Deidara woke the next morning feeling odd. It felt like something was missing, or like a piece of his art was left on the shelf for too long. He sat up and looked around his room – everything was as it should be, as he left it the night before. So why couldn't he shake this feeling? He swung his legs over the side of his bed and turned on the lamp on his nightstand. He stared at his open palms, the tongues of his hand-mouths waving themselves around as they usually did at their earliest convenience. When he closed his hands, the tongues stopped.

As a habit, Deidara wandered over to his worktable and began sculpting. He wasn't really aiming to create anything specific, so he just kept poking and prodding the clay. After a few minutes he saw that he made a heart. An image of our dear Hinata Hyuga popped up in his mind, and he blushed a little. He shook his head and threw the heart behind him, where it disappeared in a small explosion. He aimlessly sculpted again and it produced the loose image of our favorite Hyuga again. Deidara didn't have the heart to make it explode, so he kept morphing it into a somewhat cartoonish version of Hinata and set it aside.

He stared at it for a while, thinking fondly of the night at the beach and of how holding Hinata's hand felt so natural. It was very comforting to him, and he absolutely adored how Hinata seemed to be the only person to actually understand the beauty of impermanence. Everyone else either didn't understand or didn't care.

Well, Pein seemed to care aa bit at one point, actually.

Before Akatsuki, Deidara was the laughing stock of his town. No one believed in him and his art. They kept telling him things like, "You'll never go far with that art of yours," or, "You destroyed my fucking garden, I'll kill you!" He supposed his art was too progressive for his small village. Did nobody understand that their lives were as fleeting as his art? That the most beautiful things in life, the sky, flowers, their lovers, would all come to an end one day? The very earth they stand on will one day be destroyed, eaten up by the sun or blown up by an alien race or something – whatever it was, he was sure the earth would go out with a bang.

He remembered how he stumbled upon the Akatsuki shop – he was being chased by this guy whose cabbage stand he accidentally destroyed, and in a desperate attempt to escape he entered the nearest shop and closed the door. It seemed to do the trick, but where was he now? The building he was in seemed dark and empty. The back of the building seemed to be a void of darkness.

"Who goes there!?" A voice boomed from above. Startled, Deidara pressed himself against the doors, a tall man with auburn hair appearing before him. The man had the most intense eyes he had ever seen, with rings all around his pupils. He had an impossible amount of piercings. The man looked him up and down and then smiled.

"Ah, yes, I've been expecting you. Come in, come in." The man led him towards the darker parts of the store, a little to the right of them. Deidara didn't know why he followed him. It was all so strange, but also mesmerizing.

"Deidara, right?" The man asked. Deidara was surprised he knew his name. "You've… You've heard of me, hm?" The man nodded. "I'm a big fan of your art, Deidara," he said.

Deidara felt his heart jump. A fan? An actual fan?

The man turned on the light above them, revealing a small studio. He saw tall stacks of clay – the kind of clay that he used for his art. "What is this, hm?" Deidara asked, amazed at how much there was. "Deidara," the man started, "I want to hire you as an artist for my shop." Deidara couldn't believe what he was hearing. After a lifetime of ridicule and hate, someone was hiring him as… as… an artist? He couldn't believe it, not at all. He held himself back from expecting too much because he didn't think he had it in him to take another rejection, especially from something like this.

"I… I don't know, hm…" It was safer to just not expect anything. It just brought on disappointment and pain. And loneliness. No one would ever love his art except for him, and it was hard enough to accept that. Deidara grit his teeth. How dare this man go to such lengths to disappoint him like this? He was sick of it. He could feel one of his hand mouths forming another clay bomb, just to blow this place to hell. This was the last straw.

The man held out his hand. "Deidara. I love your art. We need you here."

Deidara looked into the man's eyes and only saw sincerity, a sincerity he had been looking for in people since he was a child. Is this what acceptance felt like? Deidara slowly held the man's hand, and he shook it firmly.

Of course, Deidara forgot about the bomb he had made, and it blew up in one of his tinier explosions. It covered the two of them in soot and left a strong smell of gunpowder and smoke. Deidara yelped an apology, frantically dusting off the man's shirt. He began laughing a deep hearty laugh that Deidara wasn't expecting at all.

"Welcome to Akatsuki, Deidara. My name is Pein."

Deidara smiled at the memory. He was always grateful to Pein for that day, and he was so glad that he didn't actually kill him. Nowadays, he didn't think he could have killed him if he tried.

Someone knocked on the door to his room and then opened it themselves. It was Pein. "Hey, Deidara. Can you escort Hinata to work today? I'm having Tobi and Zetsu do something else for me today." Again, Hinata was brought to the front of his mind. "Here's her address. It's somewhat close by, just a few blocks down the street, and then to the left some." Pein handed him a piece of paper and a small hand drawn map of the area. Deidara nodded.

Pein smiled at him and left, somehow disappearing just as he passed the door.

This would be the first time in a while that he's taken a walk outside the store. He'd never been around Konoha before, either. Was he supposed to wear something special? His usual work clothes were just a long-sleeved shirt, pants, and an apron to protect some of it from his work – which it didn't do a very good job of anyway. So he was always covered in dust and clay. Deidara opened his closet and looked around. He wasn't much for dressing up one his days off, either. Did he even get days off? Either way, his wardrobe was lacking.

He spotted a simple white dress shirt and a navy blue cardigan in the far left side of the closet. He took them out and dusted them off. Was it too fancy? Compared to his usual, literally anything would be fancy, so maybe it was normal wear in the outside world? Shrugging, Deidara put on the clothes and dug out his casual khaki pants and looked at himself in his dirty and dusty mirror. He looked good, at least.

Stepping out of his room, he saw Sasori at the registers, looking very bored as he flipped through the inventory book. Sasori looked up at him and smirked. "Where are you going, dressed up like that?" he asked. Deidara huffed. "I'm picking up Hinata today, hm, if you must know." Sasori chuckled. "Oh? Aren't you a bit dressed up for a ten minute walk to and from Hinata's house?" Deidara suppressed his flush of embarrassment. "No! You just never see me in anything other than my work clothes, hm." With that, he walked out of the store, not letting Sasori's comments bother him.

Sasori watched him leave and sighed, "Ah, young love. Isn't it silly, Kakuzu?" Kakuzu put down his pen for a moment and looked at him. "Is that what it is? I thought Deidara just looked that goofy all the time," he said. Sasori rested his chin on his hand and laughed. "Oh, he does. I just know him well enough to know what's up," he said.

Kakuzu by now had turned back to his work. "I always thought you had a thing for Hinata, Sasori," he commented, his tone saying that he didn't actually care. Sasori shrugged. "Y'know, she's cute and all, and there's no doubt that she's precious, but…" he trailed off in thought. "But?" Kakuzu grunted, marking something off on the paper he was looking at.

Sasori sat there, finally taking a moment to sort out these things he's been feeling. It had been a while since he'd felt anything other than irritation and indifference. When Hinata arrived, however, he had started to feel other things – excitement, contentment – things he thought had been lost in translation from person to puppet. He was grateful to her for that. Without her he'd have lived life forever with only irritation and probably more hate than was healthy in a heart.

Hinata was much more than he thought she realized. She meant much more to the Akatsuki than she would ever know.

Sasori leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. He didn't know how he felt about Hinata, exactly. But it's been a while since he's confused himself with his own emotions anyway. He welcomed the challenge.

Hinata woke up feeling refreshed, happily recalling the fun time she had with the Akatsuki last night. It had been a while since she'd felt that happy. She got out of bed and dressed herself for work. She was feeling so good today that she decided to wear one of her cute dresses, one that she just couldn't find an occasion for. Being happy was as good a reason as any, she thought.

However, her mood was brought back down to earth when she opened the door to her room to find her father, Hiashi, standing there. Her heart sank immediately. He never made any room visits unless he wanted to scold her. What had she done this time? She was making a point to stay out of his way this summer so that she would seem productive, so that he wouldn't see her as lazy or useless as he had always viewed her.

"Hinata, there is something important I need to discuss with you," her father said sternly. Hinata backed out of his way so that they could enter her room. They stood in front of each other, and she felt her stomach clench up. She barely made eye contact, feeling guilty already for whatever he was going to tell her.

Hiashi was staring her down, waiting a moment before speaking. "A few of our family members saw you at the beach yesterday," he said, noticing the nervousness in her eyes. "You were surrounded by other men. What sort of things does that say about you, Hinata? About our clan?" Hinata looked down, feeling tears burning in her eyes. "Explain yourself!" He demanded of her, making her wince and the tears begin to fall.

"I… Those… They were –"

"Stop stuttering, Hinata, you know how I hate that."

Hinata gulped, straightening herself with great effort. She looked him in the eyes and took a few deep breaths. "They were… my coworkers," she said softly. Hiashi stared at her, every second draining Hinata more and more. "Coworkers? At the beach? Hinata, who is going to believe that?" She shrugged, looking away from him for a moment. He demanded she keep eye contact, so she did.

"Your behavior is disgraceful. Hanabi wouldn't be at the beach with her… her boyfriends like a whore ," Hinata looked downwards. "Please refrain from such shameful public behavior, Hinata. You bring shame to the Hyuga clan." With that, Hiashi left her room, and Hinata fell to the floor to wipe her tears away. She always felt worthless in front of her dad. Her greatest accomplishments weren't anything special in his eyes. Was she ever going to be worthy to him?

Having no choice, she continued with her day, still looking forward to spending time with the people who made her feel like she could do anything.

Deidara tugged at his blue cardigan, wondering if it was too much. He took it off and folded up his dress shirt's sleeves, feeling a lot better and more relaxed. He found Hinata's house with relative ease, but before he could walk up to the gate he saw Hinata in her room, getting yelled at by someone – her dad, probably. It wasn't any of his business, but it didn't sit right with him to see her look so helpless, so scared. He wanted to barge in there and beat up the guy who was taking that smile away from the world for even a moment.

Before he could take a step in that direction, however, it was over. The man left her, and Hinata stayed in her room for a few moments. Deidara turned away from the window to wait by the gate, to wait for her to be ready to come out. He heard the door open, and Hinata stepped out. Deidara turned to smile at her, but stopped when he saw Hinata's father at the window, giving him a look. Without a pause, Deidara stared back until Hinata stood in front of him.

"No Tobi and Zetsu today?" she asked curiously. Deidara looked in her eyes for a long moment, making Hinata blush and look away. "Um… Why are you staring…?" She was self-conscious of her eyes, which were probably a bit puffy from crying earlier. She didn't want to worry him, especially since her family stuff wasn't anyone else's problem but hers. It'd be selfish of her to bring her friends into it.

Deidara saw how fragile she was, so he slowly reached his hand out and touched her arm. She looked up to him as he slipped his hand in hers. She turned red again, still self-conscious. Deidara opened the gate so that she could walk through, and he glanced back at Hiashi to stick his tongue out at him. Hiashi shook his head and walked back into the house. Hinata looked back to see what Deidara was staring at, but she didn't see anything.

"You look cute today, hm," Deidara said, draping an arm around her shoulders. Hinata stayed silent, nodding a bit and flushing a bit more red. Why was she blushing so much? The entire thing with her dad completely threw her off her game, and now she felt awkward in everything. She hated how easily her mood was affected by others.

They stopped walking when they were in front of the store. Hinata took a deep breath. She didn't look ready to face people quite yet. Deidara removed his hand from around her shoulders and down to her hand again. He didn't want her to feel sad. He reached for one of Zetsu's flowers and plucked it out, tucking it behind Hinata's ear. She looked up him, smiling a little. He smiled back at her. "Hey, let's skip work today, hm?"

Hinata wanted to protest, but the look in his eyes was eager and excited. She could tell that she wasn't fooling either of them, and after that tiff with her dad, she could use a bit of recharging time. She nodded and accepted the hand that Deidara held out for her to hold. "I haven't explored Konoha yet, hm. Do you wanna show me around?"

They got ice cream and walked down the streets. Deidara paid for them, since Hinata didn't actually have a salary. Well, it wasn't like he was rolling in Akatsuki's dough, but he wanted to treat her. Holding hands with her felt so perfect. He glanced at her and saw that she still looked a bit down from what happened at her house. He squeezed her hand to get her attention.

"Hey," he began, "Parents are tough, hm. My parents were hard on me, too." They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and he saw Hinata shed a tear. He kept smiling at her, and she began to cry more. Deidara pulled her into a hug and pressed his cheek to the top of her head. They stayed like that for a while, forgetting about the ice cream that was melting in their hands. When they pulled away from each other, they laughed at their ice cream covered hands and wrapped an arm around each other's waists and continued walking down the street.

For the next few hours, the two of them played in the park, ate lunch at the closest ramen shop, and took the long way home to talk about little things.

Deidara was able to see the smile of hers that he loved so much.

TWA

In which the strongly hinted-at love triangle presents itself.

Yeah, I hope it isn't moving too quickly… or too slowly… aaahhh it's been a while…. Weeh. Here we go!