Warnings: Language, yaoi, sex in later chapter!

Written in honor of ItaDei Week 2015!

A/N: To make it short. I have chosen to ignore the fact that homosexual relationship would ever be (or ever was) something outraging, inappropriate or forbidden. No more explanations. If you want to know my reasons (or have other questions), send me a PM. :)

Chapter 1/5
The Night of a Lost Wanderer

...

A dark road was drowned in an unstoppable cascades of freezing water. Deep blue sky was covered with thick veil of rain clouds. Somewhere behind that unwelcoming shroud stars were silently flickering and hiding from the rest of the world. Steady beat echoed in Deidara's car as he dashed through the heavy streams falling from heavens. The rush of rain reached even over the buzzing sounds from his old radio. The signal was truly miserable here, but that was to be expected. Deidara didn't meet another car for quite a long time now.

Two hours ago he wondered if he wasn't by any chance lost. That was when the storm had started and the noises from his rusty radio became more annoying than amusing. One hour ago he admitted that he might have taken a wrong turn on his journey. Anyone can make a mistake like that, right? It shouldn't be hard to find the way to the main route again. The map he had unrolled on the seat next to him wasn't really helpful though. He would swear on his own life that no road could be this long and abandoned at the same time. There should be a town, or at least a small village soon. Gas station? A sign?

Deidara grunted in displeasure and turned off the bothersome electronic hum. There wasn't even a trace of a song or so much as human word anyway. He glanced at the map beside him. The road he was on should be turning left soon. A town was supposed to be located after the next several miles, hidden somewhere in the middle of the dense forest that was all around the area. Following after the town there should be another road, which would lead him back on the highway. From there it couldn't be too difficult to find his way out of this mess and arrive to the initially intended destination.

However, the road continued on for another half an hour, and it was as straight as a trail of an arrow launched during a still summer night. No turn nor city came into his rain obscured view. Deidara cursed and shot the useless piece of paper an irritated look. He placed a finger on the map, tracking down the road he should be on with the tip. Light blue eyes kept snapping from the gloomy windshield to the lines on the sheet. It felt as if he was on a completely different road for the past three hours.

There was still the idea of turning the car around and going back, but Deidara refused to believe that he would be unable to figure out some other plan; turning around was too close to giving up. Going back was simply unacceptable! There had to be something he could do! He didn't travel all this time to go back from where he set out. That would be a failure! Deidara hated failure and he had vowed that nothing even remotely similar would meet him in his life again. He had enough of loss and he was not going to regret the decision to start his life over somewhere new. Somewhere far. Somewhere where none of his past mistakes could reach him.

So far it looked like he was going to live his new life in hell. Because that was exactly how it seemed to him now. As if to add salt to Deidara's wounds, his stomach growled hungrily at him. Damn it. Someone… Somewhere must have hated him very much!

Lost on an unknown road, in an unknown place with a bunch of labeled boxes in the back of his car and not a single one of them contained any food. What had he been thinking? Not taking any food with him? Did he have a death wish? Well one could never predict he would get utterly cut off of civilization for several hours. Maybe days? At least he had the map and, of course, his phone… so he had that going for him.

Deidara blinked towards his cellphone. It was lying right on the map, preventing it from rolling back into its original position. That was currently the only thing his treacherous device was good for. Stupid battery always had to die in the worst possible situation. He wasn't much of a cellphone person and people hardly ever reached him, but he wouldn't mind having the option of calling an information center now.

Lightning flashed and for split of a second lit up the dark sky, showing Deidara the never ending straightness of the road he was on and the drenched tall trees of the forest around it. He cursed inwardly, frowning into the night and focusing on the single stripe of light coming from the front lights of his car. He knew these kinds of situations very well. It was the lowest point of one's life. The moment when what could go wrong would go wrong. Deidara feared what possibly could be worse than this.

The response came in a form of a twitch. Twitch of his car to be precise. After one came the second and soon Deidara's eyes were growing wide in horror while his car was gradually slowing down with jerky hiccup. Until it stopped completely.

"Well… Fuck…" this curse found its way out of Deidara's mouth. He turned the key and carefully pushed the pedal, coaxing the engine to start again, but the old wreck simply refused to cooperate. With an irritated groan and a roll of his eyes Deidara's head fell forward in resignation. Then immediately snapped up when the horn of the car mercilessly pierced the night. Deidara jumped in his seat and straightened, angrily measuring the steering-wheel. It looked back at him with almost innocent expression.

"Fuck you!" he exclaimed and granted the mocking steering-wheel several hits with his clenched fists. Every time earning himself high and loud noise. At least the honk seemed to be working well.

Deidara reluctantly glanced out of the window, observing the fierce rain. He really didn't want to get out there. He was almost certain that he wouldn't be able to fix the car himself anyway. He had no idea if he even had anything to fix it with in the first place. Maybe a duct tape? Would that work? He had no clue.

On the other hand if he wouldn't at least take a look, he would never know if the problem wasn't by any chance something minor. Something he could repair easily. He had succeeded in mending his car few times. Most of them were some kinds of magic tricks and Deidara didn't really know how he had done it, but the car worked. So perhaps he would be lucky even this time.

Only if the irritating rain would stop.

Deidara sighed in annoyance and with tips of his fingers began to rhythmically tap over the steering-wheel. Storm continued to rage, not really looking as if it was going to stop any time soon. He didn't have a choice. If he wanted to move from the spot he had to do something.

In one swift motion Deidara reached for the handle, opened the car door and slipped out. He was soaked in an instant; clothes sticking to his body like a second skin. It was damn cold and when he lifted the car hood and exposed the complex mechanism inside, he was already freezing.

A ruthless blow of wind bowed the trees and Deidara trembled and hugged his arms to warm himself. His eyes frantically searched for something which might look amiss with the engine. But it was the middle of the night, it was dark and wintry. He couldn't see a shit and he was probably catching a cold right now. What was he thinking?

Right in the moment Deidara gave up the already lost fight and reached to close the car hood to prevent more water from pouring in, a lightning flashed and lit up the entire sky above his head. For one millisecond the area around was enlightened by a bright blue gleam and in the other it was gone again. But when the air blew anew and carried the sound of the thunder, Deidara's spot in front of the car was already empty. Only a black smear and a sizzle of burned asphalt and metal lingered as a reminder that a person was standing there not a blink of an eye ago.

...

Deidara fell on his hands and knees, powerful siren deafening him as it rang in his ears; reaching even over the still continuing rain. He felt something slimy on his palms, but he feared to open his eyes for the agony in his ears kept stabbing his brain. Holding at least one sense shut seemed like a better option now. He began to blindly pet around, beat of raindrops rushing over his back. He couldn't get why his whole world was spinning or why he had his hands buried in something that felt and smelled like mud.

Sharp pressure of suppressed cough numbed his lungs and when Deidara finally gasped for some air, it mercilessly burned his throat and painfully forced the cough out. The reeling in his head didn't seem to stop and he had to clench his fists and tense his whole body to finally calm down a bit. Deidara cautiously squinted at the drenched ground under him, wet strands of his hair mostly covering his view. His hearing was still a bit muffled by the intense pain, but the throbbing was now slowly ebbing away.

Deidara's wondering why and how he got there – or where the 'there' actually was – got interrupted by rushed smacks of several pairs of feet approaching him. Voices echoed somewhere in distance, as if an invisible veil was created by the rain. He faintly perceived that the people were speaking some foreign language, but he had troubles recognizing what kind of language it was, his mind yet too confused to focus on anything besides breathing.

Raising his head Deidara blinked around, his disoriented eyes trying to catch the unknown environment. Shady silhouettes moved hastily towards him, clanking of metal resounded in the background. And before he could utter a word, rough hands were pulling him up to stand on his wobbly legs. He made a weak attempt to speak, but his voice only scraped through his itching throat and caused another wave of sharp cough. Too tired to give any resistance Deidara let the people drag him somewhere unknown.

He caught a glimpse of what looked like a garden and a wall made of grey stone of irregular shape, but most of his view was obscured by the never ending cascades of water. The surrounding colors were only a dull combination of grey, blue and green. Forlorn feeling settled in Deidara's belly and for a brief moment he wondered if the people clutching his arms were going to help him or harm him.

As Deidara noticed the muddy ground under his feet changing into a timber floor a shimmer of hope tickled his heart. Warmth of a building shielded his body from the merciless rain and he welcomed the almost forgotten sensation with a content sigh. The men stopped and with them ended Deidara's short journey. He was hauled to the floor and landed on his knees again. The pleasant experience of a friendly hall he found himself in evaporated and as Deidara's stiff flesh was slowly heating up, a familiar feeling of anger began to settle in.

He would almost forget how irritated he had been only few minutes ago. Standing in front of his broken car in the middle of nowhere. How he managed to get here stayed unknown to him, but it seemed he had a bigger trouble than that.

'We've caught a trespasser, sir.'

The foreign language he heard before was starting to gain shape. The rhythm and speech pattern seemed a little off, but Deidara was sure that what he had just heard was definitely Japanese. Luckily for him, he could understand and speak the language quite enough. Deidara let the thought about how he got from abandoned road in Canada to what seemed like the middle of Japan slip by. Hopefully he would get some time to ponder about that. Now he seemed to have a whole different problem.

"You have been caught trespassing to a restricted area, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Only upon hearing the deep nasal tone Deidara looked up. There; three men were sitting on three carved wooden chairs placed upon a low pedestal, all dressed in dark blue kimonos made from some luxurious silky material. The oldest one was also the one in the middle. He gazed down on the young blond man of muddy appearance with some sort of disgust in his dark grey eyes, as if seeing someone so different from his own people outraged him immensely. On his left and right two sons seemed to be sitting. Although they might not have been significantly similar to their elder, who was a man with rough lines and callous look, they were almost like a copies of each other. Black smooth hair and rich onyx eyes resonated with soft fairness of their skin. Features of their appearance were still sharp, yet held a significant delicacy that could have been inherited only from a woman. If it weren't for the small differences in their looks and the very visible contrast in their posture, Deidara would believe they might have been twins.

One of them seemed to be younger than the other though. He sat straight in the chair, spine narrowed in an exemplary manner and hands neatly folded in his lap. Dark eyes gazed at Deidara warily and immature arrogance with pride shined from his boyish face. Deidara almost felt like scowling at the irritating mask of emptiness he forced upon himself. As if the porcelain face was carved of cold marble. Deidara didn't buy it, he could see that behind the fake indifference was a tincture of wonder and amusement. Little brat, he would show him if a bunch of guards wasn't standing behind his back.

Deidara pushed down a snort and snapped to see the other one. Twinkle of rage threatened to breach through his lips in a form of a curse. The older son was seated laxly in his chair, leaning to the side and staring somewhere behind Deidara's shoulder. He didn't even make an attempt to acknowledge Deidara's presence. The blank expression on this one wasn't false, he truly didn't care what was happening around him. Like a ghost observing his own funeral.

Deidara blinked and opened his mouth. However he soon found out that besides certain English swear words he had no idea what to say. The three men waited, not moving an inch or lifting a finger, but the impatience almost dripped from their weighty gazes. Whether they were looking at him or somewhere else, neither of them wanted to be held for too long. He was running out of time.

Deidara had no idea if it took him one hour or one second to come up with at least something to respond with, but he eventually found his absent voice. "I got lost," he blurted out. Partly it was true. He really wasn't going to explain that he probably got hit by lightning while trying to fix his car, he couldn't believe it himself yet. This would have to be enough... And besides, his knowledge of Japanese was still rather limited.

"You are a felon and a deceiver!" the oldest man exclaimed and Deidara twitched when the power of his imposing voice fanned over him. Something told him that he might just got himself into even more of a thorny situation. He breathed in for more to say but got interrupted as the man stood up from his seat and spoke again. "Imprison this offender. We shall execute him tomorrow at dawn."

Execute?! "Wait, no!" Deidara jumped up, his arms being immediately snatched by the guards. "That's not fair!" he shouted and anxiously watched as the three man halted in their tracks.

"I am the lord of this land and I decide what is fair and what is not," the oldest one announced firmly and frowned, intending to leave again.

"I didn't do anything… Damn it!" Deidara called out and jerked with his held hands. His whole body protested angrily at the abrupt motions, but he ignored the pain and stubbornly forced his way forward. "Don't I have some rights? I want a fair trial! Or do you really don't give a shit that you're killing an innocent person?!" he kept on mouthing, the structure of his sentences being probably slightly off. Not like he cared much. His feet dug into the ground as he wedged his way towards the low pedestal.

This time only one of the sons stopped and turned around to look at him. The blankness in his face didn't change, but when he locked his indifferent eyes with Deidara's wrathful ones, Deidara could swear that there was a twinkle of sorrow and regret hidden behind that empty expression. Deidara was too angry to care though. He was the one who was being sentenced to death. He didn't want anyone's pity. He wanted to live!

Seeing his oldest son stop the so called lord paused as well. Then a new voice spoke up and Deidara immediately linked it to the younger of the two brothers. "Allow the man to fend for himself, father. Present him the trial we have in our land."

There was a moment of silence when all three men shared several various glances. The older of two sons seemed concerned somewhat, whereas the younger one's face gained new smug aspect. Deidara grew wary, he didn't like where the situation was going. But if he truly wished to live, he didn't have much of a choice.

"I'll do it! Whatever it is…" Deidara uttered nervously. It could have been a death match for all he knew.

"So be it," the lord declared.

As much as Deidara wished to calm down now, he began to wonder if he wouldn't regret this decision in the near future.

"If you truly wish to receive one chance to redemption, I shall grant you the opportunity," the lord began and gestured towards his oldest son. "This is my heir, Itachi, one day he will become a ruler of this land and preserve my legacy. However, only recently he has been struck with a mental illness which took away his voice. If you succeed in curing his disease, your life shall be spared."

Deidara's mouth fell agape. How was he supposed to do that? He briefly glanced at Itachi who was standing in his spot, still as a mist above a morning forest. From his face settled in the mildest frown it was clear he was as happy with the outcome as Deidara. At this point Deidara would rather take the death match than this. What if this man lost his voice completely? Or what if he was just a stubborn brat who was being a diva? Deidara didn't know this man and he also didn't know how to make him talk.

"Alright," he hummed huskily and cleared his throat. It was still worth a shot. What could be so hard on making a person utter a word?

Deidara noticed his arms had been released and he was now free to move. He made few unsure steps towards the pedestal, expecting the guards to take a hold of him again. Nothing like that happened though and Deidara figured he was free to move towards this Itachi guy. Itachi only stared at him, seemingly expecting anything to happen. Deidara grew suspicious that many people must have tried this before. And all of them probably failed for Itachi was obviously still very much mute. But also very much handsome. Deidara didn't mind coming just one step extra to be closer to him. He didn't give a shit about how dirty or muddy his clothes was in comparison with Itachi's fresh and clean attire. He needed to come up with something right now. He had no idea how much time he had to prove that he can cure this man. Not like he could, but he had to come up with something.

It was unfair! Being forced to undergo trials such as these to save your life. But if Deidara wanted to have the luxury of losing time over thinking of the injustice of his destiny, he would have to succeed right now. He needed something quick and effective. Something shocking!

Standing a step away from the man named Itachi, Deidara narrowed his eyes at the indifferent face. There, in his deep onyx orbs he saw a blink of expectation, but as Deidara kept on stalling in his spot, seemingly doing nothing, it gradually disappeared and was replaced by mere sadness. Itachi obviously didn't care that at this point he was the only hope for Deidara to live. He might have pitied him, but he wouldn't utter a syllable to help him. Deidara wished for nothing else but to punch that guy! Hitting an heir of the lord wasn't probably the best idea though. It might make him talk, but his very first words could as well be an order to kill Deidara nonetheless.

Deidara plotted… talking to a person who didn't want to or couldn't talk seemed pointless. Harming a person who was a son of a wealthy man seemed dangerous. He would swear that somewhere in the background a chuckle was muffled by a pale hand. The younger brother probably having a good time watching Deidara struggle. Once Deidara would make this man talk, he would make sure to shut up the other one.

A sudden idea struck him! It was crazy and completely unexpected even to Deidara himself! Probably as risky as attacking… But it was worth the try. It was exactly what Deidara needed.

Deidara's hands fired up, his fingers grabbed the silky cloth of Itachi's kimono and brought his torso forward. For split of a second Deidara saw a flash of horror and surprise in Itachi's eyes and in the next moment their lips were connected in a clumsy kiss.

The room came to life. The silence that had reign there changed into a commotion as if by a click of a switch. One heartbeat… Two heartbeats… Somewhere in the back of his mind Deidara wondered why their mouths are still connected, why no-one is pushing him away. Then rough hands snatched Deidara by his shoulders and he felt his body being dragged away from Itachi. Blinking furiously Deidara opened his eyes and tried to focus on the mute man and his reactions.

Itachi's lips parted in astonishment and Deidara's expecting face immediately turned into a cocky grin. He was going to talk!

And then came the breathless whisper. "How dare you?"

Deidara pointed an accusing finger at Itachi. "Ha! I knew you can talk, you jerk!" he exclaimed in English and earned himself a hit against the back of his head. Everything went dark…

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