Chapter 7, Haunting

[Deidara's Journal]

When I heard my master call my name in a stern voice, I was prepared for him to go off on one of his rants. I would never go as far as to say he's not understanding, but I knew that the cool and collected Sasori could never fathom the rage that was burning inside every fiber of my body, urging me to set fire and destruction to the person who had so unjustly wronged me. Even if my master could wrap his head around my situation, it would take too long for an impatient person like himself to attempt. I gave him an exasperated look, hoping he would get the message of my "unwavering determination" quickly enough to spare me hours of his scolding. For someone who hates keeping people waiting, he should know not to hold me up like this when it won't do me (or him) any good, yeah.

"Why don't we sleep together?" Even as I saw his perfect lips form the words, his eyes remaining relaxed as always and his pale face without the hint of blush, they felt like they had been spoken by someone else. Someone with a sick sense of humor and nasty grudge against me, yeah. My mouth dropped, my face heating up like the pavement outside of the school and back on the streets of that summer where the two of us had first met. "Well?" He smirked, knowing that with his five hot words he had melted my desire to ever leave my room.

My head was spinning, like a preschooler that had just been told an calculus question when all they knew was basic addition. Before me was my best friend-the one person who had never been afraid to me honest with me, yet never feared giving me a smile or a pat on the back. He was one of the few people I had come to respect, and I couldn't bare the thought of losing him again.

"So, I guess this is goodbye." I remembered the words he had spoken last summer as if they had come from eons ago, a horrid nightmare that was mirrored only by the possible results of my next actions.

My master had chuckled, the bright sun's rays reflecting off his narrow eyes, a grin playing upon his usually monotone face, "Not really. I'm sure I'll hear about you again, when you end up killing yourself in some pointless explosion. The day I do, I promise I'll rush to your funeral."

"Yeah, and when you become a famous artist, and end up making your old decaying pieces of wood, I promise I'll come and see them, before I blow them up, at least." I grinned, hiding the pangs of pain that I felt pounding through my chest.

"I'm sure we'll have more misadventures together one day, Deidara, so until the next time I have the misfortune of running into you." I wonder what would have happened if those had been his last words to me, leaving me there on the train platform, drenched in sweat from wearing black on the last brilliantly sweltering day of that unbearably hot summer. I don't think I could have lived with that parting, yeah, or even worse, if his smirking face had been replaced with a look of dismay.

I was snapped back to the crushing pressure of my suddenly awkward reality, my master still with the same amused look. "Well, what will it be, Deidara?"

"Sasori.. I..." I gulped hard, unable to look into his eyes. "I wanna sleep with you, yeah." I admitted, my face hotter than the temperature outside, my heart beating like a bomb that was ready to burst.

"Good. Put all those explosives away and come sit next to me." He said, patting the space on the bed next to him.

I hurriedly stuffed my beloved art supplies away and sat down next to him, monitoring my every movement as I did so. I've never felt so... self-conscious around him... but now that I know we're about to...

"Deidara," He spoke, looking up at me (it always did seem strange that I'm taller than him, even though he's far more mature, yeah) "Don't get so flustered over something so little. You overreact far too much."

Little? This is possibly the furthest thing from little ever! I can't believe he's so calm about this...! Has he been planning it for awhile...? Has he done this sort of thing with other boys...No, he's not like that, yeah. I thought trying to pull myself together.

"It's just a sleep over. We had sleep overs last summer, too, I don't see the big deal." He said, raising an eyebrow at me.

He meant... sleep together... as in have a sleep over... not...It took me a minute, but I connected the dots.

"You always got so excited when we had sleep overs last summer, I thought it would make you happy. I never imagined you'd get nervous over something so trivial, though." He chuckled. "So, what would you like to do?"

You. I thought, but didn't dare say. "Uh..." My thoughts were still jumbled, the shock had been a tranquillizer to my mind, and the affects were only slowly wearing off.

"I have an idea, how about we play with a Ouija board." He suggested.

I had never been tempted to disturb the dead, but a part of me wasn't surprised that the thought of talking with ghosts appealed to Sasori, yeah. I always thought there was something disturbingly macabre about all his corpse like puppets. "You have one, yeah?"

"No, but we can make one, all we have to do is write the alphabet on a piece of paper." He already had a piece of paper in his hand, using the hard surface of clip board to steady his writing. Each letter curled slightly at the end, his writing both elegant and small. I could see him stressing to write bigger than usual for the sake of the game. "You know how to play, right?" He checked first. I nodded. "We'll need something to put our hands on..."

"Oh, I can handle that." Reaching into my pocket I pulled out some clay, shaping it into the form of a triangle.

"That should do." He placed the clipboard between us on the bed, laying the clay piece in the center of our makeshift medium. "For the record, I don't believe in this sort of thing." He clarified. "It's just a game."

I chuckled, "You just want to see if I'll get scared, yeah."

"That too." He smirked, placing his hands on the clay piece. Again, I found myself feeling awkward and self conscious. Sasori is not a physical person, even high-fives are a rare occurrence with someone as distant and calm as he is. His pale skin always looks so soft... I put my hands on his, a shiver running up my spine. He on the other hand seemed unaffected. "Alright, spirits, we beseech you, honor us with your presence." He spoke politely, yeah.

The marker slowly spelled out the word "hello". Sasori fired more questions at the phantom, like what it's name was, when it had lived, and how it died. The room had become dark, the night pitch black and only the light from the moon illuminating the scene. Slowly, without having been asked a question, the clay marker inched over to an "I" followed by spelling out he word "will", and a slow creeping towards the letter "K", then I, and L... I jumped, taking my hands off the board.

"I think we should stop, Master!" My look of horror wasn't reflected in Sasori's face, in fact he was actually laughing. "W-what's so funny?"

"You're so simple minded, Deidara." He told me smugly, "I was moving it. You said it yourself, I just wanted to scare you."

I flushed, "Y-you jerk!" I grabbed him by his thin shoulders, pushing him down on the bed as he continued to chuckle.

He smiled up at me, "At least you're not thinking about blowing up Itachi any more."

"No, I'm thinking of blowing you up!" I laughed, not moving from my position. The moonlight flooded in through the window, my Master wearing a rare, happy face for once. Even if he scared me, he was just trying to distract me from Itachi... he really is nice, yeah... I guess... maybe that's part of why I love him.

I tightened my grip on his shoulders, leaned down, and kissed him.

[author's note]

Sorry it took so long! The next chapter will be out soon!