Clarity
"I've got to be dreaming," she said. "Green hair."
The woman was slim, but not stick skinny. She had long blonde hair, straight down till it laid on the carpet in her current, half-sitting, half-laying down position. It covered her right eye somewhat, but still a tantalizing cold blue behind those bangs, both of her eyes captured and held him where he was. Zetsu could have stared at her forever, if it wasn't for Kakuzu's call that brought him out of his reveling.
Slowly, he held out his hand, which she took with the same slowness and pulled herself up. When she stood she was a full head shorter than him. Her skin against his was at least four shades lighter, too. But her grip was strong, her gaze - cocked up at him from her position - was level and calm.
For what seemed like forever to him they stared at each other. No doubt she was confused at the bright colour of his roots. And he was judging the girl closely, trying to think of a reason for why she could be up on the second floor. She didn't seem inebriated. And it was about eight in the morning. Too early for a woman to be all that drunk.
Her voice was easy and playful, but smooth like chocolate. "You just have to be one of Sasori's friends," she mused.
Fear struck him like lightning, ordering that he drop his hand immediately. As if hers were on fire. Zetsu let go and backed up a bit, trying to get some space in between them.
This was Sasori's girl - The one they'd just been talking about. And if Sasori was anywhere near here he would surely kill Zetsu for touching her. And he liked life as far as he was concerned. Very much so.
The girl didn't notice his separation. She was too busy looking at the room and everyone in it one-by-one. Her eyes trailed from Zetsu's green hair to Kakuzu's tattooed chest, face and wrists (In response, his arms raised slowly to cover himself), to Hidan's practiced raised-eye expression. When her eyes came to rest on Tobi she smiled wide in a curious way, her bright white teeth blinding. Hidan took one look her way and thrust his chin in her general direction. "Hey, babe, you lost-"
Zetsu shot the man a look and it stopped the words in their tracks. "What? You got a problem-"
"I see you've met our lady," a voice chuckled from behind the blonde. A shark-toothed grin shot up from the hallway and Zetsu was pushed aside as Kakuzu motioned the two into the room. For the woman, he insisted that she please take a seat, next to Tobi. For Kisame, he told to hurry the hell up before all of the unpleasant stench from downstairs pervaded the air of the living room.
Zetsu closed the door behind the kid with the pointed murky-water hair. The latter, a little stung, stroked the shaved sides of his head with a couple fingers on his bag-occupied hand. "She said she didn't mind the smell," He remarked to no one in particular before carefully setting the luggage in the far corner of the room.
It was at this point that all the slow-to-ring alarm bells in Hidan's head began to set off like bright exploding fireworks. He made a choked sound and sat up ram-rod straight, his eyes roaming the room to look at anything but the woman sitting to his left. Kakuzu licked his lips nervously and regarded her with a sort of trepidation that just barely kept him from asking any questions. "Can I get you something? Anything? There's water... Uh... Well, there's water."
The blue gaze flickered up to his lips again, and over his neck. "Um, no," She answered him. "I think I'm fine, uh..."
She was asking for his name. Kakuzu just watched her for a split moment before two fingers raised to his temple.
"I think I'll just... get you some water," He said instead. With quick, long strides, he hurried to the door and out into the hall. Zetsu closed the door behind him just as quickly as he'd left. But he closed it quietly, in case the loud noise would disturb her. And after their well-speaking second-leader was gone, no one could think of anything to say. Hidan would clear his throat a couple times, as if he had thought of a question. However (and good for him, too), he thought better of saying anything. If it offended his woman, Sasori would have his balls on a nice and shiny silver platter. That idea did not appeal to him at all.
So they sat in silence for a few long-drawn moments more. Until the deafening unsound was broken by Tobi, who didn't feel the least bit afraid for his life. "I'm Tobi!" The boy stuck out his chest proudly.. "Greetings and salutations!"
The blonde watched him for a moment before a deep and genuine smile struck her face. She bowed slightly in return. "I'm Shikishu Deidara! It's a pleasure to meet you."
The child in the orange mask looked very confused. He scooted a little closer to the woman and cocked his head at her. "You sound all funny."
Hidan's heart leapt to his throat and Zetsu clenched his hands so hard that his knuckles popped. Kisame crossed his arms and then scratched his head, trying to pretend like Tobi hadn't just said something were all fucking toast if their Boss's girlfriend didn't like the way the kid had spoken to her, and they knew it in their souls.
That's why when she started laughing instead they all jumped sky high. Her voice rang like deep, fur covered bells, and seemed to seep into every corner of the room.
"Well," She said, covering her mouth with her thin fingers. "To me, you're the one who sounds 'all funny', hn?"
"I'm not! This is how everyone sounds around here! Huh, Zettsan? Huh?"
Put on the spot, Zetsu began to feel his palms begin to heat like a fire set inside of fists. She was watching him, waiting for him to answer. But he refused to say anything, and cast his eyes to the side. It was the smartest thing he could do - that he could think of.
"... I've got an accent," Slowly she removed her spear-like gaze from his face and back to the boy's shell. "I'm from Osaka. I-"
"Osaka? Where's that?" Tobi interrupted her. Behind himself, Zetsu could hear Kisame suddenly exhale as if he'd just been kicked in the stomach. But the woman - Shikishu - didn't even appear to be the slightest bit irritated at the boy's rudeness. In fact, she treated the whole situation with a patience the likeness of (Zetsu could only compare it to) a teacher.
Yes, she almost seemed to be enjoying herself with the kid. "Osaka is located on the main island. You know the four islands of Japan, right?"
"Yeah. Shikoku... Uh... Hokkaido... Honshu and... Uh. I forgot, but I know them."
"Close enough," Shikishu gave a little chuckle.
Kakuzu returned with a glass of ice-water. He'd thrown on a plain white v-neck so that he wouldn't be half-naked if Sasori showed up to collect his woman. Afraid of spilling the water all over her, Kakuzu produced a foam coaster and set the cup down on top of it. "Here's your... Water."
"Thank you."
Then the woman cast a questioning blue gaze at him. "I'm sorry, but... When will Sasori-kun be back here?"
Hidan looked at Kisame. Kisame looked to the back of Zetsu's head. Zetsu's stare evened at the space next to the woman's face. And Kakuzu looked at everyone first before turning his eyes back to the floor.
Kisame took a step forward. "He didn't tell ya? Sasori-no-dana doesn't live-"
Zetsu shot the boy a look and his pointy white teeth chattered to a quick close. "He's going to be here soon. He told me to call him up when you got here." Kakuzu didn't try to smile at the girl, but he made an effort to actually turn his eyes to hers. The reassurance seemed forced - And it was. "I'm sure he's got... a plan."
There was something that the girl wasn't buying. Zetsu could see it in her expression; She was looking at everyone else, as if to find out if they agreed with the stitch-man's story or not. Kakuzu wasn't lying. But that, Zetsu didn't think, wasn't what she wasn't believing. Something was off about the whole thing...
However, she decided to trust them. "Thank you... for the water."
"... Sure. Sure..."
A long, awkward, empty silence. The clink of a couple of glasses downstairs. Gravel-y laughter. Tobi watched the Shikishu Deidara woman gaze around at everyone, and stare at Zetsu's tree-green hair. And whie he was watching her, he saw something that he couldn't place. It was heavy in her face, and it hung on the corner of her lips, bringing their peach ends down even though she was smiling. She looked... Tired. No. It wasn't tired. It was something else...
Tobi opened his mouth, but only a croak got out before he realized that the downstairs sounds had stopped. Everything had gone from painfully quiet to dead quiet. Footsteps lightly thump, thump -ed up the steps, heading straight for them.
Everyone except for her - They all heard it. They were used to listening for his shoes on the carpet, so they would have time to make peace with themselves before he appeared before them. They knew the chill that preceded him down the hallway. And they all realized that this time, even more than the other times, they had no idea what to expect from Kakyoun Sasori-no-dana.
Tobi hopped up from the couch, leaving Shikishu's side to hide behind Zetsu. Zetsu was already backing up from the door. He stopped close to Kisame, clenching his hands even tighter as he waited for the doorknob to turn.
They waited for what seemed like an eternity.
As the door creak-ed open, their terror stood about five-foot-nine at best. He was very pale, dressed in a black shirt and faded black/blue jeans. The sleeves of the shirt were pushed up to the elbows, a brown leather watch on the slim wrist of his left hand.
The fringes of his dark auburn hair hung down into his eyes. It'd grown since last anyone had really seen him (Which had been over two months ago. Sasori usually took trips at strange times during the year for god only knew what. They were used to this as well). Looking back on it, this was their first sign. Kakyoun Sasori never let his bangs reach past his eyebrows. Kakyoun Sasori got angry if any of his little servants were even slightly sloppily dressed or presented around him. Not the ever-present kind of scream-y, yell-y angry, either. The harsh kind of quiet, smoldering hate-angry that made you feel as if you should just go ahead and put the gun to your temple for him.
And that demeanor wasn't only saved for the hurriedly dressed. It was the anger-face that he put on and wore for everyone else. It was how he walked, and how he lived his life. Probably how he cooked his breakfast and showered, too. Not that anyone had ever seen him do either of those things, thank whoever it was that pre-ordained these things. But this was their second sign.
Sasori's chestnut eyes - usually writhing with void demons and wispy-black tendrils of hatehatehate - were relatively calm in comparison. Almost... Almost nervous, even. Heavy with... joy...?
In Sasori's right hand, he held a bouquet of sunflowers. That was the third sign. And definitely the most troubling sign of all.
Shikishu shot up from her seat, her white smile flash-blinding radiantly everyone in the room. When Sasori saw her stand he didn't scowl, he didn't tell her to cool her shit, he didn't just sit and wait for her to come to him. No, he added to the astonishment, destroying everything that they knew and loved about anyone and anything anymore by practically running over to the woman and immediately pulling her into a kiss.
Hidan vaulted from his seat with a cringe. Kakuzu reeled to the wall, his black eyes wider than quarters. Kisame gagged and had to turn around. Zetsu promptly died inside and looked away.
Tobi was too terrified to even giggle.
This should have been the fourth sign, but it was more of a second-coming-of-christ kind of thing.
Sasori pulled himself away with a slowness that made seconds extend years-long. During the hardest minute of any of their (Zetsu's, Hidan's, Kisame's, Kakuzu's, Tobi's) lives, anyone who was smart and not part of the sickening union realized that the shit had, indeed, hit the proverbial fan. Shikishu sheepishly grinning, Sasori gazing deeply into her eyes without his own smile, they'd seen everything now.
"What are you? American?" The woman inquired at last. Sasori seemed to remember himself, and pulled a bit away.
"I'm... really happy that you came, Deidara," He half whispered. "How was the plane ride? Was the plane ride OK?"
"Hn, hn. Yeah. It was fine. Thanks, Sasori-kun."
He got quiet. Zetsu was ready for this all to be a trick, or a bad nightmare. Anything. Anything at all. However, 'Sasori-kun' decided to keep adding layers. "Oh, uh. These... These are for you."
The red-head held up the sunflowers, and Shikishu positively loved them. "Oh, Sasori-kun! These are so pretty! Thank you so much! These will be perfect!"
"... Eh," He shied away for just a second, unable to look at her. Then he remembered something. "Ah, l-let me introduce my friends."
Well, why not? They were already lined up like prisoners. Except, they were his friends now.
The couple faced Sasori's friends. Sasori motioned over them with a hand. "This is Hoshigaki Kisame."
A year earlier, Sasori had told the boy that he wasn't allowed to show his teeth in his presence. The way Sasori had demanded that he keep his mouth shut still gave Kisame nightmares. So he bowed his fourty-five degrees and did the best he could saying "Nice to meet you." without showing any of his teeth.
The result was just short of tragic. Sasori moved on. "Jakujou Kakuzu," M-mmn. "Saikyoku Hidan," Nice to meet you. "And then Henriki Zetsu."
The latterly called didn't say anything. He didn't like any of this at all. Sasori was introducing them, he called them his 'friends', he was acting nervous and being strange. Zetsu knew he was lying; he absolutely knew it. But he also knew better than to say anything at all. Even though, besides the obvious reasons, this whole ordeal was bothering him more than normal, he forced himself to bow politely.
Whether or not Sasori had noticed his hesitation, he turned his eyes down to Tobi next. "Oh. Lastly, this is Tobi. He's sort of like... the adopted little brother of our group."
Our group. Adopted little brother. It was like Sasori wasn't completely in control of this little makeshift gang. It was as if the same man had never glared at Tobi and called him a stupid little blighter. Tobi shrank behind Zetsu's leg, his fingers clutching tightly at the man's jeans.
A shrug and a grimace. "Sorry. He's a little shy. He doesn't talk much around strangers."
"He sure was talkative a little while ago, hn?"
There was a split second of a flash of something in Sasori's eyes, but it was gone before Zetsu could even convince himself that he'd imagined it.
"... Was he?" The red head seemed not to think about this too deeply. To Zetsu, though, his voice betrayed him his contemplation. "... Well, Deidara, I... was wondering if we could go ahead and head over to your new house...? I'm looking forward to getting you set up. That is, I mean, I want you to see if I did good or bad - or if-"
Deidara interrupted him with a giggle. Cue everyone's hearts in their throats. "That sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see it."
Sasori seemed... overjoyed by this. Well, about as overjoyed as an expressionless, mumbling man could get in a situation. With a 'thank you' to Kisame, and a 'thank you' from the woman to Kakuzu (for the water), they were disappearing out the door - Sasori-kun with bags in his arms even at the protest of his new woman.
For about the fifth time that afternoon, a heavy fog descended upon those who were left behind. It was not so much an uncomfortable silence, as it just was that they were all feeling very uncomfortable. Their world had just ended, been twisted, been used as a snot rag and thrown into the trash. So for the longest time, no one said a single thing. They just continued to stare at the doorway. Eyes wide, lips twitching, everything was trying to process itself over and over again.
Finally Hidan shifted. He crossed his arms over his chest and made a sort of snorting sound with his nose. "Well, whaddya' guess, huh? Ho-ly shit."
A jingling of keys and Kisame frowned and rested his head in his hand. "We're so fucked. We're so fucking fucked."
"It... Could've been worse." Kakuzu placed his hands on his hips and took a deep, incredulous breath.
"There is nothing worse than this," Kisame argued at the same time Hidan whistled in amazement. "Man, I think I need a drink. No, I know I need a drink."
Everyone agreed. Everyone except for Zetsu and Tobi. The three men made their way out the door as well, to the bar downstairs. But Zetsu was silent still, and Tobi began to tremble at his leg.
"That nice woman is in trouble." The boy whispered. Zetsu had to think about this for a moment.
"Maybe she is... That's not our problem."
"She's too nice. Maybe we should say something? Talk to her? Tell her how mean Sasori-no-dana really is? It's not fair for her to-"
"Tobi, it's not our problem."
"Maybe it will be, soon."
The kid brought up a very good point that Zetsu couldn't argue with. Nonetheless, he couldn't bring himself to do anything about it. It was their lives on the line, or her's. That was no contest.
Who knew? Maybe Sasori-no-dana really had changed. Or maybe he was just changed for the moment. No one could be sure - them, least of all. Even though it didn't feel at all right, no one had any idea yet of what was going to be heading their way in the near future.
That was enough contemplation. There was no point worrying about anything at this point. Zetsu picked up his feet and started for the lobby downstairs. He didn't drink as a general rule...
But maybe today, it wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Tobi stood alone for some moments of his own. Then, with one last look around, and one last shudder, he tip-toed over to the couch and made himself comfy in the place that the Shikishu woman had sat. Curling up, he pulled his feet in and sighed a great sigh.
That poor woman, he knew, didn't know a thing about her future. And that would be sure to come back and break her.
「高い牛」
