Hey everyone!

It's that time again where I update!!! I had this for a while, but I was slightly stuck on the next chapter and forgot to update!!! Well here it is!!!

Oh, by the way, I have started another DeiSaku, hoping I can finish one of these one day, but it has been on my mind and consuming it. So I am finally writing it. So far it's just their childhood. It is called Hummingbird.

Seriously, go read it. I think that rendition of Deidara is very interesting.

Can't wait till this one comes together too. But until then..

Enjoy

Kure-Tori

Chapter 10

Of Dates and Blondes

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, yeah. Or it would be totally different! Dattebayo!

Naruto was freaking out by now. Sakura was still out on her morning walk, so he couldn't ask her. He didn't know what a date entailed, he didn't know a place wasn't the ramen shop –which he knew Ino would throw a fit over- and he definitely had no clue where a nice place was either.

"Calm down, you're giving me a headache," Deidara said as he watched the other teen pace around the room before glancing back down at his report.

"But I don't know what to do!" Naruto said, "Ino is going to hurt me if I don't get this right! Aniki! Help!"

Naruto looked over to Deidara with a pleading look on his face. He had come to start calling Deidara 'aniki' when no one else was around.

"The hell if I know anything," Deidara scowled, "The most interaction I had with woman were on missions or living here. I am probably as clueless as you are, yeah."

"But you've pretended to be a girl!" Naruto said as he flailed his arms around, "You've got to know a little more then me!"

Deidara sighed as he stopped writing, setting the pen down as looked at Naruto, "Woman are complicated, Naruto. That's all I really know, yeah. But Ino did say what she wanted, didn't she?"

Naruto paused a minute before nodding.

"Then do what she asked for. Take her to lunch-"

"But I don't know of any restaurants that will let me in, dattebayo!"

"She never said you had to take her to a restaurant. You're a good cook, make the food."

"But she's always on a diet!"

Deidara looked at him strangely, "She's a kunoichi, right?"

"Hai."

"Then she shouldn't be on a diet." Deidara said as he went back to working, "It's unhealthy for a kunoichi to not have enough calories to give her energy. She's not a civilian, so she has to give up on such silly things as watching her weight. As long as she trains properly, she shouldn't have a problem."

"Alright," Naruto sighed, "I'll see if I can't convince her. So a picnic?"

"I think girls like that, yeah," Deidara said as he nodded a bit.

"Alright! One thing down! Now, where should I take her?"

"Take her to your most favorite spot, yeah." Deidara said, "That's a no brainer."

"Yosh! Alright, so that fixes most of the problem, but what should I give her? She said she liked flowers and jewelry, but I can't buy flowers since her shop is the only one that sells to me and I can't buy jewelry since none of those shops even let me in." Naruto said with a sigh.

"Hmph," Deidara said with a angry glared, "That's just stupid on their part then, yeah. You aren't the Kyuubi, why treat you like a pariah? It's just stupid, yeah."

"Well I didn't give them much to go on as a kid. Before I became a ninja, I was Konoha's number one prankster. I was able to slip in and out of places without being caught and they would chase me for hours before catching me," Naruto said with a laugh, "Didn't go over very well for the civilians."

Deidara just shot his head up to stare at Naruto, "You would be chased for hours? Who was chasing you?"

Naruto shrugged, "Genin, Chuunin, Jounin, and the occasional ANBU… though it was always Iruka-sensei who caught me."

With that thought Naruto made a face, thinking hard, "I bet that was kinda embarrassing for those guys not even being able to catch a 12 year old."

Naruto didn't seem to notice the clogs in Deidara's brain working over time with that thought. Naruto was a natural at escape. He did it so many times it was probably just another means to an end for him. He was observant and could gleam information quickly and he was small, which was good for ninjas- though most usually were a bit tall and lanky for some reason. He was a little taller then Sakura, but still rather small. Deidara's eyes glowed a bit at the possibility the kid had, but for now, he needed help with his date.

"Naruto, go into my top desk drawer on the left and get me the scroll in it, yeah." Deidara said as he pointed to the desk.

Naruto just looked at him strangely for a second before getting up and doing as he was told. He handed the scroll over to Deidara, who began to look through it. Naruto realized it was a storage scroll.

"This one," Deidara said as he pointed the a seal, "Use your chakra and activate this one, yeah."

Naruto did as he was told and was shocked to see about four or five finely crafted hairpins pop into existence.

"Choose one," Deidara said as he laid them out.

"But-"

"You want to give her something, and I don't really use these, but their still nice, yeah. How about the one with lilacs?"

Deidara held out a silver hair pin with purple gems twisted into it in the shape of lilacs. It was beautiful, but Naruto couldn't understand why Deidara was giving it to him.

"She'd like it, her favorite color seems to be purple, but… why are you doing this?"

The concept seemed lost on Naruto. Deidara understood this. He felt lost when people gave him things as well, but he also knew it felt nice when people showed their affection for him. Sakura had made him feel happy all the time by just doing simple things, like combing his hair when he couldn't, helping him eat when he couldn't even hold the chopsticks, and comforting him when he felt as if the world was crashing in.

"Because you're my otouto and you need it more then I do," Deidara said with a small blush. He still wasn't use to doing things like this, "Plus what am I going to do with it? I'm not going to be dressing up like a girl anytime soon, yeah."

Naruto beamed at him with a huge grin, "Arigato! Ino-chan will love it!"

Deidara just nodded a bit, turning his head the other direction. There was a awkward silence since neither of them knew what to do next. Luckily for them, someone knocked at the door.

"Hey," Sakura said cheerfully as she walked in.

Her hair was wet and her clothes were a clean pair that Naruto knew she wasn't wearing earlier that morning.

"Morning Sakura-chan," Naruto greeted happily.

"Morning Sakura," Deidara said as he gave her a small smirk.

"So how are you two this morning? Naruto, are you getting ready for your date?" Sakura asked as she stepped inside the room and sat in her usual spot on Deidara's bed, "If you need some help, I know what Ino likes."

"It's okay!" Naruto said with a happy grin on his face, "I figured I'd take her out on a picnic! Also, Deidara helped me by giving me this to give to her."

He showed Sakura the hairpin and smiled happily when he noticed her face light up in a wondrous smile.

"Wow! Ino will love it! She totally goes for stuff like this!" Sakura said as she looked over to Deidara who as looking at his hands.

"Well I have to wrap it and get the picnic ready. Do we have a picnic basket somewhere?" Naruto asked as he began to leave the room.

"Try the closet in the hall, if not, use a storage scroll and surprise her with it," Sakura said, "Though good luck on getting her to eat."

"Meh, I'll try to convince her," Naruto said with a grin, "I'll you guys some food too, so you don't have to cook."

"Thanks Naruto!" Sakura said as she watched the boy retreat down the hall to the kitchen common room area.

"Dei, you have such neat stuff! Are you sure you don't need that?" Sakura asked as she watched him play around with his hands a bit.

"I don't need it," Deidara confirmed, "I have ton more where that came from and it wasn't one of my favorites, yeah."

"Oh, you have favorites?" Sakura teased with a grin on her face.

Deidara didn't look up at her while he nodded.

"Which ones?" Sakura asked as she poked him a bit to try to open him up.

Deidara didn't answer her, his face heated up a bit as he just fiddled with his hands. Sakura sighed as her teasing had made him clam up. He almost jumped when she started to pet his hair.

"I'm sorry for teasing you," Sakura said with an apologetic look, "I just find it really cute that you actually like hairpins. Not a lot of guys are well in tuned with that kind of stuff. It really is bothersome how they just don't get it."

"It's alright," Deidara said with a nod, looking back up at her, "I just…"

He fell short at what to say. Sakura decided to check up on Naruto before he left.

"It's fine Dei," Sakura said with a laugh, "You're awesome, you know that, right? Well, let me check up on Naruto and give him last minute tips before he heads off to face Ino."

Deidara nodded, trying to hide the faint flush on his face from her compliment. She walked out and headed to the kitchen.

Deidara groaned a bit as he laid down on his pillow with a muted 'thump', "What is she doing to me?"

"Hey," Sakura said as she popped her head in and noticed the blonde was finished placing a large bento box in a basket.

He had two placed out, one that he just finished closing and the other that had been closed. He smiled a second before using his Shadow clone jutsu and ordered the clones to go and take the basket somewhere.

"You heading out?" Sakura asked as she watched him walk towards her.

"Yes," Naruto said with a nervous smile, "Let's just hope Ino will be pleased, dattebayo."

"Why are you trying so hard?" Sakura asked, "I mean, you don't even like Ino, do you?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know her very well. How am I suppose to know if I like her if I don't try? Plus, even though she's forcing me to do this date, I have never had one. I am sort of excited that someone asked me out, so I want to do the best I can to please her."

Sakura smiled wide as she patted him on the head, "Be yourself and you'll do fine. Don't act like what everyone else expects you to, be yourself, like you are with me and Dei."

"Thanks Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a soft smile, before remembering something, "Oh yeah, I made you and Deidara a picnic too. He hasn't been outside in forever so maybe you can manage to get him outside for a bit. I bet he'd like that, 'tebayo. He's been cooped up in here too long."

"Sure," Sakura said with a nod, "I think today is the day we start trying to mobilize him again. I bet if I help him a bit, he could walk out there himself."

"Really? He'll like that," Naruto said before remembering the time, "Crap, I got to go, see you later Sakura-chan."

"By Naruto-kun," Sakura said as she watched him dash out the door.

She smiled a bit as she grabbed the basket. She wanted to snoop and see what he had put in it, but decided to wait and find out. She went into the closet and grabbed a blanket and headed outside to set the place so all she had to do was help sit Deidara down.

She chose a spot under a blossoming tree, spring was finally in full bloom. She mused on that thought as she spread out the blanket and laid the basket out as well. She went in and out a couple times, getting some pillows to make the picnic more comfortable for Deidara before actually going and fetching the blonde.

He was writing again. That report looked more like a novel than just a few pages of information that it was originally suppose to be. Once Jiraiya saw this, he'd never call Deidara useless again.

Deidara looked up at her with a nod, before looking back down at his work.

"Ah, ah, ah," Sakura said as scooped the tray he was using to write on off his lap.

"Hey, I was working," Deidara said, a little surprised at what she was doing.

"Well," Sakura said as she set it on his desk, "I have a small surprise for you if you behave."

"And what would that be?" Deidara asked, as he cocked his head a bit, looking cute with curious expression on his flustered face.

"Practicing your motor skills," Sakura said as she looked down at him, his expressions seemed to brighten considerably to that information. She could practically feel him radiate with joy, "Your legs are going to be a bit weak, so we'll slowly build our way up okay?"

"Hai," Deidara said with a huge smirk on his face.

He was thrilled at the thought of walking again!

Sakura positioned herself so she would be right in front of him. She talked him though the beginning, telling him to what to do before sitting up with his legs swung over the bed.

"Now, you might lock up a bit, but that is to be expected. We are going to walk a bit and maybe, if you're good, I'll take you outside."

She smiled when she noticed Deidara's determination rise. He slowly touched his feet to the ground, putting his weight on them slowly as to not hurt himself, but his knees ended up locking anyways. Sakura caught him in an instant.

"It's alright," She said calmly as she held his hands and let him use her as a source of balance, "Just go slow, we are in no hurry."

"Alright," Deidara said with a sigh.

He hated being this weak, this defenseless and trying to walk again only reminded him how much he was dependant on Sakura, or even Naruto. Yes he was grateful for the two who helped care for him.

He was grateful for Naruto who usually ended up being the one who dragged him to the bathroom and back and helped him clean himself instead of having Sakura or Tsunade do it. It was well within his dignity to have Naruto do it.

He was grateful to Sakura who made sure he had his meals, helped feed him when he couldn't, and brushed his hair after a shower so it didn't snarl. She kept him company and went out of her way with the little things she did, like right now. She had probably made sure that Naruto wasn't around so learning to walk again wasn't as shameful.

"Your doing pretty good," Sakura said with an upbeat tone as she led him to the edge of the kitchen, the door to outside already open, letting in a nice breeze from outside.

His legs felt like they were about to cramp up a bit, but he refused to give up till he had been outside for a bit. His legs began to burn, but he pretended not to notice.

He wanted to go outside.

Naruto sighed in relief as he saw Ino's flower shop, he quickly looked at the time, grinning at the thought that he was on time. He entered the shop and smiled happily as he saw Mrs. Yamanaka running the store.

"Oh, Naruto-chan!" Yamanaka-san said as she saw one of her favorite customers, "How are you today?"

"I'm fine Yamanaka-san," Naruto said with a nod, "I was looking for Ino. Would she be here today, 'tebayo?"

Yamanaka-san blinked a second before her eyes widened in surprise, "You're Ino-chan's date?"

"Hai," Naruto said with a small laugh, he still couldn't believe it himself, "I was just as surprised when she told me."

"Oh no," Yamanaka-san sighed, "Don't tell me she ordered you to take her out. That child. I'm so sorry Naruto."

Naruto waved it off with a small smile, "Actually, I'm kind of honored, I've never been on a date so I actually don't mind, but she did tell me to be here at eleven and I don't want to keep her waiting."

"My," Yamananka said with a laugh, "Where's the little boy who came in here every morning to watch me water my garden and ask about the flowers? I think a man has taken his place."

Naruto blushed as he fidgeted a bit under her gaze, "Ino's upstairs waiting for you. Head on up, alright?"

"Thanks you Yamanaka-san," Naruto said as he began to head upstairs.

"And watch out of Inochi, he'll be trying to harass you for dating his daughter."

"Arigato for the head's up," Naruto called back.

Mrs. Yamanaka laughed quietly to herself as she went back to maintaining her store, "That girl doesn't even know the size of the catch she has yet. I guess I should start designing the floral arrangement for the wedding."

Naruto headed upstairs, knocking gently on the door up there, listening for the 'come in' that was shouted across the room before entering. Inochi was glaring at him as he entered the room. Naruto was shaking in his shoes, but he put on a good show.

"Ohiayo Yamanaka-san, you're wife said it would be alright it I came up here to fetch Ino-chan." Naruto said, giving a small bow to the elder like Tsunade had directed him to do for clan heads- which Inochi was one of.

"So you are the one taking my little girl on a date, huh?"

"Hai," Naruto said with a nod, "Is that alright with you, Yamanaka-san?"

"Please call me Inochi," Inochi said with a intimidating grin.

"I would prefer to speak to you in respect, Yamanaka-san, but if you insist, I will call you Inochi-san, tebayo." Naruto said with a nod.

Thank GOD for Tsunade nailing this into his head when he was learning from her in the office during the afternoons. Inochi seemed pleased with him so far.

"So where will you be taking her?"

And it all came crashing down.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Naruto said as he glanced up at the hallway the probably led to Ino, "But if you need to know…"

"As long as you remember that I am second in command of the Torture and Interrogation department, I don't think I need to know. Just remember what I will do to you if you hurt my little girl." Inochi said as he picked up the paper and began to read, "Her room is upstairs on the right. Don't do anything you'll regret."

"Yes… Inochi-san," Naruto said with a gulp.

It was then that Ino came down stairs, "Oh, Naruto, you're here. I'm almost ready, come on upstairs okay?"

She gave a quick glare at her innocent looking father while ushering Naruto upstairs.

Naruto was timid as he did so, his stomach dropping a bit as he entered her room.

Sakura sighed a bit as she looked over to see the blonde laying limp against the trunk of the tree, asleep.

He had been so determined to get outside. She could see it in the way he gritted his teeth when his legs began to agitate him, but she couldn't confirm that was going on till he finally allowed her to check, which wasn't until they were sitting at the picnic blanket.

He had fallen asleep right when they had gotten here, so he didn't even have time to see the picnic basket.

She didn't mind, it gave her a while to watch him and make sure that he was okay. His face twisted in his sleep and he began to bite his bottom lip. Something in his dream was upsetting him. It was times like these that she wished that she was Ino. With a simple couple of hand signs, she would be able to get inside his mind. But then again, she wasn't suppose to use chakra on him.

Right now, his body was still resetting its chakra, slowly and surely leaking a little bit more back into his chakra channels. The first day they could still use healing chakra on him since it channels were still use to having large amounts of chakra flowing through them, but now, they were slowly adapting to more and more flowing back in. The process was slow, but the results were easily worth it.

He muttered something under his breath, turning his head a bit as he furrows his brow even more. He was confused it seemed. She would have let him be, but that was when he began to panic and cry out in his sleep.

"Deidara," Sakura said as she touched him gently, worry apparent in her voice, "It's all right Dei, you're safe now."

He was beginning to whimper, curling slowly into a ball. Sakura didn't know why, but her body reacted to him being like this. It automatically pulled him into her instead, she scooted closer as she pulled his head into her embrace, running her fingers through his long tresses of silky golden hair, and whispering words of encouragement to him. She knew he could over come this, it would just take time.

"The Moon's eye plan," Deidara breathed, still asleep, "Ten tail Jubi… combination… of nine bijuu…"

And with that, he calmed down, his sore muscles lying limply as Sakura shifted him so he was more comfortable. She stroked his hair, praying for one of the ANBU to ask what he had said.

Oh Kami it had sounded important.

"Sakura-san," Cat appeared in the tree, "You look in distress."

"Please relate this message to Tsunade-sama," Sakura said, gulping a bit, "Ask her what she knows about the ten tailed beast, Jubi… and tell her this: The moon's eye plan."

"Of course, right away, Sakura-san," Cat said before disappearing.

"Deidara," Sakura said as she looked at the blonde worriedly.

That must have been the last thing he had learned before he was attacked. Probably the last thought that he had had. If it really was an Uchiha, then there was no doubt he tried to erase Deidara's memories before killing him. He just didn't expect Deidara to get away.

As a matter of fact, if Sharigan had been used on him, how did Deidara break it?

"Sakura?" Deidara's voice croaked.

"Hi," Sakura said as she looked down at the blond she was cradling, "you were having a nightmare."

Understanding entered his eyes as he shifted a bit in her hold. Sakura helped him lay back against the tree, but was careful of his mood now. She was going to have to ask him about the Moon's Eye Plan, and it wasn't helping that he looked so somber.

"Deidara," Sakura started, looking at him nervously, "Before I was able to get you to calm down… you said something."

"I did?" He looked surprised, "What did I say, yeah? I can't remember."

Sakura looked over at the picnic basket before looking back at him. She guessed that she wasn't going to have that relaxing day with him now.

Deidara seemed to notice her disappointment. With a swift glance, he noticed the picnic basket for the first time. He hadn't seen it there before, but now he could tell that Naruto had made it for the two of them to enjoy. He felt bad for ruining it by muttering something that must have been alarming. He wanted her to be happy, so he decided to reprioritize a bit.

"You know what? I don't want to know," Deidara said with a shake of his head, "We'll talk to Tsunade-obasan about it later, yeah. Right now I just want to know what's in the picnic basket."

Sakura didn't miss the gleam in his eyes. She was shell shocked for a moment before she began to smile happily. Deidara was right, it could wait. For now it was better to move on with happier moments. He was right, they could wait for Tsunade.

"I don't really know," Sakura said as she made a grab for it, "I was waiting for you."

"Well then, let's see what the sneaky little blonde put in the basket, yeah."

And with that, the two of them went on to lighter matters.

He flicked his tail. He was bored. It wasn't that he couldn't think of something to waste time away. No, if anything he was quite enjoying the sunlight that dried his fur.

The rosette had taken him straight to her room, given him a bath, and had taken her own shower then put on new clothes afterwards that he had yet to touch.

He felt a little insulted that she thought him some dirty animal, but he would have to get over it. For all she knew he was just a dirty animal that she had taken in by the goodness of her own heart.

"Remember, most shinobis take their orders from their Hokage. I would have to ask mine to keep you, but he's not into cats. Sorry!"

The words of a young redhead jumped back into his head. He almost groaned. Remembering that fiery redhead just made him feel old. He yawned a bit and stretched before pulling himself off the floor.

If he remembered correctly, this was the current Hokage's residence… So if he won her over, then he could stay. His sliver eyes gleamed in the sunlight as he turned towards the closed window.

The rosette might have closed her door and thought she had him stuck in this room, but she didn't. No one could keep him where he didn't want to be. Even in death.

With a quick use of his claws, he unlocked the window and pushed it open. He gazed about as he looked around. An ANBU was retreating to go no doubt to the Hokage and report. He decided it would be best to follow him.

After all, he needed to be allowed to stay here.

That is, until his final judgment had been passed.

So how was it? I think I have asked you enough questions that you are trained enough to answer on your own.

But then again.... how do you think Naruto is doing so far?

Deidara and Sakura?

And what about this cat?

Well until then,

-bows- Please take care of my story!!

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan