Author's Note: Hello! Well, I'll make this long story short. TsukiharaKitty had a story that she was working on (this one) and on her profile she offered to give anyone this story for them to continue (which is what I'm doing). This is the first time I have EVER done something like this, so talk about a challenge! Now the parring is Deidara and Sakura and I have an idea of what I'm going to do but primarily, I'm combining my ideas with TsukiharaKitty's idea. So bare with me...this will be...an adventure

Please do what you do best and support this story by leaving a comment!

Disclaimer: Well...obviously I don't own Naruto. What more do you want?

Original Author/Inspired by: TsukiharaKitty (Thanks for giving me the opportunity to continue this! I'll do my best!!)

Dedicated to: TsukiharaKitty and any Deidara and Sakura fan out there

P.S. Original name of the story (Addiction) will remain the same unless I decide to change it...which I most likely won't.

Addiction

Chapter One:

Buried Alive

Sakura fell to her knees. The feelings of hunger and thirst only served to increase her exhaustion. Traveling for a week on your own left its mark on you, whoever you were. It hadn't started out that way, but she was beginning to wonder if she would ever see her village again.

Just a little further, she thought desperately. I just need to keep heading east…

She took her compass out of her pocket and grimaced when she saw that she had been heading north the entire time. "Damn it…" she muttered. Sakura stood up and turned in the direction of east, but when she turned, the arrow turned as well. It didn't point north… it pointed whatever direction she was going. The entire time during the length of her mission Sakura had been carrying a broken compass.

Frustration evident, she threw it to the side, not caring where it landed and hoping to never have to see it again. And thus, she continued to trudge. The forest around her looked too familiar for her tastes, but she didn't want to admit to herself that she had probably been going in multiple circles for days.

One weary step after the other, Sakura found herself yet again remembering how she had been separated from her team.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "Today's the day! Tsunade-baachan says we're leaving today!"

"I know," Sakura said in slight annoyance. She and Naruto were sitting outside Tsunade's office, waiting for the rest of their team.

Naruto apparently found it necessary to continually repeat himself in his excitement. "We're finally going after Akatsuki! Can you believe it, Sakura-chan?! Wow, and to think that we have a source of information on them thanks to Ero-sennin!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. Naruto was as childish and predictable as ever. "Naruto… do you know what's coming up?"

That was all it took. The smile slowly vanished from Naruto's face. Sakura didn't mention anything specific, but it was like Kakashi had said. Mentioning Sasuke's name around the two of them was like a taboo. Naruto's blue eyes slowly drifted from Sakura's and stopped on the floor. "How could I forget… Sakura-chan…"

She ignored the slight twinges of guilt passing through her for bringing the subject up and ruining Naruto's good mood. It was the middle of July, and when August arrived, it would mark another anniversary of Sasuke's departure.

"Sakura… thank you."

Sakura flinched as that memory passed through her mind for the millionth time. Orochimaru's death was a shock to everyone, but Sasuke not returning to the village was a stab to the heart. She had come to the realization then that revenge really was all that mattered to him.

"After all this time… you're still annoying."

Perhaps he was right… perhaps Sakura really was… just annoying.

"Sakura-chan… we've waited this long," Naruto said. "He's after Uchiha Itachi, we know that much. Now that we finally have a lead… we can find them and then find him."

"There you are," said a familiar voice. Ino was walking up to the two of them with Shikamaru close by. "Didn't Tsunade-sama tell you? We're meeting her at the village gates."

Sakura offered a simple nod, and Naruto did the same, "All right." Shikamaru was about to say something, but decided against it. One look at the expressions on Naruto and Sakura's faces revealed they had been thinking or talking of Sasuke. But given the mission description they had, it wasn't much of a surprise. The four of them made up Team Tsunade for the moment, her own hand-picked four-man team.

"About time," Tsunade said when they arrived. She folded her arms across her chest and looked the four of them over. After a brief moment's pause, she said, "There's still time to decline the mission."

None of them said a word.

"Very well. You know what to do – the informant is in Hidden Waterfall. Use the utmost discretion and stick to the plan."

"Hai!" Team Tsunade replied in unison.

"Dismissed."

Without another word, the four shinobi sprinted into the woods. Their orders were not to attack Akatsuki. Jiraiya had previously met with an informant he deemed trustworthy in Hidden Waterfall, so it was their job to meet the informant again. After they gathered the information, they were to compare it with what Jiraiya received, and after that was said and done, confirm the location of Akatsuki's headquarters. After that, it was a return trip to Konoha.

Sakura sighed and slumped against the trunk of the closest tree, slowly sliding down until she was seated. If only it had been that simple. It was an S-rank mission, but they had never expected this to happen. Her sea foam green eyes slowly looked up towards the sky, half hidden by the treetops. The sun was going to set soon, and going through the forest at night would be even more futile than during the day.

She had easily figured out that even though everything looked about the same in the daylight, it was near impossible to see anything at all after dark. Therefore, she spent nights sitting somewhere and trying to sleep. Days were spent trying to keep herself alive and head in a straight direction. Though at this point, there was no way she'd find a straight direction any time soon.

Sakura rested her hands on the ground as another means to help keep herself sitting upright. She felt her right hand land on something small, and she quickly jumped, standing up in a panic and taking out a rusty kunai. "Is it a bug…?" she thought out loud, praying that she hadn't just touched a spider. To her surprise, it was something shiny, though just as small.

Sakura reached down and picked up the object, discovering that it was a ring. She turned it over in her hands a couple times, examining it. "Must be a man's ring," she said as she tried slipping it on her finger. It fit her thumbs, but her other fingers were too small. She looked at the purple bead in the center and read aloud, "Three." Tilting her head to the side, she stared at it in confusion, "What kind of ring says 'three' on it?"

With a shrug, she placed it on her right thumb and nodded approvingly. It was a pretty cool looking ring; she'd give it that much. It wouldn't hurt to keep it for a while. After all, it wasn't like the owner was going to come back looking for it. From the looks of things, it had been there for a while, judging by the scratch marks and dirt. Must have just been a plain, ordinary ring.

She stretched out and relaxed against the base of the tree again, closing her eyes in an attempt to get some rest. As she sat there trying to fall asleep, her mind resumed the memory of what had become of her and her teammates.

"Hidden Waterfall is west of here," Shikamaru said, pointing at the country with his right index finger. He moved his finger back towards Konoha, just outside the village. "And we're here, a few hours distance outside the gates." Taking a coin out of his pocket, he said, "If this represents five kilometers…" With this, he moved the coin step by step from their location to Hidden Waterfall, "We should be able to make it in about a week."

"That's if we make it at all," Ino shuddered. It was already getting dark, and though the Land of Fire was her home, she never liked to be out at night.

"We'll make it," Naruto said bravely, patting her on the shoulder. "Sakura-chan's sense of direction is amazing!"

Sakura blushed slightly, smiling despite herself. "Thanks, Naruto."

"Hmph," Sakura mumbled, curling herself into a ball. "Sense of direction, my ass."

Settling down for camp that night, Shikamaru and Naruto worked on setting up the tents as Ino and Sakura prepared a campfire and dinner. The sun was already completely gone by this time, so they were quick to get the job done. As the four of them sat there, several conversations came up. Naruto seemed to be back in his usual obnoxious mood, and every so often, Sakura cracked a smile at some of the stupid things he said.

Ino looked between them and grinned as she set down her bowl. "Are you guys ready for a scary story?"

Naruto's eyes widened with excitement, "A scary story?!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, muttering something along the lines of, "Troublesome."

This made Ino smirk, "Hey, if it's too troublesome for you, why don't you just head to bed early. You, too, Sakura – wouldn't want you getting scared and having nightmares."

Sakura's chopsticks abruptly snapped in half. She looked down at the broken wooden sticks and said a barely audible, "Oops."

"Ne, Sakura-chan, you can use mine if you want," Naruto offered, showing his chopsticks.

Sakura's eye twitched in annoyance, "That's… really disgusting, Naruto." She set down her bowl as well, along with the broken chopsticks, and looked at Ino. "You were saying? I'm ready whenever you are."

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, tell that story!"

Ino inwardly sighed but quickly put her smirk back on her face. She and the others left the campfire and sat in a circle in the girls' tent. Ino took a flashlight from her back and turned it on. "Okay… this is the story of…" she put the flashlight just below her face for a creepy effect, "the Kuchisake-onna…"

"The what?" Shikamaru asked skeptically.

Annoyance came across Ino's features for a moment before she quickly masked it with the scary look again. "The Kuchisake-onna…"

"Get on with it," Sakura yawned, waving her hand in front of her a few times for extra boredom affect.

Ino masked her frustration once again and proceeded to tell her tale. "Hundreds of years ago, there lived a beautiful young woman. Her beauty was said to rival that of any other woman in the world. She was also the wife of a powerful samurai lord."

Subconsciously, a smile crept across Sakura's features. She used to imagine herself as such a woman during the years of her childhood. A beautiful woman, prettier than all the others with a brave warrior as her husband. Of course, back then the warrior was Sasuke, though in her present state, she was depressingly content with picturing nearly any man in that place.

"However, the woman was also very vain," Ino continued, waving the flashlight when necessary. "It's said that she cheated on her husband with several other men as well. The samurai, being jealous, attacked her and slit her mouth from ear to ear, all the while screaming, 'WHO WILL THINK YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL NOW?!'

"This is where the legend picks up," Ino said, her voice lower than before. "It's said that on foggy nights, a woman roams the streets of different villages that she traveled to with her samurai husband, her face covered in a surgical mask. When she encounters someone, usually alone, she coyly asks, 'Kirei da to omou?'" (Do you think I'm beautiful?)

Ino looked between the faces of her teammates, pleased to see they were all listening attentively. "At the same time, she'll take off her mask, revealing her mutilated mouth. Most of the victims then run away screaming, but that only makes the Kuchisake-onna angry. She runs after them with the same kodachi her husband cut her mouth with and KILLS THEM."

Sakura swallowed hard, finding herself looking around the tent. Ino's flashlight and the campfire effectively served to make a great deal of frightening shadows that added to the already creepy effect of the story. The problem was that people often wore surgical masks when they had a cold or other such infections and diseases out of the concern for others. If she saw someone in one of those when she returned to Konoha, Sakura would probably run for it.

"There's only one way to avoid being chased by the Kuchisake-onna," Ino explained in the same, creepy tone. "If you tell her 'yes' or 'no' as an answer to her question, she'll chase you anyway." Her tone steadily returned to normal. "But if you tell her something like 'You look ordinary' she will leave you alone. The only way to get away from the Kuchisake-onna if you are being chased… is to throw candy at her."

At this, the others sweat dropped. Shikamaru was the first to speak, "Candy?"

"Yes."

Sakura sighed and curled up in her sleeping bag. "Night."

"Aw, night, Sakura-chan," Naruto said. He crawled to the open flap in the tent and glanced at Ino, "Cool story, but you should change the end or something, Ino-chan." The he left and sat back at the fire.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, again muttering, "Troublesome," and leaving the tent as well.

Ino scowled and angrily shook her fist, "You don't believe me?! Well, FINE! We'll see what happens when the Kuchisake-onna goes after YOU!"

"SHUT UP!" Sakura demanded, covering her head.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the thought. "Stupid Ino-pig and her stories. That was so lame." Though she didn't say it, she looked over her shoulder every so often for a woman in a surgical mask.

That night, the separation happened. It was the first night of the mission and most likely the last. As she thought about it, she was able to determine exactly how those rogue shinobi managed to defeat and effectively separate the four of them.

Somehow, they had gotten into her medical supplies and poisoned each of their drinks with a sleep-inducing drug. Team Tsunade tried to stay standing and fight back, but the rogue shinobi were too good – either that, or the Konoha gang was too tired. The rogues managed to lead each of them away from the other, effectively separating them and weakening them by not only drugs but numbers as well.

In a sudden spur of what little energy she had, Sakura numbly brought her hand to her mouth and bit down hard. The pain and blood managed to awaken her a bit more, just enough to take down the shinobi with a massive shuriken attack. That proved the rogues really were nothing; her team could have taken them out with ease had they not been drugged.

Unable to fight the sedative any longer, Sakura collapsed to the ground. She didn't wake up until the next day. Thankful that she had a good amount of chakra, she efficiently patched up the injury on her hand and started looking around for her teammates, occasionally calling out their names.

Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru were some of the best ninja from Konoha. She knew for a fact they wouldn't go down so easily. They had to have thought of some sort of solution like she had and defeated their rogue shinobi. The only problem was, like Sakura, they most likely had taken off in other directions to try and find each other.

Hours passed and she slowly lost hope. She was beginning to regret wandering from her original position in the forest. Perhaps if she had stayed by the body of that rogue ninja, her friends would have found her. She would have been closer to camp.

Sakura finally drifted into a sleep, but it didn't last past a few hours. It served to ease her exhaustion, so she stood up and braced herself for another walk through the woods. She had been lost for about six days now. This was going to be the last day, she was sure of it.

The key to getting out of forests was to walk in a straight line. Sakura had been following her broken compass for the past few days, and now that she realized it wasn't even working, she would turn to the next method. Taking out her rusted kunai, Sakura slowly trudged through the forest in a straight line, marking off trees she passed with the knife.

After a while, she finally saw a slightly new scenery. The sun began to rise, revealing she had been walking for a few hours. So… hungry… she thought miserably. Deciding that since she was getting somewhere, she would be closer to Konoha or some other village (where there was food) and she should just keep going. The thought of a tasty meal from a restaurant was far more appealing than forest scraps, though she wouldn't hesitate if it went that far.

Distracted by her thoughts, Sakura didn't notice herself stumble into a hole until it was too late. "AHHH!!" she screamed as she fell to the bottom. It was a fatal fall since the hole was filled with rocks, but it still caught her by surprise.

Sakura looked up, squinting her eyes in the upcoming sunlight. "Oh man, way to go, Sakura," she complained. Sakura struggled to walk over to the edge and climb up but found she was unable to do so. "My ankle… oh, damn it! THIS IS SO CLICHÉ!"

"Is… someone… there…"

Sakura jumped up, landing on her ankle, causing a scream of both fright and pain to erupt from her mouth. She scooted back against the edge of the hole, desperately clutching her rusty kunai knife. "Who's there?! Show yourself before I kick your ass!"

"Beneath… you…"

In a motion that resembled a water sprinkler, Sakura hesitantly looked down. All she could see were the rocks she was sitting on, but her eyes caught sight of something to her right. She looked over and saw…

A human hand waving at her.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"