Arghhh!! Sorry! I said I'd have this up sooner, but it seems I'm still updating on the 27th smacks self on the head. Basically my Norton antivirus screwed up big time and I couldn't subject my precious laptop to the horrors of internet viruses without protection so I had to wait to fix it. On the plus side though: DOUBLE UPDATE!! And the moment my absolutely gorgeous beta-reader has sorted out my mistakes I'll have another THREE chapters up in...ooh, give it a week maybe.
Thank you so much for sticking with my crazy little story. Every review I've had so far has sent me jumping round the room squealing in joy (my parents think I've gone berserk!). So enjoy these two chapters and please leave a little note if you like/hate/don't care about it :D Constructive criticism is appreciated, and flames will be used to cook food on so I can cut down on my energy bills -
Much love hugs and big fat chocolate cookies go to my most amazing beta-reader, Manu-seme, who has had to put up with my increasing number of typos, grammatical errors and general stupid sentence formations. Love you darling, you're doing a brilliant job, and it makes me miss you all the more!
And because she'll kill me if I don't, this is once again for my little Squidit, since she has to put up with me bouncing all my stupid ideas off her. Big hugs kiddo!
xox
"Who was that? And why did he look at you like he wanted your head on a spit?" Itachi asked in bemusement.
"That was Pein. And he looked like he wanted my head on a spit because he does want it on a spit."
"Any reason why?"
"Because I upset Konan. I'm in deep shit!" Deidara shook his head. "C'mon, let's go." He muttered.
The motorbike swerved through the traffic with experienced ease, Pein controlling it smoothly as if there wasn't a torrential downpour. They came off the main road and turned down various side-streets, the bike speeding up now that they were in Pein's territory.
They sped up the drive of a small terraced house, coming to a halt at the backdoor. Konan got off the bike and went inside whilst her brother parked up and locked his precious vehicle away in the garage. Once it was secure he followed his sister inside, entering the small kitchen and shaking his head so that drops of water flew everywhere.
"Oi! Watch it!" A voice berated him, and he looked up only for a towel to smack him in the face.
"Do you guys live here or something?" He growled, trying to dry his hair as much as possible with the scrap of fabric. He saw Sasori smirk at him.
"You're the one with the booze." The red head opened the fridge and chucked his friend a can of lager. "C'mon, all the others are in the living room."
Pein rolled his eyes as he cracked the can open and pushed past the red-head to see that his friends had indeed taken over the front room.
Hidan waved lazily from where he was sprawled over the whole two seater sofa, channel surfing. Kakuzu, Kisame and Zetsu were bunched up on the other seat, trying to get Hidan to chose one channel and stick to it. Konan gave a small smile as her brother entered the room, Sasori close behind him.
"Blue's just been telling us that she's had a crap day." Hidan said as a conversational gambit. The girl, sitting down by his feet and still hugging her sketch book, nodded in confirmation.
"I know, and now I want details." Pein kicked his friend's legs off the sofa so that he could sit down too. He put a surprisingly gentle hand on his sister's head. "Okay then Kon tell us from the beginning."
"It's nothing, I'm just being pathetic." Konan said quietly.
"Like hell! Tell us what happened!"
She sighed reluctantly, well aware that once Pein's Protective Older Brother mode was activated, it was impossible to contain him. Slowly the story of The Art Lesson was told, despite Konan's obvious reluctance. The laughter and general joviality in the room dissipated rapidly and by the time Konan had finished a sullen silence had descended on them.
Then Pein's empty lager can hit the coffee table with enough force to make it bounce twice and ricochet off Kakuzu's head.
"Right!"
"Pein..." Konan began, but her brother raised his hand to silence her.
"No, you shouldn't have to put up with that!"
"But I don't want you to do anything illegal! You're already in enough trouble with the police!"
"Yeah," Hidan put in. "You shouldn't go doing anything that'll get the cops on your tail again, they're a fucking nuisance to throw off!"
Pein shot the white-haired youth a glare. "You can talk! You're the only one here with an ASBO!" He glanced back to Konan. "Okay, I promise I won't do anything that will catch the police's interest."
She gave him a doubtful look. "You said that last time, and you still beat that guy to a pulp!"
"Yeah, but to be fair he had threatened you, had a knife, and was in our territory."
"You still needn't have put him in hospital! You know damn well that I can take care of myself, knife or not!" Konan stood up, brushing the carpet fluff from her skirt. "If you lot want to sit around pretending you're...you're Roman generals or something with all your plotting, then go ahead. If you want me, I'll be upstairs!"
She swept out of the room, leaving just her angry words and the lingering smell of perfume.
Pein shook his head. "She worries too much." He looked around at his silent friends. "Okay, we have a problem lads; someone has insulted and upset our Konan, and I for one won't stand for it!" There was a rumble of agreement, and Hidan sat up properly from his lounging position.
"Are you saying we go have a 'talk' with Blondie?"
Pein smiled grimly with no humour. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Deidara upset my sister, and that is not something we should allow."
Sasori bit his lip, then raised his head. "I know where Deidara lives."
"And he didn't go straight home from college today; we can catch him when he goes home now." Pein continued thoughtfully.
A wicked grin grew on Hidan's face. "That sounds like a plan."
The rain still hadn't let up by the time Itachi and Deidara reached their destination. The blonde had cheered up on the way, and within minutes of leaving the school gates had begun jumping in puddles like a child. Despite that, they had managed to remain mostly dry under Itachi's umbrella but the Uchiha decided that a cup of tea would do them both good when they reached his house.
Deidara sat at the pine table in the kitchen, watching as his host boiled the kettle and carefully poured out two cups of tea.
"Sugar?"
"One please."
The mug was placed infront of him, a teaspoon to stir the sweetener in balanced on the top. Itachi sat down next to him, clutching his own mug to warm his hands.
The Uchiha glanced across towards his companion, grinning when he saw Deidara glaring furiously at the spoon held between his fingers.
"That won't work you know, you need to be calm and focused. And you'll never be able to get a piece of metal to bend first try."
Deidara put the spoon down with a sheepish grin. "I was just wondering if I could."
Itachi echoed the laughter, but in his mind he seriously considered the possibility of the blonde being able to do the trick. After all, there was already the sneaking suspicion that Deidara had some type of telepathy that he was unaware of.
"So, you said there was more of this magic stuff you can do?" Deidara asked hopefully.
Itachi had to grin at his enthusiasm. "Yes I did." He tried to think of a suitably impressive demonstration, although a major part of his knowledge relied more on actions invisible to the human eye and draining on the caster.
"If you can manipulate metal, can you do all the other famous things mystics can do?" Deidara asked.
"Such as...?"
The blonde waggled his hands in a mock mystical way. "Use the force!" He laughed. "I mean can you levitate stuff, or move something without touching it?"
"Yes, but not very well." The expectant smile that was cast on him made him roll his eyes with a sigh. Of course, he should have seen that coming. Looking across the table he saw a placemat lying there, without a cup on it.
Focussing his gaze on the coaster, he slowly built up his concentration.
Deidara let out a delighted yelp as the piece of laminated cork began to drift lazily across the table. It slipped off the edge of the table and fell to the floor with a thud.
"That's so cool!" He exclaimed. "You're a Jedi!"
Itachi just grinned in response. In truth the little trick took a lot out of him. Bending spoons was just a matter of manipulating the material they were made of; moving an entire object with no contact to it was a lot harder.
Although there was no visible sign of his mental fatigue, his companion seemed to unknowingly pick up on it. Deidara pushed the Uchiha's cup of tea back into its owner's hands.
"Okay, so you're also Luke Skywalker." The blonde shot a glance at Itachi, remembering the Matrix issue they'd had last time he used a film quote. "Please tell me you know Starwars?"
"Yeah, I know Starwars." Itachi grinned. A thought struck him, and he put his teacup down. "Wait here; I've got something that might interest you."
Deidara nodded, wondering what it could be as his companion quickly left the kitchen and ran upstairs. He didn't have long to wait when Itachi reappeared with an object wrapped in cloth in his hands. The Uchiha placed it on the table and pulled the wrappings off with a flourish.
Whatever Deidara had been expecting, it wasn't really this. A small piece of wood lay on the table, only fifteen centimetres or so in length. The blonde picked it up, turning it over in his hands. Roughly human shaped, it rather put Deidara in mind of the little people they put on road signs. There were no features, but a strip of paper was glued to the chest, denoting the front of the object.
"What is it? A voodoo doll?"
Itachi laughed. "Voodoo? No, I never do anything as crude as that. This is a Hitogota – it's a lot more sophisticated." He sat back down next to Deidara, leaning over the blonde's shoulder to see the figure too.
"So, what does it do?"
"Everything." Itachi pointed to the little strip of paper. "Write a person's name on there and you can do anything to them."
"And how is that different to voodoo?"
The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Because with this it's possible to save lives, to help people, to protect them." He took the Hitogota from Deidara, turning it over and over in his hands. "This is where my true skill lies. Bending spoons is just a party trick, but with one of these I can do nearly anything."
"Ego much?" Deidara grinned. He looked up at his companion. "So what do you do with one of these then?"
"When a name is written on here it becomes a substitute for that person." Itachi explained. "I can then manipulate it so that anything done to this happens to the real person – yes, like voodoo – or the opposite can happen. If the person is cursed or in extreme cases injured, then I can switch it so that the harm happens to this thing." He waved the little doll.
Deidara frowned slightly. "Still sounds like voodoo to me."
Itachi shook his head with a wry smile. "Well, I can't explain it any better really, hopefully you'll see for yourself one day."
Deidara nodded. "I hope I do."
They were disturbed by the front door opening then slamming shut. A raven-haired figure stormed into the kitchen, making Deidara jump. He stalked right past the table, then did a double take and stared at Deidara.
"Who the hell are you?"
If the blonde wasn't surprised at the rude question, he was shocked at the glare now marring Itachi's face.
"Deidara, this is my kid brother Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Deidara."
Deidara had already recognised the boy, but nodded politely anyway. "Hi."
Sasuke just raised an eyebrow disdainfully. "What are you doing here, hanging out with this freak?" He indicated to his older brother.
Wow, the air was positively thick with feelings of good will and brotherly love.
Deidara looked between the two Uchihas in surprise. Sure, Itachi had said that they didn't get on, but this was...extreme.
"We're working on an RE project." Itachi said shortly.
"And I can hang out with a friend, even if others think he's a little...odd." Deidara added, earning himself a look of surprise from the eldest Uchiha. They'd only really known each other for a few days, and although they were getting along very well, that was the first time it had been acknowledged that their acquaintance was anything other than just project-partners.
Itachi smirked smugly at his younger brother, who glared daggers back. Then the younger noticed the Hitogota in his brother's hand.
"Oh don't tell me you're getting Dei-whatever-the-hell-his-name-is involved in that shit!"
Deidara glared at the little upstart. "Is that a problem?"
"Only if you want friends, a life or any self respect." Sasuke spat back. He shot a furious glare at his brother. "How can you drag someone else into this crap Itachi?! You killed Shisui with this! Is that not enough?"
From the look on Itachi's face, the Deidara fully expected the younger Uchiha to drop dead any second now. "Don't speak of something you know nothing about!" He snarled back.
Deidara looked between the two of them, feeling increasingly awkward and lost, as the brothers looked ready to kill each other on the spot. He jumped when Sasuke's next remark was aimed at him.
"Do yourself a favour David, and get the hell away from this ass-hole."
It's Deidara! And I see nothing wrong with Itachi thank you very much!"
Sasuke snorted. "Then it'll be your body they cut down from the lamp-post next." He grabbed a J2O from the fridge and stormed out.
An awkward silence reigned after the boy left, until Itachi shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry about that; he's not exactly civil to me."
Deidara smiled slightly. "I kinda figured."
The Uchiha stood up, and drained the last of his tea. "Let's go upstairs, I've got something that will really interest you. And it won't be mistaken for voodoo." He added with a grin.
Deidara hurriedly finished his own tea. "Sounds good."
He followed Itachi upstairs into a now-familiar room. The low table was slightly more cluttered than yesterday, but that was the only difference. The Uchiha gestured for him to sit down, which he did, watching as his friend – and he liked to use that term – pulled a box out of the wardrobe and placed it in front of him.
Deidara's inner art fanatic squealed at the gorgeous craftsmanship – dark mahogany, with inlaid mother-of-pearl to make a pattern of dancing Japanese cranes. But the contents were rather disappointing in relation. Nestled in a scrap of deep claret velvet, a piece of copper and a shard of mirror winked up at him.
"Uh...what are they?"
Itachi grinned at his friend's reaction, liking how the word sounded in his head. He had gone on for far too long without any such bonds. It had been just over two years since he'd left Japan, and he missed the cameradie he'd had with his old friends there. "They are exactly what they look like, a bit of metal and a broken mirror."
"You know that's seven years bad luck right?" Deidara cast his gaze over the two pieces of...paraphernalia – he hesitated to use the term junk. "Well, you wouldn't keep these in such a nice box if they weren't important, and you said that they are of great interest, but I fail to see what's so special."
Itachi smiled; glad to see that Deidara wasn't just going to dismiss them because they didn't look like much.
"Then allow me to tell you a story, it should shed some light on the mystery."
Deidara nodded eagerly. He placed the delicate box carefully on the table and made himself more comfortable on the cushion.
"It starts with an ancient Japanese legend."Itachi began, sitting up on his knees, and going into storyteller mode. "There was a God named Izanagi, and he was married to Izanami. They were happy until she tragically died during birth. He followed her to the underworld, but she had changed form and was so horrifying that he turned and ran." Itachi had to smile at the enraptured expression on his friends face. "Izanagi went to a small stream and washed himself in the pure water to clear the horror from his mind. As he did so three new Gods were born. Amaterasu sprang from his left eye, Tsukiyomi from his right, and Susano from his nose."
"His nose?" Deidara sniggered.
Itachi rolled his eyes. "Yes, his nose." He said with a grin. "Tsukiyomi was the God of storms and Susano the God of sea - he was known as the trouble maker. One day Susano threw a dead horse through the roof of his sister's house, killing her friends. Amaterasu was so frightened that she hid in a cave and refused to leave. Since she was the Goddess of the sun, this caused an eclipse, which was a bit of a problem, and the other Gods had to get her out of the cave before the world died. So they tied ribbons and mirrors over a tree infront of the cave and celebrated."
"So let me get this straight, the world is dying because the sun's gone out, so they throw a party?" Deidara asked with a frown.
"If you'd let me finish it would make sense." Itachi replied. "Yes, they partied, and in doing so drew Amaterasu's attention. She asked what they were doing and they told her they had a new sun Goddess to replace her. Jealous, the Goddess left her cave and went over to the tree, but all she saw was her own reflection in all of the mirrors. By this point the other Gods had blocked up the cave and she was forced to accept that she couldn't hide forever. And thus the eclipse ended."
Deidara looked confused. "Okay, I get the story, but what has it to do with these?" He gestured to the box.
Itachi pulled the velvet from the container and carefully placed it on his lap. "There are two temples in Japan, one for Tsukyomi and one for Amaterasu. Amaterasu's has a large circular mirror, and Tsukiyomi's has a large copper disc, each is said to contain the spirit of the God and Goddess. Every fifty years the mirror is smashed and the disc broken. Then both temples are rebuilt from scratch including the disc and mirror, there is a reason to this, but my uncle never really told me why. Last time this happened my uncle took me along to watch and..." He held up the two pieces. "I did some salvaging."
Deidara carefully took the shard of mirror from the Uchiha. "So...this is supposed to contain a piece of a God?" He asked sceptically.
"No."
"Heh, I thought not, silly superstition."
"That contains the Goddess."
The blonde stared at him for a moment. "You...you actually believe that?"
Itachi smiled back. "After some of the things I've seen, it's not so hard to believe."
He accepted the fragment back and placed the two pieces back in their box. As he closed the lid however, there was a flash of sunlight – possibly a reflection – and a small breeze swept around the room before the lid fully closed.
Deidara looked hurriedly up at the window, but it was tightly shut and the heavy rain still persisted outside, there was no light to reflect, or gap for a breeze to blow through. He turned back to see Itachi grinning at him.
"Sun and storms." The Uchiha said, smirking at Deidara's gobsmacked expression.
"Okay...that's kinda cool..." The blonde was staring at the small box in awe. "What can you do with them?"
"I have no idea." Itachi said happily. "Maybe nothing, but they're fascinating things." He stood up to put the box back in the wardrobe. As he shut it there was the sound of the front door opening downstairs.
"Itachi, Sasuke, I'm home."
Itachi glanced out of the window. "Oh, my Mum's home. Come on, you can meet her."
Deidara followed Itachi downstairs excitedly, intrigued about how the rest of the Uchihas measured up on the oddity scale.
They entered the kitchen where a short raven haired woman was placing her brief-case on the table. When she looked up Deidara saw that his friend had inherited a lot of her looks.
"Konichiwa Kaa-san." Itachi said with a short bow, Deidara hiding slightly behind him.
"Oh, don't be so formal dear." Itachi's mother laughed, brushing wisps of hair back behind her ears as she straightened up. She spotted Deidara and her smile grew delighted. "And who's your friend?"
Itachi pulled his companion forward. "Kaa-san, this is Deidara, Deidara, this is my mother."
Deidara reached out and shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you Mrs Uchiha."
She laughed. "Such a gentleman. And please, call me Mikoto; Mrs Uchiha makes me sound old."
The blonde smiled and nodded. "Okay then, pleased to meet you Mikoto."
The woman grinned – the same grin her eldest son had – then turned back to Itachi.
"Ita-dear, I'm out of milk; can you go down to Jakes and get me some please?"
Jakes was the local newsagents, down at the council estate, and Deidara glanced at his friend.
"That's on my way home, want to walk with me?"
He got a smile and nod in return.
The walk down to the newsagents was quick, despite the persistent rain. Deidara said goodbye and headed off down a side street whilst Itachi went into the little shop to buy his milk.
The blonde, now without an umbrella, was happily getting soaked by splashing in the puddles as he sauntered down the alley-way that led off to his street. It was a dingy little path, littered with old fag ends and flattened beer cans that Deidara avoided with practiced ease.
His mind was still going over what Itachi had told him about the old legend. It was certainly hard to believe, but once you've seen someone tie a fork in a knot by merely staring at it, you could find yourself believing in some strange things. Still, those voodoo doll things – Hitogota if his memory was correct – they were far too much like something witch-doctors used. No matter what Itachi said about them, Deidara still didn't think that they sounded like they could do anything non-curse related.
He kicked an empty can along through the puddles, nearing the end of the alley. Tripping slightly on it in wet trainers, the blonde gave up and back-kicked the piece of junk behind himself. Three steps on and he heard the can bounce along again before smacking into the back of his ankle.
Deidara stopped and stared down at the innocent piece of rubbish. The hairs on the back of his neck were tingling with that ancient sense that all humans seem to have retained from the time they were monkeys telling him there was someone behind him.
Turning slowly he noted with chagrin that he was right. Well, serves him right for forgetting that he was in trouble with one of the town's most notorious gangs. Three figures were blocking the alley way that he'd just walked up, and he didn't need to look round to know that the only other exit was now inaccessible too.
"Long time no see Deidara." The voice in his ear was smooth and horribly familiar.
"Yeah." Deidara turned slowly to meet the person face to face. "Hi Sasori."
Sasori smirked and stepped aside.
"Should have known you don't do anything yourself anymore, always someone else's dogsbody." Deidara sneered at his old friend, before meeting the gaze of the person behind Sasori. "Hi Pein, let me guess, this isn't a social call?"
Pein glared at him coldly. "You'd be right there." He casually circled Deidara, looking the blonde up and down. "You have some nerve, I'll give you that."
"Oh stop acting like you're so much older and superior." Deidara snapped back. "We're the same age!"
There were sniggers from the rest of Pein's friends, and Deidara found himself wishing that someone would come along so that he could get away. Whatever Pein had planned, it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Same age, and yet you're still living at home with your Daddy." Pein sneered. "But we didn't come here to exchange pleasantries. Can you guess the real reason we're here Deidara?"
The blonde rolled his eyes, acting a lot more confident than he felt. Already he was desperately working on an escape route, but with both ends of the alley blocked, and what with being heavily outnumbered, his mind was drawing a blank.
"Let's see; you're an admirer of my artwork and want to purchase some." He said with a smirk. The remark earned him a short laugh, before Pein's hand was suddenly tightening around his neck, forcing him up against the filthy brick wall.
"Guess again." The orange-haired man spat. "You upset my sister today, and that is not something I take kindly to."
Deidara couldn't reply as he clawed at the fingers around his throat, and he attempted to kick out instead. A swift merciless punch to the stomach put an end to that idea and he hung limply, trying to get some much needed air.
"So my friends here -" Pein gestured around to the other five or so people no crowding in on them. "- and myself are here to teach you a lesson that will hopefully ensure you aren't so discourteous to girls in the future." He emphasised this with another vicious punch to Deidara's ribs, causing the blonde to gasp and cough painfully.
Deidara raised his head and glared at the man he'd once called a friend. He'd bitten his lip when the second hit had connected and a thin dribble of blood now ran down his chin, accenting his icy gaze. Sasori broke eye contact and looked away, shame flickering through his eyes.
"Fuck you Pein!" He spat, struggling harder.
Pein laughed. "That's rich! Looking at your current position you really should be a little more courteous."
Looking around at the smirks on the other guy's faces, Deidara had to admit that things were looking pretty grim. There was another punch to his abdomen, followed almost instantaneously by one to his shoulder, but he forced a grin to his face. Yes, he was scared – or more accurately terrified –, the punches hurt like hell and he knew it was only going to get worse from here on, but he was damned if he was going to give Pein the satisfaction of knowing all that. So he sucked up the pain and fear, and just grinned at his attackers. And never had he hated anyone more in his life than he did Pein at that moment! Had he the means, he would have happily wiped the arrogant bastard off the face of the earth and into hell to be tortured for eternity.
"I'll soon wipe that smirk off, Blondie!" Pein hissed.
"Do a number on his face!" Kakuzu laughed, to a chorus of cheers from the others. Pein just grinned in reply, raising his fist.
Deidara screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow to fall, since there was nothing else he could do. Determined to stay silent, he clenched his teeth, hoping that all this wouldn't last long and that just possibly he'd get away without a broken nose.
Please let someone come. Please let someone come. Anyone, someone. Please, HELP ME!! Don't let this happen, please anyone, save me, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease...
The punch landed.