I'll tell you guys why this was late at the end of the chapter. :0

-:-

They didn't speak of the kiss, even though they both really wanted to. Maybe, if given the chance, repeat the incident, only under gentler terms.

However, in yesterday's commotion, Hinata forgot to ask Deidara about his problems with her medicine. She was too afraid to talk to him again after what happened, though. So, instead of engaging in conversation, she decided to really go to Sasori's office. This time, he let her go, and she left him staring at the wall in his bedroom.

Hinata quickly made her way to Sasori's office, not wanting to get caught by Pein again. She knocked twice before Sasori answered the door. "Is something the matter? He asked, letting Hinata in and closing the door behind them. She was silent, which worried him slightly. "Where's Deidara? Did he do something to you?" Hinata turned red, and Sasori smiled knowingly. "Aw, cute." He said, walking around to sit at his desk.

"I didn't expect him to act so soon, though." Hinata snapped her head up and stared at him curiously. "When Deidara likes something, it doesn't take much to get him to…" Sasori winked at her, and she turned even redder. Sasori leaned back and stretched, twirling in his chair a bit. "Well, anyway…" he leaned forward and looked Hinata in the eyes. "Why aren't you with him right now? You know Pein doesn't like patients to be separated from their caretakers."

"I know… It's just that… Well…" Unknowingly, her hand touched her lips, where Deidara's lips had touched just moments before. She thought about how she pulled him back into another kiss before leaving. Why did she do that? She wondered. She also wondered what he thought of her now. Without her knowing, Sasori took her necklace and pressed the button, summoning Deidara to his office immediately. She noticed too late, and she could already hear Deidara's footsteps down the hall. Her heart pumped and she looked around the room for a place to hide. Pretty soon, the door opened, and all Hinata could do was stare as he stared back.

Sasori skipped to Deidara's side, pulling him into the room. "Well, Deidara, I think you and Hinata need to talk something over." He slid out of the room and locked the door from the outside. Deidara didn't seem to mind. Hinata, on the other hand, was freaking out.

Wh-wh-what? Why's Sasori doing this? What's Deidara going to do? What am I going to do? Oh, this is so overwhelming. What are we going to talk about? Ah! Hinata shrunk down in her chair, facing away from Deidara. He shifted his weight, looking down at the rug. "Hinata," He said, finally. "What I did earlier… when I… kissed… you…" he cringed at the word – the awkwardness it brought made both of them uncomfortable.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me, or…" He thought of when Hinata kissed him back and cleared his throat. Hinata glanced at him, remembering the same moment. "I said it was okay, right?" She said softly. Deidara looked at her, and she looked back. He took a step toward her and reached out to touch her, but the door opened and Sasori stepped in.

"Hey, I hate to interrupt, but –" Sasori paused when Deidara glared at him. "- we have to go to a meeting with Pein. We're planning for the Hospital's next outdoor trip." Deidara glanced at Hinata and then back at Sasori. "Caretakers only?" he asked. "Ah, yeah. You're supposed to take Hinata back to your room and report to the dining hall." Scratching his head, Deidara took Hinata's hand and pulled her up, and they walked back to their room.

They were still holding hands. Hinata couldn't stop staring at their hands, but Deidara didn't notice. When they got to the room, they stood still, waiting for the other to leave or break it off. Neither did. Neither wanted to. After a long minute, Deidara started, "Um. Hinata… I –" Pein's voice rang on the intercom.

"Deidara, we're waiting for your existence to be transferred to the dining hall."

There was a pause.

"THAT MEANS GET THE HELL TO THE DINING HALL, YOU TWAT."

Deidara let go of Hinata's hand, gave her one long look and then walked away.

Hinata watched him until he disappeared down the stairs.

-:-

Hinata walked around their room, thinking of how careless it was for Deidara to leave her in his room, where the door was open and the one window was within her reach. Though she wasn't really planning on jumping,(look where it got her) she did want to feel fresh air on her face.

She opened the window and slowly brought her head out.

There wasn't really anything to see that was new. Same old view of the Hokage's Office, same old ramen shop in the corner, same old park across the street. Same old everything. She wondered, briefly what she was missing. She didn't have many friends at school – if any – and didn't really have friends around the neighborhood, either. Well, except this blonde kid who looked to be a little older than her. She'd always see him around, but they never talked.

The adults didn't like her at all. Her older brother Neji meant well, she was sure, but he didn't want to anger the adults, which she understood completely. Well, now she did. Before, she hated him for it. When they were alone, he'd be the nicest kid in the world to her, but when adults showed up, he wouldn't even look at her.

Hinata sighed. She watched the kids at the swings across the street, wondering if the Hospital was going there for the outing.

Bored, she closed the window and sat on Deidara's bed. The sheets were all wrinkled and unkempt, and his pillows were haphazardly placed at the headboard. Some clothes were on the bed, too. Probably laundry from the day before that he didn't bother to clean. She smiled to herself, not really knowing why.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Confused, she got up to answer it. Kisame gave her a big shark-grin. "Hinata, the others and I were wondering if you'd like to hang out with us while the caretakers are having that meeting." He asked, stepping back a little. "Oh… Uh. Where? Is that allowed?" She followed Kisame to the small lounge on their floor, where everyone else was sitting silently. Quite a party, she thought, regretting the sarcasm in the statement.

"Well, it's not really allowed, but we all need breaks from our caretakers from time to time. Y'know? Well, I suppose not, since you haven't been here very long." Kisame took a seat, and Hinata sat next to Tsu, who only stared at her. She shifted uncomfortably. "Um…" She searched her mind for a conversation topic, but none came to mind. Everyone was looking at her expectantly.

"Yeah? What is it?" Hidan spoke quickly and curiously, his leg twitching up and down, as if he were anxious about something. Hinata took a moment to think about what she wanted to say. What did she want to know, exactly? What would they know that she wanted to know? Deidara came into her mind.

"Do any of you know… about Deidara?" she spoke softly, not really knowing what she was asking.

"Not a lot." Hidan said quickly.

"Nothing." Tsu added, not looking like he really cared in the first place.

"What do you want to know?" Kisame inquired. To Hinata, he didn't seem all that insane. He didn't really act like it, either. It made the place feel a bit more… normal. She felt like she could talk to him.

"Um… Well… Deidara seems to have… a past… with this hospital. I'd really like to know more about him. Anything, really." Hinata was sorry she couldn't specify what she wanted to know.

Tobi raised his hand, jumping in his seat like an eager little kid. "Oh! Oh! I know about Deidara! Just a little, though, but I can tell you what I know!" He spoke just as fast as a little kid, too.

"Well I only heart this from Sasori-san but I hear that a long time ago Deidara made a deal with the leader to help his little sister and when the leader agreed something happened so that he got separated from his sister and his sister and his sister and his sister…" Tobi trailed off, repeating those words several times. Hidan kicked him, and Tobi continued with the story. "And his sister doesn't know who he is anymore, and Deidara's still trying to pay off his debt with the leader and that's all I know I hope it helped a little bit."

It took a moment for Hinata to register the story. Tobi spoke like he had no punctuation in his sentences. But what he said did help a lot. She knew what to ask Deidara now. Who was his sister? What happened to her? Did it have anything to do with liquid medicine?

The group could hear the caretakers coming back up the stairs. Quickly but efficiently, they dispersed and returned to their rooms, expertly hiding the fact that they had met. Hinata was so wrapped up in what she just heard from Tobi that she didn't bother to go back to her room and only sat on Deidara's bed.

When Deidara stepped into the room, he looked at her with a confused expression. "Hinata?" He called to her. She looked up at him, and after a minute she looked away. Deidara walked up to her and lightly touched her shoulder. "What's wrong? Why are you out of your room?" After he asked, he knew the answer to the last question. He was too careless and left her in his room instead.

"Can I ask you something?" Hinata said suddenly. Deidara nodded, a bit hesitant. The look he had on his face made Hinata pause to think. What if he doesn't want to tell me? What if it's difficult for him to talk about it? She dismissed the thoughts, convincing herself that she needed to know. "Yes?" He urged for her to continue. Hinata looked at him in the eyes, focusing really hard on him. Then, she took a deep breath and asked,

"What happened to your sister?"

As she expected, Deidara stiffened. He gave her a sullen look, which made her instantly regret asking him. "Who told you…?" She didn't really want to rat everyone out on their secret meetings, so she just said, "I, uh, overheard a conversation." She was obviously lying, and she knew he could tell, but he dismissed it. He had a pained look on his face before sitting down next to her. "That's not a story I'm willing to share." He sighed. Hinata looked visibly disappointed. "At least… Not yet."

He glanced at her, trying to see if that cheered her up a little. She looked back at him, looking a bit better, but not much.

After a long silence, Deidara stood up and turned to her. "So, I guess I have to tell you about the Hospital outing." She looked at him as he walked around the room. "We're going to a park. Not the one across the street, but a bigger, nicer one somewhere in town. There are paths and swings and all that, and we decided to let the patients wander freely – that is, as long as the caretaker is nearby. Patients are still patients, after all…" He stopped by the window, watching the same kids that Hinata saw about an hour ago.

Deidara, however, was looking at the couple sitting at the bench across from the swings. They were just sitting there, arms wrapped around each other, looking very content. He glanced at Hinata, who was absently messing with his sheets. "But, being alone is only optional." He said half-heartedly, saying it in the hopes that she heard him, but also in the hopes that she didn't catch him flirting with her.

Tch. What am I doing, flirting with her? This is hardly the time, place, or the situation. He cursed himself, watching as Hinata's cheeks turned a light pink. He almost did, too, but he turned his attention back to the park.

Clearly he was interested in her, he thought. But she was just a patient, and patients are always just patients.

-:-

Hinata wasn't used to seeing the other patients in ordinary street clothes. Even the caretakers were taking a break from their usual shirt-and-tie uniform and wearing jeans and T-shirts. Though, she was thankful to be back in her own clothes again. She wondered why they had to wear uniforms in the Hospital – wasn't the place supposed to make you feel more normal? Well, she supposed that the place wasn't exactly normal in the first place.

"Hey, everyone," Pein gathered everyone to circle around him. "So, here's the thing. The only van available to rent is an 11 seater. That includes the driver and passenger seats, so that really means that there's 9 seats in the back. The good news is that most of you will get a seat. The bad news is, one of you will have to share a seat – that means sitting on someone's lap." Everyone immediately looked to Deidara and Hinata, who decided to do anything but return their looks.

Pein cleared his throat. Loudly. Hinata glanced at him, which was a big mistake. "What? Hinata and Deidara volunteer? Thank you! Everyone, give them a hand for this great sacrifice." Everyone clapped for about 2 seconds before falling silent and filing into the van. Deidara and Hinata got the back corner, while Ze and Tsu sat in the two remaining seats.

Hinata, refusing to sit in Deidara's lap, was trying to awkwardly stand-but-still-kinda-sit-down-but-not-really beside Deidara, but there simply wasn't enough room. When she finally found a comfortable (enough) position, Pein yelled out, "Everyone buckled in!" And without waiting for a proper response slammed down on the gas pedal and jerked the whole van forward.

Somehow, Hinata managed to maintain her somewhat comfortable position, but she knew she couldn't hold it for much longer. "H-How long is the drive, do you think?" She asked Konan, who was the only one up front paying attention to the passengers. "Oh, not too long (Ahem, I hope). About five or ten minutes at the most." Sighing with relief, Hinata felt more confident in keeping her position.

"Guess what, everone? We're lost. It'll take us about an hour to get back, let alone find the park." Pein announced. Everyone groaned, and Hinata almost yelled, if it weren't for her proper upbringing.

Deidara put a hand on her side. "Hinata, come on. Why don't you just sit down? It's dangerous sitting like that with Pein in the driver's seat." He said to her. Hinata shook her head. "N-N-Not necessary! I can hold this for an hour!" She tried lying to herself, but it didn't work. Who was she kidding? Why was she even refusing to sit on his lap in the first place?

Sasori turned a little, spying Hinata's elbow leaning on the back of his seat. He looked at Deidara, then to Hinata, then back to Deidara. Sasori gently pushed Hinata's elbow and watched the chain reaction.

Hinata gasped, Deidara opened his arms to catch her, she squeaked in surprise, but fully relaxed when her legs were relieved of the stress of standing in a moving vehicle. They both blushed deeply, and all Sasori could do was laugh.

"S-Sasori!" Hinata growled at him. He shrugged, claiming that his hand slipped.

"Everything okay back there?" Pein wondered before flying into a rage at a pedestrian who clearly had the right of way. "A-OK, sir!" Sasori grinned.

Hinata kept shifting uncomfortably, to the point where she accidentally kicked Deidara's shin. He flinched, a weird noise similar to a grunt escaping him. He wrapped an arm around her and made her sit still. "Hinata, relax." He said firmly. She quickly whispered an apology, sitting as still as she could. Deidara watched her for a little while. He glanced around – no one was watching them. Gently, he put a hand on her arm, caressing it gently. He leaned forward and whispered into her ear, "Hinata, relax."

His closeness only made Hinata even more nervous; however she complied with his request. "You can lean back if you want to; I don't mind." She did, and she felt the steady rise of his chest against her back. She closed her eyes tightly, feeling light headed. Her heart was beating like a drum, and her stomach was doing back-flips. Why was this happening to her? She wondered.

She didn't notice when Deidara wrapped his arms around her waist or when he subtly leaned his head against hers. It felt like they were in their own little world – just the two of them. They didn't notice that everybody was secretly glancing at them for the whole ride.

The good news was that they found the park.

The bad news was that there wasn't enough time to play, and they had to go back.

The worse news was that the park was really just two blocks away, around the corner.

-:-

Okay. So.

Recently I just got a freaking summer job, in which I garden for the next 4 (now 3) weeks and get a $600 stipend.

The work is very tiring, but I really like the people I work with and of course, the garden itself.

As an alternate excuse, I've been dedicating my life to Persona 3, the video game. It's becoming a really sick obsession, and I can't get enough of it.

Thank you for waiting. I'll try to balance Persona 3, Maple Story, tumblr, and writing this story as best as I can.

Oh yeah, I might mix in sleeping or eating if there's time. Haah.