Hello and welcome to my new DeiSaku fic "Head above water".

P.S. I apologize for any errors, though, I tried to find them all.^^

Prologue

The huge boulder shielding the secret cave came crushing down. Must be someone with explosives out there, Deidara guessed. Though, he didn't hear any explosion. That got him a bit intrigued, but then again, it could be some big dude with monstrous strength. Too bad for Sasori no Danna, yeah, because Deidara already called dibs on the Copy Nin – they just knew that Suna and Konoha would send the Jichuuriki and his team to rescue their poor, little Kazekage. He had a personal grudge against the Sharingan and had vowed to himself that he, Deidara, the mad bomber (according to Hidan, the retarded priest) won't let anyone who possessed the goddamned bloody eyes walk idly around the world. At least a part of the person he'd blow away. Like the Kazekage crushed his arm, yeah. Kakashi's gonna have to say good-bye to his arm too. Or a leg. Or that eye.

He prepared himself to face the big dude who had crushed the boulder like an apple and glanced curiously at his partner. Sasori was hiding in that hideous puppet and what's the worst part of it – he actually called that art. Well, since when you call something this ugly art? Everlasting even so. Deidara snorted amused. He should humor himself for a while, he decided and sat down on the dead body. Sorry, buddy, he apologized to the unmoving redhead, bad guys gotta keep their image for the good guys to tremble from fear, yeah.

When the dust cleared, Deidara had to look twice and stop his jaw from hitting the floor. Instead of a big, manly dude with muscles hard like rock and clothes that were too small for him, there was a girl, a little (the height, not age, although, she was pretty young), pink haired girl cleaning herself off from dust. It can't be possible that she was the one who crushed that thing all by herself, it was probably a decoy or a genjutsu. The latter he immediately scratched from the list of possibilities, because his left eye would have caught something like that. But then he remembered. What a fool, that must be the apprentice of the Hokage! And damn his memory, he couldn't remember her name. He would have slapped himself if it wouldn't for the amusing thought that his Danna had no idea who this girl was and he almost felt sorry for him. If the girl had even the half strength the Hokage had, then he wished it was that big dude instead of the girl that Sasori was about to face. No one really had any idea about Deidara's connections outside the Akatsuki and he had no desire to reveal it to anyone, but for once he was glad that he knew something more than the always so smart Sasori. For he knew for sure that the red haired 'artist' didn't know a thing about the girl. He may have full knowledge about the Kyuubi or Copy nin, but not her. Though, he heard an amused sound coming from his partner when he too saw who had crushed their solid shield.

But enough about the girl. The rest of the 'team' stared at them with wide eyes. Heh, must be one hell of a sight – the enemy sitting on the one they were supposed to rescue. So which one was actually the Kyuubi? The girl or the blonde guy who was gaping at him? Deidara smirked at them.

"You son of a bitch!" the blond guy crouched a bit forward and spat those words venomously at him. "Where the hell do you thing you're sitting?" The Kazekage, of course, Deidara amused himself.

"Humph, there's no mistaking it, 'mm," he said, "He's the Jinchuuriki. The first thing he'll do is scream and charge at you. Itachi actually described him quite accurately, 'mm." That still didn't change the fact that the Uchiha was a bastard. He glanced at Sasori and was quite surprised to find him staring at the old lady. Could it be that he knew her? She didn't have the Leaf hitai-ate, maybe she was from Suna. And Sasori was from Suna. That sort of did make some sense.

Then the Jinchuuriki started to yell at Gaara, the Kazekage apparently. Idiot, couldn't he see that he was dead? It was a pain, but the tailed beasts couldn't be extracted without having some sacrifices to be made. Thank Kami, the Copy Nin had some brains to make the idiot shut up, otherwise he'd have to doubt the rumors that were saying that he was some sort of a genius.

"That's right. You get it, don't you?" Deidara tried once more to provoke the shinobi in front of him. "He's been dead for a while, 'mm," and he slapped the Kazekage's face. That'll do it, hopefully. He was itching to revenge his lost arm and have a good fight.

That did the trick, Naruto, he remembered the Copy Nin call the blond boy by that name, let the anger take over him. They could feel the demon's chakra surround them.

"Huh?" Sasori was amused.

"He's definitely the Jinchuuriki, Danna, 'mm," Deidara agreed with a satisfied smile. Oh, how awesome it would be to snatch the prey out of Itachi's claws.

He noticed the pink haired girl look warily at her fussing teammate. She was actually quite cute. Not like the 'one-night-beauties' he had every now and then, but definitely appealing to his eye. He could see her mind trying to analyze the situation, for a shinobi she had too revealing eyes. They betrayed almost every thought that crossed her mind. However, he could feel that she didn't lack the brains, despite that she hadn't said a word.

The smile from his face vanished as he too started to estimate the enemy. The Copy Nin, the Jinchuuriki, the Hokage's apprentice and an old lady he knew nothing about. That might be crucial, if he had to deal with her, not knowing what skills she had.

"Give him back!" Naruto hissed at them. Deidara frowned. "Give back Gaara, you bastards!" He sure was a loud one. And then he started to run towards them, but the Copy Nin stepped in his way. Man, did they really had no one else to send after them? They could take out this idiot without much restraining themselves.

The smirk reappeared on his face as Deidara could hear the Kyuubi container grit his teeth. Then all of a sudden, Sasori glanced at him. "Mm? What's wrong, Sasori no Danna?"

"I'll take him," he answered.

"Aa?"

"It seems that this Jinchuuriki wants to take him back."

Deidara looked form Naruto to the Kazekage. "'mm. Looks like it," he agreed. But this whole situation amused him to no end and he couldn't help the grin dreading to take over his face. And that girl, was she still analyzing them or had she already formed plan? "Danna," he started.

"Mm?" the puppeteer looked at him.

"You might get pissed at me for saying this, but...I'm going to fight the Jinchuuriki, 'mm," Oh, he could already picture the fight. While he didn't particularly like to kill people but the promise of a good fight, made his heart beat faster and anticipation took over him.

Sasori huffed. "Each of us gets our own," he protested, "don't get cocky, Deidara."

"With art," Deidara answered without looking at him, "You must constantly seek greater and greater stimulation," then he turned to his partner and continued more confident about himself, "or your ability to appreciate it will dull, Danna. I've heard rumors that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is pretty powerful, 'mm. He'll be perfect for my art."

"What? You call those explosions 'art'? Art is something that endures the test of time beautifully and gracefully. True art is eternal beauty." And here we go again with the 'art is everlasting' bullshit, Deidara groaned inwardly. He respected him as a fellow artist, but Sasori was a complete idiot when it came to the idea of Art. Puppets. Who the hell calls puppets as art?

Though, he got the reaction from the Jinchuuriki he'd expected from this little chit chat with Sasori. The seemingly nonsense arguing about art pissed him more off and he threw a giant shuriken at them which Sasori dodged with no problems.

"Hmph," Deidara stood up slowly and prepared a bit of clay in his remaining hand. "To me, the essence of art is...explosions!" He exclaimed as he threw the little bird in air to expand it bigger a second later. He caught the surprised facial expression of the girl and grinned inwardly. Let's face the fact, she was more stunned from his art, than Danna's. Though, why exactly it should matter, he had no idea. "It's completely different from your silly puppet shows, Danna." And there he goes again with the nasty, poisoned tail of his. Like he would ever scratch him with that thing. Deidara skillfully jumped up in the air and landed on the bird that had already the limp body of the Kazekage in it's mouth. To add more fuel to their enraged 'guests', he let the bird slowly chew Gaara deeper in the mouth. "Ja ne, Danna!" One last provocative look at the Jinchuuriki to make sure he'll follow him.

As he flew over them, he caught the girls eyes. She looked at him in surprise and anger that lightened her eyes with a fire. He liked that look, made girls, women especially, more attractive to him. Who knows, different time, different place and different situation, maybe they'd have more fun together. But right now he had a Jinchuuriki to deal with.

Well, fuck.

Maybe the idea to fight the Kyuubi and the Copy Nin at the same time wasn't that good. Now he was completely armless. Yes, Hatake Kakashi had used the goddamned Mangekyou Sharingann to send his right arm to kami know's where. Sasori no Danna will skin him alive if he ever sees him in such state and bitch about how he should always come up with a strategy, not act first and think later. But that's just too boring. How can you enjoy the fight if you already know what the enemy is going to do. It's just like with art, you have to seek for greater challenges, to feel the thrill of the unexpected, otherwise you won't appreciate it anymore. You'll kill only because you're ordered, not because it just so happened, because you had to defend yourself.

Deidara sighed and sat down by a tree. And what's with those two freaks in green spandex? Konoha shinobi were far more fucked up than he had heard. Alright, he'd admit, that chick with those weapons was kinda impressive, how she was throwing them so skillfully. He almost felt jealous. And that Byakuugan kid was good too, but, heh, he was alone against them four. Without arms and his art. Badass. Deidara smirked. If it wouldn't be for that suicidal clone he managed to create earlier, he'd be dead.

And where the hell was Danna? It was just one girl and an old lady, why was it taking him so long? Wasn't he the 'almighty artist'? Freaking Sasori, he better not die, otherwise he'll be stuck with that moron Tobi. He should be he-

His body tensed. There was someone behind the tree he was sitting at. And it wasn't Sasori.

"Come out. I already know you're there, yeah," he said. It's not like he could do anything better. There was no way he could escape, so he may as well stare the death in the eyes.

The death, however, was a cute one. He had to blink several times to make sure it was her who he was seeing. For a moment Deidara was so surprised that he didn't notice a sharp kunai pressed against his throat and that there was already a small gash with little blood seeping out. Regaining himself again, he smirked. "If you're here, then that must mean..."

"Sasori's dead, if that's what you're thinking," she answered bravely. Deidara chuckled; in the end art was, indeed, fleeting just as one's life was. He was right.

"Well," he said back, "then you must be one hell of a strong kunoichi, to have defeated Sasori no Danna and survived yourself." The girl frowned then rolled her eyes.

"I had help."

"Ah, right. That old lady, 'mm. Who was she anyway?" That's right, keep talking, maybe she'll eventually drop her guard and then somehow, miracously, Zetsu or someone else will come to his aid. Not that he expected or wanted anyone to rescue him. He wasn't some poor damsel in distress, after all.

"His grandmother," she answered evenly, not taking eyes of him, watching every movement and emotion crossing his face.

"Really?" Deidara's eyes widened a fraction when she nodded in response. "That's messed up, yeah. And you, I'm surprised you're still breathing...with all the poisons that bastard had hidden in him."

She didn't answer, instead her grip on the kunai tightened making him harder to breathe. Heh, at least he could observe her better from how close she was. Like he noted before, she was cute, few years younger than himself, so she must be in her middle teens, 15 or 16, a perfect age for a shinobi, yet only a kid in the civilian world. Her hair seemed to have different layers of pink – from light pink to almost white from being too often outdoors, in the sun, and then darker pink to soft red on the back of her neck, giving her a very colorful look. He was 100 percent sure, that her hair was one of a kind. And her eyes, green, but nothing special about the color, then again, what made her eyes so memorable, was the fire burning in them. He had heard something about the Will of Fire the Konoha shinobi were having, could it mean this? He could almost touch the determination in them. Her skin was typical for redheads - pale – though, she didn't have freckles, but it would only ruin her unique looks. She was in the middle of the transformation from a girl to a woman, so there were childlike things, like a bit chubby cheeks, very little curves, but also something from a young woman in her features, like the catlike grace that seeped through her rough appearance as a kunoichi with monstrous strength. She'll be a strong and attractive one in the future, he was sure.

She narrowed her eyes as he continued to observe her, she was feeling uncomfortable. Deidara smirked. "What's your name?" That question caught her off guard and she glanced at him suspiciously.

"Why?" She asked. "Why do you need to know if you're about to die?"

He laughed. "Well, aren't you full of yourself, yeah. Just curious. Gotta report to the Leader, he's always interested in those who were capable to eliminate one of us, ',mm." That didn't convince her, he noted. "Besides," he continued, "with killing Sasori no Danna, you've marched straight into the Bingo books, so we need a name to put under your picture and description. Congratulations, you're officially now a target to bounty hunters."

She paled visibly and then cursed silently. "Thanks for the information," she hissed. Bipolar, much? "Deidara."

Deidara narrowed his eyes playfully. "Not fair, yeah. You know my name. I'd shake hands with you, if that's what you want, but as you can see, I've currently run out of them." Her eyes darted to where his arms were supposed to be and smirked darkly.

"Well, sucks for you," she sneered, "you can't even defend yourself. But how did you make the exploding clone then?"

"Ah, you saw it then? And it didn't convince you that it was the real one that exploded?"

"I'm good at picking up chakras. Though luck today, ne Deidara?"

"Indeed, Sakura," finally he remembered her name. Should have known that for a pink haired girl she had a pretty common name. Her parents must be civilians then, they always liked to name their kids based on physical characteristics. And her expression was worth all the trouble – puzzlement, shock, anger – her eyes narrowed and she gritted her teeth when she tried to calmly ask:

"Did you know my name from the beginning?"

If Deidara had even one of his arms, he'd attempt to scratch the back of his head, but since he was currently armless, he decided for a grin when he answered: "Nope. I just remembered. You're quite well known actually. The Hokage's apprentice, the same Hokage's who once said that she'll never take another apprentice. You must be special then." He noticed something green moving behind Sakura's back and relaxed a bit. His prayers have been heard, Zetsu's coming to his aid, but he'd have to distract Sakura a little longer. She can't see or sense Zetsu, otherwise, he'll have to say farewell to his head too. And what to do best if you want to distract a young girl...Deidara sneered and leaned a little in her direction, ignoring the sudden pain that signaled that the kunai has been pushed further. "Sakura," He tested her name on his tongue quietly. Thankfuly, the distance between them wasn't large.

Sakura tensed and froze, just as he had anticipated. She didn't seem as the type who'd get much male attention, she may not blush but he could see it in her eyes. She was curious yet afraid of what his next move would be.

It was enough distraction for Zetsu to move himself closer to Deidara and when the bomber felt that he was seconds away from being pulled underground along with Zetsu, he leaned closer one more time like attempting to kiss her. "I'll remember you, yeah," he put on his most charming grin when the half of Zetsu popped out of the ground, making Sakura jump from surprise, and grabbed Deidara, a second later they were gone.

Well, that was interesting,Deidara smirked at the accidental outcome of his fight as he was transported to the Akatsuki base.

Sakura stared at the ground where just moments ago she saw a man emerge from ground and take Deidara with him. It was so unbelievable that she started to think that maybe she's gotten hit by some other Sasori's poison and was now seeing hallucinations. But then again, it was Akatsuki. They had a living puppet and a walking shark, so why wouldn't they have something between a plant and a human?

And what about Deidara's last stunt? It was clear to her now that he was doing his best to distract her so that his comrade could come to his aid, but she couldn't deny the fact that for a split second she actually hoped that he'd kiss her.

She gasped a bit. What was wrong with her? Did she really hoped that an enemy would kiss her? Sakura slapped her forehead. Maybe that antidote had some side effects. Who knows what the mix of a bunch of different herbs could do to you, other than heal from an unique and extremely strong poison.

Then she remembered that back in the cave when Naruto was throwing accusations and profanities at both Akatsuki, she had seen the blond one glance at her curiously now and then. At that moment she didn't pay any attention to it, because she was busy with analyzing the situation. Then she slapped her forehead again. He had planned this from the very beginning. He had predicted that something like this could happen and therefore made up a back up plan.

Sakura groaned loudly. Stupid, stupid girl! Grow up for once! And she was so confident about herself when she tracked Deidara down and confronted him...ugh, she'll have to get drunk after they get back to Konoha to forget about her own foolishness.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see her teammates and Team Gai approach her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as soon as he spotted her. "Did you get him?"

She sighed. "No, I was too late. There was already another one Akatsuki to take him away."

"Really?" Kakashi asked as he too neared her. "What did he look like? Did you manage to see any of his abilities?"

"Well," Sakura began, thinking how to better describe the mysterious man, "he was sort of like half plant, half human-" Naruto frowned and before he could interrupt her, she continued, "-he had this huge fly trap around his head and his skin was in two colors. Like, one side was black, the other white. And it appears he can move and transport others through underground. That's how he took Deidara with him."

It was silent around her and she started to really believe the 'side effects' theory. Then Kakashi coughed and slowly said: "Alright, that's an interesting and valuable observation you have. Do you have some chakra left?" she nodded. "Good. We should head back to Gaara."

Gaara, Sakura thought, he was dead most likely. She'll have to do her best if she intented to save him. If there was anything left of him for her to save, that is.

As they were going, Sakura's thoughts drifted back to a certain blond criminal. What did he mean by 'I'll remember you'? Does that mean that he'll come after her to revenge his dead partner or to finish what he started? She was very well aware that by being on the same team as their desired Bijuu, she was an easy target for kidnaps and blackmails to lure Naruto out. So, that confusing promise could also mean that she should be more careful from now on and watch her surroundings better.

That damned Akatsuki. Wasn't it enough that they were the fearest organization in the world by gathering ten ridiculously strong and insane criminals together? They could already easly take out the weakest countries and from that point they'd become only stronger. See? It wasn't that difficult if even she could come up with that. Wait. That wasn't anything better than what they were already doing.

Sakura groaned in her head. Why couldn't there be peace in the world. Sure, she'd lose her job, but at least innocent people wouldn't die. Maybe even Sasuke would be still with them.

She shook her head. No time to think about him. She had to concentrate on more pressing matters now – how to heal Gaara. If she's even able to heal him, he looked pretty much dead few hours earlier, they were probably too late.

She sighed. And on top of that, she has now beware of that blond Akatsuki. What if he tracks her down when she's on a freaking solo medical mission? He could fly, goddamnit!

Damn him, damn the Akatsuki, damn the Bijuu, damn everything that's evil in this world! All she has now left to hope for is that they won't take her best friend away from her and that there wouldn't be a war. The shinobi world wasn't ready for another war so soon. Sakura sighed. The life of a shinobi was heard, but she wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Chapter 1 preview:

"I know you," she said warily and a smirk appeared of the stranger's face. "I just can't remember how. But we've met before, yes?"

"Akatsuki," she didn't hide her irritation, "you're the one who killed Gaara. Deidara."

"Congratulations on your recovery from memory loss," he emptied the glass and refilled it. "Took you long enough, 'mm."

"What do you want?" She growled.

He looked at her and snorted. "What does it look like? Get drunk, obviously, and, unfortunately for you, yours was the only familiar face in this fine establishment."

"What are you grinning about?"

"I told you I'll remember you."

So, here goes the prologue of my new story.

What do you think? Does it have any potential? ^^

The next chapter should be up within the next two weeks. I already have it written, but I still need some things to change.

Anyway, please review ^^

See y'all in the next chapter,

~RoseCallisto