Author's Note: The OC being mentioned in this story is mine. She is also featured in my fanfiction "Memoirs of a Jinchuuriki." Just another note, this is taking place in a modern-day, non-ninja world. Think it's cliché? Stupid? Then don't read.
Another Note: In case you haven't guessed by the title, this one-shot is going to be, sort-of a 1/2 a songfic with some lyrics from the VOCALOID song "Romeo and Cinderella", "Another: Romeo and Cinderella," and "Cendrillon." Since the lyrics were originally in Japanese, the translated English lyrics will be in bold and italics.
Romeo and Cendrillon:
"I've been longing like Cinderella, I'll run away with nothing…"
"It's almost like a fairytale."
"But please don't call me by that name…"
Cendrillon (French for 'Cinderella') was the name that her victims gave her, which was quite fitting: she was in and out of a job by the toll of midnight. Of course, as an assassin, she often left some pretty unpleasant things behind rather than a pretty glass shoe. Surprisingly, she hated that name with a burning passion.
Nagareboshi Aitoshuu was her real name, an assassin who quickly rose through the ranks of the ANBU assassination squad in Konoha. The city itself was well-known for its size, people, culture, …but most of all, the ever-present and notorious gang known as the Akatsuki. From bombings, kidnappings, murder, theft, you name it, they've done it. The Akatsuki were always a huge thorn in Hokage Tsunade's side.
"Here. This one's been on the run from Iwagakure for a few years now. With his capture, perhaps the tensions between your city and Konoha could…you know…-"
"Yeah, yeah. I've heard all before.," the assassin's pale, thin hand snatched the mission papers from her employer. She couldn't care less about her home of Iwagakure or Konoha. All she wanted was more bloodshed.
Walking out of the office, Tsunade called out again, "This is no ordinary job. Those previous targets were all jokes, you know that?"
"…," Nagareboshi knew that all of her assignments were jokes, having killed them in a heartbeat, a record time among her fellow assassins.
"I've sent in previous teams before, and all of them have failed."
She only thought of it as a challenge, perhaps even a bluff from Tsunade.
"Have I ever failed you, Tsunade?," Nagareboshi gave a smug look from behind her shoulder as she left the office.
Back in the comfort of her uptown apartment, the assassin sat comfortably at her desk looking over the mission papers.
"Deidara…huh?," she quickly skimmed over the target's name, not that she'll have to remember him.
Unlike her previous targets before, something shocked her. After skimming his entire file, she noticed that his picture was rather…odd. All that Nagareboshi could see was an outline of a 19 to 21-year old male and the rest of the picture looked like it had survived a fire or explosion.
"Hm, I wonder why they couldn't at least get a decent picture of him.," she wondered.
Reading further into the mission briefing, Nagareboshi was supposed to intercept and kill him that night at an extravagant party at one of Konoha's most prestigious and classy hotels. It seemed like a classic setup to the assassin, and she contemplated on how she could kill him. Poison his drink? Get him cornered in the coat closet? Or maybe slip her famous concoction that'll kill him oh-so painfully and slowly? To her, there were a billion possibilities…too bad she didn't know what he looked like, but that worry could wait after she had applied her mascara for the party tonight.
"I'll apply a little mascara, I promise to be a good girl tomorrow…please just forgive me just this once..."
"Hey…idiot. Listen-"
Deidara drowned out Sasori's voice as the pitch black limo zoomed through the streets of Konoha. Looking out into the neon-lit city, he sighed. Staying at some dull, stuck-up party was not his ideal way to spend a Saturday night. On top of that, he heard that the Hokage sent out some crazy, psychotic assassin after him.
His lips curled into a smile. He's seen it all already, tons of assassins have come after him, and all have suffered at the hand of his 'art.'
Tonight's unwanted guest would be no challenge, and he knew it.
"Look, we're here, now get out there!," Sasori shoved him out onto the pavement.
Stumbling out of the limo, Deidara shot a smug look back at Sasori and Itachi in the driver's seat. Sasori was another artist that Deidara at the very least respected, but Itachi on the other hand…well it was hell just to look at him. Being a bad-ass Uchiha gone rogue, he gave off an intimidating aura to the artist, but that couldn't compare to when the bastard was mocking his work.
He shook off the thought as he walked into the grand hall of the hotel, presenting his fake I.D. Sighing, he reminded himself that he was at a party after all, might as well make the most of it…
After bringing up some small-talk among some stuffy aristocrats, Deidara was already bored out of his mind. Just where was Sasori's underling again? Kakuto? Karako?... No, it was…Kabuto.
"Where is the four-eyed weirdo anyway?," Deidara asked himself as he looked into the crowd…when a pair of piercing royal blue eyes crossed paths with his.
"…our eyes, gazing at each other, fire off sparks."
"It seems that someone has been thrown again into the depths of this abyss."
The night was young as the party drawled on. Nagareboshi tried to refrain from yawning at the banal taste and conversation of the other guests. Looking around, she reminded herself that she was getting out as soon as she found-
…
A fellow bored party guest was staring back at her with his pair of sky-blue eyes.
'Oh, what do we have here?,' she thought, returning the stare with her charming, yet unsettling smile and a small wave.
Totally forgetting about the mission at hand, he walked over to the mysterious guest.
"Are you also just absolutely bored to death at this poor excuse of a party?," she said in a quiet whisper.
"Why, yes. I was hoping that I would find someone with some sense in their head. These suits don't make any good conversation.," he replied.
"…So, what brings you here to this bore on a Saturday night?," Nagareboshi further questioned him.
"Ah, I'm waiting for someone."
"Oh…," Nagareboshi looked bit disturbed at that statement, who could be this 'someone?' Perhaps it would be the Akatsuki that she was looking for!-
"It's nothing, trust me.," he said.
"No, no! It's fine, I-," she panicked a little, glancing back at the grand clock in the hall: 9:48. She had to find this Akatsuki and find him fast-
"Is something wrong? You look like you're in a hurry.," he said.
"W-What?," she replied, trying to look innocent. "No, it's nothing, I just…"
"Like looking at clocks?," he teased.
"Now I really am leaving, because I'm quivering, as your eyes rest upon the clock."
"Yeah, I'm a very punctual person, it drives my friends insane. We'll arrange something at say, 8:30, and I'll be there at 8:15. It's kind of stupid, but-," she quickly came up with a lie.
"Hm, your strict punctuality reminds me of someone I know, it's quite hilarious to see him freak out and I'll be, like a quarter of a second late. Can you believe that?"
"That must be fun. Who is he? A coworker?"
"I…guess you could say that.," Deidara said.
'Suspicious…,' the assassin thought as she flashed a fake smile and a small nod.
Throughout the conversation, Nagareboshi saw Yugao, another ANBU, from the corner of her eye. Yugao was watching from the far reaches of the party and signaled her to come over. 'Just what could she want now?,' she thought.
"U-Um, it was nice talking to you, but I gotta go.," she waved goodbye, heading in Yugao's direction.
After the assassin literally walked away from her target, Deidara caught sight of Kabuto in the crowd of people.
"Excuse me."
"Pardon."
It was quite a trek over to where the Akatsuki underling was. Kabuto eventually noticed Deidara, politely dismissing the other conversation that he was in.
"Hey, so…where is he?," Deidara asked.
"You mean the troublesome assassin?," Kabuto replied. "You were just talking to her."
WHAT? Deidara turned back to the frail woman running to the other end of the room. The way she playfully tousled her ebony hair in her fingers a few minutes ago…there was no way that she was the deadly assassin.
"Surprised?," Kabuto smirked. "Don't let her looks deceive you, and there's a reason why she's always looking at the clock."
"Oh really?," Deidara asked, still looking back at her.
"Don't you know who she is? She may be an assassin, but she's not just any assassin…"
"Mm-hm…," he retorted, obviously not amused at the cliché nature of the foreshadowing in his statement.
"Ever heard of the infamous Cendrillon?," Kabuto asked.
"The sought-after Cinderella…"
"O.K., there's no way she's the freak who's killed all of her targets in less than 24 hours.," Deidara said.
"Hm…want my advice?," Kabuto replied in a mocking tone. "Get rid of her, now."
After that was said and done, Kabuto bid his Akatsuki superior farewell, disappearing into the crowd. 'Crap.,' Deidara thought. Now, he had Sasori's underling and the rest of the Akatsuki breathing down his neck on this assignment…just…great.
"A whispering voice orders me to search for your unfamiliar face, with my blade gripped in hand, to snatch everything away from you…"
"Cendrillon!," Yugao called Nagareboshi over with a cross between a whisper and a hiss.
"What is it?," the ANBU retorted.
"What the hell are you doing? You just literally walked away from the target.," Yugao crossed her arms, pissed.
"…Shit.," Nagareboshi turned back, only to see that he was gone. "You've got to be kidding me…"
"No-"
"Then if you know who he is, why don't you go finish the job?," Nagareboshi glared with intense annoyance at Yugao.
"I'd rather not talk about it, I already failed to capture him, and it's better that he's brought in by a face he won't recognize.," Yugao explained. "Now get out there and get him, Cendrillon."
Nagareboshi turned around, turns out that a new song started on the dance floor and the crowd scattered for a moment.
"Right."
'Alright,' she thought. 'Tonight, I must reprise my role as the foolish Cinderella.'
"See, I'm here!"
He heard the loud, clacking heels of the psychotic assassin coming his way. He knew that her blood was probably boiling from the fact that she couldn't recognize her target a moment ago.
He knew that he should run for his life.
"Taking pleasure at your expression…"
"Innocently laughing, perhaps of ignorance…"
"Yet wanting to learn so many things, discovering every bit of you: my one true goal and desire."
…But her slightly reddened cheeks and the surprised look on her face was just priceless.
So was the expression when he pulled her into the crowd of dancing aristocrats.
"What are you doing?," Cendrillon hissed.
Grabbing her hand, they wove right into the spinning couples. "Quick, we have to try to act normal.," he explained, glancing around the room for any sign of Kabuto.
Falling in line with him, Cendrillon couldn't help but brandish the small blade hidden in her sleeve. 'Not now…, not yet,' she thought. 'I'll make him suffer slowly.'
"Through the stained glass, the moonlight covered you with a veil."
The music flowed beautifully in the ears of the guests, all for except for him and Cendrillon. Looking away, he had to think about how he was going to kill her, soon. But, how? Taking one more glance at his dance partner, the stained-glass rotunda drenched the deadly assassin in a stunning array of reds and blues. 'How fitting for an assassin to be dressed in red…,' he thought. '…especially on a beautiful one-' Snapping out of his thoughts, Deidara reassured himself that it would be her blood on his fingers tonight.
Nagareboshi was trying to sway away from any potential witnesses, but her target was the one that led her throughout the dance. It was ironic; she wanted nothing more than to have his blood dripping through her cold hands, yet… Every time she looked into his eyes, she didn't see the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. Perhaps he was still human, right? 'Now, why don't we have some fun?,' she thought, a warm expression of sympathy approaching on her face.
"If something is unknown, you may as well be curious about it…
Show me everything…
…and you'll only see my…"
Deidara looked back at the assassin, who was surprisingly, smiling back. 'It may be a trap, but let me just humor her.,' he thought, smirking.
"In this castle…, I'm a seraph who, with a smile sketched onto my mask, embraces everything with my wings...even deceitful love."
Snapping out of her reverie, Nagareboshi found a smirk appear on her partner's face. 'What's he planning to do?,' she thought in her panic. 'Kill me in plain sight? Not even an Akatsuki would do that…right?' His free hand crept up her back, bringing the two even closer.
'Crap,' Nagareboshi thought again, trying to reach for her hidden knife, but his grip was stronger. Struggling to break free, Deidara let go of her, letting her lose balance for a split second…only to wrap them around her once again. Her head was against his chest, and she could tell that he was smirking at to satisfaction of seeing an assassin…vulnerable. Tingles went up her spine at the thought of losing her guard so easily.
"Nice try, Romeo.," she said in disgust. "But remember that you're dancing with death here."
"…as an impulse runs through your back in that instant…"
"Hey, if I'm Romeo, then this is a tragedy, right?"
The Akatsuki scoffed at the assassin's threat. He just needed to stall her long enough for to make the shot. He couldn't stop thinking about how shocked she'll look when he finally could take her life, but whenever he glanced back at her, it was her smile that always got him. It reminded him that she was still human, too…although on the inside she was a psychotic maniac. For a while, it seemed like she enjoyed going along with the charade, not once struggling or resisting.
"Oh time, stop now. I've been completely drawn into you. I want to count out every one of your unstable heartbeats."
Her head pressed against his chest, she could tell that he was getting a bit anxious by his irregular pulse. She was smiling at the fact that her next move would certainly leave the target 'dead in his tracks.' Reaching for her hidden dagger once again, she heard someone scream. A shot was fired.
Deidara's head quickly turned in the bullet's direction. Some nearby wine glass shattered, staining the immaculate tablecloth it was laid on. Looking up, he had to know who the sniper was. Whoever it was, he practically ruined the whole operation, shooting out of nowhere!
"What the hell-!," he cursed. As the other party guests ran out in a panic, Kabuto, in all his freaky four-eyed-ness aimed his pistol again at Cendrillon's head.
Once Deidara realized this, he grabbed her slender wrist shoved her out of the way. The bullet missed her head, but didn't miss Deidara's arm.
"C'mon! He'll follow us!," she took his hand, leading them against the flow of the crowd and to the emergency staircase at the end of the hall. Before closing the door to the staircase, she set off the fire alarm.
Inside, the Akatsuki glared back at her, "The police will be here any minute, won't they?"
"Yeah, no duh.," Nagareboshi retorted, leaning on the wall, crossing her arms and looking away.
"Is that so?," Deidara asked in a suspicious tone. Little did the assassin know that her prey had a trick up his sleeve. Reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket with his free hand, he pulled out a gun on her. Holding it to her throat, Cendrillon was propped up against the wall, praying for dear life. "I could kill you now, but they'll find my fingerprints on you, and they've already got me on file."
"Why not just kill me now? I'm dead if I come back from an assignment empty-handed anyway.," she said. "Being an assassin doesn't pay very cheaply, and I would've been loaded for life if I just shot you in your goddamn head like I was supposed to!" A gleam in her royal blue eyes set off straight into the Akatsuki's.
For once, he couldn't retort back at her, not while she had that 'I'm going to bite your head off' look.
"What should I do? If this goes on like this, you'll eventually start to dislike me."
Shaking off the sheer anger in her eyes, Deidara said, "Despite our obvious differences, we've got to get out of here. Alive."
"And just how do you intend to do that?," Cendrillon replied. "Security will be everywhere, we're basically trapped without knowing the layout of the hotel."
"An assassin like you shouldn't have that much trouble finding a way out, right?," he smirked. "Besides, I have no intentions on killing you, for now-"
"Wow, thank you! So comforting.," she sarcastically retorted. "And to think that I was even thinking of sparing you-!"
"Oh, that's rich: the psychotic assassin letting a dangerous target like me go?," Deidara laughed, even as she held her hidden knife to his neck.
"Well, you're not so dangerous now…, right?," Nagareboshi said.
"Hmph, that's where you're wrong, dear.," Deidara replied. Reaching for the detonator in his pocket, the entire fron half of the hotel exploded.
"What the hell?," Cendrillon braced herself for the sheer power of the blast.
"Seems that you've forgotten my specialty: explosives!," he proudly proclaimed, setting off the remaining bombs on the lobby floor and began ascending up the fire exit stairs. "Now c'mon, I thought you wanted to live."
"Well, it depends-," she was cut off once again by the sound of shattering glass and debris.
"Well, too bad, for now I'm keepin' you alive.," with his good hand, Deidara grabbed her slender wrist and the both of them ran up the stairs as fast as they could.
"You say you're holding out your hands for my sake, but is that all there is to it?"
In order to have the maximum amount of time to escape, both of them ran to the top thirteenth floor. Soon enough, the hotel was going to collapse on itself, and so will their separate affiliates come to collect them. A failed mission by their hands wasn't going to be taken lightly. They both readied their guns, obviously both of them had decided that one of them wasn't going to live to see tomorrow. Going against their mutual interest of escaping, betrayal was definitely inevitable since the beginning.
Cendrillon dreaded the drone of the grandfather clock in that hallway that would be chiming at the stroke of midnight. Her apparent attraction to her target was nothing, and she's already mentally established that: NOTHING. That damn attitude and smirk were the two things about him that annoyed her the most, but was his charm really enough for her to not kill him?
"Cendrillon, just what's your real name?," Deidara brought up a conversation to break the ice.
"Hmph, what's it to you?," Nagareboshi scoffed.
"I don't know, I guess.," he replied nonchalantly. "But you don't like that name, do you?"
"…Yes. It forever boggles my mind of why it is just 'Cinderella' in French. I would've preferred something a little less feminine.," she replied.
"Hm, I've got a suggestion: Psycho-"
"NO. Just, no.," Nagareboshi chuckled. "But you don't have to call me by that name."
"Oh really, hm?"
"How about…Nagareboshi. You can call me that.," she said, her ears still sensitive at the taunting tick-tocks of the clock.
"Please don't ring the bell, as I kneel to you, although screaming "no," my right hand thrusts out to you an eternal farewell."
Until now, they have been facing each other back-to-back. Cendrillon wanted to make the first move. Her pistol in one hand and her knife in the other, she threw her knife at his good arm. It definitely pierced his flesh, but not as deep as she would've wanted it to. Deidara winced in pain before they would open gunfire.
"A princess who wears gunpowder smoke as perfume, your unyielding pupil cleaves through my frigid mask."
Even as the hotel burn, they intensely fired at each other. Their shots were close, but weren't in the least fatal. Deidara already had to cope with a bullet in one of his arms, and her continuous shots weren't helping much either. Cendrillon couldn't remember the last time she was shot, and the hot metal burned her flesh. She bit her tongue and winced in pain as she continued firing.
The crackling and burning foundation of the building was almost at its breaking point, and at that moment, the barely-surviving clock in the hallway chimed loud and clear, marking the stroke of midnight.
Hiding behind a blasted open door, that noise struck terror into Cendrillon's soul. That chime meant that she had failed her mission, failed Tsunade, failed the ANBU… but most of all… she had failed herself. Nagareboshi sat there, and her pistol had fallen out of her grip. Her mind and senses had gone numb for the moment, but that was long enough for Deidara to realize that she was defenseless and open.
Pointing his gun to her head, he smirked, "The bells have been rung, Cinderella."
Looking up at him, she smiled with a hint of remorse. Closing her eyes, she prepared to her the splatter of her own flesh and blood. She heard the gunshot loud and clear, but felt no pain. What had happened?
"Now take off your shoe and run. If you don't, I won't be able to look for you."
"Get up. You're not dead yet.," Deidara bluntly said. "Our little act should be enough to convince your superiors that you're dead. The intensity of the fire should be enough explanation for my disappearance. There's no way that freak Kabuto could come after me now-"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're not that stupid, Deidara."
"Yugao!," Nagareboshi stumbled to her feet, she still felt too numb to stand upright, so she held onto him. "What are you doing here?"
"Kabuto and I have struck a deal.," she explained, then Kabuto emerged from the darkness next to her.
"No matter how many times we are born, we'll still disappear
Despite that, we hold out our hands."
Deidara found himself actually being handcuffed. Handcuffed. He hasn't been caught like this…ever. Cendrillon was cuffed as well, but by Kabuto. The deal was for both the ANBU and Akatsuki to exchange their two valuable assassins. Deidara would then be handed over to the authorities and Nagareboshi was now no longer a threat to the Akatsuki under their possession.
Both of them had felt so helpless and betrayed that they barely exchanged a glance as they were lead away.
Rotting in jail was not in the Akatsuki member's plans. He knew that he was getting out sooner or later, he had his plan engraved into his memory, but there was one more part to his escape. Cendrillon, the psychotic and ruthless assassin had spared him of all people, and that obviously meant something. And, he knew the Akatsuki, they would eventually break her and it wouldn't be pleasant when that happens.
"My heavy thoughts are in a distant prayer, wondering if they will ever reach her."
"Everything I see is but a blur for my mind, being transient, then disappearing."
"Is that how far my cries can only go?"
Prison had done terrible things to his mind. Everyday seemed like a blur of monotonous routine. He had even began to wonder if 'Nagareboshi' would even care if he wanted to help her escape. What if she had already escaped? If she had, did she abandon him? If she didn't, should he abandon her?
He would just have to wait until later that night to find out.
"The girl from the storybook who went on a journey, I wonder where she's waiting right now…"
Cendrillon felt like she was left to rot among scum like the Akatsuki. Even her fellow ANBU like Yugao had abandoned her. No one was coming to her rescue, unlike the real Cinderella. Or perhaps?...
No, there was no way a man that she had tried to kill would care to come and help her escape. Cinderella had at least left her prince a clue, but Deidara is an Akatsuki member…so was there a chance that he'll come? Nagareboshi mentally reprimanded herself for thinking of ridiculous, childish things.
"Things like love and dreams and hope I threw all of them away."
She could just feel her soul and heart just breaking at the fact a once-feared woman like herself was now at the hands of the criminals that she's been trying to kill. If he was really going to fulfill that fairytale cliché, he would have to do so before she decides to fall into an eternal sleep. Death seemed to appeal to her more than failure.
"Before that happens, come to my rescue, 'kay?"
Deidara was not surprised in the fact that Konohagakure's finest prison could not contain him. The moon had disappeared from the night sky, unlike that fateful night when he saw his Cendrillon at the ball. He had already decided to set out and find out the true ending to the story of a real life Cinderella, perhaps hoping to reinvent the ending to his own story. "I then cry out "I'm coming for you."" Speaking of fairytales, he thought back to the nickname she gave him, "Romeo." He chuckled, it was funny, and the sarcasm she said it with made him like it all the more. Romeo's tale wasn't at all like Cendrillon's, having ended in tragedy. If he was Romeo and she was Cinderella, just what kind of ending awaited them?
"We've run out of pages so we need a peaceful closing. It looks like I no longer have a place here. The conclusion is then up to you…"
A Final Note: Yeah, I think that I've invented a new kind of fluff here: FAIL fluff! I don't even know if I can even classify this oneshot as a fluff, either. But, whatever, I personally thought that this idea in my head just had to come to life. Well, I hope it made some sense to you!