Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Evanescence ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Title: Evanescence
Author: Isis101
Anime/Manga: Naruto
Character Pairing: Sakura Haruno and Deidara
Rating: M (Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with possible strong but non-explicit adult themes, references to violence, and strong coarse language.)
Genre: Romance/Action
Type: Continuous (Incomplete)
AU/Canon: Canon up to manga Chapter 363 and then deviates though there may be references to subsequent canon plot throughout.
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong exclusively to Masashi Kishimoto and I do not profit from this work.
Spoilers: CONTAINS SPOILERS! This fanfic will contain some major spoilers for anyone who has not read at least up to Chapter 363 of the manga as I will most likely (if not certainly) be trying to follow canon as best I can, with the obvious diversions that are needed to make a Sakura/Deidara fanfic. It comes in at Chapter 363 though so if you read up to there you should be okay, understanding wise. Possible references to current plot spoilers, so be warned.
Summary: On the verge of death and unrecognisable due to numerous burns, Deidara is taken back to Konoha by the compassionate, and oblivious, Sakura. Stuck there because his injuries, Deidara must hide his identity to survive.

A/N: The first part of this chapter is quoted directly from the manga (Chapter 363). Of course, the actions/thoughts of the characters are mine though they are based on the pictures and words provided in the manga.

Please see my profile page for regular updates on my progress for all of my fanfictions. Thank you!

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Four figures stood on the fingers of a giant statue: one on the right thumb, one on the right middle finger, one on the right ring finger, and one on the left ring finger.

Three were men with the one female located on the middle finger of the right hand. They were all silent as they waited for the arrival of the rest of their members. In the meantime, Rinnengan eyes swept slowly across the room, observing the ones supposedly under his command.

Finally, another member arrived bearing the news they had been waiting for.

The apparition of his form showed the tall, green, leaf-like structures that surrounded his black and white face. When he spoke, it was with no infliction of feeling toward the subject.

“Deidara died. He finally went out with a bang.”

The others took the news quite well.

“Ah, we lost another member…” said a fish-like man on the left ring finger. “I think he was quite strong.” Kisame shrugged it off. What was another member? After all, they had already lost three others to Konoha.

On the opposite finger, a red-eyed man remained silent, choosing instead to observe the exchange between Zetsu, which was the plant-like man’s name, and Kisame, the fish-like one.

“So, which did he lose to…? Sasuke… or Kyuubi’s jinchuuriki?” Kisame continued.

Itachi, the red-eyed man, wondered the same thing. Vaguely curious, he looked over as Zetsu answered.

“Sasuke. But…” Zetsu paused and glanced over at Itachi.

…

“Sasuke died too.”

…

Itachi said nothing in light of the news of his brother’s death. No emotion flickered across his blank eyes.

“Killed himself along with Sasuke…” Kisame sighed.

“Be grateful of him, Itachi.” Everyone turned when their leader with the Rinnengan eyes spoke. “Deidara gave his life to eliminate trouble.”

Kisame suddenly got a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. “Hmm… we’re forgetting something…”

Zetsu saved him the trouble of thinking too deeply by answering his unasked question.

“Tobi apparently died. Deidara exploded with Tobi nearby.”

Kisame smiled, revealing rows of sharp pointed teeth.

“Ya, ya, it was Tobi…” His grin dimmed to one of admiration. “But he was good at running and he couldn’t get away in time… Must’ve been a big jutsu.”

The leader, Pein, once again interrupted the musings of his partners in crime. “It’s fine… A man of that level is easy to acquire. Deidara was precious though…”

Kisame remembered Tobi’s cheerfulness and sought to defend the youthful man.

“The ability to turn a gloomy organization cheerful, Tobi was skilled at that.”

Ignoring Kisame’s comment, Pein began to return his mind to his body waiting back in Amegakure.

“I’m going…”

He paused long enough to give one parting thought.

“At least mourn for Deidara quietly.”

With that, all of the few remaining Akatsuki members disappeared as their jutsu’s were released.

Eight shinobi slunk wearily through the gates of Konoha. Most were barely able to continue walking at the slow pace at which they were moving. Exhausted physically and emotionally, they were only slightly heartened by the sight of their home village.

The blond in the lead mumbled distractedly to himself, still recovering from the shocks that they had all been dealt earlier that day.

“How could he do that?” The barely audible whisper still managed to reach the keen ears of his newest sensei and pink haired teammate. They were walking on either side of him and had been silently supporting him from collapsing.

The female spoke up in answer, “He’s abandoned us, Naruto.” Her voice trembled at the memory of her old crush’s ultimate betrayal. “He tried to kill you… he tried to kill us all.” She paused long enough to draw a shaky breath. “And he nearly succeeded.”

Naruto looked up at his long-time comrade. Her face was still streaked from the tears that had flowed freely down her cheeks only a little while earlier. Still, she had handled it better than he had.

He looked down in shame.

He had let the Kyuubi get control of his body once again and he had nearly caused as much damage to his teammates as Sasuke and the rest of Hawk had. If Yamato hadn’t been there… He didn’t know what he would have done.

Now he was being half carried back into Konoha, his body well past the point of giving out, as he fought to stay awake. Not to mention the numerous wounds and bruises covering his body.

All of the eight ninjas were covered with them. Luckily, Sakura had managed to heal the majority of the serious wounds, but, unlike him, she only had a limited supply of chakra.

Sensing Naruto’s depressive thoughts but at a loss as to how to cheer him up, Sakura summoned her medical chakra to her fingers and gently brushed them over his forehead as if in a friendly gesture. She turned her gaze back to the rest of her comrades and fellow shinobi, as Naruto succumbed to the blissful realms of sleep at her touch.

Kakashi was also barely hanging on to consciousness as he slumped on top of Akamaru with Kiba walking alongside them. The overuse of the Sharingan and activation of the Magekyou Sharingan had put a strain on Kakashi’s eye that even she couldn’t heal with her depleted chakra reserves and so far from Konoha.

Kiba and Akamaru, luckily, had only received a few serious cuts during the battle that she had been able to heal easily. They had fought alongside Hinata against the ex-Mist swordsman, Suigetsu. It had been a real shock when he had turned up wielding Zabuzza’s old blade, Kubikiri Hôchô. Luckily though, Kiba and Hinata worked well together, being on the same team since they were genins.

However, because Hinata fought extremely close with her gentle fist technique, she had sustained many heavier injuries. She had received four sliced ribs, which Sakura had healed, her right arm was still broken, and her left shoulder was still dislocated. The brachial artery in her right arm had been severed and she had received serious head trauma from an impact to her scull, both of which had been healed to the best of her ability, but she was afraid that the cut on her arm would scar badly and there was still the risk of a concussion. Sakura hadn’t seen the hit to her head but she had heard it. As far as she was concerned, Hinata was lucky to be alive. They all were.

On the other hand, Shino and Sai, being long-distance fighters, had managed to only sustain a few serious injuries and broken bones in their fight with Juugo. Thankfully, they had managed to use their long distance techniques to avoid most of Juugo’s deadly, transforming body parts. The necessary ones she had healed right away but Sai’s right hand had been crushed and still contained many broken bones. She had stopped the pain but she didn’t have enough chakra to heal everyone and all the broken bones in Sai’s hand. Broken bones were always a pain to heal. She wasn’t sure if Sai would ever be able to draw again with that hand.

Shino, of course, had assured her that his bugs would be able to take care of any injuries he received himself. For once, she was grateful for those creepy bugs.

Kakashi had once again miraculously survived with minimal physical injuries (other than his eye) and had insisted on her focusing on the others rather than him. Sakura, however, had the suspicion that he had simply not wanted her to treat the deep cut across his face, which would have required the removal of his ever-present mask. He rode on Akamaru now because of the toll that the use of his Sharingan had taken on him.

She herself had fought with Kakashi against Karin, but the annoying red head had been more interested in drooling over Sasuke than fighting a weak kunoichi like her. That had pissed the hell out of her and she swore that if she ever saw Karin again she’d kick her skinny little ass all the way back to Sound. But, she couldn’t really blame her for being obsessed with Sasuke. After all those years of training, Sasuke’s body was no longer that of a 12-year old. Sakura knew exactly what Karin was feeling, having felt the same way years before. Now though, while she still cared about Sasuke and wished he would come back, she didn’t love him anymore – if it had even been love to begin with. Likely, it had been more of an infatuation than anything. She had gotten over Sasuke a while ago but he was obviously still important to Naruto, so she would still fight her hardest to bring him back, if only to make Naruto happy. After all, Naruto was one of her best friends, despite his annoying habits. He was one of her important people – as he would say – and she would fight for him until the bitter end just like she would for the rest of her important people. And eventually, they would really bring Sasuke back. They had promised each other that they would.

It scared her though sometimes, the power of the Kyuubi. Yamato had had his hands full, especially during the battle, while trying to keep the fox contained. Somehow, Yamato had been so busy keeping Naruto in check and everyone else from being killed by the fox that he hadn’t even had the chance to fight Hebi at all. Sakura mentally shook her head at the absurdity of it all.

Sakura, being a medic, had simply healed all of her own serious injuries during the battle, so by the end she was the least injured of them all.

Looking back on it, Sakura recalled the shocking news that they had all received during their long searching mission. Orochimaru was dead, Sasuke had collected a rag-tag band of followers to help him kill Itachi (which he had accomplished, surprisingly enough) and Madara Uchiha was alive.

How the hell that was even possible Sakura had no idea. She was stunned, floored, thrown for a loop, and what ever else you wanted to call it. From what she had learned from studying the old scrolls, Madara Uchiha was one of the founders of Konoha but he had been eventually killed by the First Hokage because of his corruption and his attempt to take complete control of Konoha. He was supposed to be insanely strong and the first of the Uchiha clan to master and wield the Magekyou sharingan.

She knew, of course, about Orochimaru’s immortality jutsu but this was just ridiculous. She didn’t know what thoughts Itachi was putting into Sasuke’s head but that was just downright impossible. He had to be almost 150 years old! Ew.

Sakura…

At any rate, they had a lot of information to present to Tsunade.

Sakura.

She would probably be shocked at the news about Madara. Sakura just hoped she wouldn’t send them off on another mission for a long, long, time.

“Sakura.”

Or at least until she could rest up a bit and do some real girl stuff for once.

“Sakura!”

BAM!

Sakura finally snapped to reality only to find Naruto lying in a pile of rubble at the base of the steps to the Hokage Tower. Evidently he had woken up only to be knocked back out again by her chakra-laced punch.

“Oops! Sorry about that, Naruto,” Sakura apologized to her unconscious friend, not at all sympathetic. After all, he had disrupted her fantasies about long, hot baths and actual food.

Stepping around him, and the piles of rock and wood, Sakura headed up the stairs to be de-briefed and finally get this exhausting mission over with. The rest of her friends and teammates followed after her. Only Hinata stopped and tried, unsuccessfully, to bring Naruto back to the world of consciousness. Yamato ended up having to go back and carry Naruto all the way to the Hokage’s office, where he was promptly deposited on the floor.

And then the de-briefing began.

Sakura was actually looking forward to her new mission despite not getting her time for a little R and R.

“Slow down, ugly.”

Then again, Tsunade’s choice of teammates was still severely lacking. This time she just had to pick the worst combination of shinobi possible.

Though, the sound of Sai being thrown with extreme force through a forest of dense trees was oddly soothing.

Her current team consisted of herself; Sai, who was currently racing to catch up after receiving one of Sakura’s infamous chakra-laced punches; Lee…ugh, the guy just wouldn’t stop flirting with her. She glanced back just in time to see Lee giving Sai another of his flashing smiles and thumbs up, his teeth still managing to sparkle in the non-existent sunlight.

Sakura shivered in horror. With Sai’s socially impressionable mind and Lee’s youthfulness, things could not go well for the pink-haired kunoichi.

Now, where was she? Oh, yes…

Shikamaru, the lazy ass. And no, she was not jealous just because he had beaten her by 5% on their last written exam. She was jealous because even a lazy guy like him had a girlfriend while she had yet to have one decent boyfriend. Not to mention that this mission was too troublesome for him and Tsunade had had to threaten him with telling Temari to force him to go, which meant that he was going to be complaining the entire way there and the entire way back.

Sakura grumbled. How frustrating.

Finally, their little team of four would soon be meeting up with Neji as he returned from a solo-scouting mission to Sound, completing their five-man squad.

Which brought Sakura back to the mission they had been given. After training under her all these years, Sakura could tell something had been bothering Tsunade when she had been given the mission.

After going over every detail and being questioned repeatedly throughout, Sakura was more than ready to head for the comfort of her own little bed. Her muscles, stiff and sore from overuse, screamed at her to get some rest. Her stomach was literally howling for food.

In front of her, Tsunade was still prodding for more information.

“I’m sorry,” Yamato pleaded, equally ready to leave. “There is nothing more to tell. That’s all that Sasuke said – every word.”

Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair. Automatically she reached for the bottle of sake hidden away in the bottom drawer.

“Tsunade,” Shisune scolded. “No sake. You still have the council meeting to go to.”

The young-looking, old woman swore under her breath and grumbled something about stingy assistants.

Sakura rolled her eyes. A typical day in Konoha.

But enough was enough.

“Alright, shishou,” she said half turning toward the door in anticipation. “I’ll see you in the hospital tomorrow.”

She smiled her most unassuming smile and inched toward her freedom. “Ja ne.”

“Sakura.”

Damn. So close.

She turned back hesitantly, a false smile planted tightly on her face.

“Yes?”

The Fifth Hokage smiled at her from behind her desk. “I have some paperwork I need you to do.”

Sakura grimaced.

“It might take a while,” she added.

Great.

Four hours later, Sakura placed the last paper on the neat, finished stack beside her. Stretching and yawning widely, she gratefully stood and made her way to the door. A comfy bed waited just within sight.

“Just a minute, Sakura,” Tsunade called out behind her just as Sakura’s hand was turning the doorknob.

“What, shishou?” Sakura grumbled, too tired to do anything else.

“I need you to go on another mission tomorrow,” she explained, not looking up from the piece of paper she had laid out in front of her.

“What?” Sakura yelled. “I just came back from a mission – a long mission. I need a break!”

Tsunade looked up. “Well I need someone to go on this mission and as you and only a couple others are physically capable of going, you have to do it.”

“This is so unfair,” Sakura groaned.

Tsunade picked up a scroll from beside her and handed it to Sakura.

“This is the mission and who will be going on it. No arguments. Good luck.”

Sakura waited for more but Tsunade just went back to staring at the paper before her and didn’t say another word. All it looked like were a bunch of random numbers to Sakura but Tsunade was staring at them intently.

“Um… shishou?” Sakura started.

“What are you waiting for, Sakura? Get going,” Tsunade said, frowning.

Tired and confused, Sakura left the Hokage alone in her office.

At home, she dropped the scroll as she passed her table without opening it, walked into her bedroom, and immediately collapsed onto the bed. Rolling onto her side, she was asleep in minutes, the scroll promptly forgotten.

Sakura had found the scroll on her kitchen table the next morning. Sighing heavily, she had broken the seal and unfurled the paper only to read that she should have left the night before.

Swearing heavily and mentally kicking herself, she raced around furiously trying to gather her teammates and all their equipment before Tsunade noticed that they hadn’t left yet.

An hour later, they were ready to go and Tsunade was there to see them off. After a rigorous scolding, they set off with Shikamaru in the lead.

The blast site was huge. Almost two acres of forest had been decimated by the blast caused by Deidara’s explosion. The last time Sakura had been there, she had been so absorbed in the desperate search for Sasuke that she had failed to absorb the full impact of what the Akatsuki member, Deidara, had done.

Now she took the time to admit that a large amount of charka would have been needed to make a crater this large. Kind of impressed, she contemplated the blond Akatsuki who had been the source of that raw power. She didn’t know why the bomb expert had joined the criminal organization but now she knew why they had wanted him.

That was when she sensed the slow pulse of fading chakra near the crater’s center. Thinking it was just remnants from the blast, she went down alone to investigate as the others roamed about above, examining the destruction closely once again for any sign of their favourite rogue shinobi.

She didn’t see the body until she was nearly upon him. About two feet away, she stared at the burnt mass, moving slightly with each shallow, rasping breath. How they hadn’t sensed him before she had no idea.

Medical training kicking in, Sakura immediately discarded the idea that this was the Akatsuki member that had caused the explosion as it was impossible for anyone to survive such a blast. She chose instead to believe that it was only some shinobi who had happened to be nearby when the blast took place and who had rolled down the steep sides of the crater afterwards. There were no recognizable marks or clothing to identify her patient and only the flailing chakra told her it was a shinobi lying before her.

There was no way that she could have known that she was about to give aid to that very Akatsuki member, who had impossibly survived the explosion meant to take both his own life and that of his opponent. In both ways, Deidara had failed.

Instead, Sakura only saw a badly injured patient and she immediately went to work. So absorbed was she in keeping him alive, that she even neglected to inform her teammates of her discovery.

His heart gave out twice and his chakra dimmed to a mere flicker that could barely sustain him, but Sakura was an accomplished medic-nin and she had been trained by the fifth hokage herself. After some breathless moment, she knew that he would live.

It hurt. It hurt everywhere. Every muscle, bone, molecule of his being was in excruciating agony. He was on fire, being burnt alive in a raging inferno that would never end. His mind could only focus on the pain with only the rare coherent thought escaping its hold.

Sasuke…His mind whispered. The boy he had been fighting.

Dead, it said. He must be. He could not have outrun that blast, his final explosion.

Blessed relief washed through him, followed inevitably by the pain. It consumed him.

Her medical chakra flowed easily through her hands, glowing with emerald light as it entered the near-death body in front of her. Kneeling on the ground, Sakura healed and strengthened the heart, lungs, and other essential organs needed to function, and she kept the remaining chakra from fading completely by feeding it some of her own. That would come with a price, she knew, but she refused to let any of her patients die when she was still able to help them.

When the man’s heart was beating strongly once more, his breathing was slow and steady, and his chakra was no longer in danger of giving out, Sakura began numbing the surely mind-wrenching pain. She did not have enough chakra left to heal the severe burns or replace the lost tissue after depleting her supply only the day before during her previous mission, but she could make it bearable for the man now under her care. It was the least she could do.

When she could do no more, she became aware of her surroundings once again to find herself still alone, exhausted, and nearly out of chakra. Keenly aware of the danger she had just put herself in; she frantically cast about for her teammates. About a mile away, she sensed Neji scanning the horizon with his byakugan. A pulse of chakra later and Neji was moving swiftly back to her location after alerting the others.

Waiting patiently for her teammates to arrive, Sakura took the chance to examine her patient again. No clothing or any items he must have carried were left. It was physically impossible that his body had survived while any metal he surely must have been carrying did not. She reasoned that something must have protected his body from the worst of the blast, otherwise he would not have survived. His chakra maybe, she mused, which would explain why it was so low.

His entire body was covered in third-degree burns that needed to be cleaned, disinfected and wrapped in bandages as soon as possible, at least until she could get her chakra back or they could make it back to Konoha. Surely Tsunade would allow her to return without completing the mission in order to save a fellow shinobi. If it turned out that he was from an unfriendly village, it would at least give them someone to interrogate, as much as she hated the concept of turning a patient over to interrogation. She was grateful that she was not one of the medics assigned to heal Konoha’s prisoners after they were tortured by the ruthless Ibiki.

However, they would not be able to know for sure until either the man regained consciousness – which she doubted would happen anytime soon – or he was healed enough to compare his face with those in the black book. Currently, she could not even tell the colour of his hair or eyes because he had no hair left and his eyelids were burned shut.

Absently, she wondered what colour they were.

When he first felt the pain fading and the soothing feeling of medical chakra passing through him, he thought he was either hallucinating or finally dying.

This is it, he thought, finally an end to the pain.

Grateful for the relief, he let the power wash through his injured body, taking away the pain. He could not feel his body or its surroundings through the encroaching numbness; didn’t even know if he still had a body.

Blissful, he let his mind drift and true unconsciousness took him.

His last thought before going under was of freedom from the pain.

The man moaned in pain.

When Neji and Lee had moved the man’s body onto her makeshift stretcher, he had moaned. Her numbing chakra must have been wearing off already.

When her teammates had reached the crater’s center, they had immediately moved him into the forest where Sakura had proceeded to build a stretcher to carry her patient on while the others discussed the situation.

Sakura had decided that the man was too injured for her to just carry him over her shoulder so she needed the stretcher in order to transport him safely, and because of that, she needed another person to aid her in conveying him home.

As she had predicted, Lee had volunteered as soon as she had expressed her need.

Together, they would ferry the patient to Konoha’s hospital where Sakura would stay to further heal the man and Lee would head back to regroup with the team as they continued on their mission. Sakura did not regret the loss of the opportunity to search for Sasuke.

As far as she was concerned, it had been his choice to leave, and as long as he didn’t betray Konoha’s secrets to her enemies, she was content with letting him stay out there. Had Naruto not been absolutely crushed when he left, she would have said so too. As it was, it was would be best if he just stayed gone.

When Naruto had found out that Sasuke had successfully killed Itachi, albeit with a fair amount of injury to himself, she had seen the spark of hope that had flared to new life in his eyes. And she had seen it wither and die when Sasuke had again refused to return, despite having accomplished his primary goal. He had claimed to have a new objective but had not said what it entailed. Sakura had her suspicions, but she would not voice them until they were confirmed, for Naruto’s sake. She could do that much for her friend.

Traveling at a rapid pace, anxious to seek further medical attention for her new patient, Sakura reflected on Naruto’s unwavering determination to see the good in Sasuke that was no longer there.

Naruto was not blind, she knew that, but he still could not accept the fact that one of his first true friends had betrayed him and he would not stop doing so until Sasuke had returned or one of them was dead. Sakura hoped it would not come to that, though she knew in her heart that it probably would. There was no other way because Sasuke would never return of his own free will and he would not allow himself to be captured. One of them would have to die and she could only pray that it was Naruto who survived. She could not defeat Sasuke herself at her current skill level but she sure as hell would try.

They reached Konoha in record time that day.

Sakura didn’t stop to check in with Tsunade when she and Lee arrived in their home village. Instead, she informed Lee that they had to bring the unknown man directly to the hospital or he wouldn’t make it. While this was partly true – the man desperately needed medical attention – Sakura knew that he was actually stable for now and that he would probably have lasted the time that it would have taken her to meet with the Hokage. But Sakura had simply not wanted to have to deal with all of the paperwork that Tsunade would have made her do just to bring her patient into the village when she should be healing him. She also didn’t want to take her chances on the slight risk that he wouldn’t last that long; she wasn’t about to lose a patient over political niceties.

Lee, of course, had followed her every word, infatuated as he was. She felt a twinge of guilt, using him like this, but she promised herself that she would make it up to him later. Maybe she could ask him to train with her later as her own newly-developed fighting style would be a good test against his special brand of taijutsu.

Bypassing the check-in desk with a wave of her hand, the two shinobi carried the stretcher bearing her patient into an empty room and transferred the unconscious man onto the waiting bed.

“Tell reception that I need chakra pills and surgical equipement, and then you can meet with Tsunade to explain what’s happened,” Sakura told Lee briskly, as she set up an IV drip.

“Of course,” he replied. “Is there anything else you need?”

“No, that’s it.” She shot a dose of sedative into the IV to keep the man unconscious and free of the pain that she knew he was in.

“Thank you, Lee,” she added.

The green-clothed shinobi said something as he left but Sakura was already too focused on her patient to pay attention.

Getting down to business now that she was back in her own element, she began an examination of what would need to be done immediately and what could be left for after his life was out of danger.

Third-degree burns ranged over his body and, in many places, she could see the white of bone through the blackened skin and muscle. His eyelids were seared shut from the heat and she worried about how much damage might have been done to the eyes behind them.

His lips, or what was left of them, were partly open, allowing him to breathe shallowly. She knew that she would have to attempt to graft or regenerate those lips along with many of his fingers and toes as well as his ears, which had been burned off in the inferno of the explosion. Those cosmetic additions, however, would have to come later.

Preliminary exam done, Sakura dove into her work. She began by strengthening his internal organs. Beginning with his heart, she then shifted her healing chakra to his lungs and then outward to the rest of the organs that were necessary for life.

At some point, a nurse brought in the chakra pills and equipment that she had asked for. She crushed one pill for the man and swallowed one herself. She continued working even as night fell.

After he had been fortified internally, Sakura began working on his most serious external burns. She had to work section by section along his body as it was too much to do all at once. She sterilized and closed the worst of the burns until no more bone could be seen. Already, she could feel her chakra draining swiftly despite the chakra pill that she had taken earlier.

Sakura carefully healed his eyelids so that they would be able open. When she checked underneath, she saw unfocused, sky-blue eyes. Breathing a sigh of relief that there seemed to be no permanent damage to his eyesight, Sakura finally leaned back in the chair that she was sitting in.

The man’s skin was still blackened and he would not be able to move on his own for some time, but his heartbeat was strong and regular, his breathing was even, and the worst of the burns had been prevented from infection. Proud of her work, Sakura started on her final task for the time being.

The sun was rising when she finished wrapping the man’s entire body in clean, white bandages. That done, she finally stood...

...and sat down again as her legs gave out under her body weight. She had been sitting longer than she had realized. Massaging her numb limbs, she attempted to rise again and managed to stumble to the door.

In the hallway, she signalled to a passing nurse.

“Please make sure someone is posted in this room at all times. Notify me immediately if there are any changes to the patient,” she ordered.

The nurse nodded.

“I’ll been in Tsunade’s office,” Sakura added.

The nurse walked away to follow Sakura’s commands while the pink-haired medic-nin made her way to the large office room at the end of the intensive care wing; Tsunade liked to be near the patients that needed her when she was working at the hospital. Usually, however, the Hokage was busy in her main office at the Hokage Tower and didn’t often come down to the hospital unless she had been requested for.

So Sakura was alone when she collapsed onto the cushy couch that Tsunade had placed there for just that purpose. Immediately, the kunoichi fell into a deep sleep, completely exhausted from performing such a demanding healing. Once her chakra had a chance to regenerate, she would start on the long process of repairing the extensive damage that had been done to her patient’s skin.

Deidara drifted in and out of consciousness for two days. Each time his mind tried to surface, it was overwhelmed with pain from all over his body, causing him to escape down into the darkness once more. He had thought of himself as having a high tolerance for pain – he had even continued fighting after both his arms had been torn off once – but the pain from the third degree burns covering his entire body was nothing like he had ever experienced before.

This pain, however, grew less and less intense each time he surfaced until he was finally able to maintain a hold on consciousness. After some time, he was able to open his eyes at last.

The first sight that greeted him was of green eyes surrounded by a wave of pink hair.

“Hi, there,” the face above him said.

Deidara blinked and tried to move his hand up to scrub along his face. But he couldn’t move his arm. He tried the other arm but that wouldn’t move as well.

“You were caught in an explosion,” the pink-haired woman continued. “Do you remember any of that?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat felt dry and cracked and all that came out was a pained rasping.

The woman reached over beside her and only Deidara’s eyes followed her movements since he found that he was also unable to move his head.

“Here,” she said softly, holding a cup of water with a straw up to his mouth. “Drink this.”

He managed to close his lips over the straw with only a slight wince and sucked. The cool water cleared the dryness and bitter taste from his mouth and he drank the liquick quickly.

“Slowly,” the pink-haired woman cautioned gently and Deidara reluctantly slowed his desperate draws on the straw.

Once he had drained the cup, the woman set it back down on the table.

“Alright,” she said. “What’s your name?”

His body may have been out of commission, but Deidara’s mind was as sharp as ever now that he was fully conscious. He recognized the Konoha kunoichi, though he didn’t remember her name, and quickly realized that if he revealed his true identity he would be either killed immediately or imprisoned. It didn’t take too much thought before he decided that he would have to lie in order to save himself and hope that he would be able to make his escape once he was properly healed.

“Ryou,” he lied. “I’m a shinobi from Suna. I was on a mission when I got caught in a sudden blast that knocked me out.”

The kunoichi’s green eyes were sad, yet full of compassion. She didn’t even attempt to question his story.

“It did more than just knock you out, Ryou,” she said softly, slowly, as though she expected him to freak out on her. His injuries must be pretty bad.

“Go on. Just tell be and get it over with and say it.” Deidara braced himself for the worst.

“When I found you, you were barely alive. Your body sustained multiple heavy injuries from the explosion, both internal and external. I repaired the internal damage first so that your life would be out of danger, but there is still external damage that will take time for me to fully heal.”

Deidara would have nodded if he had been able to move. He wasn’t dying at least.

“What is the extent of the external injuries?” He had to know if he would be able to fight his way out of Konoha if necessary. Did he even have legs to walk on or arms to use anymore? He couldn’t tell from his limited point of view.

The pink-haired kunoichi released a sigh. “Your limbs are mostly intact, though some of your fingers and toes will have to be regenerated or replaced depending on the severity of the damage on the surrounding tissue.”

“How many?” he managed to ask.

The woman glanced down at his bandaged body as though making a tally in her head.

“Five toes and seven fingers, as well as the majority of both your ears, and parts of your nose and lips,” she finally said.

Deidara sighed in relief. Well, not as bad as he thought it would be.

Then he sucked in a breath as it hit him that in order to know all this, the kunoichi must have examined him. And if she examined him, then she had probably noticed the large mouth on his chest and the small ones on his palms. And if she had, then his cover was already blown. Shit.

But then again, she hadn’t said anything about it. She also didn’t seem scared or overly cautious around him, though that could have been because he wasn’t able to move at the moment and so she knew that she had nothing to fear.

But then why hadn’t he been placed in a prison cell yet? Maybe he was still too injured to be moved? Or maybe, miracle of miracles, she hadn’t noticed?

Deidara tried to look down at himself but all he could see was an expanse of white bandages covering his body. He tried to sense his own limbs but his sense of touch was severely dulled, likely from both pain medication and the destruction of the nerve endings in his skin. He couldn’t even sense the status of his own body using his chakra as it had yet to fully recover from his overuse of it during those last moments of battle.

All he could tell was that his head was slightly propped up, allowing him to eat and drink without choking.

“You didn’t notice anything strange, did you? About my body, I mean,” Deidara asked.

The kunoichi looked confused as she shook her head in the negative. Thank god, Deidara thought to himself. Apparently the mouths from his kinjutsu hadn’t yet been discovered. Possibly the burns had covered them up, he guessed.

“Strange how?” she asked.

His shoulders tried to move in an instinctual shrug, but only achieved a slight shift that just made Deidara grunt from the resulting lance of pain.

“I just wasn’t sure if the explosion had caused more than burns,” he lied. “I mean, like, what if it was a special bomb from some rogue shinobi that caused mutation or something, hn?” Hey, it was possible.

In fact, that would be an interesting thing to try, Deidara thought.

The woman laughed and the sound of it was bright and cheerful, despite the obvious bags under her eyes that spoke of a lack of sleep.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “It was just a regular explosion as far as we know.”

Well, now Deidara was kind of offended. Just a regular explosion? He made a promise to himself that, one day, he’d show this kunoichi just what a ‘regular’ explosion could do from close-up.

“It was massive though. You’re lucky to be alive after being caught in that thing. It absolutely decimated the surrounding area.”

Deidara detected the awe in the pink-haired kunoichi’s voice as she spoke of his artwork. Okay, maybe he would allow the woman to live a little while longer.

“Who did it?” he asked, wondering what the kunoichi would say about him. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon so he figured that he might as well enjoy himself while he was stuck here.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of him, Ryou. It was the Akatsuki member, Deidara.”

“Yes, I’ve heard of him,” Deidara said, careful to remember to speak about himself in the third person. “He’s the one that creates all of those magnificent explosions, right?”

“Yeah, one of which you were caught in and that very nearly killed you,” the kunoichi scoffed. “And he was the one that created them,” she corrected.

“Was?” Deidara asked, not needing to feign his curiosity.

The woman shrugged. “Apparently that last explosion was a suicide technique. We assume that he died in the blast.”

“I would assume so if it was as large as you say it was. Obviously, I didn’t exactly get a good look at it.” Deidara gestured to his injured body with his eyes.

The kunoichi granted him a small laugh.

“Alright, enough small talk,” she said, clapping her hands together. “I’m here to make sure that you get better, not interrogate you. So I better get working.”

As much as Deidara had been enjoying the small talk – after all, it had pretty much been all about himself – we wasn’t about to complain about being healed.

The kunoichi’s’ hands started glowing with a soft green light as she summoned up her chakra.

When those hands started reaching towards his face, however, Deidara started to panic. If she healed his face, it was possible that she would recognize him even without his kinjutsu visible, which would have been a dead giveaway. And he would be a dead man if they discovered who he really was.

“Wait!” he nearly shouted at her, only remembering to keep his voice level at the last moment.

She frowned. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“No, no,” Deidara said quickly. “I’d just rather you start somewhere more... useful?” He hadn’t meant the last part to come out as a question.

“Uh, sure...” the pink-haired woman said hesitantly. Then she promptly took hold of his left hand and began the arduous process of regenerating the missing fingers before he had a chance to say anything.

Dammit, Deidara swore internally. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Even if she hadn’t noticed up to now, he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to miss the mouth on his palm once the burns were gone.

All the missing-nin could do was lie there and watch as the kunoichi did her job. He was actually surprised by how fast and efficiently she worked. Under her guidance, his missing appendages slowly began to reform, growing bit by bit until a whole finger had reformed on his hand. Once one was completed, she immediately moved on to the next one. Each finger that she healed had the pale pink colour of new skin.

Deidara knew that he would not be able to escape in the condition that he was in now, so, instead of worrying over it, he used the time while she tended on his fingers to observe the kunoichi in front of him.

She was obviously exhausted, he could tell that much just from the bags under her eyes, but he could also see that the muscles in her neck and shoulders were tense from stress or strain. She had been overworking herself lately, and yet, she still continued healing him.

Deidara was kind of impressed at the woman’s fortitude. Or stubbornness, he mused.

Despite her exhaustion, her green eyes were so bright that they resembled emeralds sparkling in the sunlight. He figured that she must love what she did in order to be so focused even when she was clearly exhausted.

Her hair was cut short to her chin with only her forehead protector holding back the pink locks from falling in her face. And that face, with its soft features, only completed the picture of cuteness before him.

But at the same time, he didn’t think anyone would want to tell her that she was cute to her face. There was a determination in her eyes and a hardness to her movements that spoke of long hours of training and a tough past behind her. If one took those aspects into consideration, her cuteness changed into a womanly beauty that could take a man’s breath away.

Deidara’s perusal ended when she finished with his fingers and began working on the skin of his hand.

He held his breath as the skin gradually reformed under her touch, inch by inch.

Then it was done and she held up his hand for his inspection.

“There,” she said. “Good as new.”

And it was. His hand was flawless, all of the scars from his numerous fights gone like they had never existed. Inside, Deidara regretted the loss of those marks; they had been like memories etched into his body.

He held his breath as she turned his hand over.

On his palm was... nothing. There was no mouth to be seen.

Deidara stared at it in shock as that fact processed through his mind. Was his kinjutsu... gone? No, it was supposed to be permanent. It wouldn’t just disappear because of a few – okay, a lot – of injuries.

But maybe that was part of it... After all, the forbidden technique still relied on his chakra, and that had been nearly completely used up in his final explosion against Sasuke. After using up that much chakra, was it possible that it had been unable to stay active?

He had to believe so, because to think otherwise would mean that he had probably lost his clay moulding ability forever. And that was simply not an option.

As the kunoichi watched his reaction to the sight of his hand and nervousness began showing itself on her face.

“What is it? Did I do something wrong?” she asked, glancing at his newly healed hand herself.

“Er, no,” Deidara managed to stammer out. “It’s perfect.”

The kunoichi humphed at his unconvincing reply, but Deidara was too worried to be amused by her pout.

“You’re not acting like its perfect,” she argued. “You know what, whatever. You have a hand and that’s what matters so you’re just gonna have to live with it and like it.”

Deidara blinked at the pink-haired woman’s spunk but didn’t say anything. She rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. I still have to check to make sure it works properly.”

And with that said, she began manipulating his wrist to bend this way and that. Working her way towards the tips of his fingers, she gently, always gently, tested each and every joint and muscle to make sure that they flexed and bent as they should.

Satisfied, she asked, “How’s your sense of touch?”

Then she ran a finger up and down the back of his hand. He could feel her finger as it moved, his sensitive new skin tingling where she touched.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I can feel – Ow!”

Deidara yelped as she pinched his skin hard enough to leave a red mark. Deidara wanted to snatch his hand away from the harpy’s grip but he still couldn’t move his arm.

He growled, “What’d you do that for?”

The devious kunoichi smiled sweetly. “To test your sense of pain.”

“I can sense it alright,” Deidara muttered murderously.

“Good.”

Looking back at his hand, the kunoichi suddenly ran all of her fingers down the entire length of his hand, from the tips of his corresponding digits to his wrist. Had he been able to move, the sensation would have made him shudder.

“And that?”

“Yeah, I can feel that too,” he muttered.

“Great.” She dropped his hand back onto the bed and stood. “Well, that’s it for today. I’m bushed and you need to rest.”

Deidara watched as she stretched her lithe little body in front of him, working out the kinks in her neck and back. Was she trying to tease him on purpose?

“I’ll be back tomorrow and we can work on your other hand then,” she said as she moved toward the door.

Her hand reached toward the handle.

“Wait a second,” he called.

She paused, looking back over her shoulder questioningly at him.

“What’s your name?” He needed to be able to track her down again after he escape so that he could punish her, after all.

She seemed surprised, then sheepish. A rosy hue entered her cheeks.

“Sorry, guess I totally forgot to mention it, didn’t I?” she said, laughing at her own mistake.

“My name is Sakura Haruno.”

Then she swept out the door, closing it firmly behind her.

Well, this is going to be interesting, Deidara thought. Very interesting indeed.