Jester Chapter 14, a naruto fanfic

A/N: So, it's a short chapter.
I do sincerely apologise.
Very sincerely.

Well, I'm kind of in the middle of exams right now (:
So finding time is kinda tricky.
I'll try to get another chapter up by next week :D

And I'm happier about my reviews!
Thanks a mill to my amazing reviewers!
Enjoy chapter fourteen!

Disclaimer: would I be writing this if I owned?

"What are you doing?"

By now, Layuki was already halfway out the window. She stopped to see Aniki standing staring at her with her hands on her hips. In the back of the mind, she wondered what the older girl did when she was alone with Deidara.

Layuki sighed and said, "I'm running away. What's it look like?"

Aniki tilted her head. "What are you running away from?"

"Life." Layuki responded, with no hesitation.

"To where?"

She smiled sadly. "That's a good question."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The door to the Kazekage's study burst open and Layuki invited herself inside. Gaara merely glanced at her before returning to his paperwork.

"You're back early." He said after finishing his sheet several moments later. He looked up at her with his insomniac eyes. "Where is Hashigiwa?"

"Off being an over achiever." Layuki answered in a heartbeat. She smiled and threw a scroll onto his desk. "Here is your mission report. It was a failure. Deidara is still alive and the Akatsuki lair remains hidden unless Hashigiwa found something. Is there anything else you would like, Gaara?"

The redhead didn't reply at first, but continued to stare at Layuki who had seated herself in a chair and was doing her best to avoid his gaze.

"What is your relationship with that shinobi?"

Now she looked in his direction, but not at him. Her eyes hovered at a spot somewhere about his right shoulder. "What shinobi? I know a lot of people Gaara, you can't expect me to remember every face I see."

"You're on a first name basis with the bomb-specialist. Deidara."

Layuki rolled her eyes. Still not looking at him. "Because he doesn't have a last name, obviously." She paused, twirling a short strand of her hair – which had grown quite a bit since she returned from the Cloud – in her fingers. "I'm on a first name basis with you too, aren't I? You can't exactly call that normal."

"Don't avoid my question, Layuki." Gaara said, emotionlessly.

Maybe it was the use of her name that made Layuki look at her feet in shame. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "The relationship between Deidara and I is nothing more than the relationship between a predator and it's prey. He is my hunt. I feel nothing more than indifference towards him."

"Predator and prey?" A taunting voice said. Both people turned to see Kankorou swagger into the room. He grinned at her. "Why don't you look at my brother and say that with a straight face? Because by the way you make it sound, Layuki, the lion has fallen in love with the lamb."

"What do you want Kankorou?" Gaara said, keeping a steady voice. Layuki wondered how, because she was currently clenching her teen and holding onto the edge of the chair so hard that her knuckles were white.

The puppeteer grinned. "Nothing little bro. Just letting you know that the chuunin team you sent out yesterday are back. Three are resting and one's in the hospital with a fractured wrist."

"Thank you. You may leave now."

"Nah." Kankorou grinned. "I'd rather stay here and listen to you two talk."

"That wasn't a request, Kankorou. It was a command."

Now, even Kankorou knows when enough was enough. He shrugged and walked out the door. "Alright. Have fun you kids."

Gaara sighed. He looked back at Layuki and his eyes widened a little in surprise.

She was sitting here, with her head down on his desk and cluching her hair at the same time, as if trying to pull the hairs out of her head. She seemed to be breathing heavily.

The lion has fallen in love with the lamb.

"No." Layuki started, she'd been telling herself the same thing for days now. "It's not true. It's not true. It's not true."

And she kept repeating that to herself.

"Layuki…" Gaara began. It was the first time that day that his voice did not sound monotone.

"It's not true."

He sighed and walked around his desk to stand beside Layuki and bending over to his face was level with hers. She looked so small. "Layuki…"

"It's not true!"

"Layuki, listen to me!" he said, finally getting frustrated.

She was silent. Then quietly, "Please Gaara, it's not true. He's nothing. Nothing. Compared to you…I don't know what to do."

Then for the first time, she looked at him. Gaara was surprised to see that her usually unreadable eyes now showed everything: confusion, sadness…and lust.

But Gaara didn't know what love was, much less lust.

"I'm sorry Gaara. I have to know."

Before he had a chance to ponder what she was going to say, Layuki had grabbed the back of his head and pulled his face to hers.

For the first moment, he kissed back. But then he felt her tears falling on his skin.

"No." He said against her lips, using his sand to push her away. Then he walked out the room, his sand trailing behind.

Layuki watched him go and licked her lips. That kiss had meant to much more than either of Deidara's.

When the door closed, she felt her heart break.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Shikamaru sighed as he heard the knock on his door. Assuming it was Temari again, he opened the door. "Look Tem – "

It was then that he realised that the girl on the outside of his guest room in Sunagakure was indeed not Temari. Instead it was someone that he wasn't expecting to see again in his life. He stared for a moment and moved away to let her in without a word.

Aniki grinned. "Nice to see you too, Shika-chan."

A/N: -sniff- I smell a cliffie.
How does Shikamaru know Aniki?
Hm, who knows?

Me thinks the drama begins now ;)

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fanny-kun