Three Years Later

"Kinta Deidara, at what time of the year do the leaves fall from the trees?" his sensei for the last two years asked him, sneering down at him from his position at the top of class. He sat on a chair that towered over all of them, Deidara mused that it was because he liked to feel powerful but he'd only ever told his best friend that.

"At all times of the year Sir un" he answered sarcastically. The old speech problem was the focus of great anger from his sensei. He got down from his throne immediately and slapped Deidara forcefully on the back of the head. "Turn to page 301 of your text book and read to me and the rest of the class the correct answer" Sensei Takahashi barked.

Deidara's face instantly flushed red as he turned the pages, focusing on the numbers at the bottom as staring at the text always gave him a headache. Takahashi always did this, forcing him to read when he'd done something wrong. The words squiggled under Deidara's vision. He'd try but he knew he'd fail and be hit again, not that his Sensei needed an excuse. The blonde boy focused his attention on his best friend, who at the time was staring out the window scrawling doodles with his pen. His brown hair the perfect example of the colours of Autumn.

"In… Autumn… the leaves… the leaves… are… br..own and star..t to fall fro…m the trees in early Mov..Movembener" Deidara stuttered over his words, his head immediately feeling light and his stomach lurching. He flinched waiting for the strike to happen. The room went silent as Takahashi hit him, striking him repeatedly around the head with a plastic binder.

"November, you stupid child" he spat as the assault came to a close.

Deidara gripped his injured head with his hand, looking up from his desk. The room span before his eyes and the figures of the boys and girls in front of him shuddered out of focus. His stomach heaved as he went a violent shade of green. He tried his best to force chakra into his stomach to quell the sudden uncomfortable feeling. Unfortunately that only caused all his lunch to push up his throat and out his mouth, coating his desk and his teachers shoes in the remains of his egg salad sandwich.

Takahashi took a step back, flicking his shoes as he went. The vomit had began to seep into his socks and he turned white with sheer disgust. "Kinta Deidara, get out of my classroom now and come back in when you're not going to do that again" he commanded and stormed back to his seat.

Deidara stood up from his desk and made his way towards the door. The world span before his eyes and he banged into a few tables on his way. None of the other students paid much notice to him apart from his best friend who looked up at him and gave him a nod, his face as expressionless as always.

The blonde pushed the door open, half falling into the near empty school yard. He could see some young nin play fighting in the distance. He wanted nothing more than to join in but he could barely throw a kunai. The Principle had decreed that it was way too dangerous to let "The Special Class" do anything but read the same textbook, meant for five year olds, over and over again.

The Autumn leaves fell from the trees and swirled around his feet. He smiled as he sat down on the cold grass and leant against a tree. He pondered whether to just walk away, stand up and go to the stream and skim pebbles until it was time to go home. The school had stopped calling his Mother in to speak to the Principle when he got in trouble for talking back in class so he presumed they also wouldn't call her if he skipped class. She would come in and start an argument with the Principle and he would get ice-cream and then they'd just go home. She knew how bored he was and how horrible school was for him, she wouldn't shout at him just for making it more entertaining. He looked up into the blue sky. It was getting colder and colder by the day. He knew it would be a harsh Winter and his Mother and him would have to start hoarding fire wood. He didn't mind the job though, he loved her company, always had.

He was woken up from his daydream suddenly by two boys, the taller of the two had decided to give him a sharp kick in the side.

"What's your problem?" Deidara growled, rubbing his side as he spoke. The two boys in front of him leaned in close. The taller of the two, walking around to the side of the tree and sitting down beside Deidara. The other boy just stood there, jumping from foot to foot nervously.

"Nothin, jus seeing if someone from the retard class would actually do anything if we kicked him" The boy sitting beside him answered, his hair was a silvery grey and fell in long strands framing his chubby face. The blonde knew of him, he beat up other kids a lot and he remembered his name was Kin. His Mother had told him that Kin's Dad was a heavy drinker and often panhandled for change in the town square.

"Do it again and I'll… kick you back un" Deidara said nervously, he was used to people picking on him for being in the "Special Class" but his high pain tolerance meant, even with his lack of ninja skills, he was hard to beat.

"Aiko, we got a feisty one here, you gonna fight us ya virgin faggot" Kin taunted, laughing loudly.

Aiko just stood and stared, cracking a wide fake smile when the other boy started to laugh.

"No… I don't want to fight, what do you want?" Deidara asked. Remembering how worried his Mother had been when he broke his nose in his last fight. The hospital journey had been horrible, she'd hung off him and nearly started crying a few times. He thought it was best to placate the bullies, they obviously wanted something.

"We wanna be your friend so we do" the boy offered, a smile stretching across his face. Two clear dimples appearing on his freckled cheeks.

"Really?" Deidara sputtered, suddenly happy that these two ninja wanted to be his friends. He wondered if they could teach him how to throw a kunai. He eyed the weapons that were strung around their waists.

"Yeah, ya goin to the Autumn Festival tonight?" he droned, his voice suddenly even when before it had been full of laughter. Deidara presumed that this was his test, that these boys were going to force him to do something to prove his worth.

"Probably, My Mother and I go every year un" he answered quietly. He shrugged his shoulders and moved farther away from the boy who was now sitting uncomfortably close to him.

"Ya hear that Aiko, he goes with his Ma" Kin said, laughing loudly again.

Aiko who up until this point had been completely silent decided to interject. To the displeasure of Kin who immediately started to scowl.

"You have to bring someone and kiss them when the lanterns get placed in the river at the Autumn Festival".

"Shut up Aiko" the dimpled boy ordered. The malice in his voice obvious to both Aiko and Deidara. Aiko stood back, his honey blonde hair shaved on one side. It reminded Deidara of his Mother's despite his better judgement. He immediately liked the quieter boy.

"Whatever un" Deidara murmured.

"Ya have to bring someone ya can kiss, unless ya wanna kiss your Ma?" Kin pointed out, standing up from his place on the grass and walking over beside Aiko, giving him a rather vicious punch on the arm. They both started to walk away before Deidara could answer them.

He stood up and shouted back at the two boys, "Well then I'll bring someone I can kiss!".

"If you don't and you bring your Ma. We'll beat ya up tomorrow and you're not allowed to be our friend" shouted Kin, not even turning around to say goodbye to the blonde boy.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Deidara decided to go back into class and was given a full blown lecture on self-control, which he took without comment. He was aware that if he said anything sarcastic or combative he'd be forced to go to detention. He had someone to ask to the Autumn Festival.

He was placed in his best friend Yusushi's team for maths and did his work for him. His friend didn't do work in class. They got ninety nine percent but whether Yusushi cared or not, Deidara was not sure. The boy hadn't spoken a word since he was born and a lot of people said he was dumb. Deidara didn't think so because Yusushi drew the most beautiful pictures in minutes in the corners of his textbook.

The bell that sounded at the end of class let out its shrill ring early and they all left. Except for the few who were forced to take extra classes. He'd hate to be one of them again. When he first went into the "Special Class", he had been forced to stay behind for hours. Nothing ever got any better and he left class with an even more dizzy head than usual.

The playground was packed with children and the twelve and thirteen year olds were all heading towards the training grounds to train for their exams. Deidara remembered that his Mother was already a chunin at his age and he was filled with a sudden unhappiness. Yusushi gave him a pat on the back and Deidara looked up smiling. His friend may never speak or change expression but he always knew when the blonde was sad. That was good enough for Deidara. At least he didn't drink paint water like so many of their classmates or stab himself with pencils like Akane.

The two began the long walk home, taking the short cut around by the river-bank. Deidara believed that it actually took them twice as long to walk that way than through town, but he didn't mind. He liked to talk to Yusushi about everything, him not talking back meant no judgement was ever passed.

The shorter boy just drew in his sketch-book as they walked. Sometimes Deidara didn't talk at all, just letting the other boy draw as he watched. The blonde put his hand through his hair. It had gotten longer during the Summer, now it spiked in random, angular directions around his face. They'd been walking for a half an hour in silence before Deidara got up the courage to speak.

"Aiko and Kin, those boys who beat people up, they asked me to go to the festival with them, are you going un?" Deidara muttered, knowing that the brunette would definitely think less of him for wanting to associate himself with bullies.

The other boy just turned to him and gave him a long stare.

"Yeah, well I was going to go with my Mother but I have to take someone I can kiss" the blonde mumbled, his voice barely audible over the crashing water in the river beside them.

Yusushi reached over and just patted him on the head a couple of times, slow and condescending. Deidara knew that this boy would know more than him on the subject if he'd only speak. He was at ten, two years older than Deidara.

"Thing is I don't know any girls I want to kiss, everyone thinks Emiko is pretty but I don't understand what makes her the prettiest of the girls, I saw her pick her nose once un." The blonde lied. As the lie tumbled out of his mouth, he wondered what caused him to tell his best friend such a lie. The girls who gossiped in the playground lied about Deidara sometimes and spread rumours about him and he never liked that.

The brunette just passed him the picture he was drawing and Deidara smiled as he noticed it was a picture of Yusushi and him, they were both grinning wildly in it. The blonde folded the picture up and slipped it into his breast pocket.

"Well that was a lie… I didn't really see her do that but I don't think she's pretty… I don't think any of the girls are pretty un" Deidara confessed, he was finding it difficult to think of the right words to say.

Yusushi shrugged, pointing out a heron that had just flown from a tree, quickly sketching the bird in his sketch-pad.

The blonde smiled as the bird easily caught a fish from the river and flew away to eat its dinner in peace.

"I was wondering anyway… would you go with me?" Deidara sputtered, the brunette seemed to jump as he said it but the blonde just continued quickly.

"I don't know if I like girls but I do like boys sometimes, like some boys I think are prettier than girls and I don't want you to be my girlfriend and we don't have to kiss but can you go with me? Is liking boys the same as that grocer Tamotsu who the Tsuchikage put in jail for doing sex things to a horse?" spoke Deidara, sweat suddenly appearing on his brow as the confession began its freefall.

Yusushi stopped in his tracks and looked up at Deidara, the brunette's face twitching involuntarily. This was the most movement Deidara had ever seen in the boys face and it shocked him into silence.
Then he looked down and when he peered back up, he was blushing. His face a bright shade of scarlet. He dropped his sketch pad onto the gravel path and began to run, pushing past Deidara and running in the direction of home.

The blonde held in his tears as he doubled back, intending to cross the bridge to make it back to the Village before dark. He needed to speak to his Mother about this, she wouldn't judge him and he'd just lost his best friend. He cursed himself as he walked 'stupid, stupid, stupid'.

He stopped at the bridge to the Rock Village, its stone stretching across a quieter part of the river. His Mother had instructed him to never swim here. Even though the river looked peaceful, the current underneath was not. Many younger boys and girls had drowned in the river and there were signs all along it, heralding danger.

His Mother had told him the story of this bridge many times. It had been built after the Rock Village had defeated Konoha and it was named "The Bridge of One Thousand Mornings". A travelling seer had said, they would have a thousand mornings of peace before they'd ever be attacked by Konoha again. No one believed her and she was laughed at but the premonition had came true, two and a half years later, they were attacked again.

The bridge had once been adorned in gold and silver but it had been quickly stripped off and sold by the poor of the Rock Village. It was now just an old, stone bridge. As run down and ugly as any of the nameless ones on the river.

As Deidara thought about this, trying to push what had happened with Yusushi out of his mind. He collided with a man standing, leaning over the side of the bridge.

"Watch it, kid" he scolded him as he heaved the cloth sack in his hands over the side and into the water.

Deidara moved up beside him and scowled as he saw the bag float. The man turned to walk away but Deidara who was always a nosy child shouted over at him. "What was in the bag, Sir?"

The man shrugged his shoulders, not even turning to acknowledge the blonde. He answered his question regardless. "Just some stupid dog".

Time froze for Deidara and the fear in his gut at the churning water was easily overridden by empathy. Everyone thought he was stupid and he wasn't. If they were allowed to, maybe people would have tried to drown him in the river. He looked over the edge of the bridge just as the cloth sack sank. He pinpointed its location in his head, the numbers ordered themselves, he roughly knew the depth if it was anything in relation to the width. He dove over the edge and immediately saw the bag, it was dark down here but he could see it. Then suddenly, the bag was caught by the current and turned itself around firing itself in his direction and straight into his chest. 'This must be from the Gods' he thought as he grasped the bag close to his chest.

He turned his body to push himself upwards and that is when he realised he was being pulled down by the current. He was quickly running out of air too. A few precious bubbles escaping his lips as he was dragged downwards. He felt like screaming but he realised he couldn't. Inhaling water would be what would drown him. He tried to clear his thoughts. Release the fear in his head. Clarity…

'The current is pulling me downwards like it did with the bag, if I follow the same path, it will fire me up… I need to stop struggling and let it carry me'

The drowning boy's body went limp as he held his breath, he'd been under for what felt like hours. The bag moved in his arms. He felt a small paw touch his hand through the cloth. 'Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay".

He felt the current pull him under and then he was being fired upwards, that was his cue to kick his legs. He was slow to begin, his limbs felt like they didn't exist anymore. The push the current had gave him as well as his weakly kicking legs propelled him forward and his face hit the surface.

Sweet air filled his lungs, the nicest breath he had ever taken. He pulled himself towards the bank, terrified that the current would catch him again. This time it would not happily give up its prize.

He crawled onto the bank, he sunk a little into the mud before he collapsed forward. His limbs felt as though they were no longer attached to him. With his last ounce of strength, he tore open the cloth sack with numb fingers. The dog immediately crawled out, it was only a pup. It licked his face gently as he lay in the dirt. Its little black and tan face was the last thing he saw before he passed out.

He dreamt of drowning. Taking his final breath in the cold water. His funeral, his Mother had her legs back and all the boys were giving her flowers and asking her to marry them… The dog as big as a house, chasing the man who tried to drown it.

He awoke to the sound of howling, a weight pressed down on his face and he struggled to pick himself up. It was then he noticed that the puppy was sitting on his cheek.

"What are you howling at un?" he asked the puppy, who jumped off to lick his face.

The answer to the question came immediately after as a firework exploded in the sky. The puppy began its long, out of tune howl again, wagging its tail as it did.

A few lanterns floated down the river twisting and turning, the badly-made ones sinking.

"I'll call you Hanabi then?" Deidara said groggily as he pulled himself up onto his feet.