Upside-Down

TK Grimm

Chapter Seven:

For You

"What are you making now?"

"Will you stop complaining?" Sakura said, stopping what she was doing to put her hands on her hips. She waved her spatula at Deidara threateningly, "When a woman cooks for a man, he's supposed to appreciate it."

Deidara sighed, crossing his arms on the table and using them as a pillow for his head. "It was nice at first, but now you're just trying to make me fat, yeah." He was exaggerating; they had been living together for almost week now, and Sakura just liked to bake… a lot.

"Want me to stop and throw them away?"

"No!" he said instantly, jerking his head up and looking at her. He immediately looked away, "Err… that'd just be a waste. That's all."

Sakura rolled her eyes in amusement, going back to her cinnamon rolls. "Uh-huh. That's what I thought."

"Don't you have homework to do or something, yeah?"

"It's Saturday."

"So?"

Glancing back briefly, she winked at him. "I'm procrastinating. Just a little."

Deidara raised an eyebrow as he looked up at her. "What was that you said the other day? 'What an awful habit' yeah."

Sakura chuckled lightly and decided to ignore him for the time being. As soon as the first batch was cooling and the second was in the oven, she finally got to sit down at the table as well. "So, you've been looking at that text book for a while; learn anything?"

Deidara sighed and sat up straight, turning his attention back to Sakura's medical book that she used for college. Seeing a maze of big words, he shut his eyes tight and shoved it back towards her. Sakura giggled, pointing at one of the words. "Okay… what's a photometer?"

Instead of asking how he was supposed to know that, Deidara decided to use his sarcasm to answer. "I don't know, a photograph ranked from one to ten?"

"No… It measures the amount of light reflected off the reacted reagent pad and converts-"

"You lost me."

Sakura sighed exasperatedly, "You know, it's only difficult because you make it difficult." Looking at the page again, she found another word. "What's phagocytosis?" For some odd reason, Deidara burst out laughing, unable to answer her. This irritated Sakura. "What, do I dare ask, is so funny?"

"Did you just say fag-ocytosis?"

"…"

Deidara got his laughter under control and waved his hand once in dismissal, "Okay, okay, just kidding, yeah. What does it mean, oh amazing doctor-in-training?"

Choosing to ignore the sarcasm, Sakura replied, "Engulfing of microorganisms and foreign particles by phagocytes – oh will you stop laughing!" Feeling the corners of her mouth tug upwards, she used every ounce of willpower to show him that she was mad, even if she was unable to do so successfully. "You self-centered-"

"Narrow-minded idiot, I know," Deidara rolled his eyes as he finished her insult. Sakura shook her head, smiling despite herself, and turned a few of the pages. Deidara's eyes widened when she started reading some article, but the words wasn't what he was focused on. "Are you reading a dirty book?" he demanded, shocked to see Sakura reading an article directly below a picture of a naked woman.

"Excuse me?" Sakura demanded. "These are medical diagrams! Of course they're going to show… full-body… well, pictures."

Deidara grinned, resting his chin on his hand with his elbow on the table. Sakura was sure she didn't like this expression. "Yeah, sure. You know, they have magazines with much better pictures."

Sakura glared at him, "I would never! Oh, and I'm sure you'd know all about those!"

Deidara shrugged, "I'm a guy." The smirk still on his face, he added, "You know, it's okay to be curious…"

"NO!"

Putting his hands up in defeat, he laughed, "Fine, fine, forget I said anything, yeah."

A soft ding sound came from Sakura's pocket, so she took out her cell phone and looked at it. Ino had sent her a text message.

come 2 elixur tomorrow 4 temari

"Ino, Hinata and I are going to help Temari out tomorrow," Sakura said, replying to Ino with a simple 'ok.' "Will you be okay here by yourself?" she added with a grin.

Deidara changed his expression from irritation to mock concern quickly. "Oh, I don't know. I might not be able to find any food by myself, and what if I get lost on my way to the bathroom?"

Sakura shook her head in amusement. "Okay, just making sure. That reminds me, I keep forgetting to set you up with a personal ring tone on my phone. Look through and pick one!"

She handed him her cell phone, and Deidara started browsing through her song list. "You listen to shitty music… yeah."

"Hey!"

"The Beach Boys?" he asked skeptically.

"The Beach Boys is great music!" Sakura insisted. "Their songs are classic!"

"No… AC/DC's songs are classic. Hang on," Deidara said. He took his phone from his pocket and went through a list of his songs before finding the one he wanted and sending it to Sakura's phone as a media message. Then he set his phone down and set the song he had sent to her phone as his personal ring tone. "Much better. Now your phone isn't completely preppy… yeah."

"That better not be some head banging, big hair, 80s band," Sakura said as she hesitantly accepted the phone back from him.

Deidara smirked, "And if it is?"

With a sigh, she put it back in her pocket, "Then you'll scare the wits out of me every time you call."

"Perfect." He glanced at the clock somewhat uncomfortably and said, "I'm gonna step outside for a minute."

"Okay," Sakura replied, a frown coming over her face. She knew what that meant – it was cigarette time. He never smoked in her apartment, which she respected, but he did still smoke. Give him some credit… he hasn't been smoking as much as before. Now it's only one or two a day…

Sakura opened the oven door to check on the cinnamon rolls; they still needed a few more minutes. Taking off her white apron, she walked towards the back and stepped out onto the porch. Deidara was leaning on the wooden railing, looking at nothing in particular, just straight ahead. "Careful," he said when he heard the sliding door close. "Second hand smoke is murder."

"Oh?" Sakura asked with a slightly sad smile. Naturally, she already knew this, but it made her happy that he was being careful around her.

"Yeah," Deidara replied, still looking straight ahead. "Read it in your book."

So that's what he was looking at before I started the second batch, Sakura thought. She braced herself and stood next to him, mimicking his pose and leaning on the railing with her gaze straight ahead. "Does it help with stress?"

"It did at first," he said honestly. "Lately, it's causing more stress than it's relieving."

"Why is that?" Sakura asked softly, turning her head to look at him.

Deidara kept his face neutral, lacking basic expressions. He didn't want her to look too deeply into his mood. "You started nagging me about it, yeah," he finally said, momentarily glaring at her playfully.

Sakura rolled her eyes, turning her gaze back to the little garden in her tiny backyard. She wanted to buy a house one day so she could have a full-sized one, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. "I only nag because I care," she pointed out, helping her case.

Deidara sighed, "I know, yeah. That's why it's stressful."

"What?"

"Not important." He looked at her briefly and then focused his eyes on something in a different direction. "I'll try to quit… eventually."

Sakura smiled, turning around so she could lean her back on the railing and look at him to her left. "How about now?"

"It's not that easy, yeah," Deidara said, finally looking at her. He grinned slightly, "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

Immediately, Sakura turned her head, furious with herself for blushing at his comment. "W-well, we're friends. Of course I care…"

Deidara glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She was facing the direction of the apartment with her right hand over her cheek. Her expression was slightly surprised, but what got his attention the most was the fact that she was indeed blushing. Don't even think about it, yeah, he thought. She's taken. He didn't say anything for a while, repeating this thought over and over in his mind.

Finally, he sighed in defeat and took the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Sakura turned her head and looked at him, confused. He gave her a weak smile and tossed the pack into a trashcan. It shook slightly with impact but settled soon after. Sakura looked at him, completely shocked. "You mean it?"

"Yeah," he said, leaning on the railing again and looking straight ahead.

Sakura smiled at him proudly. "I'll help you in any way I can, I promise…" She took his hand for a moment, effectively surprising him. "I'm glad you decided to do this for yourself." Letting go of him, she walked to the sliding door and said, "I've got to check on those cinnamon rolls!"

Deidara watched the door close and then stared at his hand for a moment. Damn it, he thought. I knew I shouldn't have moved in with her… He sighed, returning his gaze straight ahead. "I didn't do it for me, yeah," he said quietly. "I did it for you."

A few minutes later, Sakura poked her head back outside, "Ron White is on Comedy Central; want to watch?" She paused before saying, "I'll let you eat a cinnamon roll on my couch and not nag about crummies…"

He chuckled, rolling his eyes in amusement as he followed her back in the house. "Okay, but no nagging period, you got that, chick?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura sighed. She was a neat freak and did her best to keep her house as clean as possible. One of the annoying things Deidara had to get used to when living with Sakura was that he couldn't eat or drink anything (except water) outside the kitchen. The first time he did, he never heard the end about 'crummies' and 'potential disasters they cause.'

They sat down on the couch watching random bits of comedy the man came out with. During commercial breaks, different conversations came up on several topics. One thing Sakura liked about being around Deidara was that there was always something to talk about. He was the exact opposite of boring, and that was a nice treat. Sure, Sasuke talked to her and put forth effort on conversations, but for the most part, it was quite one-sided. Every time she talked to Deidara, however, it was different. He listened to what she had to say, offered feedback and even asked questions to get a better understanding.

Sometimes, Sasuke was busy with other things and only gave her half of his attention. He would answer with a simple grunt or an 'uh-huh' because it was easy. What she hated the most was when Sasuke would agree with her, and when she would ask a question about it, she'd find out he hadn't been listening at all.

Deidara was never like that; he listened to everything she said, even if he didn't always reply. Sure, she sometimes asked a question about it to check if he was listening, but it turned out he always did. It was a nice change.

Sakura always felt as if she had to impress Sasuke whenever she was around him. Everything she did felt like it wasn't good enough for him, so she had to put forth the extra effort to do something that caught his attention. She knew he didn't mean it, but he had a bad habit of letting work come before her. It was understandable since he had such an important job, but she just wanted a little time and attention… was that too much to ask for?

Yet around Deidara, she found she could easily be herself, because he didn't need to be impressed by her; he liked her how she was, flaws and all. And the more time she spent with him, the more she liked him for who he was, regardless of flaws. Sakura got to be herself around Deidara, and that meant a lot. What surprised her was how much he actually did for her. He made a lot of changes, things he probably thought she didn't notice, but she did. She wasn't sure why he did these things for her, but she respected it a lot.

Lately, she had noticed changes in herself that had slowly begun coming out. Sakura found that she was much happier than she used to be. She was never depressed or anything before; she was always pleasant and able to smile and laugh. But whenever she was around Deidara, Sakura found it exceedingly difficult not to smile. He brought out a side of her that was much more fun and easy-going. It wasn't always business-business-business anymore. Even Ino noticed the change.

Deidara and Sakura got their picture taken the day before. They went to a small café for lunch on Friday, and as they were leaving, Sakura saw a picture stand. Deidara was quite reluctant, but agreed to taking a few shots. They sat down in the booth, and the first picture, they both smiled. The second one they made a funny face where Sakura put bunny ears on Deidara's head, and Deidara squeezed Sakura's cheeks slightly so she had a fish face.

The last picture, they were closer with one arm wrapped around the other. Both of them had a smile on their face, and their heads were leaning against the other. Sakura liked that one the best. She put it in a picture frame and put it on her end table beside her bed. The funny face one was framed and set on a shelf with a bunch of other pictures Sakura had. Deidara kept the first one in his wallet.

The commercials came back, advertising an upcoming Mötley Crüe concert. Sakura realized she hadn't been watching the comedian before at all – she had been thinking about Sasuke and Deidara the whole time. Wait, why was she thinking about Deidara? Sure, he was a great friend and all, but she was dating Sasuke. She had to push these thoughts to the back of her mind and not think about him.

She turned her head and looked at Deidara. His blue eyes were glued to the television screen with his lips slightly parted. Sakura glanced at the TV and saw the Mötley Crüe concert still being advertised. Returning her green gaze to him, she wondered what about it had caught his interest. "You like them?" Sakura asked at last.

Deidara seemed to have snapped out of his trance. He glanced at her and then shifted slightly in his sitting position. "Sorta, yeah."

"Why don't you go?" Sakura giggled, poking him in the shoulder. He shrugged, but didn't answer. Sakura pondered this for a moment before biting her lip, wondering if it was because he couldn't afford tickets. She didn't ask, though, and instead, returned attention to the TV. "So when was your last concert?"

"I saw Godsmack when I was seventeen," he said, leaning back and becoming more relaxed. "You?"

Sakura gave him a sheepish smile, "I've only been to one, and that was for Sasuke's birthday. We went to Linkin Park. It was a bit… loud, though."

Deidara looked at her, grinning slightly. "You think that's loud?"

"Well, it was…"

He chuckled, "You haven't heard anything in that case. Linkin Park is good, don't get me wrong. But they're a lullaby compared to some of the stuff I listen to. The Godsmack concert had cannons… yeah."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Real cannons? Ones that… well, did they work?"

"Yep."

Sakura covered her ears at the thought, shaking her head a couple times. "Sounds like a headache…" Seeing that Ron White was back on TV, she relaxed and put her gaze back on the screen. Both Sakura and Deidara noticed that they were sitting exceptionally close, but they didn't say anything. It would have been awkward. Deidara kept telling himself that Sakura was taken, and Sakura continually repeated that she loved Sasuke.

Sunday morning, Sakura woke up rather comfortably. She didn't bother to roll over and glance at her clock and instead decided to snuggle up and get a few extra minutes of sleep. However, these pleasant thoughts vanished when she felt her 'pillow' move. She raised her head slightly and saw that she and Deidara had fallen asleep on the couch the night before. Her 'blanket' turned out to be his black trench coat – the one with the red cloud design that Sasori had one of as well.

Deidara was still asleep with his head resting on the arm rest of the leather couch, turned to the side slightly. His long blonde hair was in slight disarray, and both his arms were around Sakura. She smiled, resting her head on his chest as she had done before and started playing with his hair. She twirled the straight blonde locks around her fingers a few times, smiling absent-mindedly.

When Sakura returned her gaze to his face, she saw that he was waking up slowly. He squinted his eyes, keeping them shut tight because of the bright sun that had done it's job of waking Sakura up minutes before. She giggled, brushing a few of his bangs out of his eyes. "Morning."

Deidara groaned and covered his face with his arms an a futile attempt to block out sunlight so he could sleep longer. "What time is it," he asked, sleep showing through his voice.

Sakura turned her head and squinted her eyes in the light to see the clock just above the television set. "Almost ten." She looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. His eyes were still covered, so she could do whatever she wanted. She poked the sides of his cheeks once. Then she touched the tip of his nose with her index finger.

"Hey…" he said lazily. "It's mean to mess with sleeping people, yeah…"

"You're not sleeping…" Sakura sang happily.

Deidara moved his arms again so they rested on Sakura's back like before. He raised an eyebrow and said, "I know. I was trying."

"Nooooo," Sakura teased. "Come on, get up, let's get breakfast!"

"I would if I could," he replied, grinning slyly at her. "But you're on top of me… yeah."

Sakura poked him in the forehead before sliding off the couch and standing up. She stretched her arms out and walked into the kitchen. "What sounds good?" she asked, her voice loud enough for him to hear in the living room.

"I don't know; surprise me." Deidara sat up straight on the couch, looking at his coat. Damn, he thought as he reached his hand into the pocket. He remembered he had thrown away his cigarettes the night before. That's right… he quit. He sighed, walking to the kitchen, silently wondering how long he'd last.

After breakfast, Sakura got the first shower. She decided to be nice and leave Deidara hot water, though. She was in the middle of pulling her hair up into a spiky bun when he came out of the bathroom. Sakura felt her face heat up as she shamelessly stared at him. Just because she was dating Sasuke didn't mean she shouldn't be allowed to check other guys out. Especially if they happened to be extremely fit, extremely sexy artists.

Deidara finally caught her looking and smirked. "Careful, yeah. Your face will freeze if you keep it like that for too long."

Sakura jumped, finally realizing what she had been doing and mentally slapped herself. She immediately turned around and restarted her hair style. Hearing Deidara's footsteps disappear down the hall, she let out a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding. At least he had a towel on… Though I must admit I wouldn't mind seei-AH! No! Bad Sakura!

By the time she finally completed her hair style – with a touch of hair spray to keep it in place – Deidara was sitting at the table reading a magazine. Sakura raised her eyebrows and walked over, curious. "What are you reading?"

"Rolling Stones," he said monotonously, turning the page.

Sakura bit her lip as she looked at the towel around his shoulders. He had pants on… but still no shirt. His hair was still damp, but it was drying slowly. She swallowed hard as her eyes wandered lower and lower. Sakura, stop it! she scolded. Quit ogling him like a horny little schoolgirl!

"Are you listening, yeah?"

Sakura shook her head once. "Sorry about that… spaced out. What did you say?"

Deidara raised an eyebrow but didn't ask what was so distracting to make her space out. "I said, when are you going to help Temari?"

Sakura glanced at the clock. "Let's see… it's 11:30 now. I'll probably leave in a half hour. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"So…" Sakura began slowly, wondering how best to ask the next question.

Deidara set his magazine down and turned his head slightly to look at her. "So…" he echoed, waiting for her to continue.

"Feel free to say no to this," Sakura said sheepishly, her fingers fidgeting behind her back nervously. "Can I play with your hair?"

If he were drinking something, he would have spit it out right there. "You want to what?"

Sakura knew she was blushing, but tried to play it off and stay calm. "Please? It'll be fun! My hair's too short! Come on… I'll just brush it and then put it in the ponytail like you usually have it… Please?" Her hands were together in a praying motion, and she wore the cutest puppy dog face.

Deidara stared at her for a long time and then finally sighed in defeat. "Nothing better to do, yeah…"

"Yay!"

Deidara sat on the floor in front of the television set with his legs crossed. Sakura was behind him, casually and gently brushing through his hair as he looked through the channels to find something to watch. Sakura looked at the screen and saw Loony Tunes. "Oh! Wanna watch that?"

"Cartoons?" Deidara asked, glancing back at her.

"Yeah!" He shrugged and set down the remove, leaving it on Elmer Fudd hunting Bugs Bunny. There was a pause as Sakura stopped brushing for a moment. "Hey Deidara?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh… if I braid your hair, will you-"

"Don't even think about it."

Sakura tried her hardest to suppress a giggle, only to end up failing. "Okay, okay." Just as Deidara was beginning to find the Loony Tunes somewhat amusing, Sakura spoke again. "Deidara?"

His right index finger tapped on the floor impatiently a few times as he asked, "What now?"

"I was just wondering," Sakura began slowly as she gently brushed his hair back to get the top part in a ponytail. "Do you want to come with me when I got to the Elixur to help Temari?" She finally got it and held his hair carefully in her hand as she started tying the red ponytail around to secure it in place.

"Why do you want me to come, yeah?" he asked, his voice slightly suspicious.

"It's just gonna be a bunch of us girls from high school," Sakura said, knowing why he didn't want to go. "Shikamaru will probably be there, too. He and Temari are engaged. I just thought it would be fun to catch up." She switched positions so she was sitting in front of him, effectively blocking the TV. "Please?" she asked sweetly.

Deidara sighed, looking away. "Fine."

Sakura was getting used to him spoiling her like that; she could get almost anything that way. She grinned, "Thanks! Oh, and… what do you say about painting my car?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Sakura sighed in defeat. "Okay. Well, let's get going. Put a shirt on; you're distracting." Her eyes widened momentarily, "I-I mean, wouldn't want any of my friends to, uh, err… well, it's just.."

Deidara smirked, only half-listening to her as she rambled and blushed. Sakura was so easily embarrassed, but when she said things like that, implying she was interested in him, it made him get this stupid grin on his face that lasted several minutes.

"I mean, well you are very attractive, don't get me wrong," she continued, desperately trying to not make eye-contact. "B-b-but I know and, er, you know, yeah, that friends can just… well sometimes look, n-not that I was looking! I just happened to-" and so on. God, she was entertaining at times. Yet at the same time, with Sakura saying all those things, Deidara really wanted her. She wanted him, too – he just knew it. She had to.

Don't do it, the traitorous voice in his head commanded. She's with that Uchiha brat. Off-limits. Deidara tried to block out the voice, but it kept coming back. Yet when Sakura's eyes landed on him once again, the same way they had after his shower earlier, he lost it.

Deidara put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her fully onto the floor. He was on his side, but his left hand still gripped her shoulder, his right holding him up, and his leg effectively placed between both of hers. Sakura looked at him in surprise, still blushing. "D-Deidara…?"

His left hand moved up to her neck and through her hair. Sakura saying his name was enough to bring up a dozen urges and wants that he knew he had to put away. Deidara knew that if he acted on what he was feeling right then, he'd never see her again.

Sakura giggled slightly, turning her head and looking away. "Oh, sorry. I was rambling."

Deidara inwardly sighed; Sakura didn't have a clue what was going on in his head. She thought he was trying to make her shut up. That was when her phone rang – 'Temperature.' Deidara scowled, knowing full well that Sakura had set that personal ring tone to Sasuke. All good, sexual feelings he felt were as gone as quickly as they had come.

He sat up straight, getting off of her so she could answer her phone. She gave him an embarrassed apology and ran into the kitchen. Deidara ran his fingers through his bangs and shook his head once. Damn it…