Why He Stayed

 

Sakura stared down at the red seal. She had received scrolls of this nature before. However, every time seemed like the first time the weathered scroll paper was placed in her palm by her superior: a mix of anticipation, worry, determination, and, above all other things, duty. A ninja's body is a tool, a rule that she was reminded of often, had been drilled into her head as a young academy student in the midst of her girl's only classes, ranging from the flower arranging classes where she first met her best friend, Ino, until the secretive classes that were not known outside of the kunoichi's who passed down their skills to the younger generation.

Looking back, Sakura was happy to have received her first red seal scroll in tandem with Ino. She remembered the calm, heavy gaze Tsunade had given them as she slid the scrolls to them on her desk. The silence had been thick; thankfully no ticking clock was present. The only sound that broken the silence was the soft snuffling of a piggy snout, making Sakura's hand jolt out, suddenly in a rush to take the scroll from the old, wooden surface. Ino slowly followed her lead. Scroll in hand, Sakura glanced to her right where Ino stood, as pail as Sakura felt, staring at the one scroll that would forever change the nature of their jobs, as well as the dynamic of their friendship. Though they had been training together for a few months in the hospital together, it was hard not to become even closer after the success of the mission, which, not surprisingly, had made them feel crumbier than a failure. Sixteen was the legal age of a ninja, and soon the rest of their female friends, classmates they could only recall by face or skill, joined their ranks. It wasn't long until their male teammates became wise to their missions, and mixed feelings showed all around. Some acted as if nothing had changed, which was refreshing for the girls, and for Sakura, Sai was that person. Nothing could make him act any different; having a lack of emotions certainly helped. Kakashi also acted as if he didn't affect him, but she saw the change in his dark eye when he regarded her on her return from her second red scroll mission, her first solo, also a success. Sakura had never failed, putting all of her years of hard work and training into these missions. This, above all else, Tsunade had said, was the reason Sakura was chosen for this mission. Tsunade said, though Sakura had a hunch that this was all a fib, that it had nothing to do with the people involved. She merely stated with Sakura's track record, skill as a medical ninja, and ability to grasp the sensitivity of the situation, put her in top position for the high-ranking, dangerous mission.

"Your skill as a medical ninja especially," Tsunade began, answering another unvoiced question Sakura had, "will be of great importance to you. In order to successfully infiltrate this organization, the under cover identity in the village requires your knowledge of rudimentary civilian skills. Also, you will, as I am sure you know, find yourself in risky situations that will be potentially harmful to your physical wellbeing. I must be able to count of your healing abilities for that in the off chance of extreme injury, I will not be losing another ninja, as well as my best student."

The briefing was kept impersonal, something Sakura understood. Emotions were not something that one could afford to deal with on a mission of this nature.

"You understand, as well, that you may intercept Sasuke on this mission. Your orders are to stick with the mission. You may engage Sasuke if it is not detrimental to your main goal. You must always remember, however, that he is not your target, even though an encounter is possible. Because of this, I must keep you under complete silence. This mission will be of total confidentiality to all, excluding you and myself. You will function, in this case, as a missing nin. Do not worry about the village council, they are aware as well. Under no circumstances are you to tell Naruto especially, above all others. You can predict, I imagine, the immense damage that would be caused if he followed and intervened. The whole point of the mission would cease to exist. This will be the toughest mission you have ever had. It may well be the most difficult you ever receive. It will require you to improvise, think on your feet, and use your instincts. I am counting on your for the success of this mission." Sakura, not one to buckle under pressure, gave a nod of understanding and spoke with a hardness in her voice that Tsunade knew meant that Sakura understood the gravity and importance of this solo mission.

"Hai, shishio." Naruto, similar to Lee, was one of those teammates that Sakura was happy to keep oblivious to the inner working of the kunoichi lifestyle. He was one of those teammates that she could tell would not be able to meet her eye after such a discovery of body utilization.

Under the cover of darkness, Sakura launched herself silently from rooftop to rooftop, her foot never once disturbing a shingle, nor the inhabitants of the rooms below, until the reached the village wall. She was to slip past their village's own defenses, using the one gap of opportunity she had when the ANBU guards switched their posts at the eastern most wall. Pausing near the sentry, veiled by the mottled moonlight shadows cast by the leaves and braches of trees, Sakura took a moment to become human and roll her eyes.

'I should have one received of those ANBU tattoos for even thinking about accepting this mission.' Of course, female ANBU were a rare breed, something Sakura, however, was predicted to excel towards and reach. Sakura, though, had no intention of doing any such thing. An undertaking like that would indefinitely lure her away from the hospital, where her true calling, helping people, was. Instead, Sakura would much rather continue helping brainstorm a system that would utilize what little medic nins they had in the field in the best way possible. Besides, she could still receive the training an ANBU would go through if she just asked Kakashi.

There! Sakura moved swiftly passed the sentry guards on the forest floor, barely kicking up any pre-mature autumn leaves that had fallen with the aid of late-September winds.

Blue eyes stared listlessly into a crackling fire. Naruto had gained bags under his eyes from nights of little or restless sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was blood. Sakura's blood, Sasuke's blood, his family's blood. A twig snapped on the edge of camp and Naruto's head shot up to witness two figures blur into their campsite as his hand dove into his pouch on his leg in retrieval of a weapon. Recognizing Ino and Sai, Naruto quickly relaxed his arm, lower his weapon back into the pouch. Sai spoke before Naruto had the chance even open his mouth.

"We have an urgent scroll from the Hokage for Kakashi regarding your mission." Hoping for good news of Sakura's location or well being and knowing he was unable to force the mission scroll from his odd teammate, Naruto roused Kakashi from his light sleep. Only when Kakashi held out his ungloved hand to Sai did the artist produce the scroll.

As Kakashi read the mission details, he let no expressions play across his face. Naruto could only wait patiently, or as patiently as Naruto could, with as much fidgeting as any human could physically manage. He caught Ino's eye as she stood next to him, and the questions were written clearly in her sapphire eyes. She surprised Naruto by leaning towards him with the intent to whisper her inquiries as to information on Sakura when Kakashi snapped the rolled paper shut.

"No need to ask Ino. I will be fully briefing you on the condition of our mission, as well as all we know of Sakura's activities over the last few weeks as we continue pursuit tomorrow morning at dawn. I suggest you settle down for what little rest you can. We leave at dawn. I will take watch for the next few hours. Sai you will take the next shift." Ino and Sai both nodded and reached behind them to sling their packs forward onto the ground to retrieve their gear. Kakashi then turned to Naruto, left eye closed while the other bore into him.

"Naruto. You are to report back to the village. You will depart at dawn." Naruto stepped forward in shock with his hands fisted at his sides.

"Kakashi-sensei! I can't go back when we are so close to finding Sakura! She is counting on me. You better believe I will not abandon her when she needs us the most!" Kakashi's dark eye was hard.

"You led me to believe, Naruto, that the Hokage gave you express permission to accompany Kiba and myself on this tracking mission. This scroll says you deliberately disobeyed orders. You know the teams Tsunade assembles for missions are for the good of the village. You could have put this mission into great jeopardy." Naruto calmed slightly, but the passion he had burned in his eyes and made his voice tremble.

"Sakura is one of my precious people, Kakashi-sensei. You should know, above all people, sensei, how important the precious are to me."

"There are complications, Naruto, which ban you from continuing this mission with us." Kakashi approached Naruto, and placed a hand on his shoulder. This time, his lone black eye showed all the worry he held for Sakura, the pain, and apology offered to Naruto for denying him the request to simply help those he cared about. "I am sorry."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sakura knew she was being watched, and she was trying her hardest not to smile. She was putting to use her best acting skills to look forlorn and helpless, at a loss because she was going to be her best friend's down fall, the reason for his death…as if.

The meeting with Pein went exceptionally well. Besides the initial nervousness of him not taking the bait, once she began, she reeled him in nicely. Sakura was actually surprised by herself. She was normally not a manipulative person, but from only thinking of the goal, she was able to pull off a great performance, filled with vehement seething, passion, and denial.

What had surprised Sakura was the amount of detachment that Pein had to all emotion. Even with her pleading and crying, he had merely blinked (or so she thought from his astral projection). She had expected an amount of smugness, maybe even maniacal laughter, seeing as he was the insane, in her opinion, leader of a criminal organization hell bent on seeing her homeland crumble and fall. Almost every criminal mastermind she had ever been involved in stopping, or had studied, had some sort of god-like complex to them, and she suspected that somewhere deep in those swirly (creepy) eyes that he had one as well. Their exchange, however, had been mostly her yelling, while he remained mostly calm and aloof towards her, though polite to his followers, as she recalled. Sakura felt, though, she gained a bit of luck with his personality. Sometimes the masters behind these operations were so obsessed with watching everything play out, that it left a ninja very little room to breath, sneak around, and basically get their job done. Sakura was convinced that Pein only saw her in a pawn in the grand scheme of things, not the "missing" or "essential piece" that she had been referred to in the past when playing into a lunatic's plan. Pein was putting her under the watchful eye of those living in the house, big surprise.

When Sakura was dismissed, she stormed up to her room, eyes glossy and cheeks red and tear-streaked. She glanced behind her to Itachi before completely running away. Sakura knew that his sharingan would pick up every detail of her face, and she hoped if she could fool his all-seeing eyes, then she could convince the rest of them. After holding his gaze for what she felt was as long as necessary, Sakura's head spun, rosy hair fanning out behind her, and she fled up the stairs. Slamming her door in a convincing I'm-not-going-to-let-you-control-me attitude, Sakura stepped into her room in full adrenaline rush. What a thrill! She could look at it with some objectivity and realize why psychopaths who control their victims' minds get hooked so easily. Sakura put her ear to the door and could only barely make out muffled sounds of the remaining Akatsuki, those who resided in the house, discussing what she could only guess was their MO.

Grinning, she quickly wiped the remaining tears that clung to her eyelashes and scooted quickly over to the rickety old dresser, where a felled, cracked old ceramic vase lay dusty and forgotten. A quick release of a henge and a scroll was revealed, and Sakura jumped onto the squeaky, half-broken bed and began to relay all that had just occurred, not missing a single detail. She needed to contact Tsunade to tell her the mission was on track. As she sealed the scroll in a pouch, and henge'd it in its former purple-y ceramic appearance, she quickly bit her thumb and pressed it to the floor. A small poof appeared in front of her, which quickly gave way to a grey tabby cat, small and stocky. His green eyes flicked up to Sakura and he began purring like a motor.

"Sh! Jax! I am happy to see you too, but someone will be up any minute if they have any real brains," she said in a hushed tone, reaching affectionately though to scratch behind his ears.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. Who's coming?" he asked, flicking his kinked tail up with interest.

"Never mind that," she said, "I need you to take this as quickly as you can to Tsunade, got it? I'm gonna pretend to run away. The minute everyone is out of the house with their attention on me, I will release the henge, then you can grab it. Got it?" Sakura barely finished relaying her instructions when she heard a knock at her door, and, without waiting for permission to enter, Deidara slipped into the room. A thrown old vase rocketing towards his head, which successfully distracted him enough that he didn't notice Jax skittering under the bed, immediately met him. Sakura sprinted to the window and flung it open, yelling to the stunned, and now slight pissed, yeah, blonde standing standing between the doorjam.

"You can't keep me here! I won't be apart of this farce to capture my friend." The mauve vase rolled from where it had landed in a half circle to bump against Deidara's sandaled foot. Deidara spluttered after her, although expecting her rage, not really expecting her to throw shit at him or leap out the window…like she was doing now.

"Oi! There's no need to be a pain in the ass, yeah! Get back in here!" he squaked after her crossing the room faster than she expected. He grabbed Sakura by her collar and yanked her backward from the window frame.

"Henh…!" Sakura let out a loud strangled gasp as her shirt pulled against her windpipe. Sakura's heel of her sandal caught the corner of the window frame, sending her shoulders first into the ground. In attempt to catch her balance and prevent herself from falling, Sakura flung out her arms. She caught hold of the front of Deidara's coat, causing him to stumble forward, thankfully not landing on top of her. Sakura fought to quickly catch her breath and release her sandal from the window ledge. With a quick yank it was free, and she turned on Deidara twisting his wrist so that his grip loosened. The teeth of his hand, however, still had a firm grip, even if his fingers didn't. A small rip was heard, and Sakura was free of his hand, a small tear the collar of her shirt. Deidara shot another hand out to grasp her ankle, but her other foot caught his jaw before his hand had time to connect. Sakura hopped out the window again, glad in the back of her mind that the she had caught site of the vase kicked back into her room from Deidara kicking it as he rushed in. She headed for the trees, thinking in all honesty she would probably make it all of 100 meters before someone was on her tail, and she hoped that someone wasn't chucking chakra infused bombs at her.

Deidara stood at the window and saw Sakura sprint into the woods, accompanied by what he thought were some words akin to "screw you". As she disappeared behind the tree line, his eyes panned towards the grassy area nearest the house, where he saw Tobi standing blankly on the grass, only to turn and point in the direction in which the young kunoichi fled.

"Hey! Sempai! Sakura is running away. Do you think we should bring her back?" his muffled voice hollered from behind his mask. Deidara ran past Tobi in a blur.

"What the hell do you think, moron, hm?" She wasn't very far ahead of him, but he would have to work hard to catch up. Deidara would probably be able to catch Sakura before Tobi alerted Itachi and Kisame, which was good, cause he technically let her get away, so he would be the one to get into trouble. However, she picked a thick section of the forest to run through, so riding a clay bird was not an option.

'Tracking my own chakra won't be a problem, yeah,' Deidara thought with an arrogant smugness when he assumed that Sakura didn't realize that after grabbing her collar, his hand-mouth had left saliva on her shirt. What he didn't know was that Sakura was aware of this, but kept the shirt on her person for that purpose, of she would have thrown it off as she exited the property. She had to maintain the persona of the weak ninja, the captive, and she couldn't do that if she actually escaped. She just hoped that Jax had made it out of the house and was on his way safely to Konoha.

After a few minutes fleeing at a steady pace, Sakura heard a boom sound behind her. She chuckled as she realized that Deidara had encountered the exploding tags she took the liberty in leaving behind.

'He'd appreciate those,' she thought with an evil grin. It wasn't long afterwards that she heard him closing in behind her. A small cluster of pellet like projectiles whizzed passed her shoulder and stuck to a tree in front of her. Thinking quickly, instead of continuing forward onto the next branch, she propelled herself downwards and to the side to avoid the chorus of explosions that would have, even though not Deidara's usual size, caused her an unneeded injury. Sakura escaped most of the splinters raining down from the blast, and she used the shower behind her to launch a few shuriken behind her with a quick twirl and sweep of the arm.

Deidara flexed his jaw and hurried to change pace with her, noting that she was faster than he had previously thought. Not only that, but if he hadn't ducked down at the right time, her shuriken would have found a lethal mark. Another note to make: perfect aim with little to no visibility. Great. There! She changed directions with a slight fumble, and with an extra push, he was a step behind her. No explosives now, unless he wanted to be blown to bits with her, which was a huge disadvantage to him being a long range fighter.

'Damn it. I don't want to have to get into a dumb-ass fist fight with this chick, yeah.' As he closed in on her, making Sakura feel cornered and ready to turn and make contact, a kunai came speeding from in front of them. Sakura yelped in surprise and ducked, while Deidara swore and redirected the weapon with a kunai of his own grabbed quickly out of his back weapon's pouch. Deidara and Sakura halted. Forgetting about his own pursuit, Deidara motioned to Sakura for silence, recognizing and reading the situation he had been in many times: an ambush from hunter-nin.

Immediately, a team of ninja fell down from the treetops above them, three splitting Sakura and Deidara. Deidara had four more on his right, while only one more ganged up on Sakura, noting her small, less than imposing stature. Immediately recognizing Deidara's cloak, the largest of them stepped forward with a large ax-like weapon that was as tall as his body, which was unrealistically double the size of Deidara's.

"A lone Akatsuki, out in the woods with his lady-friend," he taunted, putting a large palm on the blunt wooden top of his weapon above the blade. Deidara casually stuck his hands underneath his cloak as if he was putting hands in his pockets.

"We should get quite the reward for this guy," another laughed behind him. A chorus of shouts rose in agreement.

"Not only that," the large man smirked, "it'll teach 'im to stick with the Akatsuki buddies instead of chasing after tail in the woods." His eyes shot over to Sakura, and he gave a dismissive shrug.

"Though why he would chase after that scrawny bitch…" Sakura immediately felt rage warm her cheeks and she reached behind her to the pocket of her medic pouch to pull out her gloves. One of the smaller bandits, with a nasally voice and light lavender hair, laughed high and gratingly.

"Oh boss," he said in a sing song voice, "I think you hurt her feelings." Sakura's eyes flashed in irritation as she noted which one of these ninja she was going to attack first. She gladly noted none of them were wearing forehead protectors loyal to any village, which told her they were a measly gang of thugs. She flexed her fist, enjoying the feeling of the leather tightening across her knuckles.

Deidara angled his body in front of the small kunoichi. As if he could afford to go back to the house jinchuuriki bait-less, yeah. He turned his head slightly, glancing back at her with his right eye, as his left occupied his scope.

"Oi, have we ever discussed our opinions on art?" Sakura regarded him warily, maybe even more so than the enemy nin slowly encroaching upon her personal space.

"No, I don't recall you ever mentioning…that," Sakura answered, shaking her head indicating a negative, feeling slightly annoyed that her partner in this battle was being entirely ambiguous.

"Well, I should tell you that I think art is…a BANG!" A small explosion sounded on Sakura's left. Her head whipped around to reveal to her the sight of a body of one of their attackers slumping to the ground…with half an imploded skull. Sakura glimpsed a chunks of purple hair matted to flapping pieces of scalp, and turned glanced at Deidara who had a fat smirk plastered on his face. Oh shit. With eyebrows lifted, Sakura turned her green gaze to the large thug whose lackey just had half of his head blown off. It is a well known battle tactic to use your opponents emotions against them. Emotions make a human irrational, especially anger, and with irrationality comes mistakes. A mistake is exactly what you want your opponent to make, especially if you're overpowered or outmatched.

"That was a mistake, blondie…" the giant warned with his exceptionally large teeth gritted together. Deidara barked a laugh.

"The mistake was actually made by you, ugly." Sakura watched a hairless eyebrow twitch. In the periphery of her vision, movement caught her attention. A small white moth fluttered down from the low branches of the trees. Absently, a plain looking brown haired ninja swatted at it as floated in and out of his line of site. Sakura discreetly widened her focus and discovered that there were many floating white bodies in the air strategically, fluttering drunkenly towards their opponents. "And that mistake was fucking with me." A symphony of timed blasts went off, and with it, complimentary thuds of bodies sinking to the forest floor. A startled scream from one of their opponents as the small clay moth clung to the skin on his hand as he flung it about, and slowly made it's way up his arm.

"Stop, please! Don't blow me up!" he pleaded franctically, having watched his comrade's brains fly in all directions after coming in contact with the insects. Sakura watched as Deidara's grin turned positively evil while the moth steadily crawled higher. The man's shouts grew louder as he swated at the small clay figurine on his arm. He landed a hit on the moth as he brushed his opposite hand down his arm, and a small, yet effective explosion left him without a hand up to his elbow. The man gawked at his massacred flesh and let out a final choked cry before his knees gave way to a faint.

"You piece of shit!" roared the large leader swinging his axe towards Deidara, who danced out of the way, while Sakura flitted to the branches encountering enemy nin along the way. A punch of average strength dislocated the jaw of one of her attackers, while she simultaneously ruthlessly sinking a kunai into the solar plexus of another, ignoring hot breath as he grunted in pain into her ear when she heaved him over her shoulder to throw his limp body at yet another opponent. They crashed to the ground, taking branches and leaves with them, allowing Sakura to glance at her partner. Deidara was not a close range fighter for sure, and it showed in his fighting style, which was, at the moment, simply to evade. He landed a blow or two on the bohemath of a man, but didn't seem to be slowing him down at all.

"I am going to have your head!" The giant grasped his large weapon with both hands, one beneath the large blade and one on a piece of metal half way down, in front of his barrel chest. With a heavy flex of his muscles, he slid the metal cylinder rapidly along the length of the weapon until it reached the blade, where a spark formed and his whole weapon was engulfed in crackling electricity. He raised above his head with a mighty heave and aimed for Deidara. As he swung, Sakura felt the hum of static fill the air around them, raising lose strands of her hair. Sakura sprang into action, rocketing herself towards the forest floor. As she decended, the swing once again missed contact with Deidara, but the Akatsuki artist was not expecting a jolt electricity, like lightning splitting a sky, to come streaking towards him.

Time seemed to slow down as Sakura finally reached the ground in front of Deidara. As much good as it would do to get one member of Akatsuki dead and out of the way, there is no way she could finish this battle herself. Sakura was going to have to fight for her life. Sending a chakra charge fist into the forest floor, she cracked open the earth, raising in front of her a wave of destruction. Large chunks of earth intercepted the electricty, acting as insulation and neutralizing the attack, defending the unlikely pair of comrades while attacking their opponent with rumble and dust, not to mention causing a crater that opened beneath his feet. Before her opponent could gain his footing, Sakura pushed herself to feet and flashed stepped, appearing behind him as a blur. She drew back a fist, infusing chakra, ready to deal a death blow. She knocked him solidly as he spun away from the flying rubble, and he recoiled with the force of her punch, but she didn't feel his bones snap, or muscles even bruise. He absorbed her blow, her chakra rippling through his body visibly beneath his skin.

Shock froze Sakura as furious eyes turned solely to her and her only.

.brilliant. He had never seen something so artistic, except for his own art of course, than the explosion she created with her fist. That was pure beauty; the fact that she could reduce the earth to rubble with her chakra was fucking awesome, yeah.

All he was able to think as she fell in front was him was 'damn it.' Really? Running away had been stupid of her to begin with. Now she planned to fucking kill herself, and then Pein was going to kill him! But then her small, deceivingly delicate hand connected with the ground and BAM!: pure, explosive art. Another flair of her chakra and she was gone. Deidara tracked her until she flitted into existence behind sasquatch and gave him what he guessed was a walloping punch. What happened next made Deidara's eyes widened, and he unconciously zoomed his scope to watch as the giant's body absorb a blow that should have killed him. His skin rippled, body bounced back, and he used his momentum to take a swing at his new favorite kunoichi.

Sakura quickly backtracked out of the giant's range of motion, watching as his elbow fully extend, and therefor expecting it to cease movement towards her. She blinked in alarm as the large hand that she could only compare to a meat cleaver kept moving forward, the arm thinning slightly at the elbow. Caught offgaurd, Sakura put her forearms in front of her head to block the oncoming attack. The strength of a man that big did well in rocketing her petite body backwards, thankfully not into any tree trunks. Because Sakura had seen the blow coming, she was able to use her newfound velocity to invert her body so he could catch herself on her feet. Sakura was now on the full defensive, while her opponent, who, luckily, had lost his weapon due to her first attack, came at her with swinging tree trunk arms. Sneaking a fast glance to Deidara, Sakura pleaded in her own head.

'Please let him destroy that weapon.' Sakura turn her attention back to her opponent, moving lithely to land a kick on his patella, which would have cracked any other man's bone, but Sakura felt the strange sensation of a stretchy indenture, followed by her foot being forced back in the opposite and equal direction. She heard a crack, which she could decipher to be wood. She risked a look to her left where Deidara had brutally splintered the wood using another man's skull.

Off balance, she took a swing to the gut by a sweep of the giants arms and felt the snapping of her own ribs.

"How do you like that bloodline, girlie? How else do you think I could handle pure current without being electricuted?" He stalked towards her, but stopped his monologue as a small blast sounded at his exposed shoulder. Sakura with a doctor's trained eye as the burned that resulted didn't take on the presentation of those she had seen from similar wounds. Instead of charring down to the muscle, pealing of skin and an all around nasty wound, this monster's skin wrinkled and shrunk slightly, seeming to loose elasticity as he moved. He made a perturbed grunt, turning to the canopy to search for Deidara.

"I'm not up there, yeah." Sakura felt in her ear. Deidara knelt beside her, guaging the giants movement, speaking lowly in her ear, and regarding the way she clutched her left side, seeping a small amount of chakra into it, most likely setting the bone, but not fully healing it. Deidara took the opportunity to grab her and jump to the canopy. Once safely on a branch, Sakura made her observations known to Deidara.

"His body definitely is made out of something weird," she mumbled. She twisted her torso, testing what range of motion her small repair had given her.

"Most likely whatever bloodline limit he was talking about, yeah." Deidara agreed with a nod of his blonde head. Sakura's eyes widened with a realization.

"Do you think his chakra is influencing the composition of the rest of his body on, say, a molecular level? Instead of cells damaging the way they normally would, his chakra makes the membrane even MORE of a mosaic than it already is, that way, all blows are absorbed." Deidara took a beat to consider what she was suggesting.

"You mean like rubber?" Sakura's face pulled into an enlightened grin.

"Exactly like rubber! That's why he wasn't electrocuted by his own weapon, he absorbs the conduction." Deidara stood and reached into one pouch hip, and began to mold clay with a thoughtful look on his face.

"So normal attacks won't work on him. Your explosions definitely damage the surface of his skin, but we should find a way to be lethal without risking our own safety in the process." Deidara grunted an affirmative as Sakura felt through her medic belt. Her hand landed on a dark bottle, and she pulled it out, grinning at the thought of its light sensitive contents.

"I think I've got an idea."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After losing the stupid blonde one in the trees, the giant made mental tabs on his gang, all of whom were either dead or unconcious on the forest floor. In the back of him mind he was beginning to regret enganging this guy, but in the forefront of his mind, rage took hold of any and all other thought processes, all of which screamed at him "FLIGHT! NOT FIGHT!" And now, this son-of-a-bitch was hiding from him somewhere up in the damned trees. He could get up there, sure, but those scrawny sons of bitches were lighter than he was. They would have an advantage of freedom of movement in the canopy.

A twig snapped behind him and he turned in time to watch as the pink bitch poured some sort of liquid on him. Right behind him he could see the blonde ninja on her heels. His focus quickly turned his broad chest, which, at that moment, had a burning, tightening sensation of the skin beneath his soaked shirt. He growled in pain, quickly using his frying pan sized hand to rip off the fabric saturated with the liquid. His hand which had come into contact with the liquid began to sting. Looking at his chest he watched as his own skin lost elasticity, tightening until it shrank until he could feel it tearing. Too distracted, he forgot to focus on the second of his two opponents.

Deidara had already taken the time to mold his projectiles into, instead of animals, sharp, senbon like projectiles, with small barbs on the end to stick firmly into the giant's skin. Once the giant idiot ripped off his shirt, it gave him the perfect target for the most weak areas of his skin, which, hopefully, had layers of flesh that were just as damaged as those that had been affected on the surface. Forceful, close range throws embedded the claybons, as his new rose-haired teammate had dubbed them, deep enough to that they could not be removed and, hopefully, down to the bone, as they had planned.

Deidara quickly glanced to his side to look for the signal from Sakura that she was ready for the next element of their attack. She locked her gaze with his and a small nod, followed by a quick look by him to her hand to see it covered in white.

"Kai!" a gutteral roar of pain followed the release of his explosive creations. A gaping, bleeding wound was now ready for Sakura's surgical hand. She sprinted, closing the gap between her the and giant. The ogre's eyes widened in pain and he spluttered a cough, sprinkling blood onto Sakura's face as she dove her fist into his chest. She braced herself against his chest with her other hand and dug her heals into the forest floor as she yanked backwards. A fleshy tear reached Deidara's ears as Sakura's hand withdrew from the giant's chest, sizzling heart in hand. The giant, no longer a threat, fell backward, eyes still open in shock and pain, jaw locked open.

Sakura took a deep breath, slowing her racing heart before looking down at the one in her hand, still reacting to the hydrogen peroxide that saturated the gauze she covered her hand with. She promptly let the large organ fall to the ground, turning to Deidara who had approached her. Deidara was regarding her in a new light. With dirt from the skirmish, hair slightly askew and blood running down her arm to drip off her elbow, she looked like a fierce, ruthless warrior, not one of those ninny leaf nin that he had encountered in the past.

"Let's go, yeah. I'd like to get you back to that house before any more stupid shit happens that could get me in trouble, okay?" Deidara said as he crossed his arms in a casual manner as he regarded her. Sakura sent him a look.

"What makes you think I'm going back with you. I ran out here to get AWAY from you." Deidara grinned widely.

"Well cause after a fight like that you are probably tired, more than a little disoriented, and in no shape to go on the run. If you really wanted to get away, it would be in your best interest to do so when you're fully rested. Especially since I'm sure the other guys would be hot on your trail if you left now, yeah." Sakura crinkled her nose at his logic. He was right, and she knew it, but she didn't want to accept it.

Deidara couldn't believe what he saw as the rose haired leaf nin quickly dropped into an offensive stance before her hand dove into her weapons pounch and launched a kunai at him. Instead of hitting him, it really didn't even come anywhere close enough to make him think of dodging, it flew past him. Deidara turned to follow the line of flight of the weapon. The man who's hand he had blown off had been RIGHT behind him with his own weapon drawn, seemingly ready to stab him in the back. Now he was laying on the floor, kunai handle visible between his eyes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O

A figure lurking behind a tree watched as Deidara inflated a large clay bird and the two climbed aboard, leaving behind them the corpses of their opponents. The wolves would smell the blood soon enough, and the other scavengers, the vultures and the crows, would follow closely behind to gorge on any scraps left.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once aboard a giant clay bird Deidara had constructed, they flew lazily back toward the house. While Deidara had put on the facade that he was rushing her, was in no mood to reach the house again. He was, however, in the mood for some answers. He regarded the pinkette sitting across from him, using a small amount of water from her pack to rinse most of the blood off of her arms. What he had seen when she first came into contact with them a few weeks back, the whole debaucle with Sasuke, framed her as weak, in the body and the mind; it framed her a silly girl who was too infatuated, too concerned with boys to being a serious kunoichi, which had gotten her way in over her head to the point where the man she claimed to love almost killed her.

Though he saw glimpses of what could have been talent from her in the short time she had been with them, for instance, her healing herself, as well as putting on a henge that fooled even him, he never would have guessed that she was what he actually saw today. What he had witnessed today was a dangerously efficient killer, who holds strength and intelligence that none of the Akatsuki had even thought to comprehend her capable of. But why? Why underestimate her, even though she is technically the enemy. Could it be that she wanted them to perceive her that way? Was the helpless, airheaded girl facade all an act? Could he necessarily put it past her? It would be the perfect infiltration move, one that would knock them on their asses, yeah.

No, there was no way. She was too smart to let someone blow a goddamned whole through her chest on the offchance that she wouldn't die right away, or that Itachi would have carted her back to the house, yeah. And no Hokage of any kind would give such orders to her subordinate, to her apprentice no less. Perhaps the whole thing with the Uchiha's younger brother was a fluke. Or maybe that was the dynamic those two shared? He probably wouldn't just guess the answer. He would have to get her to slip up and tell him something.

And if she was trying to infiltrate them? What would he do then? Would he expose her, or just let her work at whatever cracks she could find? He never wanted to join this damn organization to begin with; might as well let her destroy it if she could, yeah. And if she gets caught, pretend he was none the wiser.

"You know I won't tell anyone, yeah," he called over to her. Her narrowed green eyes flicked to him suspiciously. "You know, that you're not weak. I see what you're trying to do." Colour flushed to her face and she looked down, eyebrows knitted together with a sour look. Instead of answering him, she took to roughly shoving her equipment into her apron, and they fell into silence once more. Deidara shrugged and turned his gaze to the direction they were headed. It was understandable for her to be upset. She had an undercover mission, and she had blown it. Granted, if she hadn't shown her true capabilities in their skirmish, she probably would have died, but failure was never something he took to easily either. She could also maybe be regretting killing the armless wonder. Deidara was the only one that knew about her abilities. The medic nin would have no problem getting through the rest of her mission if the only one who could blow her cover was dead. But she didn't let him die. Now that was typical leaf nin. Saving the life of an enemy.

On the opposite side of the bird, Sakura fumed. Not only had she revealed her abilites to a very dangerous man, but this man was also an enemy to her village. Over the last few weeks, living in a what could be relatively normal home minus the maniacs inside of it, she almost easily forgot how much of a psychopath her blonde companion really is. At home, he seems relatively harmless with a naughty sense of humor that reminded her of the bad boy that most girls would typically fall for: good looking and mischevious.

However, remembering the look on his face in response to the shouted pleas of their opponents, the wickedness that put a gleam in his eye and pulled a smile onto his face made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Sakura turned her gaze unconciously towards Deidara. What was he playing at. Was he really not going to tell any of the Akatsuki? Why? And at what price?

"I don't understand. Why would you do that?" Unable to stand the questions rolling around in her brain, she mumbled it so softly he almost didn't hear it over the whistle of the wind.

"Well, if you are trying to break the foundation of the Akatsuki, I would help you in any way I can. I never wanted to be a part of this crap anyway, okay?" A thin pink eyebrow raised.

"And what would you get out of that?" For a moment, when Sakura looked at Deidara, he looked faraway, as if he wasn't on a giant clay bird discussing mutiny with an enemy kunoichi, but someplace else.

'Probably on the back on this giant bird,' Sakura thought with an inward snort. Noticing her blonde companion was not answering her, Sakura leaned over and waved a petite hand in front of his face. He started and fell back onto his hand, the other flying up to his scope, which, Sakura realized comically, was still zoomed, focused on their destination.

"Sorry," she giggled as he gave her a sour look knowing that the source of her amusement was his encounter with dozens of her pores. Deidara huffed through his nose.

"I'm tired of taking orders and doing crap that I don't want to do, okay?"

"Then why become a ninja? Our whole life is taking orders." Sakura said, thinking with chagrin that it was BECAUSE of orders that she was in this position in the first place.

"As a kid, was THAT what was on your mind when you thought about becoming a ninja, hm? No. What I really want is to be able to experience a higher level of art, and I cannot be a true artist when my creativity is controlled by another, hn." Sakura nodded her understanding and fell silent, not sure of what to say next. She had no way of guaranteeing his trust, but he could easily blow her cover if he wanted. What would be the point of stringing her along under the pretense of aiding her.

"So you would rather become a rogue nin again? Wouldn't there be safety in numbers?" Deidara shrugged his shoulders.

"I was doing just fine on my own before the Akatsuki caught wind of me. It's easier to disappear as one person. That, and you only have to worry about your own crap, yeah."

"You don't want to worry about having a teammate's back to watch, so you're going to do that for an enemy nin. That makes total sense," Sakura deadpanned looking up towards the sky. A chuckle reached her ears. Slate blue met bottle green, and Deidara grinned widely and genuinely.

"Means to an end, you'll have to do." Sakura rolled her eyes, breaking their eye contact. "That is, if what you're doing will work."

Sakura turned to Deidara, all mirth gone from her eyes. "Oh believe me, it'll work."

The click-click of two pairs of women's boot heels could be heard traveling swiftly through the hallway, and a barked order echoed off of the laminate floor.

"Keep up, girl." All those that the pair encountered pulled their clipboards close to their chests and pressed their bodies to the walls to avoid be run over.

"Hai, shishou." Haruno Sakura answered breathlessly, quickening her stride to keep up with her Hokage. Tsunade pushed through a door leading to a small room with a large basin sink which she approached, placing her foot on the petal beneath. As water streamed through the faucet head, the busty blonde let water fall over her arms. Her petal haired companion followed suit, using a scrub brush to attack her skin with betadine.

"Haruno, what can you tell me of the pituitary and the hormones it secretes." Without hesitation and with the memory of a practiced medical student, Sakura quickly answered her mentor as she formed her mask to her nose.

"The pituitary is a small endocrine gland located in the brain connected with hypothalamus. The adenohypophysis secretes a number of hormones, which include FSH, LSH, ACTH, TSH, prolactin, and HGH. The neurohypophysis secretes antideuretic hormone and oxytocin."

"Very good," Tsunade nodded, heading through another door into the OR, where she was met by a scrub nurse who held out an open glove for her. "Tell me about an important instance in which oxytocin is involved."

"Oxytocin," Sakura repeated. "Is important for uterine contractions during labour. It is known to be released during breastfeeding. Women feel the 'Letting down' of milk. Oxytocin is release into the mother and into the breast milk, where the infant ingests it. This creates a pair response between during mother and child." She approached their patient, having been gloved herself, noting him prepped and ready. Tsunade's honeyed eyes peered at her over her mask.

"And another situation in which oxytocin is release that causes a pair reponse?" She prompted.

"During orgasm, oxytocin is released, creating a drive for monogomy and pair bonding." Her green eyes drifted to Tsunade's hands, which had begun to glow with probing for the overgrowth of cells, a tumor, plaguing the very gland they spoke of.

"And do you suppose, Haruno, that this paired response could be used as an advantage to a kunoichi?" Sakura's eyes found Tsunade's again, her own breath feeling too hot, too thick behind the mask which she now wore as a precaution in case they needed to open their patient if chakra failed. She felt constricted behind the barrier, her hands itching to rip it off to get well needed oxygen, but instead, she calmly replied.

"Yes, shishou." It wasn't a week later that she recieved her first red scroll.