A/N: Erm... Haha... Sorry for the ridiculously long wait for this chapter... I've been kinda busy over the last, year or so... Over the time, I have almost completely forgotten where this was going. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great :)! I lost inspiration to write this or anything else, so I've been putting this off for quite some time... Anyways! I'm going to skip most of the fight scenes here seeing as everyone knows what happens in them anyways. This chapter might not be up to my normal standards, and I am sorry for that. Off to the new chapter (:

Chapter 4

Sakura tried to forget what she had just seen. She tried to calm her breathing, tried to concentrate on what was happening outside of her mind, she really did. However, seeing Deidara again, like this tore her mind apart.

Sakura was, by nature, a very caring person. Although she didn't show it that often, choosing to cover it up with a strong persona, she really was caring. Although slightly dulled, her feelings for Deidara never really passed, and she always had a soft spot in her heart for him. After seeing this, that little part of her heart felt like it was tearing itself into tiny pieces. She couldn't bring herself to concentrate on reality, and only partially knew what was going on.

She knew that Naruto chased after Deidara, her Deidara, after he had flown off. She knew that Kakashi had gone with him, and she knew that he gave her a stern, almost curious look before leaving. She knew that she was now alone with a member of the Akatsuki, with only a little old lady to help her. However, her mind barely registered these facts, still too consumed with sadness.

'Snap out of it, Sakura!' Shouted Inner-Sakura. In her mind, her inner self gave her a nice, big slap.

Shaking her head, Sakura came out of her stupor, realizing the danger she was in and how idiotic she was to just stand there like a silly academy student. She knew better than that. She thanked inner Sakura, and banished all thoughts of her blonde-haired 'friend', as she prepared to fight for her life...

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Deidara flew as fast as he could out of that cave, as far as possible away from Sakura, away from her pleading looks. He couldn't stand the way she looked at him. He had to get out of there as fast as possible, and so he flew off, taking the dead jinchuuriki with him, knowing the kyuubi brat would follow.

Unfortunately for him, the Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi followed as well. This unnerved him greatly, because now it was only Sakura and an old lady fighting his master, Sasori. He knew how strong his partner was, and although he'd never show it, he was deeply afraid for Sakura's life. He had never really been close with Sasori; they were partners and nothing more.

Sakura, however, had been his only real friend in life. She was the only one to truly accept him for who he was, and didn't care about the mouths in his palms. The Akatsuki cared, but only because it gave him, and by extent them, a great amount of power. Sakura had only ever cared for him, because of him. Because of his personality, because of the person that he was, not because of any great gift of power that he had.

Snapping out of his inner thoughts, Deidara noticed that the Copy Ninja was catching up, and if he wanted to capture the kyuubi, he had to do it soon.

'I have a job to do here, no matter how much I wish I didn't have to do this.' And with that, Deidara began to plan Naruto's demise...

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Sakura stood, exhausted, clutching her still smarting side. She had been stabbed by Sasori's poisoned sword during the battle, however she had managed to heal it and used the last of the antidote she had made. She didn't want to use it, for Chiyo-baa-sama also had injuries, but the old elder insisted that Sakura use it. In the end, she had reluctantly agreed.

Looking at Sasori's dead body, Sakura was almost amazed that they had won the fight. It was by far the most intense and life threatening battle Sakura had ever been in, and she had made it out alive. Barely.

Deidara had managed to pop into her mind on a few occasions, thankfully when her mind wasn't needed as much and she could afford to let him into her thoughts. She didn't like it, though. She banished the thought of him instantly every time it went into her head, but he was a very persistent thought, that Deidara.

Sighing, Sakura reminded herself that there were more important things right now to deal with. Walking, well, limping over to Chiyo, Sakura helped her to stand.

"Are you sure you're alright, Baa-sama?" Asked Sakura, genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine." The elderly woman replied, brushing off her injuries.

'We really should go after Naruto and Kakashi, to make sure they're alright...' Sakura thought. She really didn't want to, though. She knew that either way the battle had turned out, she wouldn't like it. Sakura was terrified to find out what had happened during their fight, but she knew she had to go after them.

With a sigh, Sakura put one arm around Chiyo, and they started off where Naruto and Kakashi had left.

'Please be alright..' But even Sakura didn't know who she was thinking of...

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Deidara cursed. Loudly. He was not happy. In fact, he was far from happy. His plans had gone totally and completely down the drain. He never was one for planning, but this was just ridiculous. He blamed Sakura for it. She seemed to pop into his head at the least opportune moments and completely distract him from his goal. Currently, he was hiding in the trees above ground, away from the ninja that had beaten him down time after time.

Too late he realized that cursing was probably a bad idea, seeing as now his enemies knew where he was. Cursing again, albeit quieter than before, he moved to a different location, away from the leaf ninja.

Assessing the situation, Deidara realized it was pretty hopeless for him. He was down an arm, exhausted, and low on clay. The only way for him to stay alive was to escape. The blonde-haired Akatsuki sat, contemplating how to escape his current predicament, when suddenly he felt a large weight on his back.

'Well, isn't this lovely, yeah.' He thought just before his body plummeted to the earth, causing quite a bit more damage to his body, as well as being rather painful.

Groaning, he lifted himself into a sitting position, glaring at his two rivals. He threw a smirk on his face, licking the blood off of his lips.

"That hurt, yeah." Exclaimed Deidara, grumbling to himself. He sat there, trying to think of a way to get out of this hole he had dug himself into, but nothing came to mind. 'Damnit,' he thought, 'how can I get away?'

Just then, Deidara saw a flash of pink and red coming from the trees behind the konoha ninja's, and the fist that belonged to this pink blur came flying straight into his pretty face. He felt himself fly a couple of meters before skidding on the ground, hard. Deidara's flight stopped abruptly when a kindly tree stopped him. With his face.

Cursing, Deidara felt like his face had turned into a punching bag. 'Why the face? Why is it always the face?'. Unfortunately for him, his troubles weren't over yet. He hadn't picked himself off the ground this time, finding it pointless seeing as he would probably be knocked over again at the first opportunity, and yet he found himself on his feet. Sort of. How is this possible, one might ask. Well, one pink haired kunoichi was responsible for that.

Sakura had him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him off the ground and bringing him eye level to her. Of course, Deidara was considerably taller than her, so he was somewhere between hanging and standing in front of her.

"I didn't believe it.." Sakura whispered, her head down, tears streaming from her hidden eyes. "I couldn't believe it was you, Deidara." The pink-haired girl looked up suddenly, staring straight into Deidara's eyes. "Why are you here? Why is this happening, Deidara? Why!"

After hearing no reply, Sakura punched the Blonde-haired Akatsuki again, this time in the chest. She lowered her head again, her hair covering here eyes.

"I hate you..." She whispered, so quiet that he almost didn't hear her.

Deidara couldn't bring himself to look at her. That was the reason he wanted to get away from that cave in the first place. The look she was giving him hurt. He wanted to tell her it wasn't what it seemed, that he wasn't really a bad guy. But that would be lying to her. He was the bad guy, it was her friend that they were after. Deidara couldn't blame her for hating him. He had become everything she was fighting against.

The bad guy.

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Sakura couldn't help herself. As soon as she saw that blonde hair and the smirk on his face, she lost control and gave Deidara a nice, big chakra filled punch to the face. She had made sure, in her anger, that she didn't put enough chakra in to kill him or break any bones, but it would leave a nice bruise.

As soon as Deidara's feet lifted off the ground, Sakura raced after him. She wasn't done with him yet. Catching up to him fairly quickly, she felt her emotions take control. She was barely aware of what was happening around her, save for what she was doing to Deidara. She heard herself speak, but couldn't control what she said. She felt herself punch him again, weakly, as if she had no strength left in her to fight.

She stood there for a few moments, just crying, when she felt the hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw it was Kakashi, looking at her curiously. He opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly a loud bang happened, shaking the forest floor beneath them.

Sakura opened her eyes, having closed and shielded them with her free arm (having still held onto Deidara) from the explosion, blinking debris from them. She coughed in the dust that the explosion had caused, waving it from her face. Looking around, she couldn't see anything, or really feel anything different around her.

That's when it hit her. She stopped breathing, eyes widening in surprise and horror.

Standing beside Deidara were two Akatsuki.

TBC

A/N: Sorry if it was a little shorter than usual, but I wanted to get this out so all of you knew that I was still alive.