Chapter 11
After the third time Deidara placed his lips on Sasori, the latter woke up slowly. Sasuke, who had been watching this from the side, sighed. Sleeping Beauty, huh. Itachi's plan had seriously backfired, and Sasuke confirmed that by the current situation and Itachi's solemn facial expression.
Sasori slowly opened his eyes. Everything seemed quite blurry, and he couldn't see anything because of something blocking his view...correction...someone. Long hair tickled his face and neck, and as his vision and consciousness slowly got back to him, he felt someone's lips on his, blowing air into him. Who was it anyway? Blue, anxious eyes...they really looked like Deidara's.
'Is this a dream?' Sasori thought weakly as he analyzed the person. He could feel the person's warm, anxious breathing on his face. And the lips felt like gummy candies.
'No, its not a dream,' he decided, 'Its - '
Suddenly, his eyes widened to the size of fishballs.
'WHAT THE HELL?'
He stared at Deidara in shock as the two of them froze for a few seconds, their lips still connected. Deidara's eyes were wide in shock from the sudden awakening of Sasori. What's more, those "fishball" eyes were scary.
Sasori's whole face turned bright red. He got up quickly and pushed Deidara away from him. "What were you doing?!"
Deidara blushed a little. "You fell into the pool, and I got you out. You weren't conscious, so I performed CPR on you..."
Sasori's heart nearly died. "CPR?!" He clapped one hand over his lips. His first kiss was gone! Taken by a stupid brat. This was so embarassing. Even Itachi had witnessed it - Sasuke, those two stupid girls - some guests...
"I did it to save you, hn." Deidara said quietly, feeling a little hurt by the sudden push.
Sasori looked at his friend. He felt a tinge of regret surge in his heart as he saw that sad look plastered on Deidara's face. For some reason, he looked even cuter this way...
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that," said Sasori finally, recovering a little from the huge shock he had recieved earlier, "I was just...too shocked. No offence..." He started to shift back a little, and in the process, his hand accidentally touched the water in the deep pool, causing him to fall back.
Suddenly, flashbacks of himself struggling in the deep pool came back to him as he saw the Ino and Sakura standing behind Itachi. He felt a sharp pain in his legs as he tried to move them, and his head began to fill with images of the past. It was crazy.
'What the hell is this?! Why can't I move my legs? Why is there water?' He thought, feeling flustered. His head felt heavy, like there was a huge rock weighing it down. Then, he passed out. The shock was too much for him to bear.
"SASORI!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Sorry, Itachi, I have to go now," said Deidara quickly, carrying Sasori in his arms, "but this party has been great, hn."
"...OK. Let me fetch you."
"Huh? No, its okay! You still have to entertain the guests. I'll go and take a cab."
"No, its ok; I'll take care of the guests," said Sasuke reassuringly.
"Hn..." Deidara said quietly. With that, Itachi quickly got dressed, picked up Deidara's and Sasori's belongings and walked briskly towards the carpark. Deidara shot Sakura and Ino a death glare and walked behind Itachi. As the chaffeur put on speed to the car and headed towards a neighbourhood clinic. Deidara held his friend tight throughout the whole drive, worrying his heart out.
It turned out that Sasori had severe cramps in his leg and was very weak due to the fact that he had almost drowned. Also, he was mentally traumatised, so he had to stay in bed for quite awhile. After getting Sasori's medication and upon reaching Sasori's doorstep, Deidara turned to look at Itachi.
"Thanks a lot for today," he said gratefully.
"No problem," replied Itachi, "if you need any help, I'll be always here to help."
Deidara smiled. "Thanks, you sound just like Sasori, you know."
Itachi's heart skipped a beat as Deidara rang the doorbell and Sasori's grandmother answered the door. Did that mean that he, Itachi Uchiha, was on the same level as Sasori?
As he walked back to his car slowly, contemplating about some things, he didn't notice Hidan and Kakuzu standing at the sidewalk. They had seen everything, and observed everything, including the Uchiha's expression.
Hidan sighed. "This is bad news for the redhead who doesn't even know how he feels about Deidara."
Kakuzu looked at the shiny black limousine, which was slowly disappearing from sight. Didn't Deidara use to hate the weasel like mad, and despise him, and call him a weasel? Now, 'weasel' was replaced with 'Itachi.' Sooner or later, a certain redhead would get hurt.
"C'mon, lets go in, we've got to iron out some things," Hidan said, dragging Kakuzu away. It was time for a bittersweet discussion with Pein and Konan. As for Tobi, he could wait until he grew old to be part of the discussion, judging by how his brain thought of ideas which didn't work everytime.
In Sasori's house, Chiyo was busy in the kitchen, making a mug of hot chocolate for the guest, as well as a cup of hot tea for her grandson. Deidara kept apologising to Chiyo, saying that it was his fault that Sasori had ended up like this, but she wouldn't hear anything of it, and insisted that it wasn't anyone's fault.
As Sasori lay on his bed sleeping, Deidara sat by the side observing him sleep. The way he looked like...it was like a delicate porcelain doll, who had just closed her eyes for an afternoon nap. Deidara slowly felt his hand slip into Sasori's cold one, and grasp it tight. A strange feeling overwhelmed him slowly. It was so nice to watch Sasori sleep.
Deidara's other hand then slowly reached for Sasori's red hair. Gently brushing his fringe from his eyes, Deidara let his hand stay on his friends head as he smiled. Who knew that Sasori was this cute when he was sleeping? It didn't seem like him at all.
Before he knew it, night had fallen. The soft moonlight sashayed through the glass windows of the room, reminding Deidara of the time. Slowly but reluctantly, Deidara got up, took one last look at his friend and promised himself that he'd be back tomorrow. It felt funny to leave the house and walk on the empty, dim-lit streets. And besides Sasori, he only knew of one other person who seemed fit enough to know his troubles.
After all, Itachi had helped him so much, and had been very nice to him, he really trusted Itachi a lot, after what had happened in school, during the field trip, and the poolside party. Pulling out his cellphone, he flipped it open and dialled Itachi's number.
"Hello? Itachi, it's me, Deidara. Do you think...I can talk to you for awhile? I'm really sorry..."
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Meanwhile, a group of four people were sitting in a fast food restaurant, talking solemnly. Pein had just gone skateboarding, and Konan had gone an origami convention. The both of them sipped their drinks as they listened to Hidan talk.
"I seriously think we should help Sasori," he finished after five minutes of explaining.
Pein sat back in the chair. "Then we've got to make Sasori realize what Deidara means to him. You know how stubborn the redhead is. He's great a academic stuff, but when it comes to emotional stuff, he's all blank."
"Obviously, Dei-chan does like Sasori, but if that freaking Uchiha intervenes, which is what is happening now, Sasori will be in trouble. In fact, the redhead will be stuck in bed for one whole freaking month, so what's gonna happen? The rich guy will SEIZE the opportunity to get closer to Dei-chan!" Hidan exclaimed, waving his hands in the air.
"And besides, Itachi Uchiha seems attracted to Deidara," added Kakuzu.
"If Dei-chan lands up with Uchiha, Sasori will not be able to take the blow," continued Hidan, "so, what's your opinion on this?"
Konan looked concerned. "can't we let everything take its course?"
"The Uchiha is gonna use his money and power to manipulate the course of nature!" Hidan yelled, as some customers looked at him.
"Sheesh, you've been watching too much of the drama 'Rich guy, poor girl'," Kakuzu said, sighing.
"I can't bear to see Dei-chan get manipulated by the course of nature which is being manipulated by money by the manipulative UCHIHA! Imagine a broken-hearted puppet of a Sasori lying on the wall, his heart torn into two - "
Pein held his hand up. "Stop. If you are gonna worry like this, you might as well spend your time thinking of a good plan to change the course of stuff."
"For the time being, we should try talking to Sasori first. That way, we'd have accomplished something at least. We can't do anything much if Sasori doesn't know what to do, or how he feels about Deidara. So, why don't we go to his house tomorrow? When Deidara has gone off, we can talk to him in private." Konan suggested.
The rest nodded in agreement, and Hidan finally calmed down and took a huge gulp of ice cold water.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Yeah, I know...hn. It feels really weird that such a strong-willed guy is lying down on his bed, unable to get up for one month...I really don't feel good."
Deidara was sitting on the playground swings in the park. It felt so weird to be there, without Sasori. Every single time he sat on the swings, Sasori would be there with him, sitting on the other swing next to him. This time, he didn't know why he ended up there without Sasori.
Weird, and lonely.
"Cheer up, Deidara. He'll be better. Sasori isn't a weak guy; he'll be up and going in one month's time."
"Yeah, but...you know, I'm sitting on the park playground swings now, and everytime I come here, Sasori will be with me, sitting on that other swing...now, there's nobody. I don't know what's this feeling. And I was so excited on going to the supermarket with him this Saturday...now, everything's ruined."
"...Fret not. Wait for five minutes, and something will happen. I promise you'll feel better. I'll hang up now, and so, get ready to be surprised." Click.
Itachi hung up and hurriedly zoomed towards his chaffeur. "Take me to a really good ramen stall, then take me to the neighbourhood playground at Akatsuki Avenue."
The chaffeur looked surprised. Itachi usually didn't go to shabby, middle-class places. What had gotten into him now? But anyway. he just followed his employer's orders and drove off.
5 minutes later, Deidara was still waiting at the swings. He felt a little upset, but felt a little excited and skeptical when he heard Itachi say 'surprise'. He was beginning to feel impatient. It was already seven minutes, and the surprise had not come. He was starting to feel cheated. He was about to call Itachi when he heard a voice call out his name.
"Deidara, so this is the swing you were talking about?"
Deidara stared. It was Itachi, and he was carrying two containers of...ICHIRAKU RAMEN?
"Hn, Ichiraku ramen?! I didn't think you'd know there was such a shop that sold ramen..." Deidara said.
Itachi smirked as he silently thanked his chaffeur for knowing where Ichiraku ramen was. He handed a container of ramen and a pair of chopsticks to Deidara, who happily accepted them and broke his chopsticks quickly.
"Ramen, here I come!"
The boy slurped up his noodles hungrily, at such a speed that Itachi's face paled.
"You didn't eat dinner, I suppose?" he asked.
Deidara shook his head as he shoved more noodles into his mouth. Itachi sighed and patted his head.
"Don't rush. No one's gonna steal your food. If you eat too quickly you'll get indigestion," he said as he went over to sit at the empty swing. Breaking his chopsticks as well, he opened the container and slurped the noodles. Wow, it totally rocked. The warm broth was simply amazing, and the portions given were really large.
Deidara smiled as he noticed Itachi's expression. "Good ramen, isn't it? I love it lots. Thanks for the ramen; was it your 'surprise'?" Itachi nodded, eating the noodles with relish.
"You know, thanks for coming down here. Sasori used to sit where you are sitting right now. Whenever we came here. But now, I guess he's out of action for one whole month, and if I come here, it won't be fun at all, hn."
Itachi looked at Deidara, who was eating at a much slower speed now. 'So this was Sasori's swing,' he thought quietly. Suddenly, an idea came to his head as he put down his chopsticks.
"I could come here with you and sit on Sasori's swing for the one month he has to rest. Then you wouldn't be lonely. I would really like to be your good friend and share your troubles with you. And I could go with you to the supermarket this Saturday. I'd also like to learn more about middle-class supermarkets..." he said.
Deidara stopped eating for awhile. He looked at Itachi as though he were mad. "Are you mad? I thought you never ate anything more than imported organic foods!"
"I could try," said Itachi.
"Well...ok then. That's really nice of you, Itachi. At first, I thought you were a really stupid guy, but now it seems like you have proven that wrong, hn."
Itachi blushed a little. "Really? And I used to think you were an irritating, bad-tempered idiot. Though you still are irritating and bad-tempered, I found out that you do know some things more than me...like the prices of coffee and tea from middle-class shops and stuff like that. You know, middle-class stuff."
Deidara seemed a little offended, but forced a smile. "Yeah, I take that as a compliment, hn. Anyway, I could teach you more on middle-class supermarkets this Saturday. Lets meet at the neighbourhood supermarket at 9am, ok? I would like to buy some groceries for Sasori too."
"Alright," said Itachi, "I would love to."
"And...Itachi. Thanks for everything. Chatting with you makes me feel better."
Itachi felt as if time had stopped. He stared at Deidara, who was smiling at him.
It was that sunshine smile again. The one which made his heart beat fast. The one which had made him understand how he felt towards Deidara. Feeling a little awkward, Itachi looked down at his ramen.
'Sasori, this swing seat is mine for one month, but I'll change the one month to forever,' he thought as the moonlight shone on him.
