Chapter thirty-six.

For all those who have made it this far, thank you!

I do not own Umineko no Naku Koro Ni or Naruto.

The shield was becoming thinner and thinner as the butterflies continued to smash themselves against the barrier of light, more than ever before piling onto one another in their intent to break through.

Tenten was grimacing with the effort, and just as she managed to strengthen the barrier for a couple of inches, it collapsed inwards again under the sheer numbers of enemies.

Beatrice was watching in silence with grim amusement on her face.

"I'm…sorry…Deidara…" Tenten whispered, as she tried as hard as could to protect them both.

Deidara looked up at her, and then sighed, his eyes full of sadness. They were both backing slowly towards the other side of the room, way from Beatrice and the door, forced back by the impact of the torrent of butterflies.

"Maybe I couldn't become human after…all." Tenten said.

Deidara looked at her face and saw that large pearly tears were rolling down her pink cheeks and dropping into her white top.

"No." He said, "You've done plenty. You protected me, putting yourself in danger, that is all I could ask for now. You are right now the mist human person I know."

Deidara felt the shield's power humming close to his back. They were almost up against the wall at the back of the room now. It was weaker than ever, but still held against the onslaught.

Suddenly, Deidara stepped forwards and enclosed Tenten with his arms, taking her hand in his. He stood around her protectively, burying his face into her hair. He felt her relax slightly, comforted by his presence as he embraced her tightly. Her tears ran silently down her face as she turned her head towards him; if they were going to die, they might as well make the most of the few moments that they had left.

Deidara leant forwards and his lips met hers. Tenten closed her weary eyes as she kissed him, ignoring everything else in the world for that one moment of peace. The moment seemed to last for hours, until she knew what she had to do.

She looked up and saw the window at his back, and as she broke the kiss, looked up into his face, her own shining with her tears, and smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you, Deidara…for showing me how to be human. But…it's as she said. She only wants one of us…" She whispered.

In that instant, she pushed them both forwards. At the same time as she did this, she released the shield that surrounded them, and smashed the window at their backs with a well aimed punch. Then, whilst Deidara was still in shock, she shoved him as hard as she could out of the broken window.

"WHAT IS THIS!" Screamed Beatrice.

The witch threw up her hands, and the golden butterflies took the form of two twisted metallic spikes.

Deidara had acted on reflex and caught the window frame as he fell. He dangled below it, the broken glass that was still in places attached to the frame cutting into his palm and the lips and mouth on his hand.

"Deidara, get out of here!" Tenten began to yell.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and a silent scream left her lips. She was pulled backwards from the window by something that Deidara couldn't see, and vanished from his sight completely. At that moment, the pain in Deidara's hand became too much and he was forced to let go, falling down towards the garden below him.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu was still standing in the centre of the kitchen, wondering how the others were fairing. He was just deciding to himself whether he should go and check on Neji and Hanabi when he heard a loud thudding noise from outside. Kakuzu was never one to show fear, or many emotions at all, so he sighed, merely irritated by the fact that he would have to venture out into the foul weather.

Cautiously, Kakuzu pushed open the back door, stepping out into the misty rain. It was extremely dark now, and almost impossible to see much more than a few feet in front of your face. As he moved slowly through the garden, he almost tripped and stumbled over something on the ground in front of him. Kakuzu bent down to see what it was.

Neji and Hanabi looked up as they heard a loud hammering on the double doors that led into drawing room. Hanabi was still reading her puzzle book, and Neji had been standing facing the door with the gun in his arms.

"Who is it?" Neji demanded.

"It's Kakuzu."

"What do you want?"

"I've…found Sasori and Kisame's corpses."

A few minutes later, the three of them stood in the garden, soaked to the skin by the misty rain as they gazed at the two bodies in front of them. Sasori lay crumpled in a heap, his puppet limbs left at odd angles in the mud. Kisame was also splayed out grotesquely, his slashed neck making Neji want to gag. Out of Kisame's knee stuck a twisted metal stake, blood running from where it pierced into the muscle. Another of these weapons was protruding from Sasori's shin, the puppet surface around it cracked, with purple liquid oozing out, diluted by the rain.

"On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill." Quoted Hanabi.

Both Kakuzu and Neji looked around at her, eyebrows raised in surprise that something like this wouldn't affect a nine-year old girl.

"On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill."

Hanabi's lips were stretched into a wide smile and her eyes were unnerving. Her face was mostly in shadow under her umbrella, and she was laughing.

"But, doesn't this mean the fourth, fifth and six twilights have been missed out?"

Before Neji could do anything, there was a noise of frantic running. He span around, the gun in his hands.

"Who's there?" He demanded.

"It's…Deidara…!" Deidara gasped.

Deidara had been lucky. In his fall, he had landed upon a row of relatively soft shrubs that had broken his landing somewhat. In any case, he was still covered with smalls cuts and bruises, but other than that he had no serious injuries from falling from the first floor of the mansion.

"Neji! It's Tenten! She's in trouble!" He spluttered.

"What? And the others? Where are they all?" Neji asked.

"They're…all dead."

"Show me."

Deidara nodded. His long blonde and usually well kept hair was plastered against his face, in places stained with blood, and not just his own. Her eyes were wide and exhausted, but he was frantic to get back to Tenten. He prayed that she was alright.

The group quickly returned to the mansion, following Deidara as he sprinted through the lonely corridors of the great house, up the wide staircase and towards the room in which Hidan and Shikamaru and maybe even...were killed.

Deidara gave a quick intake of breath as he looked at the door. It was covered from top to bottom with blood. The blood was spattered on randomly, and in places formed handprints and deep gouges into the wood of the door.

"What is this?" Neji asked his face pale.

"Never mind, come on!" Deidara said dismissively.

Neji took out one of the master keys he had taken from the others, and fitted it into the door. It unlocked with a click. Deidara quickly pushed it open and ran inside. The others followed him, and gasped at what they saw.

Hidan and Shikamaru were lying crumpled up on the carpet, their blood seeping out of deep chest wounds. The weapon in each case was another twisted metallic spike, piercing into their flesh.

Deidara hurriedly stepped over their bodies, frantically searching for Tenten. He clenched his fists as he saw her at the other end of the room, and moved towards her.

She was sitting with her back to him, her chin resting on the bedside table. Her legs were folded beneath her, and her arms were by her side but he could not see her face.

"Tenten!" Deidara called.

His eyes lit up. Could she be alive?

He dashed over to her and knelt down by her side. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her so she faced him, before breathing in sharply at what he saw.

There was a dull metallic thud as another spike fell out from where it had been lodged in her forehead. Blood ran down her face mingling with tears that sank into Deidara's cloak as her body collapsed from where it had been propped against the bedside table into his arms, her head lolling backwards. She was dead.

Deidara felt the tears welling up, but shook his head quickly to stop them running down his cheeks. He buried his face in her hair so he didn't have to look at her unseeing, unfocussed eyes.