A/N: Okay. So… I'd like some input on this. When I started this story, I knew there were only a few ways this could end; the mushy, happy, unrealistic ending (ex: Deidara lives in Konoha with Sakura). The some-what happy, more realistic ending (ex: Sakura runs away with Deidara). The Romeo and Juliet ending ending (ex: Deidara dies and Sakura kills herself). The sad ending (ex: Deidara dies and Sakura moves on). And the bitter-sweet, lesson learned ending (ex: Deidara dies and Sakura learns from it). To be honest, I'd rather not do the mushy ending… so what do you think? I mean, if you all really want mushy, I'll make it mushy but…

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sakura would be whoring around a hell of a lot.

Chapter Ten: Snowmen

Naruto was pacing.

"Go back to sleep, Naruto." Kakashi called softly.

"We should keep going." The blonde argued.

"Let the others sleep. Not all of us have a shit load of chakra, you know."

Naruto sighed. "I know. I'm just worried about her."

"I understand Naruto, but it's not a reason to push everyone to their limits. They'll need the energy to fight."

"I know." He whined. "What time is it?"

Kakashi looked up. "Like… two maybe? Go back to sleep, Naruto."

"I can't sleep."

Kakashi nodded. "Just don't wake everyone up. And if you're holding us back tomorrow, we'll leave you behind."

Naruto sighed and went back to his pacing.

"Please be okay, Sakura." He couldn't bear if he lost his other friend. Sasuke… it still hurt that his brother would betray him like that.

He hopped into the tree, taking perch in one of the upper branches.

Naruto gazed at the brilliant stars.

He drifted off to sleep, slowly.

In the morning, Kakashi shook him awake. "Let's go."

Naruto hopped up, instantly alert, nearly falling off the tree in the process.

Kakashi chuckled. "Come on."

Naturo nodded.

Again, progress was slow. The trail was faint, and now the snow was making it even more difficult.

The temperature was even worse, since it was still the wee hours of the morning.

The Konoha ninjas weren't properly prepared for this weather; they'd brought heavier clothes, but they still weren't ready for snow.

They'd taken to jogging in place, wasting precious energy for warmth.

But that's how it worked, right? Heat requires energy, either active or not.

Naruto rubbed his gloved hands together. "It's fucking cold." He complained.

"Think about Sakura, Naruto. She must be cold." Hinata inserted softly.

"I'm sure she's fine." He mumbled. "They seem to like her."

Hinata sighed.

"Naruto…" Kakashi warned. It wasn't like the boy to be so bitter.

"It's true." He muttered.

"Do you want me to send you back to Konoha?"

"No."

"Then stop." Kakashi was sick of dealing with a Naruto that acted like he was a Genin again.

"Kakashi." Shino called from the front of the procession.

"Hmm?"

"Found this." He tossed a kunai to Kakashi. It was Sakura's. The ones with the little cherry blossoms carved into the handle.

"I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing. Shino? Can you have your bugs spread out and search the immediate area? Kiba? Hinata?"

All three nodded.

"Kakashi," Hinata called weakly, "there's a body over there. Male."

She pointed straight ahead.

Kakashi hopped over, following Hinata's direction.

"A rogue?" he murmured to himself, uncovering the body.

The corpse had no legs. They were completely gone. And not in the way a sword would take them off; they were jagged which implied explosives. "Deidara…"

The man still had a pack on his back. Kakashi dug through it cautiously. He found quite a few seals. They were strange, not like something he'd ever seen before.

He held one up. "Does anyone recognize this?" He was stumped on this one.

A gasp came from behind him. "This is… a chakra draining seal?" Hinata asked.

"Chakra draining?"

She nodded.

So… Sakura had used a kunai for one reason or another… and Deidara had blown this man's legs off… and this man had chakra draining seals… how did they go together? In moments, Kakashi had several situations mapped out in his head.

One: Sakura had encountered this rogue in an attempted escape. Deidara had followed. She'd thrown the kunai at him. He blew the man's legs off and dragged her back.

Two: Sakura had encountered the rogue in an escape attempt. He'd attacked her. She threw a kunai at him. He used a chakra seal. Deidara had found them and saved her, in sorts.

Three: The rogue had attacked Deidara and Sakura. Sakura threw a kunai at him and Deidara blew off his legs.

The first and second were basically the same, but they had very different contexts. The first did seem most likely until you took into consideration of where Sakura could have gotten her kunai if she was truly being held prisoner in the strict sense of the word.

So that left the second, since the third was also extremely unlikely.

Which meant she had relative freedom.

Which meant she should be able to easily escape.

Sakura wasn't to be underestimated. Even with the S-ranked criminals, she could still find a way out. She was smart enough.

Hell, she could probably fight her way out.

And that left the question of why she hadn't escaped.

Did it mean she didn't want to come back?

It could be true, considering her whole psyche ward experience. And Tsunade had said she believed Sakura was in love with Deidara.

"We need to hurry."

--

I shivered; it was cold. I don't quite remember when exactly I wandered back to my room, but when I woke up, I was in Deidara's arms.

I carefully wormed out of his hold to peek out the window.

My jaw dropped; it was snowing. I'd hardly ever seen snow before. A few times in passing, and once I'd been out in it. I'd been concentrating, though. I hadn't enjoyed it.

I shook Deidara awake. "It's snowing." My eyes lit up with child-like excitement.

"Your point?" he rubbed his eyes.

"I want to go outside."

Deidara groaned and sat up. "It's cold, yeah."

"I've never been out in the snow before," I pouted. "Please?"

He groaned. "Fine."

Deidara rolled out of the bed. "You're going to need to dress really warm, though."

I nodded.

He sighed and grabbed my pack, sifting through it.

"What's this?" he grinned as he pulled out some small, lacy panties.

"Nothing." I blushed.

"Why haven't I seen you in these?"

I could see he was fighting to hold back laughter.

I smacked his arm lightly. "None of that."

He sighed. "I know, I know." He finally pulled out a coat, several long-sleeved shirts, and a few pairs of pants. "This is all you have?" he groaned.

I shrugged; it was hot in Konoha.

He went into his own pack. "Here," he said as he tossed clothes at me, "wear these."

I held up a pair of long-johns and a thick, puke-green shirt. "Eww."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Put it on, or I'll have to do it myself."

I stuck my tongue out at him. If he was going to do this, he was going to pay for it. I turned towards him and slowly inched my shirt off.

His eyes were bugging out.

My smirk widened. Convenient that I'd been wear a sexy, nearly-see-through bra and panty set. I played with the waistband of the sweats I was wearing before pulling them down with intentional slowness.

Deidara had stopped breathing.

I hesitated for a moment, deciding whether I needed to help him or not.

I reached for the clasp at the back of my bra. I spun, and when I was facing Deidara again, the bra was across the room.

I stopped. He seriously needed some help now.

"That's for being mean." I pouted before kissing his lips gently.

He inhaled heavily. "Do me a favor and let me know before you do something like that again, okay?"

I giggled. "It's more fun this way."

He kissed me. "You are the most dangerous kunoichi in the world."

I smiled. "Only to you."

"Oh, trust me," he smiled, "any man would die for you, unless he were gay. Hell, maybe even if he were gay."

"You're biased." I laughed.

"Am not." He smirked. "I bet you beat Sasori because you were just too damn distracting. That and you're fucking amazing."

I smiled. "Or maybe he was checking out his Grandmother."

Ddeidara shuddered.

I laughed.

"You know what today is?" he asked me.

"Um…" I thought back. "Tuesday?"

"Actually it's Wednesday, but that's not it." His smile widened to epic proportions.

I gasped. "We're getting married!"

He tapped my nose with his index finger. "Yup."

I rose onto my tiptoes to kiss him and ended up tipping us both over onto the bed.

"Hurry up and get dressed." He murmured through our kiss. "We'll need to be back inside soon."

I nodded and pulled on the icky clothes he'd given me.

"Now this," he threw me a pair of pants and two of my shirts.

I sighed. "Why so much?"

"I'm sacrificing your figure so you don't get cold."

I rolled my eyes. "Well thank you for such a big sacrifice."

I pulled on the rest of the clothes, only to be handed his Akatsuki cloak.

I sighed. "What are you wearing?"

"This." He gestured at himself. He was only wear one pair of pants and two shirts.

"When you freeze to death, I'm not coming to your funeral." I marched out the door.

"I'm used to the cold," he chuckled, easily keeping pace with me.

"Whatever."

Deidara opened the door to the winter wonderland. I gasped in amazement before dashing out into it.

He stood just outside of the house, watching me with an amused expression on his face.

"Come on." I beckoned to him.

He strode over to me.

"Let's make a snowman." I giggled, giddy as a school girl.

Deidara quickly rolled out a base for me. I stacked a smaller ball on top, and an even smaller one on top of that. I sent Deidara to fins some eyes and a nose while I went to go find some arms.

When I returned, he had a carrot in one hand and two buttons in the other. I smiled and stood on tip toes to stick them on. I shoved the sticks in on each side for his arms.

"He needs a mouth." I said.

"I'll go get one." Deidara vanished into the building.

Five minutes later, he emerged with a piece of licorice, two mittens, a scarf, a hat, and a cigarette.

I laughed.

"Hey, it's the next best thing to a pipe I could find.

I was in charge of the scarf, mouth, and cigarette, leaving Deidara with the hat and mittens.

We stood back and admired it.

"It's perfect." I smiled.

"Yeah."

He held me close, so of course he noticed when I shivered.

"Let's go in."

I pouted. "Fine."

"Itachi'll kill me if you catch a cold."

I grinned. "I'll plead for your case."

He chuckled.

As soon as we were inside, we were bombarded with Itachi's interrogation. 'Where were you? She'd better not be sick! You know you have a wedding today! What were you thinking?'

Deidara sighed and endured it.

Now this was the Itachi I'd first met.

He pulled me along to my room, where a large mirror had been dragged in.

He slammed the door on Deidara, who had followed us. "Go to my room. Kisame'll help you."

Itachi turned to me.

I groaned.

"You'd better appreciate this. It's not easy to prepare a wedding in less than a day, let alone discreetly."

"I do." I sighed. "I just don't like makeup."

Itachi chuckled at that. "We'll let's get through this for Deidara, okay?"

I nodded.

Now, I'm not going to say Itachi looks horrifying with a smile on his face, but it isn't exactly the most comforting thing in the world.

"Sit." Itachi motioned to the chair.

I sighed and complied.

I closed my eyes and tried not to pay attention to what Itachi was doing to me.

He tapped me lightly on the shoulder, what I figured was a few hours later.

"Time to put on your dress."

I groaned.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Come on."

"Fine." I muttered.

I stripped down and Itachi wriggled the dress down over my hair and makeup.

He stood back, admiring his handiwork. "Perfect." He grinned. "Now that's something new… and your hair piece is blue… so we just need something old and something borrowed. Hold on."

Itachi ducked out of the room. I sighed and sat back in the chair.

Several minutes later, he returned. "This is old," he said, mostly to himself, as he fastened a pearl necklace onto me, "And this is borrowed." He grinned, holding up a baby blue garter.

I blushed.

"Stop that. You don't want your face to match your hair."

I scowled at him.

"Put it on." He sighed.

I growled and took it from him, yanking it into place on my thigh.

"And the shoes." He smiled, handing me a baby blue pair of shoes to match the garter.

They fit perfectly. "How did you get my sizes right?"

"Talent." He chuckled softly.

I rolled my eyes. "How much longer?"

"A few minutes."

My breathing sped.

"Oh, calm down. It's not like you're waiting for your execution."

"Easy for you to say." I mumbled.

A/N: The first six pages or so of this just poured out. That being it was originally the part with Sakura. Then I started to write the filler crap, and it just went blank. And then the times didn't agree so I had to move it in front Dx I don't particularly like writing Itachi so OOC, but it's kind of necessary for this… -sighs- it's past midnight as I'm writing this, and I'm sick, and I promised my mom I'd be in bed a long time ago. Eh. Haha. I don't think chakra draining seals are real… but they did have something like it in the first(?) Naruto movie or whatever. Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, that is.