Author's note: Thank you all for you support and love for this story. I'm back! I'm going to do the best I can to update this story as well as the re-write, so please keep posted on both. I got a new surge of energy to complete this story. Also check out "Tale of Innocence" Since I will be updating that as well. Life has kept me busy, but as I was reading the comments it really touched my heart how much love Collide was getting and I really wanted to reward all of your patience with me. Thank you for supporting Collide! :D

Requested by: Crazy Neko Girl

Disclaimer:Nope, I don't own it. Just running with this wild imagination of mine ;)

Recap Time!

Deidara shook his head as he tried to understand. "How do you know all of this? Why do you care to warn me? What do you gain from helping me?

For a long time Itachi remained silent as he thought of how he should answer. At this point his cover was more or less blown. There's no way after this he could play dumb. He sighed deeply. "I haven't been entirely honest with you." He began.

"What?" Deidara gasped. Before he could ask anymore Itachi continued.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't suppose to get involved like this. I was only assigned to observe and report."

"Report? Report to whom?!" He demanded as he looked at Itachi with questioning eyes.

Itachi looked down for a moment then he looked back up. He gave him a serious look as he spoke. "You're parents."

Naruto sat in the waiting room with Sasuke and Hinata. He requested that no one else came. He just didn't feel like being surrounded by a large group trying to console him. At the moment his mind was blank. All he could think of was the night that her parents were rushed to the hospital. He sat in the same spot consoling Sakura when the doctors walked in and broke the news.

Everything about this night was uncomfortably familiar and he didn't know how many times he prayed and wished for it not to be the same. If he had to lose her too, he was sure that the little bit of reason he had left would be no more. If only they didn't have that argument. If only he had stayed with her. Many of those thoughts kept berating his mind with regret and sorrow.

Is this how it ends? With unresolved words left unspoken, is this really how it ends? Why must everything be so turbulent in their relationship? Why can't he just have the happy ending that he felt he deserved? 'It's. Not. Fair', He thought bitterly. The tears once again swelled up as he suddenly stood up and threw his fist at the wall.

"Damn it!" He screamed as he burst into sobs again.

Sasuke and Hinata remained where they were as they looked up at him. Both of them feeling a similar deep emptiness. Suddenly Hinata burst into sobs again and jumped up, running out of the room. Sasuke struggled to keep it in but even he was finding it hard. He had just spoken to her before all of this had happen. He was so sure that everything was going to be OK. He was sure things could work out between the two of them and that they would make it through whatever struggles life threw at them. However, what was running through his mind was wither or not Deidara had anything to do with this attack or not.

It troubled him greatly because on one hand he was 100% sure he had something to do with it. On the other hand he remembered Sakura telling him that it was Deidara who tried to heal her wounds. He wondered why he would go so far as to try to kill her and then heal her. Something was not adding up. As he continued to wonder in his thoughts, the doctor walked into the room and cleared his throat to get their attention. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked in his direction.

"How is she doctor?" Sasuke asked bracing himself for whatever the doctor would say.

For a moment he remained silent as he looked between both of them. His eyes landed on Naruto. He took in a deep breath as he looked at both young men. "Sakura suffered from a few second degree burns mostly on her upper body and a few fractured bones and some internal damage due to the blast. It's serious but we've managed to stabilize her. We believe that the bomb that exploded was located at the entrance of her apartment. However, considering her injuries, it's quite the miracle that she is still alive.

"There could have been a defect with the bomb, because she was a considerable distance away from it before it exploded. Had she been any closer, I'm afraid I would have different news to tell you. With that said, we did the best we could. She overcame this huge hurdle so her chances are looking good." He paused to allow his words to sink in.

For a second Naruto and Sasuke stared at the doctor with blank looks. Both of their eyes widen. She was still alive! Sasuke ran out of the room to give Hinata the good news leaving the Doctor and Naruto alone. It took a moment for Naruto to respond. He dropped down on his knees, all the energy zapped from him. The doctor's words echoed in his mind for it to register. She was going to be OK!

"However," He continued as he walked over to Naruto and sat down next to him, looking him straight in the eyes he continued. "Although this is good news, it doesn't mean she's out of the woods yet. Right now she's in a coma. Her body suffered a lot of trauma. Don't lose hope. Keep supporting her through this and she will make a strong come back."

"Can we see her now?" He asked at the doctor with hopeful eyes.

Just then Sasuke and Hinata walked into the room and the doctor stood up. Looking at all of them he spoke. "You may go in and see her. Right now she's in a coma, please talk to her as you normally would. She would be able to hear you." With that said he patted Naruto on the shoulder and gave him a warm smile before turning to leave. The three of them followed him close behind.

Naruto and Sasuke were walking back to Sasuke's apartment. They were only allowed to stay a short time since it was already very late, they were thankful enough to be able to see that she was doing well. Hinata had fallen asleep and Sasuke was carrying her. For a moment the two of them were silent as they walked down the road. The sun was slowly starting to rise in the horizon. It wasn't long before they reached Sasuke's apartment. Naruto was the first to speak up.

"Thanks for being there for me." He said in a low voice.

Sasuke nodded his head. "Anytime. Hey, are you sure you'll be ok? You don't wanna crash here for a bit to rest up?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. I'll go home and rest up a bit then go back to the hospital to stay with Sakrua." He said as he turned to leave.

Sasuke's eyebrows frowned together as he eyed his friend carefully. "Naruto are you-"

He stopped with his back towards his friend. His fists rolled tightly at his side. "I'm going to kill him." He whispered darkly. "That's a promise. I will hunt him down and kill him slowly." With that he ran off without another word. Sasuke frowned deeply, still puzzled by his thoughts. He needed to get down to the matter of things and he knew just who to talk to.

Naruto didn't stop running until he reached his destination. The smell of smoke filled the air. There were still members of the fire house and Anbu investigating the scene, So he couldn't go any further. He stood there taking in the sight around him. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the new comer standing next to him. Only When they cleared their throat was when he looked their way.

"Don't do something Stupid." The person said in a cool even voice with a look to match.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he looked at his former teacher. Kakashi just looked back at him blankly. "Don't mistaken my comment for not caring. She is my former student after all. I'm just as upset, However there are protocols. Running blindly to seek revenge will not play out well for you or for her." A more serious look crossed over his lone eye. "What good would it do for you to become a missing nin? You know what will become of you,right?"

Naruto's fist clinched at his sides as he took in a deep breath. He gave his former teacher a look that was a mixture of anguish, remorse and deep rage. He released his breath slowly and let out a bitter chuckle. "You may be right, but look at what doing nothing has done so far."

"Naruto.." Kakashi said in a low and concerning voice.

"Please, Sensei, I don't know what to do with this hatred that I have." His body grew hot and swayed a bit from his inner rage as Kakashi quickly responded by holding him steady.

"Well the obvious thing to do would be to go home and get some rest and eat. We will figure out what to do later on when you are well rested. I'll keep you company if you'd like." He said softly but sternly.

Naruto shook his head as he gathered his strength and pushed himself away from him. "I don't need you to point out the obvious, Kakashi-Sensei."

Kakashi gave the young man a concerned look. "Naruto-" He started before he was cut off.

"It's simple. The only way to protect her is to destroy the threat at any cost." He said cooly under his breath as he looked up at the sky. There was barely a cloud in the sky and the sun shined brightly on the both of them. Despite it being relatively warm, all he felt was coldness. Like a permanent shiver running up and down his spine.

"Thank you Kakashi-Sensi." He said softly as he looked over to his former teacher. "I know you mean well and you're only trying to help. I'll be ok. I just need to get some rest as you said." He mustered a half smile and waved his hand as he started to walk off.

Kakashi continued to watch the young man as he disappeared off into the distance. Suddenly a great feeling of unease over took him. He felt that Naruto was slowly becoming unreachable and felt that he needed to keep close watch of his former student. He let loose a deep sigh as he relaxed his mind and shifted his attention over to the apartment building.

He thought back to when Sakura's parents were killed in the explosion that leveled her house. His eyes narrowed. Two explosions, almost two years apart surrounding the same person. It could be just a coincidence but something told him that he should dig a little bit more to find out who was behind all of this and more importantly why.

Mean while with Itachi and Deidara

Deidara stared blankly at Itachi much longer then Itachi felt was necessary. Yet to Deidara, suddenly hearing someone else bring up his parents momentary made him freeze. It had been more then 8 years since anyone talked to him about them. He never had a typical relationship with them, especially one involving them having someone keeping an eye on him. For all he knew, they didn't know that he even existed.

If he thought long and hard enough, he remembered that his parents were hardly there for him. To him they were as good as strangers rather then his own parents. He could remember the time when his mom gave him the teddy bear he in turn gave to Sakura. Those were rare moments. Both of his parents were almost always gone. They were always sent off to go on missions. Yet whenever they were around, even if it weren't much, he vaguely remembered the few times they acted like parents towards him. He vaguely remembered getting hugs from his mom. He barely remembered the smile and pat on the back his dad gave him when He'd show his dad his latest drawing or a good score he got on his test. Just when he'd get used to it they would be sent off again and the cycle only repeated itself. After awhile, he learned not to expect much from them and kept his distance.

It took him awhile to realize that he held his breath. He looked away as he remain silent, taking in deep breaths. This man had to be lying. Even so, he had this nagging question in the back of his mind that he just couldn't get rid of.

"Why?" He finally asked as he looked back at Itachi. Granted he didn't like the man, but now he's said something that caught his attention. Why would his parents have someone spy on him and why is it that everyone who he knows, including himself is in danger.

"Because the accident in which they died wasn't just an accident. They were assassinated." Itachi said after a moment. He looked at Deidara carefully and saw his eyes widen in disbelief, but he had said nothing. Before he continued, he knew that he had to choose his words wisely. What he was about to say would shake Deidara to the core and turn his life upside down.

"Everything isn't as it seems. You remember parents who weren't always there and hold resentment for that, You remember Sakura's parents as being the perfect parents and have fond memories of them. But they aren't who you think they are."

"What on earth are you trying to get at?" Deidara asked in a low voice, unsure if he wanted to hear what was about to be told to him.

"As I said, I was a assigned to keep an eye on you by your parents. They wanted you to be protected because they knew they had a hit out on them." He paused for a moment making sure that Deidara was following along. He was and so Itachi continued.

"You're parents were away a lot on S-Rank missions. Their missions consisted on gathering important information for the sake of protecting the village. One of the places they traveled to the most to gather information was Suna." He looked at Deidara and noticed the look of recognition in his eyes.

"That's were Sakura is from." He said slowly, still not putting the pieces together. He paused for a moment. A memory suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. It was such a long time ago and such a random comment that his parents made that he took no heart to it. If anything, he got upset with them and refused to hear anymore of what they were trying to tell him.

It was about 7 years after He and Sakura had met. Specifically 2 months before Sakura and her family moved. Somehow she came up in conversation and when he mentioned her name, he remembered the pale look on his mom's face. Just then she told him to cut off all association with her. His dad mentioned to never go back to their house and to never be left alone with her parents. He immediately lost his temper and took a huge offense to their comment. In the time he has known that family, they treated him as a son far more then his own parents did.

He felt a lump in his throat and a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. He shook his head as if that mere action would dismiss the truth that he so desperately didn't want to be the truth. He looked at Itachi as if to silently ask him to continue. He closed his eyes, knowing that he'd regret hearing the rest.

"To put it bluntly," Itachi continued in a quite voice, "Sakura's parents were double agents. Their reasoning for moving to Konoha was to gather information and to report it back to Suna. You're parents were very close to discovering that truth. At that time, they knew that the spies hadn't be been in Konoha for long, just a few years. They were able to deduce in time that the spies were Sakura's parents. This was just prior to Sakura's family moving."

"That is where I came into the picture. I was assigned by the Hokage, at the request of your parents, to keep an eye on you. I had to make sure that you were safe. I wasn't to intervene unless I knew that your life was in danger. For awhile you seemed to be safe since you left the village." He looked up at Deidara a sobering look on his face.

Deidara shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. None of this could be true. "But, they died in that explosion. Someone was trying to kill Sakura. They weren't bad people." He whispered more to himself.

"Are you sure about that?" Itachi asked as Deidara looked at him with horror filled eyes. "I'm sorry to break the news to you, but as I said, they aren't who they appear to be."

"No." Deidara whispered as he felt his body sake. He shook his head vigorously. "No!" he shouted as he stood up. Just then his face went pale. His knees gave out and he dropped to his knees. He remembered seeing Sakura's lifeless body being taken away to the hospital. Suddenly he had a sickening feeling in his stomach and couldn't hold it in any longer. He ran away to the nearest tree and emptied out all that was in his stomach.

His mind struggled to comprehend all that Itachi was telling him. He had very little reason to believe that the man behind him would fabricate such an elaborate lie. This whole time he tried to deny all that was being told to him. But when he really took the moment to think, all the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. He used to be angry at Sakura, thinking that she abandon him, that their whole time together was nothing but lies. He nearly killed her with those false beliefs until he discovered the truth.

Since then, he couldn't reason why her letters never reached him. Why she never called him or came to visit him. Since they left, he became more distant with the mutual friends they shared. Any news they had about her, they wouldn't share with him. He was left completely in the dark. Could all of this really have been an elaborate plan by her parents? Just then a chilling thought came to his mind. He looked back at Itachi who didn't move from where he was last seen.

Slowly Deidara stood up and slowly made his way back to Itachi. He felt the world swaying back and forth. He felt so numb on the inside. Once he got back, he asked the one question he was dreading to hear the answer to. "Are they still alive?" He asked just above a whisper.

Itachi gave the man in front of him a blank look. After what seemed like forever and without a word he nodded slowly. The last thing Deidara saw as his vision faded to black was Itachi rushing to him to catch him before he hit the ground.