Hey guys! This is my first Nauto story and I've always wanted to write one about my favorite Akatsuki member! Originally this was intended to be a oneshot, but as I started writing it, the story became longer and longer. So I decided to make it a short story. This story was inspired by The Winter Palace scene from the movie, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, Benjamin (a man who grows younger as he gets older) meets a married woman in a hotel that he's staying in and they fall in love with each other as their friendship grows. It's a really sweet scene.

Anyways, I hope that you all enjoy this story. I tried really hard to get Deidara's personality right for this...I hope I did that. I apologize ahead of time if he seems a little OCC in the future. But I hope that you like it. Please review and message me! I want to know what you guys think! Thanks everyone! Enjoy!

Also I don't own Naruto, I only own Kasumi, Jirou, and her parents.

"Stop messing with you hair, Kasumi." My mother scolded.

I stopped pulling on the clip that was holding my long dark hair back, painfully. "But it really hurts and I don't like my hair like this. Can't I have it down instead?"

She shook her head. "Of course not, you need to look beautiful for Yoshirou. The last thing I want is for my daughter to look like some street rat."

I looked over at my father who was sitting next to her in the cart. "Father."

He crossed his arms. "Listen to your mother, Kasumi. You need to impress this young man and you can't look like a tomboy for him."

Growling under my breath, I sank further in my seat and looked out the window of the moving cart.

"No slouching! Sit up!" My mother chided.

I groaned as I straightened back up and continued watching the trees pass by.

"Now Kasumi, you should be happy about this." My mother insisted.

I snorted. "About what? The fact that I'm giving up my freedom or the fact that you'll be happy that you'll be rich again when I'm suffering?"

Mother scoffed. "Kasumi, we're only doing what's best for you."

"Best for me?! Forcing me to marry someone that I don't even know is what's best for me? What's best for me is letting me make my own decisions and marrying someone I love."

She rolled her eyes. "People don't always marry for love, Kasumi. Look at me and your father, both of our parents arranged us to be married so we could inherit each other's riches."

My father sighed. "And nineteen years later, look at us now." He added sarcastically.

She glared at him. "Oh don't you start with me, it's all your fault that we're broke in the first place."

"Don't give me that, Nanako. You're one for talking."

I rolled my eyes at them before turning my attention back to the outside life, trying to drown them out.

This is what my life was like, being in the middle of their arguments and having my thoughts and dreams crushed by them. Yep, just a typical day in the life of Kasumi Miyahara.

I was born into one of the richest families in the village and everyone knew who we were. Many people envied me and wished for my life, but I'd have to say that I wish I were them instead. I was almost miserable in my house all the time. I was home schooled, I didn't have many friends, and no matter how much I begged them to become a shinobi they would always refuse. They couldn't bare to see their beautiful heir to put her life on the line in order to save others. If they lose me then they lose all the money they could earn when I marry in the future.

All they wanted to do was to be rich and famous.

Everyone would think that they had an endless supply of money, but in the last couple years my parents succumbed to their desires. My father was a bit of a gambler and unfortunately he lost a pretty good amount of it recently; we lost about half of our money. However, the losses didn't stop there; my mother loved to spend money almost as much as my father loved to gamble. She was always buying new stuff; new furniture, expensive clothes, and other relics that meant nothing to her. She just wanted to be able to say that she had everything.

Then there was me; I didn't really spend that much money on anything. The only things I ever bought were new clothes when I needed them and books from the local bookstore. I had over a thousand books and I had my own private library in my house; that's all I really needed.

Anyways, since we lost majority of our money, we were facing bankruptcy and getting evicted from our big house. I mean I was a little sad that we were losing our house and all, but I wasn't anywhere near as being upset as my parents were. They were panicking for days on end, whining and crying about losing everything that held their lives together.

Then one day, they came into my room and announced their 'big idea'. The Kusuhara family had a son that was around my age and that he was ready for marriage. So their bright idea was for me to marry Yoshirou, inherit his fortune, and give all of it to them.

So here we are now, traveling all the way to Kirigakure Village (aka. The Village of the Bloody Mist) in The Land of Water, so I can be forced to marry some guy that I don't even know, and to get my parents back into the rich social life.

Of course I tried the whole arguing, kicking, and screaming act for them, but they ended up dragging me the whole way there; not to mention that they primped and polished me to the core so I would make a great impression on Yoshirou. Honestly, I wouldn't have cared what I looked like; as much as I didn't want to marry Yoshirou I would have preferred to look like myself instead of someone else; but God forbid that I looked like myself, I might scare him away and my parents chances of rejoining their original lives.

Why can't I ever live my life the way I wanted?

Taking my gaze away from the scenery I looked at my parents, who were still arguing over who's fault it was to lose our money. "Can I walk along side the cart at least? My legs are getting really stiff."

They stared at me.

"Jirou is at least out there. I'm not gonna run away or anything like that."

My mother sighed. "I guess you can, but I don't want to see any mud on your clothes."

My father banged his fist on the roof, making the cart roll to a stop.

Slipping on my shoes, I stepped out of the enclosed space and out onto the dirt road.

"Be careful out there!" my mother shouted.

"I will." I told her. 'Like you really care.'

"Hey there Kas." A voice spoke in front of me.

I smiled as I turned my attention to the man who was standing near the front of the cart. "Hey Jirou. Do you mind if I walk with you?"

His grin widened. "Of course!"

When the cart started moving again, Jirou and I began following close behind.

"Are they fighting again?" Jirou asked.

I nodded. "What else do they do these days?"

He laughed as he shook his head. "Those two never change."

Jirou was our family bodyguard and has been serving us for many years. He was hired after my parents got married and he was there to protect me from the moment I was born. From that point on, he was my best friend.

He always treated me like I was his own daughter since he didn't really have any family. When I needed someone to talk to I would always go to him for advice. If Jirou wasn't there, I don't know what I would do.

When my parents announced my surprise marriage, Jirou was furious with them. For hours he tried to plead my case and convince them to wait until I was older. I was really touched that he cared that much about my well being like that. He was like the father that always said 'no dating until after you're married'; unfortunately, since my own father didn't really think that way, I was going to be married off no matter what the circumstance. My parents ended up threatening to fire Jirou if he tried to interfere with their plan and I don't think Jirou would have abandoned me like that.

Oh well, at least he tried. All I cared about was if Jiriou was going to remain as my bodyguard when I was married.

"So are you nervous?" he asked.

I sighed. "Of course I'm nervous, I'm about to meet a strange guy who's going to be my husband in a few days."

"You'll be fine, Kas. I'm sure he'll be the greatest guy you'll ever meet."

Well at least that's reassuring.

"And if he's a jerk then you can beat him up with those moves I taught you."

I smiled at him.

For the last couple years Jirou has been secretly teaching me some special ninja techniques to help defend myself in the future. Every now and then he would take me out into the woods to train and I'd have to say that I was pretty good at it. Of course my parents didn't know because if they did, they'd probably lock me away in my room and they would punish poor Jirou for helping me. Jirou and I were pretty discreet about it.

"Yeah, I'll just kick his butt if he does anything." I joked.

He laughed along with me. "Good to know."

When our laughter calmed down, I began kicking a random rock as we walked slowly, distancing ourselves from the cart a little bit. "Hey Jirou?"

"Yeah?"

"If you were my real father, would you ever put me through this?"

He stopped abruptly in his footsteps for a minute.

I stopped to see his reaction.

He looked stunned for a moment but managed to walk up to me. "I don't like it when you say things like that; he's your father no matter what."

I looked down at my shoes, ashamed of what I said.

Jirou sighed and hugged me around the shoulders. "But if you were my daughter, then I would never do this to you."

I smiled up at him and followed him back to the cart. 'Oh how I love Jirou."

After a couple hours went by the sky was starting to grow darker and then suddenly it started to rain. Luckily we came upon a hot springs and an inn before the rain started to get worse, so we decided to stay here for the night and then continue our journey to the Kirigakure village in the morning.

It was a cute little place and it was pretty tranquil there. My parents were a little worried about staying there because they were afraid of being attacked and having what's left of their fortune to be stolen. They were also worried about me too, but it wasn't for me; it was for the fact that I was their only hope for a better living. The lady running the front desk reassured them that they should be safe since there was only a couple people staying here. Thank goodness we had enough money for all of us to stay.

Rooming arrangements weren't bad one bit. I actually got a room to myself and it was an awesome place. I had a dresser for all of my clothes, a nice wooden desk in the corner, and a big plush bed in the center of the room. Also I had the greatest view of the forest from my room. I could see the river that traveled through the trees and I could see the sun setting behind them; it was gorgeous.

Jirou had a room right next door to me, so he could keep an eye on me and protect me still. My parents got a room clear at the end of the hall from me; that was the best part. At least they won't be able to control me in my room.

After we were all settled in, we all went downstairs to the dining room for dinner. Thankfully it was something edible; ramen. Usually when I ate at home with my family it was usually really weird stuff that looked disgusting; if I skipped dinner and went to bed, Jirou would be waiting outside my bedroom window with a bowl of ramen from the local ramen shop. At this moment my parents weren't impressed one bit with the bowl that was placed in front of them.

"What is this…this garbage?" my mother asked the startled servant.

"Um…well it's r-raman, Milady." She responded.

My mother's face twisted in disgust. "Don't you have anything…you know, more elegant?"

My father growled under his breath. "Don't complain Nanako, be glad we have anything at all." He said to her as he picked up his chopsticks and tried to eat his food without spitting it back out.

My mother huffed as she attempted to eat her ramen.

Jirou and I were practically slurping every noodle that entered our mouths; this was our kind of meal.

I could feel my mother's eyes on me. "Kasumi."

I looked over at her, noodles hanging over my lips. "Hmm?"

"Please have some manners and stop slurping; it's rather disgusting."

I slurped them up, trying to aggravate her.

"Kasumi."

"What? Can't I just enjoy my ramen in peace?"

"You need to stop playing with your food and eat your dinner like a lady, not like a child. You need to have proper manners. I don't think Yoshirou will like the way you eat."

"I don't care what Yoshirou thinks, this is the way I am and he's just gonna have to accept it." I rebutted as I went back to my meal.

"You know we raised a daughter, not a pig. So stop acting like an animal."

I stopped eating immediately and glared at her. "You know what, that's exactly what I feel like; a caged animal! I'm practically a pig being hauled off to the slaughter house!"

My mother tried to shush me. "Keep your voice down, Kasumi."

I stood up from my chair, slamming my hands down on the table. "No! I will not keep my voice down! I'm sick and tired of you treating me like your little puppet! This is my life and you can't control it! You don't care about my happiness! All you guys care about is you and your money!"

"Kasumi!" my mother yelled.

"I don't want to marry some stranger just for his money; I could care less if he was rich or not. Heck, he could be a criminal for all I care."

Ha! The look on their faces was priceless.

"All I want to do is marry someone who I want to be with. Why can't you guys see that I don't want to do this?"

My father shook his head. "This is ridiculous Kasumi; we're only doing-"

"Don't you give me that! You're not doing what's best for me, you're only doing what's best for you! If you acted like 'real' parents, you'd let me do whatever I wanted!"

That comment left them in silence for awhile.

Jirou stared at me in surprise.

That's right; I said if they were my 'real' parents, I'm not afraid to state the truth.

My father took a breath. "That's quite enough, young lady. There will be no more of your childish behavior. Tomorrow, we are going to the Kirigakure village and you will be married to Yoshirou. No and's, if's or but's."

I took one look at him and then stormed out of the room; I couldn't even look at them anymore.

As I ran up the stairs to my room I could feel my eyes beginning to water. By the time I was inside my room and slammed the door shut I let the tears flow freely down my cheeks; practically screaming in frustration.

I lay against the door and slid down to my feet, holding myself as I sobbed. 'How could they do this to me? I'm their daughter; I shouldn't be treated like this.'

At this moment, I just wanted to escape from them and never look back; but knowing them, they would find a way to keep me locked away.

A soft knock at the door alerted me.

"Go away!" I yelled at whoever was at the door; the last thing I wanted was to see my parents right now.

"It's me." Jirou's soft voice spoke through the door.

I stood to my feet, wiping my eyes. "Come in."

He opened the door slightly. "It's just me, your parents are still downstairs."

I walked over to my bed and sat down. "Good."

Shutting the door behind him, he walked over to the bed and sat beside me. "Are you okay?"

I snorted. "What do you think?"

He put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I turned my head into his chest and began to cry again. At least I had a shoulder to cry on.

He stroked my hair. "It's going to be okay, Kas."

I sniffled. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better."

He chuckled. "I could, but then I wouldn't be a good person to you. I want you to be okay. Besides, I'm kind of glad you finally said something to them; I mean the look on his face was priceless when you said thing about being 'real' parents."

I lightly laughed as I looked up at him, tears continuing to slide down my face. "I thought you didn't like me talking about my parents like that."

"Well I don't, but for now I'll let that one slide." Then he sighed. "I'm really sorry about all of this, I wish I could do something…but…"

"No, it's okay, I know you want to try and help…I just-" I choked before I started crying again.

Jirou held me close, rubbing my back as he tried to comfort me. "Shh...I'm here for you Kas. I'm always here for you."

I was relieved that I had someone who supported me.

Why did my life have to be like this? All I wanted was to be able to make my own life decisions. I wanted my parents to not be so greedy and selfish. I wanted to go off into the world and meet someone that I could fall in love with. And most importantly, I wanted to be free.

'Well...I guess you can't have everything in life.' I told myself as I continued to cry into Jirou's shoulder.

Well that's what I have so far. Don't worry, our favorite blonde headed bomber will make his appearance soon. I hope that you enjoyed my first chapter! The next chapter should be out soon! Please send a review or a message! I always respond to your reviews! Thanks everyone! :)