I don't know when or why I woke up; all I knew was that I was disoriented and super uncomfortable. I tried to roll over, but something above me was pressing down, constricting my movement.
I panicked and looked around. I was confused to say the least to find I was on a concrete floor and under a bed. Why was I under a bed? Oh yeah. It was sempai's bed, and I was under it so he didn't try to discover a new way of torture if he found me in his home.
'Shoot! How am I going to get out of here?'
The room wasn't lit at all, so I figured it had to be about four in the morning at the latest. This meant I had slept through a whole day and then some. That was good though; now I had enough energy to think straight and get out of here. It also meant Deidara hadn't noticed me this whole time.
Using my amazing worm skills, I wiggled my way out from under the dusty mattress. Obviously my idea to stay there wasn't the best idea in the world. I had been hyped up on adrenaline and too happy to see my sempai again, that I hadn't been thinking straight. Besides, I would choke and die of all the dusty and germs under there before I could have gotten anything done.
There was a side table next to the bed -also made of stone- that held a small alarm clock. I had been right; it was only 3:42 in the morning.
I sighed and looked at Deidara's sleeping form. It could stare at him all my life and never get bored, but I only had time to get a closer look that before.
Leaning over him slightly, I studied his every feature. In our real time I had learned that he wasn't too much older than me, only by a couple years.
I had been found by Zetsu when I was thirteen- or at least that's where Konan had put me at. I had been found in the remains of a land slide they assumed, and I had lost one eye completely. The other one was injured, but was easily fixed with surgery.
No one knew of my past, and I couldn't remember. When I tried to recall things before that time, it hurt to find that nothing would come to me. Thus, I created a history and an identity for myself. I laughed sometimes knowing that for all I knew, I could have been a snotty, boring, grouchy kid before I was nearly killed.
My thoughts were halted as I saw a darker patch of skin on sempai's jaw. It was hardly visible, but there stretching from the corner of his mouth to the bottom of the right side of his jaw was the ghost of a bruise.
An unknown anger flared up inside me.
'Why would anyone want to hurt my sempai? I don't understand! I swear, Deidara, I'll find whoever did this and get them back!'
I nodded in conclusion as I stood up straight again. I left the room without another peep and wondered the house, trying to find my way out. I familiarized myself with the layout, incase I returned for some reason.
After about an hour of going up and down stairs and going through random doors, I finally found my way outside. And what was I greeted by? I straight drop off a cliff you took one too many steps away from the building, that's what.
I evaluated the village to see if there was any other place I would fall to my death if i wasn't careful. Turned out this was the case for the whole town. The village itself was built upon an eroding plateau.
Each building was supported on a tall column of stone that went down for about a mile. The only way to get to each building was to go across suspended bridges that swayed in the wind between the pillars. So far I didn't like this village very much.
In the center of it all was the tallest building; most likely the Tsuchikage's office.
This village was beginning to depress me. There were no pretty butterflies to chase (and if there were I'd fall off the edge), no sun to soak up while watching the clouds (there weren't clouds, there was one big one that covered the whole sky), and no cute little animals running around that I could feed (they had all most likely fallen off the edge, too).
With my short attention span, it wasn't hard for me to loose focus on the large tower. Instead, I was draw to something moving from the corner of my eye. I gasped when I saw the cliff face to the side of the village. The mountains behind it looked as if they would go on forever.
But the best part was the number of waterfalls that cascaded down the side. My body urged to go up to the springs at the top of the mountains and play in the water to my heart's content. But I knew it was impossible. Just from looking, I knew there was no way to get up there, ninja or not.
'Darn... and I really wanted to go up there... Oh well! Let's explore some more!'
My depression forgotten, I skipped my way across the dangerous bridges to check out the still sleeping village. On my tour of the town, I passed a couple of buildings I recognized as a school, a mail post, a restaurant, and a spa. There were a number of stands lining the perimeter of buildings where you could buy groceries, pottery, cooking supplies; the basic needs plus some.
I gazed up at the sky to find that it was already bright outside. Ninja Academy would be starting up soon, which meant I should probably try to get back to the school and just say I was a new student.
'Now, where was that academy?'
I tried retracing my steps, but I could tell I was probably just getting farther away from my destination. I was about to give up and ask someone.
Turned out, I didn't have to. I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder, giving me a heart attack. I spun around to face the new threat. In front of me was a tall, well built man who was glaring down at me.
"And where do you think you're going, young man?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off before I could defend myself. "A kid your age should be in school right now, ne?"
I could tell this was a simple yes or no question, and only a yes or no question. I nodded my head averting my gaze to my feet.
"Look at me when I talk! The Academy is not lenient to spiteful children playing hooky, but if you hurry perhaps they will be merciful to you. Now come on!"
Without letting go of my shoulder, he guided me in the opposite direction I had been going. I knew I had been going the wrong way.
Finally, we arrived at the school, and he led me through the halls to one of the classrooms. He slid open the door and I was greeted by the sight of an even bigger man in the middle of a lecture. He immediately directed his attention to me, and even though he didn't glare, it scared me more than anything so far.
"It seems I've found a misplaced scrap on the streets. I've returned him to where he should be because I'm that nice."
'Nice? What would you do if you were being mean? Oh wait, I really don't want to know...'
I began to shake under the sensei's gaze as he looked me up and down, silent for the time being. I could also feel the stares of the students in the room.
After what seemed like a life time, the teacher finally spoke to me.
"I'm certain I've never seen your face before in this village. Tell me, what is your name?"
"T-t-tobi!" I stuttered out. I knew he was on to me by the suspicion in his eyes.
"Well, Tobi, care to explain why you're so late to my class?"
I blushed and stared at the ground. Just barely audible, I answered truthfully.
"I got lost..."
"What was that?"
"I got lost!" The snickers sounding from the man still gripping my shoulder and the other kids in the class rung through my ears. I blushed even harder if that was even possible. You see, this is why I started wearing the mask.
The teacher slowly walked up to me, looming over me with a threatening aura.
"I will be merciful once and only once for you mister. If you show up to my class so much as one minute late again, you will go straight to detention. Got it, kid?"
My eyes were widened to their fullest in fear, shaking intensely under his shadow. From one of the boys nearest us, I heard him remark loud enough for the whole class to hear.
"Please! That's not a kid, that a fleshy maraca!" All of the students laughed at his remark. I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes.
'No! I can't cry in front of everyone after being late on the first day!'
I sucked in my breath and nodded quickly. He seemed pleased enough and backed off. He glanced at the man behind me, silently saying to let go of me. Then, he walked back to his place on the center floor and opened his book again.
"Tobi, you may sit in the empty seat by Deidara."
My head snapped to the all of the desks and my sight immediately landed on the blonde. His eyes were wide in shock, mouth slightly agape. It was actually quite a comical sight to see.
"What? No! But sensei I-"
"Hush! I don't care what your personal problems are, but Tobi here will be sitting nect to you whether you like it or not! Now I don't want to hear another peep from anyone in this room until the end of class. And if you fail to do that, kindly shut up, stop breathing, and die. Now, where was I?"
Everyone was dead silent as I scurried to the empty desk. Deidara glared daggers at me, but didn't dare say a word. I smiled nervously at him and waved, hoping to ease the tension. It didn't work and he just shot me the evil eye before turning his attention back to sensei.
'So much for a good first impression. But hey! Not only do I get to go to school with sempai, I get to sit next to him, too!'
I smiled happily at this, not really paying attention to what was going on for the rest of class. Besides, I had already learned all of this before.
When the day was over, I skipped out of the classroom door. I didn't want to embarrass myself by getting lost again in front of all the other students, so I waited until everyone had left the premises.
I turned the corner to search for the apartment building where Deidara lived, but someone snatched my arm and dragged me around the corner. Before I knew it, I was pinned to the wall by- speak of the devil- my very own sempai.
My heart skipped a beat when I noticed our position. He had his hands planted on both sides of my head, and he was only about a foot away from me, using his body to keep me in one place. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. He had no idea how many times I had fantasized about this. Of course, the situation had been a little different, and a lot less clothes, but still.
My fantasy was brought to an abrupt end when he asked me that simple question.
"How did you know my name?" He hissed in a hushed tone. Probably afraid a teacher who was still there might hear him.
"W-what?"
"When you were assigned to sit next to me- which I'm really pissed about by the way- you immediately looked at me. It was almost as if you knew exactly who that name belonged to..." he spoke quickly and viciously.
He was right though. I shouldn't have known his name or face, considering that we had never met before. But we had, in a different time, the real time- when we were much older. But of course, he didn't know that. Only I was aware of this.
I had to come up with something quick that wouldn't get me a punch in the gut.
"Well I... uh... when I came in, I saw that the seat next to you was empty, so when he said the only empty seat was next to you, I looked over to see who he was talking about..."
'Not too bad for on the spot. I hope he believes me'
Deidara eyed me suspiciously before stepping away.
"Fine. I'll let it pass this time. But I'm watching you!" he called out as he walked away from me. I didn't really hear him though; I was too busy watching the way his hips swayed as he strutted away from me.
