Hello, all.
Sorry for not updating anything for the longest time. Now I have the inspiration to.
Damn, this was supposed to be a good chapter, a normal chapter, but writers' block got me in the end. Damn (again) .
Forgive me.
I hope I don't lose the mood of this story, because this chapter seems a little....softened, ya know? Well, read it yourself, but you'll get the feeling that Miko's warming up to Deidara too quickly, I bet.
Deidara slowly cracked open an eye.
It was early morning, that he could see. Light had filtered into his room through a gap in the curtains, illuminating just a fraction of his bedspread a lighter color.
The man sat up and stretched. What a night it had been! Waking up at 3 in the morning to tend to the girl, and—
He turned his head to the sound of a tiny whimper near his hip.
Large and very frightened hazel eyes stared up at him.
Deidara brushed some hair out of his eyes to get a better look of the poor creature he had rescued from abuse, and possible starvation.
He gave her a smile; a small one, but visible enough to show she was in no danger of being harmed.
Miko looked away, unnerved. Why was he smiling?
When she turned back again, the smile was gone, which worried her deeply.
Why was he unhappy?
His face was suddenly close to hers. Too close for her comfort, but far enough for a normal person to be unalarmed.
"Hey," he said, "you hungry, yeah?"
"Let's see, what to wear, what to wear..."
Miko sat up on the bed, cloak still wrapped snugly around her small person, watching the man—Deidara his name was (she'd have to remember that)— as he fiddled around in a drawer of clothes, trying to find something.
"C'mon, you're telling me I own nothing that can fit you?" It seemed that it was a question aimed at her, but was one that should not be responded to.
She didn't have a reply, anyway.
He turned around, blond hair swishing around his face as he did so; Miko could see his before-mentioned face itself was a mask of annoyance and irritation.
Eyebrows knitted together, eyes half lidded, nostrils flared ever so slightly and a scowl to accentuate his mood even more.
Miko mentally hugged herself as he took steps to where she was. Was he going to punish her? Had she done something wrong? What was it?
Deidara stood next to the small girl. He raised a hand to pat her on the head, but paused at the sight of her flinching away.
He blinked his eyes open in surprise. His mouth a curious frown.
"Hm?"
"Nah..." The sound that came from the child's mouth as she scooted back, shaking her head many times as well as her body, as if she were freezing cold.
"What's wrong, kid?" Miko gave lots of room away for him to sit down. But he didn't sit down. He continued standing there, his hand half-raised, frozen in mid-action.
Then he slowly lowered his arm, as if in understanding.
He nodded his head sympathetically in her direction.
"It's okay, un; I understand." Miko watched from the corner of the bed she had scooted herself in, leaning against the head, as the man strolled towards the door, fully dressed.
Deidara looked over his blond shoulder to glance at the girl.
"I'll get you something to eat real quick, yeah. Sit tight."
The door closed, and he was gone.
It was some time before he returned. Miko had memorized the cracks in the ceiling and had picked out all the interesting shapes in the carpet before the door swung open and in he came.
He held a tray in his hands, with delightful-smelling foods situated in bowls and on plates, positioned just so it would be easy and convenient to remove them one at a time and move on to the next dish when finished.
Deidara had sneaked into the kitchen and had quickly helped himself to the variety of choices for breakfast that piled the counters. A little of this, a little of that, a few of those cut into bite-sized pieces, a glass of this to quench her thirst...
And almost as easily as he had slipped in, he slipped out before the others could question why he was not eating with them, as custom dictated.
Miko once again made room for the man to sit down next to her on the bedside.
He pushed the lamp on the nightstand back until it was touching the wall, and then balanced the tray on top, with a generous amount of its corner hanging over the edge.
Deidara did this with his arm in front of her face; it did not seem that he noticed her stiffen as he did so, nor relax when he retreated it to his side. Or perhaps he did, but let it slide because he was a stranger to her and that reaction was an understandable one in her position.
"Hmm..." he pondered, "I should probably wash my hands. Don't want you to get sick, yeah."
Miko watched as he stood up again and drift to a half-closed door to his left. Deidara flicked on the light and entered. She could hear running water for a few minutes, and then it stopping completely. A few more minutes of silence, and then he flicked off the light and swung the door away from his person, then towards him as he stepped out, not seeming to care if it closed all the way or not.
And then he was sitting in his designated spot next to her.
Brushing some fair hair from his eyes, the ninja reached over and plucked the girl up from the corner of the bed without her really expecting it. He heard her gasp the second she was lifted, and scrunched herself up in midair like a kitten by the scruff of its collar, but just as quickly as he held her, Deidara placed the child up near the headboard, sitting her upon the pillows.
He himself gathered the tray and scooched himself so he sat in front of her, with the food next to them.
Miko wrapped the cloak she wore around her person tighter, if possible, staring warily at the food and at the man who had placed her here in this new spot. What now?
He watched as her large, dull hazel eyes followed his hand as he raised it to her face. She leaned back from his touch, but not as far as she could have.
Deidara caressed her face with the same gentleness as earlier; last night; in the cell. He stared at her, his face set in a thinking expression.
The skin was slightly rough. The girl did not know what sandpaper was, and she had little experience with calloused skin, so it was a new experience for her. Miko was not a girl who took joy in new things, but she gathered up the almost non-existent courage that she had and muscled through, holding back tears that she would've shed otherwise.
He used both sides of his hand, running the backs of his fingers against her soft cheeks, his thumb lightly stroking her tiny chin. It was almost as if he were attempting to discover who she was by doing this. But soon his hand left her face.
Whether he had found what he was looking for by doing this or not he did not say.
Deidara lowered his eyes to a small plate he would use to transfer food from the tray to the girl's mouth. It had been cold, but now the china had warmed in his other hand.
A white triangle with a black stripe on the underbelly was plucked from its friends by him. He set it on the plate and proceeded to pinch and break off good, bite-size pieces off of the main body.
He held a particularly large bit between the tips of his pursed fingers and brought it to her closed mouth.
"Open up, say aaah."
Just seeing the food so close to her mouth made Miko's gums hurt. Badly. She was starving, but she remembered the last time she had actually eaten something, never mind that it was a very very long time ago. There was actually blood that oozed from the roots of her ruined teeth whenever she chewed, smashed repeatedly from Daddy's friends. Drinking created a wave of super chill that washed over and drown out all other feelings in her mouth, but then it was replaced with a feverish burning that dulled only minutes after.
But again, she was starving, and she would risk it. Because he had been nice to her for this long, she might as well try to keep him happy.
Hesitantly, she opened her mouth a little. Deidara gently pushed the white wad of rice past the girl's soft lips.
He watched her close her mouth and slowly begin to chew. But immediately he knew something was wrong.
Her face immediately twisted in pain. He quickly held out his hand and she spit it out almost as soon as it was available. He stared at the wet wad, which had now become drowned it spit laced with blood.
The mouth on his hand, much to his displeasure, decided to go to work. It swallowed up the pre-chewed onigiri piece with its tongue, disposing of it the only way it knew how.
Deidara looked to the girl, who had begun whimpering in pain. A small hand was collecting the drool and blood that was dribbling past her parted lips. He wiped his wet palm on his pants and set the plate with the bits of onigiri aside, then attempted to tend to the now-crying child.
The blond grabbed the girl once more but this time Deidara decided to take her to the bathroom.
Miko began to cry into Deidara's shoulder. Her gums, they hurt so bad!
"Shh, shh, its okay." he assured her.
"Mmmm...." she whimpered.
"I know, un."
The light had been flicked on already; Deidara sat her on the sink's edge. He set out to find what he thought might help the kid's problem. He searched the medicine cabinet, and luckily found it easily.
It was a tub of jelly. This would help her mouth from hurting.
He dug his pinkie into the gooey stuff, and turned to her.
"Open up, little one." he said. "This'll make your mouth feel much better yeah."
He expected it when she shook her head. The face she was giving him was the one a child gave a doctor when they had a bad toothache, but were afraid of treatment.
"C'mon...please?" After a few more "pleases" and promises that it would make her mouth not hurt like bloody hell, she relented.
He leaned in, and widened his eyes slightly, but he said nothing and began the task of rubbing the jelly inside her mouth.
Her teeth were terrible. The ones remaining, that is. She seemed to have had teeth growing at one time, but now they were either missing, chipped, or broken off, leaving jagged edges that would've easily cut the inside of her mouth. The gums themselves seem to be sore, red and purple—bruised a better word, or maybe swollen—and clearly had signs of more teeth trying to split from them.
After having everything he could reach realistically lubricated, top and bottom, he applied a second coat. On the second one, however, he loosened a tooth too much, and it fell on her tongue.
Miko felt one of those painful teeth finally give way from Deidara's finger pushing around it. It was one of the loosest—something would've happened—sooner or later.
She stuck her tongue out, the tooth lying on it in a small puddle of spit. Gingerly, he plucked it off and studied it. It was a tooth fragment, but the last bit he could tell. Very sharp edge it had, must've caused her a lot of pain. Somehow, Deidara thought he had done her a favor.
"There..." he wiped his hands on a small towel and was about to put the jelly back, but then thought better of it. It might come in handy later. "Feel better?"
She nodded.
He smiled. "Good. Now, c'mere..." Miko knew what was coming next. She lifted up her arms and he picked her up again. She was becoming used to this phenomenon, something that surprised herself. Miko had never been picked up with this much benevolence before he did.
But her cooperation did not mean that she fully trusted her well-being into his hands.
Deidara felt that vibe, but didn't bother saying anything. He'd probably just make it worse trying to convince her otherwise.
----
"There un." Despite all that fear had taught her, Miko relaxed. She leaned back onto the lump of pillows supporting her, and drew the cloak that was her clothing for now around her in a way that was more comfortable.
Deidara heard the kid sigh. It was a bottled-up sigh, just waiting for an appropriate moment in time to let it out, without worry or care.
The missing nin of Iwagakure smiled to himself as he set the dirty dishes on the tray; it was amusing and cute the way she sighed like that.
But the shifting of the cloak reminded him once more that the girl had no clothes. This posed a problem, for when he went out on missions, Leader required the Akatsuki's cloak to be worn when out in public, to show where the members' loyalties lay (even if that "loyalty" attracted all ninjas' attention to them, even when they were trying to be inconspicuous).
Deidara tapped his chin without thinking about it. Maybe he could go shopping for her. He had enough money for that. It would be a nice change of pace for her...
Deidara picked up the tray, promised the child that he would return, and left the room.
When the blond returned, he found her in the exact same spot, in the exact same position as he had left her a few minutes before. Staring at him as he entered, wondering what he was going to do next.
Miko watched as he approached her once again, and put his hand on her head. By instinct she flinched away, but he persisted, and she found no danger as he rubbed her scalp softly, calmly.
Her body was being covered by the blanket again, and Miko was being coaxed into sleeping once again.
...Take a nap, little one...
...There you go..
...I'll be here when you wake up..
….
...I wonder what your dress size is?..
I'll try to make Miko more vulnerable in the next chapters kay. The mood and feelings and emotions were too watered down, sorry.
BRING IT ON OLD MAN BRING IT ON!!
No people, let's be smart and bring it off.
Oh, so now the talking cheese is gonna preach to us!!
-SpongeBob Squarepants...This was all from memory. XD