Sorry for the sudden disappearance. .__. I have all three pieces of music for my WP show now, and I'm busy with that and testing coming up this week. I'm still here, though!
Everything Naruto-related belongs to Kishimoto. Lithium belongs to me.

Anything

Lithium sat up in her bed, waking from another night of fitful sleeping. She sat there for a moment to find her thoughts before reaching out with a hand. She grasped a piece of fabric from her bedside table, and closed her hand around it in a fist. Her hand shook from the force she was squeezing it, and only when she realized that she was holding did she relax her grip. With a small smile, she moved to tie it around her head, covering the area around her eyes.

Making her way down the halls of the Akatsuki base was a challenge. She had to keep a hand on the wall at all times, and even then she didn't know when one would end or turn into a corner. She didn't know when she would feel the indent of doorways, the cold metal of a knob.

That morning, however, she had managed to trip over her own feet, and stumbled. She tensed, ready to meet the ground in front of her.

It never came.

Two arms had managed to catch her inches from her fate, hefting her back up and against that person's chest.

"You okay?"

Lithium instantly relaxed at the voice, holding on to their upper arms as she smiled.

"Yes. Thank you."

"You don't have to-"

"I know, Deidara. You don't need to tell me again."

The blond huffed, moving to prop his chin on top of her head. His fringe drifted down to tickle her cheek, and she swatted it away.

"Could you let go long enough for me to have breakfast?"

Deidara frowned. He really didn't want to release his hold on her; he was afraid that she would trip again on her way to the kitchen.

As if she could read his mind, she added,

"I'll be fine. I can make my way around, you know."

He gave in, arms falling back down to his sides. Lithium reached up on her toes to quickly press her lips to his, and then started walking back down the hall. Her right hand was back to feeling along her path, and when she reached a corner she disappeared from sight.

Deidara watched her go with anguished eyes, knowing it was his fault that she had tripped. Everything that had happened to her since that day was his fault. If he hadn't been so confident, so sure of himself, she would have been fine.

But she wasn't, and it wrecked him.

Deidara slowly inched his way back to consciousness, eyes blinking open as he gave a small grumble. He must have fallen asleep when he was resting…

He sat up when he remembered what had happened. Snapping back into focus, he gritted his teeth. He and his partner had been knocked out by some rogue ninja. He had been drifting off when they came; he remembered two of them attacking him first. Then everything had gone black.

"Lithium, un?"

He asked, trying to see if she was near him. The room was dark, and no light was filtering in to give him any sign of her. He searched for her chakra, relaxing slightly when he pinpointed it somewhere to his left. She was fine.

He gave a small sigh of relief. His eyelashes brushed against something – after a moment he recognized it as a piece of cloth; a blindfold. He tried to move his hands, but found that they were tied. Same went for his feet.

"Lithium."

"What?"

Her voice drifted over to him in the form of a whine, and he heard her sit up after a moment.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know, un. I can't see anything; I'm blindfolded."

"Same here. Do you think-"

Her sentence stopped short when a door opened. Light flooded the room, and the pair could hear the sound of footsteps as people entered.

"Akatsuki, eh? You two are worth a hefty bounty."

Lithium felt her blindfold loosen and finally fall off, only to have her head yanked back by her hair. A man with dark hair grinned down at her. His eyes glinted with twisted glee as his grip tightened.

"Pretty face you have there. It's a shame that we have to turn you in. Then again…"

He trailed off as he looked over to where his accomplices were. One had his grip on Deidara; the other had a kunai out in case it was needed.

"Kill him."

"Wait!"

Lithium cried out before she could stop herself. The man turned his gaze back to her, raising a questionable eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Don't… Please, don't hurt him…"

She felt pathetic, pleading to him. She didn't have much of a choice, though, as her hands and feet were bound and her pack was nowhere to be seen.

The man bent down, one knee on the ground as he replied,

"Why would I listen to you, dear? You're not the one in charge."

She was panicking. He could see it rise in her eyes, see her hands curl into light fists.

"Don't hurt him. I'll do anything – just don't hurt him."

"Are you crazy?"

Deidara hissed from across the room. What was she doing? There was no way that she'd be able to come up with something that would change their minds.

"You know you don't-"

He was cut off when cold metal pressed against his neck. The leader cocked his head to the side, seemingly interested.

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Let's say, for example, that I wanted your hand. Would you allow me to remove it?"

"Yes."

Lithium's voice was clipped. He knew she was choking down her fear to act braver than she felt. Deidara heard it in her voice, too, but held back the frustrated comments he wanted to yell at her.

"I want your eyes."

Lithium blinked at the man in disbelief.

"My eyes?"

"You heard me. I want 'em both. You give them up, and I'll let you and Blondie over there go."

He knew he had won when her gaze drifted to the ground in front of her, and her fists curled even tighter.

"You can take them."

The man looked at her in shock. He hadn't thought that she would sound so sure of her decision. A smirk spread onto his face when he stood, though, turning to the other men in the room as he spoke,

"I'll need one of you to go to the nearest hospital. Get me a scalpel, something to stop the bleeding, and some bandages."

Deidara could still hear the scream that had echoed in that room. Her scream. He could still smell the blood; could feel it between his fingers when he had finally gotten her back. She had been sobbing, but no tears had been trailing down her face. She could not cry anymore.

She had given up her sight for his safety, and was suffering the consequences of her choice. She was miserable. He could tell by the false smiles she put up, and how she seemed cheerful when he knew she was in ruins.

His fist met the wall beside him, and he clamped his eyes shut. It was his fault that she was like that. It was his fault.

His.

"Deidara?"

He looked over his shoulder when he heard her speak. She looked confused as to why he was standing there – she opened her mouth to speak, but didn't have the chance. His lips were on hers, keeping her from asking questions. When he finally pulled away he tugged her to him, burying his nose into her hair as he mumbled,

"I'm sorry, un. I'm so, so sorry…"

Okay, not the happiest story I've written. xD But the idea was floating in my head, and I wanted to put it into words.
Reviews are nice, yes?