Silver Lining
Chapter Four: A Want Unwanted
Sakura suppressed a startled squeak and the instinct to jump out of the bed, because the first thing she saw when she cracked open her eyes…was Deidara, a lot closer than he'd been the night before. And he hadn't moved—she had. Apparently her subconscious thought it was a good idea to worm closer to her bedfellow in her sleep, for extra warmth or just some long-denied human contact. But her bedfellow happened to be male. Her bedfellow happened to be Deidara.
Thankfully she woke up before her body worked its way close enough to touch him, because having Deidara wake up to find her smooshed against him would be just a bit awkward for them both. Slowly and carefully, Sakura shifted back to her side of the bed and crawled out with as little shuffling as possible. Just then Deidara made a muted murmuring sound and rolled over, tucking his arm up under his chin. She smiled a little, because he actually looked rather adorable like that. But then she realized that had he moved just moments ago, they would now be face to face and his arm would possibly be thrown over her rather than where it was now.
The mission cover was one thing, but something like that happening when they were alone was more than she wanted to think about. Strange vibes were already passing between them as it was. Slightly embarrassment by what could have happened, she grabbed her pack and padded silently into the bathroom.
An hour later when Deidara woke up and wandered groggily out of the bedroom, he found the patio doors open and Sakura sitting at the small breakfast table with her chin resting in her palm, gazing out at the ocean. A room service cart stood near the patio door and there was an impressive breakfast laid out on the table.
"Morning," she said, looking up at him as he took a seat.
His eyes wandered over the small feast and her half-empty but still largely portioned plate. "Hungry?"
"Aren't you? We never ate dinner last night you know." She took another bite of toast.
"That's because you fell asleep," he said, piling food onto a plate for himself.
"I didn't mean to. You could have woken me up."
Deidara shrugged and started eating. Then he noticed she was watching him with an amused expression and he stared back at her until he swallowed his food. "What?"
"I've never seen you with your hair down." During her time as Akatsuki's 'hostage' she had never seen any of them except for Itachi in the mornings, until breakfast when they were already dressed and ready for the day. The few nights they'd had to make camp, they all just slept as they were. So it was a novelty to see him in such a natural and relaxed state, in the undershirt and pants he'd slept in, his long hair loose around his shoulders and slightly mussed. A few strands still hung over his eye, but most were carelessly tucked behind his ear. She liked the look; it was more personal, and somehow made her feel closer to him.
He just smirked and turned his gaze to the gently capping waves and the flock of birds diving for their morning meal. The silence between them was comfortable as they enjoyed the calm and simple beauty of their surroundings. Deidara had never seen the sea until he left his village and began to travel the world. He enjoyed watching the birds flock the shores, feeling the wind on his face that left the slight taste of salt on his skin.
"It's so tranquil and relaxing here, like a sedative for the soul," Sakura murmured softly. "I never really thought about it before, but I think I could spend my life living by the ocean; falling sleep to the sound of waves crashing, waking up to a view like this." He was looking at her with a soft, thoughtful smile. "What?"
"I was just thinking the same thing," he said quietly.
"Then why did you leave Kisame's? Didn't you say it was too boring for your wild untamable personality?" she teased.
He smirked. "I liked it there, but there just wasn't anything to occupy me and keep me entertained."
He'd been happy at Kisame's house overlooking the ocean, living a quiet life neither had ever expected to have. But he'd also felt restless, like he wasn't ready to stop and stay in one place yet, like there were other things he needed to do and see. He blamed it on boredom and his own free-spirited nature. Now he was glad he hadn't stayed on that island, because he would never have found Sakura again.
Was it coincidence? Or was it fate to meet her again like this. Sakura seemed to be lost in some way, cast adrift in a world that was too ugly for someone with her heart and spirit. She had no one, and she was drowning in her loneliness and sorrow. Was Deidara meant to be her lifeline in some way? Philosophy bored him unless it concerned art, and he never pondered the meaning of life, but now he couldn't help but wonder.
Sitting here with her was calming, peaceful, and made him remember how much he liked waking up to this every day. Maybe someday soon he would go back to that house by the sea where an enormous shark-man who liked to drink and fish lived, and maybe this time he would stay. Maybe…if she wanted…he would take her with him.
"Oh, I don't know, Kisame can be pretty entertaining at times," she mused.
Deidara laughed. "Especially when he's drunk, yeah."
"That's for sure," she said. "So how do you think we should go about stealing the sword?"
He thought for a moment. "Well, we should find out as much as we can about the exhibition and where the sword will be kept before, during and after the event, maybe how it's being transported and by who, and if any of Shingo's guards are shinobi, yeah."
Sakura nodded slowly, thinking over their options. "Blueprints," she said finally. "We should get ahold of the hotel's building plans. If we have the blueprints, we can see every detail about where the exhibition is being held, and any storage facilities that may be holding the items before and after their showing. The sword may even be here right now, or if it's not, with the prints we can see any loading docks or drop points where it might be delivered. We can even get an idea of possible escape routes. Once we know those things, we can go from there."
Deidara looked fairly impressed. "That's a pretty good plan. But how do we get ahold of the hotel's blueprints?"
"Well, they'll probably be kept in a restricted access area, most likely locked up in the security manager's office. So maybe today we should snoop around a little, pretend we're just taking in the sights and seeing what there is to do around the resort, until we find out where the security office is. Then we can sneak in tonight and steal them."
He nodded, liking the idea. "While we're looking around we can scope out the security to see if any of them are shinobi and what sort of quality they are, yeah."
"Alright then. We can go whenever you're ready," she said. They finished their breakfast, talking idly and enjoying the antics of the diving birds.
They spent the day walking around the hotel, observing all of the facilities and amenities they had supposedly paid so much to enjoy while on their honeymoon. The resort was huge and it took them all morning and part of the afternoon to cover all the ground and discover the location of the security office. With a simple shadow clone/henge combo to impersonate one of the security staff, they learned that the blueprints for the hotel were indeed kept in that office, in a locked file cabinet. The fact that they were locked up meant there was probably something displayed on them that a regular employee or guest shouldn't know about.
They ate lunch at the restaurant they passed the night before, and the food was just as delicious as Sakura had assumed it would be. To say she didn't eat the most high quality meals anymore was an understatement, so it was a welcome change.
The rest of the afternoon was spent casually strolling around once again, arm in arm or with Deidara's arm slung over her shoulder, locating and assessing Shingo's security force. The majority were regular civilian security guards hired to deal with minor issues among resort guests. But as they snuck further into the employee access areas they saw some rougher looking men, particularly around the storage facilities. These guys looked like hired mercenaries and didn't wear hotel staff uniforms. A few were low-level shinobi. Either they weren't any good at masking their chakra, it or they simply didn't care. But that meant Sakura and Deidara would have to conceal theirs at all times in order to keep their cover intact.
When night fell and things quieted down around the resort, they prepared for the job. They sent two clones to dinner to sit in plain view of the security camera, and then split up. Deidara returned to the room to grab his scope for its night vision and heat sensor capabilities, and then snuck into the storage buildings to see what was in them and get a better idea of just how well-guarded these artifacts were going to be.
Sakura headed for the security office, cast a genjutsu on the night watch sitting around a camera monitoring station, then opened the door and slipped inside. She passed the four spaced-out guards and deftly picked the lock on the manager's office door. She located the file cabinet, picked that lock as well, and searched through it for the hotel's building plans. She found the rolled up prints in the larger bottom drawer and quickly concealed them, then shut the drawer to lock itself, and relocked the manager's door.
On her way out she glanced at the security monitors out of curiosity and located the screen filming inside the restaurant. She watched for a moment, strangely fascinated by the image of her clone and Deidara's eating dinner and laughing about something. They really did look quite natural together. Then her eyes widened as she saw Deidara's clone reach across the table and grab the hand of Sakura's, drawing it toward him and pressing his lips to the backs of her fingers, while her clone blushed and smiled adorningly at him.
The real Sakura was blushing too as she watched the copies on the monitor. Damn it. She'd instructed her clone to order her something good to eat and act friendly to the other clone, not like she had the hots for him! She was going to feel that kiss when she dismissed her copy; whatever the fake Sakura was thinking and experiencing right now would be transferred when the jutsu was released. With a small flutter inside she wondered exactly what would passed to her. But then she realized Deidara would get the same information when he released his clone, and she found herself preemptively embarrassed.
That settled it—she would not leave her clone alone with Deidara's ever again. In fact, it was probably a good idea to get back to the restaurant before their flirting-by-proxy got any more embarrassing, however convincing it may be. Still, tonight had been a success on Sakura's part at least, and with a final glance at the dazed guards, she quickly and silently left the office, releasing the genjutsu when she was far enough away. It was almost too easy when dealing with civilians.
She met up with Deidara behind the restaurant a few minutes later. He looked irritated. "Did you find anything?" she asked as he walked up.
"No. There was nothing there. Nothing at all, unless you think extra surfboards and volleyball nets are relevant somehow," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and frown-pouting at the waste of his time.
"Then why do you think there were so many guards standing around there earlier?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's their break area or something. There were none there tonight, except for one civilian security guard on patrol." He glanced at her and gave her a quick once-over. "Where are the plans?"
"I'm not just going to walk around with a big roll of blueprints under my arm," she replied wryly. She pulled a folded object from the back of her skirt's waistband and handed it to him.
He unfolded it and looked at the advertising flyer of the antiques exhibition they had received at check-in. He smiled once he recognized what he was holding. "Pretty clever, yeah. You're really good at object henge. I can barely feel the chakra tracings, and the detail is right on. How did you get such a close match?"
She pulled out another paper, unfolded it and began to fan herself lazily with the real flyer, smirking slyly.
Deidara grinned. "I take it back. Cheater."
Sakura took the disguised blueprints and folded it back up with the flyer. "There's no such thing as cheating when you're a ninja," she said airily.
"True," he admitted. "I'm hungry. Do you think our clones left us anything to eat?"
Sakura's expression darkened at the thought of her misbehaving clone. "They better have," she mumbled, ignoring Deidara's puzzled look as they rounded the corner and headed for the front of the restaurant.
They switched with their clones one at a time by way of restroom intervals. Sakura was glad she was alone when the memory/sensory receptors hit her as the clone vanished. It was bad enough that the other patrons of the restaurant could see her blushing furiously at the phantom memory of Deidara's lips on her hand—it would be ten times worse if he was actually there to see it. What the hell was wrong with her anyway? It was just a little kiss to the hand! She was a grown woman, not some schoolgirl who got giddy from even the slightest interaction with a boy. Man. With really nice, soft lips. Stop it!
Deidara was coming back to the table, slightly put-off, looking at anything but Sakura and was he blushing? Well, at least she wasn't the only one. His clone had started it, after all, so he was probably more thrown than she was. She hastily stuffed a large forkful of food into her mouth so she wouldn't have to say anything right away.
He sat down, and after a couple minutes they began to talk about random things as they finished their half-eaten meals, both of them following a mutually unspoken agreement to pretend the clone incident never happened.
They didn't spend long at the restaurant, as they needed to go over the blueprints tonight and decide their next plan of action. Back in the room, Sakura promptly ordered dessert from room service since she was still hungry after only half a meal, and once it arrived they sat on the floor with the plans spread out over the coffee table and pored over them while enjoying the coffee and double chocolate cake she'd ordered.
"These things are a pain in the ass to read, yeah," Deidara remarked for the fourth time, after two hours of inspection and finding nothing unusual.
Sakura nodded absently, eyes scanning over the large sheet in front of her. This was a very large hotel and there were dozens of prints to look over. "Mmph!" she mumbled, and leaned forward over the table. Deidara looked at her curiously and she tapped her finger over a spot on the plans as she quickly swallowed the mouthful from her third slice of cake. "Here. In the basement level. You see it?"
Deidara leaned closer and peered at the spot she was pointing at. "There's a second stairwell in the basement, when the emergency exit maps around the hotel only indicate one. And…this one leads down, not up."
She nodded and looked up at him with a glint in her eye. "There's a sub-basement that's not listed anywhere and not detailed on the hotel's plans. Now why do you think someone would want to build a secret sublevel to a place like this?"
"That's where the exhibition items are being kept," he said, catching on to her excitement.
"And that's where we'll find the sword," she said smugly.
"We need to get down there, yeah. That's what we'll do tomorrow night."
Neck stiff from hours of peering at the blueprints, Sakura stretched tiredly and looked at the clock on the wall. It was already after midnight. Deidara got up to stretch out as well, and her eyes followed him as he stood. "So what are we gonna do tomorrow until nighttime?" she wondered.
He looked down at her with a playful grin. "Enjoy our honeymoon? This place was made to entertain people after all." She gave him a small smile and stretched her legs out into a wide V now that he'd moved. "Do you want to use the shower first?" he asked.
"No, go ahead. I'm going to look over these a little more and see if there's anything else we might find useful." He nodded and went into the bathroom, and Sakura took another bite of cake as she turned back to the blueprints.
A little while later the bathroom door opened and she heard Deidara shuffling around. Sakura looked up, and promptly clenched her teeth to keep her mouth closed. He had come out of the bathroom only half dressed. His dark pants hung low around his slender hips and his shirt was tossed over his shoulder, leaving Sakura a full view of his naked torso. She tried her best not to ogle him, and failed miserably. She had never seen him like…this, before. Deidara wasn't bulky and ripped, but neither was he tight and wiry. He was somewhere in the middle, on the slender side, with lean definition that fit his frame. All of this was easy enough to tell with his shirt on and she already knew these things, it was just that with the shirt off it was…enhanced.
She was just beginning to recover from the initial shock of seeing him like that when he brought the towel up to absently rub at his hair and his abs flexed with the movement, and Sakura suddenly became very interested in the stitching on the hem of her skirt. Why did he have to come out of the bathroom like that and why did his pants have to ride so low and when the hell did Deidara get so hot?
But then she'd always found him attractive, hadn't she? Even when there had still been a lot of tension and potential hostility between them she'd noticed how good looking he was. It was just that her main focus had been on Itachi at the time. The dark and mysterious Uchiha had such magnetism that he would draw all the attention in the room even if all he did was sit there and stare off into space, as he often had. It was hard to notice anything else. But these were not thoughts she wanted to be having about her recently reunited friend and mission partner. Sakura didn't want to have these thoughts about anyone. Their mission cover, their forced proximity, and now the incident with the clones were just getting to her, that's all. She most definitely did not want to think about those strong shoulders or those smoothly muscled abs or those lips that were—
"All yours, yeah."
Her head snapped up and she made a tiny squeaking sound in the back of her throat. "What?"
"The shower?" he clarified, giving her an odd look.
"Right," she said quickly, standing and making a beeline for the bedroom to grab her things while avoiding eye contact. Then Deidara removed his shirt from over his shoulder and something caught her eye, causing her to halt in front of him. A strange tribal-looking tattoo covered his entire left pectoral. She tilted her head a little as she examined it. The markings were sort of familiar, it almost looked like… "Is that a seal?"
Deidara smirked. "Mhm."
She met his gaze. "What is it sealing?"
Now he was positively beaming. "It's my masterpiece. My ultimate jutsu, superior to all my other art," he explained, the pride and enthusiasm clear in his tone.
Sakura peered at the seal again, stepping a little closer to get a better look. Like many jutsu seals it formed a design, and this one looked like a grinning mouth, directly over his heart. Oh damn. "This unseals another–?"
He nodded. "It sure does, yeah."
Her eyes widened slightly as she imagined what that would look like. Very strange and a little frightening, actually. But Sakura was a medic, and her natural sense of morbid curiosity ran stronger than most. She reached out hesitantly, glancing up at him. "Can I?"
His expression shifted to surprise, and then a softly lopsided grin formed on his features. "Sure," he said with quiet amusement.
Sakura stepped closer and tentatively touched the one of the dark zigzag markings. She always found it fascinating how seals looked just like regular if somewhat abstract tattoos, yet concealed such powerful, bizarre and sometimes terrifying things. "Wow, this is really cool," she murmured, and his soft huff of laughter rustled her hair. She recalled what he'd said about it, and about what she knew of him and the way he thought. Her brow creased slightly. "Your masterpiece…you would become the ultimate expression of your own art…"
Deidara smiled down at her, his blue eyes shining. "A beautiful, perfect moment of magnificent art. I'd go out with a bang, yeah," he said with quiet excitement.
Sakura was quiet as she thought about it, her expression wistful. "I get it. And I'm sure it would be incredible to say the least, but…I still hope you never use it."
His expression softened at her sentiment, and something in his eyes made her want to blush. She looked back down at the seal again, gently traced her fingertip along one of the longer lines, causing the muscle to ripple slightly under her touch. She could feel his breath fan lightly against her hair and realized how close they were standing, that her little bout of curiosity may have crossed over into something more serious. Her eyes trailed slowly from where her hand touched his chest, down his torso and flat abdomen, and then she blinked quickly. She did not just do that! Deidara stilled, and she realized he had seen it. Shit. What the hell was she thinking?
As casually as she could manage, Sakura dropped her hand and stepped away. Feigning nonchalance, she muttered something about going to take a shower now and quickly made her way into the bathroom, ignoring Deidara's unreadable look and the way his eyes followed after her. When she came out a long while later she was relieved to find him asleep.
The next morning Sakura brushed off any residual awkwardness from the night before and refused to think that things were anything other than normal. She was on a mission, and she needed to focus like the professional she was. She had to stop confusing the happiness of their reunion with the act they had to put on for the job. She needed to stop worrying that what happened with Deidara translated into anything other than their cover, because it didn't, and it wasn't going to. Period. She was not going there again, ever.
Deidara noticed her cool, almost curt behavior and decided not to mention anything about the night before. He didn't know what to say anyway, so if Sakura wanted to pretend none of it ever happened that was fine with him. The clone incident had been embarrassing. He'd instructed it to be convincing, but he hadn't expected it to do something like that. He knew the thoughts the clone had been having and he was damn glad they'd gone back when they did or he may have had some apologizing to do. He wouldn't deny he was attracted to Sakura. He always had been. Just how deep that attraction ran was still unclear, and was starting to trouble him. She was a friend—the first real friend he'd ever had. He wasn't sure if Kisame even counted, since it was more of a grudging bond over time than a natural connection. But Sakura had never shown any hint of attraction to him until last night, and he didn't know what to think about it. He was getting highly annoyed with the entire situation, because he wasn't used to being embarrassed, or confused…and confusing was exactly what Sakura was being at the moment.
One moment she seemed happy, and Deidara could see through to the girl he'd known years ago. She would start to smile or laugh…and then something would trigger a change in her eyes, the wall would come up, and she would either turn cold or simply withdraw into herself. Truthfully it drove Deidara crazy. That inner fire should never be cut off like that. It was a travesty, an injustice to her bright spirit. Every time Sakura caught herself starting to let go of some of her despair, she would freak out and dive right back in. She didn't want to be happy, that much was clear. And Deidara couldn't fucking stand it.
But what could he say to her? What could he do? He knew how she had become like this. She was still grieving, and she didn't want to move on. And he was partly responsible for the eventual loss of everyone she cared about, so did he even have a right to try and help her? Not that he would know how anyway. And there was that damn guilt again. Deidara didn't like how she made him question and contradict himself. But she didn't do it on purpose so he couldn't even blame her for it. The only thing that was clear to him at this point was that he wanted to help her. But how? He wasn't good with this kind of thing, no matter how much he cared.
Neither of them wanted to talk about what was on their minds, or even admit that anything was troubling them at all. So in another unspoken agreement to keep everything simple, they went to breakfast and afterward walked to the small town that supplemented the resort, to check out the sights and possibly get more information.
#
"It's hot as hell out here, and we've been walking around all day," Deidara complained as they walked through the afternoon streets of the quaint little town. "Let's go find some shade, yeah."
"Good idea. I think I saw a park down that way earlier," Sakura said, and their sluggish pace picked up a bit at the prospect of sitting down out of the heat.
The park was really just a large grassy area with some trees and a small playground. In the center was a large flat area with fountain jets shooting upward from the ground. Several kids and even some adults were playing and running through the water streams, their shouts and laughter carrying across the recreation area. They passed some more kids jumping rope and found a spot somewhat distant from everyone else under the shade of a cluster of trees.
They dropped the assorted bags they'd been carrying and took a seat with mutual sighs of relief from both the heat and walking. Deidara rested his weight on his hands and stretched his legs out, and Sakura slouched next to him with her legs crossed before her. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching the people running and laughing through the fountain.
After breakfast they'd come into town and found a small carnival offering year-round entertainment for resort guests. They had the whole day to kill, so they watched a couple of the live performances, but they couldn't really play any of the games, since the fact that both of them could hit any target with bull's-eye precision no matter how small or how fast and erratically it moved would make them look just a little suspicious. But Sakura enjoyed herself in the petting zoo, and Deidara had a bit of sadistic fun at the dunk tank where his dead aim was not as conspicuous. Without really trying he even won a small stuffed monkey, which he promptly shoved at Sakura.
After that they had lunch in a local café where a highly amused – and secretly flattered – Sakura set her new stuffed animal in the center of the table where it mocked him all throughout their meal.
The afternoon was spent shopping in local boutiques for some more appropriate things to wear on their 'beach vacation.' Deidara had grumbled and fussed. Sakura told him she didn't like shopping either, but it was necessary since they didn't look much different than the mercenaries they'd seen the day before, so he could just shut up and deal with it. He still grumbled, although more quietly and less frequently than before.
Sakura stuck with her plan to get a wider variety of colors to soften her tough kunoichi look, and was now wearing a strappy pastel green sundress and simple thong sandals. It had been a long time since she'd dressed this femininely—not counting the kunai strapped to her upper thigh, of course. Deidara was less diverse in his choices for new wardrobe, because he'd been a missing-nin since he was thirteen and hadn't worn civilian-styled clothing since he was a small child. He'd looked with open revulsion upon the assortment of tropical-print shirts and anything with bright colors, but eventually they found a few things that didn't make him want to detonate the entire store in disgust. Now he was wearing a simple white T-shirt and muted green cargo shorts.
Sakura rummaged through their shopping bags, brought out her stuffed monkey and set it in her lap. Deidara glared at it. "Do you have to keep bringing that thing out?"
She looked at him and his frown-pout and smiled. "Aw, come on, it's cute." She twisted the arms back and forth, making it do a little dance in her lap. "It's not going to ruin your tough-guy image—which you shouldn't even be trying to maintain while we're here. Besides, you're supposed to be my husband, right? It's only natural that you would try and win me a prize at the fair, Tarou-kun," she teased.
Deidara pouted some more. "Whatever." But he didn't really mind, because at least she was enjoying herself, even if it was at his expense. That was, until she set the damn monkey on top of his head with an evil giggle. He grabbed the offending plushie and swatted at her with it. She caught him by the wrist with one hand and snatched her toy out of his grip with the other. Grinning playfully, she leaned so that her upper arm rested against his, still holding on to him.
Sakura turned his wrist over to casually study the back of his hand. His hands were not like most shinobi's; they were still somewhat rough, but not heavily nicked and scarred, with slender yet strong fingers. They were the hands of an artist, of a sculptor. That's what he truly was at heart, wasn't it? She looked at his nails, no longer black as they had been during his time in Akatsuki. "I was so sure it wasn't nail polish," she said in playful disappointment, scraping her thumbnail over one of his.
Deidara looked at what she was doing and laughed. "Of course it wasn't nail polish. That's ridiculous, yeah."
She twisted his fingers absently for further inspection. "So it was a jutsu, then?"
"More like the side-effect of a jutsu, one that linked us all together through our rings, so we could receive summons and hold meetings without actually being there."
"The mental-projection thing?"
"Yeah. It was one of Pein's freaky jutsu. When he died it stopped working, not that we were using it by that time anyway. Eventually the black began to fade and they went back to normal."
They fell quiet after that. Sakura didn't let go of his hand, and Deidara made no move to pull it away. She knew she should let go, that she probably shouldn't have grabbed his hand in the first place, but she didn't want to let go. It was a bad idea to think this way, and she didn't want to get attached to anyone again. But it was Deidara, and she was already attached. There was still a connection between them after all this time, and Sakura found herself comforted by it now more than ever. He'd always been able to cheer her up when she was down, had always been able to make her smile. Even now, when she thought she would never have reason to smile again, Deidara put her at ease. She had never really appreciated how bright and energetic and alive he was. For a long time everything was deadened and dull, until he was unexpectedly thrown back in her life, and he was like a fresh wind that cleared away the fog. Sakura didn't know what she would do if things got pushed to a level she couldn't accept, but for now she just wanted to feel that sense of comfort again.
Deidara's fingers brushed lightly against her palm, and a moment later she felt a sharp flutter inside as their fingers twined. She looked down at their loosely locked hands, unsure which one of them had done it; it may have been Sakura who unconsciously slipped her fingers between his, but it may have been him. She couldn't tell anything from his body language because he hadn't tensed at all when it happened, and she definitely couldn't bring herself to look at him right now. He seemed perfectly fine with holding her hand like this, and Sakura couldn't say she didn't like it. Still not meeting his gaze for fear of what she might see there, once again feeling like a silly schoolgirl for getting worked up over small gestures of affection, Sakura took a slow deep breath and relaxed against his side with her head on his shoulder.
If she had found the courage to look up at him in that moment, she would have seen Deidara grinning like an equally silly schoolboy.
They sat quietly like that for nearly an hour, and eventually the park began to clear out as the pre-dusk haze set in and people retreated indoors. Late afternoon was always the hottest part of the day, and even in the shade they were starting to sweat. Then Sakura had a brilliant idea.
"Hey! Let's go get some ice cream!" she chirped, pulling Deidara out of his lazy stupor.
"Okay…" It was too hot to get excited about anything other than a great big explosion…as long as he didn't have to get near the heat.
Sakura stood up and used their still-joined hands to tug him up after her. "What? You don't like ice cream?"
He gave her a look. "That's a dumb question, yeah. Who doesn't like ice-cream?"
She smiled playfully. "Well let's go then. I saw an ice cream shop when we first came into town. Then we can go back and chill out in our air-conditioned room until it's time to go snooping." She let go of his hand and picked up her bags after stuffing the plush monkey back inside.
She sure was in a good mood. Deidara wondered if it had anything to do with how they'd just been sitting, and the thought made him smile. "Alright." He looked at her quizzically as they started to walk. "You sure eat a lot more than I remember, yeah."
Sakura shrugged. "If you knew what my diet has been like for the last few years you wouldn't blame me."
They walked unhurriedly to the edge of town and found the ice cream shop Sakura had seen that morning. They made their purchases and stood outside under the sidewalk awning with their rapidly melting treats. It was the kind of simple activity shinobi rarely got to do, especially since the war, so even with the nearly unbearable heat and rivulets of sticky melted ice cream running down their wrists, they were really enjoying themselves. Civilians took it for granted, but it was fun to walk around and do nothing like normal people for once. They chatted idly and Deidara made a conscious effort not to watch her licking the dripping cone, and when they were finished she moved away to toss their napkins in a nearby trash bin. When she came back they just stood for a minute, not ready to leave the cover of shade.
"Deidara…"
The warning in her tone made him tense, but he remained casual. "Hm?"
"See those guys across the street, in front of the bar?"
Deidara did. He'd seen them a while ago, but they were just lounging around with a few beers so he'd ignored them. "Yeah, they're the same guys we saw around the storage building yesterday. They aren't doing anything worth noting. I could go for a beer right now myself."
"True," she said, keeping her voice low and her posture relaxed. "But they're ogling me."
He looked at the men again. They were definitely ogling, and they weren't being subtle about it. They looked like a pack of drooling dogs, and even from here he could hear them murmuring to each other. He gave a small chuckle, though inwardly he was not amused. "You get ogled all the time, Sakura. It's not that strange."
Sakura tried not to roll her eyes and instead turned to Deidara and placed a hand on his arm. "But it is a bit strange that my husband would just stand there and do nothing while a bunch of sweaty thugs undress me with their eyes," she said pointedly.
Oh. Right. "You want me to kick their asses or something?" he asked with just a hint of eagerness.
"No," she huffed impatiently. "Don't start a fight. Just…do something. You know…show some male possessiveness, or whatever it is you men do."
Oh.
Deidara had never felt inclined to act possessive over a woman before, but as he watched the pathetic excuses for shinobi across the street look at Sakura like she was nothing but than a sex toy, he didn't think he would have much trouble putting on that display. He shifted to stand behind her, wrapping his arm all the way around her. She smiled sweetly in return, and they acted as if they hadn't noticed the men across the street at all.
Despite the little display of 'ownership' the men across the street didn't stop staring; their conversation only became louder, like they were trying to goad the rival male holding on to their prey. Sakura suppressed her surprise as Deidara wrapped his other arm around her waist. She could feel his chest pressing flat against her back now, and she brought her hands up and held onto his forearm to complete the look of affectionate couple. But she could also feel him getting angry.
"Deidara…"
He merely grunted that he'd heard her.
She turned her head so she could look up at him. He was openly glaring at the drunken men. "That's a little too much male possessiveness," she warned.
"Hm?"
"Stop acting so threatening." She smiled, as if she'd just said something adoring to her husband.
Deidara made an amused yet rather menacing sound. "Oh it's not an act."
Sakura sighed and rubbed his forearm. "I know that. But we don't want them to know that. You can't pick a fight, especially not with these guys. Our cover has to be convincing, and you're supposed to be a regular civilian. The last thing we want is for them to come over here to start something with you. You're about ten seconds away from an angry chakra flare, and they may be shit ninja but if they feel it we're screwed. So calm down, okay?"
One of the drunker men made a lewd sexual gesture at Sakura and Deidara actually emitted a low growl, so she rubbed his arm again and leaned back into him, tilting her head upward to see his face again. "I mean, it's not like you really have anything to be jealous about. They have to realize just by looking that I would never be interested in any of them when I have you." She'd meant it figuratively, but it had come out sounding like a lot more, and she blushed.
But it worked, because Deidara's aggressive aura disappeared almost instantly and he tilted his head toward her with an unreadable look. Their faces were only inches apart, but she couldn't turn away because they were being watched very closely. Sakura felt her blush deepening with every second.
Then a new wave of offensive and deliberately loud comments drifted across the street.
"He looks like a woman. Maybe she's secretly into girls."
"Someone should show her how a real man looks and feels."
Deidara stiffened, and Sakura groaned inwardly. If they were going to insult him directly she didn't know how much longer she could hold him off. Didn't these idiots see she was trying to save their lives? No, because if they had any idea just who they were messing with their cover would be blown. Not to mention they wouldn't have had the balls to even look at Deidara if they knew who he was. Thankfully he didn't have any clay with him. "We should just leave…" she suggested.
Deidara didn't answer, but after a moment his hold on her tightened and he bent his head down to her. "Turn around," he murmured next to her ear.
His breath tickled against her neck and ear, and despite the heat a shiver ran down her spine. Sakura wasn't sure what he intended, but when he said it like that she couldn't really bring herself to say no. She turned slowly. His arms loosened to let her, then wrapped around her waist and pulled her into him, and he turned them so that he leaned against the railing with his back to the street. Her palms rested flat against his chest and Sakura could feel his heartbeat, just slightly elevated, same as hers.
This wasn't exactly necessary for their act, but Sakura couldn't deny that she liked it very much. Nor could she continue to deny that she was attracted to him. It was no good and it would only cause problems, but being around Deidara made her want to let go of everything she was holding on to and just feel positive about her life and her future again. She couldn't do that; she felt guilty and torn up just thinking about it. So why did she feel so compelled to act this way with him? Why did she keep allowing it to go one step further than it should?
His hands began slowly moving up and down her sides and lower back, and with a small inaudible sigh she let go for just a moment and let her forehead rest against his collarbone. He held her closer and bent his head slightly, his hair brushing against the side of her neck. Sakura closed her eyes. It felt so good to touch someone again, and be touched in a way that wasn't harsh or hostile. She had missed it, the simple act of touch. And she had missed feeling cared for and cared about. She hadn't realized how much she'd denied herself those simple human needs, but now that she had them again after so long, it struck her just how isolated and lonely she had been.
"So Sakura…are you secretly into girls, hm?"
She could hear the teasing smirk in his voice. She huffed a soft laugh. "Not that I'm aware of. Please don't kill them..."
Deidara chuckled and linked his hands together at her waist. "Naw, it would be way too easy. Not even worth the sweat I'd break in this heat, yeah. Besides, I have better things to do."
Sakura raised her head to look over his shoulder at the disgruntled men. They were finally giving up, since they couldn't see her around Deidara and their taunting and leering efforts were unsuccessful. She glared at their backs as they stood and stumbled back inside the bar. "Like what?" she asked, hoping she wasn't biting into some sort of innuendo.
He stood up from the railing and she straightened with him as he let one arm fall away. "Like hanging out in my nice cool hotel suite and maybe ordering some room service, yeah." She smiled at that, and with one hand still on her lower back Deidara looked smugly in the direction of the empty bench.
Then they turned and began the walk back to the resort.