This took a little longer than expected. Sorry about that! Enjoy XD
The artful blond
The clash of blades ... the tingle of chakra running though me. I look over to see my partner fighting ... we always fight together ...
Always ...
The chiming of a bell.
Itachi woke up suddenly, as if someone had shouted in his ear. He blinked and looked over at his clock to see that it was 20 past six in the morning, ten minutes before he normally woke.
Strange.
Itachi sat up and tried to remember that dream he had been having. It had been a weird dream; full of whirling colours, shapes and sounds, and voices. He remembered the dream had been from his eyes ... and he had been holding a strange, dagger like weapon in one hand. He had also worn a ring ...
And red. The colours red and blue. Bright scarlet and sky blue were the colours that had surfaced in his mind, but they made no sense. But ... there was something familiar about it ...
He shook his head rapidly before looking back at the clock. 6: 31. He had been sitting there thinking for 11 minutes.
Getting up then, he went to take his usual morning shower and get dressed. Sharingan came in as usual and meowed at him, his tail waving slightly once. Itachi smiled faintly and bent down to pick his cat up, and went down stairs to breakfast.
At the bus stop that morning, Itachi watched the cars go by as Sasuke talked about his first day in junior high school. It had been very interesting, Sasuke said, and he was glad to be with Naruto. Although Itachi didn't show it, he was very glad his brother had had a decent time at the new school. He didn't doubt it though, since the boy was very good looking and most girls would probably swarm on anyone who would bash the pretty kid up. Itachi had to snicker at that ...
Getting onto the bus, he sat next to his best friend as usual, and they went to school. They talked quietly on the way, and when they got out and walked to the gates, Itachi had to suddenly stop himself from throwing up his breakfast as someone (and he had a very good idea who) jumped onto his back, saying, "Itachi-chan!"
"DEIDARA." Itachi growled evilly. "OFF."
Deidara jumped off and avoided a swipe that Itachi aimed at him, and then passed a thick envelope into his chest before saying, "I did your dare, now you need to do mine!"
Itachi took the envelope and continued to glare at the energetic blonde, and looked down at the thick paper. He supposed he did owe Deidara a dare, but perhapes he could hold it off for a while longer ...
"Not yet," Itachi smirked, "I need to look at this before I decide if it's worth one."
"Heh," Deidara reached over and managed to ruffle Itachi's hair and run off, saying, "I'm not known as the greatest information gatherer for nothing, Ita-chan! I'll be calling you tonight!"
Itachi straightened his hair with a silent huff and glared heatedly after the blonde. He just did not know his limits, that one ...
Sasori tried his best not to laugh, but it was very hard.
Itachi had his first lesson of PE today, he noticed as he checked his time table. It made him think about that teacher and that made him annoyed that he kept thinking about him. It wasn't like he was something special, was it?
The envelope in his pocket felt very real as he continued to walk slowly to his first class of the day, English. Sasori watched him and wondered the same thing, but for a different reason. He had never seen Itachi act like this over someone he had just met. It kind of reminded him of when he met Deidara.
Speaking of the blonde ... he looked up ahead to see the blonde and three much larger teenagers leering at him, wanting to pick a fight. Deidara only smirked and threatened them with something, before all of them paled and ran off. The blonde giggled and looked around behind him, winking at the two before running off to his art class, and Itachi inwardly thought that those bullies did not seem to know Deidara's little secret, which was a very well known one now.
Back in the 7th year of Itachi's school life, when he had only really gotten used to the school, Itachi met Deidara. Although the blonde had been in his year level, he had never seen or payed attention to him until his art class. Herefore, rather shocking to discover Deidara's presence in his second semester, bounding over to him and grinning like a maniac.
"Hello, Itachi!"
The student blinked, looking at Deidara like the boy was an alien. For one, he had adressed the Uchiha by his first name, with no suffix, and was ... well, BLOND. The fact that he had been adressed so casually made him frown, and he said, "What?"
"Hee ... I know you! Your father is in relation to our company!" He looked cheerful, but to Itachi, he supposed that smile was the blond's default expression. "Lets be friends!"
Itachi really didn't have time to answer that, as some of the larger boys from the class whispered behind their hands, looking at Deidara. Their teacher came in at that point, and the class was in progress.
At the end of the class, the blonde was thrown into the wall by some bullies from the class above his own. Apparently, most of the rather ill tempered students knew that Deidara's family was rich, and regularly tried to rob the boy. Most of the time, they got away with it, which, at this point when Itachi was shocked to see this display, wondered how the blonde could stand to be cheerful all the time.
It made the Uchiha respect him just a little, for having that strength.
When the bullies had finished, and Deidara sat on the floor, regaining his breath and dignity, he was rather surprised when Itachi held out his hand to pull the boy up. Deidara stared, but accepted it, and Itachi pulled him to his feet.
"You have to stop them from doing that," The Uchiha said simply, looking at the fresh bruise on the other's throat from where the bully had grabbed him. He was not up to giving advice to an almost complete stranger, but he did not enjoy the sight of someone so defenceless get beaten up. Fights should be with people who were strong.
Deidara sighed and rubbed his throat, and said, "Easier said than done. I'm not exactly strong."
Itachi sighed and slung his bag over his shoulder, and turned to go, "You're good with clay. Stick their chairs to the floor or something." He headed off to his next class then, leaving the blonde behind.
"Clay, huh?" Deidara said, thinking, and then an idea was born, and he grinned evilly.
Sneaking into the classrooms at lunch time were hard, as sometimes there were seniors there finishing off their work. But since it was the start of the semester, Deidara had the luck of finding the art room empty. Going over to his bullies art projects (figures made of clay), he stuffed the holes at the bottom up with extra clay, doing it to several of them, covering all of the jerks who picked on him. It wasn't the form of revenge he thought Itachi had invisioned, but he had to get them back in a way that wouldn't ruin his reputation with the teachers, and also teach them a lesson.
Because Itachi was right. He was good with clay.
When everyone came back into the classroom, they had put their clay models in the kilm. The teacher said that after they had been fired, the models could be painted or glazed. Deidara had to grin evilly inwardly at the thought, and walked rather contently out of the class that day.
In his hands were two balls of clay.
Art class the next day started with teachers running in and out of the classroom, looking at the mess. The kilm had blown all the artworks to bits, and the teacher, fuming, looked though the rubble to see which foolish person had disobeyed her instructions and how it could have passed her noticed (when she had checked all the sculptures earlier to make sure they were hollow.)
Finding it, the bullies were all put in detention, but not before they all tried to blame the blonde for it, but Deidara could not be found guilty when there was no proof he had even touched the models. He had said, with his blue eyes shining and with that innocent look he pulled off so easily that he had not done it, and the art teacher believed him. After the class they then tried to attack the blonde, but as he had prepared for it, he threw a blot of clay at one of them, hardened from the overnight exposure to air, and it hit square in the other's nose. Luckily the teacher didn't see it, and Deidara ran off, victory assured.
"I shall call you Itachi-chan now!" Deidara said later on joyfully, hugging a very tensed and resigned Uchiha.
"Itachi?" Sasori pulled him out of the memory of the blonde with the sound of his voice, and Itachi blinked, shaking his head. He moved forward then to go to their english class, and Sasori followed.
English was taught by Yuuhi Kurenai, a lady who had studied overseas as well as in Japan to become bi-lingual. As she talked about how to translate some of the much harder words that came with this level, Itachi couldn't help but wonder. How did Kisame become bi-lingual when he was only 25?
He didn't think any longer on it as he was trying to concentrate. After he had noted the homework that needed to be done and the date to complete it by, Itachi put his diary away. He packed up his books as the bell rang and left the room to be greeted with laughter, and some girls giggling as they talked to ...
Hoshigaki Kisame?
"And so you can teach swimming too, sensei?" One of the girls asked.
Kisame seemed rather embarassed at all the attention from the girls, and scratched the back of his head, and answered, "Yes, of course."
The girls squealed at that, and Kisame slowly moved away, saying that he had to speak with the principal about something, and turned to go. He missed the dissapointed looks the girls gave him, and his eyes turned to Itachi, who was watching him intently.
The Uchiha froze as Kisame came over and looked at him curiously, wondering if he should excuse himself and go to lunch like everyone else. However, the teacher blinked and said, "Is your name Uchiha Itachi?"
Itachi looked up at the man, blinked and nodded, wondering why he had asked.
Kisame smiled then (Itachi stared,) and said, "Oh good, I caught up with you. Just so you know, the class will be outside on the running track, not inside one of the classrooms today. Do you have your PE gear with you?"
Itachi nodded again. He always kept it in his locker anyway unless it needed to be washed, and since it was a new year, it was of course, clean. And why is it he couldn't seem to use his voice in front of this man.
Kisame smiled and said, "Good! I'll see you after lunch." Waving off, he continued to where he was going in the first place before those girls had bothered him.
Itachi watched him go, and couldn't help but feel slightly elated. He had had a conversation with this mysterious person, and it seemed like he was just a normal guy. Maybe now he could forget about him?
The chiming of a bell ...
Itachi heard it. The bell from his dreams.
It came from Kisame.
