Author's note: This is the last chapter I have completed for this story which means it may be a while before I upload another chapter...in the meantime, I'd like to thank all of you who've read up until this point, and if you're patient, I might get back to it sooner than you think!
"Boys! Boys! Come here!" Konan called.
I had been sketching nothing in particular when she called us and climbed down from my bed.
Konan was standing in the middle of the upstairs living room in front of the paused TV screen. Hidan, the twins, Kisame and Sasori were sitting on the couches looking both bored and irritated with this "family meeting" that Konan had called forth. Tobi was also present, nervously wringing his hands while he stood by the doorway. Yahiko entered a few minutes later and took his place next to Konan and Kakuzu emerged from his bedroom shortly afterwards.
"Good, now that you're all here, I have something to say to you." She addressed the group.
"Really?" Hidan said sarcastically.
Yahiko regarded him with a sharp look and Konan continued. "This here," she gestured to the couches, "has got to change."
"We're remodeling?" Pale Zetsu asked.
"Good! Because these couches stink." Sasori added.
"We are not remodeling." Konan said. "The five of you have been playing video games all day, every day and that needs to change."
The room was silent.
"Why?" Hidan asked.
Konan sighed. Yahiko stayed quiet and stood next to her with his arms crossed like she was the president and he was the secret service. "Summer's over. You'll be starting school on Monday where you'll have plenty of time to sit indoors for hours at a time."
"And?" Hidan asked. "All the more reason to keep playing video games before it starts!"
"It's nice outside!" She walked over to the window and pulled open the blinds. The specific group that they were addressing hissed like the light had scalded them. "Of course you wouldn't know that because the blinds are closed!"
"My eyes!" Sasori complained. "It burns!"
"Listen to Konan." Yahiko said.
"You need to go out and have fun, bond with each other, play games, do some exercise, actually interact with one another." She said.
"We do interact with one another!" Hidan argued.
"Yeah," Sasori jumped in, "we have to interact to avoid getting killed!"
"That's different." She said. "The three of you have been up here playing video games every chance you've gotten since we bought you an Xbox One, and now even the twins are getting sucked in! Now, Tobi doesn't have anybody to play with outside anymore!"
Hidan took the defensive. "So this is about Tobi?!"
"No, this is not about Tobi. This is about all of you." She said, addressing the entire group now. "All of you are too busy doing your own thing. I never see you interact unless we're having dinner together, during which time you're too busy scarfing down your food so that you can go back to what it is you were doing all day, or you're all yelling at a TV screen!"
Her words hurt. I tried my best to bond with my siblings but Konan was right. Everybody was doing their own thing that it was hard to bond with them.
"How would you know?! You spend all your time on your computer in the dining room all day!" Hidan retorted.
"Working!" She corrected him. Yahiko clutched her wrist and she regained her composure. "It's the weekend, it's summer, and it's nice outside. What would you boys like to do?"
"Play video games." Hidan muttered.
"I'm giving you the chance to choose something that involves more than just two people, Hidan."
"The others can watch."
Konan ignored him. Kisame half raised his hand. "Kisame?" Konan asked.
"How about the pool? Is there a pool around here?"
She looked at Yahiko who was saying something in her ear. "Yes, there is." She said.
"Show of hands, how many of you would like to go to the pool today?" Yahiko asked.
The twins raised their hands. Kisame raised his. Tobi had his hand raised too. I raised my hand and looked at Itachi. He didn't raise is hand.
"You can stay home if you want." Konan said. Everyone's hands fell except for Tobi's and the twins' hands. "But you will not be allowed to play video games while you're here." Everyone raised their hand again, including Hidan and Sasori this time. Kakuzu and Itachi did not.
Yahiko glanced around the room. "The pool it is, then."
"Alright then. Yahiko will be taking you guys to the pool—" Konan was saying when Yahiko interrupted her.
"I have work to finish up here."
"I thought you were done?" She asked.
He opened his eyes wider than usual and her eyes softened. Like a secret form of code between them.
"Change of plans, I'll be going to the pool with you and Yahiko will stay here with Kakuzu and Itachi. Boys, get dressed. We're leaving soon."
"Come to the pool with us, it'll be fun!" I said to Itachi when we got back to the room.
He shook his head. "No thank you."
"Why not? What are you going to do here by yourself with Yahiko and Kakuzu?" I asked him.
Itachi shrugged his shoulders. "Read."
My shoulders slumped. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Okay," I said and fetched a change of clothes to go to the pool with.
When we got back from the pool, I found Itachi where I always expected to find him, inside of our bedroom. Konan told Sasori and the others that they could play video games when they got back until dinner and that afterwards, Konan and Yahiko would put them on a schedule so that they didn't spend all day playing games.
"Take a shower first!" I heard Konan yelling at them as soon as their game resumed. "You're covered in chlorine and if those couches are wet you're cleaning them!" She threated as she climbed the stairs.
Sasori entered our room a few seconds later and threw his shirt on his chair. "Well," he said, walking into the closet to fetch a change of clothes, "If either of you need me, I'll be taking a shower." He said and left the room. He poked his head back in a few seconds later. "Don't need me. Got it?" I nodded. "Good."
I smiled and looked back at Itachi. He was lying on his bed with his hands behind his head like he was taking a nap while we were gone but I doubted that. Itachi didn't take naps.
"This is different." I told him. "I expected you to be reading or at least on your laptop reading."
Itachi didn't say anything.
"You should've been there, Itachi. We had so much fun!" I told him.
He raised his eyebrows. "Great." He said with mock-enthusiasm.
"You know how Hidan really didn't wanna go?"
"Hm-hm."
"Well, he changed his mind when he saw Konan's legs!" I chuckled at the thought. "She didn't get in; she was wearing this cover-up thing over top of her swim suit, and had this big floppy sun hat and this big pair of sun glasses! She looked like a movie star, reading a romance novel by the side of the pool; you should've been there!"
"You said."
"Next time you can read next to the pool or something!"
"No thanks."
"You don't have to get in."
"I'll pass."
I furrowed my eyebrows in concern. Itachi never once looked at me. The entire time I was talking to him, he stared at the ceiling and I know that he didn't usually get excited about things, but this was different from usual. "Is everything okay?"
"Fine."
"Everything doesn't look fine, is something bothering you?"
"I'm fine, Deidara."
I walked closer to him. He finally turned his head to look at me and raised his eyebrows. I decided to change the topic. "So, what'd you and Kakuzu do with Yahiko?"
"We took Kakuzu to the driver's license center to get his permit."
I perked up. "Did he get one?"
"Yeah."
"That's cool! What'd you and Yahiko do while you waited?"
"Nothing."
"The entire time?" I asked, confused. "We were gone for at least two hours, what else did you guys do?"
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." He said impatiently and closed his eyes. "I don't want to talk right now, Deidara."
I cast my eyes down at the floor. "Okay."
At that moment, Sasori reentered and stopped at the doorframe. "Awk-ward."
And that's all for now, folks!
Hopefully I will be inspired to write more for this story in the NEAR future, but for now, I think I will focus on my other three for the moment...
Until next time!
~Sasori33-001