Author's Notes:
Procrastination makes my world go round.
So I'm not dead, no fears. I've been busy, as usual. Again. Maybe I shouldn't even say it next time, I think you all know by now xD
So I went to my convention. (My wig got here 2 days in advance, YEY). And I freaked when I saw Vic Mignogna and Aaron Dismuke. I got their autographs, and I cried when I took my pic with Vic... I met a really nice guy cosplaying Sasuke who wouldn't stop yelling "DEIDARAH~" every time he saw me. I volunteered at the cosplay cafe and had an amazing time overall. (and my awesome cosplay of awesomness is my new profile pic, check it out if you have free time ^^)
Also, I procrastinated a lot, and went to Niagara Falls. I also got a new DS game, it's called Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. Who's heard of it before? O: It's my first DQ game and I'm totally hooked *_*
And today, I realized that it's been a loooong while since I've updated, so I got my butt in gear and wrote this chapter in 2 hours. Yes, I could have done this before, but like I said, I didn't feel like it.
Anyways, let me thank my adorable reviewers, who are always faithful to me (and always read and review and I'm sad cause the review count is slowly decreasing and I was gonna be soo happy if we reached 300 D: ) and deserve more than just a mention. Unfortunetely, this is all I can do for now (:
So thank you to: Khenstrial, DeidaraBlondeFox, Nutbrain, DecepticonDefenestrater, LibiTheWolf, K.T., AKATSUKICHIBIS789 and Josephin Tonks ^^
And here we go again~ Enjoy the show ^^
Warning: Swearing. And this time, it's not Hidan (LOLWHUUUUUUT?)
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"Okay, okay, okay, un." I huffed out as I crossed my fingers, eyeing my pouch of clay intently. This is it. An extremely risky move that puts not only my life, but also my comrades' lives in danger. But hopefully, it would end this all soon enough. "Here goes everything, un." I took a deep breath and made some hand signs before putting both my hands in my pouches.
They immediately started chewing on most of what was left from my clay, and I eyed the advancing ninja. The time has come to unleash my ultimate technique for the first –and maybe even last- time.
"Doton!" I screamed, pulling my hands out of my pouches and putting them in front of me. "C4!"
Clay immediately started pouring out of my hand mouths and onto the ground, just like when I activated my special C1 jutsu, but this time, a more humanoid shape took place. My eyes widened as an exact clay copy of me slowly made itself out in front of my eyes.
"Didn't see that coming, un." I muttered as I quickly worked on a smaller bird, to send the signal. "Now, I wonder how we detonate this thing..." I mused out loud. "Well, like everything else, I guess, un." Shrugging, I put one hand up in a single-handed hand sign and closed my eyes, praying for this to work.
Inside my pouch, I felt the bird come to life, and immediately threw it up in the air. It grew in size as it hit the sky, and immediately started soaring upwards.
"On three." I took a deep breath. "One." I put my second hand over my first. "Two." I closed my eyes. "Three." I made a silent prayer to whatever god was bothering to listen right now. "KATSU!"
At the same time, the bird exploded, giving the signal. The clay replica of me suddenly started inflating, and I took a deep breath, not daring to breathe any longer from this point on. I don't even know what's gonna happen.
The clay replica stopped inflating as soon as it reached the meteorite's height. That's one HUGE clay sculpture. I like it. I just hope the other members won't take me for the sculpture and panic or something. Nah, they're smart, they'll figure it out.
It suddenly happened.
The sculpture popped, just like a balloon.
Wait, WHAT?
Clay sculptures aren't supposed to pop! They're supposed to explode! What the hell is this all about? Did I do something wrong? This is my first time actually unleashing this technique, but I've read the scrolls over and over again a million times! It's not supposed to be this way, it can't be!
I was really tempted to open my mouth and yell out a string of obscenities at the popped sculpture when a sudden thought hit me. I shouldn't breathe just yet. Maybe the bombs have already been released, even when the stupid thing went haywire. Oh no, maybe I've even swallowed some!
Beads of sweat started pearling on my forehead as my lungs slowly realized that no air was incoming right now. Please hold on a little longer, lungs, we're almost done.
Although the enemy ninja didn't seem to have felt anything. They were still charging towards me and were now in hitting range. Shit, this day couldn't suck any worse.
I pulled out some kunai, still not daring to breathe, and ignoring my burning lungs, I charged.
My movements were slow and sloppy as I was tired, hurt, depleted and breathless –quite literally, actually- but somehow, I succeeded in breaking into their ranks and wounding quite a few of my assailants. Apparently, most of them had fallen back to be treated from behind the lines before coming back into the fray, so I had pretty much no trouble at all to advance up until the trees.
There, I stopped for a moment, and, feeling my head spin, I closed a hand over my mouth and finally dared to breathe just once. I'm not even sure the bombs have dissipated yet, but right now, I really hope they did.
Even if I was panting and heaving, my lungs burning for more, I only took one shallow breath and held it again as I looked around.
That's when suddenly, in the blink of an eye, I was met face-to-face with the ground.
Now even daring to cough, I gritted my teeth and tried to get up when I was suddenly grabbed and slammed against a tree. My bones aching from the impact, I didn't even have the strength to fight back as a hand closed tightly around my throat. Great, now there are 2 reasons for me not to breathe. How totally perfect.
My hands slowly reached up to grab my captor's hands as I tried opening my eyes. My lungs were starting to burn again, but not wanting to take any chances, I kept shut and glared at my assailant.
It took me a small while to recognize the sadistic grin on the man's face. Recognition flashed across my eyes as a ray of sunlight flashed across his Iwagakure headband.
All I wanted to do for the moment was scream. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The grip on my throat tightened. I have to breathe, let's just hope the bombs have dissipated. They should have, by now, but I'm very close to the site of explosion, and who knows, maybe the bombs are still around. So I slowly took a ragged breath from my nose, trying to calm my agonizing lungs.
"Long time no see, brat."
Only two people have ever called me that. Danna and...
If I could, I would have thrown an accusative "You!" at him, but I was kinda tied up at the moment. So instead, I just settled for a glare.
"You're grown. A lot." The brown-haired male snickered, raising a fist. "And I've missed you, all these years."
I closed my eyes as something impacted with my face, and I retained the urge to gasp and breathe.
"You were lots of fun, to say the least."
Another punch.
"The house was empty without you around."
Another one. And another. And one more.
"You know I don't like the silent treatment, Deidara."
Punch to my stomach instead. God, that's gonna bruise. Stupid Special Jounins and their freakish strength.
"DAMMIT, BRAT, ANSWER ME!"
Another breath cutting punch to the stomach, and, praying I was out of harm's way, I coughed and gasped for air as I weakly clawed at my ex-caretaker's hands.
"Bitch, un." Was the first thing that came to my mind, and I voiced it.
"You know I hate that verbal tick of yours." A frown, and another punch, and another gasp for air.
"You know I hate that ugly face of yours, un." I grinned back defiantly.
Another punch. Maybe I should shut up. No, that'd just make me look weak. Again.
"You know, I was starting to think that maybe you were too terrified to speak, but I guess I was wrong." He shrugged, tightening his grip as he leaned in closer against my ear. "But to me, you'll always be the weak, snivelling little brat who could never do anything right. You're still a baby, a crying little baby who serves to NOTHING but annoy. I'm surprised the Akatsuki took you in, and even more surprised that they actually kept you."
"Cut the verbal abuse." I made a small noise as I tried to gasp in some air. "I'm immune to it now, un."
"You immune to this, then?" he put a hand back, and claws suddenly sprang out of the gloves in his hands. Long time I hadn't seen those. Last time I did was about 7 or 8 years ago. And I didn't keep a good memory of them either. Blood and pain, pretty much all I remember.
My thoughts were cut short as he suddenly brought the razor-sharp claws down on my face, ripping through the flesh on the right side of my face, leaving three bloody slashes going diagonally from my forehead to my right temple in their wake. I couldn't help but scream (and choke) as immediate pain started invading the area.
"See what I mean? You'll never escape this word of pain." My ex-caretaker brought his claws up to his face and licked some of the blood on their tips. Ew, no, that's wrong, just wrong. "You're still a weak little brat, and you'll always be."
"Shut up, bastard, un." I wheezed, feeling blood run down my face. "I'm not weak if that's what you think. I've grown a lot, and thanks to my friends, family, comrades, fellow criminals, you name the title, I've gotten much stronger, un." I coughed. "Don't underestimate me, it'll be harder on your conscience when I kill you."
"Always as amusing, brat." The middle-aged man laughed as if I had just told a joke. "The only thing I've ever done is overestimate you. And to think you WOULD have gotten stronger in such a great lapse of time, but here we are, in the exact same position as we would have been five years ago, and I can easily snap your pretty little neck at any given moment." He laughed again.
"No, you overestimate your ability to estimate my power, un." I panted, clutching his hand, digging my nails into it.
"Stop it brat, you're too funny." The sadist holding me prisoner snickered. "Freak." He suddenly added in, probably just for thrills.
The last straw had been pulled. That's it, he's fucking dead.
"I'M NOT A GODDAMN FREAK, UN!" I screamed at him, not caring if I could barely even breathe. "The only freaks in this world are the people who think we, who are different, are freaks!
"You keep telling yourself that, darling. Until then, I'll be busy killing you." The man snickered cynically as his grip tightened.
"You won't succeed..." I coughed. "I-I can't die yet... Everyone's waiting for me... And Danna... Danna's waiting for me to come back and tell him... I succeeded, un." I wheezed as pretty much all my breathing was cut. "I-I can't die... not at your hands... B-Because... I promised myself something."
"You're fun to throttle, you know that, brat?"
"Don't call me that. Danna's the only one... allowed to call me a brat, un." I coughed out hatefully.
"This Danna of yours must be pretty special then. When I'm done with you, we'll go kill the rest of the Akatsuki members, so that way you won't have to be alone." He smacked me against the tree again, making me cough out some blood. Come on, as if breathing wasn't already hard enough.
"Y-You won't. Because I promised them... I promised them all, and I promised myself..." I slowly raised one of my hands in a single-handed hand sign, feeling my head spin from the lack of air.
My vision was blurry, and my breathing was almost nonexistent. Before I died, I had to do something, at least.
"I'll be a splendid ninja... No matter what you, or the world thinks of me. That is my goal. And five years ago, I promised myself..." One last cough of blood before I concentrated my chakra the best I could for one last explosion. "I promised myself I wouldn't let my past interfere with my future, un!" I snapped my eyes open, and stared at him solemnly.
There was a small silence between us, where the world, the battle, the field, everything disappeared. It was just him and me now.
"Saying goodbye to the past and opening the doors to the future, un." I grinned sadistically. "That is true strength. And unfortunately, you are a part of my past." I whispered, giddily looking forward to what was next. "And so, goodbye."
Time sped up almost immediately after those words, the real world rushing back. Time to open the doors to my future. Forget the past, live the present, defy the future.
"KATSU!"
And just like that, the sadistic grin on his face became a look of fear and pain. His grip loosened as his legs wobbled, and he opened his mouth in a silent scream. Unfortunately for him, it was all over. Slowly, he started disintegrating. The wind blew at that very moment, making the small ashes of his disintegrating body disappear.
And just like that, he faded right before my eyes.
The force holding me up against the tree now gone, I fell immediately, panting and coughing. The small explosions that had littered his body was also touched mine, so there were red and bloody finger marks all over my neck. That's gonna hurt for a while.
Thankfully, though he's gone now. It's all gone. Never again will it hurt. Never... Never again. I killed him, it's over.
It's over...
I slowly started laughing as I blankly stared at the spot where my ex-caretaker had been.
So it's that easy to forget. You don't need to smile to forget. You don't need new memories to forget. No, no, all you need to do is just get rid of the memory.
I like it.
"All of these people, un..." I looked up with a wild look in my eyes. "They're all a part of my past..." I looked at the ninja who were falling and agonizing thanks to my C4. "Let me erase my past, un." I laughed madly. "Let me make a new present, and a better future!"
A sharp pain in my arm suddenly stopped my mad laughter, snapping me back into reality, and maybe even back into the bounds of sanity. I hissed and clutched my arm in pain, wondering what happened. I couldn't really have-
Oh no...
I removed my fingers carefully and studied the wound on my arm. It resembled a burn, as a large part of my forearm was raw and bloody. I must have inhaled some of the bombs by accident. Not enough to kill me, but enough to detonate and cause damage to the tissues in my arm.
"Dammit." I hissed, glad my cloak had been abandoned long ago. At least like this, I wouldn't have trouble with anything sticking to the wound.
But until then, I have a battle to finish.
As I headed back, though, I noticed that a lot of ninja were still standing, albeit wounded. How? How could anyone have known that my jutsu would liberate micro bombs that could only be caught through breathing? Could it be that they'd held their breaths too? The bombs can't be seen, smelled, and have no colour. They're too small to be seen with the plain eye, so how could they have-
Tsuchikage.
Bastard.
The old man must have warned them of my technique. How could he know about a technique that I mastered! Dammit, this is going really wrong, if I don't do anything, those ninja will surely attack!
I just hope the other Akatsuki members weren't hurt by my technique. If they are... I'll never be able to forgive myself...
I ran through the battlefield, wielding my kunai as best as I could, and only assessed the situation once I got to the front.
Basically, we're all screwed.
A new wave of ninja was coming towards us at full speed. Although wounded and tired, most of them still had that spark in them. And guess what, I don't.
As much as I'd love to destroy them all on the spot, I'm out of clay, almost out of chakra, losing blood fast, and ready to drop. They'll just keep coming and coming.
"I can't give up, un..." I convinced myself out loud. "I have to fight till the death to protect this place, because it's my home, and I have to fight to protect the Akatsuki, because they're my family, un..." I winced as I took a step forward. "I won't let you trespass, un!" I screamed, grabbing two kunai and trying to look strong as I faced them.
Here they come.
So this is where it ends, huh? I can barely stand and can't defend myself too much... The other members are too busy to come to my rescue... And so...
This is where I'll die.
I've always wanted to die as an explosion... To remain art even into the next life... But I guess that's not possible. I don't even have time –or strength- to reach into my chest and undo the C0... I don't even have any clay left to feed it with...
Well, at least I'll go down fighting...
"You can't go down, Deidara... Not yet..."
I immediately snapped back to reality as I looked around, listening for the female voice.
"Where are you, un?" I screamed out.
"Everywhere, Deidara... calm down, you won't die... I'm your guardian angel, after all, I can't let you die... You are too precious to me..."
My eyes widened. The blue-haired lady, my guardian angel... I was precious to her? Could it be that... I finally became somebody important?
Letting guard drop, I started, enthralled, as a sheet of paper slowly floated down and stuck itself to my cheek.
"Don't worry, it's my jutsu. Now relax, the battle's over..."
"It's not! They're all coming forth, and we're all gonna die if I don't stop them, un!" I tried taking a step forward but almost tripped and fell.
"Leave the rest to me, Deidara..." The woman soothed as more and more sheets of paper descended upon me.
Unable to even more, I watched as they quickly stuck to my skin, covering me in a sheet of paper. My heart clenched in fear. Maybe this was a trap? Maybe one of the enemy ninja had the same jutsu as my guardian angel? Or even... maybe she'd been on the others' side this entire time, sent to keep tabs on me...
"Calm yourself, it's all over now..."
I perked up at her voice, and listened intently, wondering why I was stuck in a cocoon of paper if it was already all over.
My questions were answered by Leader-sama's booming voice.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
There was suddenly a very loud noise, and lots of screaming. And then, everything stopped. The cries, the screams, the clanging of metal... Everything. A soft wind blew outside, blowing the pieces of white paper off of me. I was dropped on the ground, my eyes wide.
Nothing. Nobody. Not even a single soul was present on the former battlefield. The only testament of the battle was the blood staining the grass. No weapons, no bodies, no nothing.
"W-What happened?" I asked to no one in particular, looking up towards the meteorite. Was that Leader-sama's jutsu? If he could do that, why didn't he help us from the beginning?
But then again... If he did, I'd never have been able to acquire my revenge and erase my past... Maybe... Maybe he let us fight because he wanted us to get stronger...
"DEIDARA!"
My gaze whipped up as I turned my head towards the voice, watching as Itachi came my way, limping, but with a smile.
"Itachi!" I yelled back, trying to push myself up on my feet, but finding myself unable to.
"The battle's over, we won..." he sighed out in relief once he'd fallen down next to me.
"Yeah, we did." I grinned.
"Thanks to Leader-sama." Kakuzu's voice sounded from behind me.
"Without him, we'd be total goners by now." White-Zetsu nodded as they appeared from the ground.
"The important is that we won." Hidan shrugged as he approached.
"Yes, now that this is all over, I have maintenance to do..." Danna finally muttered.
"Tobi's so glad everything's over now! Tobi was so scared during the battle!" Tobi's voice resonated as he calmly walked down the side of the meteorite, towards us.
"Are we all here?" Kisame arrived just in time to complete our gang, and I nodded.
"So what was that thing that happened, un?" I asked.
"Apparently, Leader-sama's jutsu." Danna informed me.
"Well if he was capable of annihilating everyone in one shot, why didn't he do it before?" Hidan complained.
"No, no, I think it's good that we fought..." I whispered, drawing attention to me. "We... We became stronger, didn't we, un?"
There was a silence that followed, and I figured that everyone realized something had happened during the fight. That was until Kakuzu broke the silence.
"Alright then, everyone who has life-threatening injuries on one side, others in non-critical condition on the other. I'll try and treat everyone as quickly as I can." He informed.
"I think I'm going to die now..." Itachi answered to his silent prompt as he clutched his side tighter.
"Alright, let me see that." Kakuzu nodded, removing his hands and staring at the gaping slash in his side.
As the medic was concentrated on Itachi, I eyed my hands. Wasn't I able to use basic healing jutsu a long time ago? Maybe it still works... It'd be a heck load easier for Kakuzu if I did.
Gingerly, I put my hands on a large slash on my leg, and concentrated. Even if I didn't have too much chakra left, I tried to transform it into a new kind of chakra, and gritted my teeth as I forced it out, to help heal the damaged cells in my body.
It seemed to work, because when I opened my eyes, the open cut was closed, red and raw on the sides, but not bleeding anymore.
"I did it, un." I grinned as I turned around to assess the situation of every single member.
Choosing to help Danna first, I crawled to his side, seeing as I couldn't even walk, and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Let me get that slash on your head for you, un." I demanded.
"It's fine, brat, I can do this on my own. I'll need maintenance anyway-"
"No, no, your head isn't completely a puppet joint yet, so you have to get it healed manually with chakra, un!" I scolded, putting my hands over his forehead.
Seeing as he wasn't protesting, I did the same thing again, and a faint glow appeared around my hands, taking a green tint.
"You've come far, brat..." Danna suddenly whispered.
"Thanks, Danna. It's all thanks to you, un..." I whispered back proudly.
"That's a pretty powerful jutsu you got there as well." he commented.
"The C4?" I grinned. "I guess you could say so, unfortunetely, it doesn't discriminate, and I accidentally hurt myself too, un." I rolled my eyes. "And... I was scared I'd hurt one of you as well... But at least it doesn't look like it, un." I sighed out in relief.
"And what's with the finger marks on your neck?"
"I was raped." I laughed as Hidan uttered a 'with a face like that, he's just begging for it'. "Nah, I met up with someone from my past, un." I sobered. "And... things didn't go well between us... But he's not gonna bother me anymore now, so that's a relief, un." I smiled as I closed the wound on his forehead. "There, done."
Danna muttered a slight thanks as I moved onto the other members.
"Since when do you know how to use healing jutsu?" Hidan asked cynically as I treated a slash in his arm.
"I think... I think I learned it a long long time ago, but then Orochimaru screwed with my memories and I can't quite remember how to do it perfectly. I mean, the best I can do is close wounds, nothing more, nothing less, un." I shrugged.
"Well I like it better when Kakuzu heals me." Hidan pouted amusedly.
"Shut up, this is all you're getting for a long time. Seeing as you're immortal, Kakuzu won't even bother treating you until everyone else is done, un." I told him matter-of-factly.
"Kid's right, take what you got." Kakuzu added as he finished up with Itachi.
"And keep it... Keep it because you never know when you'll lose it, un..." I whispered to myself with a smile.
Everything I'd known until now, everything was gone. My past, my agonizing dark past, it had just flown away, and I finally felt free. It feels so good to finally be released of the chains binding you to that fear. It feels so ecstatic. This newfound freedom, I love it. I'd loathed my past and sought to forget and erase it. I worked hard, sweat, fought and bled to attain this sense of freedom. And finally, finally, I could sit back and watch as the fruit of my labour bloomed, and my past faded right before my eyes.
-End of Arc 6: Ambush-
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Author's Notes:
I really don't have much to say cept that this is extremely rushed. And we get a glimpse of Pein's and Konan's jutsus, because, well, they're awesome. And, after watching the new eps of Shippuuden, I was inspired to add them into the story.
So basically, Konan wraps the members in paper to protect them, and Pein casts his Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push, you know, the jutsu he uses to push everything around him away?) and still, no one knows that who Konan and Pein are, and they don't even know that Konan cast the paper jutsu. Deidara doesn't know Konan's Pein's assistant.
My story's like the anime. Too many angsty flashbacks make it boring. That's probably why I got 8 reviews last chapter, compared to 13 reviews on the chapter before Q_Q I'M SORRY FOR BEING LATE, SORRY IF THIS IS NOT TO YOUR LIKING, SORRY IF ANYTHING OFFENDS YOU IN THIS STORY D: You can tell me if you don't like something in this story, I aim to please after all ):
Asides that, sneak preview on the next arc (AND THE LAST ARC OF THIS ENTIRE STORY D: ) Well, Imma have a timeskip of about a year and a half, making Deidara 17, almost 18. It's gonna be a very Sasori-centered arc as well, but I dunno, maybe Deidara should come along too. Yeah, I'll probably get Deidara to tag along too (:
I can't give anything away though, and the title of the arc is very vague. You can make assumptions, and I'll be ever-so-glad to read them ^^
Until then, I hope you enjoyed this small explanatory arc. Might have been boring, seeing as my review count has drastically lowered, but then again... Anyways, I hope you all liked it, and please, for the sake of my sanity, tell me what I'm doing wrong ): I always enjoy reading what all of you think, and I feel appreciated every time I read comments ):
Anyways, love ya all, tune in next time for the very last arc Q_Q
-Next time: Race Against the Clock