Sakura sprang up in bed, covered in a cold sweat. Slowly she took in her surroundings. Her bed, her dresser, the door to her bathroom, and... a blonde man staring at her from the end of her bed. Sakura gasped, but then sighed as she confirmed who it was. Deidara was sitting up and staring at her from the end of her bed. His hair was messy and he had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't gotten any sleep, but his eyes looked so awake and his face a little pale. Sakura blinked, a few seconds passing as they just stared at each other.

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Well you would too if you slept in a room with a girl who was screaming half the night, yeah."

"Screaming? W-What do you mean?"

Sakura's face paled just as much as Deidara's had. What did she dream about last night? Quickly she tried to retrace her night, but came up blank. All she hoped was that it wasn't something embarassing she was screaming about. With a soft laugh and a fake cough, Sakura pulled her attention away from the blonde.

"Oh it was probably just a bad dream, most likely about-"

"It was about Sasuke Uchiha. You kept yelling his name, over and over again."

"Oh..."

Sakura stiffened, not knowing what to say anymore. It was bad enough that she had to share a room with an Akatsuki member, but having him know what was troubling her life was even worse. Deidara grunted and pushed himself up from the ground, pulling his hair into a somewhat put together pony tail. He turned his tired face upon Sakura, looking her up and down.

"You need to know how to let your past go. No matter how much you go after the boy, he won't come back until he's gotten what he wanted, yeah. I've spent some time around his brother, and all Uchiha's are the same... they get what they want no matter how long it takes."

Sakura swallowed loudly, watching the back of the blonde disappear out of her room and into the kitchen. No matter how much she disliked the man, she knew he was right about this. Sasuke always got what he wanted in the end, and he wasn't going to come back until his brother was dead. Sakura cupped her hands together and rubbed her face, trying to get herself together. She was going to have to control her dreams as best as possible. If she woke up to Deidara staring at her again, she was sure she would loose her mind.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

A loud voice rang out and then a loud crash not long after. Quickly, Sakura sprang from her bed and out into the kitchen to see Deidara on the ground, an angry look upon his face, and on top of him another angry blonde known as Naruto trying to land a punch onto Deidara's face. Naruto found out the hard way that Sakura was housing the Akatsuki criminal in her own house, and now Sakura was paying for keeping such a secret from her friend.

"Where is Sakura? Did you kill her? I swear, I'll tear you to bits!"

"Naruto, stop!"

At the sound of her voice, Naruto suddenly stopped and turned his attention to Saukura, a wide smiling forming on his lips, but then quickly turning into pain as Deidara landed a right hook to his cheek, changing the scene to where Deidara was now on top of Naruto. He went in for another punch, but Naruto had his chakra and quickly flung the other off of him, Deidara crashing into one of Sakura's tables with a loud thud.

"Knock it off, both of you!"

Sakura screamed, coming in the middle of both the boys before they could tear her house up anymore. Naruto fumed, staring at the blonde that was slowly getting up from the wreakage that was on the floor, blood dripping from a cut on his left temple and his arm. Tension swirled in the air as both the men stared each other down, their muscles tensing for another pounce at each other.

"I said stop it!"

Sakura turned to Naruto and blocked his path of seeing Deidara with her body. Her face was sad and apologetic and she knew that she was going to have to explain a lot of things to Naruto to make him ever trust her again.

"Naruto, calm down. I'm just housing him at my house for the moment, Tsunade's orders."

"Tsunade's orders? Why the hell would she want you to house with him?"

Naruto jabbed a finger in Deidara's direction, who puffed up and looked as if he was going to spring. Sakura quickly turned her head in his direction and gave him a stern look before turning back to Naruto.

"You just have to listen to me, ok? These are just orders to keep him contained, I'll explain everything to you later, but right now you have to leave."

"I am not leaving you alone with him! Who knows if he might rape you!"

"He's not going to touch me, Naruto, ok?"

"I don't trust him at all. Sakura, why didn't you just tell me? I would have stayed here with you."

"I just couldn't have you freaking out over nothing, Naruto. Really, I've got everything under control."

"Can you guys take your conversation elsewhere? I was trying to make breakfast before your little friend popped in and spilled my eggs all over the floor, yeah."

"I'll spill more than just your eggs!"

Naruto puffed up and so did Deidara. Sakura grasped hold of Naruto's arms and lead him past Deidara and out her door, slamming it shut behind her. She kept hold of him until she was a good ways away from her house so that he wouldn't charge back in and pummel Deidara to nothing.

"Naruto, I'm sorry I kept this information from you, I just didn't want you to freak out like you did just then."

"I wouldn't have freaked out if you told me from the beginning. I would have tried to help."

"He's dangerous Naruto, he was after you from the beginning. I can't have him around you, and Tsunade would not allow it either."

"Screw granny Tsunade and her rules, I just want you to be safe."

"I've had him at my house for almost a week and he hasn't even touched me, obviously I can handle my own."

Naruto cast his eyes downward, defeat present in his stance. Sakura sighed and wrapped her arms around Naruto in an embrace. Slowly she felt Naruto's arms wrap around her to return the embrace. They held onto each other for a few seconds before Sakura pulled away and looked into Naruto's saddened eyes.

"I just don't want to see you hurt, Sakura."

"I know that, Naruto, and I'll be fine like I've said a million times."

They both smiled at each other before Sakura managed to make Naruto leave and be on his way. Sakura turned on her heel and headed back to her house. Walking in she took in the damage of her table, noting that she would have to ask Tsunade to compensate for it before looking around for Deidara. At first she panicked and thought he had escaped while she left, but soon she heard a yelp come from the entrance to her bathroom. Following the cries she walked into her bathroom to see the blonde sitting on the edge of her bath tub pulling out splinters from her table from his arm.

"You need some help with that?"

Sakura leaned against the doorway as she smirked at the male in pain. Deidara turned his frustrated gaze upon the relaxed looking kunoichi. She was obviously getting amusement from his pain and suffering. Stupid girls.

"No, I've got this, yeah. I don't need the help from- AHH!"

He yelped again as he pulled out a rather large looking piece of wood, throwing it into the sink with the other bloody pieces he had already pulled out. With a roll of her eyes, Sakura came to his side and held out her hand to take his arm. Deidara recoiled and stared at Sakura questioningly before he slowly complied and let her pull out the splinters.

"He beat you up pretty good in there."

"Tch, he only won because I have no use of my chakra, yeah. If I did then he would have been a goner."

Sakura frowned and made sure to pull extra hard on the piece of wood she was pulling out to make the male whimper once more.

"Why is it always death and destruction with you?"

Deidara stared at the girl for a long time, going through many different answers in his head, his lips twitched several times, but he just sighed in defeat. There really was no answer to why he was such a killer. It was just him. He couldn't control how he had been raised, or really, how he raised himself in such a horrible world.

"I guess all I see around me is that exactly. Death and destruction. So why try to ignore it? Why sit back and act like the world isn't falling apart at the seams? Whether you are on the good side or the bad side, it's all killing and it's all the same."

Silence filled the room as Sakura kept pulling the wooden splinters from Deidara's arm. The way he put it was so very true. Life as a shinobi was full of killing. Even she had killed a few people in her time, but it was purely for her own protection...or was it? She killed to protect the ones she loved. Deidara just killed for the fun of it, right? Or was he just protecting himself as others came at him and tried to kill him for the bounty that was upon his head? To be honest, it was hard to tell who was the bad and who was the good in this world.

"There, all better."

Sakura pulled the last splinter from Deidara's arm and had wrapped it to stop the bleeding. He flexed a few times to make sure he didn't have any seriously bad injuries, but everything seemed fine. He stared at all the wood and his own blood in the sink, trying not to make contact with the kunoichi.

"Why do you help me, when you hate me so much, yeah?"

"Wha...?"

"It's a simple question with a simple answer, why do you hate me, and yet you seem to heal me?"

Deidara finally turned his attention to the girl, who's face was so full of shock he wasn't sure if she heard him ask the question or tell her that the world was going to end that very second. Her brows furrowed, then unfrowed, then quickly furrowed again.

"Hmmph, I don't want to be the one to tell Tsunade that I've got a dead Akatsuki member in my house. She might think that I was the one who killed you!"

At that, Deidara leaned back and let out a loud laugh. Sakura had never heard him laugh so hard, and to be honest, she kind of liked his laugh, not that she would ever tell him that. Deidara finally took a few breaths to calm himself and then shook his head.

"You could not kill me even if you tried, yeah."

"Excuse you? I've been trained by the best. I could break every bone in your body by just a touch of my finger."

Sakura gave him a soft punch in his injured arm and Deidara whimpered and retreated from the girl. Ok, ya she could probably beat his ass in his current state, but just because she was a girl didn't mean he would go easy on her in a real battle.

"Why is it always violence with you?"

Deidara whimpered again, rubbing his arm knowing full well there would surely be a bruise there tomorrow. Sakura faked another punch to his arm and Deidara quickly lept from the side of the tub and ran out of the bathroom, escaping her deathly blow. Sakura just laughed and shook her head, following the male from the bathroom.