Hello everybody! I still have some ideas floating around in my head from past stories and I just wanted to combine them all in to one singular place. As of February first, 2016, I have this one finished bonus ficlet and two more in the words for this collection. I plan on using a ton of abbreviations, so they are as fallowed:
MAB - Miss Atomic Bomb, sequel to Bombshell. Deidara x Oc based, AU, has two completed stories outside this. Based 2 years after story epilogue in Miss Atomic Bomb, Deidara is the Tuchikage and his son, 13, has been a genin for two years.
DITD - Dancing In The Dark, Hidan X OC based, AU, has one completed story. Based on the premise that it is 100 years after the story completion, Hidan is living with his wife, who is a vet, on their farm.
SS - Silver Spoon. AU where Sasuke is a runaway to inherit a large corporation. No pairing but Sasuke is involved with a woman. Happenings to occur before chapter 14. These may or may not be x-rated.
More to be added later! These have not gone though a beta or edited much besides me looking over them, so bare with some of the errors google docs did not catch.
It had always been sort of a secret where Mama was from. Deiichi knew that, because she was always sore when he asked. The day he graduated from the academy, it wasn't such a big secret anymore.
His grandparents on his Mama's side were nice. They were so nice, not nicer than grandma Miku, dad's mom, but he couldn't mistake the look of shock they gave him, when he, mom and dad had shown up at their door.
Deiichi wasn't sure how they'd gotten to his maternal grandparent's house. Dad had been holding an amethyst crystal and told him to shut his eyes, and what happened next felt sort of like a body flicker, though he couldn't feel any chakra being used. When he was allowed to open his eyes again, they were sitting in the grass near a lake.
But, anyway, back to his grandparents. They were both in their late forties, and certainly not shinobi. It sort of puzzled Deiichi, because he'd always pictured his mom to have come from a clan family. The first thing grandma Karen (what a strange name!) did was hug his mama real tight, and she didn't let her go. His Grandpa hugged mama too. Deiichi's own father put a hand on his shoulder.
When the ten year old looked up at his father, the Tsuchikage was tense, the way he got just before somebody started yelling. Nobody yelled though, but Mom's parents didn't greet his father, Deidara, with very much warmth. Both of his maternal grandparents were eager to meet him, even if Grandma Karen wrinkled her nose a bit when mama told her his name.
"Deiichi? I'm almost afraid to ask the nationality," Grandma chitted, nervously, but when her eyes directed his way, they softened. He was her grandson, after all.
Grandma Karen had ushered everyone inside and seated them all at the large dinning room table, and she started in dinner, insisting they stay and that she cook. She chatted with them since the dinning room was not separated from the kitchen."May, honestly, where have you been? You haven't called, or so much as even sent a letter!"
"We live in the mountains," his mother responded, that was the truth. "The power goes off a lot in storms," true. "And here aren't any phone lines there, and the post gets lost more often than not." Lie.
Deiichi didn't ask why mom lied to her mom. There was a good reason why mom did everything.
"So, Deiichi," his grandpa spoke, "do you have any pets? Hobbies?"
Deiichi hadn't known his father's father. His dad had always said his paternal grandfather was better off wherever he was at, and Deiichi didn't ask any more. He was sure his father's father was dead. But this grandpa was nice. He said his name a little funny, but he smiled and spoke kindly.
"I do have hobbies," the blonde child smiled, "I'm a-"
His mother kicked him under the table. She didn't make a sound, she was too skilled for that, but even if it was meant to, it didn't hurt. He was surprised, but he didn't let it transfer over his facial features. Her eyes never left his grandmother. Was he not supposed to mention he was a ninja?
"I'm an artist," he replied instead, "just like mom and dad. And I do have a pet, I have a horse, but he's really old, I don't get to ride him much."
His grandfather smiled, turning to his father. "He certainly looks like you, Deidara."
Dad laughed. "He's nothing like me, really."
His grandfather laughed too.
That had been, what? Three years ago? They went back to visit every once and a while, holidays mostly, and mom's birthday. He was starting to feel sort of juvenile having to close his eyes every time they went to visit.
So, Mama's parents weren't that much of a secret, anymore, but nobody wanted to talk about them. Not even mama.
He was inside, making a mental list of things he had to do before he had to leave for his mission this afternoon. It was only a D-rank mission with his genin team, but they'd need it to go out for chunin, they'd need a recommendation from their sensei by the end of the month.
He was putting peanut butter on a slice of bread, his mother just outside the kitchen window. He noticed his mom looked different today, somehow.
She was on her knees outside, digging up a flower pot on the deck, with a four lack of baby tomato plants next to her, beginning her gardening just like every spring. The way she chopped at the earth though, he wasn't sure about that.
He wondered if she knew what day it was today too.
"Mom," he called, opening the kitchen window, "what day are you leaving for your mission?"
His mother dusted her hands off and sat up from her hunched position. The career chunin herself thought for a moment. "Two days?" She said, like it was a question, "it's only a C-rank, I'll be back in a day or so."
He raised his eyebrows. He figured it wouldn't hurt to ask her now. He did have a goal for this conversation.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine." She'd tell him that even if her head had fallen off.
"Do you think we could have dinner with Grandma Karen and Grandpa tomorrow night then?"
His mother whipped around. He'd taken her off guard.
"Ask your father," she replied coldly, and turned back to her vegetables.
Deiichi was a smart boy, he didn't need to be told not to press it. He knew it wasn't dad's call. He was just getting the run around. But okay, if she wanted him to ask his dad, he would. There was more than one way to shoe a horse. So Deiichi left the house after bidding his mother goodbye, and headed to the Tsuchikage building, munching on half of a peanut butter and jelly on the way there.
He waved to the secretary and climbed the stairs up to his dad's office. Being the Kage's son me with lots of benefits, the first was coming in to the tower whenever he wanted. The Kage tower wound up a pillar of rock, the offices and storage rooms built in to the rock to strong hold it, but the outside walk of the building was all windows. The view was incredible, especially from his dad's office at the top.
Deiichi waltzed in to the office like he owned it.
Deidara, the Tsuchikage, with his blonde hair cropped to his shoulders and his bangs hardly still covering his eye, had his hat off and his feet up, slacking off on his paperwork he was just going to get somebody else to do later.
Deiichi had seen a few pictures of his father when he was young. His father was twenty four or twenty five when he was born, a wild look in his eyes and his hair long and untamed. Now he was placid and respected, a crafty diplomat. He was less unhinged now, he'd been seeking counseling for most of Deiichi's childhood, but according to his mother, his father remained a protective, blunt, proud and loving man with a talent for explosives, just like always.
Deiichi would never admit he'd stolen his hair style from those pictures of his father.
"Hey," his father greeted lamely, raising a hand to wave at him.
"Hi dad," the boy returned, but then cut right to the chase, "what's wrong with mom?"
His father raised his eyebrows, similar to the way he'd done at home. "I don't know, what's wrong with her?"
Deiichi admitted that while father had always encouraged him to solve problems himself, he didn't like to. Sometimes his inherited intelligence was a hinderance. He knew his father to be unstable sometimes, but he never put his son in danger and he never provoked thought about important, privet matters. With those, his father had always been upfront with him. It must not be terribly important if his father was being himself.
"I asked about Grandma Karen and Grandpa," the thirteen year old confessed finally.
"Oh," his father said, sighing, "that'd be it then."
"Why does that upset her?"
Deiichi watched his father's face. He scowled deeply in that expressive manner of his and sighed, taking his feet off of the table and gathering up a stack of papers. "What do you want?"
So, he was going to try to buy him off? No dice, even if a chunin recommendation forum was in it. "I wanna know."
His father sighed again. "Your mother's relationship with her parents is strained."
Deiichi rolled his eyes. His father was being vague, they both knew that he already knew that. He countered with "Why?"
His father drummed his fingers on his desk for a moment, deep in thought. His eyes never left his boy. After a few moments, he must have thought of something, because from a pocket in his cloak he pulled a little laminated card. His eyes flicked over it, and he smiled, wide and happy.
"Come here," he said, and Deiichi crossed the room to stand on the other side if the desk next to his father. His father handed him the card, which was not actually a card at all. It was a photo, dog eared and tired, laminated to stop the wear and tear. It was a photo of his mother and father when they were young. It was hard to see, but his mother looked to be near tears as his father pushed a ring on to her finger. This wasn't at a chapel he knew, but this was clearly a wedding photo.
"That's the only photo of our wedding we have. It's called a Polaroid, the cameras print pictures immediately. So, if you notice, no one is in this picture but us."
His parents had eloped? Deiichi furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"
"Because your dear old dad made a lot of bad choices back then. Everything he did it made mom's parents mad. And your mom loved me, and she fallowed me everywhere," his father looked bittersweet, "and because your mom wanted to fallow me, she used to fight with her parents and make them mad. Sometimes we'd just disappear, once for ten years, and pop up, and it upset them pretty bad."
Basically, his father had just told him that mama never saw her parents in the ten years between his birth and that first visit? How could anyone do that? "I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?" His father asked him, taking the picture back from his son and placing it gingerly in to his pocket.
"Why leave? Why not even call them? Where did you go that she always wanted to fallow?"
His father laughed a little and looked at a family picture of them that'd been sitting on his desk for ages. Deiichi was about a year old in that picture, mom looked tired, but happy, and dad looked aged beyond his years, but still happy. It was taken a year after the end of the war, the one he'd learned about in history class. "Because sometimes you make bad choices when you love somebody."
He was so confused. It was dad's fault that mom's parents didn't like her? "I still don't understand."
His father looked up at him, thinking deeply for a moment before he decided that his son was old enough to know. "I meet your mom one summer while I was camping. I used to be a nuke nin, I'm sure you knew that," dad said, and Deiichi did know. "And one moment she wasn't there and the next she was. I saved her from drowning."
The boy's eyes widened. He'd never heard this story before.
"We spent three weeks traveling before all hell broke loose. Some guy from a gang I used to work in wanted to use your mom, but I rescued her, and suddenly I was someplace I'd never been to. Your mom wasn't from Iwa, and she wasn't from Konoha, or Suna, or anywhere around here. She was from Ohio, and maybe another day I'll tell you where that is, but for right now all you have to understand is that mom's parents missed her, and when I showed up, I was welcomed at first."
"So why?" The boy interjected.
"It's rude To interrupt," his father reminded him. He apologized and his father continued.
"Anyway, but the main reason why they don't like me is because I made a lot of mistakes trying to take care of your mom. It's not like here, where you can be a ninja and have an income, you need a skill and qualifications. Finally, I think we'd just had enough and left. We got married and that really made them angry. She got pregnant with you just after we got married and we ended up here, in a war zone. I think you know how it's been ever since."
The boy took a second to process all of that information. "So, so, it's not that mom's parents don't like her, they're just frustrated because they never see her? And because they disapprove of you?"
"Smart kid, must get that from me," the Tsuchikage grinned. His father clearly had no reservations about it.
He guessed he understood now. He didn't have to ask how his grandparents felt now. He sort of knew. Each time they visited they were a little warmer towards his parents and they treated himself like a prince. He hoped the lingering resentment they felt would go away soon. He hoped that the bitter taste in his moms mouth towards his grandparents would go away someday soon too.
"Don't you have a mission today, son? I was sure I assigned you one."
"Shit!" Deiichi swore, and he had the urge to swear again, realizing what he'd said in front of his father.
"I didn't hear you say that," Deidara smirked, eyebrows raised and an amused look on his face.
"And uh, I didn't hear that story?" Deiichi asked, raising his own eyebrows.
"Good boy, go on," his father turned back to his work and Deiichi sprinted from the Kage tower. Even if it was only a D-rank mission, he'd have to be on his best behavior if he wanted to have dinner with his grandparents soon. That included being on time.
