Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… it's quite unfortunate, too, since really I would've liked to. However, this storyline is completely and utterly mine. The title… eh, isn't mine, I guess, but the plot is mine, I say!

Overall chapter summarization and author commentary: As you can clearly see, this story has turned out to be one of my favorites! I enjoy every moment I write a new chapter, and I'm overly excited to complete it.

This chapter's another somewhat filler… sorry to disappoint you guys. But I promise that it's not going to be a complete bore… like most of my chapters are. This one's actually gonna have something interesting in it!

- - - - -Ten Things I Hate About You- - - - -
By: baxtierfoxox

Chapter 14: In which there are overdoses

"You're going now?" He wore a different cloak that day -all black and hooded. He was in the process of putting away his eye contraption.

He snorted, "No use staying here, yeah."

He looked pretty mad -that I knew. Deidara was speaking in monotone, holding in his anger but not enough. I didn't know what was wrong with him. I didn't know what he wanted me to say or do. So I just did nothing.

I watched as he just fucking left.

A giant bird appeared in a cloud of heavy smoke, whipping around Deidara's blond hair. His eyes were lowered to the ground, as though he was considering something. When he finally looked up at me, he narrowed his eyes. With a final scoff, he jumped on his bird and took off.

I wanted to throw something at him, to see if he was even sane enough to beat me up. Because really, he was acting like a child.

Exhaling, I turned around and left. It didn't make a difference whether Deidara was there or not. I was pretty sure life would have been better off without him, anyway.

What I didn't understand, though, was what happened next. My body endured what is legitimately referred to as a series of spasms. My heart beat was pounding in my eardrums, and it felt like my brain was outgrowing my skull.

The muscles in my legs gave out, and I found myself face-down on the grass, spitting out dirt and clawing at the soil.

Was I dying?

Perhaps I was just impatient, perhaps I wanted to die. I didn't know what I was doing. I realized it was just a headache -a migraine- a terrible migraine. It was my cross to carry. The burden that I've faced head on my entire life.

I scrambled on the ground; flopping on my back and panting. My hands shook violently, and my skin paled. The pills within the tall container rattled vigorously as I struggled to open it. Unbeknownst to myself as I vainly swallowed the pills, I was actually taking more than my doctor had told me to.

Instead of two pills in my mouth, going down my throat, I had three.

Maybe even four, but I was so out of my mind, I could barely count properly. The pills were clogged in my throat, and I knew pain was aching in my back. I let out a frustrated yelp of pain, coughing and gagging.

It was too late, I had taken the pills.

Fortunately, the acids in my stomach that were meant to diminish the pill into nothing resented something; I suppose it's just a reflex. I found myself on my knees, coughing vehemently, and finally puking my guts out.

Unfortunately, however, my headache was not cured. And to add on to the string of misfortune, I began to hyperventilate.

Taking quick intakes of air and grasping onto the grass for dear life, I found myself doing something that I never had dared to do before. Something that I, in the process of discovering closure, would do.

I didn't know what provoked me to do so, or how mind-fucked I was at the moment. But I found myself screaming, at the top of my lungs one thing.

"DEIDARA!"

I had no time to "cancel" the call for backup, or even inwardly scold myself for doing something unnecessary. All I knew was that I needed help. I have no idea what encouraged me to believe that Deidara would help me at all in my situation, but he was the only person around.

My consciousness gave out.

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I wasn't an honest person to anyone but myself. Everyone else I needed to lie to for some reason; perhaps it was the relevancy of where they stood on my little radar or maybe because I was just that insecure.

But for the maybe the third time in my life I was questioning my existence? Wondering what the hell angels were thinking "blessing" my parents with "me".

I knew I was awake, because all of a sudden I was alive. Before I had actually been in nothingness -I had no words to explain myself, no time to endure, and no memories to prove it had happened. It was just a gap in my life that I had missed. Much like sleep, only even sleep hadn't been so empty.

Nothingness was scary. Being void of any reality frightened me. It made me fear death more than I ever had before. The experience of "death" was overwhelming me, and, unbeknownst to myself, was distracting me.

I opened my eyes.

Unlike I would have expected, I didn't find myself in a sterile hospital room. I didn't see anyone around, or at least some medication or stray bags or a camp fire. I saw nothing that would represent any other person, other than myself.

"Breathe…" I reminded myself.

It felt as though I hadn't attained the full capacity of my lungs; as if I'd been smoking.

Something inside of me died as I realized Deidara hadn't come back for me. He had left me there, knowing that there was a substantial possibility that I could have been getting killed, kidnapped, or seriously hurt. He had left me there to die.

I was against obnoxious weeping, and crying altogether. Therefore, I refused to let my eyes sting. I refused to be the one getting hurt.

I had lucked out, after all. I could've actually died. But I was lucky. I was just so damn lucky.

"How sad," I muttered, sarcastically sympathizing myself in my pathetic position.

Getting up, I dizzily found my way towards the trunk of a wide oak, resting the side of my head against the bark. I breathed as much of its smell as I could, relishing the scent of wilderness and embracing the tree.

I closed my eyes, far more relaxed then I ever found myself.

What had happened to Kaori?

I wasn't even sure.

I pushed away from the tree, glancing back once more at the place where I had passed out, the ignored white splotch that contrasted against green -the proof that I had overdosed. And finally, I glanced up at the many leaves that swayed on the many branches, the sun's rays peaking through the rare gaps.

With a final shrug and a moody snort, I began to walk towards the village, hugging my arms while digging my nails into my own skin.

I was thinking -hard. Too hard.

The thought of Deidara not being on my side anymore sickened me. We'd actually bonded, became friends, and learned a lot about one another. The gradual friendship that we had created, had it truly been so delicate and fragile? Had I actually ruined it just by walking away from him? It took me so long to even get him to stop hurting me, and to make him understand that I wasn't going to turn on him.

But I had so easily, and all because I was just so frustrated with him. I was forgetting so easily that he didn't know.

By the time I had returned to the village, I was pissing vinegar. I was seething pissed. Not at Deidara, but at myself. For being so stupid. For once again suffering for the stupid stuff that I did.

All of this -my spiraling down, losing Deidara, losing my lung capacity- resulted in me imprisoning myself in my hotel room, locking, bolting, blocking, and, locking the door, calling in sick for work, and sitting down on a chair with a large bottle of wine.

I popped off the cork, taking long sips.

I ignored the sound of the heater's stirring, and allowed thoughts to swarm my head once again.

I was such a bitch.

So was life.

I drank.

I was a loser.

Deidara won. Again.

Another drink to that.

By the time I had finished my little I suck, he rocks thinking process, the wine bottle was half empty -which is, legitimate evidence that I am a complete pessimist. Not that I was completely negative, but being positive was too much of a drag.

Deidara ditched me here. He was pretty pissed, too. Maybe he'd kill me next time he saw me. Damn.

I took another long drink, and the wine bottle was empty.

My idiotic grin was a sign that I was going to be drunk by the end of the day. It was probably nine o'clock in the morning. God, I was such a loser. I didn't care, though, because desperate times called for desperate (stupid) measures.

Once I started on my second bottle, it was as though everything, every stupid thought that I had, made absolute sense.

Example: Deidara's my friend. His Akatsuki pals won't kill me, right?

Another long sip.

It was amazing, though. I wasn't drunk.

By the third bottle, I was digging through the drawers of my hotel room with a plastic bag in my hand. There were lots of crap that the hotel room had -phone books, magazines, spare batteries, pens, notepads -this all ended up in my plastic bag.

I went to the washroom, gathering all the free lotions, shampoos, and soaps that I could. The soaps were striped lime green and pink. I thought that was pretty awesome in my tipsy state.

Forth bottle, I had ordered all of the sweet dumplings that the restaurant in next to the lobby had. My speech hadn't slurred, thus, no one suspected I had been drinking.

After I finished my sweet dumplings, I began to tie the stray sticks together with spare hair ties and made a boat.

Fifth bottle, I was sobbing vehemently as I brushed my teeth. No, I don't remember why I had brushed my teeth. Maybe I thought that my breath stunk or something, and maybe it'd go away if I brushed my teeth.

And I don't have words to explain the crying.

But then, after I had successfully polished off five bottles of wine, I was laying face-down on my bed, head throbbing and hands trembling. My muscles ached -all of them- but I still wanted to move around.

My insanity was interrupted by obnoxious knocking on the window. I moved just the slightest, peeking over the range of pillows to see a darkly clothed figure by my window.

I didn't think. I scrambled out of bed and rushed to unlock it, allowing the figure inside.

"You're a mess," he snorted. He blinked with slight surprise at my indecent exposure.

"What do you want?"

"Sweet dumplings. But apparently this particular room inhabitant had bought all of it, yeah." he scoffed, narrowing his eyes at me accusingly. He pointed at my pathetically made boat, "What the hell are you doing?"

I allowed his sarcasm to go directly over my head. "Honestly? Nothing."

Irritated, he glanced around the room. He eyed the bags of renewable (and free) complimentary treats that I had stuffed into a plastic bag, the stick boat, the tooth brush, the tissues, and the five empty wine bottles.

Finally, he turned to me, amusement flickered in his eyes as he stated; "Oh, I get it. You're drunk."

"Wouldn't dream of it. My parents would kill me."

He snorted, walking over to the boat and picking it up skeptically, "You handle the alcohol better than I expected, yeah."

"Uh-huh," I murmured in response, sitting back down on the bed and rubbing my temples.

He looked over at me, noticing my distress.

"Sorry," I muttered, meeting his blatant stare, "about the dumplings."

"You should be." His apathetic way of talking -and acting- was irritating me. "Now I have to go somewhere else, yeah."

"And also… I'm sorry. About that time I… I got mad at you for no reason. I was stupid."

"You were," he agreed with a smirk.

I narrowed my eyes. "…"

Averting my gaze, I brought my legs up to cross them. I didn't watch Deidara as he shuffled around the room.

"Kaori."

"What?"

"Why were you crying? I don't know you were capable, yeah."

I looked up at him, I noticed that he was sitting on a tall stool. He rested his chick in the palm of his hand as he looked down at the pile of still-wet tissues; he was bored. He glanced at me, waiting for my reply.

"Homesick," I replied shortly.

"Really now?" he snickered.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "None of your business."

"Whatever," he scoffed. He closed his eyes.

"You wouldn't get it, anyway," I added unnecessarily.

He didn't contradict me, as I had been expecting him to. Instead, he cast me an annoyed glare before closing his eyes and grumpily resuming his "resting" posture. I scowled at him.

"Aren't you going back?" I demanded.

"I was," he grumbled forcefully. "But I changed my mind, yeah."

"Interesting," I commented.

"Hm."

He was tame; bored and tired. My mouth twitched to an unintentional smirk. "You're strangely quiet today."

Deidara scowled at me, growling, "So?"

"It's cute."

He feigned a disgusted expression, "Cute, yeah?"

"Mm-hm, got a problem with it?"

"Tons," he grumbled. "That's downright fucking disturbing, Kaori, to call me cute."

I thought so, too. But it was too late to be embarrassed. I just blinked, and then shrugged.

For a moment, all was quiet.

Finally, he muttered, "You're quiet."

My eyes widened with sudden surprise. "W-What…"

"It's cute."

Finished Chapter 14!

Author's notes: Ta-daa! I updated, just for you guys. Because I think that you guys are awesome. This story is not going to be on hiatus, because I don't usually do that to stories that are this far along… because you know, that's pretty cruel.

Also because this story gets the most "votes" on my freakin' SWEET poll. Um… well go check it out if you haven't already, and vote for the story that you want updated! Yeah~!

I hope that you enjoyed this lovely little chapter. It's short, but I think it's pretty sweet. Please review and tell me what you think!