Silver Lining

Chapter Ten: Eyes Wide Shut
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After her unexpected meeting with Temari, Sakura returned to the room with dinner, but when she entered Deidara met her and suggested that since the sun was setting and the heat had broken, they should eat outside. Sakura had a feeling he was just bored and tired of sitting in the room more than any real desire for a picnic, but she agreed enthusiastically and they made their way to the small park they’d landed in a few blocks down.

It was pleasant and relaxing, a welcome change after the eventful day they’d had. Sakura didn’t mention her run-in with Temari, and Deidara didn’t ask why she was out so long. When they finished eating they simply lounged on one of the stone benches, not ready to return to the room just yet.

Deidara slouched against the seat with his arms slung over the back, and Sakura sat sideways with her legs bent across his thighs. After a few minutes she leaned into the pocket created by his raised arm and rested her head against him. He smirked and lowered that arm around her shoulders. They sat like that for several minutes, not really speaking, and after a while Sakura began to think about her conversation with Temari and some of the things the blonde kunoichi had said.

Temari had asked her if she was in love with Deidara. Accused her, to be more accurate, but that was beside the point. Sakura had thought about that possibility before, but only in the back of her mind, and she never dwelled on it for long. She didn’t want to think about it and didn’t really want to know, even to herself. Coming to a conclusion about that when she was still insecure about the future of their relationship or if they even had one, would just make things all the more complicated.

Her thoughts were diverted momentarily when Deidara brought his other arm down around her legs, his hand stroking slowly over the exposed skin between her boots and the edge of her shorts. He shifted their positions slightly so he could lower his head and plant delicious, shiver-inducing kisses along the side of her neck. He nibbled just below her ear and she laughed softly as it tickled and thrilled at the same time. But even his sensuous affections couldn’t completely distract her. The conversation with the other kunoichi had brought her fears to the forefront and they refused to back down this time.

Was she in love with him? She didn’t know. She was afraid to know. She was afraid to listen to any tiny voices in the recesses of her heart that might whisper ‘yes’. Until she knew where they stood she couldn’t listen to that voice, because admitting it even to herself would make it hurt even more if he didn’t want this as much as she did.

The one thing she was sure of was that she didn’t want to go her own way again and she didn’t want him to leave her. She didn’t want to go back to the life she’d been living; miserably alone and struggling to survive.

Deidara felt the shift in her mood and paused in his ministrations. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m fine,” she said softly, keeping her tone light.

“Sakura…”

He wasn’t fooled, and he shifted his hold around her shoulders to force her to look at him. She didn’t want to do this now, or ever, but it looked like there was no avoiding it anymore.

She breathed deep and then sighed. “I was just thinking,” she muttered, her fingers fidgeting with the cloth of his shirt, “It’s just…well, you and me ending up like this just sort of happened…and…I guess I’m wondering what exactly this is…with us. Is there an ‘us’? I mean…is it real?” she asked with quiet trepidation.

He pulled back suddenly and fixed her with an incredulous look. “What?”

She was a bit startled by his abrupt reaction, and she bit her lip nervously as she met his gaze. “Well I just mean…we haven’t seen each other in years, and then this mission where we had to act like a couple…I just wondered if maybe it only started because – ”

“I already told you it has nothing to do with the mission,” he interrupted with a small frown. He grasped her shoulders and turned so they faced each other. He shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing from her. “Sakura…back then, when you were with us…you had to have known…” he said pointedly.

Some of her anxiety dissipated at his words, and she gave a tiny nod. “Sort of, though not until that last night…I almost thought you were going to kiss me there by the fireplace,” she said with a faint smile.

He smirked wistfully. “I wanted to. I should have. If you knew that then how could you even think this started as an act, or that it’s some random thing, hmm?” he asked, and she could see he was a bit offended.

Her brow creased and she dropped her gaze. “I don’t know…I’m sorry,” she mumbled softly. “I just…I guess I’m a little anxious about it because…I didn’t want to go back to the way things were before,” she finished quietly.

Deidara’s expression softened a little and he tilted her head up again, and his thumb brushed over her chin. “I wouldn’t do this just for a mission,” he paused for a moment, “Well…if I’d had a different partner and she was attractive and willing, then sure, I probably would have slept with her,” he shrugged.

Sakura pursed her lips cynically and met his gaze again. Of course, he is a man.

His fingers trailed up her jaw and threaded into her hair, and he looked at her very intently. “But the rest of it…this, what we’re doing right now…I wouldn’t do this with anyone else, yeah. I’ve never been with anyone like this before. The mission is over, Sakura, and I’m still here,” he finished quietly.

“Oh.”

She mentally smacked herself. That certainly wasn’t the most eloquent answer she could have given to his declaration, but his words had surprised her. He could speak expressively for hours about art, but he was usually a bit awkward about personal things, so she knew he was serious about what he said. It was what she needed to hear, and a smile crept over her features. “So it’s real,” she said softly, gazing hopefully into his pale blue eyes.

He made a small huff of exasperated laughter. “Don’t be stupid,” he pressed his lips to her brow as his arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her in, “Of course it is.”

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Deidara came out of the shower to find her curled up in the bed, half asleep. He switched off the light and slipped in behind her, and his hand caressed down her arm to her waist as he leaned over and pressed his lips to the shell of her ear, inhaling the sweet scent of her freshly washed hair and skin. “Don’t tell me I wore you out again,” he murmured, a hint of smugness lacing his tone.

“Mmm,” she mumbled, a small smile gracing her sleepy features at the memory of the last couple hours since they’d returned to the room. He’d made a point of showing her just exactly how into her and their new relationship he really was. “You and the heat,” she said groggily. “This heat is kicking my ass. I can’t wait to get out of Fire country, maybe head somewhere north where it’s cold.”

Deidara chuckled and slipped the thin strap from her shoulder, his lips ghosting over the skin his action exposed. “You say that now, but you won’t like constant rain and snow either. Also, up north you’d have to dress for the cold and not wear those little shorts. That would be a real shame, yeah,” he said with a smirk as his hand slid from her waist to move over hip and along her bare thigh.

Sakura murmured a small sound of amusement. “You still found me attractive even in pants and a heavy cloak,” she teased.

He laughed softly and wrapped his arm around her waist again, fingers slipping under the hem of her shirt. “Very true, but you look good no matter what you wear,” he said. “I think you look hotter in your regular clothes than those girly dresses, though. And those boots you wear are sexy as hell, yeah.”

She smiled appreciatively. “Yeah? I’m surprised you didn’t say I look best when I’m naked.”

“Well, duh,” he replied playfully, his hand sliding further under her shirt. “Though maybe naked with the boots would be the hottest…”

“I’ll have to remember that,” she purred seductively.

“Keep talking like that and you’ll be up all night no matter how tired you are, yeah,” he rasped against the shell of her ear before pulling the lobe between his teeth.

She laughed quietly and turned a little to see him better. “You’re insatiable.”

He grinned. “Only with you. I’m obsessed with the amazing art we make together. And with you…” He pressed his lips to the junction of her neck and shoulder and his arm tightened around her waist. “Do you know what happens when an artist becomes obsessed with something? I hope you’re ready for what it means to be my muse, yeah,” he murmured playfully against her neck.

Her smile widened and she giggled softly. “Somehow I don’t imagine I’ll be complaining.”

Despite his suggestive words his actions did not turn more amorous, and it was quiet between them for a moment before he spoke again, “You know, Yotsuba was right about one thing; we do make a pretty good team, yeah,” he remarked offhandedly.

Sakura nodded sleepily. “Yeah, we do.”

“It’s kinda nice to have my own personal medic,” he said teasingly.

She laughed softly. “Just remember it’s not a free pass. If you go and act even more reckless than you normally do just because you know I’ll heal you, I’ll beat your ass so bad you’ll look like your clay by the time I’m done,” she warned playfully. He merely laughed quietly at her threat. She nestled back further into his warmth, feeling her eyes grow heavier with every second as she began to drift off. She smiled when he bent his head to kiss the back of her neck, and she drowsily remembered pieces of two important conversations during the day. “Deidara…?”

“Hmm?” he murmured, lips still ghosting over her skin.

“This is definitely real, right?” she mumbled sleepily.

His brow creased in surprise and he lifted his head to see what he could of her face, but her eyes remained closed. He couldn’t believe she was still questioning this. Was he unconsciously doing something to make her doubt it? Sure, he was a bit anxious because it was foreign to him and he didn’t really know how to go about the whole ‘serious relationship’ thing, but that wasn’t going to stop him from being with her now that he finally had her.

How could she not have realized how he felt about her before, eight years ago? Everyone else had. Leaving her there in the blood-spattered snow with her teammates had been one of the hardest things he’d even done. Kisame had seen it, and warned him as they were leaving; ‘Let it go, man. This is how it’s meant to be,’ he’d said, and by ‘it’, the shark nin mostly meant ‘her’. He knew Kisame was right, but he’d wanted nothing more at that moment than to snatch her up on the back of his bird and fly away with her. If he’d thought for one second she may have wanted that, he would have.

He sighed and bent his head again to press his lips to her cheek. He closed his eyes and his arm tightened around her smaller frame as the truth behind his words washed over him like a wave, and he whispered softly against her ear; “Yes, Sakura…very real.”

Sakura sighed happily and smiled as she realized she’d been worried over nothing. “That’s good,” she whispered slowly, almost incoherently as her hold on consciousness slipped away, “Because I’m probably gonna fall in love with you.”

Deidara’s eyes widened slowly as the words tumbled out. He knew she likely wouldn’t remember saying it. She was already asleep as the last words passed her lips, and that was a good thing because he was completely speechless. Him. Actually speechless. Not because of what she’d said so much as what those words did to him. He felt the kind of nerves he hadn’t felt since…ever. But he also felt strangely elated at the same time, and once he recovered from the shock he realized that he was smiling. Grinning like an idiot, to be more accurate.

He had always imagined that if a woman ever said something like that he would be out the door in two seconds flat. But this was Sakura, and he was honestly happy to hear those words from her, happy to know she wanted someone like him in her life. Even in his most abstract thoughts he never imagined something like this for himself, because it wasn’t a life a shinobi like him was entitled to. He didn’t know if he was even capable of living that kind of happy life. He didn’t know how to be that man. He didn’t want the house and dog and kids and all those things normal men wanted. He didn’t think he’d ever want the lasting love and companionship, either. But the more time he spent with Sakura, the more he realized he may have been wrong about at least one of his ideals.

With as reckless and dangerous as his life had been it was a small miracle he wasn’t dead yet. He was almost thirty, impressive longevity for a shinobi, and nearly unheard of for one who’d led the life he had. Maybe that was why the thought of putting it all behind him and turning over a new leaf seemed more appealing than it had before.

And now he had a reason. Finding Sakura again after so many years had to mean something, right? It was as if fate had thrown them together again, against all odds. He would be an idiot not to recognize the significance of their reunion.

He’d had to walk away from her once, but he had never stopped thinking about her. Now she was back in his life and it was better than he could have expected. Did he actually want to settle down? Could he settle down? Well, maybe not settle down in the traditional sense, but at least stay by her side and try to live something of a normal life with her, as much as two shinobi ever really could. Could he be the kind of man she deserved? He didn’t know if he could. But over the last few days he had realized that he wanted to try.

Finally, he’d gotten the girl. It had taken eight years, but now she was his. Sakura had actually been worried he was going to go off on his own and leave her hanging, but it had never even crossed his mind. Even if they hadn’t become lovers he wouldn’t have done that. She was his friend, first and foremost. It should have been obvious. She was simply insecure because she was afraid of being alone, but what she didn’t know was that now that she was with him again, there was no way he was letting her go. Not if he could help it.

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Sakura’s eyes opened fully and all traces of sleep vanished in an instant. Her heart was racing of its own accord, but years of training and experience kept her breathing even. She intuitively masked her chakra and set all her senses on high alert.

Her honed shinobi instincts had woken her, but the room and the night around her were perfectly silent and still. Deidara was lying behind her, his arm wrapped around her waist, his body relaxed and his breathing as even as her own. But she knew without doubt he was wide awake and on guard the same as she.

After a long, highly tense moment, it was clear they were still alone in the room and it was safe to move. They both sat up quickly and their eyes met in the dark. The light of a streetlamp outside filtered dully through the curtains and she could just make out his features. His expression was the same as her own; tense and alert with the knowledge that someone or something was nearby, and that it was dangerous.

They silently got out of the bed and moved through the dark room, and in less than a minute were both dressed and fully armed. Then they heard something that sent their instincts into overdrive; faint shuffling and scraping sounds above them, on the roof. And though it couldn’t be heard, that same instinct was telling her something was approaching from the hallway as well. They grasped their weapons and prepared to fight, and melded silently into the shadows of the room to wait.

Another tense minute passed, and the only sound was the pounding of her own heart in her ears.

Suddenly she sensed movement near the window, and a then the glass shattered loudly and flew across the room in jagged shards as a dark figure swung through the open pane, followed immediately by three more. Then the door burst open and four more dark shapes moved into the room to box them in. Several shuriken flew toward the window and one of the dark figures went down, gasping and clutching at his throat. Sakura threw two kunai toward the figures in the door, both weapons hitting flesh with a familiar dull thunk. The first man fell to the floor with a thud, kunai lodged in his skull, and the other three leapt away, one clutching his shoulder.

It all happened within a matter of seconds, and once they had surprised their attackers, both of them sprang away to avoid the barrage of weapons hurled at their revealed locations. The open door provided a bit more light from the hallway and aided in locating their attackers once more. More kunai in each hand, Sakura leapt toward the nearest figure, and she heard Deidara crash into two more across the room.

As the battle waged in the dark room, it was clear that these were not common thugs or low-grade shinobi. These were professional assassins, easily jounin level. It didn’t matter who sent them or why, that could be figured out later. Right now all that mattered was eliminating them.

Deidara blocked his opponent’s kunai with his own and managed to grapple the other nin into a headlock. He snapped the man’s neck and snatched the kunai from his lifeless grasp just as another nin charged at him. This one was wearing a claw, and again he parried it with a kunai. He ducked quickly to avoid the swipe of the other claw and plunged his remaining weapon just below the man’s ribs. He heard a warning call from Sakura and glanced in the direction of her voice. He sprang away just in time to avoid the body that crashed through the wall and out into the street, propelled by a lethal punch from the pink haired kunoichi.

The other guests would be waking up any second now, and Sakura hoped they had the good sense to stay in their rooms. There were only three assassins remaining, and she didn’t have so much as a scratch, and neither did Deidara as far as she could tell. These mystery nins were highly skilled, but Deidara and Sakura were both classified with S-ranking, and the power-gap was vast. The only reason it was taking this long was because they were indoors, and neither could unleash the full extent of their power.

Two of the assassins advanced on Deidara and he raised his kunai with a wicked grin. The third and final shinobi moved in on Sakura, and she readied herself to end this fight, her last kunai in hand. He attacked and they began to grapple, Sakura looking for a hold that would allow her to fling her opponent through the wall as she’d done with the last one.

She glanced in Deidara’s direction and her eyes widened when she suddenly saw one of his two opponents spring a hidden blade in his boot, and as it flashed in the moonlight she could see the slick wetness of poison along the metal. He aimed his kick at the back of Deidara’s thigh as the blond was focused on the other attacker. Alarm flooded through her and without even thinking, she flung her kunai as hard as she could toward the nin. It hit him in the chest and because of the chakra-fused power behind the throw it tore completely through his torso and thudded into the wall behind him.

The nin stood in shock for a moment and then crashed to the floor. Deidara quickly finished off the other nin with a stab to his jugular and turned to see what happened. He noticed the tainted blade protruding from the fallen nin’s boot, and he looked to Sakura with an expression of surprise and gratitude.

Sakura had unarmed herself with that throw, but her attacker still had a kunai. She dodged his slash and grabbed his wrist in her hand, quickly breaking it, and he groaned loudly as the blade dropped from his useless fingers. Still holding his wrist in one hand, she swung her elbow and struck him a chakra-infused blow to the face. She brought her elbow across the other side of his face on the backswing and the man crumpled to the floor in a lifeless heap, his skull crushed by her deadly strength.

Their opponents down, the two of them looked at each other across the room, grimly satisfied and just slightly winded from the multiple opponent fight. A few hotel guests were starting to poke their heads out of their rooms now, and the clamor of concerned voices could be heard down the hall. They needed to get out of here before the local authorities showed up.

Sakura began to move toward Deidara. There was sudden movement from the shadows, and he turned and saw that the nin with the poisoned blade wasn’t quite dead yet, and had reached into a pouch at his waist and withdrew several exploding tags. Deidara had no more weapons to throw at the persistent assassin, and his eyes widened in alarm as the man used the last of his strength to fling the tags outward, and with the last of his chakra, detonated them.

“Fuck!” He sprang away instinctively, flying toward Sakura get her out of the way. He didn’t reach her in time, and as the tags exploded the shockwave sent both of them crashing through the wall and into the next room over as their room and the entire corner of the building was blown apart.

For a minute everything was black. Then there was a dull, hollow droning in Deidara’s ears, like shouts and panicked voices that sounded very far away. His eyes cracked open and his vision swam for a moment, and then the pain set in and he groaned as he slowly came back to his senses.

His eyes opened fully and he strained to look down at himself. He was sprawled on his back and partially covered in broken, smoking debris from the wall he’d been knocked through. He tried to move and felt a searing pain in his leg, and he shoved a piece of charred paneling away to reveal a large splinter of wood protruding from his thigh. He clenched his teeth and a groan of pain escaped his lips as he reached down and pulled the thick splinter out, and felt the gush of wet blood soak his pants as it pulled free. It hurt like a bitch, but he’d live.

The shouts and voices were getting louder now as the shellshock wore off. Suddenly his eyes went wide. Sakura! He quickly forced himself to stand, ignoring the pain in his leg and other places as he began to look for the kunoichi.

“Sakura?” he called out to her, searching his field of vision, impaired by darkness and smoke. He coughed several times and moved as fast as his leg and the fuselage would let him. “Sakura!” he called louder. His heart was racing and pounding in his ears, and he fleetingly wished it would shut the hell up so he could hear if she answered him.

Then he saw her, and for a split second his heart seemed to stop altogether. She was half buried under more of the demolished wall, and she appeared to be unconscious. He rushed over to her, pulling the charred debris off of her and throwing it aside. There was a gash and a long trail of dark blood running down her leg. But what concerned him most was the dark matting of blood in her hair near her forehead and trailing down her temple, and she was unnaturally pale beneath the soot sticking to her skin.

He quickly bent over her still form and brushed her tangled hair from her face. “Sakura, can you hear me?” he said urgently. She didn’t respond. He lifted her partially and turned her face toward his. “Sakura!” he said again, a hint of panic creeping into his voice.

An agonizingly long moment later, her brow furrowed and she emitted a small, pained groan. He let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding as her jade eyes cracked open blearily and met his own.

“Dei…dara,” she whispered thickly, her brow creasing again in pain and disorientation. “Wha happn’d?”

“There was an explosion,” he replied. Her eyes widened and she tried to look around, then groaned again and squeezed her lids shut as the pain blotted out her vision momentarily. “Are you ok? Can you move?”

She gave him a small nod. “Yeah…I’m just really dizzy,” she replied weakly.

He held her head and shoulders as he sat her up a bit more, and she grasped him tightly as he helped her stand. “We have to get out of here,” he said with quiet urgency, looking around at the damage and noticing the sounds of other people were getting closer. He led her back to what had once been their room, both of them limping slightly. “Wait here for a second, ok?” he said, and released his hold on her as she nodded.

Sakura braced herself against the side of the gaping hole for support as Deidara moved away from her and into the next room. He returned a minute later with both of their packs slung on one shoulder, and she sighed in relief that he’d been able to find them and that they were intact. There were a lot of precious things in there, and she would be devastated if she lost them.

He slipped his unoccupied arm around her waist to support her as they entered the destroyed room. They walked several feet before Sakura’s knees buckled as her head swam and her vision blurred. She had a pretty serious concussion, and he needed to get her somewhere safe quickly so she could heal it before she passed out and risked slipping into a coma. “Hang on to me,” he said, and she obeyed without hesitation and linked her arms around his neck as he picked her up. He felt a burning pain in his shoulder, and realized he’d been injured there too and hadn’t felt it until now. He ignored it and secured her in his arms as he moved over the debris and the bodies of their attackers, toward the massive hole in the wall that led to the street.

He shifted his hold on her so he could reach into his clay pouch. A moment later he tossed the mould out the of the open wall and then a large clay bird was rising and snapping its wings open, leveling out in front of the gaping hole and hovering before them. He held onto Sakura and jumped from the opening onto the back of his construct, wincing as pain tore through his leg on the landing.

He kneeled down as the bird began to rise. “Sakura, stay awake ok?” he said close to her ear.

She nodded faintly and rested her head against his chest. “I know…I’ll be fine,” she murmured dully.

The bird he’d created was meant for speed, and they quickly flew away from the city. The sky was lightening as dawn neared, and he searched for a good place to land. After several minutes and miles, they set down in a small forest surrounding a large rock formation. He assumed there would be a cave or cleft they could shelter in, and he went to locate one. He found what he was looking for fairly quickly and came back for her, helping her down and letting her lean on him as he led her to the nearby opening in the rock.

Upon entering the small cave, Sakura immediately slumped against the wall and closed her eyes.

Deidara sat beside her with a small groan of pain. “Are you able to heal yourself right now?” he asked.

She nodded wearily. A moment later she leaned her head back against the rock and stilled. He wondered for a second if she’d passed out, but then he saw the large cut near her hairline begin to glow faintly and mend itself. Apparently she didn’t need her hands to heal her own body, and was doing it all from the inside. He’d never seen anything like it, and it was quite fascinating to watch.

Several minutes later the wound was gone, though the blood would remain until wiped off. She sighed and cracked her eyes open to look at him. “Lemme see that leg injury now,” she said, her voice tired but not as strained as it had been.

He wasn’t aware that she’d noticed his injuries in her disoriented state. “It will be fine, don’t waste your chakra. Heal your own leg instead, yeah” he replied quietly.

She shook her head stubbornly and sat up, turning to face him. “It’s superficial, and my chakra is fine. I’m ok now, so let me heal your leg or I will pin you down and do it by force,” she said with a smirk.

He sighed and shifted obediently, and she leaned over him to inspect the wound and then placed her hands on his thigh as cool chakra flooded under his skin. “What was it?’” she asked.

“Wood splinter. A fucking big one.”

“Hmm. You’re lucky it didn’t puncture your femoral artery,” she said quietly.

“I know, you don’t have to tell me, yeah,” he replied dryly, beginning to feel exhaustion creep over him now that the chaos had settled and the adrenaline was wearing off.

“So who do you think sent them?” she asked after a moment. “Shingo?”

He scowled. “Well, whoever did it just signed their fucking death warrant,” he said sinisterly. “My guess is Yotsuba. He said Shingo doesn’t know who stole his sword, and even if he did, how would he have found us this quickly unless Yotsuba tipped him off? But it’s more likely that Yotsuba himself sent them, yeah.”

She frowned as she finished up his leg and moved to the burn on his shoulder. “You think he hired those assassins to kill us because of what happened at the meeting? He may be a scumbag, but I didn’t think he’d be that fucking petty.”

“Hn. It’s more likely he sent them to cover his tracks, to eliminate all evidence that he was behind the theft, and control the number of people who know about the scroll, yeah. He said he was the only one who knew besides Shingo, and I think he’s trying to keep it that way.”

Sakura pondered that for a moment. “I think you’re right. It was Yotsuba. Bastard probably intended to kill us all along. And after the way he deceived us we would have every right to go back to Shingo and sell the information of who paid us to take his sword. Yotsuba probably assumes this, and is trying to prevent it.”

They were quiet for several minutes as she finished healing him and then focused on her own leg. He watched her as she did; his gaze focused on her charred, torn clothes and tangled hair, and the dark rivulets of dried blood that mixed with the grimy dust on her pale skin – still far too pale after healing her head injury. He probably looked just as bad. But he didn’t care how she looked. He cared about how she had ended up that way and why, and about the flashes of the explosion and ensuing chaos that kept running through his mind.

She finished her task and looked up at him again with a tired smile, and was a bit surprised at the expression on his face as he watched her; grim and troubled and something else she couldn’t recognize. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he suddenly grabbed her head in both hands and sealed his lips to hers. This kiss was not tender or affectionate. It was demanding, possessive, and there was a hint of desperation in the way he held her against him.

He broke away from her lips only when his lungs demanded air. He kissed her cheeks, her nose, her brow, her hair. He pressed his face into her neck with a heavy sigh, and she softly whispered something he couldn’t make out as he pulled her against him tightly.

He couldn’t stop seeing the blast hit her as he failed to reach her in time. He couldn’t stop remembering the dread he’d felt as he called for her, searched for her. When he found her beneath the debris, pale and bleeding and unresponsive, for a split second he had experienced a type of fear he’d never thought possible. He was never afraid, not of anything. He’d never possessed enough self-preservation to be afraid. But until he had seen her breathing, until she had woken and looked at him with those big green eyes, he’d been terrified. Not alarm or surprise or concern, but genuine, sickening fear that she had been killed.

Sakura wasn’t dead. She was alive and here in his arms and things were fine now. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the panic the thought of losing her had caused in him. He didn’t know for sure who had tried to kill them; he could only make an educated guess. But there was one thing he was certain of; he would find out, and somebody was going to pay for it. Somebody had it coming, in fucking spades. For trying to take her from him like this, for nearly killing the only person in this world he truly cared about, he would cut their fucking heart out and feed it to them. He would blow them to bits, and then blow those bits into even smaller bits.

He never, ever wanted to feel that all-encompassing fear again. He never again wanted to see her like she had been a short while ago. He would do whatever it took to protect her from now on.

Sakura didn’t ask what had come over him. She knew, because she’d felt it too when she’d seen that poisoned blade going for his blind spot, and later when she’d realized how close that wood fragment had come to a major artery. He would have bled to death if it had entered less than an inch to the left, and although she’d concealed her worry over it, she still felt the creeping fear that she had just come close to losing her last remaining precious person.

He shifted to sit with his back against the rock wall, closing his arms around her as she sat snuggled between his knees. Her arms slipped around his back and she burrowed against him with a sigh. “What are we going to do now? Where should we go?” she asked sleepily, beginning to drift off as the sun rose outside and the forest birds began their morning song.

Deidara was wide awake despite the rapid onset of fatigue, his mind still racing. He lowered his chin to the top of her head and tightened his arms around her as he murmured quietly into her hair, “Don’t worry, I know exactly where to go, yeah.”

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