I don't own Naruto – VZ

"You have to eat sometime kid, you can't just starve yourself." Kisame advised the pinkette who was sulking in her lacked windows and only had a bed, no other furniture at all. It only made the space feel emptier than it already was.

"Watch me."

Yes, the threat was filled with dislike and venom. But due to her 'condition'….Her words came out sounding cute and adorable. Much like a pouting child.

"I am, and so far….you're not looking too good." Was his last comment before he took off. Shutting the door and leaving yet another tray brimming with hot and tasty food.

It's been an entire week since she has been captured by Akatsuki.

And every day and night, the mist-nin would bring her meal. Although, she refused to even take a single bite of the food. Why?

Well, It was her own form of rebellion against the most feared group in the shinobi world.

The less she ate, the weaker she got, and her chakra reserves will remain dry and empty.

Like hell Sakura was going to heal Akatsuki' s members!

No matter how long they would torture her (not that they have), no matter how many threats they send her way. (Which were a lot) Hell would have frozen over, the moment she would willingly mend the wounds of these criminals.

Sakura did try to piece together an escape plan, several actually. Unfortunately, they all backfired miserably.

Flashback

The handle of a door was just a simple piece of metal. Easily opened, with just the right amount of precision and knowledge to operate the gears inside the knob.

And so, she stayed there, twisting and turning her slim fingers. Trying to manipulate the needle around the metal.

It was unnerving, how different her body is. Her height was now reduced to less than four feet. But at least she could still move as efficiently as before. Her body can still move the same way, with grace and stealth. The only downside was her height and voice.

A strand of pink fell over her eyes.

And her hair!

It was so long again. Whenever she looked at it, it seemed like there was a waterfall of pink flowing down her back. On the plus side, She could still use her chakra and she still had her inhuman strength.

Click.

"Yes!" She inwardly screamed to herself.

The senbon needle fell from her nimble fingers and dropped to the cold, concrete floor.

Sakura had finally picked the lock of the door, which now swung open.

She couldn't believe her luck, it has only been her second day at the underground Akatsuki base and here she was, so close to freedom!

And so, Sakura used her stealth and experience as a kunoichi to safely make her way past many winding hallways and corridors without being seen.

Yes, this plan was absolutely full-proof…if it wasn't for the fact that she was now lost.

Inner was screaming with rage, while Sakura merely huffed impatiently.

The desire to leave and breath fresh air was so strong, she needed to get out of here.

The pinkette missed her home and wanted nothing more than to return to it.

As she was in the middle of executing a rather brilliant plan (close her eyes, spin around then point to a hallway and walk.) she bumped into the worst possible person she could at the moment.

He looked down on her and sneered.

"Hey! Watch where you're going yeah!"

"Sorry, geez…." She said, backing up and giving him space.

"Whatever, just don't do it again twerp."

A vein started to throb above a delicate pink brow.

"Sure, blondie." Sakura said condescendingly.

"What did you call me?" Deidara' s eye started twitching.

"Are you going deaf now? I said 'sure blondie'" the ten year old said slowly, as if speaking to a child.

Oh the irony.

"That's it! I'm going to blow you into bits!" Suddenly, Sakura was faced with three mouths, each grinning with madness.

"Go ahead, try." The pinkette said bravely.

Although she looked like a helpless child, she was far from one.

And so, out of pure irritation and maybe a bit of stupidity, she jumped and yanked his blonde ponytail. Effectively bring him down to her level. This of course, caused the male to yelp in pain. Sakura stood on her toes so that she could look him straight in the eye.

Sky blue clashed with forest green.

The medic-nin could feel the anger and adrenaline pumping through her veins. Yes, she was tired and exhausted. The last thing she needed right now was a cocky blonde threating to throw bombs of chakra infused clay at her. She wasn't naïve, Sakura was aware of his strength and abilities…..what she didn't realize was how cute she was in that moment.

Her big green eyes were narrowed and bright, shining with an inner fire. And the way her long wavy pink hair framing her heart shaped face was simply too much. She was radiating hostility and explosive anger. It was fearful yet strangely compelling to the bomber.

Deidara reddened noticeably, but not from aggravation or fury.

"H-hey let go of me yeah!" He said, cheeks stained with a blush.

"Why so scared?" She taunted, bringing their faces closer together.

Sakura would never have done this kind of thing before. She was never bold or brave enough to do so. But here she was, teasing the blonde Akatsuki member like it was no big deal. Maybe inner was still lurking somewhere in her mind.

"I'm not scared of a child! Especially a pink one!" Deidara yelled.

Oh no he didn't…..

"Then stop acting like it blondie." The ten year old said just as loud.

"Just let go of the hair!"

Sakura was about to retort a loud and curt 'never' , when voices can be heard not so far away.

Oh no….

She had to escape now.

This may be her only chance.

"Fine."

Without further ado, she released the blonde locks from her grip.

"Hey, where are you going yeah?" Deidara wondered, still slightly annoyed yet relieved she had freed his hair.

"….The bathroom?" The medic-nin replied, hoping he would believe her lie and just go away.

Sadly, he didn't. He followed her instead.

"Don't you have one in your room?" He asked, his voice was filled with suspicion.

Damn, he's right.

"Oh, there's no hot water in mine."

Sakura halted her steps to look over her shoulder at Deidara, Who stopped walking and was staring at her like she was like a puzzle of some kind.

A few moments passed in silence before a smirk graced the blonde's features.

"So you want hot water huh?" He asked her, tilting his head to the side. Obviously waiting for her reply.

"….Yeah."

"Let's go." The missing-nin stated.

With that damn smirk of his.

Out of the blue, a large and warm hand encased her own tiny one.

"Hey! Let go of me." The pinkette commanded.

"Nope."

"But-" He cut her off mid sentence.

"As your elder, it's my responsibility to take you to wherever you want to go." Deidara smugly stated while leading her through more doors and corridors.

"That doesn't explain why-"

Again, he interrupted. This of course, only fueled the flames of Sakura's irritation. She was not a real child! For Kami's sake, she was a grown woman trapped inside a body of a girl who barely reached the age of ten. That didn't mean she should be treated like an infant who needed assistance with whatever she needed to do. Or wherever she needed to go. Sadly, the bomber was most likely taking her even deeper into the base. Putting her much farther and deeper in her problem than she ever was in the first place.

As Deidara was busy navigating through the area, Sakura wondered if she would ever see the light of day again. Maybe she should've just hit him hard on the head and make a run for it. Although, the chances of getting lost (again) are pretty high….

"Here we are yeah." Turns out, Deidara had brought them to a door.

"Is it a bathroom?"

"No, but it has one. It's actually my room yeah." The blonde turned the knob and led her inside.

Sakura took note of the several clay spiders crawling on the floor, and a few clay birds flying around as well. The room was pretty organized , it only had a dresser, bed and another door that most probably led to his bathroom.

"Go ahead, oh, there are some towels on the rack inside if you need some." He said before dropping onto his grey sheets and promptly passing out.

"….thanks, I guess."

Deidara waited for the click of the door before opening his eyes.

"What was that yeah?" He asked no one in particular. The blonde was confused, he didn't understand why he couldn't stop thinking about her. The majority of his mind was occupied with thought of a little pink haired girl who looked so adorable, glaring at him like that.

Sakura Haruno was an enigma. She was unpredictable. But then again, that's what made her so fun to play around with. Deidara knew she was trying to escape; he was going to bring her back to her room. Just like any other good captor would. Even so, he couldn't just return her. It was so simple, so boring.

Leaving him with a good, no great idea. Which was to embarrass her.

Unfortunately, the little blossom did not stutter or blush when he brought her to his sleeping quarters. If anything, she seemed to care less. Not even the sight of his deadly spiders or birds seemed to faze her.

The moment she stepped into his shower, he gave up his silly plan of revenge. Which failed horribly.

Yes, she was hot headed, but it only increased her image in the bomber's eyes.

Her emotions and thoughts were fast and fleeting, never the same after a few moments.

Her temper was turbulent and explosive, gripping his attention with an iron fist..

Her eyes were just like emerald fire, flaring up when she was angered.

The little blossom was the very personification of his art.

"Hey Blondie, I borrowed your shirt. I hope you don't mind." The object of his thoughts revealed herself, followed by a cloud of steam.

Oh he did, quite a lot in fact. But he couldn't find the words. Deidara was too busy staring, with a blush steadily making it's way to his cheeks….again.

The pinkette was dressed in his red long sleeved shirt. It dwarfed her completely.

Her fingertips could hardly be seen under all that red fabric. Now that he noticed it, the blood red color of his shirt contrasted with her skin's creamy hue.

It was stupid really, the woman in front of him was stuck in a child's body and yet he found himself attracted to the pink haired beauty. She was just too cute for her own good.

"Nah, I don't mind." With those words, a smile lit up the ten year old' s face.

"Good, cause' I like it."

As she went back into the bathroom to pick up her clothes scattered on the tiled floor, She failed to catch Deidara's words.

"Me too."

End of Flashback

Sakura was surprised when he didn't ask for his shirt back. Surprised but pleased as well. It was a relief and a joy to wear something other than her oversized clothes. True, Deidara' s shirt was large, bigger than her own t-shirts, but his was so much softer than her own. It was red too, her favorite color.

She sighed at the fabric that used to be her , they were tattered and ruined from her mission and fight with the rouge-nin. Some patches of mud wouldn't even come off when she scrubbed her shirt over the sink in the bathroom.

"Dinner time kid." Kisame entered her bedroom without knocking, a tray laden with food in his hand, with a jug of sake in the other. Out of all the Akatsuki members, the medic-nin was most comfortable with Kisame. She didn't even care if he didn't knock. Sakura was that comfortable around him. His easygoing nature, vigor on the battlefield and love of alcohol reminded her of Tsunade.

A tear slid down her cheek.

"Hey don't go crying now kid. Where was that tough little girl I saw a couple hours ago?" He joked, while ruffling her pink hair.

"I'm fine….you just remind me of someone I miss."

This sparked the mist-nin' s interest.

"Really? Who?"

"Secret." The pinkette smirked at the shark man who sat across from her.

"Whatever, you'll tell me sooner or later."

"Right, sure I will." She scoffed.

Kisame rolled his eyes with a fond smile.

"So, you gonna eat of what? It's not healthy, starving yourself like this."

Was she going temporarily deaf? Or did he just sound concerned for her?

No…it couldn't be.

Sakura mentally chastised herself for being so naive. Thinking that a criminal could care if she was healthy or not.

"How about we make a deal?"

Oh, Kisame definitely reminded Sakura of her Shishou, gambling and all.

Unfortunately, the pinkette had a nasty habit of getting involved in bets and gambles. Like master, like apprentice.

"Depends on the stakes." She answered.

"That's fair…okay…If you eat every meal I bring you, I'll take you outside."

The frown that marred the pinkette's pretty features transformed into one of mischief.

Ta-da! hope you guys liked it :) and thanks to those 7 people who reviewed last time. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep this story going. But your reviews have now fueled my determination to continue this story! See? you're my inspiration ;) - VZ