Morning crunched sunshine into the child's room. Deidara awoke to no Tsukiko beside him. Depression would not let him move his own body until Tsukiko shook his shoulder. He turned over and smiled at the sight of her.
"Papa. We should go to the Village today." She smiled. Deidara nodded and smiled with her. He stood up and shrugged the over coat off his shoulders.
"You want to eat breakfast in the Village?" he asked playfully. She smiled and nodded.
"Go get dressed then." He said walking down the hall. He sat in the kitchen and Itachi sat next to him.
"I understand how you feel." He said. Deidara looked at him.
"I know what it's like to lose something so close to you. It wasn't just you who lost her, we all lost her." He finished. Tsukiko pushed the swinging door open.
"I'm ready." She giggled. Leader walked in.
"You can't leave." He said. Deidara and Tsukiko perked up.
"Why not??" they asked.
"You've got a mission today, Deidara." Deidara growled. Even Itachi looked like he objected to Deidara's mission. Tsukiko cut in.
"You can't change my papa's and my plans for today." She cooed. Leader bent down towards her.
"I can do whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want. What makes you think that I can't make your 'papa' do what I tell him to?" he growled. Tsukiko smiled and leaned closer to his face so that Deidara wouldn't hear.
She whispered something to him. Leader stood vertical quickly.
"Very well then. Deidara. I guess you can have the day off." He said walking away. Deidara looked at Tsukiko suspiciously.
"What did you say to him?" he asked. Tsukiko smiled.
"Nothing."
Deidara smirked.
The Village Hidden in the Grass seemed to be really quite on this morning. The father and daughter sat inside of a restaurant. Tsukiko was eating cereal and drinking orange juice. Deidara sat poking at his toast and bacon.
"Papa?" Tsukiko asked. Deidara said nothing.
"Papa?" she asked again. This time he looked up.
"Sorry. What?" he inquired. Tsukiko chewed her cereal for a moment.
"Papa doesn't have to be sad. Mama isn't gone." She said. Deidara winced as if she hit a sensitive nerve with a needle. A tear fell onto the table.
"Don't cry, Papa. It makes Mama sad when Papa cries." She whimpered. Deidara sniffled.
"It's okay, baby. I'm sorry. I have to go use the washroom." He said standing and going to the other end of the restarurant.
When he got into a stall, he sat down and cried for a few minutes. He wiped his eyes and took a few deep breaths before leaving back to the table.
"Papa." Tsukiko said in a serious tone. Deidara looked at her.
"I said stop crying. Your making Mama sad."
Deidara swallowed hard.
"I wasn't crying."
"Yes you were. Mama told me." She disagreed.
"Quit spying on me."
"I wasn't."
"How else would you know then?"
"Mama told me." She huffed. Deidara let a growl out.
"Stop it." He hissed.
"Stop what?" she asked. He shut his eyes.
"Stop mentioning your mother."
"Why?"
"Just shut up." He whimpered. He shut his eyes and rubbed his temples for awhile.
When they opened, Tsukiko was gone. Quickly, he stood up and looked around the restaurant. Deidara grabbed one of the waitresses.
"Did you see a little girl leave the restaurant?" he asked frantically. She pulled her wrist from his hand.
"No I didn't." She said. Deidara opened the door and walked out onto the steps. Looking side to side, he felt relief when he saw her sitting on the ground. His body stopped shaking from fear as he approached her.
"Tsukiko. Why did you up and leave like that?" he asked. She didn't move.
"I can't tell you." She said from her knees.
"Why not?" he asked calmly.
"You're going to be mad again." She swallowed. Deidara felt his heart drop.
"It's about your Mama, isn't it?" He bothered slowly. Tsukiko nodded. Deidara stood up.
"Do you know what happened to your Mama then?" he challenged her. Tsukiko waited a moment then nodded. Deidara flinched.
"Mama was passing through the point where Konoha and Suna touch when a boy named Sasuke and Mama got in a fight. Another boy named Naruto and a boy with black hair watched because they couldn't do anything about it. Mama beat Sasuke. She talked to the boy, Naruto and promised that she would make it up to him for what she did to someone named Sakura. Sasuke tried to attack Naruto but Mama saved him. Sasuke hurt Mama real bad. But Mama told Naruto to take her to Sakura. He did and she did a jutsu that gave up Mama's life sustaining chakra for Sakura. She told Naruto to bring back Sasuke and to protect her little girl," she said then pointed at herself.
"The last thing that Mama said was 'Deidara. Tsukiko. I loved you both with all of my heart. Goodbye'. Then Mama was gone." Tsukiko said frowning. When she finally looked up at her Papa, she realized that he was crying. He fell onto his knees, and Tsukiko watched his head fall into his hands. She looked back at her own knees.
"How do you know that it's true?" he sniffled through his fingertips. Tsukiko sighed.
"I know you won't believe me when I tell you this," she said quietly. "but Mama told me not to tell you."
"HOW DID SHE TELL YOU!?!?" he asked shuffling closer. Tsukiko looked around.
"Mama isn't dead, Papa."