I've had this half-way planned since February, I think it's time I started writing it (:

Imperium

absolute power or authority; empire

Deidara might not have woken up if it weren't for the train's whistle, a signal that sounded far away in his mind, almost too intoxicated with sleep to function. With a moan, he stretched his stiff arms and legs, feeling like they hadn't moved for centuries. He looked around the train compartment lazily. The lights were dim, shadowing most of the seemingly empty room. The sunset outside was his only source of light, he guessed that the workers on the train saw no point in wasting electricity on one person.

Without a word, he stepped off into the train station, an old rundown building that would have been torn down in any regular town. Unlike the train, not only were the lights were on, but Deidara found himself no longer alone. A man stood next to the door on the other side of the room, smiling now that Deidara had arrived. A light flickered as he stepped forward.

"Good evening! You must be Mr. Iwagakure," he said, bringing his hand up for a proper handshake, "I've been waiting for you! You're an hour late you know!"

Despite his wait, his tone remained cheerful, as if he had just spent the last hour in an ice cream shop. Deidara searched his face for any sign of annoyance, not finding his attitude to be normal.

"Oh...hm.." Deidara mumbled in reply, reluctantly shaking his hand, "I was asleep so I wouldn't know, hm." His tone was anything but apologetic, he wondered with his own annoyance if the man was stupid enough to blame him for not being on time. It's not like he was conducting the train for fuck's sake.

"You must be wondering why I was waiting for you," he continued, putting his hands on his hips in an authoritative sort of way, "We've been informed of your trouble making past, the school and police office I mean, so I'm here to inform you that you'll be issued an ankle monitor sometime this week. We actually had to order one, haha! We don't get much trouble in this little town you see..."

Deidara began to tune him out, clenching his hands into tight balls. He came to this backwater town for a new start, didn't he? To leave his old reputation behind. How did they expect him to do that if he was going to be treated like a criminal right off the bat!?

The man seemed to notice his anger and paused, "What? You didn't expect to get off clean, did you? Every crime needs it's punishment, right?"

Deidara glared up at him, silently imagining knocking the smile off his face. When he didn't get a reply the man just shrugged, as if to say "I don't make the rules kid!", as if he were on Deidara's side.

Suddenly the man stepped forward, tussling the blond's hair.

"Hey!" Deidara snarled, slapping the man's hand away. The man laughed, as if he enjoyed the reaction.

"Don't be so moody! As I was saying, I'll be your parole officer, which means we'll get to see each other every week for a month or two, depending on your behavior. I'll also be walking you home tonight, can't have criminals roaming the streets, right? Haha." He turned to leave, expecting Deidara to know to follow him.

Despite it only being the evening, the streets had little activity, with a car driving by only every so often and a person walking by being even rarer. The sunset was nearly over, above the last traces of rich orange and yellow a few stars could already be seen.

Deidara kept his gaze on the ground as he walked, thinking only about how his move here was a complete waste. They made up their mind already, he was a criminal in the city and the country. The man patted Deidara's shoulder in a buddy-buddy manner.

"The place you'll be staying at is reserved for troubled youth like you," he explained, "You'll get your own room, until they're sure you're not too dangerous for a roommate, but I doubt you'll ever get one anyway. That place is usually pretty empty, I think."

Deidara looked up and nodded to show that he heard, but still wasn't keen on talking to the man. He wasn't on Deidara's side, that much had already been made clear.

"The school is only a few blocks away from there, it's a pretty small town in case you didn't notice, or at least, small compared to what a city boy like you is probably used to!" he continued, keeping his hand on Deidara's shoulder, to the teen's distaste. It took a good amount of self restraint for him to keep himself from shoving the man away.

They continued walking, passing various shops, many which seemed deserted, with the windows and doors blocked and sealed by wooden planks. Deidara directed his attention back to the sidewalk as he became bored with the man's chatter again. He noticed that the sidewalk was also run down, littered with cracks.

Suddenly, Deidara felt a force crash into his shoulder, nearly knocking him down. He whipped around, already too irritated to let anything slide.

"What the fuck, hm!?" he yelled, feeling the heat of his blood pound through him now. He didn't put up with this shit in the city, he sure as hell wasn't going to put up with it here.

"Sorry, didn't see ya'." he replied nonchalantly, keeping his back to Deidara. His parole officer grabbed a hold of his shoulder roughly before the blond could lunge, giving him a dangerous look.

With a glare, Deidara watched him walk away, taking note of the stranger's odd hair color, the only feature he could really make out from behind. Light silver, cut short. If he ever ran into the guy again, he'd kill him, Deidara swore to himself bitterly.

Soon enough, they arrived where Deidara would be staying. A two-story building, the paint was clearly faded, and cracks could be seen near the base of it. Even the fire escape looked to be in bad condition. If Deidara hadn't seen the condition of most of the buildings in the town already he would have assumed it was in poor condition because people tended to cast away delinquents to bad living conditions, in his experience.

"Well, I'll leave you here then, be sure to check in at the front desk. And remember, I'll see you at the end of the week!" the man waved good bye as he left. Deidara scoffed, but was relieved that the man was finally gone.

Reluctantly doing as he was told, Deidara check in with the front desk, run by a rather old man who was thankfully not very talkative. With a shaky hand he gave Deidara his room key, and informed him that a spare could be provided if needed. He also informed him of the building's curfew, 10pm for anyone in middle school or under, 11pm for those is high school.

Deidara nodded, mumbling a thanks.

The stairs creaked under his weight, as did the floor. When he opened his room's door and heard it creak as well Deidara wasn't surprised. He threw his only bag onto the floor and sprawled him himself across the bed, tired after his irritating trip. Soon, the room was completely dark with night, but the blond couldn't bring himself to turn a light on.

His body felt heavy with disappointment and frustration, the only thing he wanted now was to sleep and never wake up.

The darkness was still, the sounds of night unable to reach his two-story window. The creak of the floor as someone walked down the hall was his only reminder that he wasn't alone.

Soon, his mind became cloudy with the comfort that rest brought.

So, there's the beginning! I promise the next chapter will be more interesting. Reviews are always encouraging (: