ARC 3: Day 42
Note: It's very uncommon to put two Borderline patients in the same group, let alone in the same room to sleep.
Because Konoha isn't the richest institution in the country, and because it seemed okay to put both Deidara and Sasori in the East Wing (the doctors said they both had a low risk of committing suicide) instead of the well guarded West Wing, I put the two of them in the same room.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Characters.
I was called to come to Asuma's office the next morning. I went with the most neutral look on my face, but that didn't mean I felt comfortable. All I could think of was the Malingering-test that I was given yesterday morning.
Did they suspect something after all?
When I arrived in the smoky office, Asuma got straight to the point. He said I was progressing a lot, and that he had the feeling he got through my barriers. Then he suddenly started talking about making concrete plans.
"Eh, concrete plans for what?" I asked confused. Wasn't this about the malingering test?
"Hmm? We'll make plans so you can leave, and go back to your old live. Perhaps you don't really see it, but you progressed a lot in these past few weeks."
I what?
"Neji, I believe that we can start making plans, so you can leave. You are a really good person, and I believe that you are ready to go back home."
And then he smiled at me.
And I smiled back, hesitantly.
Because I never had OCD. But the way Asuma had talked to me, I felt somewhere 'better' now.
After my brilliant Private Session, I immediately had Group Session with my friends. I was pretty happy when I arrived, but my happiness appeared to be a rarity in the classroom.
Deidara, usually quite annoying and loud, looked really not okay today. He still looked very droopy, like he did yesterday, and the chair next to him looked very empty. While group session usually was an hour of making fun, and talking about random things, that certain afternoon we were really quiet and serious.
Perhaps because Kakashi wasn't late today.
Or because Deidara had obviously cried earlier.
Or perhaps it was because Jiraiya, the man who always laughed and cracked jokes, was looking dead serious.
"Boys and girls, I have a terrible announcement to make." Jiraiya said, as soon as the group was complete.
"Yesterday, around 5 o'clock, Sasori made an attempt to commit suicide."
..The silence that followed was unreal.
"He was found by Deidara, but it was already too late. We did everything we could, but it wasn't enough."
"Yesterday, at 11 o'clock in the evening, Akasuna no Sasori died at the age of 22."
Silence.
No-one said a thing. For once, group session wasn't that one silly hour.
We all stared, heard and glass-eyed, nowhere in particular and definitely not to the far corner where Deidara was seated, because we all knew that he had been crying, and he was probably crying right now again. He was a Borderline patient for Fuck's sake! Why did the ward put two Borderline patients in one fucking room!?
FUCK!
"Tomorrow the entire institution will have a small ceremony, so people can say goodbye to Sasori."
Still that awful dead silence.
"Deidara," Jiraiya finally turned his head to the far and lonely corner Deidara was sitting in. Deidara didn't respond, "We already got word from the administration that you'll receive a new roommate. It may take a few weeks though."
I sincerely doubted that Deidara would like another roomy. He already completely hated and utterly loved and missed and detested Sasori, and the last thing Deidara was waiting for was another person, so he could go through an entire love-hate relationship again.
I stopped the urge to open my mouth, and start a fight.
This wasn't fair.
Dei was trying. Really hard. He was trying to get out of here, I knew he was trying. He was only a difficult boy, and now his roomy was dead.
Dei didn't deserve this.
My eyes crossed the room, until they met Deidara's right eye. Glassy, red and swollen, and utterly empty. Lifeless. Dead.
Just as Sasori was.
And then I couldn't take it anymore.
"Tssk, Sasori´s such a hypocrite, to go with a Bang." I said, and then I got up and left the silent room. I wasn't planning on giving an excuse for being rude, nor was I planning to return to room 1.7A today.
I really didn't care.
I didn't wish to see Deidara like that for another moment.
Later, Sasuke and Gaara sat with me on the couch. Sasuke said that after I left, Deidara had laughed hysterically and repeated that art was a bang and that Sasori was wrong because he believed in for-ever while there never was such a thing to begin with, and then Deidara cried. He cried really hard and really embarrassing. And then Doc had said everybody was allowed to leave.
Then Sasuke had shut up about the matter and tried to interest me in Private-Session-Conspiracy, which he considered Very Important. I listened to his theory, as did Gaara, for it was better than memorizing the red-haired art lover, who I never really liked to begin with.
That night though, I broke a house-rule again.
I slipped out of my room past curfew with Gaara in tow, met Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba, Shino and TenTen in the empty hallways, and together we escorted Deidara (who we picked up on our way outside) to the gardens. Because people from the West Wing had locks on their door, and they couldn't so easily escape, they didn't come. Deidara did mention a few names of West-Wing people who would've liked this outing.
We walked around for a bit, until we found a very dry piece of earth. There, we dug a hole, and threw in all the self-made sculptures we could find in our rooms, and Sasuke even brought a pile of newspapers (with the quick word that these papers were Itachi-clue-free). Then we buried all of our ugly art-sculptures, and on top we let Deidara put a clay bird.
We stared in silence as Deidara proceeded to destroy the bird within ten seconds.
After that, our moods were considerably lighter.
We didn't talk about Sasori.
We never prayed for his afterlife.
We never said verbally goodbye.
We just stood there, next to the ugly grave, because we all knew that Sasori would be buried in his home-town, and we also knew that we would never visit that place.
So we made our own grave. A lot uglier, but when we saw Deidara staring at the ruined clay-sculpture, we knew it was a good thing.
And after the ceremony, we went inside, and almost everyone went back to their respective bedrooms.
Except for Deidara, who decided to run off to the West Wing. I didn't know if he would try to kill himself too this day, but I let him go anyway. People of the West Wing were crazy, but they drew sharks and butterflies, so they weren't bad.
And Sasuke didn't go back to his own room as well, because I snuck him into my bedroom. It didn't take me long to make a makeshift three-person bed from both my mattress and Gaara's.
That night I went to sleep with one hand touching Sasuke's hair, and one hand holding Gaara's. I didn't sleep a lot, because Gaara put himself in a very rigid and strange position and didn't move for the rest of the night,
and Sasuke liked to mumble conspiracies.
But it was a very special night anyway.
Because I buried a friend in my own way. And because I slept with Gaara and Sasuke in one bed.
All in all, it was a very special experience, and I'm happy about the way it all went tonight. And tomorrow morning, I only had to make a plan so Deidara wouldn't kill himself as well.
But it would work out.
Because I was Hyuuga Neji, and I always had really good ideas.