Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, so many wonderful characters would not have died.
Warnings: 20 year old with 16 year old (underage), Shonen-Ai / Yaoi (boy on boy), Possibly more M rated content further in the story, AU
A/N: Told in Deidara's POV. It's pretty depressing overall as a story, just so you are warned. But not everything is happy, so it's fitting. I wanted it to be a more realistic, emotional story that you can imagine being possible in real life. With that, let's begin.
Prologue
Necklace
As I rummage through the mounds of junk within the dim corners my closet, my thoughts overflow with nostalgia. I yearn to go back to the time when I was able to roam freely without fear of encountering you, or someone in your likeness.
Even now, as I am preparing to leave it all behind, to enter the realm that is college, I can't help but remember you. The delicateness of your face, the silkiness of your crimson hair; but more importantly than your physical appearance, the tremors accompanied by your touch, the guilty pleasures that you permitted me to indulge in when I was at my most vulnerable, the emotional support that you supplied me when I thought of nothing but hurt. I think I loved you for that, and I've come to accept that towards the end, I didn't even quite mind the gap between our ages. You did say, after all, that art is eternal, not caring about age or similar oddities, but rather an external expression of the feelings one has inside.
Even though you gave me such happiness then, still I despise you. Every time a thought of you crosses my path, I want to break down where I stand. I can't bear feeling like I do towards you, to feel as if I lost to you. You made it so easy to trust you, to believe that it was safe to let someone within those emotional walls again. And knowing that, you tore them down seemingly without care. You acted to save your own pathetic skin. You must possess a heart as cold as the lifeless puppets you cherish so much.
It's not often that I allow myself to indulge in such resentful thoughts towards you, but today's activities leave me with the bitter aftertaste of what you had done, what we had done. Now, I sit at the entrance to my closet, a crippled mess of my former self, delicately folding clothes into a cardboard box. I try to care for my belongings, similar to the care that you once showed me. But, I will never treat anything like you did that final night. I sigh, reach out to choose another shirt, and notice a thin silver chain dangling beneath it. I then inhale sharply, allowing the conflicting emotions to flash across my face. I didn't think that I still had your necklace, but being the pack rat that I am, it seems inevitable that I would not have discarded it.
My hand falters as I attempt to extract it from under the folds of cloth, but I eventually manage to bring it out. The metal digs slightly into my flesh as I squeeze it in my hand, releasing some pent up frustration. After a moment, I allow my fingers to open, to expose the last piece of tangible evidence I have that you were ever there at all. The final haunting piece of you, but at the same time, the most significant.
I blink away a single tear and it falls onto my hand, but quickly slides off, catching on one of the chain links, and settling there. I've realized that these bitter perceptions of you aren't entirely true. I believe that you honestly cared at one point, and now I can partially accept why you abandoned me. I can't help but wonder though, what did that summer two years ago really mean to you?
A/N: The rest of the story will be like one giant flashback of what happened between them with longer chapters. Reviews are loved, especially helpful tips; and you might want to check out on my profile the one-shots that I am offering (In desperate need of a one shot request). Thank you for reading. -Yuki