfjkl—! "…What are you doing to him anyways?" I asked, hoping that he wasn't torturing the blonde Akatsuki member. Hey, I can officially worry about him now.

This time, Itachi did grin.

In my head, angels sung. But then I realized the evil intent in that smile and then I heard babies and women shrieking. Although, my Inner self kept singing because she believed he was hot either way.

"You better not be hurting him!"

"I'm not—"

"Good."

"—much."

"Itachi, I hate you."

He walked over to me, Deidara still in his trance, "Many people do."

I patted his calf (I was sitting still). "Okay, now you're depressing me. Sit down: story time."

"I have to decline, you have my sincerest apologies," he said quite straight-faced, except for that little quirk at the corner of his lips.

We're not settling for this!

Using chakra-empowered strength because I could, I tugged him down by the leg. He collapsed by my side. "Talk." He only stared at me. "No, really. Do it." I could just see the dot-dot-dots in the speech bubble over his head (metaphorically, of course).

"I would like to leave."

"Stop being such a man! Let's talk about your feelings."

"I would like to leave."

"Why don't I go first? Well, let me warn you, I am a walking contradiction. Especially today, do you want to know—"

"I'm releasing Deidara now."

A slow, wicked smirk found its way onto my mouth. Plan B: Success.

Deidara immediately began to yell at the Uchiha, screaming obscenities and flailing. I sat back and giggled to myself whilst Itachi remained stoic. Eventually, a trademarked glare set itself upon his features. He spoke slowly and scarily:

"I still would like to leave."

-x-x-x-

"You two disappoint me. Getting captured, Haruno? Che. Go find Kisame and train with him. But running away from Base and my orders? I'm suspending you from missions for six days, Deidara."

Ten minutes after that, the blonde and I were out of Pein's office. Deidara was still cursing out the aforesaid man, and I was grumbling to myself.

(Wahh. We're fat.

I am not fat [maybe you are, but I'm not], I can't be. A few days, or however long it was, in prison wouldn't get me that out of shape. I'm a kunoichi, I'm not fat.

But out of shape…?

Curse you.)

However, we had to soon split up. We were in the lounge area, so he simply squeezed my hand, gave a wink, then left. I sighed, then dropped myself onto the solid dark couch. Beside me sat a redhead. "Hello," I greeted him.

"Hello," he answered, his reply rather short.

"I haven't talked to you in a while." As if I talked to him at all, really. He didn't answer, which I could have guessed. "What are you doing?"

His hands were busy with something in a vial. It was purple and I was certain I knew what it was. "Testing the tenacity of this poison."

I frowned. If he was dealing with things like that, then he shouldn't be doing it in the common room of the Akatsuki Base. I was pretty sure that he had a laboratory of sorts or a greenhouse where he worked. I heard him say that that was where he created all of his poisons and antidotes—

Wait; hold up. Poisons. Antidotes.

"I have a question."

"Spit it out, girl," he growled, not even looking up from his work (which wasn't really that hard anyways). Jeez, this man got all Grumpy-san in three seconds flat.

Crossing my arms across my chest, I set my jaw and met his brown eyes. "I need to make a poison," I lied. If I had said antidote, then he would be curious. Even if he didn't ask what it was for, he would be suspicious in some way. Poisons most people (who work with herbs) create all the time; antidotes were rarely made unless something was wrong or someone was "overly" cautious. Especially when in the S-ranked, missing-nin business.

"And you tell me this, why?" Sasori questioned. His eyes met mine now, guarded and angry (at least towards me) as always. But curiosity was there, the more innocent and non-suspicious kind.

"You have a laboratory, don't you?" I bit my lip, my strength in my resolve waning when he actually acknowledged me. "Do you think that I could maybe use it? I wouldn't touch anything else except for what I need."

He looked at me long and hard, but not in the eyes. Nonetheless, finally, he gave me a response. "I will think on it."

"And I promise not to kill you again," I said teasingly, hoping that it would lighten the mood.

In a way, it did, but in an odd way. He grimaced, but it didn't look one-hundred percent sincere. "Shut up, Haruno."

Grinning, I got up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen. I needed some real food. I hadn't had any besides the crap they give you at the prison and the perishables Itachi had with him.

I opened the cupboard and secretly wished that I'd find a packet or two of ramen in there (and maybe a Naruto, too). But there wasn't any of those. Just a few boxes and cans of random consumables.

I chose a box of white rice, filled a pot with water, put that on the stove, then eventually poured the rice in. After putting the lid on and turning the heat down a tad, I fished around the pantry for a few select seasonings. I found what I wanted and put them by a bowl I was going to use.

Really, someone needed to go shopping. Definitely not Kakuzu, and probably not Tobi, but someone. I want real food. My tummy growled. And so does my stomach.

When the food was ready and seasoned, I sat down at a larger-than-not table and dug my chopsticks into the rice. However, before the first bite met my mouth, footsteps were heard.

"I suppose," began the puppet master, "that you could work in my laboratory."

"Really?" Okay, honestly, I didn't expect him to let me. Or at least get a positive answer so soon.

"Yes. But you won't touch anything else except for what you need. You won't touch anything except for what I allow you to touch," he stated quite matter-of-factly. He was peering right at me, which was slightly unnerving, but because he was actually looking me in the eye, I didn't care all that much.

Although, I needed what I needed. I would touch whatever I dang well pleased. But he didn't have to know that. "Fine. But then you can't meddle with my experiments and creations."

"Fine, girl."

"Fine… boy."

You're a smart one.

…Shut up. I'm better than you.

"However," he started off, "if something of mine goes wrong in there, then you are automatically at fault."

I tried not to roll my eyes at Sasori. "Same for you."

"You do realize that this is a privilege. Don't be a smart-ass."

Arghhh. Says you! Good thing that we weren't going to be working at the same time on our creations. We'd just use his laboratory whenever, but it's doubtful that it would be at the same time.

-x-x-x-

Idiots, was all he thought as he gazed at the two exiting their "Leader's" office. Really, the stupid girl shouldn't have been caught. He thought that she was better than that. Ah, he mused, but that makes it all the more interesting. Why was she caught? That is the question.

The man believed that Sakura Haruno was a capable young woman; obviously, because she had been recruited (read: forced) to join the Akatsuki. She was the Godaime's darling apprentice, she was the teammate and friend of the most powerful Jinchuuriki and the luminary, but notorious Uchiha, she was a woman who could send even the most cold men to hell with two fingers.

Therefore, that question is raised. Why, or how, could she be captured? Only two things came to Madara's mind at that moment. Either she was incompetent, but one lucky kunoichi, or she was still somehow connected to her home village. Honestly, the latter seemed the most explicable answer.

However, she was still here. She was still an Akatsuki member. She hadn't turned herself in or tried to plead innocent. Which frankly surprised the older man: he thought of the roseate as a goody-two-shoes whenever he had heard of her before. And even still in the organization.

She simply had an aura of innocence. But auras were never so simple, it seemed, because Sakura also, he thought, had a presence of stubbornness, hard will, resolve, and aspiration.

"Who are you, Sakura Haruno?" the Uchiha asked himself aloud as he watched the aforementioned lady walk into the common room. He saw her sat next to a man she had killed once before, and with a smirk, Madara walked towards Pein's office.

He had some planning to do and such. But he had to make sure that Haruno stayed at the headquarters. He wouldn't want her somehow meddling in his plans. If Madara was correct on his assumptions of why she was caught, then she most likely would meddle. Or at least, in some way, stand against his plans.

Nevertheless, still, Madara was confused when referring to the pink-haired female. Ah, but the man never was all that great with the ladies to begin with. And women are indeed the most bewildering creatures.

-x-x-x-

Nighttime always has a certain effect on people. Whatever exactly that effect might be, it usually made people a little different. A little more wild, a little more crazy. A little more beautiful.

When Sakura used to go to clubs with Ino—before hospital work took up all of her time—Naruto (who sometimes went with them [okay, so who cares if he wasn't exactly invited? Pfft])remembered how true that sentiment was. Flashy colors and brilliant lights, deep bass beats resounding in a large room. And never forget the people, the bodies dancing and simply enjoying themselves. It was beautiful.

Naruto hadn't had an experience like that in a while, where the night was astounding. No, lately everything had been simply crazy. The darkness of the later hours reminded him of a certain someone's eyes and hair. He was always so dark. That's why the lights and colors in the dance clubs helped him to forget—even if it was for a little bit.

Alas, Naruto Uzumaki was like an elephant. (In more ways than one, some would say.) He never forgets. Whether it be a person's face or name or story, or a (newer) jutsu taught by one of his sensei or the Sannin, or a teammate. Sometimes not being able to forget things was brilliant, it was wonderful!—other times, it was not.

Other times, he constantly felt the pain of his two most beloved people in the whole wide world leaving him and turning to the evil side. All against him, it seemed. Naruto wasn't worried about himself—it was kind of impossible for him to truly think of his self first—, he was fretting about his friends.

(And that's the thing, isn't it, Naruto? They always are going to be your friends. They may deny it, they may hate you, they may even kill you—but they are your friends until the end. Never forget the little time you had as Team Seven. Never forget.

[And so he didn't, like an elephant.])

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

The boy-man turned his head to see one Nara male. "Ah, hey, Shikamaru! I'm just thinkin'. About everything going on, you know?"

The brunette slowly strolled over to the ramen admirer's side and eventually plopped himself down beside him, on the uncut grass. His arms hung over his knees, an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth. "Suppose I do," he hummed.

A period of stillness rolled over them, like the breeze that did the very same.

"Shikamaru?" the blonde articulated. The called man looked over at the ninja talking to him, eyes answering. "Do you think that there's a real chance that we'll get them home?"

The lazy genius sat there for a moment, welcoming the silence once again as he thought. Honestly, he didn't know what to say. The chances were slim. But… "There's a chance."

"How big of one?"

Ah, how did he get out of this one? He really didn't want to bring his friend down, but he didn't want to lie. "Hm. How big is your belief in them?" he inquired.

Naruto's smile grew tenfold. "Thanks," he murmured as he stood up. "You know what?—I think I'm going to Ichiraku's! Wanna come?"

He gave the Kyuubi host a small grin, "Nah, I'm not hungry. You go." Naruto asked if he was sure, and he said that he was, then the blonde ultimately bounced away towards his beloved ramen stand. He just about tripped over a crater that the Nara was almost certain an Akatsuki member, Deidara was his name, had created.

Shikamaru continued to smirk to himself, pulling a lighter out of his pocket as he did so, bringing it to the end of the cigarette. The flame ignited it and immediately the specific smoke smell filled his nostrils. He took a drag in, counted to three, then breathed out.

"Troublesome boy," he mumbled between breaths and drags. "Troublesome world."

A/N: lots of different pov's in this one. (and naruto and shikamaru are fun characters to write, beeteedubs. i like being in their minds.) AND THERE WILL BE MORE ACTUAL DEISAKU LATERRR. this is sort of a filler chapter.

HEY, GUYS. i'm going to be candid and say something: more reviews usually mean faster updates. it's about true, seriously. i need to be motivated with this story. reviews, whether they be just "omg kewl" or constructive (not destructive, like flames), are super, super important to me.
thank you, all~