Hey guys it's been a while! I was able to udate The Difference for those of you who also read that one and now I was finally able to get some free time and write this chapter. Things have been so hectic, I've barely had time for myself! With work, 4-H, trying to start a business with my friend, and my mom occasionally threatening to sell the house things haven't been easy, but they are getting better!

As always I'm looking for pics of Leif or anyone else you want to draw seeing as my artistic talent extends to dilapitated stick figures and a straight line with an oddly shapped squiggle connecting to both ends to protray Maine...way to go mom for being able to guess that during pictionary.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from Naruto. I do own Leif and all her crazy friends so please ask if you want to use them, I'm more than happy to lend them out.

Warning: Flamers will be thanked for being my first flamers, laughed at, and then bad mouthed to all my friends...I will take helpfull criticism, or corrections on spelling or grammer.


"What is this I'm feeling? I don't know, and I can't ask. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear…"

It was dark, I was standing in the hall soaking wet, the apartment was clean, and Deidara was standing in front of the TV playing Guitar Hero in nothing but his boxers with our two newest additions to the house staring at him. Well this was a normal day…

Let me start at the beginning. We had finally come back from our little 'vacation' and were back to our normal lives. Well, as normal as you can get with the way things are around here. Deidara was acting fairly normal around me with the exception being when we were in public together and a person made any sort of violent move toward me.

It was kind of nice to tell the truth.

Not long after we had returned I managed to find two small cats in a dumpster, yes this means I went dumpster diving, but I couldn't resist their cries for help. What I didn't realize was that I had managed to rescue a pair of lunatics.

We had decided to name them June and Ryuzaki or L as I liked to call him. June was a slim light brown cat that had come to love climbing everything in the house and diving into my paints. L on the other hand loved to eat sweets, which we desperately tried to keep away from him, and was entirely black including his eyes.

June was sleeping curled up on the couch while L stared with wide-eyed contemplation at Deidara, who continued to ignore the highly disturbed girl standing in the hallway watching him swear and twitch as he tried to beat his old score on the game, or was it Itachi's? I wasn't sure seeing as the two seemed to have a rivalry that leaned toward violence.

It wasn't the sight of my half naked roommate playing video games in the living room, or the fact that the cat was staring at him so intently it was going to burn a hole in his back soon that startled me, but the fact that the living room was clean. There were no stacks of paints or canvases, no mess of paper or food that we left out. I could clearly see the paint on the floor that had slowly begun to form a picture of some sort, though I wasn't sure what it was yet. Was Deidara sick? Was something wrong? Did I do something to make him do this?

I continued to wait seeing as I was dripping wet and didn't want to track dirty water through the now clean living room. Eventually Deidara finished his song and waited for his score to appear on the screen, which then deflated his ego ever so slightly because it came up a few points short of Itachi's.

"Um, Deidara?"

He whipped around to look at me giving me a nice look at his toned body, though I had seen it once before when I had painted him. He seemed surprised to see me standing there but he got over it quickly and let out a snicker when he saw how drenched I was. Shaking his head Deidara left the room and got me a towel and a pair of pants for himself.

"What were you doing out in the rain, hmm?" He handed me the towel and slipped his pants on as I tried to sop up as much water as possible with little success. I vigorously rubbed my hair with the towel trying to get some semblance of dryness to me and still failed dismally.

"Need some help, un?"

"No, I can do it." Trying desperately to not look like an idiot in front of my hot roommate, wait when did I begin thinking that? It made me stop, he had always been a roommate to me and had gradually become a friend, but I had never really considered him that way before. As an artist I had admired his body just for the fact that it was a perfect for painting, but now it seemed I had gone over a line I hadn't been aware of.

The rough texture of the towel running along my face and hair brought me out of my startling revelations and back to the fact that Deidara had taken it upon himself to dry me off. I tried to swat his hands away but it was useless, and eventually I was semi dry with really whacked out hair

"Much better, un."

I felt a blush begin to creep up my neck and quickly tried to cover it up by wrapping the towel around my hair and claiming I needed to get into dry clothes. Deidara seemed to buy it, but still gave me a curious look because of my actions as I scurried to my room to change.

By the time I got back Deidara had slipped on his pants and was back to playing his game; giving me the opportunity to bring out a sketch pad and let my mind wander back to the matter at hand.

Really it was not unusual for someone to admire Deidara's body, hell, as an artist I should be praising whatever powers that be for giving me a roommate like him. I'd bet there were quite a few girls out there who would kill to live in my position, but that didn't amount to much for me.

So what had changed? Was this new found attraction because of what had happened at the inn? He now knew that I didn't have a happy childhood, and that was definitely something to account for, but still, was that the only reason? He'd always been kind to me, but whether it was because of the threats of Kit and Saiya or his own want was still a question though…

Bah, all that contemplating was giving me a headache, but on the plus side I now had a rough sketch of something that seemed very familiar to me, like I had seen it once before somewhere. I let my thoughts continue to brew as the pencil I was using scritch scratched across the paper.

Moments later a frustrated cry came from Deidara as he once again failed to beat Itachi's score, breaking me out of my stupor, and bringing my attention to the fact that I had finished the picture. I blushed at the finished product even though it wasn't all that lewd, if anything it was quite plain.

Two people lay under a black cloak with read clouds; you couldn't really make out what was happening or even who it was. They both had long hair, though one had darker hair than the other and was also obviously female. The two seemed to be content just being with each other, while everything else around them was shadowed, giving a tone of security and peace.

"What are you drawing, hmm?"

I jumped in surprise at having someone whisper into my ear and let the paper slip to the floor. Deidara stared at me with raised brows as I blushed and tried to gather up the drawing before he could get a good look at it. Unfortunately he was faster than me like always and snatched it up before I could grab it.

He examined it for a moment before handing it back to me without a comment. I tried to ignore the feeling of blood rushing to my face and desperately searched for something to talk about that would take our minds off of this little event.

"Um, ah, Deidara-san, why is the living room clean?"

He blinked at me at the abrupt change in topics, but humored me anyway, explaining that he couldn't find the remote earlier so he decided to clean the living room to find it. I laughed at his reasoning; it was so like him to look for the remote for an hour instead of just using the buttons on the TV. It was so comical to me I couldn't help letting out a small giggle which made him give me a devilish smirk as if he were plotting something.

"You think it's funny, hmm?"

I froze at the look at his face expecting something to happen at any second. We stared down and waited for one small movement that would tell us to move. A slight twitch of his hand and I was leaping for the hallway with Deidara hot on my heels. I was nearly through the door to my room when he tackled me and began to tickle my feet.

"Noooo!! Mercy!"

Deidara let out a laugh and continued to torture my poor feet as I struggled to get free. Luckily, June seemed to be very happy to help me and Deidara was suddenly forced to let go of me when she began to climb up his bare back so she could get involved in our little game.

I scrambled away and into my room as he tried to pry the small cat off of his shoulders without causing himself too much damage. Once I was safely inside my room I closed and locked the door just in the nick of time to as he lunged for me again. I winced as he crashed into the wooded and let out a loud string of curse words, I could only imagine the look he was giving me through the door.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, un. I just wish June wouldn't do that."

I giggled through the door as sound of him moving around made its way to my ears along with the ringing of his cell phone. I heard him pick up and talk to the person on the other line for a minute or two and then the sound of him hanging up and walking toward his room. I peeked my head out the door and saw that the coast was clear and carefully made my way back to the living room so I could gather my stuff back together.

I had finally managed to find my pencil when Deidara returned from his room fully dressed and carrying his boots. He sat down next to me and began to put on his boots with a very strange look on his face. I had the feeling it wasn't a good sign and that call had been from someone he found unpleasant.

"Is everything all right? You seem concerned."

Deidara snapped out of his trance and sent me a smile that was supposed to be comforting but wasn't. "I'll be fine; a friend just wants me to come see them real quick, hmm, I should be back in an hour." And with that he finished tying off his boots and walked out the door without another word.


Third Person and with Deidara

Deidara stood before the quaint two story house with unease. Its traditional style was actually slightly intimidating considering he knew who lived in there: it was both fitting and confusing. Really if she wanted to talk to him she could have picked a friendlier place.

When he knocked on the door her younger brother was the one who answered: the brat. He was almost a mirror replica of his sister with the exception being his slightly darker blue eyes.

"What do you want?" he asked in an irritatingly loud voice making the man wince.

"Your sister called me over, un."

"Nee-chan?"

"Un."

The boy opened the door to allow Deidara in and began to walk down one of well polished halls. "Nee-chan's in the training room," he said over his shoulder as he took a sharp turn and stopped in front of one of the sliding shoji doors, waiting for the man to catch up. Once he was there the boy opened the door and motioned for him to step through.

Deidara stared at the woman who was crouched in the middle of the tatami(1) floor. Long blonde hair was braided tightly against her head and she was wearing a traditional hakama(2) and keikogi(3) wrapped tightly around her body. A single katana hung from her belt and in that position he could just barely make out the fact that she was in deep concentration.

With one move she had unsheathed the sword and had taken a step forward. From there she began a series of movements that mirrored a battle from some movie he had seen; truly Akira was an incredible swordswoman. She eventually ended up back where she had started and sheathed her katana.

Once she was finished Akira turned to Deidara with a graceful smile while calmly walking toward him.

"Deidara-san, welcome, I'm so glad you could come on such short notice." She said with a short bow.

"You were quite insistent about this, hmm." He bowed in response not quite knowing what to do around her.

Akira let another pretty smile come across her face as she motioned for him to follow her to another room which held a low table and a tea set all ready for the two of them. They seated themselves across from each other and began to have a proper tea time, yet there was something in the air that hung over them, a kind of question that would need to be answered.

"Is there something you wanted to ask me Akira-san, hmm?"

He had noticed that from the very beginning her smile hadn't quite reached her eyes and that she seemed to be on edge.

"You are a very perceptive person Deidara-san. I called you here to talk about Leif-chan."

"What about her, hmm?"

"I talked with Saiya-chan the night after we got back and she mentioned that Leif had told you about her father."

"Ah, are you going to threaten me as well Akira-san, un?"

The woman in question sent him another dazzling smile and set her cup down with a clink. She seemed to be deep in thought for a moment and then she was speaking.

"She has the kind of quality to her that just attracts protectors to her, you know? She's like that kicked puppy you see on TV, it makes your heart bleed and your soul burn. That someone would hate Leif is something that seems impossible, and yet it has happened to her, and it has scared her."

"I guess you could say that what I want to ask you, Deidara-kun, is…What are your intentions towards her?"

Deidara gave a start at the woman's forwardness but otherwise made no sound as he tried to figure out the best way to answer her. After thinking a moment he finally found an answer he though would suffice for her.

"The truth is Akira-chan I have no way of knowing anymore, un. She confuses me to no end and I have no certain way of knowing what I feel toward her."

"I see," Akira paused to take a few sips of her still hot tea, "then I must impose this one rule on you."

Deidara suddenly found himself suddenly with the sharp end of Akira's katana gently pressing against his throat. He stared into Akira's eyes and there was something there that dared him to defy her, they had also seemingly turned a light golden-brown and slit much like a cats.

"If you ever make Leif-chan cry I will punish you. More so than Saiya or Kit would ever do to you. You see, Deidara-kun, I am very much like a wolf, highly protective of those I see as being in my pack. If I see you as a threat I will spare no cost to see you scared away from her."

"..."

"More tea, Deidara-san?"


I seem to be ending chapters with threats on Deidara. It's just the way her friends are though.

A little explination to several terms I used...

1. (in Japanese houses) any of a number of thick, woven straw mats of uniform dimensions, about three feet by six feet (91 cm by 183 cm), the placing of which determines the dimensions of an interior.

2. are a type of traditional Japanese clothing resembling a wide, pleated skirt. They were originally worn only by men, but today they are worn by both men and women. Hakama are tied at the waist and fall approximately to the ankles

3. or dōgi is a uniform for training, used in Japanese martial arts, budo. (keiko means practice, gi means dress or clothes). In English, the term keikogi is sometimes referred to simply as the gi, which would be a wrong use of the word in Japanese. Often keiko is replaced with the name of the Japanese martial art being practiced.

Hope you all had a good 4th! Please review!