Itachi was silent the entire trip off the island. He was silent on the boat. He was silent at the airport. He was silent on the plane. He didn't want to talk to the blond who was at his side through the entire trip, but that didn't stop the blond from keeping up a stream of chatter about nothing in particular the entire time. Itachi's entire body felt as weak as a baby's yet the blond hadn't offered to carry or pull his suitcase. He had hunted him like an animal last night, biting and terrifying him for hours and then pretended nothing had happened, brightly telling Itachi that the two of them were going home that night. Deidara had bought them business class tickets for their flight and happily sat next to him and used him as a leaning post. Itachi didn't react, he learned his lesson, but he didn't have to pretend to trust the blond.
"Aren't you gonna ask?" Deidara questioned, rolling onto his back with his legs tucked against the window of the plane. Itachi wondered if it was even worth his effort to humor him. He was exhausted even though the blond had been steadily making him eat small portions of food and drink orange juice. The blond reached up to give the fringe not quite long enough for his pony tail a little tug. He obliged by looking down at him. "Don't you wanna know where we're going, un?"
"Germany," Itachi stated, going back to staring at the screen playing the news. It had been on his ticket. He wasn't that stupid.
"Aren't you excited?" the blond asked, grinning broadly.
"Does it matter?" came the mumbled reply.
The blond gave a disappointed pout. "Of course it does, un. Germany is really awesome," he exclaimed, "and it's your new home. Why aren't you excited?"
Itachi frowned at the screen on the chair in front of him, debating on whether or not to answer truthfully or not, but decided on honesty. "I don't understand why you're acting like nothing happened last night," he said blandly, still not looking at him.
"That was last night," Deidara answered as if what he said was silly. "I was pissed off and hungry, un. Look, we're going home, you've never been to Germany before. Think of all the yummy new foods you're gonna eat, un! And – well, you don't speak German yet, but you'll learn it and maybe English and anything else you want to study, un. You'll like my house! It's huge! And I have a library bigger than any you've ever seen, un! You'll never run out of things to read!"
Itachi closed his eyes. He hated that Deidara was drawing him in, tempting him with the things he loved. He didn't want to give in. Deidara had hurt him badly last night. His body was still aching in pain from the way he would bite and drag him around with his teeth. The scrapes and scratches from when he kept falling onto the stone streets had vanished along with the fang marks, which he suspected was some work of Deidara's, but the memory of them still caused them to ache. He didn't understand why he had done that to him. Simple because he didn't do what he wanted? Because Deidara was angry at Sasori and took it out on him? Whatever Deidara's reason, it was inexcusable. He was hurt and now the blond was expecting him to act like nothing had happened. Like this was all normal. Deidara was insane. That was the only explanation he could come up with. Both Deidara and Sasori were insane. One just thought he was more playful than the other.
Deidara wanted him to act as though nothing had happened. He couldn't just forget about that. The terror of being hunted. He had only just woken up from passing out from blood loss a few short hours ago. Deidara didn't notice or care that he was still weak. Selfish was an understatement he was quickly becoming aware of.
The sun was still set when they arrived in the airport, so the blond didn't need his help with anything, but neither did the blond offer to help him with his suitcase again as he tried to lift his suitcase from the conveyer belt and nearly fell over from light headedness. Instead, a stranger lifted it off for him, setting it down and gave him a light pat on the arm and said something to him in a language he didn't know.
"Ready?" Deidara asked, skipping up to him with a drink and a container of cake. "I brought you a welcome snack, un. My friends say these are really good."
Not trusting his voice as he focused on staying upright, he nodded and took the things from him. He was beginning to wonder how he was going to drag his luggage while holding the two things when a woman approached them and spoke what sounded like a welcome to Deidara. She spoke in a very business tone that sounded like an itinerary, but Deidara just nodded and waved it off. She then looked at Itachi with a curious expression and Deidara said something to her that made her smile brightly.
"Willkommen," she said to him, holding her hand out, but, when seeing that his hands were full, she waved it off and took his suitcase for him, motioning him to follow the two of them out of the airport.
"Say 'danke'," Deidara said to Itachi as they approached a car idling in the pick-up area. "She said 'welcome'. Danke means thanks."
Itachi turned to the woman and repeated the word and she just smiled again and opened the car door for him. As they drove, Itachi stared at the city, which felt just like any city. It wasn't that it was disappointingly familiar, but there was little he could determine from a car. There were lights. Advertisements he couldn't read. Then there was darkness. Itachi stayed as far from the blond as possible, but he didn't need to as Deidara was leaning over the seat having an adamant conversation with the driver in what he was recognizing as German. Deidara had said he would be learning German and he wondered if he would learn to wrap his mouth around such foreign sounds. The car drove for an hour or so before they passed through another city that was much smaller and older than the one they landed in. Then again there was nothing. It was so dark outside, he wondered if he would be able to see stars like he had on the island, but the sky was too cloudy.
"Home!" Deidara's sudden cry startled him out of his thoughts. Following the gaze out the front window, he saw nothing, but what the car's headlights displayed on the road. "Now Itachi," Deidara said, finally turning to give him his full attention, switching to Japanese. The oldness of his speaking style paired with his looks made the seriousness of his young appearance almost comically cute. "When we arrive there, we won't be alone, un. There's other people that live there with me, but I want you to be aware of this first: no one there will harm you, un. There are humans, vampires and … other things," he added vaguely as though he thought Itachi wasn't quite ready to learn about 'other things' yet. Itachi was silently grateful. "If they try to hurt you, I will kill them," this didn't make Itachi feel better in the slightest. "Also, there might be a few people waiting for me, but you're mine, right? No one else's. Understand?"
Swallowing, Itachi gave a short nod and went back to staring out the window. It was soon obstructed as the blond leaned over to press his face against the window so their eyes met. He looked so childishly silly like that it was difficult to imagine the monster the night before. "What is it?" he asked, pouting against the window, looking disappointed at Itachi's lack of enthusiasm.
"May I go to bed when we get there?" Itachi asked quietly.
"But it's so early," the blond whined, still squashing his face against the window. Itachi pulled his gaze from the window and Deidara followed it, perching on the seat with his chin between his hands, cheeks puffed out at him indignantly. "You have to meet the others, and… eat. Don't you want to meet the others?"
"I still don't feel very good," Itachi said quietly, staring out the window again. He wondered who these 'others' were. Vampires? He had said humans too. What were they like? He hated social interactions.
"Hm…" Deidara made an unhappy sound, but didn't get angry at him. Instead, he was acting like had had before Sasori had arrived. He wondered which was Deidara's real personality. Furiously angry, or brightly childish. "Will you at least say hi?" Deidara asked, giving him the same expression as a child asking for a treat. "They like new people, un. They're really nice."
"Who are—"
"We're here! We're here!" Deidara interrupted, climbing over Itachi to exit through his door instead of the one on his side as the car came to a stop. Itachi sighed a little and stepped out, freezing as he stared at the building Deidara had called home.
Home had sounded like a house, perhaps similar to the one they had recently vacated or an apartment like the one in Tokyo. Something other than a literal castle. A castle. There were no outdoor lights to display the grandness of it, but something about the building gave a sense of size that Itachi's eyes couldn't easily pick up. There were a few lights on sporadically and the front doors were spoken wide, spilling light onto the cobblestone courtyard the car had pulled into. Peeling his eyes away from the dark shape above him, he watched the driver set his suitcase down next to him and drive away, taking a turn that put the car out of sight, leaving the two of them behind with the option to go into the castle or out into the dark unknown. His social anxiety made him consider the dark unknown until he really looked at it. Something about it made him nervous enough to place the bottle of drink Deidara had bought him into the pocket of his suitcase so he could grab it and move closer to Deidara.
Several people came out to meet them and Deidara rushed over to throw himself into the arms of an older looking man who lifted him into the air as if he was his own child and gave him a tight hug. A handful of others joined in a group hug while a few others stood back, some smiling, some looking annoyed as they made their way awkwardly into the foyer. Itachi followed, but moved to the side against the wall to keep out of the way as Deidara seemed to be both arguing with and greeting them all at the same time. The ones he was arguing with had a coldness about them that Itachi associated with vampires, but who were the other people? The ones who looked happy to see him. Were they humans?
Something tugged his sleeve and he looked down to see a little girl with hair so blond it was nearly white with a pink streak in her bangs. She looked no older than ten and was wearing a fluffy dressing gown over a night dress and slippers. Her smile was wide and friendly as she took his hand and shook it enthusiastically, staring up at him with bright green eyes. "Hallo!" she said.
He began to return her greeting when a female vampire snapped angrily at the girl and she started and hurried back to stand with the other humans as they extracted themselves from Deidara and stood together looking at him with curiosity. Deidara said something in a scolding voice to the female vampire who regarded him as a stern teacher would, but raised her hand in silent apology. The vampires spoke a few more words to Deidara then left to go deeper into the house. Itachi looked at the remaining humans with shy curiosity, wondering if they were here because they had no choice as well.
"I hate politics," Deidara said in his most dramatic whine yet. He turned to the humans and spoke to them with the same seriousness he had with Itachi in the airport and, by the glances they gave Itachi, it was about him. When he was finished, they nodded and smiled at Itachi. "Come on, Itachi," Deidara called to him, gesturing for him to follow him up the stairs.
Itachi reached for his suitcase, but stopped by several exclamations of protest. The humans jabbered away in German, pointing at themselves. A black girl approached him and took it the handle from him and shook her head. "Bed time," she said in English, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder.
He returned her smile awkwardly and began following Deidara up the steps. It was difficult. His legs were so weak. Deidara let him walk up the first flight of grand steps by himself until they were out of sight from the watching humans before he scooped him up and carried him the rest of the way. He wanted to protest, but knew he wouldn't make it where ever they were going. He tried to count the passages they went through. Another stair well, left, a long hallway…. "Those people," Itachi began, feeling awkward in the smaller boy's arms, "were they like me?"
"Some of them," Deidara replied. "Except they actually want to be here, un."
Itachi's jaw clenched with flared cheeks. He didn't… not want to be here… The words wouldn't come out. He didn't know how to explain that. He also didn't understand how Deidara expected him to want to be here after nearly killing him. "They seem nice," he said instead.
"They are, un! They'll make you feel at home if I'm not around," Deidara said, shifting his hold on him so he could open a door. The room they stepped into was dark, but Deidara didn't seem bothered by it. Itachi waited for him to set him down on the floor, but instead he was placed on a bed that was higher than he was used to. "Don't worry about the language barrier, they'll find a way around it, un," Deidara continued as he shuffled around in the dark. A few moments later, light seeped into the room from a fireplace, crinkling as the wood began to take the flame. "You might not see them all at the same time, though. Some have jobs in the city we went through, and others run on my schedule. It'll be easy to sleep here during the day if you want. Your curtains here are thick, but they can be pulled back if you want, un." Itachi sat up to watch him, watching him place a heavy iron guard in front of the fire. The warm of it took a few moments to reach him, and made the room smell wonderful. He had never had a fireplace before. "This will help you see better," Deidara explained, then hopped up onto the bed that really was much taller than it needed to be and began to tug his clothes off him.
"W-wait, wait stop, I—"
"Relax, Itachi," Deidara said with a slight roll of his eyes. "You can't sleep in these clothes, un." He stripped him down to his underwear, then arranged the bed to put him under the covers.
"I can do it myself, though…" The sheets under the covers were surprisingly warm for new sheets, but he realized as he stretched that there was a heating pad at the bottom of the sheets that his toes could just touch.
"I know you can," Deidara said pleasantly, flopping down on the bed next to him and rolled over so he was resting his head on his chest. Itachi went ridged as a board, but Deidara didn't do anything. "You go to sleep," the blond crooned, rubbing slow circles on his stomach. "I'll stay till you sleep, so you won't feel scared in a new place, un~"
"New places don't frighten me," Itachi stated, staring at the canopy over his bed.
"But I have to go later," Deidara continued as if he hadn't heard him. "The others will be looking for me, un. I know you like privacy, so I'll tell them not to come in here."
"Looking for you?" Itachi asked quietly.
"Well, I've been gone for a while, un," Deidara told him, "they miss me and probably want me to feed on them, un."
"They… they want you to bite them?" Itachi asked in surprise. "They like being your food?"
He felt the blond freeze and sit up slowly to look at him. His eyes reflected in the firelight oddly. He didn't look angry, but still Itachi's heart raced in fear for a moment. Had it been the wrong word? What else were they? What else were any of them to the blond except transportable food? Deidara had fed him, gave him clothes and brought him away from an empty life, but at what cost? There was an agonizing pause before Deidara laid back down next to him with his eyes on the canopy of the large bed. Uncertain of what to say, Itachi decided to follow his companion's actions and stayed silent, listening to the comforting crackle of the fire across the room until he finally fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again, he had no idea how much time had passed. The room was the same darkness, though the fire had gone down to a low ember, casting strange shadows against the walls. He sat up groggily, pinching the bridge of his nose to rub sleep from his eyes. He felt rested whether he slept a long time or short. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw that he was alone in the room, which was far grander than he expected. Climbing down off the bed, his toes sunk into a thick fabric and he padded over to the window as the rug became polished wood. After patting the curtains for break, he pulled them open and squinted at the brightness of the day. As his eyes adjusted to it, he gaped at the view before him, at the rolling hills of green and the deep, dark forests. It was so beautiful, yet familiar. He scrambled at the window for a latch, finally finding one and lifted the window to lean out and took a deep breath. He didn't know why, but he wasn't surprised at the smell of pine and wood smoke. He had dreamed about this place once, but he didn't know how he could have.
Turning from the window, he looked around for his clothes and pulled them back on. He didn't see his suitcase anywhere, which disappointed him a little. Quietly, he pushed the door to the hallway open and peered out into the hallway.
The fire had made the room much warmer than the rest of the building. Out of habit, Itachi had left his shoes off and the floor was cool under his feet. The hallway was dark, but there was a window at the end of the hallway that illuminated it enough to see. The hallway he exited opened to another larger hallway and he tried to follow the way Deidara had taken him back to the main entrance. The building looked like it was from a movie, old stone walls polished like the smooth floor. He stepped onto the dark rug that ran lengthwise down the hallway and was grateful for the barrier between the chilled floor and his feet. Yet despite the oldness, he could see wires running from the lights hanging on the ceiling.
He stopped short when he heard a voice from one of the rooms ahead. He crept forward and peered through the open door. In it, he saw the little girl that had first greeted him sitting at a desk with books spread across the desk as she took notes. She chatted happily in German to an equally young sounding voice coming from the laptop perched there. Her room was large like his was, but brightly decorated with fabrics, furniture and toys. Her walls contained posters of athletic women and magazine cutouts of clothes. She seemed to be studying and he wondered why she didn't go to school, but decided that it wasn't his business and he didn't want to bother her so he carefully crept on.
The image of the looming building came into his mind as he reached the stairs Deidara had carried him up. Maybe when Deidara was awake he could ask him for a map. Would Deidara be able to find him if he got lost? Would he starve before he found him? His hand fell on his stomach as it grumbled a little in protest. It didn't want to wait until sunset to get food, but where was the food? Did the place have a kitchen? There were humans here, so there must be a kitchen. He half wanted to turn back and ask the little girl for help, but he was feeling too anxious to try and figure out a way to ask for help.
"Itachi?"
Itachi nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice that cut through the silence. He had come to the top of the grand staircase and as he peered down, he saw the older man who had hugged Deidara standing at the bottom smiling up at him. "Hello," he said in English to the man, as another joined him, both looking up at him. They looked friendly enough and he began to come down the stairs, but they protested and came to him.
They spoke to him and he apologized, frustrated that he couldn't understand them. As Deidara predicted, they didn't seem bothered. The older gentleman, gave his wiry beard a rub as he smiled and handed him a small basket, then gave the other, younger, man a pat on the shoulder before leaving.
"Ich bin Grey," the man said, touching his hand to his chest. "Itachi," he gestured to the brunette then himself again. "Grey." He paused for a moment, then said in halting Japanese that sounded rehearsed, "I'm sorry I don't know Japanese. Deidara asked me to teach you."
"Thank you," Itachi said, bowing to him.
The man named Grey led him down one of the hallways leading into the deeper part of the castle. Now that Itachi was close to him, he recognized him from the night before as well, waiting to the side when Deidara came home. He wondered about him, wanting to ask him questions about the blond and the other humans he had seen the night before, but knew it would take so much effort to find the words to ask. He didn't even know if it was appropriate to ask. They passed through another hallway, a short stair case and another hallway before finally coming to a halt in front of large wooden double doors. Itachi wondered how he could tell the many doors apart, but the fear of getting lost left him when the man opened the doors and flipped on an electric light.
The library. This was the library Deidara had told him about, and he hadn't been exaggerating about its size. He could barely bring himself to step over the threshold as Grey stepped further inside, opening the curtains to let in the sunlight. He had never seen such a big library inside a house before. It had two visible main floors with two wings that had spiral staircases that disappeared into a third floor. There were sofas and overstuffed chairs in various places and in private corners. The deep part of room next to the biggest windows was a grand fireplace with a huge marble mantle, empty and cold, but it completed the room. Rows and rows of wonderful, colorful books. He breathed in the smell of them and felt himself relax.
"Wow," he breathed.
The man smiled at him and made a broad gesture at the library then pointed at Itachi. He said something to him in German and Itachi heard Deidara's name among the words. He didn't seem bothered by Itachi's confusion and motioned for him to sit in one of the stuffed chairs by the empty fire place that had a large table next to it. While Itachi waited for Grey, who was rummaging around on the shelves, he looked into the basket the other had given him and was delighted and relieved to see food. It was a small Tupperware of scrambled eggs and sausage was inside, another Tupperware contained pieces of assorted vegetables cut into small bite size pieces, along with a few rolls, and a small jug of orange juice. He sighed in relief and began nibbling at the bread and sipping the orange juice.
"Ah!" Grey said as he joined him, smiling. "Deidara sagte, du musst essen.." Itachi gave him a confused, but apologetic look he felt his face would become permanently frozen in and Grey made held up two fingers like claws and tapped his neck. "Deidara."
Itachi nodded, shifting uncomfortable, but Grey just nodded his understanding. "Bitte essen," he said, gesturing to the food and made an eating gesture before he began setting down books in German and a German to Japanese dictionary and a notepad and pencil for Itachi. Grey began patiently teaching him German, going over the letters, sounds and basic phrases for him. Itachi had no concept of time in the library. He had no idea what time it had been when he had woken, but time was not important. Learning was one of his favorite things and Grey gave him work sheets and vocabulary lists. This library was open to him. The library in Deidara's Japanese study had had multiple languages in it, so he assumed this one did, but since this was Germany, he assumed there was mostly German books and he was determined to be able to read them all. After a few hours, Grey excused himself, but left him with massive amount of work – work Itachi had asked for after frantically digging through the dictionary for the words for 'more' and 'please'.
As he stumbled over the words for the days of the week – slightly annoyed that 'Mittwoch' was the only day that didn't end in 'tag', cool fingers slid over his eyes and pulled him gently away from his books. Deidara's voice behind him began singing the days for him in a tune that sounded like a nursery rhyme. His cool hands felt nice against his tired eyes. "Good morning, Itachi," he crooned when he'd finished, sliding into the chair behind him and curled up against his back.
"Is it night time already?" Itachi asked, putting his pencil down and rubbing his eyes. Deidara had his chin resting on Itachi's shoulders so he could see him.
"Mhm," Deidara said, reaching around him to push the papers around to look at what he was working on. "You woke up around… noon I think? I heard you walking around that time at least. You've been working here for a long time, un. How can you sit still for so long?"
"I like working," Itachi defended himself, rearranging the papers Deidara had messed up.
The blond chuckled. "Grey came to see me when he left you," he told him, reaching out to mess the papers up again, but Itachi automatically flicked his hand away. "I bet you're hungry, un."
"I didn't know where the kitchen was," Itachi admitted. He didn't feel hungry before, but now that Deidara had mentioned it, his stomach grumbled from being ignored. "Though… another man gave me food. He had been with Grey when they found me." He pointed to the basket and Deidara made another pleased noise.
"That was Wes," he told him. "He's like … everyone's dad. Willst du frühstücken?" Itachi blinked, recognizing some of the words, but then realized the question wasn't directed at him. He looked up and saw a handful of other humans at the door, some looking sleepy, others awake. They nodded and turned to hurry down the hallway. 'Frühstücken' sounded like 'breakfast'. "Wanna go eat with us?" Deidara asked him in Japanese.
Itachi was a little startled by the question. In the past few weeks, Deidara never gave him an option. He ate when Deidara remembered to feed him, went where Deidara wanted him to. He wasn't sure how to feel about all this. A small part of him was pleased that he heard the German correctly at least. "Can I shower first?" he asked quietly.
"Of course," Deidara said, hopping off the chair and held his hand out for Itachi to take. Itachi stood slowly and followed him, but didn't take his hand. "I'll take you back to your room so you don't get lost, un," the blond continued, unperturbed by his refusal. As they walked, Itachi made counted the hallways and stairs again, noting paintings and stain glass windows and wondered if he'd be able to find his way back to the library.
"Where's my suitcase?" he asked as they stepped into the room and Deidara flipped the switch he hadn't seen that turned the lights on.
"I put everything away in the closet when you were asleep," Deidara told him, pointing to one of two doors on the opposite side of the room from his bed.
Confused as to what the blond was grinning about, he opened the door and stared inside as the blond reached in and flipped the light on for him. This wasn't a closet. This was another whole bedroom! There was a dresser that looked like a heavy movie prop, more authentic than any movie. There were cast iron clothing racks and wardrobes with many shelves and neat racks for shoes. He had brought no more than a single suitcase, but the room was full of clothes. The far side of the room had a few full-length mirrors to allow different angles to be seen. He could see his stunned reflection in it, Deidara's impish grin behind him. He turned to stare down at him. "What is all this?" he stammered.
"Your closet!" Deidara beamed, obviously proud of himself. "It should all fit, but if we can get them altered if it needs it, un. I ordered it while we were at the airport in Dubai." He giggled again then tugged him away from the room and led him to the other door. This was the bathroom which was equally intimidating and beautiful as the other room. It had dark marble surfaces, huge mirror over double sinks, a shower and a huge claw footed bathtub.
"What…" Itachi froze, then turned to stare at the vampire behind him. He was on sensory overload, and after living in Tokyo for the majority of his life, he didn't think that was possible. "This is too much," he said quietly, eye wide.
The blond just continued to beam proudly, like it was his goal in life to blow Itachi's mind. "Don't be silly," he said, grin threatening to split his face in half. "Take your time," he said, giving him a little nudge. "I'll send someone to get you so you won't get lost, un."
"Okay," Itachi grimaced, eyeing the bathroom nervously. He was pretty sure the room was going to swallow him whole. "Ah… Deidara…sa—…" he stumbled, unsure if Deidara would want any suffixes attached to his name, but the blond didn't finish for him, just looked at him curiously. "Do you… do you have a map of the house? I don't want to burden anyone while I learn the layout."
"Sure, I'll find one, un," Deidara nodded. He paused at the door and glanced back at him. "You don't need to add anything to my name. Just Deidara is fine."
And then he was gone, leaving Itachi in a bathroom bigger than his little apartment in Tokyo. Itachi wondered how Deidara could afford all this. He lived in a castle. He bought him all these clothes. Did vampires have jobs? A bath would take too long, though it looked like it would be marvelous. Instead he took a few tentative steps to the shower and, despite the old-fashioned appearance of all the items, the faucets were modern and after some fiddling, got the water to the temperature he liked and slipped his clothes off. The hot water felt wonderful, stripping away the stress that had built up in his body. Like Deidara's mansion in Tokyo, this bathroom also had quite a few scented soaps and shampoos to choose from. He found one he liked after a few rounds of sniffing and began to scrub himself down. When he had to step out it was extremely reluctantly, rolling his shoulders as he gave the bathtub a look of longing and took a thick towel to dry himself off.
Shyly peeking out into the main room, he was relieved to see it was empty. Deidara had even given him the privacy of a closed door as well. Taking a deep breath, he went into the closet-room and opened up the drawers. Would he ever live long enough to wear all of these? Not a single thing looked second hand and all felt high quality. Seriously, did vampires have jobs? Deidara was too young to have a job. With a heavy, anxious sigh, he picked out the simplest clothes he could find – a part of dark wash jeans and a plain t-shirt and surveyed himself in the mirror. His reflection looked as miserable as he felt.
Outside in the main room, the door creaked open quietly and the sound of quiet footsteps reached his ears. "Hallo? Itachi?" came a familiar voice. The little girl who had greeted him first that had been studying in her room was peeking through his door. She waved when she saw him, asking him a question while pointing at herself then at the room. Assuming she was asking if she could come in, Itachi nodded and she came bouncing over to him, the skirts of her dress doing the same. She dragged a little stool from the corner and a comb from the dresser to stand behind him and comb the tangles out of his hair. He tried to protest, but she spoke sternly at him, forcing him to face forward so she could finish combing, then braided the wet strands. "Schöne Haare," she murmured, touching the tip of it.
Hoping gracefully down, she moved to stand in front of him beaming. "Mein Name ist Rose," she said, pointing at herself, then held her hands up with eight fingers displayed. "Ich bin acht!"
Itachi paused awkwardly for a moment, vocabulary rushing through his head, but her gestures explained it better than his one afternoon of study. "Nice to meet you, Rose," he said, feeling stupid for using Japanese. "I'm Itachi," he adjusted in German.
"Hajimemashite!" she repeated delightedly. She clasped her hands behind her back, grinning shyly. She said something to him that he didn't understand, then hurriedly said something as though to explain what she had said. He stammered that he didn't understand, but she didn't seem bothered about it. She gave him another nod, then said something else, but he still didn't understand so she hurried to one of the wardrobes and pulled out a dark, thick coat for him. She wrapped her arms around herself and made a shivering motion. "Kalt!" she said.
She waited while he put on his shoes and coat then held her hand out for him. He smiled at her and took it as they walked down the hallways together. It was the same path he took earlier that day and wasn't surprised when she stopped in front of the room he had seen her in and patted the door. "Mein!" she said, then led him further down, skipping a little. He recognized the large windows and grand staircase that marked the front entrance. As they descended the stairs, Itachi saw a few people waiting for them. They all smiled politely as they came down, passing Deidara who sat on the stairs with a large, sketchbook on his lap, eyes focused on it completely as he took a pen against it. Itachi stood awkwardly to the side, Rose still holding his hand except for when she buttoned up her own coat and pulled on a large flopping cap she had taken out of a pocket.
"Sorry, sorry!" came a woman's voice as someone flew down the stairs, grabbing the end of the banister to stop herself.
Deidara looked up from his work and grinned at the woman. They spoke in German for a moment as they gathered themselves to leave. It was extremely frustrating not understanding anything; he made a mental note to work harder on his lessons with Grey. The man who had given him the food that afternoon, Wes, came through the front door and practically herded them all out the door to the waiting SUV. There was an awful scrambling for preferred seats, which included a lot of bickering and laughter before they came to an agreement. Itachi tried to get a seat in the back corner where he wouldn't be noticed, but it was impossible. He was an honored guest – a new toy that they were all excited about. Wes was driving, Deidara in the passenger's seat. Rose had him wedged between her and another man who didn't look much older than himself, the two girls – the one who had hurried down the stairs and the girl who had assured him about his suitcase was behind them. All of them chatted away to each other, and to Itachi, despite the fact that he couldn't understand. When they reached the city, they were pointing at the window at things, trying to get his attention. Itachi assumed they were pointing things out to him, but he didn't understand. He looked to Deidara desperately, but the blond was just watching, listening to them chatter with a grin and commenting himself at times.
It didn't get better when they got out of the car either. They were all still talking, now Deidara joined in more enthusiastically and Itachi really just wanted to run and hide in a dark corner until it was all over. Was it going to be like this all the time? He didn't think he could handle it
The girl who had spoken to him the night before linked her arm around his and pulled him away from Rose, smiling in a friendly manner. She introduced herself as Samantha – Sam – and seemed delighted to listen to him say her name with his accent. Hearing him finally speak sparked the others interest again and they all crowded him, throwing names and words at him trying to get him to repeat him. Deidara finally came to his rescue just as he felt he was going to have some sort of panic attack. He pulled him out of the group and said something lightheartedly to the others.
"I told you they'd be excited to meet you, un," Deidara said grinning at him.
"I don't think I can do this," Itachi said quietly, though he knew the others couldn't understand him. "I'm sorry, I just want to wait in the car."
He hoped Deidara would understand the level of overwhelming anxiety he was feeling, but the blond either didn't notice or care. "Don't be stupid," he retorted. "You need to eat and you need to meet everyone, un. I'm not gonna have you starve," he added with a grin.
"Why? Would it make me taste bad?" he asked bitterly, frustrated that the blond was forcing him through this. Deidara made a small noise that could have been amusement or irritation. Deidara released his arm, allowing Sam to take his place. Deidara walked next to Wes instead as they left the parking lot and walked down the street to a small pub where the staff greeted the group like regulars and took them to a large booth seat in the corner where they could all see one another easily at the round table. The waitress brought out a round of juice, coffee, and, for some of them, beer, talking to them in a friendly manner. Itachi noticed that Deidara received juice, but the boy next to him drank it along with his own coffee. There was a flurry of menus and the five seemed in deep discussion about something. The waitress took their order and walked away.
He stared around subtly, feeling a little dejected. His order hadn't been taken; he hadn't even been given a menu. They hadn't forgotten him; they had a fight over who was going to sit next to him – Rose was on his left and the girl who had run down the stairs was on his right on the end of the booth. Why hadn't anyone asked him what he wanted? Was it because of his comment? Should he apologize? Chewing on his lower lip, he glanced up at Deidara hoping for some explanation, but the blond was drawing in his sketchbook again, talking to Wes who was making a few comments about what the blond was doing.
"Itachi."
He felt himself wrenched out of his pit of despair and smiled down at Rose. She gave him a toothy grin and placed a notebook down on the table between them. He smiled as she began drawing vigorously on the paper. He liked kids… much more than adults. When she was done, she showed it to him: a circle with smaller circles around it. "Du!" she said, pointing to his name written in English letters. He now saw that she'd drawn the table with everyone's names on it. She began pointing to each name then the person. "Itachi. Rose," she giggled when she pointed at herself. "Jack. Deidara. Wes. Sam. Kit." As she said each person's name, they gave a little wave and smiled.
"Nice to meet you," he said to them, bowing his head down to them.
There was a slight pause and he cringed a little, but Rose seemed understand his distress instantly and sat up on her knees and spoke in a way that made him think she was translating for him – and quite proud of it. They seemed to understand and spoke to him words of greeting as Rose gave his shoulder a pat and sat back down. The babble broke out again as they all began to talk to him, until Wes intervened. He spoke sternly to them, gesturing at Itachi. They all looked a little ashamed of themselves, glancing at Itachi, then at each other as Wes spoke to Deidara who continued to draw.
"They want to introduce themselves and ask you questions," Deidara said, not looking up as he made a lot of small marks on the paper. "I'll translate one at a time, is that okay?"
Itachi nodded, sitting up straighter. He expected an argument over who would ask first, but everyone looked at the girl to his right, who set her glass of beer down and smiled at him. Her hair was so white it looked fake, but it was shiny and straight and she was dressed in a nice blouse and heels. "My name's Kit, I'm Deidara's accountant," Deidara translated for her. "Have you been to Germany before?"
Itachi shook his head. "I've never been outside of Japan before I met Deidara," he told her.
Before someone could ask another question, the waitress returned with a huge tray of food. He was happy to see he hadn't been forgotten. They must have ordered for him so he didn't have to stress over the foreign food and words. His plate had mashed potatoes, a long sausage on a bed of sauerkraut and a kind of fileted meat, though he wasn't sure what kind, with an egg on top. It smelled amazing. He smiled and said thank you to the table at large, glancing around at the other plates of food. He was surprised to see Rose had a lot more food on her plate than the others – certainly more than an eight-year-old should.
"You're going to eat all of that?" he asked her, making a circular gesture around her plate.
She glanced down at his plate then gave him a beaming smile and bobbed her head up and down.
"Were you in school when Deidara found you?" the blond translated for Wes-who-was-a-gardener. "What did you like to study?"
Itachi nodded. "I was in high school," he said, "my last year. I had just gotten into the school I wanted." He noticed that Deidara's translation was much shorter than what he had said and wondered if he hadn't translated the last sentence. It was disappointing that he had worked hard to get into that school for his last year and get taken away from it. "I was going to study accounting, but I really like history best."
He watched their reactions to the translation and as the babble died down, Deidara explained, "they think Kit can teach you if you wanted to learn. She has been with me the longest and works as an accountant with the other vampires in the city too, even the ones that live in the castle." Itachi's mouthful of delicious mashed potatoes suddenly turned to dust in his mouth. He tried to swallow to ask a question about them, but Deidara continued before he could force it down. "They won't hurt you, Itachi. They have strict rules they have to live by if they want to live here, un. They're not Sasori."
At the redhead's name, everyone – save for Rose who continued to diligently plow through her food – froze and glanced up. Jack looked at Deidara and murmured quietly. Itachi caught Sasori's name, but the blond just shook his head and spoke reassuring words. "They don't like Sasori either," he explained to Itachi. Itachi didn't think it was possible for anyone to like Sasori.
He continued to answer questions. Sam proudly stated she was from Atlanta, Georgia and asked if he liked watching or playing sports – not really. Jack told him he was 25 and also from America, though he hailed from Baltimore, and was a film major and asked what his favorite color was – he never really thought about it, but he supposed dark blue. Rose stood up on her knees again when it was her turn and grinned, proclaiming she was going to be a fashion designer when she grew up, spreading her arms out dramatically as she did so and asked Itachi if honey toast was real because she had seen a picture online – he had seen advertisements for them, but never ate one himself. The circle of questions began again with Kit and the dinner continued with no issues. Perhaps father-figure-Wes had noticed his discomfort with noise and had noted to them that he was quieter than they were and they didn't want to upset him. When they ran out of questions, they spoke in their own languages together, laughing and seeming to enjoy being around one another. Rose had finished her plate that had been big enough for an adult man and a half and was nibbling on the crumbs of a delicious strudel she had insisted on sharing with Itachi.
After translating his last response, Deidara had gone back to being frighteningly silent. He didn't look very happy, Itachi noted in the few times he had glanced up at him. He didn't want to ask – not with the others around, but he was almost worried what would happen if he did ask what was wrong. Would Deidara turn him away? Would he punish him again? Or have someone else do it for him? He shivered a little as he remembered the hunt and Kit absentmindedly patted his arm, but didn't inquire. When they were finished, Deidara paid the waitress and they walked out. Sam and Jack linked arms and proclaimed something with a loud cheer before marching off together to spend the night how they wished.
Deidara's voice was soft at his side, causing him to look back at the blond with a twist of nerves. "Here," was all he said, handing Itachi the page of the sketchbook he had been drawing all night, carefully folded up. As he unfurled it, he found a map of the mansion in amazing detail. Everything had its own labels, written in German and Japanese – Deidara had even marked off the areas of the house that were not safe such as the other vampires living quarters. When he'd asked for a map, he hadn't expected the blond to hand draw one for him, but before he could stammer out his thanks, Deidara was walking away with Kit. Wes placed a hand on both his and Rose's shoulders and led them back to the car to take them home. Yawning hugely, Rose murmured, "Gute Nacht," and climbed the stairs towards her room.
Left alone, Itachi return to the library and was about to sit down when a chiming caught his attention and he noticed for the first time the grandfather clock against the far wall, happily informing him that it was 9:00. He wondered where everyone went off to, but he had no way of knowing. He wondered how they could stand to live as someone's portable food banks, but they had seemed happy to him. He wondered too about Rose. She seemed too young to be Deidara's food, but her presence didn't seem odd to the others. He didn't understand. He walked the library shelves, examining the titles, some ancient, some new and went back to his study table to retrieve his dictionary and began using it to read the labels above the selves that were decorated in small ornate metal frames. He found sections on anatomy, history, sciences, chemistry and alchemy. He found a section of books in Spanish and French and English and Korean and Chinese and, hurrying down the rows with slight hope rising, a section of books in Japanese. He sighed in slight relief as he looked at the familiar shapes and words and picked one out randomly. It was a fiction book and he took it back to his study table to read while he took breaks between studying.
He worked until the clock chimed 1AM and his eyes were growing heavy and he found himself reading the same sentence three times. He left his work in neat piles at the table and went back to his room, finding the silence of the castle a little unnerving, but was surprised to see a woman coming out of Rose's room, shutting it very quietly as if the girl was sleeping inside. She seemed to size him up as she looked at him, but smiled and gave a nod before walking away. He wondered who she was and, when she was gone, cracked Rose's door open to peek inside. He could hear her soft breathing from the mound of blankets illuminated in a soft nightlight shaped like a small dog and quickly closed the door before the light woke her up and returned to his own bedroom.
Deidara didn't come to visit him.
