Silver Lining

So here it is: the “end” of the story. I’m working on an epilogue, as well as two new illustrations to go with it, so there is still one last chapter, but this is the main conclusion.

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

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Chapter Fourteen: A New Beginning
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It was just before two o’clock when Sakura entered the gates of the city park, Deidara a step behind her. The two shinobi walked along the main path for a few minutes, and as they neared the center of the park they felt the presence of chakra to their right, coming from a grove of lush trees.

“That’s her,” Sakura said, pausing for a moment to regard the man next to her.

Deidara looked most unpleased by the entire situation. He didn’t care what happened to the scroll as it was of no use to him, but he wasn’t thrilled about their scheduled meeting, or that Sakura had arranged all of it without telling him. He still didn’t want to argue with her though, because he felt a twinge of guilt that she was technically trying to clean up his mess.

Things still hadn’t gone back to normal with them. Sakura didn’t seem distant today as much as preoccupied by the impending meeting, but she still didn’t seem herself and they still hadn’t talked about the source of tension between them. It had been four days already since it started, and if she wanted a fight with him he wished she would just start yelling already because this cold shoulder thing was driving him nuts. Sakura was normally a generously affectionate person, and he realized he had become addicted to it. He didn’t like that she wouldn’t hug or kiss him or even smile when he touched her, and now he felt like some pathetic love-starved idiot.

“What’s wrong with you?”

The hint of irritation in her voice pulled him out of his reverie, and he blinked once to clear away his unwanted and mostly ridiculous thoughts. She was looking at him expectantly. Apparently she had said something else that he hadn’t heard…or maybe he just had a weird look on his face.

“Nothing,” he answered.

Sakura scrutinized him for a moment, clearly unbelieving, but let it go for later. Now wasn’t the time to talk about anything other than the present situation. “Well, anyway…she’s most likely felt our presence by now. And uh…she probably won’t be to very friendly toward you…but try not to act too hostile.”

He gave her a flat stare. He wasn’t about to make nice with someone who had an aggressive demeanor toward him, no matter who they were…

She read his thoughts in his expression and sighed exasperatedly. “You can’t blame her; she thinks of you as the man who killed her brother…”

Deidara frowned indignantly. “I didn’t kill him. In fact, I had a hard time defeating him while not killing him. It was the extraction jutsu that killed him, and he didn’t even stay dead anyway.”

“Do you really think any of that will matter to her? To the people of Suna you were the primary antagonist, and anyway, you participated in that jutsu so technically you did kill him. And do I need to remind you about what you did after –”

He sighed irritably and rolled his eyes. “Fine, I get it, she has a good reason to hate me, yeah.”

Sakura tried to rein in her growing irritation. She realized she was just being spiteful and argumentative by bringing up these old issues, and she certainly wasn’t helping the already tense situation. “All I’m saying is, if she tries to bait you, try not to rise to it, ok?”

Another flat stare. “I’m not kissing anyone’s ass. Period.”

“I’m not asking you to…just don’t be an asshole.” He frowned, and she could see his stubbornness kicking in. Time to switch tactics. She stepped closer and lightly placed her hands flat against his chest. “Deidara please…this is really important…” she said softly, gazing up at him.

He stared down into large, pleading green orbs for a long moment, fully aware of the psychological warfare she was pulling on him. And damn her, because it was working like a charm. He lost the moment she touched him like that after being so distant the past few days. She probably knew it too. “…fine,” he muttered in annoyed defeat, his mouth turning down into his trademark frown-pout.

Sakura gave him a soft, knowing smile. That evil woman. His hands had automatically brushed over her hips when she stepped in, and he really wanted to pull her closer, but part of him knew this wasn’t the best time or place to try and make up – or make out – with her, so he reluctantly let her back away.

Turning in the direction of the chakra signature, they walked across the grass and into the grove. There were two reasons why she would be waiting there; they would be well out of sight, and the shade would provide shelter from the summer heat.

Temari was waiting at the center of the grove, leaning against a tree with arms crossed, her fan resting against the trunk beside her. She straightened as they drew near, but kept her arms crossed stiffly as she warily regarded the other shinobi.

“Sakura,” she greeted curtly. Her dark olive eyes traveled to the man beside the other kunoichi in a stony glare.

Deidara crossed his arms over his chest as well and stared back with eyes that were not as hateful, but were equally cold.

Sakura nodded once in greeting. “Temari. Thank you for meeting me like this. I know you must have a lot of questions.”

Her gaze flicked back to her old comrade. “Yeah, you could say that. Your message said I would know what this was about, so I assumed it was about the incident at the hotel last week. But after last night…it doesn’t take an expert to figure out that both of you were involved in what went down at the factory,” she said dryly.

Sakura nodded slowly. “It’s true. I know how it must look, but it’s a long, complicated story. I asked you here so that I could explain everything.”

“You’re right; it doesn’t look good, especially after our talk last week. But I came here – alone, like you asked – because I trust you, Sakura.” Her emphasis was not lost on anyone. “So…I’m listening.”

Sakura breathed deep before beginning. “Everything I said during our conversation was the truth, but there were a couple details I didn’t mention because I didn’t think they would turn out to matter. Obviously I was wrong about that. Deidara and I were hired separately by a man named Yotsuba. We rendezvoused after taking the contract, like I already explained to you.”

Temari nodded. Deidara glanced at Sakura briefly, curious about what exactly she had told the other woman, but obviously didn’t speak on it.

Sakura continued, “Anyway, the job was to steal a valuable antique sword from another merchant named Shingo. We did that, and we got away clean. But what we didn’t know until after the heist was that what we were really stealing was the forbidden scroll that was sealed and hidden inside the sword.” Temari’s brows rose perceptibly at that. Sakura shrugged and shook her head. “We have no idea how Shingo got the scroll, or how Yotsuba knew about it, or what either of them intended to do with it. It wasn’t what we signed up for, and though we were very angry about being deceived, we wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on and we took our payment and left. That was the day I met you in the market. We thought that was the end of it. But Yotsuba wanted to cover his tracks, or maybe he thought we would double cross him like he did us, and so he sent assassins after us.”

Understanding passed over Temari’s features. Several bodies of unidentified shinobi were found at the scene, and witnesses had described sounds of fighting before the explosion. “So that night at the hotel…”

Sakura nodded. “We were attacked in the middle of the night. We took them out, and then we left before any more trouble showed up.”

Temari fixed a pointed glare at Deidara. “And the explosion that took out half the building?”

He found that question to be a rather stupid one, and it showed in his expression. “Obviously I’m not going to blow up a building while we’re still in it, yeah.”

“The explosion was caused by one of the other nins detonating several exploding tags,” Sakura explained more reasonably. “In fact we both took some pretty serious injuries from it. Especially me...I’m pretty lucky to be alive actually. Deidara…he was the one who got us out of there and to a safe place,” she finished quietly, a tiny smile curling her lips.

A long moment passed as Temari silently watched the former Akatsuki, who was watching Sakura. Either he couldn’t conceal his expressions or he simply didn’t care to, because it wasn’t hard to see that he actually did care about Sakura, maybe even loved her. It was really annoying to the blonde kunoichi, because she didn’t want to admit that Sakura was right about him. But she would be a hypocrite to refuse to accept what she could clearly see, while saying she had loved her brother who had also once been called a monster.

She emitted a slow sigh, and her eyes were not as hard as before. “Alright…so you weren’t to blame for the hotel incident. But the factory…?”

Sakura took a deep breath and met her gaze evenly. “That was our doing. As I’m sure you already know, that factory belonged to Yotsuba. But it wasn’t only about revenge for trying to kill us. We knew he wouldn’t stop trying to kill us, and we also guessed that he would eventually convince Shingo to put a hit on us as well by telling him we stole the scroll from him. It was pretty clear that it wasn’t going to end until he was dead. As far as double crossings among shinobi go, it was pretty standard. You know how it works.” Temari gave a conceding nod, and Sakura continued, “We did it because we don’t want trouble to follow us for the rest of our lives. We just want to live in peace.”

The two women regarded each other for a long moment. Then Temari sighed and gave a small nod. “I get it. If you had been operating through a hidden village instead of on your own the outcome would likely have been the same. And Yotsuba…he was actually part of the reason why I’m here in this city. He was being investigated for his involvement in black market activity, namely trafficking drugs and stolen goods. Konoha doesn’t care about the stolen goods, obviously you know that sort of thing is good money for us. But we agree with the Daimyo that the drugs are a problem we don’t want within Fire’s borders. I’m sure Yotsuba had a lot of enemies who would want him dead, people in that line of work usually do, and if he was pegged for the drug thing, most likely the Daimyo would have contracted Konoha to take him out anyway. Basically what I mean is, no one’s going to miss him, and no one will lose any sleep if the culprits are never found. Hell, if you walked into the mayor’s office and announced that you took him out, you’d probably get congratulated,” she said with a dry smirk.

Sakura smiled, and Deidara looked a bit amused by that as well. They were even more justified for eliminating him than they had realized, and it was ironic that they had basically been in line with government interests all along. “Well, it’s good to know we rid the world of one more scumbag,” Sakura said. “I wanted you to know what happened, Temari. But there was another reason why I wanted to meet with you as well.”

She looked to Deidara, and after a moment he reached into the pouch at his hip. Temari watched his movements very closely, but remained still as he pulled the scroll out and handed it to Sakura, who in turn held it out toward the blonde kunoichi.

“This is the forbidden scroll. We’re giving it to you to take back to Konoha.”

Temari’s eyes widened slightly, and she reached to take the scroll. She understood the intent behind it; it was a peace offering of sorts, a gesture of good will and proof that they were on the up and up, or at least had no opposing interests to Konoha. Sakura obviously knew she wasn’t the one in question. She was buying Deidara’s freedom, and he had come with her today as proof that he had no reason to hide. Temari had to hand it to her; it was a smart move. And she had to admire the pink haired kunoichi for her devotion to both her village and the people she loved.

She unrolled the scroll and her eyes scanned over the gibberish written there. She couldn’t read the encryption, but she recognized the source. “One of Mist’s, huh? Any idea what it does?”

They couldn’t relate the exact details because that would indicate they knew someone who could read it. Kisame’s continued existence wasn’t known, and they would keep it that way. “From what we were able to learn of it, apparently it causes fatal dehydration in the enemy,” Sakura said vaguely.

Temari gave her a strange look. “Dehydration?”

“It sucks all the water out of their bodies until they shrivel up and die. Like fruit, yeah,” Deidara said wickedly.

She half-glared at him with a disturbed expression, and then looked down at the scroll. “Ugh,” she said finally, “Mist ninja are so…freaky.”

Sakura and Deidara both smirked knowingly.

After another moment Temari rolled the scroll up and sighed. “Well…this is gonna create a lot of paperwork back home, and Shikamaru will undoubtedly bitch about the hassle, but we’ll make sure to set the record straight. As far as Konoha is concerned anyway…I can’t speak for what the other villages might to do they ever find out.”

Sakura looked relieved. “They won’t. Thank you, Temari,” she said with a smile. Deidara looked indifferent, though inwardly he was rather glad for the way things turned out as well.

Temari fixed Deidara with a long, appraising look. “There’s just one other thing I’d like to know…Deidara…You were thought to have died when the bijuu broke loose, like the rest of Akatsuki. Obviously you didn’t. When the few surviving members regrouped in Rain, you didn’t join them. You let everyone – even your own comrades – think you were dead and disappeared. What I want to know…is why.”

Deidara looked at her silently for a long moment. Then he gave a small shrug. “It’s simple, yeah. They weren’t my comrades, and I held no loyalty to the organization. I never joined Akatsuki, they came to ‘recruit’ me and I didn’t want to be part of it, but they made it clear that it wasn’t negotiable. I never cared much about Akatsuki’s goal; I only wanted to master my art. It was only a lucky accident that I didn’t die with the rest of them. I saw an opportunity to get out and I took it, yeah.”

Temari continued to stare at him. She was tempted to ask what he’d been up to since then, but like Sakura had already said, if it was anything Konoha would be concerned about, they probably would have learned about it. Sakura had told her much the same thing, but she had wanted to hear it from him. “Fair enough,” she said finally. “I should go. There’s a lot of crap to deal with after last night, even more now that we know it’s tied to the hotel and a mess of other stuff.”

Sakura nodded. “Alright. Sorry to cause you so much trouble,” she said.

Temari shrugged. “Eh…in the end you did us a favor.” She slung her fan over her shoulder. “I guess I’ll see you around sometime.”

“Yeah,” Sakura replied with a faint smile.

The blonde kunoichi paused and locked gazes with her. “I meant what I said before, Sakura; we really do hope you’ll come back to Konoha someday.”

Sakura’s only reply was to widen her smile. Temari flicked one last unreadable gaze at Deidara, then turned and walked away.

Deidara watched Sakura as she watched Temari leave. She had a wistful, almost day-dreamy look on her face; no doubt in regard to the other kunoichi’s parting words. For some reason, it made him uneasy.

Sakura looked up at him then. “That went well,” she remarked pleasantly.

“Hn.” A small smirk formed on his lips and he gazed into her eyes for a long moment, and then slowly, almost hesitantly reached to brush a lock of pink hair from her cheek. “I know you did this for my sake…thank you,” he said quietly.

Her eyes softened. “You wanted to protect me, and this was my way of protecting you.”

He smiled, feeling relieved that she didn’t seem so distant anymore, but that tiny niggling in the back of his mind just wouldn’t go away. He wanted to talk whatever this was out with her. He wanted to apologize. He really wanted to kiss her right now. But the chance to do any of it was gone when she spoke again.

“We should go now, that way we can be back at Kisame’s house sometime tonight,” she said evenly, and turned in the direction of the path.

He couldn’t tell by her tone if she was being evasive, or if she really had no idea. Once they were back they were going to talk, even if he had to get Kisame to drain her chakra while he tied her to a chair. He wouldn’t think about the fact that she may kill him after. He certainly picked a difficult woman to fall in love with. “Right,” he said blandly, and followed after.

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The next morning, Sakura woke up alone. Her eyes blinked open slowly, and her brow creased in slight disappointment at the empty space beside her. The sheets were cold, meaning Deidara had been out of them for some time. It was strange because she was usually the one to wake up first, and even if he woke before her, he usually stayed in bed with her or simply woke her up with playful morning affections.

And then there was the fact that she knew he was very tired last night. After meeting up with Kisame back at the hotel in the other town they had flown all the way back to his house, not arriving until after midnight. The chakra required to keep their transport going all that way had pretty much exhausted him, and they had barely said a word to each other before falling asleep last night.

Sakura was quite aware there had been something off-key with them for the past few days. She had been rather un-pleased with him, and he obviously knew it because he had been hesitant toward her with words and contact. She wasn’t angry that she hadn’t gotten her way, she had been upset that his recklessness was putting him in danger, as well as herself and Kisame to a lesser degree, but he had refused to listen because of his pride.

So, she had let him sweat for a few days. She was over it now, especially since things had turned out so well and there would be no repercussions for their violent revenge spree. But Deidara still seemed to think he was in the doghouse because there was still that sense of expectancy when they were alone, like he was waiting for her to start ranting or say ‘we need to talk’. Honestly she had expected him to be more insensitive, especially after blatantly ignoring her concerns and putting them here in the first place. But just as before, during their mission when things were strained, he was surprisingly perceptive to her moods. At that time the tension hadn’t broken until a huge confrontation…was he expecting something like that again?

Today she planned to talk to him, to assure him that she wasn’t mad and he could stop walking on eggshells and stop acting so weird. He wasn’t usually cautious about making people angry, including her, so there must be some reason why he was so reluctant to upset her. She would definitely have to find out.

However when she got up and made her way out to the main area of the house, Deidara wasn’t there. In fact, she couldn’t feel his chakra signature anywhere.

Kisame was seated at the table with a pot of coffee and a plate of toast. But it was a setting for one. Frowning slightly, she grabbed a mug from the rack on the counter and seated herself across from the shark. “Where’s Deidara?” she asked as she reached for the coffee pot.

“He left early this morning,” Kisame replied casually.

That surprised her a little. “Did he say where he was going?”

“Nope. He took that katana with him, though.”

Now she was really curious. “What for?”

Kisame shrugged. “No idea. Probably either to trade, bribe someone, or sell. But he didn’t say.”

Her frown deepened. That was strange. They had stolen that sword together, and it irritated her a little that he would do something with it on his own. “I wonder why he didn’t tell me…”

“He said he didn’t want to wake you. I wouldn’t worry though; he knows what he’s doing with stuff like that.”

Sakura nodded absently. “Did he say when he would be back?”

He shook his head no. “Later today maybe, possibly tonight. He probably went to the mainland, so it’s hard telling.” He took a long drink of his black coffee. “He’ll come back,” he added as if in afterthought.

Sakura looked at him strangely. Was he implying she was worried he wouldn’t? She knew the tension between them must be apparent to the shark, but what exactly did he think was going on? Had Deidara said something to him? “I know. Why would you say that?” she asked suspiciously.

He shrugged again. “You two haven’t been very lovey-dovey the last few days, and it’s not hard to tell you’re pissed at him.”

Sakura sighed. “I wasn’t mad at him…well, ok, maybe a little mad. That’s what I wanted to talk to him about today. But now he’s not here,” she said dryly.

“Now you want to talk. You got some pretty bad timing, princess,” he chuckled at the irony.

“What do you mean?”

He shook his head in amusement. “He’s been trying to talk to you for days, but you keep brushing him off. Even I noticed it. That’s why he thinks you’re still angry.”

“I…hmm,” she cut off with a frown. Maybe she had been brushing him off when he tried to talk to her. She just hadn’t wanted a potential argument while everything else was going on. She had tendency to let her bad moods get the better of her, and she knew she had been an outright bitch to him a couple times. Had she gone a bit too far with the coldness?

As if he had read her mind, Kisame elaborated a bit more. “To tell you the truth; I think you’ve got him a bit worried,” he mused.

Her brow creased in confusion. “About what?”

“That you might be reconsidering your decision to be with him.”

She was so surprised by that comment that her mouth hung open in shock before she managed to exclaim, “What? He thinks I’m going to leave him?” Kisame didn’t reply, and it was quiet a moment as she continued to try and wrap her head around such an unbelievable concept. “That’s just…so ridiculous. Why the hell would he think something like that?”

“Have you given him a reason not to?”

Again she stared at the shark nin with her mouth agape. She must have been a bit too mean to Deidara lately if Kisame of all people was saying something. “…well…no…but still – he should know better than that.”

“Well…I uh, may have said something about it…”

Sakura’s eyes narrowed, and Kisame’s gaze shifted to the side. “I was just giving him crap…but it may have gotten into his head,” he finished sheepishly.

“Kisame!” she groaned, “You teased him that I was going to leave him?” She sighed angrily and brought a hand to her temples. “You know he’s touchy about being teased in that way…especially about personal stuff!”

“Sorry?”

Sakura glared. Hard.

He shrugged dismissively. “So he got a little freaked out for a few days. You’re not actually going to dump him, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course not,” she replied irritably.

“Then don’t stress over it, just straighten him out when he gets back.”

Sakura still couldn’t quite believe this was what all the weirdness was about. She laughed incredulously. “That idiot. I mean, I would never leave over something like this…”

“Well, having a man who’s half-crazy and slightly homicidal isn’t exactly something most women would want to deal with.”

She huffed derisively. “I’m not most women. I’ve cared for men who are completely crazy and majorly homicidal. Deidara’s faults are mild compared to some of the shit I’ve dealt with in my life. And besides…I’ve got issues of my own that aren’t very easy for others to deal with,” she said frankly.

Kisame gave her a toothy grin and laughed quietly. “You’re a hell of a woman, Sakura. Deidara is a lucky man to have someone like you that loves him.”

Sakura’s eyes went wide and she nearly choked on her coffee. First, she had only ever heard him address her by name once before. Secondly, he had just said something profound and highly complimenting. And third, he had just blatantly called her out on her feelings!

“Eh…um…” she sputtered lamely.

He snickered at her. “Have you told him?”

She looked down at the mug in her hands. “…no,” she muttered. Then she looked up at him with a troubled expression. “You’re not going to say anything are you?”

He shook his head. “Not my place, princess. It’s yours, and you should do it soon before he gets any more freaked out,” he smirked.

She huffed softly with laughter. “I thought I was the insecure one,” she mused wryly. “He really is being an idiot about this though. You don’t give up on the people who are precious to you because of disagreements or minor character flaws…relationships don’t work like that.”

“How would he know that?” Kisame pointed out frankly. “I don’t know everything about him but I do know the kid’s never had anything. No family, no friends. Nothin’. He has no idea about those kinds of relationships. Now that he’s finally got somethin’ worth holding on to, he doesn’t want to let it go.”

Sakura stared at him for a long moment. It was odd to be talking to Kisame about relationships…but then again, who else was she going to talk to about it? And he was exactly right, and now she felt bad for putting Deidara through an emotional ringer, selfishly thinking she was the only one afraid of losing.

The shark’s words also brought to mind another point. Deidara didn’t know her quirks yet, or many of the day to day things about her. They had always connected on a deeper, spiritually attuned level, but because of the origins and course of their relationship, they didn’t know each other all that well when it came to little things. She didn’t know his favorite color, or food, or what kind of music he liked, and vice versa. So of course he wouldn’t realize that she was prone to be temperamental and did this kind of thing all the time and that it didn’t really mean anything serious.

“I never knew you were so wise, Kisame,” she said with a soft smile.

He grinned widely. “I do what I can,” he replied playfully.

The next few minutes were quiet as they finished their small breakfast, and Sakura began to wonder what she was going to do with herself today. “So what is there to do around here all day?” she asked the shark.

“Sunbathe?” he said with a shrug.

She gave him a look. “Do you see this pale skin? No thanks,” she replied flatly. “What do you usually do?”

“I commune with nature.”

“…seriously?”

“No,” he grinned.

“Oh good,” she said quickly. That just sounded weird, coming from him. Even if he was part animal…

“Usually I fish,” he explained finally. “And drink, while fishing.”

“Naturally,” she laughed.

“If you can’t find anything better to do you can help me gut and clean the haul from this morning and get ‘em in the smokehouse out back.”

That was something she had never done before, as there was no fishing industry in Konoha and genin missions consisted more of cleaning leaves out of people’s gutters than cleaning fish. It sounded tedious and rather smelly, but it was busy work and would take her mind off of things for a while. “I have no idea how…but sure, why not,” she said with a grin.

When Deidara returned they would talk, and she would slap him upside the head for being an idiot, then they would have fantastic make-up sex and everything would be great.

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All ninja had very deft hands and were skilled with blades, so learning how to prepare a fish for cooking was a cinch for Sakura, and the day passed quickly as they sat on the back porch and worked.

However her earlier optimism began to fade when evening came and there was still no sign of Deidara.

“You don’t need to worry about him, you know,” Kisame remarked casually as they finished packing up the fillets that were going to the freezer rather than the smokehouse.

She had already given up on wondering how he was so perceptive. She gave a faint smile. “Yeah…I know. But I still will,” she answered quietly.

The shark smirked knowingly. “Hn.” After a moment he added, “I can finish up here. Go take a shower or something.”

“Well that was rude,” she retorted indignantly.

He merely grinned. “Don’t wanna smell like fish when your man gets back, do you?”

She glared at him as she rinsed her hands in the sink, but her lips curled in a smirk. “Ass.”

“Just lookin out for you,” he teased wickedly.

She punched him in the arm as she walked away.

Once she had cleaned up, she brought a bottle of sake out to the porch and curled up in a chair to watch the fireflies. Who knew where Kisame was at the moment, but she kind of wanted to be alone anyway. The glowing insects reminded her of summer nights in Konoha, and she wistfully thought of her former home.

Could it ever be home for her again? She knew she couldn’t run forever. Now that she had let go of her grief and started to move on, could she possibly return someday? She could admit that a part of her really hoped so. What would Deidara say about that? Of course she wouldn’t go without him. She didn’t even think she could handle her past staring her in the face without his support. But if he was somehow allowed to return with her, would he even want to?

Her mind was simply running rampant again. All of that was speculation for a much later date, if ever. Right now she should focus on what to say to Deidara to make things right between them, and on whether or not she should confess the full extent of her feelings to him. Even after all that had happened, she was afraid it might be too soon.

As it neared midnight the sake bottle was nearly empty and her thoughts were on overdrive. What the hell was taking him so long anyway? He couldn’t have expected to be gone this long or he surely would have woken her this morning to let her know. He would probably arrive late into the night, but he still better have a damn good reason or she would kick his ass.

Waiting up and worrying was pointless, and she was feeling rather tired from the effects of the sake, so she went back inside and headed for her room. She changed and got into bed, and as she stretched out on her side to get comfortable she stared longingly at the empty space where Deidara slept.

She ran her hand over the cool sheets and sighed. She missed him. She missed the way he held her and how it felt to be pressed against him. She missed his kisses, and the way he whispered to her as they drifted to sleep at night. It seemed silly to miss him after only a day, but her loneliness was compounded by the tension and distance that had been between them for nearly a week now. Was Deidara feeling it too? Was he thinking about her right now? She hated that things had somehow escalated to this point. It was all so stupid really.

She closed her eyes and willed sleep to come, telling herself not to worry about it and that when she woke up, he would be there sleeping beside her.

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But he wasn’t there when she awoke. Again. The space beside her was untouched. It was the first time she had slept a full night alone since they reunited. She had gotten accustomed to having him there with her and didn’t like the feeling of waking to an empty bed at all. Sakura didn’t know whether to be worried or angry at that point, and so she found ways to occupy as much of her time as possible. It was a very long day.

It was mid afternoon when he finally returned. Sakura and Kisame were sitting at the table playing cards when they felt his chakra signature approaching. The shark appeared indifferent; he was used to his partner coming and going. Sakura was inwardly relieved, but willed herself not to run outside, and told herself not to grow angry just yet.

The first thing that entered her mind when he came into the house was the fact that he didn’t have the sword. The next thing was ‘god he’s gorgeous’… She mentally rolled her eyes. That was Inner Sakura all the way, and she shushed her and willed herself to appear calm.

“Where’d you go?” Kisame asked casually.

“Fuzen,” Deidara replied.

“Hm, thought so. Smart,” he remarked.

That name rang a bell in the back of Sakura’s mind. “Fuzen…I’ve heard of that place. A port in the neutral territory between Fire and Lightning…it’s got the highest crime rate in the known lands,” she recalled.

Deidara smirked. “That’s the one, yeah.”

“Sin City…you can find anything – and I do mean anything – in that place if you have the right connections. Or if you can’t find it, you can find information on it – for the right price.” Kisame said with a wicked grin.

“Sounds like a holy land for rogue shinobi. You must have a lot of connections there,” she mused wryly.

“To an extent. I wasn’t the one who usually handled business there, and the Akatsuki name doesn’t hold as much weight as it used to, obviously,” Deidara replied.

“What held you up?” Kisame asked.

“Well first I asked around town to find out who would be the best person to talk to, and that took longer than expected. Then when I found an interested party the guy wouldn’t meet with me until late last night. Back in the day I would’ve been bumped to the top of the list, yeah,” he huffed indignantly.

Kisame chuckled. “Being Akatsuki did have its advantages, that’s for sure.”

Deidara smirked knowingly. “Anyway, I didn’t get done until the middle of the night, and then it fuckin started raining and I couldn’t fly, yeah.” He looked down at Sakura. “Sorry I was gone so long without saying anything to you,” he said ruefully.

Her expression softened. “It’s alright, you had a good reason. What did you do with the sword?”

“Sold it, yeah.”

Her eyes widened slightly and she began to feel a stir of excitement at the glint in his eyes. That sword was ridiculously valuable… “How much?” she asked with quiet anticipation.

His smirk widened into an impish grin. It was then that she noticed the satchel slung over his shoulder. “I think it’s better if I just show you,” he said, and slipped the bag from his arm.

He pulled the drawstring and upturned it, and Sakura’s jaw dropped as stack after stack after stack of high-numbered bills dropped onto the tabletop. She had never seen that much money in her entire life, there must be hundreds of thousands…no…millions…

Even Kisame stared in awe as the pile grew. “Holy shit…”

Sakura was astounded speechless. She knew the sword was valuable…but this was just beyond imagining! There was enough money here for the three of them to live very comfortably for the rest of their lives.

Suddenly she let out a high pitched laugh and jumped Deidara in pure excitement, flinging her arms around his neck. He laughed as he caught her and hugged her to him, swinging her around once in his own elation. He was also happy just to be holding her again, and relieved that she wasn’t mad anymore, at least not enough to be so distant.

He grinned boyishly at her as he set her back on her feet. “Looks like we’re retired, yeah.”

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That evening, Sakura stood at the end of the dock and watched the waves. She couldn’t help but smile as the gentle breeze blew through her hair and brought the smell of the sea to her nose. Kisame really had picked a beautiful place to settle.

The three of them had decided to split the money forty/forty/twenty, and even though it had taken a good while, Sakura had never had so much fun counting anything before. Afterward Deidara had gone to clean up after his long trip, and Sakura had walked down to the dock, knowing he would come to find her.

It wasn’t long before she felt him approach, but she continued to watch the gulls swoop in the air as he came up behind her. He paused for just a moment, and then gently wrapped his hands around her shoulders and bent his head down beside hers, his mouth close to her ear. Sakura closed her eyes briefly as the warmth of his body seeped into her, feeling comforted just by his proximity. She really had missed his touch, and regretted being so cold to him before.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, his hands smoothing down her upper arms, “for not listening to you…for making you worry and go to so much trouble to clean up my mess…for everything.”

She slowly turned around to fix that luminous jade gaze on him. He released her arms, but she remained just as near to him as before. He took a slow, deep breath before continuing. “I should have listened to you. It’s just that…nearly losing you in that explosion really scared me, and all I could think about was making someone pay for hurting you. And sometimes I get to this place where I see red and I don’t think about things like consequences, and I didn’t stop to consider I may be putting you in even more danger, yeah. I never meant to make you so mad…I’m sorry.”

Sakura stared up at him for a long moment, and then a small smile tugged at her lips. He really could be adorable at times. Her very own violent, ruthless knight in shining armor. “I wasn’t really mad at you exactly…”

His brow creased slightly. “…you weren’t?”

“More like…extremely frustrated.” She fisted her hands in the hem of his shirt and tugged once as she gave him a soft smirk. “But I didn’t plan on things growing so strained between us…I forgive you.”

He smiled faintly with relief and reached up with both hands to twine his fingers into her hair. “Good…because I’ve really been wanting to do this…”

The feel of his lips on hers was instantly overwhelming, and she made a soft sound in her throat as she parted her lips for him and slipped her arms around his waist. The kiss was full of apology and yearning, and she knew then that he had missed her just as much. It was a long time before the broke apart, and when they did Sakura simply lay her head against his collar and closed her eyes. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her shoulders before lowering his head to rest against hers.

They remained that way for a while, watching the waves and enjoying each other’s embrace as the sun touched the sea on the horizon. Eventually Sakura stepped back and stretched a little, then looked up at him and shook her head in amusement.

“I still can’t believe you sold the sword for that much money. I never dreamed I would be rich,” she laughed.

He grinned at her. “We’ll never have to take another crappy mission again, yeah.”

She smiled thoughtfully. “You know…even with as much trouble that mission ended up causing us, it turned out to be the best mission I ever had.”

In more ways than one, because it had brought them together again. To Sakura, that was worth more than any amount of money.

Deidara was unknowingly echoing her thoughts. “Yeah,” he replied quietly. Then his grin was back. “Just think of all the possibilities now…to go anywhere, do anything. True freedom, yeah.”

Her smile widened. “I’m still trying to process it. I haven’t really thought about where I want to go from here…”

Something in her wording caught his attention sharply, and he suddenly felt that nagging anxiety in the back of his mind flare to life. She had that same wistful look on her face as before, when Temari had mentioned Konoha. Did she want to go back? Could she be thinking about returning home again? Was she going to leave him after all?

He tried to keep the concern from showing on his face, but knew he was failing miserably. This wasn’t something he could silently worry about until it was too late. He wouldn’t let her slip away.

“Come with me.”

Sakura looked up at him curiously. Did he already have something in mind? “Where?”

“Anywhere. Everywhere. It doesn’t matter, yeah. We don’t have to go anywhere, just…stay with me.”

Her brow creased slightly. What was he talking about, and why did he suddenly look so nervous? But she couldn’t ask because he was speaking again.

“Sakura…I had to let you go before, I had no choice, yeah. But I can’t do that now.” He held her face in his hands, fingers brushing over the soft hair at her temples, and his blue eyes stared intently into hers. “I found you again after so long, and we’re finally together. I don’t want you to disappear from my life again…I love you.”

Sakura could only stare up at him wide-eyed, heart welling with emotion and too stunned to find words. But Deidara wasn’t finished.

“It’s kinda crazy…I never even thought I was capable of loving another person, and I definitely never thought I would find someone I could love.” His fingers wove further into her hair, and he gave her the tiniest of smiles. “But you, Sakura…you’re different from every person I’ve ever known. You’re my best friend…and I love you.”

A long moment passed in which she still struggled to find her voice. She wanted to scream and cry and laugh all at the same time, and yet she seemed to be locked in a strange sort of trance. However, Deidara misread her continued silence, and the faintest sign of apprehension flickered across his features.

His gaze fell and his brow creased slightly. “I…I know I have nothing to offer you…and you deserve so much better than someone like me.” He met her eyes once more. “But you’ll never be alone again…and I promise I’ll do everything I can to make you happy.”

The quiet humility of his words nearly broke her heart, and the tears finally spilled as she came out of her daze and touched her fingertips to his face. “Deidara…you don’t have to give me anything…you’re more than enough,” she smiled softly up at him. “And you do make me happy, happier than I ever thought I could be again. You’ve always made me happy.”

He smiled, happy and relieved, and pressed his brow to hers as his thumbs tenderly brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Then stay with me…like this. Stay forever,” he whispered.

Sakura felt as if her heart were overflowing, and the tide drowned her voice once more. She closed her eyes and smiled, and more tears fell from her lashes as she could only nod ‘yes’.

Deidara suddenly felt rather overwhelmed by emotion himself. “Yeah?”

She gave a tearful laugh. “Yeah.”

And then it didn’t matter if her voice gave out or not, because he was kissing her with so much love and passion the entire world fell away. She clung to him blissfully as he kissed her again and again and lifted her in his arms so that her feet no longer touched ground, so wonderfully happy that she didn’t care if she could barely breathe and if she fainted right here in his arms she wouldn’t mind at all.

He set her down several minutes later, both of them breathless and grinning madly.

Sakura’s smile turned playful and she gave him a tiny push. “You didn’t have to ask, dummy…I wouldn’t leave even if you told me to. Can’t you see how completely in love with you I am?”

His grin softened. “Really?”

She linked her hands around his neck. “Really. That’s why you’re such an idiot for thinking I was going to leave you over what happened this week.”

He still looked a little uncertain. “Well, it wasn’t just that, yeah. After the meeting the other day I was…I thought maybe you might have been thinking about going back…to Konoha,” he said quietly.

She smiled. “I was. But I would never leave you to go back, Deidara. The only life I want is one with you. Wherever I go I want you with me, and wherever you go I’ll follow.”

He stared at her with a slightly awed expression for a long moment, and then smiled teasingly. “You sure about that, hmm?”

Her brow creased. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He shrugged almost sheepishly. “I know I’m not the easiest person to put up with, yeah.”

She laughed incredulously. “And I am?”

He grinned and tightened his arms around her. “Not really. But I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

“Likewise.” She rose up on her toes and leaned closer, nuzzling his nose with hers as she hovered just above his lips. “I love you,” she whispered.

He didn’t think he would ever get tired of hearing that. And as new as the entire concept was, he found that it felt surprisingly natural to reply, “I love you too, yeah.”

There was no more talking after that.

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Unknown to the happy lovers, uphill on the back porch of the small house, Kisame watched with a wide, pointy-toothed grin.

The sun had nearly slipped below the oceanic horizon, and it would be dark soon. It was a nice night for a walk, the shark mused, and he decided that a few games of pool at the local bar in town sounded like a good idea. Maybe a dozen or so beers as well, maybe flirt with a nice curvy lady, and if things went well he may not wander back home until sometime tomorrow.

What a nice guy he was, kicking himself out of his own house. Laughing quietly to himself, he turned to do just that.

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One week later, the three shinobi stood together in the shark’s ‘front yard’, the explosives master’s large white bird waiting silently a few feet away.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Kisame?” Sakura asked one last time.

The shark nin chuckled and shook his head. “I’ve done all the runnin around I need to do in my life, princess. I’m happy right here.”

She nodded acceptingly and moved forward to give the large man a friendly hug. “We’ll miss you.”

“Speak for yourself, yeah,” Deidara jibed.

Sakura cast a playful glare at the smirking blond. “Oh shut up. You know you will too.”

“It’s not like we won’t come back at some point,” he shrugged.

“Damn right. You better come around every so often so I don’t get too bored out here. And I’ll always need good drinking partners,” Kisame added with a grin.

“Deal,” she laughed.

With that, Deidara tightened his pack and jumped up onto his clay construct, then offered a hand down to the pink haired kunoichi. She took it and leapt up beside him, smiling sweetly as he kept hold of her hand as they knelt down on the back.

“We’ll see you soon, Kisame!” she called, waving with her free hand.

The shark raised a hand in return. “Try to stay out of trouble this time,” he teased.

With a small lurch and a rush of enormous wings, the bird rose into the air and set out at an easy pace. Sakura watched Kisame’s seaside home grow smaller and smaller, eventually fading into the receding shoreline.

She turned then and smiled at Deidara, admiring how handsome he was as his hair blew in the wind. He smiled back at her. “Where should we go first?” he asked.

Sakura felt a growing sense of excitement. They were off on an adventure, one that would last as long or short as they wanted. They were completely free; from danger, from worry, from financial restraints. The sky was literally the limit. “It doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is that we’re together. Wherever we go, I’m sure it will be a blast,” she said with a mischievous smirk.

Deidara gave her an adorable, boyish grin and slipped both arms around her waist, gazing at her in slight wonder. “God I love you.”

Sakura grinned. “I know,” she replied playfully, and leaned in to meet his kiss.

She was no longer running from the past and afraid of the future. Whatever may come, they would face it together. He was the silver lining in her dark cloud, and she was looking forward to the rest of her life with the man she loved.

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A/N: ::grins::

That was just about the most romantically mushy thing I’ve ever written, but I love these two characters and I wanted to give them the happiest ending possible after everything they’ve been through in their lives. I hope you all are happy with it too. XD

There is still an epilogue coming, so look forward to it soon!