Hey all! Here's my chapter, it may have been a bit rushed. Hopefully not. But I wanted to get this done today so that Shidonii could get her next chapter done this weekend as well. No fluff in this chapter but a new character finally makes his appearance. Well, off to work I go for the night, so enjoy!
Author's fact #2: I am deathly afraid of thunderstorms and spiders.
~Aki's POV~
'Why me?' I thought, sitting on the roof and looking out over the town. 'I don't know if I'll be able to handle this.' I needed to help Shidonii, I knew that. If I needed to step into the line of fire to get her away from my brother, I'd do so, but he could be so cruel...deadly even. I reached back to my hair, remembering what had happened the last time I defied my brother. I loved my hair, it was true, but it's length now only stood as a reminder of the things he'd said to me. When I was nine I had gone to school so mismatched my mother even tried to stop me before leaving. But I didn't care, I was insistent on wearing what I wanted, and I was made fun of the whole day. That hadn't fazed me in the slightest, back then I didn't care what anyone thought of me. That innocence of childhood had disappeared a few years ago though, leaving self consciousness, and soon led to my low self esteem and depression. I traced the scars along my arm with my finger. I felt so abnormal, guilty, and angry at myself for what I'd done. I felt this way every single time I did it, and yet, that only deepened my depression and made me want it more. It was a never ending cycle. I had my first session with Tsunade today, and she assured me those feelings were normal, and what mattered is that I talked about them and did things to distract myself rather than turn to a knife. I sighed. That would be so much easier to do if I wasn't about to do this.
"You skipped." I smiled, hearing Sasori's voice behind me. He came over and sat down next to me.
"I had therapy." I replied, 'and I wanted to prepare myself for what I'm about to do..for hurting you..' I finished my sentence in my head. I couldn't tell Sasori what Deidara had asked me to do. He'd be so angry with him, and I couldn't ruin that friendship.
"How'd it go?" He seemed wary as he asked that question, like he was afraid of the answer.
"It went...well, I suppose. I mean, it was only the first one, but it's a step in the right direction, right?" His face lit up at my answer.
"Why don't we go celebrate then?"
"It's a bit soon for celebrating." I laughed, before my face turned back into a look of sadness. "I have something to do today, anyway. I'm sorry, Sasori."
"Well, I'll come with you."
"No!" I shouted, leaving him with a look of surprise. "I mean..this is something I have to do on my own. I'm sorry." He studied my face for a moment, looking for any hint of what could be going on.
"Alright..if you're sure. I'm only a phone call away if you need me. I'll see you tomorrow then." He got up and left and I mentally smacked myself. He was upset, I worded all of that all wrong. I waited until I was sure he had left the house before I made my way downstairs. Deidara had gone to the store with his parents, so now was my perfect chance to go. I didn't want him there either, there was something I was doing on my own. The only other person that needed to be there was Shidonii, and Sasuke made sure she never left his side. I started the long walk to Shidonii's house, praying that this time it at least didn't rain.
My panic grew as her house came into view. I pushed it away reminding myself this was important, it was my best friend. They were both sitting outside as I approached. Just seeing the look on his face as he sat next to her was enough to send my rage over the top. "Sasuke." I growled. "We need to have a talk."
"Aki, what are you doing here?" Shidonii stood up, worry growing in her voice.
"Well then, talk." Sasuke said, pushing Shidonii back down. That was it, that was all I needed. I flew forward and grabbed him by the front of the shirt.
"Touch her again, I fuckin dare you." I seethed. No one treated my best friend that way.
"I can touch my girlfriend in any way I want."
"The hell you will!" I yelled before punching him in the face. Screw the plan, Shidonii could hate me if she wanted, but I wasn't backing down from my brother this time.
"Stop it! Both of you!" she yelled. I looked at her, and took a step back. Ignoring her and taking my hesitation as his chance Sasuke leaped forward and landed a punch to my stomach. I doubled over, coughing. He kicked my legs out from under me, sending me flying to the ground, my head smacking off the concrete. I gasped and rolled over to my side.
"Had enough?" he asked, towering over me.
"Never. I will never stop fighting you as long as my best friend is being hurt by you. I would gladly take this pain every single day if it meant keeping her safe." I glared at him.
"Oh, that's right, you're a freak that likes pain, aren't you. That's why you constantly do it even to yourself." 'I will ignore anything he says. I will not let him get to me.' I repeated over and over.
"Sasuke, stop it!" Shidonii yelled from the steps. He continued to ignore her, he was fully focused on me, exactly what we wanted.
"I hope you know mom has been crying for days because of you. And she keeps fighting with father almost every night. So tell me, Aki," Sasuke started, squatting down to my level as I tried to sit up, "what happened to you?" The look in his eyes almost reminded me of the old Sasuke, the one that used to care about me before my father shunned me. The one I knew had to still be in there somewhere.
"What happened to me? How about what happened to you? You're the one that changed, Sasuke." He narrowed his eyes, glaring at me. "You never would have treated Shidonii like shit before. You were never a monster." His hand impacted with my cheek. I had hit a nerve with him, he knew I was right.
"A monster? You think I'm a monster? You're the one that tore our family apart by being selfish. And as for Shidonii, you may consider her your friend, but you don't deserve her. An emo freak like you deserves to die alone." I closed my eyes concentrating on blocking out his words. I had gotten to Sasuke, and all I needed to do was not let him get to me. All of this was almost over.
"Sasuke, Aki, would either of you care to explain to me what is going on." I opened my eyes and looked up. It was Itachi. Sasuke's words rang back in my head, 'You're the reason he doesn't come home.' And now he just saw everything! Now he'll think for sure that all he heard was true. I was going to lose the one member of my family I had left, the one that I was closest to if I hadn't lost him already. That was it, I couldn't take any more. I stood up and without looking back I ran back to the house. 'I'm sorry Deidara, Shidonii, there's no way I can see this through. Not now.' The tears flowed freely as I ran, and there was only one thing I had on my mind.
~Sasori's POV~
I sat on the curb outside of Deidara's house, waiting for Aki to return. I gave her her privacy and didn't follow like she asked, but I never said I wouldn't wait for her to come home. The look in her eyes when we talked worried me. Something was up, and I didn't know what it was. It was getting kind of boring just sitting out here, though. I heard footsteps and looked over, seeing Aki run up the porch steps and into the house. She was crying. 'This is exactly why I stayed here,' I thought, 'I knew something was going on.' I bounded up the steps and into the house after her. I checked downstairs first, and seeing she wasn't there started toward her room. I didn't even bother knocking, I knew it wouldn't do any good. I tried the door, and finding it locked I opened my wallet and pulled out a credit card, sliding it between the door.
"You can't lock any of us out, Aki. Dei used to lock himself out all the ti-" I stopped short, seeing her on her bed, knife held to her arm. "No!" I yelled, tackling her and trying to force it from her grasp.
"N-no, please." she stuttered quietly, crying. Despite her quiet voice she was putting up a good fight. She was strong and wasn't giving in easily. We struggled for a little for control when her grip finally slipped, sending me flying backwards and my hand jerked upwards, slicing my cheek. "Fuck." I muttered, putting my hand to the cut. That snapped her out of it.
"Oh my God. Oh my God, Sasori I'm so sorry! This is all my fault, I didn't mean..." she trailed off burying her face in her hands.
"Stop." I replied quietly, pulling her hands from her face. "Look at me," she looked up at me, tears running down her cheeks, "it was an accident. You're upset, and we all knew this wasn't going to be an easy thing to give up, but I'm not Sasuke. I'm not giving up on you. None of us will. Whatever just happened, now matter how horrible it may seem, or how bad you feel about it, the feelings won't last, but what this will leave," I said, holding up the knife, "that will last. For the rest of your life."
"You're right, I guess I never thought of it that way. I'm sorry." she said, wiping her eyes. I pulled her into a hug.
"It's okay to cry if you need to. And whenever you feel the need to use this, you tell me. I'm here for you, we're all going to help you get out of this depression and fight this addiction together, got it?" She nodded slightly. 'Thank God I hadn't gone home...' I thought. But one question was bugging me. "Now why don't you tell me what happened." She hesitated, before telling me everything. Deidara's idea, the episode with Sasuke and Itachi, I'll kill them all, I swear. Keeping my cool for now I held her tighter. "It's going to be alright. When you're calmed down, we can go talk to Itachi. You panicked too soon, he may not think the way Sasuke says he does. For right now though, I'm keeping this knife, and you need to call Tsunade." I said handing her her phone. "It'll help you to talk to her." I reassured, seeing the fear in her eyes. I stood and walked out of her room as she dialed the number, hearing Deidara and his parents walk through the door. I came downstairs and glared at him.
"Basement. Now." I said as I walked past him and down the steps. He followed and flopped onto a chair. I threw the knife down on the table beside him.
"What is that for un?" he asked.
"Aki had it." I seethed. His eyes went wide.
"We cleaned everything out. Where did she get it from yeah?" Without answering him I punched him in the face.
"What the fuck?!" he yelled, holding his jaw.
"She told me the plan you two hatched. What the hell were you thinking you idiot?!" I stomped out of the room. I was pissed at him, and staying here would probably end in his maiming. Though it'd be nothing compared to what Shidonii may do to him when she finds out. Guess it was time to pay her a visit.
