A/N: I suppose you'd classify this as a drabble, but I'm not sure...it's not quite a oneshot. ^^; Anywho I wrote this awhile back because of my love for DeiSaku.

WARNING: Manga spoilers ahead for those not up-to-date

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto. If I did, it wouldn't be pretty with the amount of shipping I do...XD

Sakura felt the pain of the kunai entering her back. She heard her sensei cry out her name even as she fell to the ground, paralyzed. The blood flowed from her wound, but she could no longer feel it. Her world turned black, though her ears still worked, albeit, everything was garbled to her fuzzy mind.

Sasuke twisted the knife so that when Sakura fell unmoving to the ground, he still had it in his hand. The look on Hatake's face was priceless. He felt a rush of heady vindication; maybe, just maybe, he would get a taste of what he felt.

But this isn't Sasuke's story, this is wholly another's altogether. Sakura, wasn't dead…yet. She was close, though. She should have been fine, she wasn't the Hokage's apprentice for nothing after all. She was the greatest medic-nin of her generation. So why didn't she heal herself, you may ask?

Well, to any who know her story, it should be obvious. She loved Sasuke. After all this time, she still loved him. She loved him even as she slowly bled to death, felled by his hand. It was masochistic, yes, to love such a one as him, but who ever said that love made sense? Love is blind.

She didn't feel it when Naruto arrived on the scene, a fraction too late to save her from the death blow. He momentarily forgot Sasuke altogether when he saw her prone form on the ground, the tan cloak twisted and dark with blood. Her pink hair fanned about her head like some sort of twisted halo stained with the crimson life-sustaining liquid.

Karin was witness to everything. She knew her beloved Sasuke-kun was not the same man he was when these people had been his team…his family. She was so weak herself, saved by the girl now dying or dead on the ground from a blow by the man they both loved. A life for a life, how ironic.

She was the enemy…but those tears. Why had she been crying? Her eyes flickered to the body on the ground and then to the battle raging not far away. She felt…oddly detached. Her Sasuke-kun was in danger….she still loved him but…he'd broken what trust she'd had in him.

Slowly Karin crept forward, wincing with every movement. She knew she shouldn't be moving, but then, she felt like she owed the other girl at least some sort of company while she died. Karin was under no illusion that she could save Sakura. She wasn't trained, and would probably die if she tried.

She reached Sakura's side and placed a shaking hand on the girl's shoulder to run her over. Her green eyes were closed, her skin still warm. Curiously, Karin reached over and felt or Sakura's pulse in her neck. It was weak, but there. She sighed and slumped down. She was so tired, so very very tired.

Idly she grabbed the other girl's hand and squeezed. It was gesture of comfort, the least she could do. If the pinkette was alive, she might be able to feel it.

Sakura had always wondered what happened when you died. Did you go to paradise, or hell? Was everyone equal in death?

She was aware of her body, and of herself. For even as she walked in this new scenery, she knew she wasn't dead, not yet. At least this didn't seem like hell.

She was in a garden. In the far distance there was a gate. A few others were wandering around. They didn't seem to see her and she didn't recognize them. They mostly seemed thoughtful, some sad. Some even happy.

A little girl stood far off and an echo of laughter reached Sakura's ears as she watched the child clap with delight over a glowing butterfly that rose from a flowering bush.

She smiled. It was as if a blanket of peace had settled over her soul. Of course, if she was dead, or at least this close, she had no reason to worry over the living.

Sakura sat down and watched the sky. Shikamaru would have liked it here, she thought. The clouds were perfect. She drifted in her thoughts for awhile.

When some time had passed, a presence made itself known to her as it settled down next to her body in the grass. She glanced up, and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar sight.

It wasn't that she didn't know the man. It was just…well how well did you really know your enemy? But they weren't enemies…not anymore. It was as she'd hoped. All was equal in death.

"Fancy seeing you here, yeah." he said, leaning nonchalantly back on his hands and smirking slightly.

Sakura hummed and sighed. "Yeah…"

The quiet stretched out a little longer, then "You're really close." he said, peering more closely at her, his hair shifting so she caught a glimpse of a vivid blue eye underneath the curtain of gold.

She looked at him questioningly.

"I can tell you're not dead yet, un." he said. Sakura shrugged.

"So, what happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

She didn't mind. It was nice to have a companion in death.

"Sasuke." she said, it was only one word, but really, what else could she say? She knew he'd understand. After all, Sasuke had killed him too. Deidara scowled and crossed his arms over his chest irritably. "Did you at least get him before he got you, yeah?" Sakura almost felt like laughing. It was too cute to see him pouting like he was. She shook her head.

"Damn." he said, obviously taking her movement for an answer. She didn't correct him.

He looked so miffed about it that she had to ask, "Why do you care?" He looked at her in surprise and shifted a bit restlessly.

"Well. I mean. Un." he said, flustered.

"You want to get back at him for your death?" she asked curiously. Deidara frowned at this and shook his head. "No. It's just that. It doesn't seem right, yeah." She blinked uncomprehendingly and he sighed, frustrated with himself.

"I mean, my death at his hands was okay. I did a lot of things I'm not proud of. I miss some things, but in a way it's nice to sit back and see the world from this angle, here yeah. But you…" he trailed off and appraised her openly. She blushed.

Things were not hidden here and now she realized that this man had felt an attraction for her in life that had also apparently transferred in his death.

Her chest constricted as he reached over to finger a lock of her pink hair and then brush a hand along her cheek-bone. It was the most intimate gesture he could have made here, or anywhere. For here, the boundaries of flesh were missing and it was two souls that met and touched. And when two souls meet, everything is understood.

There were tears in her eyes and he looked angry, but with his hands on her face and his thumbs brushing the tears away from her eyes she knew he wasn't angry with her. With her team, Sasuke, and even himself, but not her, never her.

"Don't cry, yeah." he said, pulling her closer in to his arms. She sobbed anyway.

It wasn't fair.

She had missed this connection in life because of..well stupid things! How he'd grown up hating Konoha and how she'd grown hating Akatsuki. They never had a chance.

For it was clear now, so heartbreakingly crystal clear that this was the man who completed her. Her soul mate, though even that term was not enough.

Then the small but solid thread that connected her to her living body pulsed and she found herself suddenly fading from the death. Deidara's eyes widened as she literally vanished in to thin air, leaving his arms empty and his heart aching.

So she wasn't dead, yet. There was one good thing. He hoped she kicked that Uchiha's ass. In the mean time he would wait. Second chances weren't given often, but he could hope. Of course, she might not remember what happened...it all depended on what the kamis wanted.