Silver Lining

So this chapter is kinda transitional, but still has plot. Since the three of them are just reunited I wanted to give them a chance to enjoy it before they get down to the ass kicking.

Also, there be more smut ahead. I just can’t help myself when it comes to these two! XD

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Chapter Twelve: Calm before the Storm
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Sakura awoke the next morning before either of the men. Deidara barely even stirred as she eased herself out of his embrace and got up. He had been understandably stressed and on edge the past few days, not to mention angry, and she knew he was exhausted. As she quietly got dressed, she watched his sleeping countenance and smiled. She wondered if he was aware he had taken up the role of ‘overprotective male’ since that night or if he was doing it subconsciously. Normally something like that would bother her but given the situation, it was sort of to be expected. He wasn’t being chauvinistic or extreme about it, and truthfully she found it to be rather endearing coming from someone like him.

She finished dressing and quietly left the room. As she padded down the hallway and passed the other closed door she had to smile at the sounds of snoring drifting from Kisame’s room. Aside from that, the house was remarkably quiet. They were out in the countryside, away from towns or even small villages and so the only sounds were those of nature. If she listened carefully, she could even hear the faint sounds of the ocean. There was only one major city on this small island, and the surrounding towns were the quiet sort of places where not much ever happened. Kisame’s house was set on a large grassy hill near the shoreline, nestled against a strand of pine forest. On the other side of the forest was a dirt road leading to the nearest town about ten miles away. It was the perfect place to disappear and live out your days in peace.

Sakura had no idea what sort of food the shark man kept in his house, but she had decided to make breakfast in thanks for his assistance and letting them stay in his home, and also because it was nice to have friends she could hang out with again. So as quietly as she could, she began rummaging through the kitchen.

Kisame groggily wandered out of his room around twenty minutes later, drawn by the smell of food cooking, or more accurately, the smell of bacon. The main area of the house was simply a large single space containing the kitchen, dining and sitting area so she noticed him as he emerged from the hallway and sat at the small dining table to watch her.

“Morning,” she greeted over her shoulder as she piled the finished bacon onto a large plate with the eggs.

“I distinctly remember you not being able to cook,” he said with his usual amused grin.

“Just because I don’t like to doesn’t mean I can’t,” she quipped, walking over to set the heaping plate in the center of the table.

He eyed her skeptically as she walked away to grab another plate containing toast along with a pot of coffee, and she caught his look as she made her way back. “I learned, ok?” she said with a small laugh, setting the remaining items on the table and taking a seat opposite the shark. “I’m no gourmet or anything, but I don’t think you’ll complain.”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t complain if you slapped cold gruel on a plate, princess. Gone hungry one too many times to turn my nose up at a meal,” he said casually a he heaped large servings onto his plate.

Sakura chose not to comment on that little insight to a darker past, and smiled again as she watched him portion his plate for three. She poured herself a cup of coffee and grabbed a slice of toast, and they tucked in.

She was just thinking about going to wake Deidara, even though he needed rest she didn’t want him to have to eat his breakfast cold, when he finally wandered out in much the same manner as Kisame had, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Mornin’ sunshine,” Kisame jibed, snickering at the blond’s half-asleep expression as he seated himself adjacent to Sakura.

“Mmph,” was his answer. He began piling food onto his plate and it was clear they weren’t going to get much more out of him until at least one cup of coffee was in his system.

Sakura smiled at him. He was about as much of a morning person as she was. She could just picture the habit of late nights and lazy mornings they would undoubtedly fall into together. Something like what she had done today was a rare occurrence that she only did willingly on what she considered to be special or significant occasions. The three of them back together like old times was one of them.

“So did you build this house, Kisame?” she asked in an attempt to start up a real conversation.

“We both did,” he replied, nodding toward Deidara.

“I imagine that would have been amusing to watch.”

“Oh it was,” Kisame grinned, “Since this guy had no clue about anything.”

Deidara snorted indignantly. “They don’t usually build things out of wood where I’m from; it’s all bricks and concrete, yeah.”

“You wouldn’t believe how many times he smashed his fingers trying to hammer in nails,” the shark snickered.

“The telepathy jutsu hadn’t worn off yet, that’s why my nails were still black, dumbass. Yours were too,” he retorted.

“Riiiight.”

“Tch, whatever. At least I didn’t fall through the roof…” he said with a pointed look at the grinning shark.

“Hmph.”

“Twice.”

“Don’t make me bring up that time you – argh!”

Sakura laughed as Kisame reached under the table to rub his shin where Deidara had kicked it. She was tempted to ask him to continue, but then again, maybe she didn’t want to know…

“So you said a storm would be coming in today…any idea when?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Few hours or so…definitely by mid afternoon. Why?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done any good training,” she alluded.

Both men smirked wickedly at her.

“You’re on, princess.”

“Is there a good place to train? I don’t want to destroy your house with aftershocks or anything,” she teased.

“Of course there is. We built a training area in the woods, yeah.”

“Would you expect anything less from us?”

Sakura grinned, and saw her excitement reflected on the faces of the two male shinobi. With that to look forward to, they quickly finished their breakfast and headed outside.

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“Ghuh!”

This is going to hurt…was the one thought Sakura managed to have as she flew twenty feet through the air, propelled by a kick to the gut from a giant shark man.

It did. A lot. The wind was knocked out of her as her back hit the tree and she fell another five feet to slump on the ground. As soon as the stars cleared from her vision she was rising up, not expecting her opponent to give her time to recover.

Therefore she was a little surprised to see Kisame exactly where he had been when he sent her flying, only slightly hunched over with a large hand pressed to his face.

She spit a small trace of blood onto the ground and got to her feet with a grimace just as Kisame was forced to take a knee, still clutching his head. She made her way over to him slowly and he looked up at her with a bloody grin.

“Thasa helluva kickh ya got, prinsheth,” he slurred trough clenched teeth.

Her knee to his face just before he caught her with his own kick did more damage than she’d realized, but she couldn’t help but smile. “Likewise,” she said as she kneeled in front of him. She pulled his hand away and replaced it with her own, sending chakra to her fingertips to assess the damage. His nose, jaw and cheekbone were all broken, and blood dribbled from his nose and chin.

“God damn, are you guys trying to kill each other? Ease it up or you’ll both pass out before I get to do any training, yeah,” Deidara said as he walked over from where he had been watching the seemingly mismatched pair spar.

Despite his obvious pain, Kisame flashed him a wicked grin. “Been too long sinsh I been in a proper figh’…go’ bit carried away.”

“Stop talking, idiot, I’m trying to heal you,” Sakura scolded playfully, then smiled sheepishly at Deidara. “He’s so damn strong and tough, I guess I compensated with a little too much chakra,” she laughed.

“You hit that tree pretty hard, yeah. Are you ok?”

She nodded. “I think he cracked a rib or two. Nothing major,” she replied. “I guess we call this one even, eh?” she said to Kisame, who nodded and grinned back at her.

Deidara smirked, amused that his tough little hellcat thought of cracked ribs as a minor injury. “Well don’t use too much chakra on healing, ‘cause you gotta fight me next, yeah.”

“Don’t worry; I’ve still got plenty left in me to kick your ass.”

“Cocky little thing, aren’t you?”

“And you aren’t?”

He merely shrugged.

Sakura finished healing Kisame and then set to work on her ribs. “How exactly are you and I supposed to fight? Your aerial and I’m close range. Our tactics are completely mismatched,” she pointed out to the blond ninja beside her.

“And you were saying you could kick my ass?”

She threw him a playful glare. “How about a taijutsu match?” she challenged.

“I beat you last time we went hand to hand, yeah.”

“That was then. And I would be using chakra this time.”

“Cheater,” he grinned.

“Ninja,” she countered, sticking her tongue out at him.

“There’s a couple ways you could even it up a bit more. How good are you with a sword?” Kisame asked her.

She gave a small shrug. “Pretty decent.”

He nodded. “I’ll be back,” he said, standing and walking back toward the house.

He returned a few minutes later with an ice pack in one hand, and a pair of ninja-to in the other. He tossed one to Sakura and the other to Deidara before sitting down.

Sakura examined the weapon. It was nothing fancy, simply a basic training sword. She unsheathed the blade and tossed the scabbard aside, and Deidara did the same. She felt the adrenaline begin to pump in her veins again as they faced off in a fighting stance. The majority of the thrill was in the unpredictable. She had no idea how good he might be with a sword. He was a long range fighter and she had never seen him use any weapons other than kunai and shuriken. Her only clue was that he was ANBU a long time ago, meaning he definitely knew how to use a sword, and was probably pretty good if not a bit rusty. At the same time, he had no idea how good she was either. She was never ANBU, but she had convinced Sai to teach her shortly after making jounin and though she was out of practice after so many years, she was fairly skilled with a blade.

Sakura moved first, appearing to flicker as she pushed forward and brought the blade down in a clean slash. Deidara parried with an underhand swing and brought his leg behind hers to trip her. She spun away just in time and raised her arms to block his next attack.

It took a minute to get used to again, but after a few rough swings and some tricky footwork, she felt herself slipping into that mode that was a strange combination of conscious control and pure instinct, attacking and counter-attacking with a grace and ease attributed to muscle memory, and she began to really enjoy herself.

Deidara was giving her a run for her money, but she held up under his skill and incredible speed. By the way he was grinning the entire time, she knew he was impressed with her as well. She didn’t use chakra in her swings as the jarring force could break his arm or worse, but she did use a little to reinforce her parries and blocks because he was naturally much stronger than her and would quickly drive her back if she didn’t.

Several minutes passed in their nearly equal match. Sakura was good, but Deidara was stronger and due to experience, better. Her energy was beginning to wane and without a chakra boost to her attacks, he was starting to overpower her. Then, in a move she didn’t even fully register the mechanics of, he ran his blade down the length of hers and twisted it at the hilt to disarm her.

Her eyes widened as she felt the guard slip from her grasp and she immediately reacted to what would have been a fatal mistake in real combat. To defend from his next attack she let go of the sword before it was forced from her grip and dropped to a crouch as she slammed her fist into the ground.

The earth shattered beneath Deidara’s feet and he barely managed to jump away as the ground split in a wide rift. He attached himself to the nearest tree with chakra, crouching against the trunk with a wicked grin. The place she had been in was empty, and he registered her blurred movement just before she reached his tree and drove her fist into the trunk. A loud cracking sound rent the air and the tree seemed to explode in splinters. He leapt away as the tree toppled over and he couldn’t help but laugh happily. This was more like it! He hadn’t seen her fight like this since the day they kidnapped her all those years ago, and her devastating technique excited him to no end.

Wanting to see more of her artistic destruction, he deliberately landed on the ground and sent a small low-charge missile in her direction. It was hardly more than a firecracker and wouldn’t hurt even if it hit her directly, which he knew it wouldn’t. As expected, she dodged the tiny explosion and flashed him a playful grin before stomping her booted heel into the ground. The earth beneath him shook and rumbled as the majority of the training area was torn asunder by her power and rather than a single crack, the whole forest floor appeared to rupture and crumble. From the corner of his eye he noticed Kisame actually had to get up and move to avoid having his seat upturned.

He leapt onto another tree and flung a few shuriken at her. She dodged and leapt up onto the same tree with him, and he ducked and sprang away from her deadly swing. The tree split in half behind him as he leapt into midair, already molding clay for his next move.

Sakura leapt after him, but her eyes widened in surprise as an enlarged clay hawk appeared and Deidara landed on its back. She tried to grab it but she hadn’t propelled herself hard enough and with an irritated growl she fell back to the broken ground as he lifted higher to hover above her. She glared up at him, and he watched her with that smug smile that she normally liked but now only infuriated her.

“What happened to keeping things even?” she shouted up at him.

He laughed. “Hey, you’re the one who changed the game! Should’ve just accepted your loss in the sword match, yeah.”

“I don’t give up that easily. And I’m still going to kick your ass!”

“Can’t kick it if you can’t catch it!” he goaded, and tossed several small birds down after her.

She took off running, dodging the missiles as they exploded with minor force around her. Evading the swift little critters was difficult due to the fact that she’d torn up the training area and her footing was rather treacherous. Several minutes passed this way, with Sakura running and dodging clay projectiles and avoiding tripping, throwing kunai and shuriken at her opponent while he taunted her. This was going nowhere, and she was growing tired. It was almost unfair how much of an advantage he had in combat, but there was no such thing as a fair fight between ninja. She needed to do something drastic if she was going to get the upper hand.

She quickly ran and grabbed hold of one of the tree trunks she’d smashed, and used her chakra to lift the giant log and swing it like a bat at the smirking explosives master. It took him by surprise, mostly because with her monstrous strength she was swinging an entire tree like it was a twig, but his construct was agile and he was able to maneuver away from it. She used the fact that he was concentrating on avoiding a hit to create a shadow clone. The clone replaced her in swinging the trunk and she quickly flickered away into the trees. She chose the tallest tree in sight and ran to the top, making sure to keep her chakra completely masked. Below in the demolished training area, her clone began to swing at Deidara in a way that forced him to maneuver in her direction. He didn’t seem to realize she was driving him, and a wicked smirk formed on her features as the clay bird dodged and evaded and moved steadily within range of her hiding place.

Timed inside a particularly forceful swing that took all of his attention to avoid, she used that brief instant to leap out into the air and grab onto the bird’s talon. The rapid shifting and twisting as the bird dodged her clone’s attacks made it difficult for her to crawl up to the back even with chakra, but it also meant he didn’t notice the extra weight or movement. She pulled a kunai free and stealthily slipped behind his kneeling form.

He froze when he felt her breath on his neck, just before the tip of the kunai pressed into the skin of his throat. Well, shit. He found her fighting style a little too exciting, and had let himself get distracted.

“Looks like I win,” she whispered against his ear.

The clone below dropped the tree and vanished, allowing him to steady the bird into a gentle hover once more. He made a sound that was half laugh, half sigh and turned his head a little. “I guess so, yeah” he said with mild annoyance.

She released the pressure of the kunai to avoid nicking him as he turned around to face her. She smirked smugly and crawled closer to him. “Now that you’re at my mercy I have to decide what to do with you,” she purred.

“I like the sound of that,” he growled, wrapping and arm around her waist and pulling her in as his mouth descended on hers.

The kiss surprised her but she responded eagerly, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he pulled her closer until she was straddling his lap. She moaned softly as his hands roamed up her back and weaved into her hair and he deepened the kiss. His tongue swept hungrily into her mouth and curled around hers, and she quickly found herself becoming breathless in a way that had nothing to do with the intense training session.

“Hey! What the hell are you two doing up there?” Kisame hollered from the ground below.

They broke apart with matching grins. Luckily the shark couldn’t see them from his position. The clay bird slowly descended to the ground and they jumped down as it vanished.

“So who won?”

The smug smile returned to Sakura’s face. “I did.”

Kisame looked slightly surprised by that. “Did you underestimate the princess and let your guard down?” he asked his partner.

Deidara huffed indignantly, and the beginnings of the frown-pout could be seen on his features. “No, I just got…distracted for a minute,” he retorted.

The shark nin snickered deviously. “Ah, I see.” He was about to tease him further but Sakura spoke before he could.

“Sorry I destroyed your training area,” she said with a sheepish smile.

He looked around at the torn up ground and broken trees and laughed. “Don’t worry about it; it’s not the first time. It used to be a lot smaller, but it got expanded after this guy took out so many of the trees. The rain will likely fill these cracks and the ground will settle as it turns to mud. When it dries out it’ll be good as new.”

Perhaps Kisame had spoken because his senses detected it, for the storm chose that moment to make its appearance with a low rumble of thunder.

“Looks like training is over, yeah,” Deidara said as the sky opened up and began to pelt them with large cold drops.

“That was fun, though. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a workout like that,” Sakura said.

The two men nodded their agreement, and they set to gathering up their equipment as the torrent increased. Kisame looked up in surprise as he noticed the kunoichi already moving away from the area. “Where you goin’?”

“I call first shower!” she shouted mirthfully over her shoulder as she sprinted away.

The two former Akatsuki laughed, and followed her back at a slower pace.

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Sakura made sure her towel was securely tucked in place before pulling the bathroom door open and peeking out. The window at the end of the hall showed it was still raining heavily, a fact that was further realized by the faint pelting sounds on the roof above her. She emerged into the hallway, intending to quickly cover the short distance to her room before anyone saw her. She had only made it a couple steps when movement caught her eye and she turned her head to see Deidara coming toward her down the hallway.

She gave him a small smile and continued forward to their room, assuming he would follow her in to grab some things before heading to the shower, but she assumed wrong. Something in his eyes made her pause, and the next thing she knew he closed in on her and grabbed her around the waist. He steered her until her back hit the wall and was kissing her before she could utter a word, pressing into her firmly as his hands roamed over her hips and up her sides. She secretly loved it when he was dominant like this, and her hands fisted in the cloth of his shirt as she parted her lips to the lustful glide of his tongue.

His lips broke from hers but his body shifted even closer, hands splaying over her stomach and below her breasts as he pinned her beneath his larger form. “You know the only reason you won that fight?” he rasped.

The primal tone of his voice and the ghosting of warm breath against the sensitive underside of her jaw caused her to shiver, and she unconsciously arched against him. If his actions on the bird were any clue it wasn’t hard to guess, and a sensual smile curled her lips as she replied, “Because watching me smash things turned you on?”

An amused growl escaped his lips as he nibbled a trail down the side of her neck toward her collarbone. “Hmm…you could say that.”

He nudged her leg aside with his knee and a small gasp escaped her as she felt the evidence of that statement rub against her unclothed center. His roaming hands were causing the towel to come loose, and she squirmed a little as she realized this probably wasn’t the best place to be doing such things. “Where’s –”

“Went to town for some errands,” he answered before she finished asking. He kissed up the other side of her neck, teeth closing down on a spot he knew to be sensitive, “won’t be back for a while, yeah.”

Sakura moaned softly. Such a short time together like this and he already knew all the right places to touch her and kiss her, all the perfect spots that melted her into jelly or turned her into a wanton minx. She nearly protested when he stopped nibbling and stilled against her.

He sighed and closed his eyes, hands flexing over her hips as his lips pressed to her cheek. “How do you do this to me?” he murmured softly, his nose nuzzling her face.

The shift in his demeanor surprised her, though the lustfulness was still present in the way he pressed her hips to the wall with his own. “Do what?”

“Make me want you so bad.” He accentuated his point by pushing a little harder against her as he tightened his grip. “You don’t even have to do anything. Every time I’m near you I just feel like I have to touch you, it doesn’t matter how.”

“Pheromones?” she offered in reply.

His brow creased and his eyes cracked open slightly to fix on hers. “What?”

She smiled at his confusion and shook her head. “Nothing,” she breathed. He wasn’t the only one who felt the magnetic pull between them, to be nearer, just to touch even if it was merely a brush of hands. And when it was like this…gods it was nearly overwhelming. Her hands locked behind his neck and she wrapped her leg around his thigh. “Deidara…”

He understood her plea in the whispering of his name, and with a soft groan his mouth ravished hers once more. His splayed hand traveled down her towel-covered stomach and slipped beneath the edge to caress her bare skin. His fingers slowly trailed downward, eliciting a quiet moan from his pink haired lover. Her leg around his left her thighs spread, and he brushed light fingertips over her hot, wet womanhood. “Already?” he growled, growing even harder at her wantonness.

Sakura mewled as he continued to stroke her, with little teasing flicks of tongue against her heated flesh intensifying the heat pooling in her core. They hadn’t had sex in two days, having been too stressed and exhausted since the attack. Was her body really missing him – craving him – that much? “I want you,” she whispered.

He didn’t need to be told twice. His hands slipped from between her legs to grasp her thighs and lift her upward. Her legs wrapped around his hips and the he felt the heat of her desire through the fabric of his pants. He groaned softly and leaned into her, wanting to rip that towel off and have her right here and now. As hot and tempting as the idea sounded, he knew Kisame could return at any time and wouldn’t appreciate him doing Sakura against the wall in his hallway. He ground against her a few more times, eliciting soft moans from her with every push of his hips before pulling her away from the wall and carrying her into their bedroom.

He kicked the door closed behind him and she reached over his shoulder to turn the lock before he moved with her to the bed. She peeled his shirt upward, barely breaking their heated kiss as the cloth lifted over his head, and then he pulled the towel free of her body and dropped it as he set a knee on the bed and began to slowly lower her down.

But she surprised him, for as soon as her back touched the mattress she used her legs around his waist as leverage and pushed him over until he was the one on his back. She immediately went for the button of his pants and made quick work of removing them along with his boxers until he was just as naked as she was. She took in an appreciative eyeful of the toned and utterly sexy male specimen beneath her, and then gave him a seductive smirk as she began to slowly crawl upward.

He found the sight of the beautiful nude kunoichi stalking up his body like the hellcat she was to be incredibly erotic. He reached out to wrap his arms around her and pull her down but she placed a hand in the center of his chest and shoved him back to the bed. It didn’t hurt, but she was forceful enough to make her intention clear. He didn’t resist further; with a view like this, he had no arguments about staying put. She ran her tongue along the rim of his ear before pulling the lobe between her teeth. “Feeling frisky, are we?” he murmured, turning his head to try and capture her lips.

She pulled back before he could and fixed him with another devious smile. “Mmm…you have no idea.” Her tongue trailed over his jaw before teasingly dipping into his ear, and she smiled at his sharp intake of breath. “I told you before…that someday soon I would be the one to make you scream…” she whispered, trailing off suggestively and moving downward to press heated kisses along his collarbone.

His eyes widened slightly, and he felt a tightening in his groin at the ideas her words brought. He sighed pleasurably at the sensations of her lips and tongue on his skin, and he brought his hands up to caress whatever parts of her he could reach from his position. She allowed it, not minding if he touched her as long as he didn’t try to take control. He was ok with that, for although he was usually the one in control when it came to sex, with the way she was moving and touching him right now he didn’t think he would mind sitting back and letting her take over. Besides, her provocative words had him curious as to what she intended, and to whether or not she would actually be able to pull it off.

Sakura placed hot, open mouthed kisses down the plane of his chest, leaving a moist trail in her wake. Her tongue traced over the dark lines of his seal and his hand came up to cradle her head, fingers weaving into her hair. She flicked her tongue over a flat nipple before closing her teeth in a playful nip, smiling satisfactorily at the pleasured hiss from her lover. She continued downward, kissing, licking and nibbling her way over the smooth ridges of his abdomen. Her tongue ran along that sexy ridge of muscle just over his hipbone, and she was rewarded with the first small moan from the blond shinobi.

He jerked a little as her fingers trailed down his sides and over his stomach, and she smirked as she remembered he was just slightly ticklish. Her hands and mouth moved steadily lower, and she found that she was arousing herself with thoughts of what she had in store for him. It was time for a little payback, for all those times he made her wail like a banshee and left her a quivering pile of jelly. She had no complaints at all about what a devastating lover he was, but he was just so smug about it…and, well, two could play that game.

Another hiss escaped his lips as she took him in her hand. Her fingers closed around his member and gently stroked up the hard length, and he groaned softly as her thumb grazed over the smooth tip. The ends of her hair ghosted over the sensitive skin above his groin as she moved lower, her hand continuing the gentle pumping rhythm.

He watched every move she made, the visual stimulation nearly as erotic as the physical. She looked up from her position between his legs and locked that fiery emerald gaze onto his, her lips curling in a sensual smirk just before she slowly ran her tongue over his head, catching the tiny drop of moisture on the tip and drawing it into her mouth. Her smirk turned utterly wicked, and his eyes widened as she licked her lips and her tongue took on a faint bluish glow. Chakra. Oh, shi –

Her tongue swirled around the tip of his manhood in a slow circular motion, and the tingling of her chakra sent erotic vibrations down the entire length of his shaft. His head fell back against the pillow and a strangled moan escaped him at the overwhelming sensation. She channeled chakra to her lips as well when she closed them over the head. Her hand at the base continued its slow rhythm as she worked her mouth over him, lapping and kissing every inch before taking him in her mouth and gently sucking.

It was so intense he felt it reverberate through his entire body. His fingers tightened in her hair and it was so hard not to thrust upward into her mouth. Every lap of her tongue felt so fucking good he was moaning audibly, but he didn’t care. “Sakura…oh fuuuck –”

Sakura felt the heat flood her core as he abandoned all pretense of control and fell apart under her touch as she had done for him so many times. He had barely touched her, but the fact that she had him so worked up gave her a sense of empowerment and turned her on immensely.

His hips now moved of their own accord as she sent him careening toward the edge. It felt so good, but he didn’t want to leave her behind. “Sakura…if you don’t stop I’m gonna…”

She merely quickened her rhythm, swirling her tongue around the tip before taking him into her mouth as far as he could go. Another strangled groan escaped him as she increased the chakra flow, and her free hand began to glow now as she cupped the soft globes beneath his manhood. Then in a final assault, she hummed.

He lost it. His back arched and he actually cried out as he came, so intense and overwhelming it made his eyes roll back in his head. She never stopped sucking, extending his release and taking in every last drop. His hips jerked involuntarily as she continued to kiss his hypersensitive flesh as he came down. He was panting in the aftermath of the most powerful orgasm of his life, and hadn’t realized his fists were clenched tightly in the sheets until he released them to find the joints stiff.

Sakura crawled up his body to lay atop him, a blatantly smug smirk on her features. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a silly lopsided grin. “Wow…” he murmured.

She smiled happily and lowered her head to press soft kisses over his chest. “That’s what you get for torturing me so many times,” she replied.

“In that case I’ll have to do it more often, yeah.”

She laughed softly and gave him a playful swat. His hands roamed over her hips and he shifted as he tried to roll them over. She stopped him with a gentle but firm hand over his hip. “What do you think you’re doing, mister?”

His brow creased in slight confusion, but the smirk was still in place. “Returning the favor,” he said.

She shook her head slowly. “I want you inside me.”

He huffed softly in a small laugh. He was still raring to go mentally, but his body wasn’t cooperating after what she’d done to it. “I gotta recover from that first, may take a bit.”

“What happened to my insatiable artist?” she teased.

“You gave him the world’s best blowjob and he died a happy man, yeah.”

Sakura laughed softly. “That’s no problem, when I said I could do just about anything to your body with chakra, it wasn’t an exaggeration,” she purred seductively.

His brow quirked curiously, but she merely pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss before rising up to straddle him. She took hold of his flaccid member and his eyes widened again as her hand began to glow with chakra once more. Then his mouth fell open in amazement as she sent her chakra beneath his skin and channeled the bloodflow to his groin. It felt strange but it also felt oddly good, and within seconds he was rock hard again. “Holy fuck…”

She merely smiled in that seductively smug way and leaned up to kiss him again. Their tongues met and twined in a sensual dance as she positioned herself over him, both of them moaning into each other’s mouths as she slowly sank down until he was buried to the hilt inside of her. She began to rock back and forth against him, the feel of him filling her so fully and perfectly was incredible. Sakura was so aroused by this point that she felt her release coming almost immediately, and she ground against him with a throaty moan as the waves of orgasm washed over her.

She came down from the high to find herself still very much aroused, the heat rapidly building within her again. Deidara gripped her tightly and lifted his hips beneath her, hitting a spot deep inside and making her moan loudly. She grasped his hands and interlocked their fingers as she sat up fully and continued to rock back and forth, up and down, then began rolling her hips in slow grinding circles as she neared climax again. She could see he was getting close as well, and the look of concentrated bliss on his features as she rode him only increased her desire. He pulled his hands from hers and ran them up her flat stomach, then cupped her gently bouncing breasts and pulled her nipples into the mouths.

Her rhythm increased and her moans went up an octave she began to topple over the edge again. “Deidara…oh, god!” she wailed as it hit her. The contracting, liquid heat combined with the way she screamed his name in ecstasy were too much and he soon found himself following her, gripping her hips and driving her down onto him as he groaned in release. She leaned forward and slumped atop him in a boneless heap, a breathy laugh escaping her lips. “Damn I needed that,” she panted.

He laughed softly and pressed his lips to the moist skin of her neck as he stroked up and down her back. “I think you’re the insatiable one, yeah.”

“Mmm…” She raised her head to plant a lingering kiss on his lips as she slipped off of him and collapsed at his side. She rested her chin on his chest and placed lazy kisses against his skin, cooing in delight as his fingers tenderly combed through her damp hair.

“Sakura?” he spoke quietly after a few minutes.

“Hmm?”

“What are pheromones?”

She burst into laughter, recalling what she said to him in the hallway. When she finally stopped giggling and managed to look up at him, she smiled at the adorably confused look on his face. “Well, essentially, they’re chemicals the brain emits that stimulate certain reactions in others of the species. They’re released as a scent only detectable by humans on a subliminal level.”

He thought about it for a moment, and then gave her a strange look. “You mean like…animals in heat or something?”

She laughed again. “Basically, though not quite that blatant and doesn’t necessarily have to do with reproduction. Medical studies have shown that pheromones are a big part of what makes us attracted to a person, and possibly play a bigger role than physical appearance.”

Deidara smirked as he listened to his little medic. He had a feeling she would talk for hours about all sorts of scientific stuff if he let her. But he had other ideas. He rolled over and pinned her beneath him. “Hmm, well, I don’t need anything like that to tell me how attracted I am to you, yeah.” He lowered his head and placed a sensual kiss to the hollow of her throat. “And it has nothing to do with physical appearance either.”

“Nothing at all?” she asked teasingly as she ran her hands up his smooth back, nails lightly grazing.

His muscles rippled slightly under her touch and he smirked against her skin. “Well…maybe a little,” he rasped, and then bent to capture her lips in a slow, passionate kiss. She was gorgeous and sexy as hell, but he found her beautiful and irresistible in so many ways that had nothing to do with her looks. It was why he… He pulled back slowly and met her depthless jade gaze. “Sakura…”

She smiled up at him and tenderly brushed a stray strand of his hair to the side. The look in his azure eyes just then made her heart swell. “Mm?”

“I…”

“OI! Where the hell are you guys? I brought food!” The sound of the screen door slamming shut echoed along with Kisame’s gruff bellowing.

Sakura giggled in amusement, and a quiet huff escaped Deidara’s lips. Way to ruin the moment, fish-face. She seemed totally unaware of what he had intended, so he tried to cover his annoyance at the interruption.

“What were you saying?” she asked him.

He gave her a small, wistful smile and shook his head. “Nothin,” he said quietly, and kissed her one more time before sitting up.

Sakura knew that was a lie. He had definitely been about to tell her something, and from the expression on his face a moment ago it seemed pretty damn important, too. She sighed inaudibly and sat up as well. She knew pressing him about whatever it was would only irritate him and he might not tell her at all then. She had a few things to tell him too, and was waiting for the right moment. But as she watched him get dressed she couldn’t help but smile. He would tell her when he was ready, and she could only hope it was what she thought it was.

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Later that night, Sakura lay in bed listening to the sound of the rain. Throughout the day it had alternated between heavy torrents and a more regular tempo, but had not once stopped. She loved the rain, even the fact that so many of her painful memories had happened when it was raining did not greatly diminish the soothing, peaceful feeling the sound brought to her. It was a good thing then that it was raining now, because she definitely needed something to calm her growing anxiety.

Her attention refocused at the sound of the bedroom door opening, and she turned her head to regard the entrant.

Deidara had just come from the shower, and she smiled at him as he closed the door behind him with a soft click. She rolled onto her side and propped up on one elbow to watch him, her eyes roaming appreciatively over his toned bare torso, admiring how his pants rode low and gave her a peek at his hipbones.

“See something you like?” he drawled playfully, for though he was facing away he could feel her eyes burning into him.

Her smile widened. “Very much so, yes.”

He threw his towel over the back of the chair before moving to the bed. “What if I object to being objectified, hmm?” he teased, pulling the covers back and slipping in to lay facing her.

Sakura laughed and pushed his shoulder lightly. “You know you love it.”

He merely gave her his usual smirk, and his hand roamed up her thigh to settle on her hip beneath the blanket. She inched a little closer and closed her eyes, enjoying their closeness and breathing in his freshly showered scent. She wished they could stay like this forever. She wished all of their problems would just go away and they could stay here, happy and relaxed and carefree. She knew that once this storm passed – probably tomorrow, Kisame had said – they would begin planning an attack against those who wished them harm. Tonight might be the last chance she got to talk to him about what was on her mind.

“Deidara…?” she began quietly, her fingers tracing the lines of his seal.

“Hmm?” he murmured just as quietly, knowing by her tone that she was troubled about something. His thumb stroked slowly back and forth over her hip.

“I’ve been thinking…”

“…about?”

She took a deep, quiet breath, “Is this really necessary, this whole retribution thing? Don’t get me wrong,” she added when she saw his brow pull down in a frown, “I do want Yotsuba to pay for trying to kill us and I agree about taking him out. But I mean, we could sneak into his house at night or something. It would be easy. We don’t have to destroy his complex and kill any of his men who get in the way…And as far as Shingo…he hasn’t even done anything to us yet…”

“He will, yeah,” Deidara cut her off, and though he remained quiet his tone was stern. “You know he will. Do you really want to wait until he tries to kill us too before doing anything about it? Do you want to wait until we’re attacked in our sleep again?”

Her brow creased anxiously. “No…it’s just…”

“You’re being too soft-hearted about this, Sakura. Our enemies don’t have to worry about an entire village backing us up. We’re all alone out here, yeah. You can’t afford this kind of compassion.”

“I know,” she muttered. “It’s not really about compassion though. I’m worried about the repercussions this could have on us.”

His frown deepened. “What do you mean?”

“This won’t go down quietly, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to draw this kind of attention to ourselves, especially not you. You’re supposed to be dead. What you’re planning to do is a good as leaving a calling card saying Deidara of the Akatsuki is still alive and causing trouble. And with Kisame with us…you have to know how it will look; like Akatsuki isn’t as dead and gone as everyone thought. That could lead to a whole mess of problems we don’t want,” she tried to explain.

Deidara remained adamant, and shook his head dismissively. “It’s not like we’re gonna rampage the countryside. Any suspicion will die down when nothing else happens afterward and we fall off the radar again. One incident with some civilian merchant isn’t going to raise any red flags because no one knows were alive, yeah.”

He noticed the troubled, almost guilty expression in her eyes before her gaze fell, but he misinterpreted it. His own expression softened somewhat, and he reached up to brush a stray strand of pink from her brow. “You understand why I’m doing this, right?” She looked up again at his softer tone, though it was still full of conviction. “I’m doing this so we don’t have to run or hide from anyone, and we can live the way we want to live without worrying, yeah. I don’t want to come that close to losing you again, Sakura. I’m trying to protect you.”

His quiet words pulled at her heart, and with a faint smile she softly brought her fingertips to his cheek. “Deidara…”

“I won’t change my mind, Sakura. Not on this. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep us safe, yeah.”

She wasn’t going to get past his stubbornness, and definitely couldn’t fight against something even stronger: his pride. She sighed and shook her head in frustration. “You don’t get it, Deidara. I’m trying to protect you too. I…I can’t lose you again, and I’m afraid of what will happen if we do this! I don’t want you, or Kisame for that matter, to be chased by hunter nins and targeted again because of this!”

Suspicion crept into his mind at her words, and his eyes narrowed slightly. He could see by the expression on her face that this was more than a theoretical concern for her. She was truly worried about something. “Nowadays hunter nins only go after shinobi their village considers a direct threat to them. Why would hunters come after us when all the villages think we’re dead? What are you not telling me, Sakura…” he asked slowly.

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed. She had to tell him the truth. He may get angry at her for keeping it from him, but she could live with that if he realized how real her concerns were and stopped acting so reckless. “Before we were attacked, when I went out that day to get dinner for us…I ran into Temari of the Sand.”

His brow furrowed slightly as he remembered the former Sand kunoichi. “The Kazekage’s sister?” he clarified.

She nodded. “She’s with the Leaf now; she’s married to the Hokage. And I didn’t actually run into her…she said she saw me earlier that day and waited…until I was alone, to approach me.”

His gaze sharpened intently at her words and what they meant, but he remained silent.

“We went somewhere we could talk, and of course she wanted an explanation. So I told her…pretty much everything. About us being partners, the basics of the mission –I left out the trouble we had with it – and she knows about us being together…I guess she saw something. I also explained to her that the reason you’re listed as dead is because you wanted to be, that you wanted out of Akatsuki and just wanted to disappear. I didn’t tell her about Kisame. I tried to make her understand that you’re not up to any trouble and it’s ok to leave you in peace. I got her to believe me, and though she said she was going to tell the Hokage about you, and me being with you, they weren’t going to do anything about it.”

Deidara exhaled a long, slow breath, bordering somewhere between angry and not. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

“I wasn’t really trying to hide it from you. But then we were attacked and so much has been going on the last couple days…are you mad at me?” she asked hesitantly.

He sighed again, and gave a small shake of his head. “No…not really. But this still doesn’t explain what you’re so worried about. You said she believed you and wasn’t going to do anything with the information you gave her, so what’s the problem?”

“That’s just it! I told her you were finished doing the exact kind of thing you’re planning to do! And it doesn’t help that the very night I talked to her, the hotel she knew we were staying in blew up! You know how that’s gonna look at first glance, and then what do you think it will look like when a few days later an entire factory complex in the same town goes up in flames?”

“Like you lied, yeah. Like you’re my accomplice –”

She groaned and rolled her eyes before smacking him in the shoulder. “No you idiot! I don’t care about any of that! I care about you, and I don’t want the heat to come down on you for this. Yotsuba isn’t worth it!”

He watched her a long time with a troubled frown. “But you are,” he said quietly. “As long as you’re safe from guys like these…then I don’t care what happens after, yeah.”

Sakura stared at him, her wide eyes stinging. “Deidara…I care! I don’t want you to have to go on the run, especially not for me. Don’t you understand how important you are to me? If I lose you I don’t know what I’ll –” she trailed off quietly, growing too upset to continue.

Deidara sighed and reached out to her, and she buried her head in his chest. He felt bad for upsetting her enough to make her cry. “I’m sorry,” he murmured softly into her hair, “but I won’t back down this time. I can’t. Don’t be so upset, it’s not as bad as you make it sound, yeah.” She only clung to him tighter, and he sighed again and stroked her hair. “All I can promise is that we’ll keep the collateral damage to a minimum, and we’ll try not to do things that may leave a ‘calling card’ as you put it, ok?”

She didn’t respond right away, but eventually gave him a small nod and raised her head to meet his gaze again. “Promise me you won’t do anything too risky…or reckless,” she whispered.

He would promise her the moon and stars when she looked at him like that, with those big luminous eyes full of crystal tears. He brushed a trace of moisture from her cheek with his thumb and gave her a small smile. “I promise, yeah.”

She returned his smile with a faint one of her own. She understood why he wouldn’t give in this time, but she was still upset by it. Some things about him would never change, even for her. “I’ll figure something out,” she whispered, “we’ll be okay.” There had to be a way, because she wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of their happiness. Nothing would take him away from her as long as she had any power to stop it.

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A/N: Kisame has really bad timing, doesn’t he? XD
There will probably be one more chapter, and then possibly an epilogue. Thanks again for the reviews, see you next week!