Deidara

When Deidara got up Sunday morning he did what he did every day. When his alarm on his bedside table started to ring, he pounded his fist on the alarm clock and knocked it to the ground, breaking it into a thousand pieces. "UGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!" He let out a moan, head still buried in his pillow. He rolled over on his back, hands above his head, and looked out the window over his bed. The sun was bright and high in the sky. Birds chirped and flew through the blue abyss with not a care in the world. As Deidara looked out his window at the wonderful sight, one thing registered in his mind—today was going to be a horrible day.

He formed a look of disgust as he lazily made his way out of his bed and into the kitchen. Deidara opened the refrigerator, only to find nothing in its depths, as usual. He let out a stream of curses as he made his to the bathroom to brush his teeth and hair. Opening the door he turned on the light and looked in the mirror. His blond hair was long and a frizzy mess. He examined the bruise on his jaw and right cheek, right where Satomi had punched him the day before. He had tried everything to get the swelling to go down, but so far not luck. It was as black and blue as ever. Deidara grimaced, but got to work untangling the knots in his hair.

He walked out about thirty minutes later—hair completely straight and tangle free. He wore an Iwa shinobi headband on his forehead and his hair was pulled back in loose pony tail. People often made fun of him because of his hair style, saying he was a major "pretty-boy." Other boys at the academy also joked about him favoring males in terms of sex taste. Basically, they thought he was gay. Surely he got mad and told them to "fuck off," but that only provoked them further. He sighed as he opened the front door of his home and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

The blond made his way to Iwa's market place. Surrounding him was a variety of cafes he could dine in. He chose an unfamiliar breakfast shop on his right and walked toward the shop's front door. He stepped inside and sat in a booth next to the window. A waitress came to greet him about a minute later.

"Hell, my name is Zuki. What can I get you, honey? Anything to drink?" She asked politely.

"Just get me the daily special with a glass of orange juice, and step on it. I don't have all day."

"Yes sir." Zuki ran out of Deidara's gaze, too afraid to write down his order. He enjoyed bossing people around when he could. His happy moment was cut off as the bell by the door jingled, signifying that new customers had arrived. He frowned as two familiar faces walked into the shop. Much to his dismay, the two boys noticed him and made their way into the other side of his booth.

"Hey, Dei-chan." One of them asked in an overly sincere tone.

"What do you want, Hayashi, Tomeo?" Deidara snapped.

Deidara knew well what was coming. Hayashi just smiled, "We heard about the little incident in the market place yesterday. We just wanted to double check it was true."

"Yeah!" Tomeo said, grinning. Deidara just replied with a stoic mask.

"I don't know what you are talking about." At this moment the waitress came to Deidara's table with his order.

"Here you are sir. Oh you have company; can I get you gentlemen anything?" The waitress asked.

"Thanks but no thanks," Hayashi said.

"I'll have the dango please," Tomeo said. Hayashi gave him a look of dissatisfaction, and Tomeo hesitated, "On second thought, never mind." The waitress gave somewhat of a nervous grin and scurried away, happy to be out of the young men's gazes. Hayashi focused his gaze back on Deidara.

"Anyway, don't deny it. Tomeo saw the whole incident. You got punched into a cart of cabbages by a girl, and by the looks of that shiner she gave you, you must have pissed her off pretty bad." Hayashi grabbed Deidara's untouched fork and started to eat off his pate. "Did your mom teach you any manners? Tisk Tisk, I'm sorry Dei-chan, but that is just sad."

"She caught me off guard. I didn't think she'd actually punch me, yeah."

"And you couldn't catch her either? Poor Dei-chan. Not only did he get beat-up by a girl, he doesn't even have the ninja skills to catch a simple peasant!" Hayashi said to Tomeo.

Tomeo nodded his head in disapproval; "It was pathetic," Tomeo paused, but then made a face that signified a brilliant idea in the making. "Hey, Hayashi, I wonder what the others at the academy with think when they hear about this…"

Hayashi's eyes widened with excitement. "You're right Tomeo," Hayashi replied, "I wonder what they will think?" He smirked as he looked over at Deidara, "More importantly, however, I wonder what Megumi-chan will think?" He smirked as he got the reaction he wanted—Deidara blushed.

Tomeo started laughing. "She'll probably be embarrassed as hell! She'll probably be like…" He changed his voice to a high-pitched girly tone, "'Oh Kami, that boy is soooooo stupid. I'd never like him in a million years! He's gay, looks like a girl, and is a sad excuse of ninja!'" Tomeo struck a girly pose as he stood up from his seat in the booth. "'I can understand why Deidara would like me though. I'm sooooo pretty and have like the biggest boobs in the whoooooole world. Who wouldn't like me? It's too bad he's a loser. I'd never date him.'" Tomeo smirked as he saw Deidara's face turn even redder out of rage.

"Shut the fuck up!" He yelled. Everyone in the shop turned.

"Oh no, Dei-chan. Remember, temper!" Hayashi lectured.

A pulsing vein formed on Deidara's right temple. He grabbed the edge of the table with his hands, and his knuckles turned white. "Why you…!"

"Hey blond boy! We don't serve people without common courtesy. You're disturbing my customers! Get out before I make you." The shop owner yelled.

"You heard her, Dei-chan. Get out before she makes you." Hayashi said.

"As if you could take her!" Tomeo added.

Deidara was standing on a very thin line. He could either stay, and make a scene, or leave with his already destroyed ego intact. He chose the latter, and stormed out of the restaurant, forgetting to pay for his meal. Zuki passively stopped him at the door, "Excuse me sir, b-but you have to p-pay for your food." Deidara didn't give her a glance as he opened the restaurant door and slammed it shut, cracking the glass in the process. The two boys just stared in amusement.

"He does have a very bad temper, doesn't he, Hayashi?" Tomeo commented. Hayashi nodded.

"Yes, he does, my friend."

Tomeo laughed, "Hey, how long do you think it will take him to realize that we took his wallet?"

"I'm guessing about an hour." Hayashi replied, showing Tomeo the small black case in his hand.

The two boys snickered, but little did they know of the presence of an eavesdropper in the booth next to them. That said eavesdropper stood up and faced the boys in the booth. "I'm sorry to raid on your conversation, you two, but I couldn't help but overhear that you took that boy's wallet." The woman said.

"Sorry, lady, but we don't talk to strangers." Tomeo replied.

"Get lost, old hag."

"Old hag, huh?"

About five minutes later, Aura walked out of the restaurant with a wallet in her left hand, a smile on her face, and two boys in the restaurant beaten to a pulp. "That ought to teach them some manners."

It was noon, and the annual parade to kick off the Iwa's festival was about to begin. I was dressed in a dark blue leotard, tights, and blue ballet flats. Even though I was a trapeze performer, I still had a decent knowledge of ballet and jazz from my previous days of hard-core training. I gave myself one last check in the mirror, and walked out my hotel room door.

Aura was the first to greet me in the hotel lobby. She was dressed in a matching blue leotard. She ran up to me and grabbed my arm. "Satomi, I have the weirdest story to tell you! You know that guy that you punched in the marketplace?" I nodded. "Well, he was eating in the same shop as me. I didn't know at first, but when two of 'friends' walked in and started talking about the incident I knew it had to be him." I was listening intently to her story.

"So, what happened?" I asked.

"The two boys, named Tomeo and Hayashi I think, started harassing him and teasing him about it. Apparently, he was pretty upset, because he slammed the door when the shop owner kicked him out. He ended up cracking the glass."

"He was that mad about it!" I didn't think that it was that bad. Sure, it probably was a huge blow to his ego, but still…

"I don't think it was the incident that bothered him the most. I think it was more so their teasing. They called him 'Dei-chan,' said he was gay, and made fun of his ninja abilities. I kind of feel bad for the guy." seemed to sense my distress. "The good news is that I beat the bullies to a pulp, and took back his wallet. Now all we got to do is find him. This was you can apologize."

"Wait, since when did I have to apologize?"

"Since now," Aura snapped. "You owe him an apology regardless if he was a jerk or not." I grimaced, Aura did have a point. I just hope we did find him. For all we know, he hated festivals and parades. This would a great time to test my luck.

"What about looking for his chakra signature?"

"What?"

"We've been around him, and we know what his chakra feels like. All we have to do is trace his signature until we find him." Thank heavens I had Kou backing me up!

"Do you think you can search for his signature while I'm performing in the parade? Then if you sense him, tell me and I'll take care of the rest."

"Sounds like a plan."Now all we had to do was put it into action.

I was walking down the streets of the market place. I pushed my way through the crowd, not caring what anybody thought of my rudeness. I was not in the mood to speak with anyone right now. Not only had Tomeo and Hayashi literally destroy my self confidence, they embarrassed me in front of every fucking customer in that restaurant AND took my wallet! I had four thousand yen in that wallet (AN: a little under fifty U.S. dollars)! Now how the hell was I suppose to pay for my lunch…or dinner! I swear I'm going to pound those two into oblivion! When I get my hand on them I'll…!

Music? As the melody came closer, I knew that's what it was. It suddenly occurred to me that was why the markets were so crowded. Everyone here was here to see the parade. I was never a big one for festivities, but something pulled me toward the front of the crowd. It wasn't forced; it was nagging me on to migrate toward the parade. It was begging for me to stay. It was asking for me to stay.

I slowly made my way to the front of the crowd, where I could see the vast majority of floats and performers. Iwa's Kage was sitting on a fancy chair atop a float, surrounded by a balloon arch. The next feature of the parade was a gigantic blown up tiger, symbolizing the Year of the Tiger from the Zodiac. A large variety of others past me by before I could fully hear the music. A float coming up was playing a classic dance beat, only acceptable at Iwa's parade, since this music belonged to a traditional Iwa dance.

"Hey, Dei-chan!" Oh, hell no! "Excited to see us?" Tomeo screamed from across the other side of the market place. With him were none other than Hayashi, Megumi-chan, and a full posy of stuck-up teenagers. What I would do to just show them that I wasn't a joke, kick their asses, and win Megumi-chan over…

The Kage had assured me that every male in this village had been taught to dance Iwa's classical step dance. It was normally danced to a traditional band of drums and tambourines, and a large group of people clapping in sync. It had fast feet movements, occasional spins and leg flares, and possibly more complicated moves if the dancer was experienced enough. I was perfectly capable of doing a majority of the moves, but what got me nervous was that I had to ask a guy to dance. It was tradition for the girl to dance in front of the man she had chosen for a few seconds, and then meet his gaze; she'd bow and offer her hand. If the man accepted, he would return the bow and take her hand in his. They would dance the step dance, and then would bow in the end. I just hope I wouldn't mess up!

"Hey, Kou, any sign of the blond?"

"I can feel his chakra signature approaching. He's here, at the parade."

"How much farther is he?"

"That I don't know, but it's getting stronger, so we're heading the right direction."

"Keep sensing for his chakra, Kou."

"Will, do."

I continued to search the crowd for the blond, blue-eyed wonder, otherwise known as Deidara. Aura had told me that a bright bruise had formed where I had hit him the day before. The idea of apologizing I didn't like, since I wasn't really sorry for anything. The kid deserved it in my eyes, but it was partly my fault for getting him into this mess, and making his already miserable life even worse. So in some sense, I did feel guilty. If there was anything I could do to make his life easier, then I was going to try. For the record, it was my conscious talking there…

"There!"

"Where?" I asked looking around. I finally spotted him to my left about thirty feet ahead; he was focusing in on something across from him. It was then I noticed the glare he was giving a group of teenagers across the street, which included two familiar looking boys that Aura had described earlier. It probably was Kami's work, but I set that thought aside as a creative little plot folded itself inside my mind. "Hey, Aura!" She looked my way. "Let's get dancing! Shall we?"

It happened so quickly. One minute I was glaring at Tomeo and Hayashi, and then the next minute this girl was in front of me and up close and very personal. She danced circles around me on her tiptoes, occasionally touching my shoulders and arms; she gave me a flirtatious eye as she came around back to my front, making sure I was giving her my full attention. She did a graceful spin on one foot; her arms and shoulders were placed perfectly with poise as she danced a few ballet movements. I was memorized by her, and her eyes never left mine. She then slowly came to a halt in front of me, her arms hanging loosely, but confidently, at her sides. I raised an eyebrow, and she smiled. I blinked when she bowed, asking me to dance with her. Should I say yes? One look over at Hayashi and Tomeo was all I needed. They were drooling…the girl was really pretty. I smirked, slowly copied her movements, and grabbed her hand in my own.

She led me out into the parade.

We danced in quick circles, me leading and her following. I spun her outward away from myself, and she did a leg flare, which got the crowd going. Their cheers and steady clapping to the drums heightened the tempo to its max, and I suddenly found myself spinning her faster. The music slowly died away as I found myself being captured by her movement. I didn't give Tomeo and Hayashi a single glance. I didn't notice them and Megumi-chan staring with their mouths agape. I didn't notice anything. The only thing I did notice was her—her smile, her hair, and her deep sapphire eyes. Whatever she was doing to me I didn't care, for she made me feel special for the first time in a very, very long time.

I swung her back in and picked her off the ground into a lift in one swift movement, catapulting her a few feet away. In the few moments that it took for her to regain her balance I took in the rest of her appearance. Her hair almost identically matched her eyes, being a deep blue. She was petite and short, but had just the right amount of muscle. If it wasn't for the makeup, she would look just like…wait a sec?

The music died down and we both gave each other a stare, mine more so a glare. "Who the hell do you think you are?" I spat.

Her reply was intimate, "You lost something, didn't you?" She finally said. We'd been starting at each other for a good thirty seconds. Before I could speak again, she presented me with a small black wallet—more specifically, my wallet. I simply stared. How in the world did she get a hold of my wallet? She must have sensed my hesitation because she took a step forward and placed the wallet in my right hand. "I believe that is yours. Is it not?" She asked again. I quickly shift my gaze from her face to the thing in my hand. I opened it, and inside I found the four thousand yen I had complained about losing earlier. "I still owe you, don't I? For giving you…that…" I looked back up at her. She was pointing at the bruised cheek and jaw on my face. She looked rather uncomfortable when addressing the shiner she had given me the day before. I don't know what she was talking about when she said she "owed" me, but I could think of a few things that she could do…starting with her being my new voluntary punching bag for the next week!

"What do you mean?" I asked with a straight face. She avoided eye contact with me for the next few seconds. "Well?"

Shit. How was I going to apologize? I didn't have any miracle pills or pixy dust that could grant him wishes. Why couldn't he just be happy with me giving him back his wallet!

"Well?" He repeated. I kept trying to focus on other things; anything other than his face.

"Think, Satomi, think! Money? No. Back rub? NO! Sex? BIG NO!!!!! Haircut? Maybe…but he'd probably kill himself before he would let me touch his hair…" I wasn't coming up with any brilliant ideas…I guess I'd have to move on to Plan B.

Deidara was getting impatient. His arms were crossed and his foot was tapping. I met his gaze for the first time in what felt like hours and did exactly what Aura had told me to do—kiss and run.

Of course, I wasn't in that much of a rush, and the blond seemed to be enjoying the attention. I noticed his body relax as his hands reached for my waist. My arms made their way around his neck and I pulled him closer. Neither of us bothered to take it to the next level, for I parted slowly and met his lustful gaze a few seconds later. His eyes were half-closed in confusion and need. I could just tell it was his first kiss. Score! It surprised me when he slowly leaned back in and kissed me once more. This one was more passionate and deep. I responded, but only for a few seconds. I had to cut it off before he ended up giving me a full make out session in front of everyone, much to my dismay. I pushed him back slightly, and he stopped.

He separated his lips from mine tenderly; he looked at me again, and I smiled and kissed the bruise on his cheek. "I'm sorry about that. Hope my apology was good enough for you…" I smirked, and then headed off in the direction of my float. Aura was so going to give me another lecture later. However, as I ran, I kept moving my tongue over my lips, tasting him after the incident. After all, I didn't want to forget the stealer of my first kiss either, now would I?

I'm not going to lie, I did not expect that! I didn't have time to react as her lips crashed against mine. At first I wanted to push her away, but then I realized that I liked the feeling of her lips on mine. It was different from anything I had ever experienced in my life before. It wasn't harsh or painful; it was soft and sweet, like walking on a cloud. I felt myself getting dizzy, but it only heightened the moment. She pulled away a moment later, but I kissed her again. I didn't want to let this go. Screw Hayashi and Tomeo, what have I been missing? This makes up for their teasing, and having them watch makes this victory just the more sweet.

She was more direct with her actions this time, and I had to let her go. With one last kiss on the cheek, she ran off, leaving me memorized. I looked over at Tomeo and Hayashi, and realized they were staring. Their mouths were touching the ground and a nosebleed complimented their already erotic faces. They were jealous, very jealous. I smirked, "Who's gay now? Rub those nosebleeds off your faces. I know I'm hot, but it's rude to stare, yeah." I left before either of them could utter a single word.

After the parade, I was given a lecture by Aura about kissing a man in public. I ignored her, and focused on the portrait I was currently drawing. It was a picture of none other than the stealer of my first kiss. He was smirking, and the black and blue was absent from his otherwise perfect face. I realized afterwards that he wasn't that bad of a guy, and maybe sometime in the near future, I'd ask him out on a date...

….maybe.

"Satomi, you're in love."

I found myself smirking, "There's a first time for everything, Kou."


YES! I actually updated during ACT week! It's a miracle! Thank you potatoes18 and werewolfwithaheart for reviewing the last chapter. I'm hoping I did not disappoint. Please review. Oh, one last thing. I STILL NEED A BETA READER!!!!! Thanks. Adios. Asta lavista baby! =]