A/N: All I have to say is, I don't own Naruto and I hope you enjoy this story enough to review.
Chapter One: A Close Encounter
~X~v~X~
There are two guys and they have both known each other for practically their whole lives. They have been to the same schools and basically have all the same classes. They also have the same circle of friends. Now note that these two are also roommates and are both in their senior year of high school.
Naturally you would think that these two would be like the best of friends or something. Well you would be wrong, terribly wrong at that. These two guys have been enemies since preschool, although some will argue that their rivalry started way before that.
Itachi Uchiha and Deidara Yamanaka; comparing these two are like comparing apples to bell peppers. Other than the fact that they are both human and have long hair, you really can't think of anything else that makes them similar. They were total opposites and there wasn't much their friends could do to make them get along. But they still tried anyway.
"This isn't going to work." Konan said as she kept an eye out for Itachi and Deidara. It was her job to alert the rest of the group of when the two would be headed their way.
"Of course this will work, this plan is fool proof!" Hidan said.
Kakuzu snorted. "I highly doubt that seeing as you came up with it." Hidan shot him a dirty glare for the sly insult. Konan nudged Hidan and Kakuzu which was the signal that both boys were coming. Kakuzu's job was to grab Itachi and Hidan's was to grab Deidara. The two boys nonchalantly walked down the hall to their next class, ignoring each others presence though occasionally Deidara would shoot a few glares at the Uchiha. He detested the boy with every bone in his body. His thoughts of hatred were cut short when they were both ambushed by their so called friends.
"Hey what do you think you're doing? Let me go or I will kick your fucking ass!" Deidara yelled. Hidan clamped his hand over the blonde's mouth to keep him from yelling any further. Konan glanced over towards Kakuzu who had no problem holding Itachi, who wasn't really attempting to get away.
They all hastily walked down to the janitor's closet and tossed the two boys in. Deidara growled as they shut and locked the door. "When I get out of here I'm so going to kick all of your asses!"
Itachi groaned, rubbing his temples. "Must you always yell?"
The blonde turned his head to look hatefully at the Uchiha. "Yes! As a matter of fact I do! Is that a problem?" He obnoxiously shouted.
Itachi opened his mouth to say something, but knew it would be in his best interest to say nothing. He argued all the time with his roommate at school and at home, right now all he wanted to do was go to class and pretend to pay attention to whatever the teacher was saying. But no, that's asking for too much, he has to be in a closet with his enemy because their friends think this experience will help improve their relationship. But in reality it only makes it worse.
Itachi slumped down to the floor and pulled out his iPod, he knew it would be a while before they would be let out and he didn't want to hear anything Deidara had to say. He closed his eyes and slowly began drifted off to sleep. Deidara couldn't take his mind off the Uchiha. Maybe it's because of how close they are or maybe Deidara's hatred for him is just that intense. His blue eyes rested upon the Uchiha's sleeping form. He loathed how peaceful he was despite their situation.
His facial expression wasn't blank like always, but calm like the night. Quiet yet lively and mysterious as always. Deidara wanted to look away but felt his eyes drawn to him. He was being force to admire the Uchiha's beauty. He shook his head quickly. Did he just think that the Uchiha was beautiful? Well in all honesty it was something that even Deidara couldn't deny. Itachi was down right gorgeous with his lightly tanned skin, long and silky black hair, and eyes that could melt icebergs.
That was one of the numerous reasons Deidara hated Itachi. His beauty was like art, but it shouldn't be because Deidara thought art should be around for a few seconds, long enough for people to admire it, and then explode in a great blast. He also hated how he never visibly reacted to things. No matter what the situation was, Itachi always held the same plain composure like nothing could ever affect him. If something bothered Deidara, it would be blatantly obvious.
Deidara's thoughts came to a stop once he saw Itachi shivering. He found it odd since it was nowhere near cold in the closet. He carefully nudged Itachi with his foot which quickly alerted him. His dark eyes went wide and it looked as if he had seen a ghost. "Relax, it's just me." Deidara said. "Are you cold?" It was a simple question that could be answered with a yes, no, head nod, or head shake. Itachi looked away from Deidara quickly, but Deidara didn't miss the tinge of what seemed to be sorrow or shame in his eyes.
"I'm fine." He finally said after awhile. Deidara took notice on how his voice sounded, it wasn't dull as usual but it sounded like he was lying. He decided not to press the Uchiha any further. Itachi's eyes darted from Deidara to his feet. The Uchiha didn't like the way he was being stared at, it reminded him of how his ex used to look at him. "Can I help you with something?" He asked, clearly being uncomfortable with the attention.
Deidara narrowed his eyes at him. "Yeah, you could figure out a way to get out of here so I don't kill myself from being stuck in here with you."
"Oh yes, because I'm the only one in here with a brain." Itachi replied.
Deidara growled. "You're such a smug bastard!"
"Name calling? How mature of you." Deidara could just taste the sarcasm from Itachi's words. He got and lunged towards the Uchiha in a fit of rage. Itachi swiftly caught both of Deidara's fist and tossed him to the floor. The blonde struggled underneath Itachi, who was currently straddling his hips. The more the blonde struggled the more friction was being created between their groins. Both men were too distracted to notice that though. Deidara managed through a miracle to flip their positions.
With a huge smirk plastered on his face, he pinned down Itachi. "Not so tough now are ya?" He asked slyly.
Itachi motioned for Deidara to come closer. "I'm still way tougher than you will ever hope to be." He whispered. Blue eyes clashed with onyx as they starred intensely at each other. The door opened quietly and there stood Hidan, Konan, and Kakuzu mouths agape at the scene in front of them.
"Oh. My. God." Konan exclaimed, earning both boys' attention.
"Well at least they aren't trying to kill each other." Kakuzu said trying to focus on the positives of the situation.
"Maybe we should leave so they can continue fucking each other." Hidan said bluntly.
Deidara and Itachi blushed heavily. They haven't been thinking about their position until now. Their eyes met for a split second before they both stood up. "This isn't what it looks like!" They both exclaimed, still blushing. They both exited the closet explaining to their friends that nothing happened; they just caught the two at a particularly odd moment.
~XX~
Itachi's little brother started laughing when he heard what happened to his brother. "It's not funny Sasuke." Itachi tells his little brother everything.
"Then why am I laughing?" He questioned while still laughing. He enjoyed hearing stories where his brother would temporarily lose his composure. It made his brother seemed less of an 'Uchiha' which means you can't show any emotions, and more of a regular person.
"I don't know, because you're a jerk." Itachi rummaged through his drawer for a pack of cigarettes and sighed when he realized he didn't have any.
Sasuke gasped. "I'm shocked you would ever say such a thing." His brother shrugged, at times Sasuke can prove himself to be quite the asshole Uchiha's are known for being. Itachi had just gotten to the part where both Itachi and Deidara were tossed in the closet. "So what happened after that?" Sasuke asked after calming down.
"We tried to ignore each other."
"And then..." Sasuke urged.
"We got into another argument." Sasuke moved closer to his older brother in anticipation. "And then we got caught...in very embarrassing position."
Sasuke tried to hold back his laughter. "Embarrassing as in suggestive?" Itachi just nodded. "So who was on top?"
"I was at first, and then he was." Itachi didn't realize what Sasuke really meant by the question.
"Weird, according to your personality you're more submissive." It was true, Itachi was never one for arguing or fighting, he just takes whatever it is life gives him and makes the best of it. But it was way he said it that made it sound like he was implying something else.
Itachi's cheeks turned bright red. It had finally dawned on him what his brother really meant. "We didn't have sex!" He shouted which made Sasuke start laughing all over again.
"Sure you didn't." The little Uchiha teased. Itachi pushed his brother off the bed. "Ow! Don't be mad at me because you had sex with your 'enemy'." Sasuke stood up to run towards the other side of the bed but was caught and punched in the arm. "OW!" He shouted in pain and plopped down on the bed. "So are you guys like friends now?" Sasuke asked while rubbing his arm.
"No. Nothing ever will change things between us."
"But what if you do have sex with him?" Instead of answering the question, he hit his little brother with a nearby pillow. But Sasuke still wanted to know. "Answer the question!" He shouted, making Itachi cringe slightly.
"Nothing will ever change between us." He repeated. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his brother; it would only be a matter of time before something would change between them. You just can't go sixteen or so years of knowing someone and hating their guts the whole time. Eventually they'll at least be able to stand each others presence without feeling a sense of loathing. Maybe, you never know with these two.
~X~v~X~
"In a way, our plan did kind of work." Hidan said.
Konan rolled her eyes. "The plan was to make those two be friends, not give them another reason to avoid each other." Hidan and Kakuzu sighed. It had been two weeks since the incident and the two haven't spoken a word to each other.
Sasori twirled his pencil between his fingers. "You guys are going about this the wrong way."
"And the right way would be…." Hidan trailed off for Sasori to answer.
"There is no right way, because those two will always hate each other!" Konan shouted, getting almost everyone's attention in the class. "What are you looking at?" Everyone looked away from the angry female out of fear that she might do something violent to them.
"Here they come." Kakuzu warned. The two sat on opposite sides of each other, trying their best not to look up. "How are you two love birds doing?" The only answer he received were two glares. "I guess there's trouble in paradise." He muttered which earned him a smack upside the head by Deidara. Itachi said and did nothing.
"So uh, we're all going to the movies after school do you two want to come?" Konan asked carefully.
Deidara glanced up towards Itachi who was busy texting his brother. "Can't, my dad has this meeting thing and he really wants me to go." Deidara said.
Everyone looked at Itachi expectantly. Since Deidara couldn't go, there's a chance Itachi would go. "I have to meet my brother for something, sorry." He said politely. Deidara rolled his eyes and was grateful that he didn't have to spend anymore time with the Uchiha.
Their teacher passed out yesterday's test results. Itachi glanced at his test before tossing it aside. He had gotten an A+, nothing new or surprising. On the other side of the table, Deidara had gotten a 63%. He was very thankful that he moved out of his parents' house. Otherwise he would be in very big trouble.
Deidara moved out when he was fifteen. He had grown tired of his parents constantly complaining about how horrible he was doing and school and the fact that they don't support his dream of becoming an artist. So he got emancipated to remedy that. However when he turned eighteen, he found the bills to be a little out of his budget. The only way he could lower them, was by having a dependent that lives with him.
By law a dependent is someone older then sixty five or younger than eighteen. Deidara hated old people, and most people he knew were already eighteen or older. The only person that wasn't eighteen was Itachi.
From there not much is known exactly how Deidara convinced the Uchiha to move out of his parents house and into his apartment. But that's the only reason they live together.
"Wow Deidara, maybe you should get someone to tutor you." Deidara raised an eyebrow having a hunch on what Konan's next words were. "Maybe Itachi could." Itachi gave her a look that obviously read, 'Hell no.' "Or maybe not." She said trying to control the shivers she got from his look.
"You know Itachi," All the kids at the table were startled by their teacher's appearance from seemingly nowhere. "You should tutor Deidara; it would be a great learning experience for both of you."
Itachi flashed her a quick half-smile. "Of course I'll tutor him." Everyone's, save Deidara's, face lit up. The woman walked away smiling. "When pigs fly." He muttered loud enough for Deidara to hear.
He scoffed. "Like I even need your help."
"From the looks of your grade, apparently you do." Itachi replied. The other four groaned knowing that a full scale argument was about to break out. But surprisingly it didn't, both boys shot each other a glare and left.
"What just happened?" Hidan was confused much like the others.
"I don't know, but it can't be good." Konan said watching them leave.
~XX~
Itachi took a long draw from his cigarette and exhaled slowly. "You know you have to go to that meeting with Fugaku in a few weeks right?" Itachi groaned after he heard that. His relationship-if you can really even call it that-with his father wasn't exactly loving.
"I don't want to go." He admitted after handing his cigarette to Sasuke.
"Neither do I, but you have to." Sasuke's presence wouldn't matter to Fugaku, but Itachi must go it's imperative. Sasuke remembers the consequences of when Itachi didn't obey Fugaku. He wanted to hurt the bastard for what he did to Itachi, but he was firmly told to stay out of it for his sake. Sasuke frowned at the memory. Standing there and watching his brother be punished harshly for a problem that didn't require it made him feel just as helpless as Itachi did.
"Please tell me you'll be there." When Sasuke remained quiet his heartbeat accelerated slightly. "Sasuke!"
"He made it very clear that he didn't want me to be there, which is fine cause I don't want to be there anyway. So it works out for everyone."
"No it doesn't!" He didn't want to be alone with his father. "How did he make it clear to you?"
"He just told me."
"Sasuke, please I can't be alone with him." He begged his brother.
The boy exhaled a lot of smoke before speaking. It amazed even Itachi how much smoke he was able to hold in his lungs. "Fine. I'll go, but you owe me."
Itachi got up to hug his brother as well as get his cigarette back. "You're the best."
"I know." He said as if it were an obvious fact. He pulled out a black notebook with blue tribal designs on it and searched for a pen. "So how was your week?" He said after finding one.
"I don't know okay I guess." Sasuke put down his notebook and gave his brother and urging look. "Nothing really happened this week. It was pretty decent." Sasuke flipped through some pages to find where he had took notes about stuff that happened weeks prior to now. "Remind me again, why are you writing all this down?"
"Because, I want to be a psychologist when I grow up and I figured that talking to you will be great practice." He flipped to a new sheet of paper. "How long has it been?"
He looked around the room and down at the floor. "Two weeks...going on three, maybe."
Sasuke moved to a section that had calenders on it. He underlined last week and the week before that and put a question mark for today. "Wow, congratulations. Two weeks is a record." He said happily. Too bad it felt like it was a backhanded compliment. "How do you feel?"
"Anxious." He watched his brother jot down somethings in his notebook. He looked up at the elder, nodding for him to continue. "I'm surprised I made it this far without binging."
"Well nothing happened to trigger it, so you shouldn't be too surprised. I'm not anyway." Itachi nodded feeling better after talking to his brother, he always knows the right thing to say.
~XX~
Nothing makes Deidara happier than the ability to create art. It's his passion, the only thing that truly matters to him. The only thing that bothers him slightly about it is the constant criticism he receives. Everyone thinks that art should last forever, so it can be admired by many for future generations.
That's fine and all but it's so bland and been there and done that.
Deidara's way is considered by many to not be real art. His version involves people admiring it for a few seconds before it explodes into bits. That to him is true art, as it offers a rare, never can be seen again glimpse of a great work, causing people to wish they were there to see it. But that wasn't the best part, the best thing about was watching it turn into a beautiful disaster.
All his anger towards the world instantly dissolves as he sticks his hands into the clay. He began humming an almost joyous tune as he worked. Nothing could ruin his mood right now, or at least that's what he thought before one of his biggest critics walked in. "Please tell me you're not planning on submitting that thing to the art show." Deidara froze thinking that if he stays still than Sasori will go away.
He was wrong of course and instead he continued to insult the young artist. "You know only real artwork deserves to be displayed and yet here you are trying to pass off this abomination of as art!" Sasori seemed extremely offended by Deidara's sculpture, like the blonde smacked him across the face.
Deidara lowered his head. If it were anyone else he would have gave them a piece of his mind as well as his foot up their ass. He's quick to defend his art when anyone had something bad to say about it, which was often. He's gotten used to it and even has an impressive collection of snappy comebacks. But whenever Sasori said something it was a whole different story.
He could only think of one thing to say, "We all have different perceptions on what art should be like." It's true, art is often linked to beauty which is in the eyes of the beholder.
He scoffed. "Well the larger majority is on my side, and we all think your 'artwork' is trash." He might as well pull out a knife and brutally stab Deidara, it will feel way better than hearing Sasori talk down to him like he always does.
Deidara stayed quiet, hoping that was done. Sasori left after seeing that Deidara couldn't come up with a response. The blonde washed his hands and sobbed. He couldn't stand being treated that way by someone who he actually considers a friend. How is it that he hasn't adapted to Sasori's ongoing insults, he will never know, but nevertheless they hurt him immensely. He stormed out of the art room when the bell rang.
Screw his next classes, he decided to skip the rest of school and go to his second favorite place on earth: a bar that serves liquor to minors.