12
Relief
A tall woman with short, violet hair hovered over a little girl (with equally purple hair) with a disgusted look decorating her face. "You're a disgrace to the Kazami clan." Tears were streaming down the girls face and dripping off of her chin. "Tch." The little girl turned around to see the where the deep voice came from. It was a man looming over her. "You will never be a successful ninja." "B-But, Daddy-" He struck her across the face. "You might as well die."
The two people disappeared in a puff of smoke. Taking their place was a teenage girl lying on the ground, a katana going through her chest. "Suki, leave me here." "B-But," The crying little girl with pigtails was now at least two feet taller. "I can't!" A small smile spread across her friend's face as she coughed up blood. "Here," she yanked off her necklace. "Take this." The purple-headed ninja took the gift. "Akane-" "You were my best friend." "Were? Don't say were!" Her breathing was becoming labored. "Thank… you." "No!" Her wail echoed throughout the darkness as her friend dissolved before her eyes.
"Who's this?" The same girl stood in a bar, a scratch now on her headband. "That," the bartender jerked his thumb at the yellowed wanted poster, "Is Deidara, an S-ranked ninja that originated in Iwagakure."
The scenery changed once more. Shadows closed in around the girl' throat, her hair had grown. "What do you want?" Her captor's voice seemed to boom from everywhere, and nowhere. It seemed rather familiar, but she pushed that thought out of her mind. "I… I want to join Akatsuki!""You need to stay a little longer. You have minor internal bleeding." The speaker had finally shown his face (his shadows were off tracking someone). His orange hair was spiked and various piercings littered his face. Again, the familiarity tugged at the back of her mind.
"Um, what do you think of P-Pein-sama, un?" "Pein-sama? I don't really know. I mean, I've never really talked to him except for when I joined and a couple of minutes ago." "Well, what's your impression of him, un?" He seems like a nice enough guy, I guess. He has an evil aurora, very scary. And, uh, I don't know." "Hmmm." "What's wrong?" "Huh? What do you mean, un?" "Well, usually you're so focused and all, but you seem a little distant, like you're somewhere else." "I'm just thinking about things, un." "What kind of things?" "I… I think he should be the one to tell you."
The silhouette of her father appeared, as did Pein. The leader of the Akatsuki turned and collided into the silhouette. They were a perfect match…
"No!" Suki sat straight up in bed, shaking all over and sweat dripping from her forehead.
The sudden movement startled a certain blonde who was hovering over her. "Suki-chan! You're awake, un!"
The addressed turned towards the voice, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "D-Deidara? What are you doing here," she looked around, "in Konan-sempai's room?"
An opened-mouth grin spread across the pyrotechnic's face. "She invited me here, un."
"Oh." Suki stared at Deidara for a moment as the events former to her sleep came back to her and she remembered what she had decided; all thoughts of her dream were temporarily pushed to the side. "Oh!" A scarlet blush swiftly made its way across her cheeks as she suddenly focused her gaze downwards. "Deidara-kun…?"
The ex-Iwagakure nin perked at being addressed by his love interest. "Yes, un?"
Suki's face turned even redder as she tried to word her question. "Would you… will you… did you mean what you said earlier?"
"Of course! Why would I lie about something like that, un?"
"So then… would you… I mean…" Suki gave up on trying to say anything and instead grabbed Deidara by the collar and pulled him into a kiss. Soon after she pulled away, averting her eyes from Deidara's big blue ones. "I've been thinking about that kiss, and… I think that I love you, too." Her confession made the grin on Deidara's face grow even wider as he happily wrapped his arms around Suki's waist. "So does this mean that we are, you know, together?" Her hugger chuckled cheerfully. "Of course, un. And we don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to, un." Suki smiled up at him. "I'm glad."
"Hey, why were you shaking and sweating when you woke up? Did you have a bad dream, un?"
The question brought Suki's thoughts back to her dream, causing her to quickly worm out of Deidara's embrace and race out of the room. "I have to go!" called Suki behind her, "I'll meet up with you later, 'kay?"
Deidara stared at the space in front of him where Suki had been sitting only a few seconds before. "…Okay, un."
There was a knock on the other side of his office door. "Leader-sama?"
Pein couldn't really identify the muffled voice, so he simply said, "Come in." Much to Pein's surprise, Suki was the one who walked into his office. He gestured for her to sit down in the chair in front of his desk. "What is it, Kazami-san?"
Suki was now sitting directly in front of Pein with only a desk in the way. "I wanted to ask you something."
He put on an uninterested expression and said in a bored tone, "What?"
"Well, you see, I wanted to know if-"
Pein impatiently glanced at his wristwatch. "Could you make this quick, I have things to do."
Suki nodded and took in a deep breath. "Areyoumyfather?"
Pein's heart stopped. "What?"
She took in another deep breath before trying again. "This is gonna sound stupid, but… I was wondering if you were my… father?"
The very powerful leader of a very powerful organization filled with very powerful S-ranked missing ninjas was rendered silent by a sixteen year old girl.
Said girl let out a light laugh as she stood up to leave. "I'm sorry I wasted your time, it was just a stupid thought. I mean, how could you possibly be my-"
"Yes."
Suki stood perfectly still. "Eh, what?"
"Yes," Pein repeated calmly. "I am your father."
The usually talkative ninja didn't say anything, her crystal eyes wide in shock.
"And I must admit," Pein continued regardless of her silence. "I rather regret abandoning you, you are a very excellent ninja."
A drop of salty liquid fell to the floor, followed by another and another. "I-I've always wanted to hear those words from my fath- from you."
Something very unusual happened at that moment; Pein smiled, not an evil smile, or a sadistic smile, not even an amused smile, it was a fatherly smile, a proud smile. "Go back to your room, Suki."
Suki smiled and went to leave, but paused. "But, I don't have a-"
"Go back to Tobi and Deidara's apartment."
"Okay," she stopped before she closed the door, "Dad."
A/N: This chapter was short, too, sorry. Also, today is Sasuke's birthday, soooo, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASUKE!! And I came across a story that sort of reminded me of this one, so if you like this one I think that you would like the other one, too. It's called Reverse This Curse by HandsOfSorrow; go look it up, please.
