Chapter 3

"I won't." She said with a nervous smile. Moving the large cushion pile from in front of the door, Yume waded her way to the exit with Deidara curtly opening the door for her. Having to hide her blush from one small act of chivalry, she ran from the limousine clutching at her cheeks. Once she had disappeared inside her house, Itachi turned to Tobi – who had started to build a fort from the cushions - and said,

"Follow her. Bring her out in five minutes whether she's ready or not." Hidan subtly pinched his nose, hoping to hide the nosebleed. "We can't stay here too long. We don't want the press finding her."

Tobi clapped his hands together excitedly then launched himself from the limousine, sending his fort flying into everyone's faces.

Inside the house, Yume was undressing in her bedroom when Tobi walked in on her. She let out a shriek and covered herself with her duvet. Tobi stared at her blankly.

"Are you okay, Yume?"

Her eyes flickered to look past Tobi, into the corridor, her heart pounding that there was a boy in her room. Then she caught herself. She picked up a pillow, ready to hurl it at him. "What do you mean am I okay? Get out!"

"What did Tobi do?"

This made Yume falter. She gave him an odd expression then looked down at herself wearing nothing but her underwear below the safety of her bedsheets. She looked at Tobi again. He was staring at her with a truly innocent expression. Not many people saw the face beneath Tobi's orange concert mask, so Yume was having a hard time figuring out if he always looked so clueless. Then dawned on her that perhaps Tobi's innocent expression might actually be sincere.

"Tobi, if you don't mind me asking, would you be bothered if I was naked?"

Tobi shook his head with a smile.

"Nope. Tobi doesn't understand why people get all fussed about it."

His face scrunched up in puzzlement as, presumably, he tried to figure out what all the fuss was about. Yume continued to stare at him. How odd… she could not recall ever meeting someone asexual, but it did explain how Tobi was one of the only Akatsuki members to never be involved in a romantic scandal. That did seem to be Hidan's forte, she had to admit. Nevertheless, no matter how little a libido Tobi had, there was probably something there, hidden behind his childish thoughts. Feeling she could trust him, though, she asked,

"Would you help me pick out an outfit? I don't know what sort of occasion to go for."

He nodded, grinning as he dived for the bed. Yume bunched the duvet up around her and waded to her wardrobe. The next few moments were spent bombarding Tobi with different outfits. He either threw them on the floor in rejection or threw them back at Yume to try on.

A while later, much later than the five minutes Tobi had been told to stick to, he decided to put Yume in a pastel blue, summery dress with a sash around the middle.

She bit her tongue. She wanted to protest that they were all wearing black, white and red so she would stick out like a sore thumb. That, and it was winter. Just because they were warm enough in either vests or mesh shirts didn't mean she was the same in minimal clothing.

On the other hand, she had just been dressed by a member of Akatsuki and her fangirl hormones were shooting through the roof. She was willing to freeze her legs off.

She thanked Tobi for the help but when he grabbed for her makeup bag she had to put her foot down.

"I think two pairs of hands might be a bit much for make up."

Tobi jutted out his bottom lip but he didn't complain out loud.

Yume tended not to bother with makeup that much but since tonight was probably the hands down best moment of her life, she thought she had better make an effort.

After applying the lipstick setter, it was time to work the hair. Tobi, looking at Yume from upside-down on her bed, watched her pull a tie out. Her hair cascaded down her back like a blonde waterfall.

"Oh," she said, sighing, "I love having my hair down but it always gets in the way."

"Why doesn't Yume cut it off?"

She pulled out the second tie then shook her hair out.

"It took so long to grow. It'd be a shame to chop it off." She grabbed her hair just above her shoulders to make a bob and checked herself in the mirror, "I'm not sure it would suit me, either."

She chuckled to herself then brushed out the knots. She peeped a glance at Tobi through her mirror. His head was still hanging upside-down off the bed and he was staring at her with his mouth slightly agape.

He did look different, she had to admit. She had only ever seen Tobi hidden behind his mask. Although, now that she thought about it, she had seen Tobi's real face here and there in paparazzi shots of the whole group. She had assumed he was a distant relative of Itachi's, given their similar looks. Tobi's face was much softer and friendlier, though. He was cute as opposed to the handsome looks of the other members of Akatsuki.

Realising that she had been staring at Tobi, brushing the same section of hair repeatedly, she snapped from her daze and looked away with a blush, raking the brush through the rest of her hair before hastily tying the entire lot up in a bun.

"D-done," she said, spinning in the chair to face Tobi. He flipped himself right side up and pouted. Yume asked, "What's the matter?"

Tobi pointed to his head. "Yume looks better with her hair down!"

"Ah, thank you," she said, "but it'd get in the way at the meal. I don't want to dangle it in soup or anything."

Just as Tobi began to object in the way Tobi knew best – by whining uncontrollably – A loud car horn beeped from outside, then Hidan hollered at the top of his lungs,

"For fuck sake, get your arses out here right now or I swear to Jashin I'll knock you unconscious and feed you to my fans!"

Tobi sat up. Yume was shocked to see a real look of terror on his face.

"Tobi doesn't think Hidan's lying. Some of the fans are crazy." He shuddered at a memory. "They'll eat anything Hidan gives them."

With this in mind, he sprang from the bed and grabbed Yume's hand, dragging her from the bedroom as fast as his legs would carry him. She was shocked. He was carrying her like she weighed less than paper. Before he could drag her down the stairs, however, she panicked and gripped the banister. Tobi carried on running but Yume pulled from his grip, falling neatly onto the top step. Tobi, seemingly unaware that he had lost his cargo, continued down the stairs and out the front door.

Yume gave a small sigh. He was really something else.

As she left her house, she noticed people all around the neighbourhood looking from their windows or pointing from the park across the road at the limousine. She pursed her lips, trying to disguise the smug smile that crept onto her face. Yes, that was right people from her street, she was spending the evening with Akatsuki.

Once inside the limousine, she sat down between Sasori and Itachi and glanced out of the window at a child pointing the car out to his mother. She turned away when Deidara spoke.

"Now I see what took you so long, yeah. You look amazing."

Those few words turned Yume's face as red as a cherry. Flattering fans was probably part of the job, but damn he was good at it. She put her hands to her cheeks, trying to hide the blush. How she wished she had put on a bit more foundation.

This seriously was the best day of her life.

Itachi tapped on the screen hiding the driver and said, "Hakkaku's, please."

Once the vehicle had set off, the journey to the restaurant followed the same pattern as it had done to Yume's house. The guys talked and joked together and she listened intently, trying to etch every detail about them into her permanent memory, speaking occasionally when they asked her questions. And Tobi, well, he jumped around throwing cushions.

A short while later, the limousine came to a halt and the screen hiding the driver lowered.

"We've arrived. It looks like there's a lot of paparazzi out tonight though. You'd best be careful if Kisame's not with you."

Itachi gave a curt nod.

"That's fine. We can look after ourselves."

Hidan scoffed, pointing at Tobi. He was sure they could look after themselves, but Tobi was another matter. Tobi, noticing Hidan pointing at him, put his hands between his knees and giggled like a child. "Tobi's a good boy."

Hidan leaned over and smacked the poor boy upside the head as Itachi opened the door. "How old are you, seriously?"

As Tobi let out a loud yell of pain, Sasori sighed and looked to Yume, giving her a silent apology. Whatever glorious image she had had of the band, was surely dead, buried and replaced with a clown. Sasori swapped his gaze to Deidara.

"Look after Yume and Tobi. Make sure to get them inside safely."

Deidara glared at his so-called best friend. "Who died and put you in charge, yeah?"

Sasori raised an eyebrow, a look of arrogance on his face. "Don't you want to make sure Yume doesn't get caught in the crossfire?" The redhead watched Deidara turn a funny shade of pink before he tossed a mass of blonde hair about over his shoulders to hide it.

"Well, yeah I want her safe…" he cleared his throat awkwardly, "but do I have to look after Tobi? He goes looking for trouble, yeah."

"Yes, you do. Now get moving. I hate waiting around for you."

Sasori grabbed Deidara and Tobi by their jackets and tossed them from the limousine then, to Yume's utmost happiness, he gave her his hand and helped her step out.

As Yume met with the evening air she was suddenly hit by a burst of camera flashes. Shouting erupted from both sides and she became immobilised with shock. Deidara, just ahead of her, grabbed her arm and pulled her through the sudden, large crowd.

After a little bit of pushing and cursing, they had made it to the restaurant. Never once looking back, Deidara forced open the glass panel door and ran inside, pulling Yume with him. Inside, Yume looked around at the brightly lit room. There was peace throughout the restaurant with waiters moving seamlessly between the tables, bring plates with tiny – probably very expensive – portions of food. After having a quick look at the other patrons, Yume was forever grateful that she had put on a nice dress. All around the restaurant there were handsome gentlemen in suits and elegant ladies in either cocktail dresses or kimonos. If anyone looked out of place, Yume thought, it was actually the boys from Akatsuki who were wearing black skinny jeans and vest tops.

Just as Yume admired the sheer splendour of the building, a middle aged couple passed her by, exiting the restaurant. She could not help but overhear the man complaining about the bill. However, the woman did reason that he should have expected it after twelve courses. That was when it hit Yume hard, the type of place she had just walked in to.

"Is this a Kaiseki restaurant?" Yume asked Deidara, hoping he would say no purely for the mercy of her purse strings. However, he had just started to walk towards the reception desk. Not hearing her, he called over his shoulder,

"Make sure Tobi stays put, okay Yume?"

"Sure!" she replied, forgetting her money worries the moment her name rolled off of Deidara's tongue. "…Tobi's not here."

Deidara span on his heel, his eyes wide with alarm. Noticing that, dear god have mercy, she was right, he quickly scanned the area, trying to identify the whereabouts of his incompetent companion. Failing in his mission, he walked back to Yume and asked with his shoulders heavy from disbelief,

"Which way did he go, yeah?"

"Umm…" Yume said awkwardly, not wanting to upset one of her idols further. "It's not where did he go… He never actually got here. You left him outside."

Deidara cursed under his breath. "Right. I'll be back in a minute, yeah. If you hear screams that sound Tobi-like, just ignore them, yeah."

Leaving Yume to laugh, naively thinking that he was joking, Deidara opened the front door and ran out into the sea of flashing lights. Yume continued to laugh, oblivious to the silence of the restaurant, and thought to herself just how much better Akatsuki was in real life.

Yume found herself lurched from her thoughts by the sound of screaming outside. It wasn't childish enough to be Tobi's. It was more like… Deidara's.

Yume rushed to the door and opened it wide, about to hurl herself into the crowd, only she was gently pushed back inside by Itachi.

"I wouldn't go back out there if I were you, Yume. Deidara was looking for Tobi when a woman-"

Hidan ran through the door, laughing so heavily it sounded as if he was going to collapse from a lack of oxygen.

"This whore just ran up to Deidara and screamed have my babies! She was fat -and I mean fuckin' fat! I didn't think people actually did stuff like that. The best part is…is…-" He creased over, "she wasn't wearing a top, so I think Deidara had a heart attack!" He collapsed on the ground, clutching his sides with a stream of tears rolling from his eyes. "I'm dying happy."

Appearing through the doors, Sasori surveyed the scene before him. Only two members were missing. He classed that as a success. Stepping over Hidan, still rolling around on the floor in hysterics, he approached the reception desk.

"Reservation for Akatsuki. Would you be able to set another place for our guest?" he gestured to Yume who was watching Hidan. She was trying not to join in the laughter by stuffing her knuckles into her mouth. The woman behind the desk blushed fifty shades of red, swooning that the Sasori was talking to her. She picked up seven menus and asked,

"Would you mind if we transferred you into a slightly larger, private room to accommodate your party?"

Sasori bowed his head politely. "Not at all."

She giggled like the schoolgirl she had once been.

"Then please follow me."

Sasori called the others over then followed the waitress out of the main room. Yume, aware that two individuals were still missing, whispered to Sasori,

"What about Deidara and Tobi?"

"Don't worry. They'll be here in a minute."

"Oh," She looked over her shoulder nervously, back towards the windows where camera flashes illuminated the walkway, "okay..."

Sasori turned his head to Yume and let out the tiniest of laughs. She was certainly different, having concerns for other people. It was almost a nice change from Hidan, who had just about finished laughing at Deidara's misfortune now.

Still, maybe it was just that they had not met up with an everyday person in a while. The celebrities and rich individuals they knew were all narcissistic, and the diehard fans were nightmares.

Eventually the waitress stopped them at a door with regal, gold stencilling around the frame. She unlocked it then stepped aside, bowing.

"This will be your room for this evening. I hope it's to your liking. The rest of your party will be brought here on their arrival."

"Thank you," Sasori said as he scanned their dining area. The girl bowed and left. Itachi stated, looking around at the large, tatami-mat fitted room,

"If it's Deidara and Tobi we're waiting on, we might as well get comfortable."

"Too fucking true," agreed Hidan, slipping off his shoes. He strode into the room and took residence in one of the seven high-backed zaisu around the table. Yume watched the other two following suit and did the same. She had never been to a place like this before. It was all too posh. She was nervous of making a fool of herself.

Yume noticed a large silk scroll on the wall depicting a pigeon on a peach branch, then the hanging paper lanterns above her. "This is gorgeous."

"Of course. I'm in it!" Interjected Hidan, chuckling at his own brilliant wit. Yume giggled and passed Hidan a wide smile before turning to look at the silk scroll in closer detail. Watching her, Hidan felt a lump build in his throat but he coughed it away. Yume was the only person to miss Hidan's reaction, but both Sasori and Itachi were too reserved to make a joke of it.

A moment later the door opened and the waitress appeared with a number of people behind her.

"About fucking time, guys!"

Kisame walked into the room with a white-faced Deidara over his shoulder and Tobi hugging his arm, singing, "Kisame's alive, Kisame's alive, Tobi said he was, but no one believed Tobi~!" There wasn't really a tune; it was just another Tobi-like song.

Kisame laughed, noticing Hidan grimacing that Tobi had made it out alive, then asked Itachi,

"So what did I miss?"

"Nothing."

Kisame dropped Deidara to the ground and managed to shake Tobi off, then walked to the head of the table and sat down. He explained to the others, who were looking at him expectantly,

"I had to grab Deidara from underneath this really weird woman - freakishly strong, I might add."

Hidan keeled over laughing again as Deidara shuddered. He crawled over to the empty seat next to Yume and sat in it, silently. She looked at him and for a moment thought about patting him on the back to reassure him it would be alright, but realised that would actually involve touching him – touching him. She just blushed instead.

The waitress, seeing everyone was acquainted and settled, walked over, bowed and said, "I will be back with your first course shortly."

oOo

Yume and the band were sat in front of a banquet of food, eating happily. Kisame and Hidan were drinking their weights in sake whilst Yume and the others stayed on various soft drinks.

Kisame hiccuped then finished off saying,

"…And then I ran all the way here! I would have got a taxi, but I had no money." He pulled a pair of black sunglasses from his trouser pocket and put them on.

"WHERE THE FUCK –hiccup- DID YOU GET THEM FROM THEN?" asked Hidan, slurring every other word.

"They're why I have no money. But I look great, right?" Kisame flashed a smile to Yume. Well… who he thought was Yume. Kisame was suffering from severely clouded beer-goggles. He was flashing a smile to Deidara. "So then Blondie, how's about a date?"

Seeing Yume about to correct Kisame, Hidan put a hand over her mouth.

"Sshhh, just watch."

Kisame moved closer to Deidara and began stroking his leg.

"So what do you say? Me and you, we'd be great together."

The rest of the band tried their best to hide their laughter as Deidara's expression went from confusion to surprise, to absolute fury in a matter of seconds.

"Kisame! What the hell do you think you're doing, yeah? Get off me!"

Kisame, unaware that he was trying to feel Deidara up, replied,

"Oh, come on, you know you like it." Kisame placed his other hand on Deidara's cheek and leaned in to kiss him. Deidara screamed and threw whatever food was closest into his face.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN? IT'S ME, DEIDARA, YEAH!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH YUME, YOU UNCANNY SWINE?" Kisame yelled, drawing back whilst picking up a chopstick. "Give her back or else I will slice you to ribbons!" He said, brandishing the wooden object like a sword.

"I haven't done anything to her, yeah! You were the one about to kiss her... well, me but... -SHUT UP, YEAH!" Deidara threw another plate at Kisame, hitting him. Kisame, following suit, picked up a handful of food and launched it at Deidara, who ducked so it hit Hidan. Hidan let go of Yume to grab some food to throw back, so she scurried over to Itachi who was known to be the sensible one of the group. He sighed, muttering under his breath,

"So childish…"

A plate of food slammed into his face. It slipped down his chin and landed on the floor.

Without saying a word, he looked between the other boys. Hidan, Deidara and Kisame pointed to Tobi, who was hiding food behind his back. For a moment Itachi did nothing. Then, in eerie calmness, he leaned forward and picked up a bowl of food. He locked his stare on Tobi then threw it full-power at the scared boy.

So much for calm and collected, Yume thought with a smile glued on her face to hide the surprise. Her idols were nothing like what she had expected. She had only ever seen them looking sophisticated, handsome and smooth at concerts, in interviews and photoshoots. It was… great! They were just like her friends at school. It was a welcomed surprise. They seemed so easy to get along with.

Noticing her forced smile, Sasori crawled over to Yume, expertly dodging low flying food like he did it every day.

"Do you think we should go back to the limousine and leave this lot to explain later?"

Yume giggled and nodded in agreement. The pair crawled across the room and out of the door, totally unnoticed by the rest. They got up and walked through the main room, completely unnoticed by those eating in it, and left through the front door. Ninja.

"I guess the press got bored and left…" said Yume, looking across the empty walkways.

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" said Sasori, pointing to a bush not too far away. There was nothing odd about it, other than it was sitting in the middle of the walkway with white daisies on it and a bird's nest on the top that moved up and down every so often. Yume gave Sasori a disbelieving look.

"There's someone inside that, isn't there?"

"You're correct."

Sasori passed the bush a bored look then hurried Yume to the limousine. He knocked on the front window.

"Open up. It's Sasori."

The back door swung open automatically and Sasori helped Yume inside. Once safely away from the cameras, Yume asked, looking back out at the bush through the window,

"Do you get stalked like this often?"

Sasori nodded, leaning back on the black leather sofas.

"All the time," He closed his eyes, a smile on his lips, "We're used to it."

Yume laughed so Sasori cracked an eye open. She said,

"I'd hate to be as famous as you then."

"Really?"

"I hate posing for photos, let alone that," She said, pointing at the bush that had just edged its way closer to the limo. Sasori chuckled.

The pair chatted for a long while before there was a yell from outside. Yume looked out to see one of the restaurant workers yelling and shouting at the five advancing boys, four of them laughing their heads off whilst the last walked in silence, trying to remove the food from his raven-coloured hair.

When they were all safely back in the limo and talking loudly at each other, claiming that they had been the victor of the food war, Sasori sighed and leaned over to the driver's compartment.

"Takes us back to Yume's house."

"Yes, sir."

oOo

By the time they arrived, everyone had finally settled down. The limousine rolled to a stop then the back door swung open of its own accord. Yume collected her bag and smiled at the six boys. Inwardly, she was crying that she had to leave. Today, although it had started off as a nightmare, had turned out better than she could have ever hoped for and she wished it would never end.

"Thank you for helping me out today. I don't know what I would have done."

"Fucking hell, you would have been booed off stage," said Hidan matter-of-factly, "You wouldn't have lived it down. You would have-" Before he could finish, Deidara knocked Tobi into him, shutting him up. Yume did not seem disheartened by what he had said. On the contrary, she was just happy Hidan was talking to her. She was trying to imprint every detail still, hoping that she would never lose these memories.

It was at this point, revelling in her happiness, that she realised she was going to have to get out of the limousine and they would leave. Without noticing, she let out a sad sigh.

"What's wrong, yeah?" Deidara asked, concerned by her sudden change in mood.

"Oh. Nothing!" Yume said quickly, readjusting her happy mask. "Nothing at all! I better not waste any more of your time so-"

Tobi suddenly launched himself at Yume. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, then burst into tears.

"Tobi doesn't want to leave Yume!"

She patted him on the head awkwardly, trying to stop him from squeezing her to death.

"Hey, it's okay. You know where I live so you could always come visit sometime." She said it partly to make herself feel better too. Of course, struggling under the pressure of Tobi's arms squeezing her together, she did not notice some other members of Akatsuki perking up at her words.

"Really?" Tobi chirped, "Yay~!" He let go and Yume took some needed breaths, feeling a little light-headed. Tobi pulled a camera from his pocket, looking hopeful, "Can Tobi have a group picture, please?"

He looked at the rest of the group expectantly. Itachi simply nodded. Even if they said no, Tobi would never stop crying until they agreed to it. As Tobi held the camera to his eye, Sasori said,

"We'd better take it outside," He pointed to the roof of the vehicle, "It's too dark and the flash will give Itachi redeye."

They filed out of the car, standing outside Yume's garden gate. The driver stepped out, under instruction from Deidara, so Tobi handed him the camera. The group huddled together with Yume in the middle and Kisame towering over them at the back. Yume's heart nearly hit her ribcage; she was so close to them all. If she turned her head one way or the other she would hit Sasori or Tobi with her nose. She hoped upon hope that her face was not as red as she thought it was.

The driver counted down.

"3..2..1…"

As he hit one, Tobi undid Yume's hair fastenings, sending it cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall. Before she could react, the picture was taken. As the others turned to look, she grabbed at her hair, holding it up against her head.

"Tobi, what did you do that for?"

He jumped up and down, causing the others to stumble out of the huddle. "Tobi thinks Yume looks nice with her hair down. He's probably never going to see Yume with her hair down again so Tobi wanted a picture!"

She let out a giggle, taking her hands away from her head as a blush spread across her cheeks. Her hair fell about her shoulders again. The other boys turned to look at her in that moment. One boy blushed and another, Hidan who was far less subtle, whistled and catcalled.

After everything was said and done, Yume said a sad goodbye to the boys and walked inside her house. The Akatsuki members filed back into the limo then it drove off down the street. Before it turned the corner, however, it stopped.

"I'll be back in a minute, yeah."

The others nodded to Deidara, who pulled two small, clay, bird-like items from his jacket pocket.