Augh! It's been so long!

I've been inactive for so long, and I don't even spit out an update for Rich Girl…

You see, I've been busy finding my place in the world/internet and just finished freshman year. Lots happened, I don't care to bore you with the details…

So, without further ado, here's a story just for you!

-:-

For the longest time, all I've wanted was to fly.

It was night, and there she was, standing on the edge of the Great Konoha Bridge, her hands only loosely gripping the railing behind her. The water splashed a few hundred feet below, and the wind blew the ocean's air against her face. Slowly, she reached an arm out, feeling the breeze at her fingertips. Her eyes, once closed and still, opened to see the cityscape before her. Briefly, she wondered what would happen if she jumped. Would she fly?

Slowly, one by one, her fingers slipped away from the railing.

One by one, her troubles left her.

One by one, she left them behind.

She was no longer connected to the world when someone yelled out,

"Don't do it!"

-:-

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

She felt cold. What happened?

"Doctor, Doctor! She's waking up!" A woman's voice. Mom?

"I see. She seems to be doing alright. She should be able to go home tomorrow."

"Thank goodness…"

"However, Mrs. Hyuga, there's something I need to tell you…"

Silence.

She dared to open her eyes. Bright blue ones stared back at her. Blue-eyes that belonged to a boy with long blond hair. His left eye was covered by his hair, so she supposed it was just 'a blue eye.' The boy was thin, but somehow muscular. She could feel his strength against the bed, which he used to lean himself close enough to her face to stare. And stare they did, for the longest time.

"Who are you?" She asked, finally.

"I'm Deidara," the blue-eyed boy said. "Who're you?"

She blinked and said, "Hinata. Hinata Hyuga."

Deidara didn't smile. He simply held his hand out for her to shake. She did. "Are you okay?" He asked, leaning back a little. Hinata shook her head. He tilted his. "Why not?" She frowned.

"You didn't let me fly."

Deidara looked at her like they had some kind of connection. Then she saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward in an awkward smirk. "Flying? Is that what you were doing?" Hinata nodded, turning a bit red with embarrassment. "Well, I have to say, you're not very good at it." He chuckled without laughing. Somehow.

"What happened last night, Deidara?"

"Well…" Before he could reply, the doctor and her mother walked back into the room.

"Mr. Deidara, could you leave the room for a few moments?" Deidara nodded to the doctor and left the room silently, looking at Hinata the entire walk. The doctor then turned to Hinata and took a breath.

"Hinata, this is your third suicide attempt." Hinata shook her head. Suicide attempt? That certainly wasn't the case. She glanced at her mother, who was crying silently in the corner. "I'm afraid that I have to assign you to another hospital where they can help you." Hinata wanted to protest; it wasn't suicide – she simply wanted to…

"Your mother and I have talked about the details – where you'll be staying, and how they'll be helping you. Do you understand?" Hinata reluctantly nodded and sighed.

She'd always been like this. Why were they doing this now?

Ever since she was little, she'd always been found jumping off of things. Chairs, tables, roofs… She tried telling them she wanted to fly – she really did! – but they wouldn't believe her. They always said, "What a very disturbed child!" or "She's crazy!" and "She needs help!" Was it really that strange? People flew all the time in air planes. Quite frankly, she was getting tired of it.

Deidara entered as the doctor left. He looked at Hinata's mother in the corner and then Hinata on the bed. "Hinata, I just came back to say goodbye." Hinata shook her head and grabbed Deidara's arm. "Wait! You have to… tell me what happened." Deidara looked at her arm. Her grip was weak. He quickly took her hand and gripped it lightly. "The doctor assigned you to a mental hospital, right?" He asked, looking at her. Slowly, she nodded. "How did you know?"

His hand slipped away from hers. "Goodbye, Hinata." He glanced at Hinata's mother before darting out of the room.

-:-

Deidara stalked out of the hospital and took out his cell phone. He punched in some numbers and spoke. "She's alright. They're sending her in tomorrow." The conversation lasted a bit longer before he hung up and started towards the Akatsuki Mental Hospital.

The hospital looked very much like a mansion – four stories tall, a long porch/patio in front with stairs leading to the front door. The grass was much greener than the other yards around, and the gates were more protected than your average estate. However, the fancy exterior didn't quite match the hospital-like interior.

Once inside, you saw the nurse's station in the center, while the entire first floor was made into a bunch of mini activity stations – all of which well monitored by security cameras that linked to the security room in the basement.

Despite its size, the hospital didn't have as many patients as one would think. There were only about twenty at the most, and all of them suffered from more or less the same ailment – insanity.

Deidara walked in like he'd been there all his life.

"Hello, Konan," he greeted the receptionist, who only gave him a blank stare. "Sasori is in his office. He's waiting for you." She told him. Deidara nodded and headed towards his destination.

Sasori twirled in his chair and greeted Deidara. "So! Will I be expecting Ms. Hinata tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Deidara looked downward. He didn't particularly like spying on the rich clients Sasori had wrapped around his finger. The Hyugas were the only ones he was assigned to, but he didn't like it all the same.

Sasori noticed the silence in Deidara. "Is something the matter?" Deidara took a deep breath. "That's it, right? Hinata's coming now, you can handle it all from here, right?" He spoke quickly but clearly. Sasori sensed the urgency in his voice, but shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not that simple." Deidara almost cursed under his breath.

"You see, we also need you to – how should I say – counsel Hinata. Like, be her manager. Just watch her – like you have been for the past ten years. Only, I guess, you can speak to her now." Sasori leaned back in his chair as he contemplated this. Deidara rolled his eyes.

Great.

-:-

Hinata stood in front of the building, her mother at her side.

"They'll take care of you here, Hinata, darling," her mother said softly. Her grip on Hinata's hand was tight, as if she didn't want to let her go. However, in her mother's eyes, she saw the slight sense of relief. It was as if she were thinking, she's finally out of my hair. Hinata didn't like the look or the feeling it gave her. It made her feel unwanted. It was then that she realized that her mother was judging her just like everyone else was.

Huffing, Hinata smoothly strode to the front doors of the Akatsuki Mental Hospital. Her mother awkwardly followed, her hand still tightly gripping her daughter's. "Hinata, dear, please slow down for your mother." Hinata tried to ignore her mother's plea, but found that she couldn't. She was her mother, still.

They made their way to the front desk, where Konan, the receptionist, appointed them to Tobi, the 'tour guide', as he liked to call himself. Tobi chatted mostly to himself about the inner workings of the Hospital as he led them to Sasori's office. He was about to go on a full-on narrative about his first week at the Hospital before Sasori heard them and opened his door.

"Ah, the lovely ladies of the Hyuga family! Welcome, welcome! Come in, yes – Ah, thank you Tobi. Another job well-done, I must say."

Before Tobi could say another word, Sasori slammed the door in his orange-masked face, and that was the end of that.

Hinata didn't listen too closely on what Sasori and her mother discussed. She was more focused on the many wooden planks with clever sayings on them. The biggest one was displayed above Sasori's chair.

It read, Here at Akatsuki Mental Hospital, - here it was abbreviated AMH – We're as mad as you are. Only we know what to do.

Just then, Hinata realized, Sasori and her mother were wrapping up their arrangements and shook hands. He looked at her and smiled a businessman's smile and said, "Here at Akatsuki, we're just as mad as you are. Only we know what to do."

-:-

Deidara, as he walked toward the Hospital, noticed a very fancy car parked outside the gates. He saw a familiar lady with signature blue hair walk out of the building, Sasori waving goodbye to her from the doorway. He spotted Deidara behind the gate and winked at him.

Mrs. Hyuga passed him on the walkway. She looked at him wearily as she stepped toward the car. She paused and waved for him to stand next to her.

"You're… Deidara, aren't you?" She asked in a soft, worried tone. Deidara nodded. "You're going to be the one taking care of my daughter, Hinata. You remember, the girl in the hospital, don't you?" Deidara nodded again, a bit surprised at the news. He glanced at Sasori, who was still at the door.

"She's in there now… I'm afraid that this will be my last time seeing her until she is fully, um, cured." She said the word like she was unsure. She gulped back a sob as she began to cry. "Would it be too much to ask if… if you could… take care of Hinata? Watch over her, please. Make sure she gets the help she needs… please?" By now she had grabbed Deidara's jacket sleeve and was gripping it tightly. "M… Maybe once she's healed, her father will look at her again…"

Deidara, his almost-never smiling face, cracked a reassuring grin to Mrs. Hyuga. "I… promise, Mrs. Hyuga." He told her softly. They stared at each other, as if searching out the trust in each other. Then, she let one tear fall down her cheek before stepping into the car.

"Thank you, Deidara, thank you."

-:-

Hinata was waiting back in Sasori's office, continuing to read the other signs on his wall. She reflected on what just happened – her tearful goodbye with her mother. Well, tearful on her mother's end. She didn't seem to grasp that they'd be seeing each other again after this whole ordeal is over – whenever that is.

Sasori walked back into the room with a familiar boy with blonde hair.

"Hinata, I'd like you to meet someone." The familiar boy sat down next to her and tried not to look in her direction. "This is –" Suddenly, his name came to her, and she finished Sasori's sentence. "Deidara."

Deidara looked at her, and she stared at him. Sasori had a wide grin on his face, mischievous in some respects as he said, "Ah, so you've met. Where? When?" He already knew the answer, but he felt it was necessary to not raise suspicion in any way.

Hinata tilted her head to the side. "At… the bridge. When I… tried to fly. That's when." She explained in a slow sentence, still mesmerized by Deidara's familiarity. He nodded to her, then turned his attention to Sasori.

"Hinata, Deidara will be your… how should I say… caretaker. He'll be the person you see most in this facility – the person who guides you to complete health. I do hope you get along."

After explaining a few more things, he dismissed them both so Deidara could show her to her room.

They walked in silence most of the way.

When they got to the room, Deidara opened the door and let Hinata in first.

Her first impression was… well… she didn't particularly like it. The room was a little less white than the hallway, and the bed was unmade. The drawers were open and full of clothes, and the bed was unmade. There were clothes on the floor and a table with unfinished take-out food container on top of it. She frowned and looked at Deidara.

"Excuse me, but this room seems to be already inhabited…" she said softly as Deidara led them fully inside. He sighed and closed the door. "Yeah. By me. This is my room." He locked the door, and Hinata immediately ran to the other side of the room. He looked at her, perplexed at first, but then he understood the situation.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Deidara, but I'm afraid I don't like you that way. I'm afraid we're not close enough to be sharing a room as messy as this… together. I'd like to request a room all my own, and I'd like to be the only one with the key-" Hinata spoke quickly, leaving little room for Deidara to interrupt and explain.

"Hinata, I know, I know. Locking the door is only policy. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Your room is over here."

He walked over to a door that Hinata thought was the closet. However, when he opened it, it revealed a whole other room entirely. It was pristine white with one barred window facing the rising sun. The bed and sheets were pleasingly colorful – a touch of normalcy in this mental hospital. There was a side table and a wardrobe with drawers underneath. There was an empty bookshelf to the side, as television was provided downstairs only.

Hinata smiled a little as she went around to explore a little. Deidara began to explain why the rooms were so… strangely connected.

"Well, Hinata, since I am your 'Caretaker,' as Sasori put it, I am required to keep an eye on you as much as I can." Hinata was in the wardrobe, looking through the pre-arranged clothes in the drawers. A sort of white suit – the kind you'd see in hospitals, only a little fancier and normal-looking. "So there's only one way out of this room, and that's through my room. It's so you won't be able to sneak out without my knowing. That's all it really is." Hinata held up the strange attire from the drawers and muttered to herself, "Can't I have my own clothes in here?"

Deidara ignored her comment and walked to where a button was placed by the bed. "This is an intercom speaker, connected to mine in the other room. You can contact me through this. However, you can also reach me by pressing the button on this necklace. Here." He walked over to her, but she was too busy exploring the wardrobe to notice his approach. When he cleared his throat, she stood straight up and turned around, only to be face-to-face with Deidara. Well, his chest, since he was taller, but still. It was the closeness that made her turn a bright red.

She'd never been this close to a boy before.

He seemed to be equally uncomfortable, but he quickly let the feeling subside as he handed her the necklace. She took it and examined it carefully. She pressed the button, and a red light started blinking in his black shirt. He took it out and revealed a matching necklace. "See? Instant access. This power is only yours, okay? Don't abuse it." He waited for her to nod before stepping back. She looked at the necklace and then at Deidara. She smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you!" She gave him a quick hug and walked past him and onto the bed. He watched her.

He began to make his way to the door, but he remembered something. "Also, Hinata. There'll be a special dinner tonight to welcome you and introduce you to the other… patients." For lack of a better word. Hinata nodded to him, and he left with a small smile on his face.

Hinata studied the necklace Deidara gave her. She thought about what he said.

This power is only yours, okay?

Suddenly, she pressed the button.

Deidara felt his necklace vibrate.

What? Already? He thought, turning to enter Hinata's room again. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, swinging her legs.

"Um. Yes?" He inquired awkwardly. She only grinned at him.

"Deidara, would you please tell me what happened that night at the bridge?"

-:-

It's not the newest chapter of Rich Girl, but…

Aagh, I'd hate to call this another idea dump. I'd call it… a break from my other story. Y'know? Augh, I have no excuse.

I missed you guys. So, here I am, writing another fanfiction… DeiHina, of course.

I'll have you know that Deidara's going to be a bit more serious than the other stories. So, yeah.

Thanks for reading so far!