I awoke with a gasp, My throat hurt. My chest jerked, and I wrenched, warm water expelling from my mouth and between my legs, my head now lay between my knees as I gasped for more air.
"Your awake?" I heard a male voice, sounding to be infront of me. I was laying on my stomach, and I braced my arms, sitting straight up. I looked into his blue eyes before taking a longer look at him, and there he was, a blond man, hair covering the right side of his face. I could see, immediately, I had no idea where I was, and who this guy was? No clue.
"You almost drowned you know, yeah" he said,
"Yeah?" I asked, mocking him, and then realized it was a verbal tick. I felt a little bad, like id made fun of him.
"Do you even know what happened hmm?" He asked, and I shook my head.
"I hauled you out of that lake there, yeah," I looked behind me, yes that certainly was a lake.
"Come on May!" My friends urged, but I wasn't to convinced. The lake water was brown and murky, I couldn't see the bottom and I did not want to get filthy in the nasty looking water. My group was already in, and only I stood on the bank.
"Just jump!" My best friend, Jenny called,
I bawked a bit longer before deciding finally just to jump with my eyes closed. I flung myself from the bank, splashing in, and rising to the top. It wasn't that bad, on second thought. The lake was longer than it was wide, and that made it perfect for races. Jenny was the first to challenge, she was on the swim team, and we all knew she would win, but what the heck, I decided to be a good sport and race her anyway. Besides, I was a strong swimmer. We both hauled ourselves out of the water and started by diving from the bank. I'd jumped a bit further than she had, and I started out farther, but by a third of the way across she was was ahead of me. I was not about to give up without a fight though! I kept swimming, watching her back draw farther and farther from me. I was heaving, my legs hurt, and as I looked back, I realized it was to late. I was stuck in the middle of this lake, and exhausted. I tried to fight it, but the longer I fought, the more I realized, I was in deep shit. I tried to yell, but my mouth filled with water and I was sinking.
I kept fighting, but it was no use. I was drowning.
However I had not drowned. I was awake, and here, on the other side of the lake.
"There were some girls and a guy here with me, have you seen them?" I asked, finding it strange my friends hadn't stayed with me. I knew them. They wouldn't just leave me.
"We arnt near a village or even a town un, I don't think there are any people within a few kilometers," he answered, pulling something out of a large bag. A lighter maybe? Who uses kilometers here?
"What do you mean?" I asked confused, "there were six of us, we drove here in my friend Jake's car,"
"I'm not sure what a car is, you must have hit your head, is that why you fell in un?" He asked, and stood.
"No, no," I was panicking now, "my friends were here, they couldn't have left,"
"I've been camped near here for two days, no one has been around," he said very calmly, "listen, relax, we'll figure this out,"
I sighed, and he came to me, and held out his hand, "let's go find some firewood hmm,"
I weighed my options quickly. It wasn't right to talk to strangers, at 17 I was smart enough to know this, but he'd just saved my life, and if he was going to rape me he would have done so already, right? I decided he was alright, and took his hand. My legs felt a bit shaky, but I made it to my feet and soon we were out, picking up some dry brush and small branches.
"Is it ok if it's sort of rotten?" I turned and asked, but my rescuer wasn't there. Suddenly a large, but then branch was thrown to my feet, I looked up, and there he was up an impossibly large tree. I gawked at him, and he smilied,
"What's wrong?" He asked, and jumped. What was he doing trying to kill himself?! I wanted to scream, I opened my mouth but no sound came out, and quickly I turned and covered my eyes. I waited to hear something a crash maybe, but I never did.
"What's the matter with you un" I heard his voice, and I spun around.
"Y-your alive!" I exclaimed, "how can that be you jumped from like, thirty feet!"
"I dunno about feet, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Where are you from exactly?" He asked, "Haven't you ever seen a shinobi before?"
It was dark now, and we had our fire started. We'd spent the last half an hour maybe, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. So far we'd gotten no where. He'd been coming up with strange names I'd never heard of, and it occurred to me maybe he'd been the one to hit his head.
"Just where exactly are you from?" He asked finally.
"..southern ohio," I answered hesitantly,
"Japan?" He asked,
"No, United States," I said, fairly upset now, I sort of wanted to cry.
"Something's going on here, when you went swimming, where'd you start at?"
"Southern ohio," I answered. I'd already told him that.
"And you said you were racing with your friend? And you woke up here?" He asked, I nodded, "you know come to think of it, I couldn't sense you until I saw you floating un,"
It was silent for a while. We'd both given up on figuring out what happened.
"What's your name? I'm May," my tone wasn't shy, I was quite comfortable at this point with him.
"I'm uh," he paused, " oh what the hell, I'm Deidara," he smilied.
"And your a uh, shibu?" Was that the word he used? He laughed, apparently not.
"Yes, I'm a shinobi, un, I defected from my village and uh, I'm sort of on the run,"
I wasn't entirely sure what to say to that.
"I like explosives un," he explained, "and so I left after I got in trouble, so after I was forced to join an organization, but that's ok, I hated those assholes anyway,"
His words weren't very reassuring, was he pretty much just telling me that he was a terrorist? I wondered why he was sharing this stuff with me if he was on the run?
"And uh, what exactly do shinobi do?" I asked pronouncing each syllable in shinobi.
"Uh, missions mostly, and we fight," he answered, sort of vaguely I might add. I left it alone, but he continued speaking.
"I can take you to a town tomorrow, but for right now your going to have to stay with me, that is, if you want to hmm,"
I nodded, realizing not only was I lost, but I was completely dumb to, where ever it was I had stumbled upon. He threw me a spare sleeping bag, and we made camp around the wood we'd gathered, which was now a fire. He had some sort of round pills, which he called soldier pills, and that was our surprisingly filling dinner.
"So if your on the run, what are you doing talking with me? You seen so nice," I remarked, but he just gave me a small smilie, I couldn't really read it, it looked almost impressed, but also very sarcastic.
"That's nice of you to say that un, but the only reason I'm sharing is because everyone else thinks I'm dead. See, I know for a fact you aren't a threat, what the hell you you gonna do yeah? You don't even know what a ninja is," he laughed a bit at the end. I wanted to tell him I did so know what a ninja was, just not a shinobi, but I kept my mouth shut about that.
"So seeing as your still here, I'm gonna assume you faked your death?" I responded, he nodded.
"Yeah, in an explosion. It was beautiful," he pulled a glob of what looked like clay, dark and earthy, and I saw it disappear into his hands. What was this a magic trick? Moments later, a tiny, very intricate clay bird appeared.
"I'm focusing more on details now un, in the past it was just explosives," the bird flew from his hands, and I was completely amazed. It few above the fire and promptly exploded. My jaw nearly dropped, how did he do that with no fuse?
"How?" Was all I could muster, turning to him now. His smilie never left his face as he turned his hands over. At first all I could see were lines, and much to my surprise, or disgust I couldn't tell, the lines moved, opening to reveal a pair of mouths, complete with tongues.
"W-what?" I stuttered, getting up from my spot, and coming to his side. I took his hands in mine, my thumbs on the joint where his thumbs met his palms, the backs of his hands in mine. "No way.."
"Yeah, it's a family trait, kekki genkai," a long conversation flowed late into the night about chakra, a force ninja used, and his explosions, the village he came from, something about hidden rocks, and about explosions. I listened to his views on art, I myself being a painter, I agreed with him about how poetic it was that explosions stayed for so short of a time, but were yet so beautiful, thinking back to the fireworks back home.
Home, how would I even get home? Though the lake maybe? But I was too afraid to try, I might actually drown this time and take my new friend with me if he had to save me again. I decided to find someone who knew more about it than I. Besides, Deidara wasn't that bad. It's not like I didn't want to go home, I was just one of those selfishly unhappy people, with so much going, but still I felt depressed. Sure, my mom dad and friends were great, but I couldn't help but feel deeply unhappy. This was an adventure, and fully understanding my choice, I decided to not mention anything about home to Deidara.
My newfound friend chatted with me until the wood ran out, and he decided we should probably get some sleep. I passed out, only to be awoken much to soon the next morning. The light was barely over the trees as he shook me awake.
"Mei," his tone was hushed and urgent, "Get up, someone is coming this way,"
We were quick to bug out, leaving the lake and our campsite behind, he quickly stored our things in a scroll, much to my amazement, and we walked off. There was no clear path to this forest, so we battled the underbrush for hours until finally coming to a road. It seemed who ever was coming wasn't fallowing us, so there was no rush when we headed up the road to the right.
"I'm going to try and commander myself a horse in the next town, so I don't think it's best you tell anyone you came with me," he stated, some of the first words I'd heard him speak today. I wasn't sure why he was so talkative last night, but not today.
"Would you mind if I traveled with you instead?" I asked very bluntly. Something I was certainly good at was getting to the point.
"You sure about that?" He asked, his eyebrow raised, "it's dangerous, and if they found us you could be killed,"
With that warning I thought for a moment.
"How long have you been on the run?"
He was quiet, thinking I assumed for several more steps until he answered,
"I was nineteen when, and then, uh, so I guess around three years,"
I smirked, yeah, it sounded like this was dangerous, compared to my world where you were usually caught within days or weeks of a crime, three years, probably longer than that since he mentioned last night he was part of organized crime, sounded fine.
"Yeah, I think I'll be alright," I said, responding to his original question. I was sure.
He didn't want to talk anymore, and made that known, and when we reached the village, he was careful with money, stalking up on those pills and weapons, Apparently one lost a lot of them while hunting, and water. I had a chance now to look him over, he and I being around the same hight, five foot something, maybe four inches. Little for a guy in American standards. What was he saying again? He was nineteen three years ago, making him twenty two? Sure, we'll go with that.
After our supplies pick up, we headed to what Deidara called a horse flipper, someone who buys and sells horses for more than he purchased them for. The horse flipper was a greasy older man, maybe in his fifties judging by his greeting hair, who tried to sell us some older looking ratty nag as soon as we walked in the door.
"I need a riding horse," Deidara demanded, clearly not going to put up with any of this mans dirty deals. " that pile of bones can hardly support itself,"
The flipper sneered, "well then, I can clearly see you and your lady friend need something more regal for a traveling pair, please, fallow me," Deidara narrowed his eyes, as if weary of some sort of trap, but we followed him regardless, my blonde companion clearly on edge.
Behind the initial building was a compound consisting of paddocks with far to many horses to support on the grass given in the space, and manure mostly. A few of the pens had shelters, but the roofs had holes and I did not imagine it did the equines much good.
The first horse brought to us to look at was gray, but looked brown as dirty as he was. Deidara checked his legs, and opened his mouth to check teeth before passing him off. A chestnut brought next, but as soon as her tiny foal peaked his head around, Deidara passed her off to, much to my chagrin. I liked the baby, and it was a two for one, the man said.
The last horse brought to us was a sturdy bay, straight legs and a square shoulders, finely balanced and we were told he came off of a racetrack.
"Yeah, maybe five years ago," Deidara huffed, judging by the animals ribs and protruding hip bones, he was right.
"twenty thousand yen," The dealer smacked the first price on the proverbial table.
"Oh no, hell no," Deidara countered, "I'll pay maybe six hundred,"
"No deal, ten thousand," the greeseball came back,
"Seven thousand five hundred, cash, and I ride him off this lot right now,"
"Deal," The man grinned, his smiling curling over yellow teeth. Our horse was took away, and I stood in the yard, kinda lost as Deidara went ti sign papers. I waited, and waited, and it seemed Deidara would never come out. Two men returned from, what I assumed to be a training ride on a spindly legged, lanky pony, and I watched. They didn't treat them unfairly, or mean, but certainly not good. Then someone tapped my shoulders, and surprised I spun around, to find our horse standing, saddle and all. A man thrust the reins in my direction, and I held him. Horses made me nervous, I never even wanted to ride the ponies at the circus, so I was sort of nervous, holding him as far away from me as possible, reins out all the way, my arm extended full length. Suddenly there was a great commotion inside, The door burst open, and a cloud of smoke billowed out, Deidara emerged from the smoke, and with a jump that almost seemed to fly, landed on the horses back. The horse of course, flipped complete shit, and reared, I let go of the reins, where they went I'll never know, and suddenly Deidara had them in his hands, and with a harsh kick to the stallions sides, they took off, jumping a fence and heading off.
"Deidara!" I screamed, had he really just left me here?
"Grab her!" I heard, I spun around, the horse flipper stood in the doorway coughing, his hair nearly all burned off and his skin singed.
"Come here!" One man yelled, running towards me, and suddenly so were many others. Screaming, I made a run for it, There were those ponies! Upon the commotion, thew ponies spooked, and I dashed to them, pulling one rope free, and running with him. Now how was I going to get up there? I couldn't exactly vault up there like Deidara did. I wasn't getting anywhere with this freaked out pony, his shoulders were maybe my height, and his saddle looked like it might give any moment under an rider, so eventually I just grabbed some mane and jumped, I landed with my foot half on the saddle, my other leg dangling.
"Just get off the horse!" one man yelled,
I couldn't, not now. My hands were fisted in the horses hair, The scared pony moved sideways, away from me, unbalancing me and I nearly fell fall on my back. I couldn't, no, I couldn't give up, it wouldn't end here like it did at the lake. I slipped, just as I predicted I would, and with the motion it took me to fall, I pushed off the ground, getting myself in almost the exact same position. Though this time, I used my weight to push myself over the crest of the animals back, and finally I was on.
People crowded around as finally I picked up the reins, and I repeated the action Deidara made, blasting the pony. The men moved, no wanting to be trampled by a mess off hooves as now I found his companion running with us as we took off. There was no place to go, The gates were closed. A few of the guys had ropes now, I gasped for air, I couldn't think. My pony's legs were too short for a jump over the fence, but I had to try! There was no other way out!
"Ha!" I yelled, taking up hair into my hands again, I shut my eyes and held on best I could, I flt us lift, on what I assumed to be over the fence, and sort of an unhealthy grunting noise came from his nose as I felt us land. I slammed back down into the saddle, and we were off. I was gone from the village in mere moments. His legs were short, but what he made up for in stature, he made up for in speed. If anyone was a race horse, it was this guy. Our lungs heaved in unison. When I judged us a safe distance from the village, I slowed my pony down from a full gallop to a walk, and we both took a breather.
I couldn't believe he'd just left me like that! How could he! Then again, really I was just a nuisance to him I reasoned, feeling a bit bad. I couldn't stop, I had no means of direction, or any provisions, so I hoped only if only Deidara was waiting on the path up ahead. He was not.
I untied my pony from the tree I had previously had him hooked too, I wasn't sure with that metal thing in his mouth if he could eat, but he certainly did as I bathed in a nearby creek. I dressed and petted his neck a moment, before setting off. I was hungry, I really had no idea how to fend for myself, and it had been three days since I had seen Deidara. I walked my horse to the next town, no point in running if I had no where to run to. At least he was well taken care of, taking snacks for the road with him. I dismounted, tieing him to a post outside an inn, I walked my sorry self inside.
"Sorta early for someone to be turning in this early," the clerk remarked. I just nodded,
"I don't have any money, I've been three days without much to eat," I confessed, I had no idea what else to do, and with a surprised face, he opened his mouth to speak,
"That's really funny," My ears snapped, Deidara! Coming down the stairs, in all his glory, there he was. The blonde bomber smirked at me, coming over and putting his arm around me, "My girlfriend just likes to exaggerate, We got lost from each other last night in the woods, I'm glad you found me yeah. Come on dear, lets go up to the room, we'll get you something to eat,"