A/N: Hey there, it's le Twisted Artistic Genius again! I think it's about time I've gotten off my habit of writing mainly one-shots and started towards an actual chapter-based story, so here it is! Before we start though, I'll just talk a little bit about what's going to be in here. If you'd like to skip that and go straight to reading ze story, by all means go ahead. Just don't complain if you get a little confused or something later on, though!
--> OC's: Yeah, I know lots of people don't like reading them, but there will be a few in here nonetheless. There's always the random ones in each story, like the shopkeeper our heroes stop at along the way to get something from, but I've also added in main OC's. I won't put in character descriptions, as this is an AU story to begin with (and who wants to go through character profiles when you can just learn about them as you read along?), but all that's important now is who owns who, I guess. Ryoko is mine, and Sukkiri and Yume are Cheesey Goodness's characters. Okay, we've gotten that out of the way, now…
--> Pairings: Just to inform you, yeah, there will be a few pairings in here. There will be Deidara/Sukkiri and Itachi/Yume, and maybe Ryoko/Sasori, though I haven't quite decided on that one yet. Heck, maybe I might throw in some different ones, though I don't know at the moment. It all depends on where I want to take the story.
--> AU: This is just a bit of plot information. This story follows a real-world version of the Akatsuki from when they formed as a typical street gang to eventually becoming a full-blown criminal organization. This means that yeah, the mains of Naruto are the antagonists of the story. Sorry, just thought I'd throw this in here in case you were wondering.
--> Rating: Ah yes, the rating; oh how I love the rating committees… Well, I can assure you that it will stay this way unless I for some reason feel the need to raise it. Rated for language (Because you can never avoid it when you're around me), violence (Duh, this is the Akatsuki!), drug use (Like I said: street gang. Need I say more?), but not for lemons! Sorry, but I will not be writing any lemons for this story. If you want them that badly, I'll consider uploading them in a different story; but for the time being, there will not be any.
--> Chapter Uploading: One last thing before I set you all loose on my writing! I will upload chapters as damn fast as I can, but like all of you (Hopefully all of you), I've got a life off the computer too. So if I'm a few days to a week late in uploading, please cut me some slack. If I'm later than that…I give you permission to pelt me with whatever's in arm's reach. (I have the feeling that I'm going to regret ever saying that…)
Yeah, that's about all I can think of at the moment…well, what are you doing still reading this bold print?! Go and start reading the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, although I'm sure I'm not the only one who wishes that she does.
Chapter One
In the early hours of morning, all that could be heard was the snow softly hitting the ground and the footsteps of a lone person. That lone person was Sukkiri Kemikaru, a short, red-haired woman of twenty-five. She had decided to make her way to work early that day so she could finish typing the papers that were left over from the previous day. She let out a sigh. Work. Her least favorite place to be. She had been working as a secretary at a local office for some time now, and though it was a less-than ideal job, one had to start small. Well, 'less-than ideal' was a bit light. Her boss was a red-faced man who got her so angry she had to exercise every ounce of self-control she had to keep from ripping his head off.
"Oh, just be glad you have a job," she muttered to herself. She reached the building and went in, sitting down behind the desk in her small office. Turning on her computer, she got up and went to the coffee maker in the back. Sukkiri liked when she was the first one there because it gave her a chance to have a little peace before the rest of the workers came in, talking and joking loudly with one another. None of them ever joked with her, off course.
She leaned back in her desk chair and allowed herself to doze off, hoping to get a little more sleep before the hustle and bustle of the day began.
"Kemikaru! Kemikaru! Wake up! I'm not paying you to sleep on the job!"
"Wha…?" Sukkiri groggily opened her eyes when she heard the voice. She found herself face-to-face with her boss, who looked as mad as ever. "Sorry sir, it's just I—"
"I don't care! Get to work or I'll cut your pay!" he yelled.
"You can't do that!" Sukkiri cried, "I have to pay my rent and my bills!"
The man sneered nastily. "Well, that's not my problem. Get to work." He slapped a fresh stack of papers needing to be typed on the desk in front of her and stormed out the door. Sukkiri muttered a silent string of curses under her breath and pulled out the first paper, beginning to type.
Much of the day went by hazily like this, until finally it was time to go home. Sukkiri shut down her computer and gathered up her things.
It was still snowing when she stepped outside, so she walked quickly to avoid the cold.
I hope my hot water hasn't been shut off... she thought ruefully, wishing she had checked the status of her bill payment before she had left for work. As she rounded the corner, she noticed a blonde-haired man? Woman? Person sitting along the wall holding what looked like a sketchbook. Sukkiri couldn't even imagine how they stood the icy weather. Shaking her head, she passed them by.
Deidara eyed the red-haired woman that had just walked past him and drew in a sharp breath. Had she always lived in this part of town? He told himself that he'd keep an eye out for her. Opening his sketchbook, he tried to draw her face as well as he could remember.
Upon her arrival home, Sukkiri threw her bag aside, stripped off her clothes, and ran into the bathroom to take a hot shower. Once she was done, she threw on a pair of old sweatpants and a t-shirt and flopped onto her bed, quickly falling asleep.
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"Hurry up, Ryoko!"
"In a minute!" The teal-haired woman popped one last mint into her mouth before locking her trailer behind her. At twenty-seven, Ryoko's hair had finally grown back to its previous length, hanging down her back in one very long braid. It almost became a game for Ryoko to see how long she could keep up her acrobatics and fire breathing without burning her unnecessarily long hair.
Sasori for his part, still looked much the same as eight years before. Unlike his colleague, he regularly cut his hair, making sure it stayed its same length. He ran a hand through it slightly impatiently as said props worker waited in the passenger seat of Ryoko's Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. It was a controversially expensive car for a circus performer, but she was able to afford it due to the several millions of dollars she inherited when her father had finally kicked the bucket.
He waited as Ryoko got into the car, turned the key in the ignition, then pulled out of the sparsely populated parking lot.
"So where to, Sasori? You wanna stop by the bar for some drinks, or is there somewhere else you wanna go?"
"I'll take the bar. Work today was hell…"
"The bar it is, then."
Most of the car ride passed on in silence, broken every once in awhile by Ryoko cursing the snow that was steadily making driving more difficult. Sasori continued to stare out the window at the nearby sidewalk, watching without much interest as a red-haired woman walked past them, eventually turning to go inside a building. What did get his attention however, was a familiar blonde head bent over a sketchbook. As Ryoko stopped the car due to the red light, Sasori opened the car door, stepping out into the snowy city.
"Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Park somewhere close, Ryoko. I need to speak to this person over here."
"But it's-- ugh…fine, have it your way!"
Turning the corner and parking her beloved car next to the sidewalk, Ryoko locked it as she followed Sasori towards the blonde artist. She eyed the parking meter next to her Ferrari warily, a point she made verbally to Sasori.
"I don't feel very much like getting my car towed, you know."
"I know that. I just want to speak with him for a few minutes."
Ryoko folded her arms and leaned against the parking meter, still within earshot of the other two.
"Deidara?"
The blonde looked up to see who had spoken to him, his eyes lighting up with happiness and recognition, "Sasori-danna, un! I haven't seen you since college, un!"
"How have you been doing, lately-?"
"Oi! Hate to cut your reunion short, but my car's parked next to an empty meter, and I'm fucking freezing!"
Sasori raised his eyebrow, "Mind if I invite him along for drinks, then? It turns out he was my old college roommate after all."
"Go ahead, the more the merrier!" Suddenly in a much better mood, Ryoko held her hand out to the blonde artist, who was following Sasori towards the car, "I'm Ryoko, Sasori's co-worker."
"Deidara, un. Like Sasori said, I was his roommate, un."
"Cool. Order whatever you want when we get to the bar, drinks are on me!"
Deidara slid into the backseat, laying his sketchbook next to him as he began a conversation with the other two. A strange sort of euphoria had descended upon him as Ryoko pulled away from the street-corner he had worked on by himself for so long. He had found himself a beautiful muse, and a college friend he thought he'd never see again.
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Half an hour later found the three sitting at a bar counter, each drinking some form of alcohol. Unlike Sasori and Ryoko's usual outings to the bar, they were engaged in an actual conversation, rather than the silence the former two were accustomed to. It turned out that in the years since Sasori and Deidara had graduated from college, the latter had gone to many a city, job-hunting.
"Lemme tell you, un, it's much better to be drawing peoples' portraits on that street corner than being a chimney sweep, un! People thought I had started to dye my hair black, un!"
"…Chimney sweep? Those things still exist, then?"
"Yeah, un! I couldn't even use my art there, un…Well, I did draw designs onto the inside of the chimneys for awhile, un! But then it distracted me for too long and I got fired, un…"
Ryoko nodded with interest at Deidara's story while continuing to take swigs of her rum. Sasori, for his part, figured that his artistically-inclined roommate would end up as a starving job-hunter; but couldn't really talk, since he himself hadn't managed to get a job more prestigious than a behind-the-scenes circus worker.
"So what do you two do, then, un? Must be something exciting to get paid enough for that car, un!"
Sasori made a face while Ryoko let out a short bark of laughter, "Nah, that's just a gift I gave myself from some money my old man left me. Sasori and I work in the circus, and we're going to be staying here for a few weeks before moving on to the next city. He works with all the props; building, designing, repairing, testing them, etc. I'm an acrobat and fire breather, which is why I always use a bunch of these." She gestured to a bowl of mints sitting on the counter before swiping a few for later use.
Deidara nodded in turn, about to ask more about Sasori's prop-work, when a flash of red caught his attention. Swiveling about on his barstool, Deidara's eyes widened in amazement as he beheld the very same woman he had tried to sketch earlier that day. If anything, she looked even more beautiful indoors, striding up to the counter to order some sake.
Sake…so she likes rice wine, un? Another thing I like about her, un!
If anything, Deidara was starting to feel rather giddy as his blue eyes watched how every muscle in her body flowed while she leaned against the counter slightly to order her alcohol. His heart skipped a few beats when he watched her sit down on a stool not too far away from them, his mind nudging at him to go and strike up a conversation.
"…Deidara? You okay there?"
"Un?" He turned to look back at Sasori and Ryoko, both of whom had noticed how quickly he had spaced out on them. Ryoko looked from the blonde to the redhead, then back again, a knowing smirk growing across her face.
"Go talk to her."
"But what if she-"
"Don't worry, Sasori and I will be right here if anything goes wrong! Go, before I force you to myself!"
Just a little frightened of the acrobat, Deidara jumped off his stool and nearly ran towards the red haired woman, stopping himself in time and trying to make his approach seem more casual.
Ryoko grinned to herself as she set her chin on her hand, sipping absentmindedly at her rum while watching Deidara begin to make his move on the woman. She had only spoken to him for about half an hour; but with how much and animatedly Deidara liked to speak, and their mutual friendship with Sasori, she felt as if he were already one of her oldest and best friends. And as such, if he wanted someone, Ryoko was going to make sure he got her.
As if reading her thoughts, Sasori shook his head, turning to look away from them, "Ryoko, you are not going to be playing Match-maker again. Remember how disastrous that was with me?"
"Well it's not my fault that fan girl offered me a literal truckload of apples for information on where you're most ticklish! You know I can't resist apples!"
Sasori shook his head again, a sigh escaping his lips after setting down his glass on the counter, "That move was just like something Kakuzu would pull…"
Kakuzu was their boss, the owner of the circus so to say. He was a miser who was addicted to money much worse than most drug addicts could say they were to their respective highs, and as such kept an extremely tight fist on his employees' salaries. Only the fact that most of the performers could put him into extremely dangerous situations with him at their mercy kept him from not paying them at all. This was something Ryoko liked to remind Sasori of whenever they got into arguments, and which he grudgingly admitted was true.
"Oi! You're not paying attention, are you?!"
Sasori raised an eyebrow as Ryoko pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned to where her eyes were pointing, and found himself smirking slightly despite himself.
Well, well, Deidara…Looks like you might be getting a girlfriend soon…
Sukkiri thanked the bartender as she reached for her sake. She had taken a short nap at her home before deciding that a drink or two would help get her mind off her troubles. Henceforth she was now here, although she had no idea how life-altering this trip to the bar would be.
"Hello, un. Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to tell you about how you would be such a beautiful art subject, un!"
Sukkiri's hand froze halfway towards her mouth, still holding the glass with her sake. An expression quickly formed across her face that practically screamed, 'WTF?!' However, she allowed a smile to replace it, realizing that he was the person she had seen sketching at the street corner.
"Thanks. So you're an artist, I take it?" She made no move to stop him as Deidara sat on the stool next to her, his drink also in his hand.
"I am, un! Art is my life, un! I do it for a living, un!"
Sukkiri noticed with a hint of laughter on her lips how nervous the blonde artist seemed to be. He continued to trip over his sentences, then finally lapsed into a silence, having figured that he'd said enough. She found him endearing and cute, and was a bit relieved to hear from his voice that he was most likely male.
"So where do you live?"
"Uh, un…" Deidara froze there. He was not the most experienced in this field, but he didn't need to be in order to know that admitting he was homeless would not impress her.
He did not need to speak though, as a sympathetic light came into Sukkiri's eyes, "Let me guess, you live on the corner I saw you on?"
"…yeah, un…" The dejection that seeped out of him was almost tangible, and only added to the cuteness factor that Deidara was already ranking high in. Sukkiri resisted the urge to hug him and laid a hand on his shoulder, her heart also skipping a beat when Deidara looked up at her with a big doleful blue eye, the other one hidden by his hair.
"You seem like a nice enough guy, and not that shady. What's your name?"
"Deidara, un. May I know yours too, un?"
"Sukkiri Kemikaru."
Sukkiri…that'd be a wonderful name to moan out, un--HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, UN! Keep your head out of the gutter, un! It's not like she's going to invite you to stay at her home, un!
"Would you like to come stay with me then, Deidara?"
It would be safe to say that Deidara's mind and body both froze over at the words that came out of Sukkiri's mouth. His mind was the first to recover.
…dreams really do come true, un! A mental chibi Deidara was dancing about, singing with the chibi clay birds that also populated Deidara's strange mind. He then only stopped long enough to yell for Deidara to say 'yes' before going back to dancing.
The real-life version obeyed before Sukkiri could reconsider, "Yes please, un! Thank you very much for letting me stay with you, un!" Not thinking, Deidara lunged forwards and glomped Sukkiri in happiness. Luckily for him, Sukkiri seemed not to mind and hugged him back, "No problem!"
"Congratulations, you two!"
Sukkiri looked up to see that two of the bar's other occupants were walking towards them, one of them applauding while grinning widely, the other one simply looking bored.
"Sorry to interrupt you two, but you just looked so cute together! And did I hear something about you going to stay with her, Deidara? That's awesome!"
"Er…I'm sorry, but who are you?" Sukkiri raised an eyebrow, wondering at the back of her mind if this woman had tried to set her up with Deidara from the beginning.
"Oh yeah! Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Ryoko, and this is Sasori." She gestured to the other one next to her, who raised his hand slightly in greeting. "We're Deidara's friends, but it looks like he won't be going home with us tonight." Ryoko allowed a smirk to cross her face as she laid some money on the counter to pay for their alcohol.
Sasori made a face and shook his head again, knowing that his colleague's mind had plunged straight into the gutter, "Ryoko, he's just staying over at the woman's house, that is all. I've spent the night in your trailer before, you know."
"Yeah, but that's because we were both so wasted that neither felt like moving at all. It's funny, though…I always stayed on the bed, and you on the floor. It suits you, ya know."
Sasori stopped, the four of them having headed out of the door by this point. The look on his face was anything but amused, "Are you insinuating that if we were in a relationship, I'd be the uke?"
Ryoko smirked, enjoying fooling around like this, "Well hell yeah, you would be! I've never seen you complain about sleeping on the floor or anything like that!"
"Er…you two seem like nice people, but I think we'd better be going home now…"
Sukkiri was slowly inching away from the two, her hand intertwined with Deidara's. Ryoko nodded, miraculously not noticing this last crucial detail between them, "Alright then. Meet us here same time tomorrow?"
"Got it. Come on, let's go home Deidara."
The blonde bemusedly followed Sukkiri after waving to the other two, who were getting into Ryoko's car, still arguing about who would be uke.
The snow was still falling outside from the pitch black sky, slowly floating down to land silently around the two. It almost seemed muffled around them, as if the switch for sound had been flicked off; leaving them with a sacred silence that enveloped them like a soft, warm blanket.
Not thinking very much, Deidara wrapped an arm around Sukkiri's shoulders, bringing the smaller-boned, feminine form close to him.
"Uh, you looked cold, un!" he added quickly at the surprised look on Sukkiri's face.
Sukkiri smiled somewhat, forgetting the tiny little detail that she didn't even know Deidara all that well; but that did not seem to matter at all around him, however. Deidara had the strange gift of befriending people while giving off the feeling of them having known him for years.
Within only a few minutes they made it back to Sukkiri's apartment, Deidara letting go of her long enough for Sukkiri to unlock the door and invite him inside. It being rather late at night, Sukkiri fetched a few throw blankets before laying them on the couch.
"Sorry 'bout you having to sleep here, but I only have one bed."
"That's okay, un! It looks much comfier than the sidewalk, un!"
Smiling to himself as he watched his muse laugh at his joke, Deidara removed his slightly tattered coat and hung it up in the closet, calling good-night back to her as Sukkiri retired to her own room.
I have the best luck in the world, don't I, un?
Things were about to change, however. For good or for bad was uncertain at the moment.
A/N: So there you have it, the first chapter. The second one's going to be a bunch of introductions, too; but after that we can actually start getting into the story! Expect the next chapter to be up within a few days!