I do not own Naruto.

Okay, so I'm updating again. From here on out, it gets a lot more interesting, at least, for me. The setting just changes dramatically, and everything just gets really hectic for poor Kaori. I know Kaori's life sucks. Well, it's just so boring, ay? And then she's getting used as a punching bag… aha… well hopefully this chapter's good. Oh and by the way, I have no idea how to really get to Takigakure. Please bear with me. xD

--Chapter 10: In which Kaori's luck sucks--

I couldn't hold it in anymore. Maybe it was because of my ridiculous little crush that I had on Deidara, or maybe it was because I felt that he needed a week's notice or so. It was exactly one week until the month ended, and I just couldn't keep the fact that Deidara was going to be executed to myself anymore. I just had to tell him… somehow.

It was a stupid idea, and I knew it. But of course, with all the bad decisions that I'd been making, I didn't think that I had much left to lose. So, I just opened my mouth randomly in the middle of dead silence, "… Deidara, at the end of the month, they're going to hang you in front of the village."

Deidara's face suddenly became so dark; it sent cold shivers down my spine. "… What?"

My hands flew to my mouth, and I looked up at Deidara with wide eyes. Oh shit! "I'm sorry!"

He was mad, that was for sure. He glared at me. It was the nastiest glare that I've ever gotten from anyone, and I was sure that if looks could kill, I would've imploded by now. Deidara obviously was trying not to kill me, and I couldn't blame him. I reached into my pocket, pulling out my pills and popping them into my mouth with a sigh.

-x-x-x- One week later…

It was the big day. The day that Deidara was going to be executed. I had been biting my nails all morning –a habit that I thought that I got rid of twelve years ago. Apparently, I hadn't. I was nibbling on my nails like a hamster out of anxiety, guilt, fear, and another weird emotion that I just couldn't put my finger on. This stupid crush! It was my entire fault, really. If I had just been more prepared, this never would've happened!

And to make it all worse, Deidara had barely talked to me since the "incident", I shall call it. I didn't blame him either. When someone just randomly tells you that they've been keeping you all cooped up in a prison for a month just to kill you at the end of it, then you don't usually end up being so pleased about it. It definitely wouldn't be my cup of tea, that's certain.

I glanced over to Deidara nervously. We weren't in the prison anymore, but we were in a special room in the Tsuchikage tower. Deidara was in handcuffs, sitting in a rather uncomfortable wooden chair, and was also under serious chakara control.

His hands were bound behind his back, and his hair, which had been drained of all its (creepy) radiance, was covering his face. His breathing was shallow, and was audible in the dead silence. His skin was paler than before, and when I saw his teal eyes this morning, I noticed that they were deeper than ever, but they now weren't even visible because of the blindfold that he wore.

I felt like I was the one that was killing him. At the moment, I didn't care. I just really wanted to help him. No matter how weird, flamboyant, and insane he was, I had to admit that he was quite the friend, even though he was one of those friends that stabbed me when he got pissed off, that was fine, because when he wasn't being a nutcase, he was being a funny, nice, attractive… Oh screw all this! I was going to get him out of there.

Reaching into my new, baggy brown sweater pocket, I felt for the key. I felt the cool metal between my finger tips, suddenly feeling sudden warmth in my chest. I knew how I was going to save Deidara.

It was simpler than I thought it would be. I had the keys to the handcuffs that he was wearing. I glanced over to the security cameras, and then to Deidara. With his blindfold, he wouldn't be able to see if I took out his scope, right? I took out the scope that I'd taken from him, and then put it over my left eye. I pressed the button to zoom into the security camera, and then examined it closely. There was no speaker, so they shouldn't be able to hear a word I say.

I looked around the room, looking for any hidden speakers. There were none, and that was what I expected. I heard from my ANBU friend that they usually put speakers on the camera if at all, and if they hid it, it usually wasn't hidden very well.

I smiled to myself, taking off the scope and depositing it back into my pocket. I coughed loudly, but Deidara didn't even seem to notice. I wanted to scream. Was he dead?

"Deidara," I whispered. Deidara lifted his head slightly.

"What?" he muttered. I felt sorry for him at that moment. He sounded so miserable.

I cleared my throat, "… You have to do what I say if you want to get out of dying, got it? I know you're mad at me, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to help you right now, so you better accept my help graciously otherwise I might change my mind."

Deidara lifted his head entirely, "… What do you want me to do, yeah?"

I rolled my eyes. He sounded like my plan wouldn't work and he was still going to get killed anyway, "Okay, I know you're all weak because of the chakara control thing, but do you think you can still stand and push me over?"

"… Yeah," said Deidara, sounding a little bit more like himself.

"Okay. I'm going to stand up, and just run straight ahead. Knock me down, and steal the key from my left pocket, but I guess it'd be my right pocket from where you're attacking me from. Unlock the handcuffs as fast as you can and then pull off your blindfold. The chakara control remote is on the desk. Take a kunai from my pouch and smash it. The chakara control thing will just break, you'll have all your energy back, and you can figure out the rest from there, right?"

Deidara nodded, "So do I start now, yeah?"

"Wait," I said. I shifted slightly, "… You have to promise… that you won't kill anyone."

Deidara seemed reluctant, but mumbled grudgingly, "Fine…"

"Okay. I'm going to pretend that I'm fighting back. Okay? You can start…" I discreetly pushed a pen of the table in front of me and stood up to pick it up, "Now."

He waited for a few moments, and then rushed forward, tackling me. I let out an "oof" as I landed flat on my back. Damn it, he was heavy! I pretended to struggle to push him off. Deidara eventually got the key and unlocked the handcuffs. A loud alarm went off. Deidara had already taken off his blindfold and pushed me against the wall, stealing a kunai. I pushed him away, taking out my sword.

I suddenly felt like I was going to topple over. My hip had just healed, damn it! And now it was broken again all because of my stupid plan to get Deidara out.

Deidara grabbed my arm roughly, throwing me against the wall. I cursed loudly. He obviously was still mad at me.

He took the kunai, stabbing the chakara control device, panting slightly. The ANBU burst through the door, and Deidara quickly disappeared, then reappeared next to me. His mouth was close to my ear, and he muttered "thank you".

After that, for some reason, he found it necessary to use me as a shield. I swore under my breath as Deidara held a kunai to my neck. The ANBU stopped in their tracks.

"Don't come any closer, otherwise, the girl dies, yeah…" he said, smirking.

I seriously had no idea whether he was bluffing or not. I bit my lip. The ANBU slowly reached into their back pockets. Idiots! Did they want me to die? Deidara saw it, but instead of killing me, he stabbed me harshly in the side.

I groaned, grabbing my already bad side and clutching it as the blood spilled out. One ANBU rushed to my side while the other chased after Deidara, who was on the loose. My vision started to blur, and my eyes were starting to close. The bastard…

-x-x-x- Three years or so later…

My hair cut was way too short. Usually I liked my hair long and all the same length and bangs. But thanks to my stupid hair cut that I got the other day, my hair came down a little bit past my collar bone and was layered. Did I jinx it when I pretended to be Mari three years ago and styled her hair that exact same way? With my luck, I probably did.

Was it a bad decision to let Deidara escape back then? Yes. Did I still have a stupid crush on stupid Deidara? Yes. Did my life return to normal after I let Deidara get away? Hell no. For some reason, my life changed drastically after Deidara got away from me. My parents were shocked that I had gotten away from the Deidara alive, and had never been more proud of me (to my horror).

I got more missions than I ever thought I would, although none of them were that great. It was mostly missions sending me out to other villages to gather medicine, deliver scrolls, and escort nobles to their homes. It wasn't as boring as my life used to be, but it wasn't exciting either. It's like having to walk an elderly across the street –and the street takes at least three days to cross.

That day, I had woken up earlier than usual. I walked down the steep flight of stairs, and dragged myself into the kitchen, where my parents sat chattering about something that was either really boring, or painfully depressing. I took my seat at the table and began to pick at the waffles that my mother had put out for me.

"Kaori-chan, would you do me a favor and check our mailbox for us?" asked my mother sweetly.

I rolled my eyes, but stood up and made my way to the front door, walking towards the mailbox. I opened up the small little box-like thing, and pulled out a letter. It was addressed to me. I raised an eyebrow. That was new. A letter for me? It was probably a letter from my cousin telling me how thin she got over the years.

Well, it wasn't from my cousin. It turned out that it was from the Tsuchikage. I carefully opened the envelope, and took out the stationary. I mumbled the words as I read the letter; "Kaori, you have demonstrated great skill in being a Chunin, ha! Yeah right… and I believe that you are ready to begin your Jounin training in Takigakure?!"

I quickly scanned the rest of the letter, "You will get one year to train, and when you come back I will put you to the test with the other Chunin that trained to be Jounin… Bring supplies such as kunai, shuriken… It's your choice whether or not to go. If you decide to go… report to the Tsuchikage tower…"

I blinked. Hell no. I wasn't going. Unfortunately for me, I must've been standing out there for a while, since my dad had come out to check up on me and had read the whole thing over my shoulder, "Kaori, you're going."

Whirling around, I faced my father and gaped, "… I am?!"

"What is it, dear?" asked my mother, coming out of the house to check and see what all the commotion was about. "Oh! Kaori, you're going to be a Jounin?"

No, I'm not. "Well… I don't know they did say it was optional…"

"Well pack your bags! You're going to Takigakure!" said my father, ushering me inside the house. I inwardly screamed. How old was I, thirteen? No, I was actually twenty-two. I was old, very old. I was incredibly weak for a Chunin, and there was no way that I was going to become a Jounin no matter how hard I trained. Everyone else my age was already ANBU or Jounin. I'd probably be getting promoted with a bunch of teenagers.

I grumbled to myself as I dragged myself up the flight of stairs, going to my room. I began packing my clothes. Navy khaki pants that had those scrunched up things on the ends so that I could pull it up so that it was below my knees, blue khaki shorts, net tops, baggy sweaters. I went to my closet and took out my sword, which by the way I haven't used since I fought Deidara three years ago, and my ninja sandals and forehead protector.

At the moment I was feeling like the unluckiest person in the world, so I decided to wrap my forehead protector around my hips instead of around my neck like usual. With my luck, I would probably get it caught on the branches while jumping through trees and accidentally hang myself.

At the moment, I was wearing a pair of the navy khaki pants that I mentioned earlier with a black net top and a baggy, dark green sweater with a giant hood. I slipped on the black ninja sandals, again wondering why they were even invented in the first place. I adjusted my sword around my hips, feeling awkward. After all that, I strapped on my shuriken and kunai pouches on again.

Once again, I was reminded how I was not cut out to be a ninja. I grumbled as I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked down the stairs. I said goodbye to my parents, grabbed a giant water bottle and some snacks, and then began to make my way towards the Tsuchikage tower. Wasn't my life just awesome? Not.

When I reached the Tsuchikage's office, I noticed that he was wearing the full outfit. All the robes and the pointy hat. I gently knocked on the door that was propped open, clearing my throat. Ryuu looked up from the papers that he was signing, and then smiled at me kindly. He stood up, "So, you've decided to go to Takigakure?"

Actually, no, my parents decided it for me. "Yes."

"That's good. Well here is the map," he handed me a rolled up map; "You will be needing it. You can leave now, if you'd like."

I nodded, and then bowed my head, "Alright. Thank you, Tsuchikage-sama."

I left the building. Before I knew it, I was walking through the busy streets of Iwagakure. It would be the last time I walked there in a while. As I reached the village gates, I felt a strange emotion in my chest. Most likely because I was going to miss this place. I was going to miss my boring life.

When I left the gates, however, I felt the strangest feeling ever. It was like I was completely and utterly free. I was. There wasn't any specific training that I had to do –I just had to go to Takigakure and train there however I wanted to. I unrolled the map. So I'd be going through a large forest that's a couple of miles off from here… then I should see tons of large rivers, and then I have to follow one of these rivers leading to giant waterfalls. Then I'd have to actually go through a waterfall to get to the village.

I groaned, stuffing the map into my backpack. I inwardly debated whether or not I should move at full speed. I wasn't exactly fast. But I wasn't slow. The thing with me is that if I ran at full speed for too long I'd either; throw up, pass out, or just be very tired and give up. And I got tired very easily.

Grumbling under my breath, I decided I'd go half speed. Slowly, I began to run. I ran past the deserted, stony battlefield looking places, concentrating some chakara to my feet to make me run a little faster. Once I reached the forest, I was tired.

I leaned against a mighty oak tree, panting slightly. My vision was getting very blurry, and my head was starting to kill me. Good thing that I brought a super-sized container of my stress pills along whenever I went anywhere. I reached into my bag, pulling out the gigantic medicine container and popping two pills into my mouth. I also removed my gigantic green sweater and stuffed it into my bag, leaving me in my net top.

Maybe this was my turning point in life. Maybe after this, my life would change completely. I closed my eyes, wishing as hard as I could. My life sucked. I had the worst luck ever and the most boring life possible. And I was still a ninja even though every time I talked to my parents I implied that I wanted to be a dentist.

Suddenly, there was some rustling in the bushes. Damn it all! I took out a kunai, still panting. I glared at the bushes. Something was going to jump out soon. Like I thought, a rouge ninja jumped out of the bushes, two swords in his hands. I inwardly cursed as he came at me, attempting to slice my head of. I ducked, and luckily I didn't get a new haircut. I swiped out my leg, sweeping him clean off his feet.

Maybe I was getting my thunder back after all? Not that I really had any in the past. I snatched his swords away, but he still had his kunais. He threw a bunch at me, but I quickly dodged them all except for one that decided to get stuck in my arm. I cursed under my breath. This was familiar. It reminded me of something that happened three years ago.

I yanked the kunai out of my arm, wincing slightly. I chucked it at the ninja, getting him in the leg. My aim was way off, since I was aiming for his heart. I gasped as he threw needles at me. I dodged all of them this time. Then, I took out three shuriken, throwing them at him.

Luckily, I managed to get one in his stomach, causing him to fall down. He was still breathing, but was unconscious. I almost sighed with relief. I didn't want to kill anyone, at least not yet. I wanted to go to heaven, where all the angels were.

After I beat the rouge ninja, I decided that it wasn't a good idea to start moving again. I zipped up my back pack and buckled it up securely and slung it over my shoulders. I jumped into the tree, barely managing to land on the branch. I was really rusty…

I concentrated chakara on my feet, and then began jumping through the trees. I smiled slightly as I did so. Jumping through trees was my favorite part of being a ninja. I felt like I was flying and all the worries and stress was always magically lifted off my shoulders. Jumping through trees was fun, no matter how much I hated being a ninja.

I was traveling at full speed by nightfall, and I was getting used to the jumping again, though it was still tiring. My heart thumped in my chest, and sweat dribbled down my forehead. My back pack bounced on my back as I jumped, and my hair flew behind me. It was the best feeling I've felt in a while, that was positive.

But of course, the entire thing was ruined when I got attacked –again. I gasped as a kunai cut my arm, and fell from the tree. For a moment, I panicked because I had no idea how I was supposed to land. However, I managed to land on my feet. Although it rather painful due to my hip which was slightly bad due to the fact that I broke it three years ago, I could stand on both feet. I looked around for the person that attacked me, a frown on my face.

"Who's there?" I called out, feeling slightly stupid. No one was going to answer me. At least, that's what I thought.

A figure jumped into the dark clearing, but I couldn't really see what he was wearing. I could tell it was a he because of his height and the way that his body was shaped. Either that or it's a girl with a really weird body shape. I held my sword out in front of me, trying to look menacing. I was sure that I looked like I had no idea what I was going to do next though, because truthfully, I had no idea what I was going to do next.

I narrowed my eyes, wishing that I didn't even go on the stupid Jounin training thing, "Who are you?"

The figure stepped closer, and I realized that he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds and a high collar, along with a Chinese styled straw hat with long white tassels. I blinked, straightening slightly. It seemed familiar. The person slowly raised his hand, and I noticed a ring on his right index finger.

Slowly, he removed his hat from his head. His hair was long, and his eyes seemed to shine in the darkness. Half of his face was covered by long, thick bangs. His hair was blonde. Deidara? I gaped, "Wha"-

He threw a dozen kunai at me before I could say anything, and I quickly dodged. My poor arms had been tortured enough. I threw a handful of kunai at him, but he dodged them, "Too slow, yeah!"

I grimaced as he did a back flip and reached into his pockets. Just as I expected –he forgot about me. So my luck wasn't getting any better that day. I dropped my bag beside a nearby bush, bracing myself.

I used my sword to deflect shuriken. Suddenly, a bird came flying at me. "Shit!"

Deidara made a hand seal, "Katsu!"

I gasped as the impact of the explosion sent me flying into a tree. I groaned as my back hit the hard bark. Damn it, of all the times that I had to meet him –when there was no one else to defend me. All of a sudden, a dozen clay spiders began crawling towards me. My eyes widened as he detonated all of them at once, sending me into a tree. I landed on a branch, panting. My back was bleeding like hell. Damn it…

Useless, that what I was. I couldn't even try to fight him. He was way too strong. But at the moment, dying wasn't something that sounded so pleasant. I jumped at him, tackling him to the ground. All the bombing was a long-range attack.

He growled as we landed on the ground, and punched me hard in the gut, and then grabbed my neck and raised me in the air. He liked to grab my neck a lot, didn't he? Somehow, I managed to choke out, "… I can't believe you're going t-to kill me after I let you go, Deidara…"

Deidara snarled, slamming my back against a tree. The first word that popped into my head was irony. He hissed, "How do you know me, yeah?"

"Because I guarded you for an entire month, damn it!" I choked out, losing air. I gasped for breath as Deidara let go of me. I landed on the ground, coughing up blood. One of these days Deidara was really going to kill me.

"Kaori?" he asked, kneeling down to my level. He pushed away his bangs, and I saw that he had a new device, only it was smaller and didn't take up his entire cheek. He examined me closer. All of a sudden, he got mad again, "Wait, if you knew it was me why did you keep fighting?"

"Because you didn't remember me!" I exclaimed. "And you didn't exactly give me a chance to say anything!"

Deidara seemed to calm down at this. My eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I could clearly see his face. I almost blushed. At that moment I was confused –was running into him a sign that my luck was getting better or worse? Deidara smirked at me, "Sorry, yeah… I didn't recognize you."

"You try to kill me and you apologize? You psycho…" I muttered sarcastically. I hissed in pain at the stinging sensation on my back, "Damn it…"

Deidara grinned a little bit, "It's been a while now… yeah."

"Three years or so," I told him. "Are you seriously going to make pep talk with me after you just attempted to kill me?"

"I thought you were a rouge ninja that was going to get in my way, yeah," said Deidara.

I narrowed my eyes, "Well now I have this huge wound on my back and it's bleeding like crazy," I paused my wince in pain, "And it stings."

"Want me to bandage it up for you, yeah?" asked Deidara.

I rolled my eyes, "No, I don't want you to help stop the bleeding and I actually do want to pass out from blood loss. Why do you need to ask?"

Deidara scoffed, "So that's a yes then?"

"Wait, does that mean you're going to have to lift up my shirt and touch me?" I asked, feeling my cheeks warm up a little bit. I was so pathetic. "If so, than I'm doing it by myself."

"I'm not going to look at anything," said Deidara, rolling his eyes. He smirked as he said the next comment, "There probably wouldn't be much to see anyway, yeah…"

I glared, "Oh, ha, ha, my sides are splitting. Okay, fine. You can go bandage me up then." Because I had no idea how.

Deidara smirked, reaching into his kunai pouch. My eyes widened in alarm, but then I relaxed when he pulled out a roll of bandages. I turned around, my back to him. I awkwardly –and painfully- pulled up my shirt, my wound on my back stinging as I did so. I felt something cool being applied to my back, but it stung a little bit, as well. I hissed in pain.

"Ouch…" I muttered.

"Don't move, yeah," said Deidara. I suddenly felt a cloth up against my wound, and I felt Deidara move his arms around me. At that moment, I turned bright red. No! He was doing that because he had to get the bandages all the way around me. After he was done wrapping the bandages all the way around me about four times, he tied it.

"Ow…" I mumbled again, pulling down my shirt. I turned around, giving Deidara a small, smile, "Thanks… I guess."

He shrugged, smirking, "No problem."

Deidara and I both stood up, and I awkwardly walked over to my back and slung it over my shoulder, wincing slightly. "This has been a wonderful meeting… but if you'll excuse me I have to go."

He was leaning against the tree, his arms crossed across his chest. He opened his visible eye, "Where are you headed, yeah?"

I gave him a questioning stare, "You're not going to kill me if I tell you, right?" Deidara scoffed in response. "I'm going to Takigakure to train…"

Deidara blinked, then smiled a little bit, causing my heart to flutter, "Oh yea… Jounin training. You got Takigakure? I have a mission that I have to do there, yeah."

"Oh," I mumbled. Even though my stomach was doing back flips, in the back of my mind I was cursing my luck for screwing me over. I had no idea whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Well I guess that it was more of a good thing, because now if I get lost Deidara can help me out.

"It takes about five days to get there even at full speed, yeah…" said Deidara, a smirk spreading across his face. He pushed off the tree, "And plus there are tons of rouge ninjas on the way there, and some of them are at Jounin level."

I narrowed my eyes, "Are you saying that I'm incompetent?"

"Well, not incompetent… just trying to tell you that there might be foes that are stronger than you by a lot, yeah," said Deidara, shrugging.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed, "A longer way of saying I'm weak. Okay, it's not like I'm offended by it." I suddenly fixed a stare that was supposed to be a glare but just turned out to be a stare, "So what are you suggesting that I do about it?"

Deidara shrugged again, a small smirk on his face, "Well, I could always come with you, yeah."

"Like a body guard?" I questioned. Deidara nodded, and I scoffed, "Wait, why are you helping me at all? In case you've forgotten already, you're an s-ranked criminal, and you're part of the Akatsuki. You're supposed to be murdering me right now."

"Think of it as me returning the favor, yeah," Deidara said. Then he narrowed his eyes and muttered under his breath, "No matter how pathetic it is that I got saved by a girl that's weaker than me."

I scowled, "Thank you for whispering for my benefit."

Deidara grinned, then grabbed my upper arm and tried to pull me somewhere. I hissed in pain, and Deidara stopped, sending me an annoyed frown, "Kaori, every time I touch you doesn't mean I'm trying to hurt you, yeah."

A small blush spread over my face, but I glared, "I know that! My arm got stabbed by some ninja that I ran into, and you grabbing the place where I got stabbed isn't exactly helping it get better!"

His face went confused, and I relished it. He looked really cute when he was confused. I inwardly bonked myself on the back of my head. Damn it. Wasn't I even concerned about the fact that I am interested in him at all? Not really. Deidara suddenly grinned sheepishly, releasing my arm, "Whoops."

Deidara suddenly gestured me to follow him. I moistened my lips before I followed him through the thick forest. It was a little scary when it was night, but at the same time very relaxing. Crickets chirped in the air and the crescent moon was high in the starry sky. The soil looked richer, and the grass seemed to sparkle.

I was probably too interested in the scenery to pay attention to Deidara, who poked me in the side, "Oi, I'm talking to you, yeah."

I blinked, and then looked towards Deidara, "What is it?"

"It's been three years and you haven't come up with the eighth reason that you hate me, yeah?" asked Deidara, smirking. "I knew that you wouldn't be able to name ten."

"You remember that?" I asked. It slowly came back to me, and then I gave a humorless laugh, "Oh right… Well, fine. I don't really know if this counts, but I hate it when you hurt me. You broke my hip, three of my ribs, stabbed me in the arm, punched me in the stomach, held me by my neck and slammed my back against the wall about four times… and should I continue?"

Deidara rolled his eyes, "I didn't think it mattered so much, yeah."

"How could you think that? I think I'm going to have a scar on my back now, but hopefully I won't…" I trailed off, looking around. "Are we just going to walk the entire time?"

"I thought that your back hurt, yeah," said Deidara, sending me a weird look. I flushed. He cares that my back hurt? I decided not to say anything about it.

"I think I'll live," I told him. Deidara grinned, and then jumped up into a tree branch.

Surprisingly, he hung upside down from the branch, crouching like a frog. I covered my mouth to stop from smiling. Deidara smirked, then stood up and walked so that he was standing properly on the branch. "Are you coming or what?"

Muttering under my breath, I jumped onto the branch, making sure that I didn't fall off. Deidara smirked as I struggled to keep my balance, and I glared at him, "I'm sure that you take amusement in my misery."

"That's true, yeah," said Deidara with a grin, then he began jumping through the trees. "Race ya!"

I groaned loudly. Some body guard he was. I jumped after him, but I found that he was way too fast. I stopped on a branch, kneeling down. I panted as I took the super sized bottle of stress pills out of my bag and swallowed two, then put the bottle back. Suddenly, Deidara just appeared beside me. I gasped, jumping away a little bit.

"You're really slow, yeah," Deidara muttered, rolling his eyes. "Or did you just get tired?"

"Both," I told him. I stood up slowly.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed my hand and pulled me up to my feet. He released my hand, and then winked at me before he began jumping through the trees again, though a lot slower than before. My eye twitched slightly, but I jumped after him, catching up so that I was by his side.

Unexpectedly, Deidara just took out his hat from no where and put it on the top of my head. I stopped abruptly, moving away the tassels. After I had successfully moved the tassels away, I glared at Deidara, who looked like he was going to burst into laughter. "Well, now I know what it's like to wear evil."

I took off the hat and handed it to Deidara, but he didn't accept it, "I think you should wear that, yeah… if anyone who recognizes me sees someone else with me that I'm not trying to kill, then they might think that you're betraying your village, yeah."

"… What?" I asked, eyes widening. "So technically I'm a criminal for traveling with you?"

"Yeah, basically," said Deidara.

I glared, "So why am I wearing the hat? You should be in a henge right now. You have better chakara control than me, and probably more chakara than me, too. And you're the stronger one, and the one getting me in trouble and always beating me up, so you should have to change what you're wearing!"

Deidara rolled his eyes, and then made a seal. He muttered lazily, "… Henge."

He instantly changed his clothes, wearing a simple black, robe-like outfit (with pants) and black ninja sandals. He took of his scope and put it in his pocket, and then took his hair tie out and braided his hair instead. I flushed, and decided to pretend to be looking somewhere else.

"Okay Kaori, my hair's braided now. You can look, yeah," said Deidara, sounding amused. I grumbled under my breath as Deidara chuckled, and then began jumping again.

Even though Deidara had changed his appearance, I decided to keep his hat on. Just to be safe. And also because it smelled nice. For a few moments, we were jumping through the trees in peace, until, that is, Deidara grabbed me and pulled me down.

My eyes widened, and I let out a strangled scream as we fell. We landed in a bush, and Deidara pulled me down so that I was lying on my stomach. He gestured for me to keep quiet.

I gave him a, "you're got to be joking" sort of look before peering through the bushes to see what we were hiding from.

As though on cue, the ground began to tremble and two rather obese ninjas came into the clearing. Both of them were ninjas and had long hair tied into a high pony tail. Their eyes were small and their skin was tanned. According to their forehead protectors that could barely fit around their wrists as a bracelet, they hailed from Kirigakure.

"I smell a woman!" hollered one the one with red hair. He sniffed the air, "She's somewhere around here…"

Instantly, I paled. The brown-haired one sniffed the air as well, "Ah yes! I smell her as well! Where do you think she is?"

"Come out woman…" said the red haired one, taking steps around the clearing the literally shook the ground. I began to see my horrible life flash before my eyes. The irony was almost something humorous to me. I chewed on my lip as they suddenly neared the bush.

Deidara suddenly whispered, "Let's get outta here, yeah."

We both jumped up into the tree above us. The two fat men looked up. Seeing me, they pointed, "There's the woman! There's the woman! Let's get her!"

I cried out as the brown haired one slammed his fists onto the tree, sending it to the ground. Deidara swore loudly and pulled me with him as he jumped to another tree. He put me down, and without even thinking I threw a handful of shuriken at the brown haired one. I didn't expect it to bounce of his skin and come flying back at us though.

Eyes widening, I jumped out of the way, going the opposite way that Deidara went. I swore loudly as one of the guys knocked down the tree that I was in, sending me tumbling to the ground.

I landed awkwardly on my side, spraining my arm and bruising it, and I winced as the red haired one lifted me up by my other arm roughly.

There was a loud explosion, causing the fat man to fly into a tree. Somehow I ended up under his arm. I struggled to lift the arm off of me. Wonderful night I was having. "Damn it…" I muttered. I gave up, deciding it wasn't worth getting the hernia.

Deidara appeared magically at my side, lifting the arm off of me and pulling me to my feet. He glared at me, "Stay out of the way, otherwise they're seriously going to get you, yeah."

"I wasn't trying to get in the way," I muttered under my breath. Suddenly, a large hand grabbed me like a doll, lifting me up in the air. Deidara cursed, jumping away before he got punched by the other fat guy.

"Let me down!" I yelled, glaring at the fat man.

The guy that was holding me narrowed his eyes, "You don't struggle against me, woman."

Deidara suddenly jumped onto the fat man's shoulders, then lodged a kunai in his throat, covering his hand with blood. The man fell to the ground, and Deidara jumped to where I was. I felt nauseous as he used his bloodied hands to pry the man's hands off of me and lift me up to my feet.

"Are you going to help, yeah?" asked Deidara. "If you're just going to get in the way, then you better hide."

My legs felt weak, and I began to limp over to a nearby tree, using it to support me, "Well I'm obviously going to get in the way since these men obviously suck when it comes to the art of seduction and yet are trying so hard to take me."

Deidara rolled his eyes, and then turned back to the next fat guy, who was kneeling next to his dead friend. "Sato! Wake up! The woman might get away!"

"Hey, why do you need to fight him?" I demanded. "He's not even paying attention! Let's go!"

A sadistic smirk spread across Deidara's face, "And give up a good fight, yeah? No way, I'm showing this guy what art really is…"

He took out a small clay spider, throwing it into the air. It grew instantly, and then latched itself to the fat man's stomach. Deidara jumped into a tree, pulling me with him and making a hand seal, "Katsu!"

The bomb detonated, and Deidara and I leaped away before we got caught in the explosion. I suddenly stopped, trying to wipe the blood off of me, "Ugh… I hate blood."

"Ninjas aren't supposed to be afraid of blood, yeah," said Deidara, frowning.

"But you have met mortal women before, right?" I asked him. "I'm a girl, so I typically find having some fat guy's blood smudged all over me very disgusting."

Deidara rolled his eyes, "You'll live, yeah."

I narrowed my eyes, adjusting the hat on my head. My arm was killing me, but I decided not to mention it. "Well, let's just go then."

-- Author's Notes --

I'm not really good at fighting scenes. And also, I totally agree. Poor Kaori! xD I guess you can blame that all on me. I'm working hard at keeping Deidara in perfect character, and I think that I'm doing an okay job. I analyzed his personality in the anime. Arrogant, calm, pretty collected unless he's annoyed by someone. During battle, he's very calm and cocky. When I searched up his personality, it says that he was sadistic and wasn't above relishing a good fight…

Alrighty. Well I don't want to bore you with my rambling. I have no idea when the actual romance starts, but I've been adding in glimpses, I suppose. Reviews makes author's very happy, and a happy author means faster, better updates!