One. A loud bang is heard and everything goes black.

I woke up in a hospital bed and immediately checked the calendar. It's been a month. Tsunade was sitting on a chair next to me. "You failed." she said, glaring at me, "The entire village is destroyed." she continued. I nodded, I knew I was at fault. Tears gathered at my eyes as I let them fall. "How many people died?" I asked, "All of them. But they're back now. You knew that didn't you?" I nodded. "I thought I had stopped it but clearly I was wrong. I couldn't even get close to the bomb the entire time I was there." I hid my face in my hands.

"Don't tell Naruto and the others I'm here." I whispered. The woman cocked a brow at that, "They don't know you were even a part of this. Don't worry." I let out a sigh of relief. "Tell them I died or something. I can still prevent Kabuto from bringing Madara back." Tsunade cocked her head to the side. "Is that how the war is going to start?" I nodded, "Then there's nothing you can do. You aren't a part of the Akatsuki anymore and neither is Sasuke. You're back home. This is final." I gulped. Did I really want to be back? "Is there a problem?"

"Konan and the others… are they alright?" The woman nodded, "They asked to see you." I gulped, "You told them about the mission didn't you." the woman shook her head, "I'm pretty sure they guessed it after I decided not to leave you for dead." I let out an "Ah." before letting out a long sigh, "Then I guess I have a lot of explaining to do." The woman opened the curtain that was around my bed and let the Akatsuki members in.

"Was it all fake?" asked Deidara, the look of betrayal etched onto his face. I looked down, I need him to hate me, to loathe me. It's the only way I can protect him. The blonde scoffed, "Unbelievable…" he mumbled, but I could see the hurt in his eyes. "Aelia…" said Konan, she didn't need to say much after that, her disappointment in me was obvious. I didn't really care about the rest. We weren't close after all. Everyone left except for the first two members I had talked to, Konan left after a while too. "I'm going to keep my promise to you. The Akatsuki is disbanded now as far as I know anyways. You aren't a bad person so please explain."

I gulped and looked at Tsunade, she nodded. "T-there's a war that's going to start soon. I had to infiltrate the Akatsuki and find out who would cause it. Then I had to… you know… blerg…" I mumbled, imitating the sound of slashing the throat of someone. "Did you find what you were looking for?" asked Konan, I nodded. "It wasn't an Akatsuki member after all. It was one of my informants, though he was getting help from the Akatsuki."

Konan nodded then turned to Tsunade. "I don't know how credible you might think a relationship with me would be, I'd like to aid you in this." Tsunade cocked a brow, looking like she would refuse but then she paused. "You're… you're one of his disciples." she said, pointing at the purple haired woman. "Yes. Jiraiya-sensei was a kind man. It's a shame he died." Tsunade nodded. She's going to let her feelings rule over her. I might as well let this happen. We need powerful allies after all.

"You don't even know what the war is about. Why would you want to help?" asked Tsunade, "Because I owe him that much. Jiraiya-sensei hated war and we all saw what it does to people. I don't want other kids to suffer through what I did." Tsunade nodded. "Alright." she and Konan left, leaving me alone with Deidara. I looked down, ashamed. "Come on Aelia, please tell me that you didn't fake any of it." begged Deidara, taking my hand into his. His hands were warm, heating my cold ones up. "It wasn't fake." I said in the end, unable to lie to him. "

But… I can't… as long as you're…" Deidara nodded, not needing to hear another word of what I had to say. He put a hand on my cheek, his thumb grazing over my cheekbone ever so slightly. "It's okay… I just needed to know that it was real." he said, looking into my eyes. I nodded, nuzzling into his cheeks, my worries near forgotten. "I know you're going to need time to get your head straight so I'm not going to rush anything alright?" said Deidara, coming a little bit closer to me. I saw a flash of red in his eyes but I ignored it. The person in front of me is Deidara, not the monster from the ship.

"Alright." I whispered, resting my forehead against his. Deidara let out a blissful sigh before planting a kiss on my forehead. "I'm going to leave soon. I can't stay in Konoha since I'm the one who created the bomb." I nodded, no matter what he did, there's no way Tsunade would let him near the village. "Take care…" I mumbled, looking down. Deidara held me by the chin and put it up, "I'll come visit once in a while, un." he hesitated before adding, "It's okay if you see other people while I'm gone. This isn't anything official." I chuckled, "Same goes for you, you know." the boy smirked, "But I won't see anyone so it only applies to you." he kissed my lips softly before giving me another kiss on the forehead. He left after that. Idiot, I'm not going to see anyone else either you know…

A few minutes passed and Tsunade came back inside, Konan at her side and holding Hidan by the hair. I let out a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how scared I was that this one got away! I promised Shikamaru I'd bring him back!" I exclaimed, getting out a kunai and decapitating the man. Tsunade stared at me, eyes wide. "Oh come on, you've seen me do worse." I said as I put Hidan's head in a bag and got ready to give it back to Shikamaru. "Um… ignoring that…" said Tsunade, handing me a headband. "I think it's time you became an official Konoha shinobi." she said with a smile on her face. "Eh~ I thought the shinobi alliance was set already." I pouted. The woman chuckled, "You need to be an official shinobi for that." I let out a sigh, "Yeah, yeah…"

"Is she awake?!" asked Sasuke, barging into the room. "Eh~ You should knock. I could've been naked you know." I teased. Sasuke had a blank look on his face, "Two things. One, I've already seen you naked. Two, this is a curtain. I can't knock on it like a door." deadpanned the boy. "I'll tell Naruto you're… well… you know… here." declared the boy before turning around to leave. "Don't tell him about…" Sasuke let out a sigh before nodding, "Fine. But this'll bite you in the ass in the future. Remember what happened last time you kept something this important from him." my stomach churned in guilt.

"This is different." I mumbled, "A-and! Don't just try to guilt trip me! Asshole!" Sasuke shrugged, "Did it work?" I nodded, "I'm still not going to tell him though. He's scary when he's angry. And now that he has extra power… I don't really want to make him angry." Sasuke considered it. "Seems fair. Tsunade knows by the way." I froze while the woman nodded, "We'll hunt the man down." she said with a smile. I nodded, a little annoyed that Sasuke did something like that without my permission. "I told her." said Konan. Any trace of anger disappeared from within me. I'm too terrified of that woman to be mad at her.

"AELIA!" Naruto ran into the room and threw his arms around me, hugging me tight. My eyes widened in fear for a second but I couldn't pull away. Instead, I wrapped my arms around him as well. "I missed you Naruto." I said with a smile on my face. Sasuke shot me a concerned look. You okay? Asked me his eyes. I nodded, now I am, answered mine. I hugged my brother even tighter and breathed in his soothing scent. "You've been gone for so long! I didn't even know you were here until a few seconds ago! How are you? Are you okay? Are you back for good? Are you hungry? Would you like ramen?"

The blonde bombarded me with questions, still hugging me tighter than ever. "I'm fine, I'm not hungry, I'm back for good." I said with a smile. The boy nodded before hugging me again, his shoulders shaking. "Wait a second are you crying?" I asked, rubbing his back. "I-it's just… I missed you so much! My baby sister!" he cried, hugging me tight. I felt the air in my lungs leave my body as Tsunade tried to separate Naruto from me. "You're choking her." chuckled Sakura as she sat down in bed next to me and gave me a tight hug.

"We missed you." she said with a slight smile. "It's been so long." I said, hugging her back. "Are you alright? You weren't too injured were you?" asked the pinkette. I chuckled at her, "You just came back from the dead, I should be the one asking you that." The girl chuckled as she tightened her hug a little. "People will be mad that I'm back…" I mumbled, "Since you framed me for Asuma's murder." I grumbled sending a playful glare at Tsunade. "Don't worry about that I already cleared it up and told people there was a mix up and that we'd be calling you back shortly.

"Great." I mumbled, looking at the door. "Are you just gonna stand there or are you going to come hug me, Kakashi?" I teased, sticking my tongue out at him. The silver haired jonin chuckled and gave me a tight hug, ruffling my hair right after. "Finally, the team is back together." he said with what I assumed to be a satisfied smile under his mask. "Can we…" Kakashi nodded before I could finish my sentence. "At Sakura's place this time." I cheered and hugged the man again, "Yay! Things are going back to normal! Ichiraku is on me tonight!" Tsunade sighed, knowing that it would be useless to not discharge me.

"Don't eat too much, you'll rip your stitches." I shivered at that and nodded, leaving the hospital with the rest of my team with me. It's nice to be back home. "Now then, how was your time at the Akatsuki? Did you have fun?" asked Naruto, jumping up and down while holding me by the arm as though to make sure I wouldn't leave again. The contact made me flinch but it didn't seem as though he noticed.

"Yeah, it was alright. But I missed you guys a lot!" I exclaimed, a smile on my face. "I bought us a new house by the way." said Naruto, "Right after Sasuke left… to make it a surprise." I cocked a brow but waited for him to elaborate. "I helped him pick the apartment." Sakura raised her hand. "I bought an apartment big enough for the entire team to live together. We don't have a name for it yet." Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes as I hastily wiped them away. "What's wrong? D-do you not like it?" asked Naruto, giving me his signature puppy eyes. I shook my head, "I love it!" Naruto smiled, "I'm glad." he said, guiding us into the home.

It was a moderately sized house and it looked pretty old too. "How did you manage to afford this place?" I asked, "Weren't you off to Mount Myoboku to train with the frogs?" the boy nodded, "I saw that you transferred some money into my bank account and decided to buy something nice for the team." he said with a smirk. I gave him a hug, "It looks lovely." we headed inside the home and it looked extremely cozy.

The walls were a nice colour of cream and the living room looked extremely comfortable with a piece of furniture from each of our respective homes, there even was a hammock from Sakura's house there. "Woah…" exclaimed Sasuke, looking around the house some more. "I helped decorate." said Kakashi, rubbing the back of his neck, "Didn't know you had an interior designer in you." I chuckled. "What about the rooms?" asked the Uchiha.

"We replaced the broken things but other than that, it's like your old room. Aelia, there's a mix of furniture in your room. Some are from your room in Sasuke's house and others are from your room in Naruto's. The boy shot me an annoyed look, "I was so mad when I found out you had a room in Sasuke's house." he chuckled in the end and so did I. "Well I guess that's understandable." I said with a smile on my face. "So then. Let's watch a movie shall we?" asked Kakashi, him and the rest of the team leaving for the living room.

"Uhm… Naruto, could you stay here for a minute?" the boy nodded before stopping in his tracks. "I know that it's super late but I didn't have the heart to give it to you before I left… um… here." I gave him a gift box with some slightly aged paper. Naruto seemed to recognize the packaging from the time when he learned that I wasn't really his sister. "Oh… it's that present." he said with a nostalgic look on his face. "I'm sorry I threw it away. I was just really angry. After that the box disappeared and I felt guilty for days but I never brought it up. Seems like you had it all along though."

"Open it." I said, a blush on my face. The boy took the box from my hands and opened it, finding a file with pictures of his mother and father and also a few pictures of him as a baby. At the very bottom of the box, there was a framed picture of the two of us and a separate one of Team Seven. Naruto hugged the file to his chest, tearing up. "Aelia…" he said, snot coming out of his nose as he hugged me tightly, "It's the best present anyone could've ever given me! I love you!" he exclaimed, holding me close. A little embarrassed, I pulled away, "O-oi, you'll be getting snot on my clothes if you continue!" I exclaimed. I noticed the rest of the team watch the scene unfold from the corner of my eyes.

"Why is he crying?" asked Sakura, "Aelia just gave me the best gift I could've asked for!" said Naruto, his tears now dry. He showed them the files I stole about his family and a few relatives that I knew he had. "This woman is a relative of mine?" asked Naruto, pointing at a picture of Karin. "Yeah. Originally, you were going to meet her some time around now because Sasuke would be trying to create a new team and she would be in it." I said with a shrug. "This is her last known address." I said, pointing at the address that told us that she was in Kusagakure. "Perhaps she's still a kunoichi there, I'm not sure." I mumbled. "When did you have time to get all of these? You just woke up from a month-long coma." said Kakashi matter of factly.

"Oh, I got this to him a while ago though it was a bad time when I gave it to him…" I said, remembering the depressing period of time where Naruto would act like an ass. "Indeed." said Naruto, a scowl on his face. "Oh there was going to be a juicy drama between her and those guys' kid." I said pointing at Sasuke and Sakura. The pinkette blushed, "We're going to have a kid?! What gender is it going to be? It's name?" the girl shook me by the shoulders, expecting an answer, "It's going to be a girl, no I can't tell you her name." I said, holding my head. "What's the drama going to be?" asked Sasuke, curious.

"Oh this guy named Suigetsu is going to mix up Sakura's DNA with Karin's and then your daughter is going to doubt the love between you two because you never showed Sakura affection and then…" Sasuke facepalm, "I hate this Suigetsu guy already." I chuckled at that, "But that's not happening for a long time. Besides, the drama probably won't even happen since for one, Karin didn't meet you yet and for seconds, the only reason your daughter thought you didn't love Sakura was because you were never home, always out of the village. Since you probably aren't leaving anytime soon, there's no need to worry about that."

Sasuke nodded, still not convinced. "D-do I find l-love?" asked Kakashi, a blush on his face. I chuckled, "No worries. You continue wanking to those books you love so much." Kakashi let out a sad sigh, "I want a wife though~" he whined, "Say, you'll marry me if the two of us are single by the time you're eighteen right? You used to have a crush on me after all! A-and you're the only woman who's seen my face!" Naruto and Sasuke shot the man a glare while I just laughed it off, "Yeah, sure thing! If I'm not married by the time I'm twenty-four, I'll consider getting with you." the two of us snickered while Sakura facepalmed and the two boys shot our teacher disgusted looks. "First of all, Aelia will marry a nice young man or woman when she's eighteen." started Naruto, "And second of all, that young man or woman is going to be Deidara!" I shot the Uchiha a shocked look. "You don't even approve of him!"

"I'd rather you marry a bomber terrorist than you marrying a pedophile teacher," I let out a sigh, knowing that Naruto was going to interrogate me. "Who's this Deidara person?" he asked, raising a brow. "Look at what you've done!" I exclaimed, shooting a glare at a smirking Sasuke. "Deidara is a friend of mine back in the Akatsuki." I mumbled with a slight smile, "Yeah a special friend who kisses you and holds your hand." I blushed, "You saw that?" I asked Sasuke, "I basically watched the whole thing!" Sakura shot her boyfriend a weirded out look before saying, "That's not really something to brag about, babe." The boy pouted and dragged us to the living room, "Wait, wait, wait, holdup!" said Naruto, "You kissed some random criminal?!" he exclaimed, "He's not random!" I exclaimed, a blush on my face, "And he really cares about me…" I mumbled under my breath, a slight blush on my face. "He let you join my team."

"He felt guilty about what happened the night before." I mumbled. Sasuke nodded, knowing what I meant. "Oh what did he kiss you and you didn't react the way he wanted?!" I blushed while Sasuke facepalmed. "N-no… That's not what went on… B-besides I can date whoever I want!" Naruto let out a sigh, "Does he treat her well?" he turned to Sasuke, "Well, I didn't really see them together much but I'm guessing they got along well since Konan-san got mad at me when she realised that I wasn't Deidara who came to give Aelia a visit." That wasn't exactly how it went but no need for Naruto to know that. "Is he nice to her?" the blonde asked again, "Um… Aelia was he nice to you when Pain asked you guys to go undercover as a couple?"

Why are you just adding more fuel to the fire? I was about to answer when I froze, flashbacks of my time on the boat coming back, my body started shaking and my vision became blurry. "Y-yeah… he was really nice." I managed to choke out. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realised what he'd just done. "Breathe." he ordered softly, coming over to rub my back, "It's okay, just let the air into your lungs." Naruto started to get worried.

"Aelia? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" I nodded, "Y-yeah don't worry about it. It's just the effects of the painkillers Tsunade gave me that are wearing off." I said with a slight smile, trying to ride off my panic attack. Sasuke shot me a concerned look. You can't keep hiding it like this. Told me his eyes. I ignored him and focused on my breathing. "I-I'll go get Sakura." said Naruto, calling the pinkette over.

Sakura immediately noticed I was getting a panic attack and quickly made me sit on the floor. "Focus on your breathing, deep breaths Aelia, deep breaths." I finally calmed down after a few minutes, hugging myself as though to warm myself up. "Are you alright?" asked my brother, worry etched onto his face. A tint of red was present in his eyes. "S-stay away…" I let out, fear etched onto my face.

"Get away from me!" I exclaimed, crawling away from him. The look of hurt became present on Naruto's face for a second but the expression soon enough melted away. His skin paled, his hair became longer and his eyes turned blood red. "Aelia? Are you okay?" the man asked in a mocking tone. "Why are you scared of me?" his voice mixed with that of my brother as he took a step towards me. "N-no! Stay away from me!" tears gathered at the corner of my eyes as I got backed into a corner.

I forced my eyes shut and waited for the torture to start. "Aelia?" The man's voice was still mixed in with Naruto's, he put a hand on my shoulder, "You're acting weird, maybe you should take some rest." the scenery around us changed and I was back in the boat now, getting dragged to that nasty old cell where he hurt and abused me.

"No! Let go of me! I don't want to go back there, I want to go home!" Breathing became the hardest thing in the world to do, my chest hurt and my head spun as I got dragged towards the cell. "This is your home Aelia." said the man, a smile on his face. "No! My home is anywhere but here! Let me go! Let go of me you monster!" then everything went black.

I woke up in my bed with a killer headache. "N-no…" I croaked out, remembering the horrible things that I called him, "No I didn't mean any of those!" my vision became blurry and tears stung my eyes as I recalled all the horrible things I said to my brother. "I'm so sorry." I cried, "He must hate me now, I'm so sorry." I murmured, hiding my face in my hands. I heard a knock on the door and wiped my eyes with the sleeves of my pajamas.

"Come in." I called, any sign of joy gone from my voice. Sakura came in, a worried expression on her face, "You had a huge PTSD attack." she sat down next to me and put a hand on my knee, "What happened when you were there?" I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it. "I think you should go see Inoichi. He might be able to help." I immediately shook my head.

"It's nothing. I just… I really want to see my brother." I whispered, "I need to apologize. I didn't mean anything I said to him during the attack." Sakura hesitated, "I don't think that's a good idea. He was pretty shaken up." That brought tears to my eyes. "Look at me. I'm a fucking mess of a human." I chuckled as I fell back on my bed with a hand resting on my forehead. "I probably ruined my relationship with my brother, I can't even look people in the eye and worst of all, this is all happening because I can't deal with my problems!"

Sakura forced me to sit up, handing me a cup of water and what I assumed to be a pill against these attacks. "Please bring Naruto in." I begged, "I have to apologize. He has to know that I wasn't talking to him at that moment!" I exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly. Sakura let out a sigh, "Who were you talking to then? Aelia this is the first time I've seen you this bothered and it's scaring me. Please tell me what's wrong so that I can help you."

"I can't…" I breathed out, "Right now, I can't." Sakura nodded, understandingly, "Then please. Promise me you'll go to therapy. That's the most helpful thing for you right now." I completely disagree with that statement but also know that she won't leave until I agree. "I promise," I mumbled. "Can I please talk to my brother now?" the girl nodded before giving my arm a little squeeze. "I don't know what's going on but hang in there okay?" I nodded and watched as she left, calling my brother in. "H-hey…" he said hesitantly, closing the door.

"Naruto I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, getting out of bed and throwing my arms around him, "I'm so sorry, you must've been feeling so hurt and it's all my fault!" The blonde hugged me back, "What happened back there? It was like you were somewhere else." I shook my head, "I don't want to talk about it. I-I just want to tell you, I would never think of you as a monster. Ever." The boy nodded, his hold tightening, "I know that. I was just worried about you. You looked so scared, sis." I nodded, feeling safe in his embrace. "So are we cool?" I asked, looking up at him. My brother kissed the top of my head then shot me a smile, "It's not like things were bad between us to begin with! Come on now, let's watch a movie!"

I nodded and walked out of the room, walking next to Naruto. We went down some stairs and entered the living room. There, Kakashi shot me a worried look. I shot him a slight smile to show him that I was fine. "L-let's just pretend that didn't happen." I mumbled, sitting down next to my pinkette friend. "What movie should we watch?" asked Kakashi, heading towards the many DVDs that we had. "I think maybe comedy should do it for tonight." said Sasuke.

"We all just need a good laugh." said Naruto, backing the Uchiha up. "Oh! Let's watch Dumb and Dumber!" exclaimed Sakura, grabbing the DVD. I snorted, "So you want us to watch Sasuke and Naruto try to figure out how to use a cassette player?" The pinkette chuckled while the two men glared at the two of us. "Let's just watch this stupid movie." mumbled Naruto, sitting down on the sofa and handing us the popcorn.

During the entire movie, we all laughed and shared similar anecdotes that happened to us, either individually or as a team. "Remember that time you asked if I wanted to hear the most annoying sound in the world and then you asked Naruto to sing?" I asked Kakashi, snickering as I put some popcorn into my mouth. "OI THAT WAS WHY YOU ASKED ME TO?!" Kakashi started to laugh uncontrollably while Naruto grumbled about being able to sing pretty well.

A few days passed after that, I regularly went to a new cafe with Sakura, occasionally seeing Ino and her team. "Ah, Shikamaru!" I called. The Nara turned to face me and walked towards me, "What's up?" he asked, looking at the plastic bag that I was holding. "I got a present for ya!" I handed the boy the bag that had Hidan's head inside. "Surprise motherfucker," said Hidan, trying to shake off the pink bow that I had stuck onto his head, "That is horrifying." said the boy, grabbing the plastic bag. "Thanks. Didn't think I'd see this head again." I shrugged, "I'm a woman of my word you know."

The boy walked back to his team. I gave their blonde companion a slight wave and she waved back. Our relationship was just that now, her and I just waving at each other back and forth. It saddened me a little but I understood for the most part. She broke up with me and immediately the day after that, I had been framed for her teacher's murder, only to join the Akatsuki and then for Tsunade to tell everyone that I had been wrongfully accused of Asuma's murder.

"Eh? Aelia, was that clay bird always on the table?" I cocked a brow and looked at the table, noticing a cream coloured bird made out of clay, sitting near my cup. My heart warmed at the figurine as I took it and smiled. "Yeah, it's a souvenir." I said with a slight smile. The pinkette nodded and took a sip from her tea, "Looks more like a declaration of love to me… but that ain't none of my business." the two of us chuckled while I put the bird in my bag, a smile on my face. I looked over at the trees as Sakura and I walked past the shopping malls, trying to find any signs of the blonde. He'll show himself when he feels like it, I chuckled at myself, "H-hey, wait for me!" I whined, running after Sakura who had just entered the ninja academy. "Not my fault you're too slow!" she exclaimed, running through the halls of the school, giggling.

"Come on now, I only called the two of you over so that you could teach the kids some basic medical ninjutsu, not to become hazards to society!" scolded Iruka with a slight smile. "I'm Iruka. I haven't seen you here before, are you new?" I chuckled, "I guess. My name is Uzumaki Aelia, pleasure to meet you." I said with a smile, "My brother told me a lot about you. It's really nice to finally meet you in person!" the man nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well. All I need you to do at the moment is teach them some basic medical ninjutsu, how to stitch up a small scratch, maybe a twisted ankle or something."

I nodded, "Shall I teach the more… advanced students how to fix broken bones?" Iruka seemed to consider it. "Perhaps another time. None of them are masters in chakra control yet." I nodded and walked towards a small group of boys. "Heya, I'm Aelia." I greeted them with a wide smile and a tiny wave. "Hello," greeted the boys, "I'm going to be teaching you medical ninjutsu okay? Please watch carefully." I went on and taught the kids for the remainder of the day.

"That was fun." I said with a satisfied smile on my face. Sakura smirked, "Come on, no need to pretend, it was plain as day that you couldn't get along with the kids." I let out a sigh. "You know me too well." I said, a little tired. "You go on home before me… I want to check something." The girl shot me a knowing smile then whispered, "Get some." into my ear. I blushed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "G-geez." I headed towards the cafe I found the clay bird at and sat down on a bench in front of it, fiddling with the bird.

I examined it from up close, mesmerized by how smooth it was, when I noticed a button at the top of its head. I pressed on it and a violin cover of the merry go round of life started playing. I suddenly got an inexplicable urge to leave the village, I pressed the button again, stopping the music then walked towards the gates and left. "Where are you going, Aelia-chan?" asked Genma, a senbon in his mouth. "Oh you know, on a date." I said jokingly. The man chuckled and let me pass. "Don't stay out too long, I heard there was a creep pacing through the woods." I sweatdropped. "I'll keep that in mind." I said with a small smile as I walked into the woods outside of the village.

I finally found a comfortable clearing and sat down, watching the stars. "Heya." greeted Deidara with a smile on his face. I blushed, "Hey, what's up?" I asked, taking his hand and pulling myself up. "Nothing much. Did you like the bird?" I nodded, "I loved it, it's beautiful." I said with a smile. Deidara smirked, "Of course. I made it after all, un." I chuckled before sitting down, patting the soft grass next to me. "Should've guessed you were the creep Genma was talking about." I said with a snicker. "Is that really what people think of me, un?" I chuckled once more.

"You could say that." The blond pouted before his eyes lit up. He took the bird from my hands and pressed the button on its head and pulled me to my feet. "We didn't have much time to dance when we were in Zalfari." he took my hand and bowed, "May I have this dance, m'lady?" he snickered before giving me his signature smirk. "But of course, kind sir." I said, blushing as he placed a kiss on my knuckles. The boy pulled me towards him and put one of his arms around my waist, hesitant at first, but getting more and more confident as he noticed I didn't show any signs of a panic attack show.

"Y-you look beautiful tonight, un." he said with a blush, looking away. "You don't look so bad yourself." I said with a smile, resting my head on his shoulder as we slowly danced to the rhythm of the music. Deidara's hold tightened on my waist as he pulled me even closer, placing a soft kiss on my forehead. "I'll have to leave again soon. I won't be back for about three months or so…" he said in a saddened tone. I looked down for a second but nodded, understanding. "Think of me when you play that song okay?" he asked, looking away, a faint blush on his face. I nodded and sneakily gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Unfortunately, Lover Boy, I have nothing to give you to remember me by." I sighed, a little annoyed at that fact. Deidara smirked before saying, "I think I know what you can give me." I looked at him and cocked a brow, "What-" his lips crashed onto mine, making the butterflies in my stomach turn into airplanes and attack helicopters. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation. Too soon did we have to part.

"There. Now I'll always remember the sweet taste of your lips." said the blonde a smirk on his face as he licked his lips. A blush erupted on my face as I tried to compose myself one more time. "Aelia," said Deidara, lifting my chin to make our eyes meet, "It's not fair to me if you make expressions like that." he gave me a small peck on the cheek before pulling away. I lowered my eyes, sad to know he'd be leaving soon.

The blonde lifted my chin again, "Come on now, don't make that face or I won't want to leave." I intensified whatever look I was doing, making Deidara sigh and give me another long, passionate kiss. "I need to leave. You know that." he sighed, giving me a hug. "I'll see you in three months okay?" I nodded into his shoulder, hugging him just a little tighter.

Deidara gave the bird back to me and disappeared into the forest, leaving no trace of him ever even being there to begin with. I let out a small sigh and looked at the sky, making a wish as I noticed a shooting star. Come back safe. I walked back to the gates of the village, a small blush still on my face as I headed towards the gates, "You weren't lying when you said you were going on a date huh? Who is it? A secret lover?" asked Genma, chuckling.

I laughed with him, "You could say it's something like that." I snickered, going through the gates and into the village, "Better hope your brother doesn't find out or that boy is dead," called Genma, his senbon hanging out of his mouth, "And you better not tell him or that senbon will be sticking out of your throat instead of your mouth." I threatened, a smile on my face. The older man shivered before going back to guard the gates. I walked through the streets and into my new home.

"Ah, there she is," said Sakura with a smirk on her face and wiggling her eyebrows. How did it go? Asked her eyes. I let out a squeal which she understood to be a good sign and held my hand as the two of us jumped up and down. "What are we witnessing?" whispered Naruto to the men in the room, "I think this is the weird girl telepathy thing. They can read each other's minds to a point that us men just cannot fathom." said Sasuke, "I saw them have an entire silent conversation once. They just kept looking back and forth at us and snickering. Even I couldn't read either of them… kind of like now actually..." continued the boy.

We turned to them and shot them smiles before running up to my room. "Okay, tell me everything!" She awaited eagerly and looked at me expectantly. "Hold on." I said glaring at the door. "FUCK OFF, THIS IS GIRL TALK!" there was silence for a few seconds before I heard a small "sorry," come out of all three of the men who had their ears stuck to the door. "Alright so now tell me everything." I nodded and pressed on the button on the bird's head.

Sakura's eyes widened as she closed her eyes, enjoying the music. "This was a song that played when we went on a mission together. We had to go undercover as a couple but we didn't have the time to dance to it. He… made this music box and got me out of the village, into the woods. We danced there for a while… then he…" Sakura and I squealed once again, "So when are you going to see him again?" I looked down, a little sad, "In three months. He's got some work." I sighed, but blushed rather quickly, remembering what he did before leaving.

"I didn't have anything to give him to remember me by while he was gone so he told me he knew of something that I could give him. He then kissed me and said, "Now I'll have the sweet taste of your lips to remember you by."" I blushed, remembering the sensation of his lips on mine. Sakura blushed as well, the music came to a stop just as she said. "That's so romantic! And going on secret dates, that's the perfect love story!" she exclaimed, getting up and playing the song one more time, holding me by the hand as we both danced, stopping midway to laugh.

"You have to let me pick your clothes for the next time you see each other!" she said excitedly, I nodded, envying her fashion sense. "S-say… Do you think I should ask him to stay next time? Not let go?" I asked, my face turning crimson. "I think you should. Use your charms to make him stay!" she said, tracing out her curves in an overly sexual manner.

I snorted before saying, "I don't think I can do that," Sakura shook her head. "Nonsense! Come on, get up, chin high, shoulders down, stick your butt and chest out." I did as she told me in front of the mirror, noticing a slight difference in the way that I looked. "See? Better already!" said the pinkette with a smile on her face. "S-still… I want Deidara to stay because he wants to. I don't want to trick him into it." I said with a soft mumbled, tracing the wings of the bird with my thumb.

"Aw, you miss him don't you?" I nodded, "I feel safe around him, even though sometimes… no, nevermind." I said with a smile on my face, hugging the bird, "I only want the happy memories for now." the girl nodded before smirking. "You should ask to go with him!" I shook my head, "I can't leave you guys! Even if it was temporary, Akatsuki was so boring without you!" Sakura snickered, "Yeah but that was before you got yourself a boyfriend!"

"BOYFRIEND?!" I heard Naruto exclaim from the other side of the door. "Oh shit." Sakura and I said in unison as Naruto kicked the door open, "You have a boyfriend?!" Sakura slowly got up but I held her down, "You're suffering with me." the girl groaned and sat on the bed, letting out whines and groans of annoyance as she listened to Naruto bombard me with questions.

"Who is he? What does he look like? Is he treating you well? Where is he from? Is it someone we know? Does he respect you? Are you happy? Why haven't I met him? I don't want you to go out on dates. You're too young to have a boyfriend. All men are wolves, don't forget that." he finally stopped talking after running out of air. "His name is Deidara, you know what he looks like, he treats me very well, he's from Iwa, yes you know him, he respects me very much, I am extremely happy, you haven't met him because you're overprotective and he isn't here right now, I'm just coming back from a date with him, I'm not too young to have a boyfriend and not all men are wolves." I too was out of breath by the time I had finished answering his questions.

"A CRIMINAL?!" his voice echoed through the entire house, causing Kakashi and Sasuke to run up the stairs. "What's going on?" asked Kakashi, "Aelia is dating a criminal. Not only that, she just came back from a date with him!" Sasuke looked at me before mouthing, "Deidara?" I nodded while Kakashi shot me a fake look of betrayal, "No~ Aelia! You promised you'd marry me if you were single!" I decided to play along, "I am so sorry but my heart belongs to another!" Kakashi put a hand on his forehead and leaned on my back.

"Oh! The betrayal! ThE HeArTbReAk!" we exploded into a fit of giggles that ended as quickly as it started due to Naruto continuing to scold me. "You went on a date with a criminal. At night. I mean imagine what could've happened." I blushed, "Other than a romantic dance and a few kisses, nothing really happened." Sakura's mouth fell to the ground before she started laughing. "OH MY GOD YOU'RE ACTUALLY TELLING HIM!" she laughed, falling on the floor and punching it.

"YOU KISSED?!" exclaimed Naruto, slamming his forehead into his hand. "My sister has been tainted!" I shot him a blank stare before going back to the dreamy state I was in. "His lips were so soft~ and the song that we danced to was so romantic~" I got forced out of my dreamy state by a hard bonk on the head. "I don't want you going out with him." said Naruto, dead serious. "What?! You haven't even met him yet!" I protested, annoyed.

"That guy is a criminal! How good could he be?!" I blushed before averting my gaze from my brother. "I'm happy when I'm with him. At least give him a chance… besides… we aren't even "dating" dating…" Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose, "Don't sound sad about that, you still have a chance to get out of this situation." I pouted at him before averting my gaze. Only to see Deidara's face popping out of a tree. I pulled on Sakura's sleeve and nodded towards the trees while having a silent conversation with her. "Can you find a way to get me out of here?"

"Bet. I'll have you out of here so you can meet up with Romeo over there. You can tell him about your brother and possibly ask him to be your boyfriend while out as well." I nodded and waited for her to create a distraction. "Eh~ that's really romantic though! Naruto, you should take notes, you know~ Hinata-chan may be shy but she's still a lady!" Naruto blushed, flustered. I shot the pinkette a thankful look before sneakily leaving the room and getting out of the house. "Hey," greeted Deidara, "Hey…" I said, a slight blush on my face.

"I didn't have the heart to leave without seeing you one more time, un." said the boy, a smirk on his face. "D-don't say stuff like that, geez! It'll only make me want you to stay." I looked away from him a little. "So… your brother looked pretty pissed." said the boy as we started walking in the streets of Konoha, "He was. Didn't like the idea of us… you know..." I trailed off, not wanting to say the word, "Dating?" asked Deidara chuckling as he put an arm around my shoulder. "That's just how brothers are." I nodded and guided us to a small cafe.

"I also heard you and your pink haired friend squeak like mice over there." I shot him a blank look. "J-just how long have you been standing there?" I blushed, remembering all the embarrassing things I did. "Oh just long enough to see your friend teach you her ways of seduction." my face turned crimson as I looked away, embarrassed. "This is so embarrassing!" I exclaimed, hiding my face behind my hands.

The blonde pushed my hands away, a smirk on his face, "You really could just ask me to stay." he said after a while, "You've got important things to do. I don't want you to get in trouble because you were spending time with me." I said with a small blush on my cheeks. It seemed as though Deidara wasn't listening as he just stroked my cheek with the back of his hand, "You really don't need to do much to seduce me you know? That expression on your face is enough to-" I cut him off by shoving some cake into his mouth, "Try it! It's delicious!" I exclaimed, laughing nervously. Deidara smirked after he swallowed his bite.

"What did I just say, Aelia? Geez, are you trying to make me go crazy?" my blush intensified as I looked away from him. "Nah, don't look away. I won't be able to see you for a long time you know~" I blushed even more as I paid for the food and left the cafe, walking into one of the few parks in Konoha. "J-just leave then. It's not l-like I care!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms, "I would've never guessed that my girlfriend is a tsundere." said Deidara with a chuckle, "G-girlfriend?" Deidara nodded, "Don't you want to be?"

I nodded, a small blush on my face. The blonde leaned in and gave the tip of my nose a small kiss. "Man, I'll miss seeing the cute expressions you make all the time." mumbled Deidara, cupping his hand over my cheek. "But at least I have a memory of you saying 'his lips were so soft~' and that is something I'll never forget." I blushed, averting my gaze. "S-shut up." I mumbled, doing anything but looking into his eyes. Within a few seconds, his lips were on mine again. I closed my eyes and savored it, knowing deep inside that it was going to be a long time before the next time I'll see him. The blonde rested his forehead against mine, pulling me a little closer as he gave me a small peck on the lips.

"I really need to go now." he said, sounding disappointed, "I'll see you soon." he turned away and started walking away, "W-wait!" I exclaimed, holding on to his hand. "W-when you come back… would you… would you…" the boy chuckled before ruffling my hair, "I'd love to." and with that, he disappeared into a puff of smoke. "He's gone for real this time…" I mumbled, saddened. I sat on the bench and played with my hair, noticing that one small section of it was shorter than the rest of my hair. "When did he-" I remembered the time we were dancing in the woods, "That's… actually sort of creepy…" I mumbled, sweat dropping.

"This isn't the Victorian times anymore, geez!" I mumbled, a slight blush on my face. "There you are!" exclaimed Naruto with an apologetic Sakura behind. "Sorry, I tried to distract him as long as I could," I sighed as I read the question in her eyes. "Is it official?" I nodded and watched as the girl tried to hold in her squeal. "Why did you leave?" asked the blonde, "To talk to my boyfriend about potentially meeting you. Though he agreed without even hearing the question. Poor boy." I mumbled walking towards Sakura with a blush on my face. "Your hair looks a little shorter." said Sakura before her eyes widened in realisation. "Holy shit he did the-" I nodded cutting her off, "That's so cute!"

The thing Sakura was talking about is when boyfriends cut a piece of hair off of their girlfriend's head as a memento to remember them. In the ancient times, here in Konoha and back in my world of origin, it was seen as an act of pure devotion towards the woman, and therefore, extremely important. "Did the Duckbutt do that to you as well?" the girl nodded, "Right after he poked my forehead." I chuckled and added after a few minutes, "It's kinda weird though, it's not like letters are a thing, you know…" Sakura shook her head, "It's cute. It shows devotion."

I let out a small sigh, "It hasn't been long though, I don't know…" The pinkette bonked me on the head. "Don't act stupid, Aelia. It's not about how long a relationship has been going on. It's about connection." I let out a sigh, knowing full well that she was right. "I'm still here you know…" mumbled Naruto, annoyed that we were ignoring him.

"Yeah well I'm pissed at you so hmft!" I faced away from him and stuck my nose in the air. "Get prepared because you'll be meeting Deidara soon. And you better behave." my brother flinched before hastily nodding. We headed home and went to bed, Sasuke and Kakashi not even questioning what went on, guessing the course of events from the looks on our faces. "I still think you should reconsider marrying me." joked Kakashi to alleviate the tension. I chuckled, "Sure thing, how does this spring sound to you?" Kakashi sighed, "You know it stops being funny once you play along." I snickered, "

Maybe you should take the hint, Kakashit." The man's ears perked up at the old nickname, of course, he glared at me but didn't say a thing since to this day, the fact that he was the one who pushed me into the icy ocean was a secret. "You should respect me, call me 'sensei' it's not that hard." I chuckled before telling him what he wanted to hear. "You're right. You're really wise, sensei. I could learn a thing or two from you." Kakashi anime cried as he gave me a thumbs up, "That's right!" Sasuke facepalmed. "She's making fun of you like she's never done before. How can you be okay with that?"