Yes! Another chapter, right after number eight! Great Expectations is getting a little boring now. Ah well...I guess I'll doodle instead of read. First I have to edit, of course. Oh! I forgot to mention in chapter seven...Ritsuka-san turned 15 on July 9. =] Yaaay. I gave him two giant hand-drawn posters. One of Itachi-san and one of Deidara-san. He almost died of happiness hahaha. I went to his party about four days afterwards and it was really awesome. Though I couldn't drink much because I knew my mom was going to check whether I was drunk as soon as she came to pick me up at 10:00. I was right. She did. But I gulped down a lot of soda and got away with it, hehehe.
Anyway...I hope you enjoy this chapter =]
Sasori's POV
I checked my watch: 9:43 p.m. Great, I had once again taken too much time in the Art Gallery, not to mention I had forgotten to stop by the studio. With a sigh, I waved goodbye to Narita sensei, and began packing up my supplies. I looked around the semi-dark room, wondering whether I'd ever finish the puppet that was due next week. I sighed, exhausted, and began brushing wood chips off of my work area and onto my hand. I came across a book and set it aside so I could finish cleaning up the wood chips.
I dumped them in the trash and turned back to my now somewhat clean work station. I picked up the faded black book and stared at it. It had a blank cover with nothing written on it. I turned it over and still found nothing. I opened it and flipped through the pages, which were all written on in neat, slanting handwritting. I raised an eyebrow and looked on the inside of the cover. There, written in small letters were the words: Here ya go, Blondie. Take care of yourself. -Nana
That was all. Whose was this?
I stuffed the book in my backpack, deciding to have a thorough look at it later and, if I ever found out who it belonged to, return it to its owner. Eager to get home, I grabbed a wet towel scrap and wiped down my table. With one last wave to Narita sensei, I was out the double doors and heading home.
"Saso-kun!"
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no!
I was only feet from my apartment, keys aleady in hand, and feeling relieved to be home. Why did that pink-haired freak have to follow me around everywhere? Hadn't I already done enough for her?
"Haruno, go home," I muttered. "Yamanaka will be expecting you, I believe..."
She hopped out from the next door neighbor's huge potted plant and smiled. "Haha! I just wanted to thank you, silly."
"Yeah, well...thank me some other time. Or...here's an idea. Just a tiny little, idea. Not really important, just a thought: How about you just go away and don't thank me?" I said, already annoyed. "And...yeah, just don't ever return."
Sakura crossed her arms and huffed. "Geez. I'm just being grateful."
"Well...don't be." I said. "I just hooked you up so you'd stop bothering me and I guess it didn't work. What? Yamanaka doesn't keep you busy enough? Wait...don't answer that question."
She rolled her eyes but blushed all the same. "Fine. But I want you to know that me and Ino-chan are doing really good. Thanks. I didn't know I was...well, thank you."
I jammed my key inside the lock and stared at her. "Don't mention it. Now...get out of here, I have homework," I lied.
"Sorry to bother you, Saso-kun! Ja ne!" She walked away happily, humming a happy tune.
Disgusting.
How did Yamanaka stand her?
Once inside my nice (totally not depressing...), not to mention comfortably warm apartment, I locked the front door and went into the kitchen. I grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator and went back to the living room. Once the lights were on, I flopped down on the couch, grabbed my backpack, opened it, and extracted the black book. I took a drink of soda and set the can down on the coffee table on which my feet were propped up against.
"Let's see..."
I turned it to the first page. No date:
Wow. I feel kind of stupid for keeping this shit. I don't even know why Nana gave it to me...could it be true that she likes me? That's what the whole school says.
Wait, why am I writing in this thing? A diary, really...that's just fucking stupid. Yet I'm writing in it. And still am.
What would Danzo and Oigimi say about this? Heh, I'd bet they would laugh.
Heh, I like the idea of a diary. Sorta. Kinda. I got no one to talk to except fo Nana. But...I don't know I don't really like talking to her. She scares me sometimes, haha.
Well, Mahiru finally got here. Fuck, that guy drives like two miles per hour hahaha. I gotta go, guess I'll write tomorrow if feel like it.
Ja ne.
I stared at the page, feeling more clueless than ever. This gave me no clue as to whose diary this was. I could tell it was a guy though. I just could. It was a relatively short entry. I thought I found something familiar in that neat handwriting, but I didn't know what. I turned to the second page:
Hey, I'm actually back. Well, I'm just completely hung over today and I got nothing to do besides lie here in bed while Danzo and Oigimi argue downstairs. Oh they're yelling. At least my door's closed and they're not yelling too loudly.
Well, what to write about? Uh...I don't know. Well, yesterday we almost got caught drinking in Mahiru's basement by his mom. She came down and I just pretended to be asleep and he was I think pretending to look for something. I dunno but she left without saying anything.
I think Danzo just whacked Oigimi. It sounded like it hurt.
Hold up, I gotta light up another cigarette.
Heh, I'm talking to you like you're a person. This is kinda cool. It's like having a friend. Speaking of friends, or actually girlfriends, Rika won't stop bugging me and I think I'm gonna break up with her. I'd usually stay, just for the sex...but she ruined that too.
Seriously...this is weird.
I-
The rest of the page had been ripped from the book, wether intentionally or accidentally I did not know. I flipped to the next page and saw only a small but well-drawn little chibi. There was no label saying who this chibi was or who drew it. I suspected the owner of the diary had, but was still clueless as to who it belonged to.
I sighed impatiently, this was proving harder than I thought. I hated making people wait and I hated being made to wait. But I guess there was no helping it since this person probably did not know me and they probably did not mean to make me wait.
I tossed the book aside and stuck my hand inside my backpack, bringing out the thick Geometry book and a notebook. I grabbed a pencil from my pocket and sighed, mentally kicking myself for being such an idiot and leaving my homework until the last minute. Once again, as it often happened when I got commissioned, I had left all my homework undone and I was now horribly behind on all my work. I cast a reproachful look at the book, silently blaming it for my troubles when I really had to blame the massive amount of commissions I kept getting. I didn't have a choice: I needed money.
I sighed again and opened my Geometry book to the assigned page.
xXx
Normal POV
Deidara sat in bed, staring out the open window, wishing he were asleep in Konan's bed with her warm body lying next to him reassuringly. He loved the way that he could turn around in the middle of the night and find Konan's beautiful face there, and he could still smell her perfume on him and it drove him mad that he could not be with her.
There was a soft knock on the door.
Deidara jerked his head in the direction of the noise. "Yeah?" he muttered wearily.
"It's me," came the soft reply, and the door opened, revealing Oigimi in her nightgown. She came inside, closing the door softly behind her.
Deidara turned away from her and continued to stare out the window.
"You should be asleep, Deidei," Oigimi said, staring at the digital clock on Deidara's bedside table. It was 4:30 a.m."You haven't even changed into your pijamas."
Deidara leaned his head against the wall. "I can't sleep in this house. You know that..."
Oigmi sat on the edge of Deidara's bed, her foot brushed up against something on the floor and there was the unmistakable clink of bottles. "You've been drinking again..." she said accusingly, but sadly.
Deidara did not answer but merely continued to stare out the window.
Oigimi sighed and stared around Deidara's moonlit room, which was as messy as ever: papers, clothing, and books littered the floor. More books completely obscured the desk in a corner and his bedside table was creaking under the combined weight of his backpack, a few notebooks, and his digital clock. A broken skateboard had been thrown onto a corner and a bag of sculpting clay was now sitting on top of the halves. A couple of beer bottles now laying on the floor had been added to the mess less than an hour ago.
"How's school?" Oigimi asked tentatively. She was not speaking in her usually cheerful and very much annoying tone.
"Sucks," Deidara mumbled. He sighed and turned to look at his mother's tired face. Without twenty pounds of makeup added to her face, she looked her age and not ten years younger. Not just that, but she looked different...sad, even. "What do you really want? You're not gonna tell me you fancied a talk with me at four in the morning."
"I've been thinking-"
"-that's news," Deidara cut in irritably.
Oigimi sighed. "I've been thinking: It's been a while since I've seen you, well, happy and...I thought- well, Yugiri thought that it would be a good idea to throw a party. I don't know, just a random party and invite all your friends, your girlfriend, my friends from work..."
She eyed Deidara hopefully.
The blonde raised his visible eyebrow. "You came to ask me what I thought about you throwing a party...at four in the morning..."
Oigimi ran a hand through her freshly-cut hair. "Just answer me."
"Fine," said Deidara. "Sure."
She beamed and then, almost instantly, her smile faded. She turned to look at the blonde with the slightest bit of fear. "Danzo called me today..."
"And what did that b- what did he want?" Deidara said, catching himself just in time and managing to keep his tone steady. He did not like talking about his dad.
"He wanted to see us," Oigimi said quietly.
Deidara snorted. "Like hell if Ii'm gonna-"
"I agreed," Oigimi said and it seemed that she wished she hadn't.
There was a very long, very loud silence between them, broken only by the siren of an ambulence somewhere in the distance. Deidara rested his head against the wall and stared out the window, not daring to believe his ears. Did the idiot actually want to see Danzo after all he had done to them? After he had nearly-
"So...?" Oigimi's voice burst in through his thoughts.
"You told him you'd go see him?" Deidara said slowly, not looking at her.
"Well, I told him we'd go see him," Oigimi replied nervously.
Deidara took a deep breath. "I'm not going."
Oigimi did not look entirely surprised. In fact, she seemed a bit relieved. Her expression of relief, however, was soon replaced by one of defiance. "Deidara...you're going."
"Says you," Deidara said, turning to face her.
Oigimi flushed. "And that should be enough."
"No. What should be enough is all the times he hit you, pushed you down stairs, and the baby he made you loose," Deidara retorted, breathing very fast.
Tears sparkled in Oigimi's eyes and she blinked them away impatiently. "He's a new man!"
"And you believe him- he tried to kill me!" Deidara almost yelled. He fought the impulse to shake her, to make her see what a horrible man Danzo was.
"He-" Oigimi's voice died and she ran a hand through her hair again, looking around the room. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're drunk."
Deidara rolled his eyes. "And you're stupid," he said.
"Don't go back," Oigimi whispered, and Deidara knew what she meant.
"I'll try," he said wearily.
"Please. And...just go see him. Maybe...maybe you can make up," Oigimi said.
"I don't want to see him. I just wish him a lot of pain and suffering," Deidara said. "That man's not my dad."
Oigimi stood up and walked towards the door. "I want you in bed, in your pijamas in five minutes," she said in a voice that was not hers. "And you will see your dad on Thursday. That's final."
---
Dun dun dun! We'll finally meet Deidara's dad! Although I do not believe that is something to celebrate...Anyway, R&R por favor! Muchas gracias =] Ja ne!
