A/N : Feel free to point out any mistake in this story. I know there are lots. It was so hard writing this in English, I think I will just continue it in my own language...ToT (just my whishful thinking though)

And don't worry, this one will be short not like my other story. Hahaha...stay tune!

War.

War is a child born from the dark side of humanity.

Greed for power and wealth,

envy for prosperous land,

fear of being rivaled and crushed.

Soldiers claim to fight for their birth land, but is it entirely true?

How about soldiers who fight in another land, trying to take over and colonize it?

They take away so many innocent lives.

They make people their slaves,

to be sacrificed, to be thrown to their death.

Is all of that solely for their birth land or it's for the greediness of their government?

-x-

A soldier walked confidently through an empty corridor. His armor making a loud noise with every step he took, probably annoyed the occupant in that particular hall, but the owner didn't look like he cared.

"Oi, old man Onoki!"

The man called Onoki looked up from a letter he was currently writing in annoyance. He had a short brown hair and seemed in his late fifty.

Onoki shot his rude guest a glare before speaking, "Have you ever heard the word knocking, Deidara?" The man growled dangerously to the newcomer, Deidara, who just ignored him and took an empty seat in front of him.

"I want to leave the kingdom for sometimes, un," Deidara started. "I want to travel to Southern land." He played with a feather pen on Onoki's desk indifferently, like he didn't just said he want to stop being a soldier and became a clown instead.

Onoki narrowed his eyes. "Why do you want to go south? There is nothing there except water and uninhabited small islands." The man continued to write his letter again, didn't take the other seriously. He was used to his pupil random requests anyway. He just needed to ignore him and Deidara would eventually leave him alone.

"I just feel suffocated here. I need a break, un," Deidara answered. "And I'm being serious." His tone changed from laid-back tone to the more serious one.

Onoki just sighed and stopped his writing again. This pupil of his really made his patient go thin. If not from his babble about his art, then from his random requests that mostly didn't quite make any sense, including the current one.

Why Deidara wanted to travel to south when most of people avoid was beyond what he could comprehend. The Southern land just consisted of small islands that would disappear as soon as the sea levels raised, usually just sand, rocks, a couple of trees, really not worth the risk to go there. The islands scattered in the middle of the ocean that spread wide as far as the eyes could see. The journey though, it was dangerous. Not just because of the frequent storm, but also the sharp corals that could destroy the ship that sailing through them. If you weren't familiar with the water around it, you were dead.

So why his pupil wanted to travel to the Southern area, Onoki really didn't have the slightest idea.

"Why?" He asked. "If you want to go suicidal, just jump from the highest tower in this castle or something." And Deidara laughed.

"You really can make a good joke, old man." Deidara swept a fake tear from his eyes and sniffed. "But, no. I'm not gonna commit suicide, un. I simple want to get out of here and travel to a new world I have not had the chance to see," he explained, a sheer determination shone in his blue sky eyes.

"No," Onoki replied curtly.

"Why not, un?" Deidara slammed the desk with his hands, his voice raising an octave.

The two men stared at each other, one with hate and one with anger. "Because we are in the middle of war and you-" Onoki pointed his index finger at Deidara, "-have duty to defense your birth land from enemy. That's why!"

Deidara couldn't take it anymore. It had been three years ago the last time Western people attacked and they had never been heard again since. He was sick of his duty. He didn't want to be a soldier in the first place, so why should he stay at the castle or at the borderland to do a boring patrolling duty every day? He wanted to become an artist, not a soldier. However, his step father, the man that was sitting in front of him right now had a different plan for his life.

"No…" Deidara gritted his teeth. "Just this once I will not comply with your demand, un." The young soldier stood up and started to walk away from his step father office.

"If you go, I won't consider you my son again and you will be stripped from your position in the military!" Onoki threatened with a dangerous voice that clearly told he wasn't just talk, but Deidara just snorted. Without looking back, he said, "Then so be it, un." Then slammed the door shut.

He had made up his mind and nothing could stop him right now.

-x-

Deidara quietly put on a saddle on his horse, along with several sacks holding his clothes, food, and other necessity for his journey. He also brought along his shield and sword that was safely sheathed around his hips. He had been trained as a soldier since he was a child, and the first lesson he got from the old man Onoki was 'never let your guard down'. Deidara saw there was no harm to listen to that one advice so he always did just that.

It was midnight, the other soldiers were fast asleep on their bed, except them who had a patrol duty, but Deidara had taken care of them. It wasn't that he was sneaking out, no. He had said to Onoki that he would go beside his treat, so if he got caught, he would just tell the soldier that he wasn't a soldier anymore. Big deal.

The young soldier stroked his horse body with care before hopping up to its back and yanked the reins. His goal now was to get to the port in time.

Wind blew harshly as the speed the young soldier rode his horse in, his long blonde hair wavering behind him. Horse steps echoed breaking the silent of the night. The moon was hiding behind the clouds; the only source of light was from a street lamps that placed every several meters at the sidewalk. Deidara didn't notice all of that; he was in a race with time. He hoped he wasn't too late. He took a shortcut through a dark alley passing some homeless beggars that were gathering around a small fire to warm themselves and headed to the outskirt of the capital town.

As soon as the blonde arrived at the port, he searched for a man that his Intel had told him owned a cargo ship. The ship would be the only one that departed to the next place in his list, a port in the south of Eastern land. Deidara found him barely in time, but he made it at least. He breathed in relieve.

He paid the man some money and hopped in the cargo ship. His horse could find the way back to the base by itself, so he didn't bothered.

Currently the young soldier was staring out into the nothingness of the ocean on the deck. He still half believed that he was out of Onoki's grasp. He was a free man now. In his twenty years old age, he was finally could do anything his heart desired.

He had planned this journey since he was eighteen, but he didn't have the courage to tell Onoki back then. He knew his step father wouldn't allow him living because he was one of the top soldiers directly below Onoki's command. He was the step son of the strongest knight in the entire Eastern land and also the one who had the head knight himself as a mentor, so everyone expected perfection from him. It was hard.

The blonde sighed. It wasn't that he would be gone forever, that old man was exaggerated everything.

Deidara was a war orphan and Onoki was kind enough to take Deidara as his son when he was twelve, also did as far as to teach him swordsmanship, war strategy, everything for him to be a fine soldier in the future. Deidara was grateful for it. He did his best to make Onoki didn't regret his decision for taking him as his son but sometimes, he needed a break for a life that was forced to him. Too bad it ended up like this.

Deidara stretched his stiff muscle with a delightful moan. No need to think about the past now, he thought to himself. It was depressing. He better enjoyed his travel, even though he could die in the process, it was worth it.

"I'M A FREEEE MAANN!" the blonde shouted to the ocean, lifting both hands up in the air. He secretly always wanted to do that.

"Shut up, we want to sleep!" A voice growled from nowhere made the blonde shut up.

-x-

Deidara hummed quietly, his eyes reading from a small book in his hand as he stepped down from the cargo ship to the dock. It was his agenda for his trip. He gave a checked list for the things that had been done then shoved the book back to his pants pocket

He was now in a small port town at the border between Eastern and Southern land. The town had a small population and almost all of its resident was either a fisherman or a sailor. The town condition itself was quite pathetic plus their geographical location that situated in the southernmost part of big land really didn't help. It was one of the towns that had been neglected by the royal family.

The sun was already set and Deidara needed a place to rest for the night. Tomorrow would be a busy day for him. For that sole reason, the blonde roamed the town to find an inn, and luckily, he found one.

The next morning, a man with a long blonde hair was seen sitting at a small coffee shop with a circle around his eyes. His hair was like a bird nest, but the man didn't even lift a hand to try fixing it. Some women who walked pass him giggled and started gossiping about the stranger.

Deidara grumbled to himself and gulped down his warm coffee in one go. His back hurt, he had a mild headache, such a good morning to wake up and that was all because of that cheap inn.

The blonde rested his head on the table, tired.

Last night he didn't get any sleep at all. He tossed around on the bed trying to find a comfortable position that allowed him to sleep to no avail. The bed wasn't even a bed; it was so hard like sleeping on the floor. Deidara wondered what the bed was made of. He even couldn't find a pillow anywhere. Really a shitty inn, it should be closed soon to save people from misery.

After having a breakfast in the same coffee shop, the blonde tried to find another inn that wasn't as shitty, but he couldn't find one.

"Shitty town, un," Deidara swore.

He only had one choice left then. He needed to find people who wanted to sail with him to the Southern land before night came or he would be forced to spend another night in that pathetic excuse of an inn.

Deidara shuddered.

The blonde wondered around the port, asking any man he met in the way, but no one seemed to be interested in his offer. Even the most bulky man that seemed strong and fearless rejected it. They just laughed at him, calling him stupid and suicidal kid. It was even harder than he thought it would be.

"Hei, kid!" A young man called out for him from a distance.

Deidara eyes perked up, looking at the young looking man approached him. Maybe this one is brave enough to sail with him, he thought hopefully.

"Do you want to buy fish, kid? It's fresh from the ocean!" The man lift his hand to show a large fish he and the other fishermen had successfully caught. Deidara sweat dropped.

"No." He pouted, making the older man laughed at his childish behavior.

"I'm just kidding, kid!" The man patted him on the shoulder. "Heard you are searching for a crew to sail to the Southern land?"

Deidara bobbed his head in confirmation. "Yeah, un! But until now, I haven't found anyone who wanted to go there," Deidara said dejectedly. "Do you want to join me, un?" He looked up to the man expectantly.

The man laughed. "Ah, sorry kid," He scratched his cheek and offered him an apologetic grin. "I can't help you there, but maybe if you visit the tavern, you can find someone."

"What tavern?" Deidara asked. The man pointed out at a small building near the dock. Deidara eyes followed the man finger at found the building he was mentioned. "That bar is the place where sailors and fishermen usually gathered," The man started to explain. " You can find even the craziest sailor there and maybe one of them one to join your adventure."

Deidara nodded. "Thanks for the information, sir. It's really helping, un." The blonde thrust his hand forward and the two shook hands.

"No problem, kid," the fisherman grinned again, but then his face became serious. "I don't know what you want to achieve by sailing there, but don't waste your life, kid. There was nothing there except death waiting for you."

"I know," Deidara smiled a little. "But nothing can change my mind, un."

The other sighed at the blonde's stubbornness. The kid reminded him so much with his own son, free spirit with bubbly personality, always craving for adventure. He had never seen his son again after he went to Western land. Stupid child.

"I wish you good luck then, kid," the man said sincerely. Deidara didn't know if he was imagine it or not, but the other sounded kinda sad.

"Thanks again, kind sir."

With that the both man parted to be on their own way.

Deidara was back roaming the small town, killing time until the tavern was opened. He was bored to death. There was almost nothing in this town. No butcher, no blacksmith, no candy store for children, and the most important thing was no art store. Deidara almost tore his hair apart out of boredom but decided not too. He was proud of his look after all. He could say he was a women magnet back in his hometown. He had a long beautiful blonde hair that hung loose until reached his waist; blue eyes that match the summer sky, one could say he was girly, but on the contrary, he was not. He had manly-handsome face and perfect healthy body. He was a soldier. Soldier must work out to keep their body fit for war.

Women always came to him and who was he to deny their company. Even he had slept with some aristocrat's wives that were neglected by their husband because they were too busy with politics affair.

What a life.

Deidara looked up at the cloudy sky. He had stopped at the small park sometime ago and took a seat on an empty bench. Little sparrows flew around him looking for food, several flowerbeds scattered around the park unorganized. The blonde inhaled deeply the fresh air he failed to notice before. At least this town was a peaceful one. He concluded before sleep took him.

-x-

The tavern that night was full of people, drinking, playing card, singing at the top of their lung, all of them looked so happy and enjoying the life after their hard work, except one, that's it.

Deidara sat at the bar, a glass of cheap beer in front of him, untouched. He was too accustomed to the luxury life he had before, thus he found the liquor in front of him disgusting. He used to drink wine or high quality beer not a cheap one with a gross taste.

The blonde glanced at a group that was seated at the back of the tavern. He had observed them for a quite sometimes. The group was laughing and talking to each other like any other people in the tavern, but what made Deidara interest in them was their clothes. They looked fancy, not like other sailors or fishermen in the tavern. They reminded him of pirate somehow or maybe a loaded merchant.

One of them stood up and walked to the bar. Deidara hurriedly averted his gaze somewhere else so he didn't get caught staring. The man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail sat beside him and ordered a beer for himself.

Deidara nervously drank his liquor a little bit.

"What do you want?" Deidara heard the man spoke.

"Huh?"

"I know you have been staring at us, so drop the act," the man said dangerously but he didn't even look at him when he spoke. Deidara gulped, feeling quite intimidated by the man before him.

"Sorry, I'm just searching for a ship to sail to Southern land, un."

"Southern land?" This piqued the man's interest. Deidara nodded. "What do you want to do there?" The other asked again.

"Just want to do some exploring, you know?" The ex-soldier held his glass at its rim and swayed it in circular motion absentmindedly. "Want to get out of the surfeit of life, un."

The man smiled knowingly. "I think I know what you mean," he said and drank his beer. There was an awkward silent between them after that, but Deidara didn't mind. He drank the gross beer to ease his nerve a bit and wait. He got the feeling this man had more to say. He was right.

"So, I think I will give you a ride to the Southern land."

Deidara turned around to face the man in a swift motion, his eyes widened. He couldn't believe his luck at the moment. "Really?"

"Yep. My crew would love to try a new thing once in a while," the man said with ease.

"Thank you so much Mister…"

"Inoichi."

"Inoichi, sir." The man just waved as if it wasn't a big deal, but for Deidara, it was everything.

Both man still talked about random thing after that. Turned out Inoichi was the captain of the crew. He was a merchant but an explorer at the same time. The man had been at so many places; Eastern land, Northern land, even Western land which is the enemy territory. Deidara was in awe listening to his story. They talked until it was time to rest for the night.

Deidara requested to join the man's crew tonight so they could depart as soon as the sun raised as schedule. Inoichi agreed. Deidara was grateful he didn't need to sleep at the shitty inn but instead in the ship cabin with Inoichi's crew.

The morning came so fast, Deidara didn't felt like he was sleeping at all. The blonde came out to the deck and saw that people were busy running back and forth preparing the ship.

Deidara, who had zero experience in sailing, just watched the ship crew worked, sometimes helping when he was requested.

The sun was high in the sky; the temperature on the ship was so hot. The air was moist and heavy, even the wind couldn't reduce the heat. People chose to go shirtless and rested in the shade. Deidara chose to jump to the ocean. It looked really tempting and cold.

Deidara wanted, needed a cold shower, badly. However, he had already showered ten minutes ago. The blonde groaned and threw his back against the wooden floor, hands crossed behind his head as a pillow. He sulked in the shade. He, like the others, didn't bother to wear any shirt; his pants rolled up to his knees. Anything to reduce the heat.

Deidara closed his eyes trying to enjoy this new experience than complaining like a brat. It was his decision after all so he needed to suck it up.

He really couldn't suck it up.

Deidara rested his chin on the palm of his hand, a pout adoring his face as he watched the ocean he had come to hate. It had been a week since he first boarding Inoichi's ship but nothing big happened. They had stopped at several islands but nothing much could be found there except white sand that was so smooth liked you were walking on a silk, rocks, some coconut trees, small crabs, seashells.

If he was five years old kid, maybe he would be excited collecting the seashells. Unfortunately, he wasn't. And after the sixth islands they visited, Deidara was sick of everything about Southern land.

Onoki was right. There was nothing in this land.

Deidara banged his head at the wooden railing of the ship. He was starting to regret his decision to traveling here. He even sacrificed his luxury life at the capital, his job as a high-ranking soldier to come to this wasted land. How can he be so stupid! He should hear Onoki's words.

Inoichi had come to him early in the morning to inform him that they needed to go back to the port town to resupply. And here they were, in the journey back to the previous town with empty hands. He felt bad for Inoichi and crew that had helped him greatly. He owed them one.

At night of the same day, Deidara jerked awake by a blaring sound of thunder and stomping of frantic footsteps above him, people yelled something and then another thunder crashed. Deidara quickly got up from his bed and went to the deck only to found water filling up the floor deck and the rain pouring down from the sky that magically had been transformed to a rampant black clouds that producing tornadoes and lighting which stroke dangerously close to their ship.

Deidara was in awe for a moment looking at the chaos in front of him before finally regained his sense and he was in panic himself.

Deidara tried to locate Inoichi in the mess of people but he couldn't find a man. Suddenly a big wave crashed into the ship, making it swayed. Deidara lost his balance and his body thrown harshly and collide with the railing. He whimpered.

If he was first in awe looking at the sky, Deidara felt himself scared shitless looking at the ocean below him. He, the experience solder that didn't even bat an eyelash when killing people or looking at his comrades cruelly slaughtered, scared of raging ocean.

The endless pit of black water swirled ready to swallow him up. He didn't know what was waiting for him within. But he felt his body shaking, either from cold or fear he didn't know. He was already soaked to the bone, wet blonde hair plastered around his face.

"I-Inoichi, un!" Deidara tried to shout but it came out more like a squeak. Deidara clutched the railing so hard for fear falling down to the angry ocean.

Another lighting flashed, and in a second of light Deidara's heart stopped. A big wave, much bigger than the previous and higher than their ship was about to crashed into them.

I'm so sorry Onoki, Inoichi, the crew…

That was the last in the blonde's mind before everything went black.

-x-

A pair of blue eyes blinked.

There was something strange in his mouth.

The owner of the eyes blinked again.

He couldn't move, what happened actually?

His finger twitched slightly.

Warm.

He was sleepy.

The pair of blue eyes closed once again.

-x-

The first time Deidara woke up, he realized that his mouth was full of sand. He threw them up and coughing violently after that making his head pounding painfully. He touched his head to find a bump at the back of his head and large bruise on the forehead, oozing blood, but nothing serious. He then looked around confusedly at the strange place only to find a beautiful bay he had ever seen in his whole life.

The bay was surrounded by highlands, covered by green rainforest. The water was the gradation of all blue colors and green that was shallow enough you could even see the colorful corals underneath.

Deidara was awestruck, gaping like a fish out of water.

A groan not too far from where he was laying woke the blonde up from his trance. He looked at the source of the voice and found Inoichi and several other crew members lay unmoved on the sand just like him before.

He rushed to the blonde man's side first and inspected him for any severe injuries.

Deidara sighed in relieve when he found none.

The ex-soldier then continued to check the others, doing the same like he did with Inoichi. None of them seemed dying, it was a miracle.

Deidara laid back on the sand, letting the warm of the sun enveloped his wet body. It felt relaxing. Before he knew it, Deidara was already back into the dreamland.

-x-

"The ship miraculously didn't take too much damage." Inoichi informed his crew at their ship current condition. "We have the equipment to fix it and wood from the trees around this island."

All members nodded.

Inoichi brought out a map from his pocket and spread it on the sand. The crew jostled around to take a good look at it.

"This island didn't appear on the map." A strange excitement sparked in Inoichi's green eyes. "But I think we are around this location." He circled a specific spot on the map with a branch.

"I will make sure about this tonight when the stars come out." The crew whispered to each other about the possibility they had found a new island. It would be a big news. Also, they could get rich if they inform the palace about their finding. The island was, of course, located in Southern land, but the land was known to be deserted. They, an Eastern, had found this beautiful island so automatically, this island would be theirs.

"Now I will tell you your job," Inoichi said, cutting their discussion short.

Deidara didn't care about his job from Inoichi; he wasn't his crew to begin with. He just in for the ride, that's all. Fortunately, Inoichi understood what Deidara wanted and gave him the scouting job. Bless his soul.

The blonde couldn't be happier in his life. This was all he could ask for. An adventure at the new island, finding new things that no one hadn't been able to see before, not to mention the island was like a paradise. He bitted his green apple and moaned as the sweet taste smear on his tongue. Even the fruits here were so tasty.

Deidara brought along his sword and shield every time he went scouting. Who knew what kind of animal he would face in the deep of the thick forest? And also he could go hunting and brought back some meat for them to eat.

In no time, the ex-soldier had found a water spring they could use to drink not too far from their camp and a small river where they could wash their dirty body. Deidara also found a new species of plants and animals here and there. He was enjoying his self.

When Deidara got back to the camp, the crew was having a dinner, sitting in a circle around a bonfire, singing and chatting happily. Deidara joined them with a big grinned adoring his face. That was the same with the following days, Deidara would go scouting and hunting since morning and came back before sunset.

Five days had passed in a blink of eyes and Deidara barely knew the entire island; just a small part, yes.

Their ship was almost fixed; he was running out of time but Deidara had a plan. He knew there was a high mountain in the middle of the island and today, he would go there and looked the layout of the island from above.

Deidara had told Inoichi he wouldn't be back for days to climb the mountain. Inoichi had first didn't allow him to climb, it was too dangerous. However, Deidara insisted. He had made a deal with the man that if he hadn't been back in two weeks, they could leave without him. The other agreed.

It was three days ago and Deidara now was halfway until he arrive at the mountain top. He walked carefully along a footpath through a cliff, didn't dare to look down and chose to glue himself at the cliff wall on his left side. The scenery from his position was majestic, but too bad for the blonde; he was too busy maintaining his balance than to enjoy the view that spread in front of him.

Suddenly a big shadow fell upon him, making the blonde stopped death in his track and looked up. Deidara gasped.

A dragon.

Not just a dragon but a red dragon. The color that had been extinct from civilization in centuries, that only the blonde knew the name and what it was like from history book.

Red.

Deidara lost his ability to speak, his mouth hung opened and he just watched the dragon flew away gracefully before diving low and disappeared from the view. He always thought that dragons just existed in a fairy tale, just one of the creatures born from human imagination. He never even dreamt they really existed in this world.

And the dragon's color….Deidara shook his head to make sure he wasn't dreaming. It was vibrant red, so beautiful, so different from what he saw in the text book long ago. The red in the book wasn't even close to the original red color after he saw the real red with his own eyes. But he knew the color called red, because he never saw the color as beautiful as that. Maybe if the color wasn't extinct, it would be a common color, but no. Red had been said to be the color of Gods and Goddesses.

The color of power, violence, danger, anger, passion, desire.

A new fire lit inside the Deidara's heart. He wanted to catch that dragon and brought it back to Eastern land. He would be a hero, he would be acknowledged by all human population in the whole world. Even the Western people would bow down to him, Deidara, the dragon hunter. The blonde thought greedily.

A shit-eating grin spread across his face. Wasting no time, the blonde hurriedly found any rock which tough enough to support his body. He found one and tied it with a rope. After making sure it tightly bound, Deidara climb down the cliff. He didn't have time to take the same way as he came. The dragon would be already flown away to unreachable place for sure.

As soon as the blonde reached the ground, he ran through the forest as fast as his feet could take him, a compass in hand. He had already memorized the last location he saw the red dragon landed and that exactly where he was going now. It was already night time, but Deidara didn't even felt tired or sleepy. Maybe because of the adrenaline rushed and determination that made him kept running.

Deidara finally arrive at his destination, a vacant area in the middle of the forest, cleaned from trees. There was a large lake in the middle, reflected the moon and stars at the sky on its surface. I was a beautiful scenery.

The blonde bent down and placed his hands on his knees for support, he was gasping for air. His lung felt like burning. He had been running without stopping for like forever. The ex-soldier swept the sweat from his forehead and squint his eyes around the place to find the dragon.

He found it.

His heart started to thump loudly in his chest. Deidara unsheathed his sword and slowly approaching the creature that had been lying on the grass across the lake.

It was from a fairy talel book that he knew dragon's weakness was his belly where the hard skin didn't exist there. Deidara didn't know for sure if it was true, it was just a children book for crying out loud! But he didn't have any choice but to try it.

Deidara eyeing the creature that sounded asleep from a distance. The creature was bigger than the last time he remembered when Deidara looked at it up close, and more menacing, with hard skin and thorns at the end of its tail. Its vibrant red color became darker and seemed to have a soft glow under the moonlight.

The blonde's hand had become sweaty and shaking a bit. He wouldn't deny that he was afraid of the creature. Heck, he would wet his pants now if he was a normal person, but he was Deidara, a man that had been trained as a soldier for as long as he live, so his pants stayed dry.

Taking several deep breaths and collecting all his courage, the blonde approached the dragon and with all his might stabbed the creature at its stomach then moved his swords upward making a big opened gash along the dragon' stomach . The reaction was immediate.

The dragon eyes flew open and a roar tearing apart the eerie silent of the night. Birds flew away from trees around them to the open sky, sensing danger approached. The dragon flung his thorny tail to its attacker but Deidara saw it coming. He skillfully dodged the attack and stepped back a few meters away outside the radius of the dragon's tail reach.

The dragon stood up from its lying position, blood pouring out from its open wound. Its eyes swept around the field madly, searching for enemy.

Deidara was once again left speechless. The dragon's blood was also red. It was glistening in a sick beauty when the moon light fell at the pouring liquid. Deidara was like hypnotized by the blood; he failed to notice that the dragon was attacking him again with its claw, sweeping through the bush he was currently hiding. Fortunately, Deidara was quick enough to defense himself by his shield but the hard claw managed to pierce through it, scratching the blonde's front and made him bleed.

With his tired and injured body, Deidara once again swung his sword; aiming for the dragon's stomach but his attack, managed to be stopped by a swing of the creature's claw that collided with the blonde's body.

Deidara flew through the air and his body slammed to the hard ground several meters away from the dragon, unmoving. The creature that saw that his enemy might have been died, flapped his large wings several times before took off to the safer place.

-x-

In the middle of downpour, a male with vibrant red hair shambled off through a damp forest sluggishly. His right hand pressed against a fresh gash on his stomach, trying to prevent more blood loss. He felt his conscious vading away slowly but surely.

His body swayed a little, forcing him to lean on a tree for support.

"That damn blonde…" The male growled menacingly, a murderous glint flashed in his grayish-brown eyes.

He didn't expect there was a human in the deserted island like this, so he lowered his defense. How wrong he was. He cursed himself for his stupidity.

He had flown away from his birth land solely for searching his sisters that had been missing since years ago. There were only five of them left since the decease of Kushina and Tayuya. All of it because of the damn human. The redhead male's left hand clenched into a fist until his knuckle turned white.

Nagato had agreed to stay at home to take care of Gaara, the youngest of them all and it was his job to bring the missing family members home. He hoped it wasn't too late like it was with Tayuya. He must not fail this time.

The male coughed violently and a fresh blood trailing down from his mouth. The blonde stabbed him deeper than he thought, but he was lucky the human didn't aimed for his heart, he would definitely dead in a second.

The redhead male slide down the tree and his body slumped to the wet ground, in no time stained it with a red color from his blood. His breath became labored. He just needed to rest for a moment and let his body healed. His kind had an ability to heal themselves faster than any creature that lived on earth, so he should be ok. He just hope he injured the human badly enough for him to be uncapable of moving for sometimes.

The male pressed his wound again and moaned in pain. It hurts…God it hurts so much he wanted to just die. He gasped for air and focused what had left from his power on his wound to ease the pain even just a little.

After having all power left him, the redhead then fell into unconsciousness.

-x-

Deidara opened his eyes slowly from the wet feeling on his face. He groaned slightly. His entire body was in pain. Pale blue blood mixed with mud and rain pooling out on the ground from his wound.

Deidara closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Not just he was failed to catch the dragon, he was also successfully injured himself in the process. He was lucky he didn't die, but he couldn't move a single body part. How could he come back to Inoichi and the crew in his current condition? He didn't want to live in this island alone. He hated to be alone.

Maybe if he got enough rest, his body would heal faster Deidara conclude, so he closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep on the damp wet ground.

The blonde lay unmoving on the ground for two more days before he could move his feet to find food.

Deidara had cleaned himself at the lake and changed his clothes to cover his wound before he went back to Inoichi. He had drowned his shield in the lake, and destroyed anything that could be use as proof that a dragon had been seen in the island.

That dragon was his.

He wouldn't let anyone know that dragon existed. He would be back to this island with more preparation and made sure to capture it himself.

With that plan in mind, Deidara walked back to the camp as if nothing had happened. Inoichi welcomed him and told him that their ship had been ready to set sail once again. Deidara gave the man a happy grinned and in no time the crew was back on the ship.

On the deck, Deidara looked back at the island that slowly became smaller and smaller. He promised himself he would be back for his dragon.

You are mine, un.