When Maru woke up he felt something pressing against his chest, not very hard, but it still bothered him. He sleepily opened one eye and looked down to see an arm wrapped around him, well, two arms, actually. The two limbs belonged to Deidara, who, while he was sleeping, had grabbed the little redhead and held him like a child would a teddy bear. Maru struggled to get out of his grip, but at resistance the sleeping blonde tightened his hold. It's time like this that I would like to have a blow horn handy... But, instead of a blow horn Maru did the next best thing: he yelled at the top off his lungs. He turned to face Deidara, a triumphant grin plastered on his face, but that quickly faded when he saw that the blonde was still asleep. "Ass." he muttered.
Luckily, though, his yell had not gone completely unheard. Soon afterwards Hidan ran into the room, half awake with only his boxers on. "What the hell is it? What the fuck is wrong? Are you okay, Blondie? You better not be fucking dead, or I swear-"
"I've noticed."
"What?" Hidan glared at Deidara, but was surprised to find him still asleep. The Jashinist's eyes traveled downward and rested on the boy in his teammate's arm.
Maru struggled to get free again, but failed. "Help me?" Hidan still just stared at him. "Please?"
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Maru. Now could you please-"
"And what the hell is a kid doing in this Jashin forsaken place?"
"How should I know, ask that dude with the orange hair and piercings. Now could you just get him off of me?"
Hidan, who been rolling this information around in his mind, chuckled. "Fuck no."
"Then maybe you would like to tell me something."
"Like what?"
"Like how come you came running when you heard a scream coming from Deidara-sempai's room?"
Hidan's face flushed slightly. "That's none of your damn business."
"You seemed pretty concerned when you came in here. Is he your... boyfriend?"
"Hell no."
"Then maybe he's not your boyfriend, but you want him to be-"
"I'M NOT FUCKING GAY, DAMMIT!" Hidan's face had turned from pink to a very, very angry red; this kid was getting on his last nerve.
"Then why-"
"If you fucking have to know, it's because... I was... worried about him-"
"So you're his friend?"
"-he's been kind of depressed lately, and I thought that he might've done something stupid like try and kill himself."
Maru turned to face the person that was holding him. "Deidara-sempai? Depressed?"
"That's what I fucking said."
"But, yesterday, he didn't seem depressed."
Hidan raised a silver eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? Then what the hell did he seem like to you?"
Maru was about to say 'angry,' but then he realized that if Deidara really was depressed, then he'd try to mask it with another emotion. "Why is he depressed?"
"Cause his old partner, Sasori, got killed recently. In fact... you actually look a damn lot like..."
"Who?" Maru prodded, Deidara had said a similar thing yesterday. "This Sasori person?" Hidan nodded. "Oh. Well could you get him off of me now?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't fucking like you." Without so much as a goodbye, Hidan stalked off to another room.
"Ass." Maru muttered. "He didn't even tell me his name."
The redhead rolled over to face Deidara, who was still sleeping. This time, he tried whispering softly in his ear. "Deidara-sempai?" To Maru's surprise the blonde actually stirred. "Wake up." No response this time. "Uh, if you don't get up you'll, uh, oversleep and your hair will be a mess." It's the kind of thing Maru figured that a girl would respond to, but as soon as he said his hair would get messed up Deidara immediately opened his eyes, which happened to be only inches from Maru's. "Could you let go of me now?"
When Deidara noticed what position he and Maru where in he blushed and unwound his arms from around his chest. "Sorry, un."
Maru stared at Deidara a moment before grunting in return. He doesn't look depressed. "Say, Sempai, who's the ass with silver hair and bad language?"
Deidara wrinkled his nose at the mention of the sadist. "Hidan. When did you meet him, un?"
Maru was already getting out of bed and putting on his clothes from the day before. "About five minutes ago."
Deidara smirked as he was getting dressed. "And he already was an ass to you, un?"
Maru snorted. "Yea."
"Well, then, do yourself a favor, stay away from Hidan. He's a half-witted, sadistic, religious, potty-mouthed bastard."
The redhead cocked his head slightly. "So I take it you two aren't friends?"
"Not even if there was no one left on this earth, un."
"Interesting… Sempai?"
"Hmm?"
"Why does it say 'art is a bang' on your door?"
The blonde smiled at the chance to talk about his art. "Because it is, un. Just watch this." The bomb artist produced a small clay butterfly from the palm of his hand; Maru noticed that it came from a mouth on his hand. Ew! It flew about a foot in front of Maru's face and then exploded, showering the carpet with ashes. Maru let out a little cry of surprise. "What was that?"
Deidara frowned, displeased with his obliviousness. "It's art, un. It lasts for a moment and then goes out with a bang, beautiful, un."
Now it was Maru's turn to frown. "That's stupid. What point is there if it's gone in a second? True art should last forever."
Deidara snorted. "That's exactly the kind of thing that Sa-" sori-danna would say, un...
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Whatever. Hey, Deidara-sempai?"
"What, un?"
Maru looked up at the older blonde, a slight frown on his face. "I'm hungry."
Deidara glared at the eight year old. "You know what, Maru?"
"What?"
"You're a real brat, un."
A/N: Hello,
readers! First, I would like to say thanks for reviewing! So…
THANKS! Also, from this point in the story, it could either turn into
yaoi or just friendship between 'Maru' and Deidara, but I can't
decide!! So you're opinion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!