Previously:

Luckily Sakura hadn't killed her. Though she wasn't dead, she was beyond repair, she would probably be crippled for life (Though she didn't have a very long life to live…) He would have to tie all her limbs securely with something. It looked to him that almost all of her bones were broken, he sighed. This was going to be a very long day…

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They had to take a lot of rests, due to the situation of Sakura injured very badly, Itachi, wounded, but was the best out of all of them and the Jinchuuriki, who was still unconscious, which was a good thing. On two reasons, one, that she would probably refuse to co-operate, and two, that the pain that she would feel from all of the broken bones and physical damage to her would be unbearable.

Sakura panted still, her heart rate was probably still very high and straining to keep up as fast as possible, pushing her limits.

They were going back to the Akatsuki hide-out, which was, unfortunately, very far away. Not to mention they had limited time before the meeting was really to adjourn.

Every step for her made her want to scream out loud. The pain was excruciating. Her adrenaline, that used to be pumping through her veins which made her heart pump at an incredible speed, had now died down, and her heart was going back to normal, but the effort of just moving was causing a lot of pain.

Itachi knew Sakura would need many breaks, so he gave her as much as possible, enough of how many possible that they could fit in their limited time. The Jinchuuriki was quite the problem. Since she was unable to move by herself, she required someone to move her. Itachi was the most suited, because he was the most un-injured out of both of them. Sakura sometimes needed supporting from Itachi. The trip was going to be very tough.

Sakura was, even in their situation, inwardly delighted. She felt as though she had created a new resolve, one that seemed as though it was even stronger than her last one. Her other one was to bring back Sasuke, but he would never be on her side, it seemed. It was like they were cursed that way. Her new resolve seemed more reachable, it wasn't as impossible as the Sasuke one. Itachi and she were already on the same level. They understood each other and they noticed if something was bothering each other. She looked at her golden resolve, it seemed to strong, it was like nothing could break it…if only she knew…

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Sasuke was with the group that was to retrieve Sakura and eliminate the Akatsuki…well that was more his plan, but non-the-less, they wanted it as badly as he did.

They were to break into different groups, Ino, Shikamaru, and Kakashi were team 1, while team 2 consisted of Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata.

They decided it would be easier if they split up in 2 teams so they could cover more area.

Sasuke thought that he had a good team, Naruto was a good friend of his, even though he was annoying at times, he knew him best. Hinata was a shy girl, to his relief. It would make him able to think properly and concentrate, of which he was grateful for.

The team that Sasuke had was good, it would go great…unfortunately, it was the exact opposite. By the end of the day, he felt as though he was in jail, banging urgently and fervently on the jail bars to get out. He felt as though he was going to go insane if he was kept in with them. The reasons were kind of like this…

Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke walked in peace, all was calm and serene.

Naruto was surprisingly quieter than usual and was doing that dobe-ish thing he always did with his fingers, pushing the index fingers together as if he was sheepish or nervous.

Sasuke knew why, he liked Hinata. Sasuke could easily tell because one, he knew Naruto very well, 2, he was a prodigy for heaven's sake practically, and 3 it was plain and obvious, not to mention he told him by accident.

They were eating and Naruto asked again for the billionth time about if he liked Sakura. Naruto kept on pestering him and Sasuke remembered back in the day as when Hinata had a crush on Naruto and tried to divert the conversation by asking how Hinata was. He kept on blabbing on how awesome she was, Sasuke was relieved that the conversation was averted and asked if he liked Hinata. That was when his face went all red and said "N-n-n-o, w-why do you s…say that?" If it wasn't obvious at that point, nothing would be.

Sasuke went up to heel distance of Naruto and whispered in his ear "You know it would be easier if you just told her now, dobe."

Naruto went all red, resembling the same colour as to a…tomato. Yep, he was THAT red, Sasuke smirked and Naruto went flailing his arms as an exaggeration and yelling how completely stupid and wrong that was. Saying he didn't like her that way.

Hinata took that opportunity to come up to the group and ask who "her" was.

Naruto, if possible, went in a darker shade of red, and stuttered a 'nothing' out.

Sasuke whispered in his ear so Hinata couldn't hear and said "You'd better stop acting like an idiot, stop trying to cover for yourself and actually talk to her."

Naruto took his advice, which Sasuke smirked at, but soon regretted.

Naruto was now chatting animatedly away while Hinata, trying not to faint at the spot, nodding and listening to absolutely everything he said. Naruto, a couple of times asked why she looked so red and was walking a little weirdly. Sigh, jeez Naruto…you're not to supposed to be that blunt of how her downside things are…Sasuke inwardly thought. He also wondered how he DIDN'T know that it was because she liked him and that was why, but then again, he was more shocked at the fact that Naruto was still living, after all his incredibly stupid mistakes in life, he still managed to live and keep on getting stronger. He wondered why…he remembered back when Naruto and him were fighting

Hinata just said she was a little nervous of the mission, and reminded Naruto that the Akatsuki were very dangerous men, like how you would tell your child that it was very dangerous to talk to strangers.

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't really heed Hinata's warning that time because he just laughed confidently, saying "Don't worry, I'll protect you!"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and continued walking.

They travelled for quite a while until they hit an inn that they decided they would stay for the night, and then continue tomorrow for the search of the Akatsuki.

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Kakashi was in the EXACT position as Sasuke, screaming in his mind to 'GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!!' This was because…Ino and Shikamaru in the same space with you for a whole day was not fun.

Sasuke's day was a much better than his though because Ino and Shikamaru were already going out, thus knocking out the nice and politeness of each other and being shy with each other. No, they weren't even close to being shy, I mean, we ARE talking about Ino here. Being subtle wasn't her forte, per say.

Kakashi had seriously encountered a scary moment.

Ino walked up to Shikamaru and whispered in his ear his name in the most seductive way possible, making ANY guy to her will to their knees. Shikamaru faired pretty well, but was turned on a lot. He winced, trying to make the bulge in his pants go away.

Ino then swiveled him around and did a full make-out session with him. Shikamaru made a quick muffle of surprise as he was pulled down to the ground with Ino.

Kakashi walked up to them and coughed a little, but much to his dismay, they just kept on going. Shikamaru saw Kakashi and knew that they had better start moving but when he tried to get up, Ino pulled him back down, and what can you say, when the girl of your dreams is making out with you on the ground, do you HONESTLY want to get up? Shikamaru was practically powerless against Ino and gave Kakashi a pleading look to pry him off.

Kakashi sighed and pulled Ino by the waist, trying to get Shikamaru loose, but it wasn't working. This day was going to be long.

Kakashi was grunting with the amount of effort just TRYING to pry Ino off. Shikamaru's lips were off from the seal it had with Ino and was trying to reason with her, saying that they had a mission and the other team was going to be really far away from them.

With a lot of whining, pleading, pulling, and complaining (the complaining came from the one and only lazy Nara.) Ino finally decided that they should head out now.

Kakashi sweat-dropped but continued travelled with them. As if his day couldn't get worse, it actually DID.

While they were travelling on the road, they ran into a couple of Kakashi's fan-girl mobs, which he had to run for his life.

They were travelling again, finally void of the fan-girls and continued travelling. Ino was seductively talking to Shikamaru, which gave him quite the arousal and tried to ignore the feeling and…the arousal.

They stayed at an inn, VERRRYYY far away from the other group because of their 'delay' and stayed there for the night.

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The next day, Sakura was fairing much better than she was yesterday, while they travelled with Itachi. Sakura wanted to start a conversation so badly with Itachi, that she was desperate with any conversation. She knew what position she was in, usually with this feeling, it resulted with her saying something utterly stupid. She hated this feeling of butterflies in her stomach.

Sakura blurted out suddenly that she hated jam on toast. She smiled wincingly, meanwhile head banging herself mentally for being so stupid. It was true what they said, bad (in this case stupid) habits die hard.

Itachi just looked at her with his non-expression face and said "I don't like it either."

Sakura was a little shocked, I mean, why was he replying back to her when it was such a meaningless topic, but she was a little grateful that he had replied. She didn't want to seem like such an idiot and Itachi treated her like an equal.

Sakura thought back of the Akatsuki, her real family, the one that she would spend her whole life with and just realized something. She became really worried and Itachi must have caught it because he asked her what was wrong.

Sakura just stuttered out "W-well, you know that I'll be with the Akatsuki for like…ever, well, I'm the only girl there!"

Itachi looked at her weirdly, didn't she realize that from before? But he didn't tell her that and replied "Well, most of them won't do something in 'that way' but there are a couple who might. Those include Hidan…and that's it, but Kazuku might want to sell you…"

Sakura looked at him horrifically, oh god, oh god, oh god! What have I gotten myself into?

Then Sakura thought of another thing, "Does Deidara hate me?"

Itachi thought about it, a conversation that he had with Deidara was like "She killed my sempai" "if I get the chance, I'll blow her up, un" and more threats.

"…maybe…" Itachi murmured.

Sakura gasping, "Oh god! I bet he's going to try and blow me up!"

Itachi looked at her, what was she, a mind reader? How did she know that?

"Oh god, and if brought down Gaara, imagine how I'll fair with him!" Sakura ranted.

Itachi looked at her, she was getting paranoid, but here was the problem…he had never calmed anyone down, usually he was the one saying something in the calm voice, like "you're about to die right now." And they would go insane and start running around frantically.

So he said the first thing that came to mind "Don't worry, I'll protect you, he wouldn't dare go against me."

Sakura was relieved with this, and so was Itachi, he had finally stopped her ranting spree.

Sakura took a couple of seconds to actually process fully what he had said though. Wait, he was protecting her? She felt comforted by this, it was like from long ago, when team 7 was like her family also. They were nice and protected her, they were concerned when she was hurt, she really did miss them.

Suddenly a groan of pain pulled her out of her thoughts, she looked where the sound was coming from and was surprised to find it was coming from the Jinchuuriki, Sylius.

Sylius gasped in pain as the broken bones of hers were coming like a train at full speed at her, it was all at once and it stung a lot.

"I-I-I'll kill you, you biittch." She hissed out vehemently with much effort.

Sakura ignored her and continued walking with Itachi.

Sylius looked at her surroundings, they were travelling in a forest and the pink haired girl who put her in such a horrible position was walking next to a man, who was carrying her piggy-back style.

She did a look-over at Itachi and found that she liked what she saw. Sakura was twitching at what she saw, Sylius was looking over ITACHI!!! She had some nerve…

Sylius coyly purred out and started hitting on him, moving herself to her breasts were pressing on his back more, making it more obvious what she was driving at.

Sakura was twitching like mad at this and was about to whip back and make sure she WAS dead, but before she could make a move, Itachi just turned around and knocked her out with sharingran before Sakura could do more damage to her. They still did need her alive.

So they continued walking, Sakura occasionally making light conversations with Itachi. It was kind of comforting, knowing that someone really cared about her…unlike SOMEONE! Man, she vowed, if I ever see Sasuke, I'll whip his ass.

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Naruto banged on Sasuke's door in the morning, yelling for him to open up, which earned him a couple of shouts and yells or complain down the halls of the Inn, but he ignored them.

Sasuke finally was forced to open the door or they would be kicked out of the inn because of Naruto's loudness. He swiveled the door, almost ripping it off the hinges and hissed, making sure he wasn't yelling for Naruto had caused enough loudness for the both of them. "What is it?" He said through clenched teeth, this was not the way he wanted to wake up every day. He wanted to wake up seeing a certain pink haired girl next to him, breathing evenly in her sleep. Of course he would never admit that, but that was his plan for the future.

Naruto beamed at Sasuke when he opened the door and said a quick "Let's go!"

Sasuke shook his head, he was always so hyper and energetic, it was amazing and he couldn't figure out how he always got that energy.

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Once they packed up, Hinata, Naruto and Sasuke, they left off to their destination, the Akatsuki hideout.

Sasuke groaned as he suffered from the same things that happened yesterday, Hinata giggled at Naruto's foolishness and clumsiness, Naruto acted like a goof ball, and Sasuke was trying not to kill Naruto. Yes, the day was going just peachy. He drifted off into thinking how Sakura was. Itachi had better not have done anything with her…He grumbled, thinking of ways to torture the Uchiha if he did.

Sasuke almost had forgotten how she looked like, if it wasn't for the battle he had with her, he would've almost never known that it was her, and mistaken her for someone else. She had really grown into a woman, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. Her hair was still the same length as it was from back after the Chuunin exams, and her body was more shapely. She was definitely pretty. Sasuke shook his head and inwardly laughed at a memory that he had just remembered.

Ino and Sakura were fighting over him, as usual, but Sakura had heard from someone that he had liked girls with long hair. It had started this whole fight and competition with Ino, as if to see who could have the longest hair. Of course the thought it was completely stupid of a competition, but this really did show how much Sakura wanted him. It made him feel good inside. He had never told Sakura, because he never had the chance before he left Konoha, but he honestly didn't care if girls' hair were long or short. Chuckling about how she would've reacted if he told her, she'd probably go ranting on about all that effort and time was down the drain and was for nothing. It actually was though, it was a wake up call, showing him how much she really cared.

He couldn't remember how many times she had risked her life for him, how many times she had thrown her body in front of a charging enemy, how many times she had showered him with attention, how many times she had asked him out…how many time he had turned her down…

He mentally was scolding and head-banging himself for his stupidity. How could he have been so blind this whole entire time?!?!? There, in front of him from before, was a girl that would give anything for him and he just turned her down. In return for her kindness, he had just told her that she was annoying. How really foolish he had been. This was why he would correct that old mistake and would make it better.

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Sakura and Itachi walked to the Akatsuki hideout, it was nearing, and they knew it. Sakura was suddenly tensing up and Itachi knew this, he was also tensing up, but for other reasons. Sakura's reason was because this was her first Akatsuki meeting, and she didn't know how to react and how to respond and react. Itachi's reason was because he knew how the leader would react with this. He knew that he would NOT be pleased with their conditions as well as the Jinchuuriki's.

The leader would most likely question why Itachi was so hurt because it was very rare that he had even gotten a scratch from missions, especially for the fact that Sylius was categorized the second weakest of all of the Jinchuuriki's. Also, he'd probably question why Sakura was so hurt as well, knowing that she could very well, handle herself, and that Itachi would protect her as well. Also, he'd be probably very disappointed in the condition that Sylius was in. The more injured the Jinchuuriki was, the more difficult it would be to extract it (A/N: that's not true, I just kind of made that up, don't use this as reference ; )

They walked in silence, it seemed to Sakura that every step closer to the Akatsuki hide-out, she got more nervous. She had a bad feeling about this. Her legs still ached from moving for such a long distance, and after she had fought Sylius as well. The amount of effort and pressure she was exerting on her body was terrible. Every step, she was straining, she couldn't imagine how the leader of the Akatsuki would view her as…probably weak…She made a mental note to DEFINITELY change that definition of herself. She would make it so that whenever they head the name Sakura Haruno, they would know instinctively that she was a strong Kunoichi.

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They had finally reached the hideout of the Akatsuki and entered. It was in a cave, and everything reminded her of her fight with Sylius. She shuddered as she could feel the sensation creeping and crawling over her body again. That same feeling as it had in the cave, her heart pounding at a crazy rate and made it feel like her heart would burst, the clenching feeling of knowing that something was to happen…something very bad, that feeling of feeling weak and incapable of doing something, that feeling of getting in everyone's way. Yes, she hated these feelings. So she pushed them down, with the most of her capabilities and trudged onward, yet she still couldn't shake that feeling of doom off.

They entered the giant cave room and all the members gathered around the giant stone circle in the middle (A/N: I seriously can't remember how all this stuff went because it was kind of long ago, so bear with me. Also, I'd greatly appreciate it, if you told me anything that I'm doing wrong, information wise, so that I can correct it in the future) Each of the members stood on a stone column that rose from the ground. Sakura took her designated column and awaited for the leader to appear. A glowing light suddenly started to emit from the rock and the leader stood on top of it. Sakura couldn't see who it was because of the fact that he was enshrouded in the shadows, it was impossible to identify who the person was, such a mystery.

The leader muttered "Let the extraction begin."

All the members shook their heads in agreement and brought the Jinchuuriki in the middle of the stone circle and began the process. Sakura decided to try and start as well, but the only problem was…she didn't know what to do.

'Great, Sherlock, you're going to make us look like an idiot if you just go up to them and say 'hey, um, could you teach me how to extract a Jinchuuriki?'' Inner Sakura snidely remarked.

'Oh, who decided for YOU to butt in, anyways? Besides, I have to, I mean, it's not like the Akatsuki have a MANUAL of what they do and how to do them.' Sakura retorted.

'Whatever…just ask them and get this humiliation thing over with…' She grumbled and disappeared from her conscious.

Sakura took a deep breath and decided to ask. She coughed, but everyone was still concentrating on extracting. Sakura breathed and made another cough attempt to get someone's attention, a little louder. Kisame, who was right next to Sakura asked if she wanted a lozenge. Sakura smiled, while twitching of how he didn't understand her situation, but then made a whispering "no, thanks though." She took a deep breath. How am I to just ASK them how? They'd probably just laugh at how stupid that would be, it's like reciting the alphabet to them…

Deidara, who was beside her, whispered. "You don't know how to do the extraction, do you?"

Sakura swiveled around and gave that 'no duh!' look but quickly replaced it with a sheepish grin. This was because she just reminded herself to become on Deidara's good side to make up for the little cough accident with Sasori cough thing.

Deidara sighed, but began telling her to focus her chakra in front of her, and channeling them from Sylius and moving her chakra energy to the Statue behind her, which had some…thing, with a lot of eyes on it…to her astonishment, one of the eyes was gradually opening. She was going to question that to Deidara, but quickly decided against that because he was already concentrating on extracting again.

So she tried it, and to her surprise, she was actually getting the hang of it. Deidara, who was looking at how Sakura was progressing, but of course, not showing it, was generally quite impressed on the fact that she caught onto this in such a short elapsed time.

She kind of liked the feeling, of how the chakra was flowing with Sylius', and channeling through her body, and leaving from the tips of her fingers. It felt cool, the soothing and calming, not to mention, kind of satisfying that she was actually doing something right, for the first time. Yes, it felt good, not only of the feeling of accomplishment, but of the fact that she had a new home, a new family, and new people who cared for her…it was nice.

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The leader looked at the Jinchuuriki for the hundredth time. The condition of the Jinchuuriki was terrible…and he loved it. He could easily distinguish if either Itachi or Sakura had done the damage, of course it was Sakura. Itachi's way of killing and damaging the enemy was in a calm demeanor, a way of destroying them in the inside, but this was just pure, brutal force. Almost all of her limbs were broken and her rib cage was cracked, beyond repair. The blood that had drained from her, seemed to have a lot, but he guessed that she had lost a lot more blood than he could see. Her gashes were deep, most likely not being able to be healed. He looked back at the Kunoichi and saw Deidara explaining how to extract the Jinchuuriki. He smirked, he had forgotten that he was supposed to tell her that, though she could've just asked him. Sakura was in a thinking position once Deidara had told her how, in a brief explanation, and was even more surprised of her that she immediately started to try, and succeeded! She channeled her chakra through so evenly and perfectly, that it seemed that she had, had years of expertise.

What and interesting girl…He thought to himself. She would definitely prove to be very helpful in the future.

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Once the extraction was completed, Sakura felt nauseous and dizzy. After all that strain on her body and all that chakra she had used for the extraction and fighting Sylius….-SYLIUS! She gasped in shock as it had just struck her. She had killed someone, not only someone, a JINCHUURIKI! Just like Naruto…she must've endured so much pain from being excluded from everyone else and she had probably taken a wrong path and had become cold, distant. She reminded Sakura of Gaara, except that Gaara had now chosen the path of trust and happiness because Naruto had shown it to him. If it hadn't been for Naruto, Gaara would've probably ended up like Sylius. She had killed someone like Gaara, like Naruto…it killed her inside…

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Deidara had come out of the extraction period and looked around for his NEW partner. He inwardly cursed at Sakura. It was all HER fault that his Sensei was dead…but he couldn't help but feel nice and euphoric while he was around her. She seemed to have this power of feeling serene and meanwhile affecting the other people around her. He thought back at how he had acted to her from before, cold, mean, unforgiving to her because of the Sasori incident. It wasn't really her fault, she was defending herself and she was on the other side from that time. Maybe he was a little hard on her from before, he thought, and decided that he'd apologize to her. So he left to go find her.

When Deidara DID find Sakura, he was quite shocked of what he saw. There was Sakura, sitting on the boulder and crying her heart out. He wondered what could've upset her, and suddenly knew why. (More or less thought so, but in his opinion, he was positive and sure) She must be still sad of the fact that he was always so indifferent towards her and that he didn't like her. Oh great…now I'm going to have to apologize…

Deidara walked up to Sakura confidently at first, but soon he was starting to feel agitated and a little frightened. For each step he took, the more he felt himself becoming more unsure of his actions. What if he made her just feel worse? Taking a deep breath, he continued walking towards her, determined that he would lighten her up.

Sakura was crying, yes she had admitted that a while back, but she was more ashamed of herself now. She WAS weak!!! All that thought of becoming strong, and known for it was just a façade, a joke…a lie that she had probably made up for herself so that she would trick herself in trying to persuade herself that she was, but in reality…she was…weak.

She hated herself, he hated feeling pathetic and knowing that someone was having to save herself every single time. Even if it was supposed to be so easy, she would always screw up. She hated this feeling, she hated…life. Pulling out a kunai, and swinging it at herself, but something made her stop. She gasped as a hand had reached up and stopped the kunai from touching her skin. She looked up wearily to identify who it was, thinking that it would be Itachi, but surprising enough…it was Deidara!

Sakura gaped and stuttered out "W-w-what are y-you d-d-doing here?"

"Apparently stopping you from killing yourself." Deidara muttered under his breath, but continued. "That isn't the question at hand though, its' more or less, why were you going to do that?"

Sakura looked away ashamed and mad at herself of why the heck she had tried to do that, cursing inwardly. "Doing what?" she muttered, saying like she didn't know what he was talking about.

Deidara just rolled his eyes and said in a forcing tone "Tell…NOW"

Sakura gasped and everything all came out at once. Everything about how she was sick of being weak, how she had just killed someone-not only that, she didn't think that Sylius deserved that, going on about how she felt bad for Sylius, everything. She, honestly inside, didn't know why she was telling Deidara all of this, not only was he an S-class criminal, killing other people came so easy to him, he didn't even FEEL any remorse for them. Also for the fact that she barely knew him, she had killed his Senpai…the person that he looked up to, and she was asking for his consoling?

Both Sakura and Deidara thought of this moment as a truce in forgiving each other. They knew that from then on, they'd be good friends.

After what Deidara could make out of the situation before she started sobbing while trying to talk at the same time, resulting in Deidara not really understanding what she was saying, but none-the-less, he comforted her. He sat on the boulder and pulled her in his chest and patted her back, while murmuring soothing words. God, he thought if any of the other Akatsuki members saw this…I'd never hear the end of it…

Not to their knowledge, Itachi was seeing them in clear view. He was sitting on a tree, one leg up. Doing a couple of hand signs, he disappeared in a whirl of silent ravens, fluttering away creating a whist of wind, rustling the leaves.

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Too poetic kind of at the ending? I think it might've been… . Oh! I can't remember who told me so, but they wanted Deidara in the story, sooo….I PUT HIM IN!!! Awww, isn't he so nice? Itachi might be a little cough jealous cough PLEASE REVIEW!!! I like insight on my fanfics. God, I think this one was the longest chapter I've ever submitted… -.-' P.S. Ahem, wanna say before I have a hundred people on my case, sorry for making Sakura all emo and wanting to like hurt herself, but! I don't think that, if Deidara didn't stop her, that she'd die, just get hurt. Also, Yea….I might've made this chapter a little DeixSaku, but tell me if I should keep it that way, or discontinue that.