This story really gets longer and longer! Every time I write a chapter, I think: well, I guess it'll be done with another two chapters. As most of you've probably read I already thought I'd finished this story around chapter eight.

And here we are, chapter EIGHTEEN!

I hope you like it. At least I liked writing this a lot, since I could finally write as I did with the first part of this story: for the first time in what seems ages this chapter nearly wrote itself. Enjoy!

Chapter eighteen: The bathroom

It must've been the tenth branch that hit Kisame full in the face as it was nearly noon, the day of their leave from Konoha. He grumbled and swore at the branch while he ripped it off the tree and dropped it to the floor before following Tobi, who had taken the lead for a change. He wasn't completely confident with the boy's tracking skills, but he was too tired of the last night in which he had been watching over Tobi to even argue about it.

"Oy, Tobi," he yelled out front, evading another sweeping back branch that missed his face – which had several red rims on it from previous "attacks". "Where are we going exactly? I'm kinda tired and also hungry…" And if we don't stop soon I'll eat you for lunch, dammit, he added soundlessly.

Tobi landed suddenly and Kisame jumped over him, landing as well, feeling slightly relieved as he saw that Tobi sat down on the forest floor, making a comfortable spot for himself. "Tobi was also a bit tired, Kisame-danna," he said and he looked up at Kisame, who sweatdropped. He didn't like the danna ending one bit, it made him remember the time in which Deidara kept going on about how good Sasori's art was even though he'd never admit it towards the redhead, and then he would go on for ages about "Sasori-danna this" and "Sasori-danna" that….

Kisame sat down with a sigh and then leaned back. Tobi tilted his head. "Is Kisame-danna so tired?" he asked with a nearly childish tone in his voice. Kisame scowled at him but couldn't find the energy to start a quarrel with him.

"Yeah, I am. I didn't get much sleep last night, ya know." And he yawned before leaning against a tree, closing his eyes. But Tobi wasn't planning on granting him much rest.

"We can't stay here for long, Kisame-danna! Deidara is close, Tobi feels that, we must act soon!" and even though Kisamehad an air around him that said 'don't come too close or I'll shave your skin off', Tobi tugged his Akatsuki cloak, ranting on about how close Deidara was and about how less time they had left to get him back…

Kisame's lip twitched and before Tobi could even say another word he had grasped the boy's collar and held his face intimidating close to Tobi's mask, staring in his eyehole with red rimmed eyes from the lack of sleep. "If I wanna nap," he grunted, making sure that Tobi felt pretty unstable. "…I NAP, understood?"

Tobi nodded, making some futile attempts to escape Kisame's strong grip. "….Tobi understands, really, he does… agh…" he made some more gurgling sounds and then eventually Kisame dropped him to the floor, crossing his arms in front of his chest and closing his eyes again, determined to get some sleep before continuing.

"One more thing," he muttered while sleep overwhelmed him. "Stop calling me Kisame-danna, will ya?"

When he opened his eyes again the sky was already getting dark in the east and the shadows surrounded him completely, making him freeze for a moment before he remembered where he was. He had automatically put a hand on the handle of his sword but now he relaxed it again, before getting up slowly. He stretched his back and heard some of the joints crack slightly, then he let out a loud sigh and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was awake again. He didn't exactly feel fresh, but he knew that he would soon enough feel energised again to go after Deidara.

Then he frowned. It was like he was missing something… but he couldn't exactly determine what it was. Suddenly feeling very lonely – a feeling he hadn't felt for years – he realized that his partner was nowhere to be seen. He turned around several times, then walked around the spot he had been lying on, called out, even looked beneath some bushes and stones but it was clear: Tobi had abandoned him and had left without leaving a trace.

He roared out with anger and then smashed a large rock with his fist, ignoring the sharp pain coming from his white knuckles before kicking wildly against a tree until it fell, and even then he still felt angry. Birds and small animals around him made sure that they got far away from him as he went on with his stampede, until he stood still in the centre of a small open field with fallen trees and ripped out bushes. With red eyes of anger he sniffed in the air like a wild dog, before running after a faint trace of scent that Tobi had left behind.

Tobi, he thought while licking off his lips, and his sharp teeth blinked in the dim light of the evening. You're going to pay for leaving me here like this...!

- Deidara's cabin -

It was strange being so close to Deidara without being able to speak. He had put a towel around her mouth and nose so that she couldn't speak, and even breathing normally was hard.

The ropes he had tied her up with were even more extraordinary than she had originally thought. After a long and intensive examination, she had come to the conclusion that the ropes were actually sucking up her chakra, making her feel tired and weak all the time but also making sure that she didn't faint by letting some of her chakra remain in her body.

She tried to move a little but the physical movement backfired heavily and she gasped for air she couldn't get through the towel, nearly hyperventilating. Deidara, who was sitting next to her behind his small kitchen table, removed the towel slightly, granting her access to fresh air for just enough time to regain control over her breathing, and then he placed it in front of her lips again, preventing her from speaking.

She glared daggers at him but he didn't even look at her as he concentrated on his breakfast again, toast with butter and a large glass filled to the edge with milk. She stared at the food and drooled as she imagined how good it would be to take a bite from the toast, followed by a large sip of cold milk….

Deidara looked up, smirking. "Are you really sure you don't want to eat anything, Sakura?" he asked, his voice provoking her big time. She scowled at him and then stubbornly shook her head, only making the grin on his face widen. "You can't lie to me," he said, taking a bite. "Your thoughts betray you, hmm."

Sakura tried to kick him, which resulted in another hyperventilation attack and a death glare of Deidara. "Stop doing that," he complained. "You're my hostage now. Really, you should stop with doing those stupid things or they'll kill you, hmm. And that would be really inconvenient…" he drained the glass of milk and then placed it on the table with a loud thump. "Now thát was good…!"

Sakura forced herself to look away from the remain of milk that was still left in the glass and looked around the small kitchen. The cabin in the woods was small, but – even though she hated to admit it – very cozy. She'd never imagined that Deidara had been able of decorating the house on his own.

In nearly every room the wooden accents of the outer walls came back, giving the cabin a bit of a mountain home idea, and the floors were all made from the same dark stone with in every room except from the kitchen a large carpet which was different in all rooms, but fitting the decoration nevertheless. The kitchen was also smaller than they had had in the special apartment, and also a lot less high tech, but it had everything a kitchen needed, all in the same woody style. The cupboards had gotten a greenish color which fitted perfectly with the dark brown wood of the walls and the dark gray stones on the floor, and if you looked at the carpet beneath your feet for a long time it felt as if you were standing on top of trees, staring down the green leaves beneath you.

Suddenly she felt Deidara's arms around her and her eyes flicked to his face, which had gotten really close again. She felt her heartbeat increase immediately as he lifted her from the chair, forced to hold her close to him because of the chains. Then he stood still in the kitchen, staring at Sakura's face, who sweatdropped as she stared back.

She felt angry with him. Very angry. But at the same time, she couldn't help but melt in his arms as he stared at her with those blue eyes. She knew it was unnatural, but she couldn't help but feel excited whenever he was close or even when he said her name.

"I wanted to go and do the dishes," he said, obviously more to himself than to Sakura as he stared at the ceiling. "but that wont go like this, hmm." Then he looked at Sakura who gulped as soon as their eyes met before blushing fanatically. "But I can't unleash you, too, hmm," and he leaned in close, his lips brushing against the towel in front of her lips faintly, making her gasp for air even though she didn't want to. "Can I?"

He chuckled as he saw her read face. "Now now, don't you worry, I wont hurt you, hmm…" and he grabbed her chained hand with his own chained one, pinching it slightly. He had been clever enough to let her chained hand hang out between the ropes so that he could move around, but it wasn't exactly comfortable as her wrist had to make a rather unnatural angle between her back and the outer world.

Suddenly Deidara's eyes flew open and Sakura gulped as he stared at her with a glare she couldn't define. He sniffed and then frowned at her, leaning in over her and sniffing again before making a very ugly face. Sakura blushed heavily as she realized he must've smelled the sweat and dirt that had gathered on her skin in the last couple of weeks, as she'd refused to take another shower after the enormous failure of the first one.

"Sakura, I'm sorry to say it," he said as they started to walk towards a room Sakura hadn't been in before. " But you really smell bad, hmm." And he kicked the door open with his foot, making Sakura's eyes fly open as she realized what kind of room they were entering.

It was the bathroom.

She started to struggle as he closed the door, but the lack of oxygen and energy and on top of that her very painful wrist as he pulled the chains on purpose to make her silent even though he gasped of pain for a second too made sure she couldn't do a thing. He lay her on the floor very carefully and scowled at her. "Okay, if you don't want to listen, hmm, you STINK."

Sakura let out a cry of embarrassment as he rolled her on her tummy so that her wrist didn't have to make such a weird angle and started to take her shoes off. He groaned as he had taken them off and Sakura blushed even deeper.

"Oh my god, this is too BAD, this stinks like rotten eggs, hmm!!"

Then she felt his free hand around her left ankle and she froze. He gently rubbed her calve from down to up, going over several battle scars carefully before reaching her knee and going back down again. "Hngggg," she managed to cry out and he stopped.

Then, to her amazement, he started to untie the knots he had made in the ropes on her back. Her hands startled to sting as the blood started to flow normally again, but he didn't untie the ropes enough to allow her to use her arms. He had carefully shoved the ropes up higher around her upper arms, now wrapping her arms against her sides tightly, making new knots.

He rolled her over and then removed the towel, and she gasped for fresh air as soon as the damp towel got lifted off her lips. Before she could even get two big breaths he had placed his finger on her lips, giving her a warning glare.

"Make one noise and I tie you up like before again," he said darkly, and Sakura couldn't do anything else than nod. She could still feel the ropes around her wrists and she shivered as she thought about the cuts that they must've left behind on them. "There aren't many cuts on them, hmm," Deidara said, answering her thoughts and she blushed.

"But I assure you that there will be if you talk."

He took off her other shoe and calve protector and placed them on a chair behind them, and Sakura, who followed his hands with her eyes, careful not to say a word, suddenly saw how large the bathroom was. It was way larger than the living room or bedroom, and as she stared around the first thing that she saw clearly was a large bathtub in the centre of the room, made of some glossy and onyx dark stone, which was large enough to fit in at least five people. At the other end of the bathroom which had enormous white marble tiles on the walls two sinks were attached to the them, black, and made out of the same sort of stone that the tub consisted of. Further there was a toilet, also black, behind a small wall to grant the user some privacy, and some places where dark towels hung.

This looks nice…

"You like it?" Deidara asked while he got his own shoes off, and suddenly Sakura realized that she wasn't going to be the only one taking a bath, and that realization made her ears fiery red while she stared at Deidara. He looked up at her, and as he saw her highly red face he smirked.

Then he opened his kunai bag with his free hand. Sakura froze as she followed his hand which was obviously searching for something, her muscles ready to do something even though she knew that the physical strain from the ropes was too big to move. When he got out a kunai she uttered a small cry, making him look up.

"I thought I told you to remain silent," he warned her, and she stared at the kunai in his hand with wide open eyes.

Get yourself together, damn it! She thought while she tried to control her heartbeat. He can't kill you, don't you ever forget that…

"Was I planning on killing you then, hmm?" Deidara asked while he raised the kunai in the air, making Sakura's heartbeat increase even more. Before she could even make a sound he had put the sharp edge against her shirt and tore the fabric apart, cutting it open very slowly, careful not to cut her skin. Sakura followed the movements of the kunai with her eyes, heart beating like crazy,

He got off her torn apart shirt and then put off his own shirt, staring at Sakura's face after that for a long time, making her feeling very uneasy. Then he bowed forwards and removed her skirt with one hand – his free hand – and Sakura stared at the ceiling while feeling tears well up in her eyes.

Slowly the seriousness of the situation started to sink in. Not only was she taken hostage by an Akatsuki member who she had strangely started to trust in the time they had spent together, if things went on like this he might…. He might…

Oh my god he's going to rape me, she thought while the tears started to run down her cheeks as she felt extremely exposed while his hand lay on her stomach, his thumb making circles on her skin.

But as soon as he must've heard her thoughts, the hand went away, and as nothing came, Sakura dared to look at him again, her vision blurry with tears. He sat next to her, hands in his lap while he was still wearing his pants, staring at her.

"Did you really think I'd do that?" he asked, and to her surprise his voice sounded hurt.

She simply stared at him, afraid to speak, afraid of what he might do if she gave the wrong answer. He stared at his hands and then his lip twitched. She felt a weird sensation coming off his body and she tried to get away from him without commanding her body to do so, but he stopped her by placing his hand on her thigh.

"I am just going to wash you, hmm," he grunted, "because you stink and you're making my house filthy." And the cold tone in his voice stopped the tears. He then lifted her, not aware of the fact – or so Sakura hoped – that her entire body reacted heavily to the skin to skin contact of their upper bodies, and placed her in the bath tub, not stepping in himself.

She sat upright against the sides of the tub and Deidara had to stretch out far to reach the water, his chained hand resting on her shoulder and pressing her to the floor slightly. He turned the knob around and water gushed out of several openings in the bathtub, and Sakura yelped as the water, which was still very cold, reached her tied up feet, and she automatically pulled them up to her chest.

The water wetted her underwear and her teeth clattered with the cold while Deidara was still adjusting the temperature. Then, finally, the water started to get warmer, and as soon as it had reached a nice temperature, Deidara made sure the water wouldn't flow away again and the tub started to fill. The water was warm but not too hot and as it started to surround her, Sakura couldn't help but shiver.

Deidara stepped behind her, still standing outside of the tub, and then massaged her shoulders with his free hand while his chained hand hung in the water, nearly touching her elbow. He didn't speak as he got something out of cabins that stood next to the bath tub and were just in his reach, and then he put a nice smelling soap in the water.

Sakura's eyes flew open. She knew that smell! It's the same I use back home, she thought while she stared at the water before she looked up at Deidara's face, which had turned slightly pink because of the hot air coming off the water – but, and Sakura didn't knew this, the pink color was more because of the nice view he had from above her – and he smiled at her.

"It's the same, hmm," he said while he put some of the liquid soap on his free hand with his teeth. His chained hand was now unable of coming above the water, unless Sakura raised her own chained arm but she couldn't.

Then he started soaping in her back with large, circular movements, making Sakura close her eyes even though she knew she should keep them open. It was just too good. She knew very well that she should be angry with him, that she should be trying to escape or at least make plans to do so, but strangely enough he wasn't acting as cold and distant as she had thought he would be. She caught herself on thinking that, perhaps, he hadn't been acting all the time, and she shook her head to get off the idea. She didn't notice that Deidara froze momentarily as he heard her think it and she stared at the water surface beneath her nose, secretly enjoying the touch of his hand on her back.

- Konoha, normal time -

Naruto was packing his stuff. He didn't have a lot of things to take with him, but he wanted to make sure he had everything he might need, and when he had to pick between two things – his sleeping hat or an extra pair of shoes – he took them both, stuffing them in his backpack, aware of the fact that it would get very heavy this way.

He remembered how he had found the glass chains on that doomed day in Tsunade's office when he'd been searching for her, and how he had taken them with him, determined to find out how they worked and what he could do with them. He had secretly been obsessed with their glossy surface and when the opportunity to use them had occurred he hadn't thought twice and had offered them to Sakura…

He clenched his teeth on each other and shook his head. There was nothing he could do about that. If he wanted to get rid of the guilty feeling then he should go and get her back before that bastard might hurt her, and he was determined to do so.

So he strapped his backpack to his back and got up, nearly falling over by its weight, knowing that he had taken too much with him. No, he thought, scowling. I need to see this as training, just as fuzzy eyebrows does, so that I can get stronger and get you back, Sakura-chan!

A loud knock on the door made him look up and he stumbled towards the door and opened it, letting in a stressed Sasuke. "You need to hurry up, dobe," he said, his voice cold and fast, and he took a quick look around in Naruto's apartment before his glare stopped at his large backpack. "And you shouldn't take so much with you!" he hissed, grabbing Naruto's collar and pulling him close to him, his eyes dark with anger. "It's supposed to be a STEALTH mission, and we can't have you stumbling around in the trees, warning everyone where we are!!"

Naruto gave Sasuke an angry glare and strapped his backpack even more tighter to his shoulders, provoking Sasuke big time. "Of course I wont blow our cover, temee," Naruto grunted, showing his teeth. "The only one who could possible show where we are is you!"

Sasuke dropped him to the floor but kept glaring daggers at him. "And what is that supposed to mean, huh?" he asked, his voice screeching. "What are you aiming at?! Explain yourself!" And he stepped closer, but Naruto didn't budge.

"I saw you," the blonde hissed, eyes narrowed to slits, his blue irises glaring at Sasuke with an intensity that could freeze water. Sasuke's eyes widened for a second and a drop of sweat made its way down his neck, but he covered his shock with anger. He plastered a snobby expression on his face and looked down on Naruto.

"That still doesn't make any sense at all, you're still as dumb and annoying as you were before I left, temee."

Naruto growled like a wounded animal before suddenly shoving Sasuke out of the way, slamming him hard against the doorway. "I'm sorry Sasuke," he roared before he stepped on the corridor and stared at a squirming Sasuke on the floor. "But I do not approve what you did and I will not accept any lies anymore."

He kneeled next to Sasuke who had now activated his sharingan and stared at him with his blood red eyes, but Naruto remained unaffected. "If you really want Sakura-chan back," he hissed, bringing his face close to Sasuke's, "Then you should tell her what you did with that blond girl from Suna."

Sasuke howled and launched himself at Naruto. The blonde wanted to react but because of his large backpack he wasn't fast enough, and Sasuke hit him full in the face, blowing him in the opposite wall. Naruto spat out blood as he fell on his knees, but before he could overcome his trembling body, Sasuke kicked him full in the stomach, sending him flying in the ceiling, screaming of pain as he felt one of his ribs break before he came down again. As soon as he hit the floor sharp pain shot throughout his entire body and when he tried to get up his arms simply refused to do so.

Then someone grabbed his collar and dragged him up from the floor, and even though he couldn't see clearly, he could see Sasuke's sharingans stare in his eyes, closer than ever and very pissed off. "Shut up dobe," he hissed. "Or I'll kill you."

Naruto stared at Sasuke and then he laughed softly. "…kill me… Sasuke… really…"

Sasuke scowled and punched Naruto's body against the wall hard, only resulting in Naruto laughing harder, even though blood soon ran down his cheek and his backpack lay shredded on the floor, all the cans of soda cracked and now spilling their contents to the wooden floor.

"Stop laughing!!" Sasuke screamed, before hitting Naruto in the face again, breaking his nose. "Stop laughing, god damn it!!" and he again pulled his arm back, knuckles red with Naruto's blood, ready to strike, when a flash of silver suddenly pulled him away from Naruto and held him secure. Without Sasuke holding Naruto in the air, the blonde fell forwards, only to be caught just in time by another dark haired boy with pale skin and black clothing.

"Let me go! He needs to stop laughing!!" Sasuke kept on screaming even though Kakashi had managed to prevent him from moving. "I need to wipe that selfish little smile from his lips… LEMME GO!!"

Sai, who was carrying Naruto, got up from the floor. Kakashi nodded and Sai bowed slightly, careful not to drop the blonde, and then he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Kakashi and Sasuke behind on the devastated corridor.

With Naruto gone the black haired boy seemed to calm down slightly, but Kakashi didn't let him go just jet. He stared at the damage done to the building and then to the raven black hair in front of him, knowing that the one responsible for the damage was not Naruto, but Sasuke, and he sighed.

"It thought that I had told you that hate is not the way to solve things, Sasuke," he said, letting go of Sasuke who stumbled forwards and rubbed his arms where Kakashi had held him. He turned around and glared at Kakashi, who couldn't help but feel relieved as he saw no Sharingan. He knew that, if Sasuke wanted to, he could defeat him, and even though he didn't want to admit that, it frightened him.

"You wouldn't understand," Sasuke hissed, crossing his arms in front of his chest, already busy with making his face look like he didn't care again.

"Then make me," Kakashi said, raising his voice slightly. "Sasuke, you must understand that you cant go around punching and kicking people whenever they do something you do not like." He narrowed his eye slightly. "That's just selfish and extremely spoiled."

"Hmpf." Sasuke looked another way, his eyes already regained their calm, his face still sweaty with the fight of minutes ago.

Kakashi sighed. It was useless. Even though Sasuke had come back, something had changed in the boy. He was less accepting, and even more hateful than he had been before he had left town. He stared at the boy, remembered how he had talked with him just after the chuunin exams, telling him that with hate, he would only remain as an empty shell. Back then, it had seemed like his speech had had any effect, but now all that seemed gone.

"Sasuke. You need to come with me to the Hokage. You know that."

The boy nodded. "I guess it can't be helped, then."

Sai made his way out of the apartment quickly, his heart beating faster than he was used to. He didn't know why he had an accelerated heartbeat, or why his hands felt a bit sweaty in his gloves, and he wondered what might have done that while he jumped up a roof to be able to travel faster.

Naruto-kun looks pretty damaged, he thought while he looked at the blonde he was carrying. Naruto's head had fallen to one side with blood constantly leaking out of the corner of his mouth and nose, and he breathed irregular and screechy, signing that he had broken several ribs. I wonder why Sasuke-kun did something like this. I thought they were friends. He frowned. I guess there's still a lot I do not know about friends. Perhaps I should hit Naruto too, if that makes our bond tighter…

He arrived at the hospital and landed on the roof, entering the building by the ninja entrance. He had heard about it and was determined to use this entrance rather than the main one, knowing that this way people wouldn't ask about how Naruto gained all the wounds. And, not completely unimportant, the Hokage was said to be in an office in the hospital that only ninja could get straight access through via the ninja entrance on the roof.

He went down a dark stairway and then arrived on a small corridor with only one door in it, and he went ahead and knocked, holding Naruto on one arm for a moment.

As there was no respond Sai frowned. That was strange. Had he forgotten something important about this door…? He thought about it for a moment and then he suddenly remembered that Kakashi had told him to say a code to enter, because hostile ninjas needed to be repelled from the hospital as much as possible. The silver haired ninja had only told him the code after he had sworn to never tell it to anyone else.

So he knocked again and this time he whispered: "Ignis ignito." (a/n: don't know if it's right but it might mean something with "fire" in Latin. And even if it doesn't, it sounds cool :3) The lock clicked and then the door swung open. Sai stepped inside a total dark room without even breaking a sweat, looking around.

Where could the Hokage be? Why would she be sitting in a dark room like this?

"Are you a Konoha ninja?"

Sai looked around, surprised. The voice seemed to come from everywhere around him, but he couldn't define from where precisely. He cleared his throat.

"Yes. I am a Konoha ninja."

He heard a clicking sound. "Are you here to bring a wounded?"

Sai blinked. "Yes. I am here to bring a wounded."

Again he heard a click. He started to wonder what it might be but he didn't have much time for that as the voice spoke again. "Ninja or not?"

"Ninja."

He answered without hesitating. Another click. Then all the lights went on, and he blinked a couple of times to let his dark eyes adjust to the light. Behind the desk that stood in front of him sat a dark haired woman with a little pink pig on her lap, her hands on the desk, her head resting on them. Sai stared at her shamelessly.

"Where is the hokage?" he asked, already looking around.

"She's not present. I'm taking her place here in the hospital. I'm Shizune and I'm here to help you," and she got up, placed the pig on the floor and bowed for Sai. Sai, whose mind couldn't define what she was doing, bowed as well, and he nearly dropped Naruto to the floor.

As soon as Shizune saw the blonde in his arms her eyes widened and she clapped a hand in front of her mouth, stepping back. "Is that Naruto-kun?" she asked, her voice muffled by the hand. Sai nodded, not knowing why she was overreacting that much.

They can heal him again, so why are they always overreacting like this? He thought, tilting his head slightly. Then he sighed. I'll never understand those silly emotions.

"Place him down, place him down," Shizune said panicking, shoving papers and stuff from the desk. A loud clinging noise made her look up and she frowned at a broken sake bottle that lay on the floor. "Tsunade-sama is drinking again…"

Sai lay Naruto down on the desk and then stepped back, bowing again. "Mission completed. Am I obligated to leave the room?"

Shizune, who had already started on putting back Naruto's broken bones, nodded without looking up from her patient. Sai bowed again and then he disappeared again, leaving Shizune behind with a Naruto that seemed beaten up like hell. She mended his broken ribs – three of them! – and then carefully healed his broken nose, making sure that it would look the same as it had been before the accident. She then opened his mouth and looked inside, adjusting the lamp on the desk to havebetter view. He had lost one of his teeth and he had bitten his tongue, what would explain the blood loss, and she sighed with relief. At least no internal organs were damaged. She quickly healed his bleeding tongue and then concentrated on growing back his tooth. It was difficult as she had to get detailed cell information from the surrounding teeth and then resurrect the same cells in the open spot, while making sure that she didn't went to deep or she might damage his nerve system in the jaw.

Halfway through the operation though Naruto regained consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly and when he saw Shizune's face nearly inches from his, his still blurry mind from the blows he had received earlier didn't register that she was healing him but only that she was way too close!

"Aghgh!! Let gho of mwe!!" he yelled, pushing her away from him, stumbling off the desk and landing on the floor in a pile of paper, while dragging the lamp with him. "Noo! Don't touch mweh, stahy away from mwe!" his jaw felt swollen but he refused to let Shizune get close. "What were you doingh over mwe," he roared, while slowly feeling the pain in his jaw because of the uncompleted operation.

"I was healing you lost teeth," Shizune explained, her left hand on her right eye which was already starting to swell up. Naruto had actually hit her to be able to escape from her, and she wasn't completely sure if it was safe to get close to him again.

Naruto stared at her. When he saw her swollen eye though his eyes widened and he suddenly stopped resisting. His arms fell down his sides and he stared at the ceiling again, mouth partly open. He seemed to realize that she was there to help him, not to hurt him.

"I'm shorry," he muttered.

Shizune smiled weakly. At least he had regained self control again. "It doesn't matter. Now let me repair that lost tooth of yours."

- Hokage office -

Tsunade's eyes ached with the constant light of the television screen she had been staring at for three hours straight. In the three days after Deidara and Sakura's departure she had managed to get the tapes from their apartment, but because Mizura's messenger had been delayed and there were a lot problems in and around Konoha, she hadn't been able of watching them. But now, as she had just told Naruto that he had the green light to go after Sakura, she needed to get as much information about how their relationship had build up, and what might have caused Sakura to let Deidara get his clay back.

She sighed. She had a vague idea of what might have happened, but she didn't want to think about it. It hurt as she realized that Sakura might have as well fallen in love with the snobby Akatsuki, and that that would all be her own fault for getting Sakura to do such a thing in the first place. She rested her head in her hands, still staring at the screen on which Sakura and Deidara made their way through the apartment. Of course she had sped up the tapes but she slowed them down occasionally to make sure what happened.

Then, when they stood still in front of each other in the center of the room, Tsunade hit the slow button, making the tape run on real speed. She crept closer and could even see the blush spreading all over Sakura's face as she whispered something that the recorder couldn't register. Deidara, whose face was partly hidden because he stood with his back to the recorder, nodded.

Then Sakura went on her tiptoes and kissed Deidara.

Tsunade, completely astounded, fell back, pressing the pause button as soon as she could, staring at the kissing couple on the screen. This was not a kiss a female ninja would have used to seduce someone. This was a kiss that was filled with nerves, and with held back passion, and as she stared with wide open eyes at the kiss, she realized that Sakura had already developed feelings for the Akatsuki in their first week together, even before she had given her the mission!

"God damn it, Sakura!" She yelled, punching her fist into the floor, cracking the wood. "Why didn't you tell me you liked him?! WHY?!"

Tell me what you thought about this chapter, also about things you didn't like. I am also writing this story for school (never thought I would be able to do that one day :3) and I'd really like to keep improving myself.

Reviews are always appreciated and thanks to everyone who reviewed up until now!