A few weeks have passed with no progress or whatsoever on our current mission as we continuously wandered the earth in hopes to find our target. At the very moment, we were riding on Deidara's clay bird, relocating again. It was dawn, the sun revealed its first rays in pretty colors on the horizon. The view was incredible.

I stretched out my arm as if I was attempting to catch the sun rays with my hands like a child.

"Hm?"

Deidara turned to me with a peaceful look on his face. He took his place next to me, admiring the sunrise as well.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

His hair lightly swayed with the wind, soft colors illuminating his face and hair. He was gorgeous. I smiled to myself before returning my gaze at the sunrise.

We both stood there in a comfortable silence, marvelling at the daybreak. Deidara must witness this sight quite often since he could fly on this bird whenever he wanted to. He was surely lucky.

"There is the sulfur stone temple I was hiding in for some time before the Akatsuki found me, hm..." He pointed somewhere below us. I squinted my eyes although I couldn't make much of it.

"Hm? Why are you squinting?"

Shoot, he noticed.

"You can't see?" He asked again.

"Well, I can..." I tried to convince him, although my efforts were rather weak.

He held up two fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding?"

"Two." I grumbled. "Come on, it's not that bad."

"But you'll need glasses, hm."

"Glasses? I don't think I need those."

"Then how will you help me find the the three tails? Are you making me do the job by myself?"

"I'm keeping my ears open. I've got good hearing, you know?"

He crossed his arms and scrutinized me, making me gulp.

"We're going to buy you glasses, hm." He announced bluntly.

"What? We can't do that! What about our funds?"

"This is for medical reasons so it's fine. You're lucky to be partnered with me since I am so much more generous than Kakuzu, hm."

I cannot agree with this; I just can't wear glasses for various reasons. My ego wouldn't allow it.

"But it's not necessary! I've survived this long with a crappy vision, I should be fine."

He returned to me with a fierce glare.

"How are you gonna spot our enemies, hm? How are we gonna complete our missions with you running around half-blind? And most importantly, how are you going to appreciate my art when it's not crystal clear, hmm?" He grabbed me by the shoulders.

He said 'most importantly' but for some reason I had a feeling it was the only thing he was really concerned about.

"I can see it well enough... "

"But you need to see clearly the exact moment the object bursts, the moment it loses its shape to become something sublime in a single flash, you need to pay attention to every little detail to that very moment, you need to see everything in a clear vision, hm! " He violently shook me.

"Okay, okay!" I yelled, feeling a little dizzy from all the shaking.

"Let's go then, hm!" He immediately had his bird fly towards a new direction.

I shook my head at the fact that he thought this matter was more urgent than I did, however, I could discern that it meant a lot of him. This man was crazy but if it would bring a smile on his face, then I suppose it may be worth a shot.

"What about the temple you were talking about? Can I check it out first?" I asked.

"You can't see anything anyways, hm."

I pouted.

"Maybe next time." He added.

"Fine."

It didn't take us long to arrive at a village, which I didn't know the name of, and followed Deidara through the alleyways until we arrived at an optical store, manifesting how dead serious he was about this. After undergoing through a series of annoying eye tests, the optician eventually prescribed me with a grade and instructed me to pick one of the frames available at the store. The problem was that I didn't like any of the designs put on display.

"How about these, hm." Deidara held up a pair of round glasses.

"The last thing I want to do is look like Kabuto."

"Hmm… what about these?" He showed me another pair.

"Um.. no."

"So... which ones do you want?"

"Can you just choose for me? Just don't let me look like Kabuto."

"I can't really give you my opinion on something that has no art or style to it. This is a matter of practicality, hm."

"But shouldn't practicality come with a bit of visual appeal? Or emotional appeal, at least."

"That's what artists do, we combine usefulness with a touch of flamboyance to add a statement to our works , but there's not enough creative room to affirm an idea in eyeglasses. They're just tools, not art, hm."

I sighed. This was getting nowhere so I just grabbed a simple pair to just get over with this nonsense. I put them on and examined myself in the mirror and was surprised to see how clear everything around me looked, even Deidara appeared a lot more handsome, although I wouldn't expect anything else from him. A small blush rose to my face but immediately died down as I glanced back to the mirror. The glasses and white nails just looked terribly out of place to my aspired image. I've strayed too far.

"You look like someone with identity crisis, hm." He commented.

I frowned.

"Come on, don't make that face. You don't looks that bad, hm. At least you can see now."

Deidara handed the payment for the glasses to the optician and left the store. I looked meekly around, curious about my surroundings until I spotted a dozen of vendors selling delicious, sweet-smelling, oily, unhealthy street food, resulting an instance grumble from my stomach in response. Comfort food was just what I needed right now.

"Hey, let's go eat!" I suggested.

"We already spend a lot on your glasses. Kakuzu might kill us, hm."

"Nah, we're fine." I flashed him a load of cash from my cloak.

"Where did you get that?"

"From the optician, of course. Were you really going to spend money on something that's not art?"

"Good call, hm. Let's eat then."

We walked over to the vendors, eyeing the different kind of street food they had to offer. Deidara eventually introduced me to his favorite food of all time which was called Bakudan, which consisted of boiled eggs in surimi, and also literally translated to the word "bombs". Surely not coincidence.

"Try it for yourself. It's the best, hm." He held out the funny-looking ball to my face, causing my head to race.

Was he actually feeding me? He held the food so closely to my mouth that it only made sense for me to bite it but I heard that it was kind of an intimate thing to be feeding someone with their own chopsticks. Was it really okay for me to take a bite from his chopsticks? I gulped. Maybe I was supposed take the chopsticks from him instead to make it appear less amorous but wouldn't be awkward to grab them while he's holding the food so close to me. What do I do? Why am I always overthinking?

I took a step back and flashed him a crooked smile. "I'll pass."

"What? Why? No, you need to try it; it's really good, hm!" He insisted, pushing the ball into my lips.

I guess I had no choice but to open my mouth and take a bite, trying to ignore my pounding heart. A sensation of different flavors exploded on my tongue, surprising but delightful. This was actually tasted great.

"This is amazing!"

"Told you so, hm."

He looked at me for a moment before reaching out his hand and wiping some sauce off my chin with his thumb, causing my knees to go weak. Why does he keep making me flustered? Why was it so easy for him to just randomly touch me?

I hurried towards the vendor selling Takoyaki and dipped them in the spiciest sauce, pretending that was the reason why my face was tomato-red. It was worth it though, as spicy food is the closest thing to heaven.

Somehow, a crazy idea entered my mind and I dipped the small ball in a mild sauce before holding it out to him. He raised his eyebrows but eventually leaned forward and ate the Takoyaki ball. I was actually feeding him!

"Hehe.."

"Hm? Why are you laughing?"

"Oh, uh...nothing." I just hoped I didn't weird him out or something.

"We should get back to work soon, hm."

"Sure."

"Before that, is there anything else you need to get fixed?"

"... Huh?"

"Do you have any other medical complaints or something? As long as it can be fixed, the Akatsuki can cover for it financially, hm."

"Oh.." I thought for a moment. I wondered whether I should tell him about my kidney or not but as I looked at the very spicy food I was eating, as well as remembering my liking to drink alcohol, I knew he would ban these from me as long as he would be my partner, and I just couldn't give them up.

I shook my head. I would probably regret this one day.

"Alright, let's go, hm."

I trailed after him, leaving the village before jumping on his clay bird and rising up to the sky, soaring over the village.

"Since you can see clearly now, I want you to reevaluate my art... hm."

I watched him in curiosity as he created a strange-looking figure that had its arms crossed.

"This is one of my specialties, C3!"

He dropped the figure and within seconds, it grew to an enormous size while spreading its arms.

"-Katsu!"

In an instant the figure detonated, causing a mass destruction and wiped out the village entirely, including the optician I had stolen money from as well as the vendors who served us food, until nothing but a crater was left as an insufficient reminder of its existence.

"Well, what do you think, hm?"

"Such a grand scale explosion is actually very impressive."

"And? How was the instant transition to an explosion now that you can see better? "

"Well, I guess the moment it loses its form is bit clearer now but I still haven't changed my mind. It's a beautiful and unique concept."

Deidara beamed at me, looking overjoyed. There was just something so radiant and heartwarming when he was happy, his smirk was infectious. He cheerfully talked about his art for a few more hours before we left the village that once existed.

The sun was now high in the sky, the color blue was overwhelming. Now that I think about it, looking at the sky was like looking into Deidara's eye, they had the very same color as if a piece of the sky was cut out and placed into Deidara's eyes, and they both gave me a sense of beauty of freedom.

I looked back to Deidara when I suddenly felt a sudden pain in my chest. It was not physical pain but something else, I didn't know how to explain it. It was perhaps a realization that for the first time in my life there actually was someone who cared about my opinion and health, even if it was just work-related, but… I was not completely alone anymore.

There was finally somewhere I could belong to.

We're home.