Author: Yukari Rin
Series: Naruto
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Tayuya x Deidara
Rating: T for a bit of rough language
Word Count: 612
Notes: Written for .let.me.cry. for the "first kiss" meme. Set in the "Family Secrets/Dirty Laundry" universe.
Disclaimer: Naruto and related properties belong to Masashi Kishimoto and related parties.

"A Gift"

He watched her across the table, brows drawn together in a half amused, half terrified manner. They were related, all right. Only cousins, maybe, but enough similarities were present that it was obvious. She was muttering some curse under her breath about the bread being stale - dammit hadn't it just been bought the day before? How the fuck was it already stale?

He noticed Sasori watching him and smiled at his friend. He knew Sasori didn't care much for Tayuya (she's more annoying than Tobi, he had explained to Deidara when the blond has asked him why he didn't like his younger cousin), and that's why he was spending the night at the Akasuna house.

Tayuya had been there for a week already, and Sasori had told Deidara he wouldn't be held responsible if something happened to her that prevented her from going back to her father's. Deidara had come over as soon as they had gotten off the phone an hour before.

Her hair was a shocking red, though not as bright as Sasori's. It was more of a strawberry blonde than a true red. She was a slight chit of a girl, bruised from fights she had instigated and a constant scowl on her face. Her language was cruder than Sasori's despite being a handful of years younger than him.

Supper finished for him as Sasori pushed back his chair from the table and told him to follow him to the basement. They worked in a companionable silence for nearly two hours (though Deidara could never work in true silence and tried to talk to his host several times with little to no success) when the door opened and Tayuya came stamping down the steps.

The basement had been converted into Sasori's workshop and was filled with tools and wood of all varieties. Tayuya poked through the piles, making her way closer to the two boys. She watched her cousin mark a six-by-four plank for a few minutes before turning to watch his blond friend.

"You're playing with play-dough at your age?" she sneered.

Deidara felt his brow twitch. "It's not play-dough, yeah, it's modeling clay."

"Same difference."

He gave her a displeased glance. "No it isn't."

She shrugged and slid across the floor closer to the able he was working on. "What are you making?"

"Birds, yeah."

"Those are birds?" the doubt dripping from her voice with each word.

He sighed and looked at her. "Abstract birds, yeah."

She snorted and poked at one of his finished birds. "I guess they're kind of cool, if you're a pansy into art and stuff." His fingers squeezed the clay he was working with, crushing the wing he had been forming. "You're really good, aren't you? At making stuff like this?" Tayuya crouched down to look at the bird at eye-level, carefully turning the paper it was resting on, noticing the details Deidara and etched into the clay.

"I'm better than average, yeah," he smiled. Sasori snorted at his comment but continued marking depths to carve to on the wood.

"Can I have this?" Tayuya popped up, pressing her hands on the table and leaning towards Deidara, face inches from his own (so much for personal space).

"Uh, sure, I guess, yeah. If you like it," he back away from her.

"Really?" her face lit up.

"I still need to fire it, but once that's done, yeah. I don't see why not."

The kiss she planted on his cheek before skipping towards the stairs was something he had not expected at all. "You better do that right away, you pansy, or I won't forgive you!" she called out before slamming the door behind her.