After several minutes of sobbing, Deidara soon calmed down. He was still shaking badly but his crying had finally ceased. He was still clinging tightly to the raven who had come in and woken him up from his nightmare. He couldn't bring himself to release the other and Itachi didn't force the blond to release him. He'd sit there all day with the other if he had too if it made the teen feel better.

"I-Itachi…" Deidara squeaked out.

"Hn?" Itachi looked down at the blond curiously.

"H-how much did you hear…? I know you had to have heard something…" Deidara looked up at the raven with horror filled blue eyes. He didn't want to break down and confess everything, not yet. It was too soon. They had just met. Deidara didn't even know if he could really trust the raven or not.

"Well…" Itachi paused, trying to decide if it was best to tell the terrified teen what he had heard. He finally caved and spoke. "I heard you screaming and begging for someone to stop… I didn't catch the name of the person though…"

"O-oh…" Deidara didn't know if he should be relieved or not. Either way, it was still bad that the raven had heard anything he was shouting. Had the others heard too? Kami, he hoped not.

"What exactly did you go through before you came here?" Itachi suddenly asked. That was it. That was one of the questions he had been dreading to be asked. He hadn't told Sasori and he wasn't ready to tell the raven. It was too soon.

"Please forgive me...I really can't bring myself to discuss that right now…" Deidara muttered. Of course Itachi was disappointed to hear that but he didn't let the blond see. He knew it was best to respect the other's privacy. He then got an idea that would hopefully help the teen relax.

"Hey, why don't you take a nice bath to help calm your nerves? Sasori is out on a mission for now but after your done, I can always keep you company if you don't want to be alone. Maybe you could tell me some other things about you." Itachi smiled a bit, hoping that would help the other. After thinking it over for several minutes, Deidara nodded a bit.

"Okay...a bath does sound pretty nice but um…" Deidara suddenly blushed madly. He was still all bandaged up.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked.

"Well...I'm...going to need some help with these bandages before I get in there…" Deidara paused. His eyes went toward the ground, as if they were trying to hide the embarrassment on his face. It took the raven a couple minutes to click what the blond was trying to say but then he realized what it was.

"Oh, I can help you remove those." The raven pasused, hoping he wasn't being too bold. "That is, if you'll allow me to help you."

"Um...yeah please…" Deidara blushed darker and slowly got up from the bed. He didn't know how much of his body had really been injured in the blast but he wasn't going to get out of these on his own, even with the help of his hand mouths. Heck then the whole rebandaging process...the thought was too much for the teen to think about so he went off to the bathroom with Itachi following behind him.

"Just...please try not to stare and...try not to freak out…" Deidara muttered softly. He was worried about what Itachi would say about the mouth on his chest and the ones on his hands. Not only that, but the injuries he had sustained throughout those two years...he felt his anxiety starting to rise like crazy.

"Hey…" Itachi suddenly placed a gentle hand on Deidara's shoulder. "It's okay. I'm not going to judge you. I'm just here to help. If you want me to leave, just tell me and I'll wait outside for you. Your boundaries will be respected, I can promise you that. Just breathe for me." The raven hoped his words would be enough to calm the blond that was on the verge of an anxiety attack.

The teen gripped onto the counter tightly, his terrified eyes fixed on the floor. It took him several minutes of breathing before he finally started to calm down enough to release the counter top. He slowly stepped away from Itachi and started the bath water before standing up straight and slowly turning to face the raven. After biting his lip, he slowly reached for the end of his shirt and started pulling it over his head. There were bandages wrapped around a good portion of his torso and his chest. Once the shirt hit the floor, the remaining bandages on his arms and shoulders could be seen, as well as the mouth that was stitched up by his heart.

"L-let's just pause here and...get these off first…" Deidara said in a shaky tone. Itachi nodded a bit and made his way over to the terrified blond. He decided to start with the bandages around his torso and made sure his movements weren't too quick. He unwrapped them slowly, making sure to mentally prepare for any damage he might possibly see once they were fully removed. As they slowly hit the ground, Itachi couldn't stop his eyes from going wide with concern. He saw several burn marks that coated the teen's stomach, as well as gashes that took their time healing, and scars from old wounds that healed long ago. Itachi felt something starting to burn inside of him. Was he enraged? Was he actually feeling some kind of an emotion right now? This was only the first portion of the bandages as well. After pausing for several minutes, Itachi continued to work with the bandages to get them all off.

"There now...that's the top half of your body…" The raven said softly as he stepped back. He leaned over and shut the water off so the tub wouldn't get too full and then returned to his original position.

"It...it's bad isn't it…?" Deidara asked softly. He ran a hand up his right arm slowly, making sure to be cautious around the cuts and burn marks. Itachi hated to think it, but it was indeed bad. He knew so many of those markings would leave nasty scars. Regardless of that, the blond was still a beautiful person, at least in Itachi's eyes.

"Are you ready to continue?" The raven asked gently.

"Y-yeah...un… I think so…"

Yo. As promised, two updates in one day, just a day late! ^^" Sorry again! But yay! Itachi is taking care of our precious Deidara! Hopefully things will continue to pick up for our beautiful little blond boy! But...I have more plans. Speaking of plans, remember when I mentioned I HidaDei story a couple chapters ago? Welp, I changed it to a SasoDei story and I plan on posting it later today! I hope everyone will check it out! Anyways, thanks for reading everyone! Don't forget to review! Thank Chu!

~~aMaskedNinja