Authors' Note: I changed a few points at the last minute, making Itachi seem kind of fickle. But the special scene in this chapter wouldn't have worked otherwise, so please play along. Not that it's a major continuity error, but it does seem the slightest bit out of character.
This chapter was particularly difficult for me to write, but I'm glad I got it done in time to keep up my consistent streak of submissions. The quality seemed like my good stuff to me I guess. Hope you all enjoy the chapter. Just two left after this, and the final one is set to be the most powerful and moving of them all.
Disclaimer: I don't own Deidara or Naruto universe characters. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to claim ownership of some Bleach characters.
Deidara looked out at the sea of faces, holding back the joyful laughter he wanted to belt out. Squealing girls, chatterbox hags, and attentive men. The essence of a village, all in one setting. To him, there was nothing quite like a crowd.
He walked to the edge of the stage, and cleared his throat. "YOUR ATTENTION! Everyone! I'm VERY glad you could all make it here today, because as you all know, this is my finest work yet! But more importantly than that..." Deidara lowered his head and laughed softly. This line was so cheesy, he thought, but needed to be said. Slowly, he rose his head, and with a great and sincere smile that seemed to beam across the masses of people, completed his statement.
"This is a work of art that will change my life forever." Deidara looked around in the crowd for a moment, trying to seek Anna out. After all, this was more for her than anything.
Suddenly, he spotted her. A little ways off from the front row, and fighting through the masses of people to get closer. "'scuse me! Coming through!" she yelled as she finally made it to the front, and straightened herself up, smiling at her boyfriend.
"Heh. Glad you could make it, Anna." Deidara said suddenly into the microphone.
Anna felt a wave of embarrassment hit her, and wanted to fall back a bit into the crowd. But she soon found herself looking at Deidara, smiling, and extending a hand to her. "Come on up here."
A mass of 'aws' came from the crowd, and some pouting from Deidara's fan club as well. The potter was on the stage, standing next to her boyfriend and staring into the gathering of villagers. She wasn't a big crowd person, and the attention made her face turn pink. "Deidei..." she whispered. "Is...is this really necessary. You know I have stage fright."
"Yeah, I do." he said away from the microphone. "That's why I'm doing it. Trust me, you're going to like this one. And besides, I'm a natural with crowds."
The blond turned once more to the citizens of Iwagakure, and held the microphone close to his face. "Time to get this speech over with, un. Now, years ago during my rogue prankster days, I wasn't exactly everyones' favorite kid. You all know the story of the graffiti I pained all over the front gates, right? Tsuchikage-sama was fuming about it for months, so if you don't, you must be foreign." Though an unintentional pun, the crowd laughed none-the-less.
"I have thanked you all for forgiving my pinheaded antics when I was a kid. The thanks I've shown this brilliant and powerful village of ours over the years has been my astonishing works, and my remarkable service to Iwagakure's military might. Heck, you all wouldn't be here at this festival if not for my swift and flashy destruction of the Village Hidden in the Crasm...or Mountain Crack...who really cares anyway, un? They're cave dust now! Anyway, my first work I ever submitted, and I remember this well--"
Not to far from the stage, Itachi stood against a building wall, watching the event unfold intently. Kisame came from around the corner, and stood next to his partner, taking a moment to process the situation. "So...This where the guy is gonna lose it all?"
"Yes."
"Ah, good. Um...bit of a question, Itachi. He seems to know what he's doing, and seems kinda cheerful right now. How do you figure he's going to snap here? Is the Sharingan able to see into the future."
For once, Itachi took a deep breath, and spoke for more than one sentence. "Some would think. The Sharingan has a powerful ability to predict movement. However, it can hardly predict the future as a whole. No, Deidara will be his own downfall tonight because he IS in his prime. I could tell from the way he looked at me that day."
Itachi closed his eyes, then jolted them open, the pupils suddenly becoming red, with a tri-comma look to them. "Deidara fears me, and my presence tonight will see to it that he ends his own success. Then, he will have two choices. And the latter isn't something a man like him would have the nerve to do."
"The latter being? ...no wait, the options being?"
"...he either joins us, or dies right there."
"...oh. Man, Itachi, you're more impressive than I gave you credit for. So wait, I have one last question for you. That one time you came back from talking to the guy all short of breath. You used that other Sharingan to cast a genjutsu on him, didn't you?"
"How many times must I say this, Kisame? I have not tampered with his mind. Not once. However, I won't deny that I used the Mangyeko Sharingan. I wanted to ensure my suspicions were correct." He looked over the crowd, and spotted Sasori approaching the stage slowly. "But I see my suspicions weren't going to apply fast enough." Itachi got off the wall and began to walk towards the stage.
"Wait, hang on a second! What exactly is going to happen, Itachi?!"
"...and the events that I experienced while growing up were inspiring to my most recent work, 'Child of Stone', which was more or less a self sculpture that was put in the shrine my fan club built for me out of their delightful obsession."
Despite the length of his speech, everyone seemed to be engaged by it. Well, other than poor Anna, who had been standing there, frozen and wondering what she was even doing there.
"But today, I give you a masterpiece that was inspired by this wonderful woman right here." Deidara put his right arm around the blushing Anna, who couldn't move even still, and turned darker shades of red. "Anna is the reason I'm still alive today, I must add, and she once told me she'd gladly give her life for me. That's why this work, although simple, is a display of how mutual my feelings are."
Anna's ears perked up, and she turned her head towards Deidara, who snickered confidently. "Anna, you don't know the half of it quite yet, but you will in a moment." The artist let go of his girlfriend, and walked over to the 'masterpiece', still under covers. "The title of this work is inspired by the feelings Anna has engraved into my artistic heart. These words, simple like the work, are something I want the people of Iwagakure to remember forever. LIFE...IS A BANG!"
Deidara yanked the tarp off of the giant sculpture, and awe followed the moment his masterpiece was revealed. A statue of two hands holding, in the usual superflat style Deidara was so famous for. Simple enough, and something that was probably easy for Deidara to make. However, one thing stood out more than the hands themselves that instantly captivated the village, especially Anna. One of the hands looked as though it had just finished placing a ring upon the other hand, and many knew what that meant.
Deidara whispered to Anna. "Read the writing on the ring, un. It's...kinda my way of saying the message."
Nervously, Anna got closer to the sculpture, and read the kanji engraved on the clay ring. "Marry me... ..." She smiled, and turned to Deidara, punching him on the arm.
"OUCH! What the hell was that for!"
"Heh. Nothing. It's just that you took so long, that's all." Suddenly, she clung on tightly to the arm she had just punched. Suddenly, Deidara reached into his pocket with his free hand, and pulled out a ring, placing it on Anna's finger, in the same way the sculpture did. "I had to find the right inspiration, I suppose."
From the crowd, a certain hunchback puppet master grunted in discontent. "That is his art? It's pathetic. And his 'title' is inappropriate for the situation. The brat doesn't know what true art really is, apparently. Hm?" Suddenly, he noticed Itachi moving through the crowd, closer to the stage. "What is Itachi up to, I wonder."
"Deidara is a mental case." Itachi stated to Kisame, not caring that villagers were listening in. "A weak genjutsu can get the best of him instantly in this situation."
"Ah. But wait, you said you weren't going to do anything."
"I wasn't." Itachi's head turned around and he looked over at where Sasori was standing. "But Sasori will if I do not. His impatience is going to blow Akatsuki's cover."
"Hmph. Typical. The guy must have termites up his ass. He's been so damn impatient."
"I even admit this has taken awhile. But circumstances call for a change in tactics. I will only use a short ranged genjutsu, and this will be over before Sasori can act."
"Sasori doesn't really seem like the type to make an irrational move."
"Normally, he isn't. He waited patiently for his chance to murder his own Kazekage, and that accounts for much. But the situation is different." Itachi stopped walking, and began to channel his chakra into his right hand. He looked at Deidara intently, and pointed at him, bolting a powerful genjutsu directly at the artist. "Now then, time to prey on his fear of me, and finish this mission."
The cheers and whistles for the newly engaged artists made their embrace strengthen, but suddenly, Deidara backed off and held onto his head in pain. "Argh! Wh-what the?!"
"Deidei, what's wrong?!"
The blond took a deep breath, and wiped his forhead. "S-sorry, headache. Haha--Wh-what?!" Deidara's face went pale when he looked into the crowd of people, and he began to tremble in fear. "N-no. No! I told you to keep away!" Nothing had changed about the crowd, but in Deidara's eyes, they all appeared to have taken the form of...Itachi. Deidara staggered backwards, completely freaking out and holding his face. "S-stay back! I'm w-warning you!"
A hand grabbed his hands off his face, and he looked to the side, expecting to see Anna. However, due to the genjutsu, he could not see Anna, and rather, the form of Itachi had taken her place. "Deidara, you're starting to scare me. Please tell me you're alright."
Behind the uncovered sculpture, Aran stirred from his slumber, woken by his teachers' outburst. "S-sempai?!" The red head stumbled off the side of the stage, and crawled back on top of it, peeking around the corner of the statue to see what was going on. When he saw Deidara in his state of insanity, trying to escape the grip of his own woman, Aran knew something bad was going on.
And when Deidara threw Anna to the ground and stood up, assuming the detonation hand sign, it was official. Deidara had cracked. "SEMPAI, NO!"
"I TOLD YOU TO KEEP AWAY!" the hysterical artist shouted at Anna and the crowd, now all fearful of Deidara's next action which they all knew was coming.
"Deidara, stop this! Please!" Anna shouted. She was now aware that getting away from him was the best option, but she just couldn't leave him like this. She could only back up against the sculpture he had made for her, and pray he would stop this in a moments' time.
"SHUT UP! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO ENDANGER MY SHINING MOMENT! THIS TIME, I'M GOING TO TAKE YOU OUT! KA--"
"SEMPAI!" Aran suddenly jumped on Deidara's back and hung on to his arm that was performing the seal, trying to cancel the jutsu. At the exact moment he did, time seemed to freeze. A split second of silence followed, and then...