STANDARD DISCLAIMERS ABOUT ME NOT BEING AWESOME ENOUGH TO OWN NARUTO APPLY.
I'm having fun writing this. Even if it's not the greatest :P
Enjoy.
Deidara stared at her. He thought for a moment he hadn't heard her clearly, but one look into her eyes told him otherwise.
She was completely serious.
"And," she continued after seemingly gaging his reaction. "I want you to be my partner."
Deidara lifted his eyebrow at the girl in front of him incredulously. "Those are a couple of hefty demands to make, yeah. First off, how many shinobi do you think attempt to join the ranks of the Akatsuki regularly? We practically own the known world, yeah. That kind of power is appealing to a lot of people."
"I don't care." Sakura tilted her head, just slightly. "How many of those people are skilled medical ninjas, trained under one of the Legendary Sannin? I know the Akatsuki could use my skills. In fact, I happen to know that the Akatsuki would probably kill for a medical ninja of my caliber."
Deidara gazed at her in shock. She was serious, and this wasn't false bravado. She had the utmost confidence in her abilities, enough to approach him and practically put her life on the line asking to be in the Akatsuki.
"And the part about being your partner...what was the problem there?" she asked, almost sweetly. "I know you currently don't have a partner, and I wouldn't want to be partners with anybody but you."
Deidara felt like he was going to fall out of his chair. How could this night have taken such a strange turn? He'd thought maybe the kunoichi would have tried to attack him, or maybe hit on him. But this? Asking to join the Akatsuki so brazenly, and all but insisting on him taking her as his partner? He felt as though he had gotten wasted enough to be having delusions, that he'd suddenly be jolted from a drunken stupor by the bartender, telling him to go home.
But this was no delusion. The pink-haired woman next to him moved to unlatch her cloak and set it on the stool beside her, revealing a uniform of a black minidress, boots and weapon holsters. Her figure was lithe and wonderfully feminine, the uniform alluded to as much and his imagination could make up for the rest.
"Deidara-san," her clear voice brought him back with the more formal way with which she addressed him. He met her gaze and she cleared her throat. "Take me to Pain, please. I know he won't turn me down. And then...be my partner. I'm a skilled fighter as well as a medic, I definitely won't hold you back."
Deidara raked his hand through his hair, frustrated for a reason he couldn't put his finger on. "I'll take you to Pain, yeah. But be warned, if he doesn't like what you have to say, he'll most likely kill you."
"That won't happen." Her confidence was clear in her voice.
He fixed her with a curious stare. "And as for being your partner...why do you want it to be me so badly, yeah?"
"I remember you," she said, a small smile turning up her lips. "I remember fighting you after killing your partner. After all of these years, you were the Akatsuki member whose name I still remembered. And I remember it for a reason. There are certain things I want to learn...that only you can show me."
Deidara's mouth went dry at her words, his heart began to throb inside of his chest. He didn't know if she had purposefully added implication into her words, but regardless he couldn't resist letting his gaze drop to her full pink lips. What did she want from him? What was he supposed to show her? He let his mind wander to a place where he was on top of her, absolutely blowing her mind with his favorite kind of art. The thought of taking her to bed made him feel weak. It really had been far too long since he'd had a woman if a few implication-laced words sent him spinning this way. He didn't know what his deal was, but for once in his life, Deidara had no idea what the hell to expect.
"Understand my position, yeah." he said finally. "You approach me in this bar, having fought me before as my enemy. I've killed your friends and fellow villagers. You're a Konoha ninja-"
"Was." she interrupted. "I have nothing to do with Konoha anymore. What I want-" she paused, glancing down at her hands folded once again in front of her. "Please..take me to Pain. If you will, and will have me as your partner...I'll explain everything in due time. You can take my word for it. I won't hold back from telling you anything you want to know."
Deidara could sense in her a desperation that she was trying hard to hide. Her green eyes were large with sincerity, her lips pursed with unconscious tension. For whatever reason, this girl who had once been the kind of person who fearlessly defended everything she believed to be right and "good", wanted a pass to the underbelly of the world, and she wanted him to be the one that led her there.
Deidara tore his eyes from hers, reaching for his now nearly empty liquor bottle. He turned it in his hands a few times, biting his lip. What did he have to lose? Pain wouldn't turn this girl down- she'd been right, they were in need of a medic-nin. And besides, having her as a partner could be...fun. Interesting to say the least. Anything could happen between them in the kinds of situations they'd be put in together. It would be a relief to break up the veritable Sausage Fest that was the Akatsuki.
He brought the bottle to his lips, not bothering to pour himself a shot, and downed the rest of its contents.
"I'll take your offer, yeah." he told her finally, allowing himself to look back in her direction. Her face was so expressive, he could see relief on her features at once, followed with a slight look of resignation that was quickly overwhelmed by excitement. She knows there's no turning back now. He smirked at her. "I don't think you realize just what you're in for, being my partner."
"I probably don't." she agreed, lifting her finger to alert the bartender that she wanted another drink. "And it's the best feeling I've had in years."
Four hours after he'd been approached in the bar by the mysterious kunoichi, Deidara now lay by her side in bed, still wondering how the hell this had happened and if it was real. One glance at her sleeping form assured him it was real. Sakura was lying next to him, she was going to be his partner. He chuckled and shook his head. Damn, life comes at you fast.
After they'd shared a few more drinks together, Sakura and Deidara had headed back to the hotel he was staying in together. She'd been acting sultry and flirty all night, but especially after she had a few drinks in her. She'd stumbled into him a few times and he'd helped her walk. He was almost certain that she was going to try to come on to him when they'd reached his room, but instead she'd seemed to get a little down, as though the true weight of what she'd done had finally hit her. She'd asked, in a small voice, if she could sleep in bed with him and he hadn't given sex with her another thought. He felt slightly sorry for her. Obviously she'd undergone an immense change the past few years. But this was what she'd wanted, what she'd decided. He would take her to Pain and make her his partner, and he would show her anything and everything she wanted to be shown. He stole another glance at her peaceful sleeping face, wondering once again if her implication had been real or she'd just been trying to flatter him into taking her as his partner.
Deidara was no stranger to women and sex. He'd enjoyed women all the more since the Akatsuki had come into such power. They threw themselves at him in droves, begging him to take them to bed. He always had his pick of the most beautiful women and he always sent them on their way from his bed shaking with satisfaction and desperate for more. The pink-haired kunoichi was certainly one of the most beautiful women he'd seen, and he wouldn't mind at all making her shake with satisfaction.
Snap out of it, he scolded himself. It had obviously simply been much too long since he'd had a woman. Fixating on having sex with Sakura would do him no good- after all, being partners would require them to work together and who knew how sex would affect their working relationship. He rolled over and quietly rose from the bed, taking care not to wake Sakura. Deidara was going to find himself a woman right now to sate his lust. He was going to comb the streets and bars until he found one and banged her silly, and then he could return and his annoying interest in Sakura would subside.
He was sure of it...
Almost.