My Dead Lily: Chapter 1

TaurenLeaf


The Village of Taorefusu usually had clear blue skies and a bristling wind that was always strong enough to knock someone over. Their streets were abundantly filled with shops and stalls and the aromas of corner bakery shop. Today was no exception; shouts of goods could be heard throughout the whole village, and the busy bakery filling the air with the scent of chestnut dangos. A whole month's supply was ordered to Sunagakure.

"Damn," the baker sighed, "we're gonna have a fat Kazekage."

But today, the sweet breeze carried a slight chill in the air. Not enough to make the villagers notice though, they were used to temperature changes in the desert. However, in the distance, there was what seemed like a piece of large, discolored cotton candy. It looked like it was just barely off the ground, drifting closer and closer. A storm cloud, it was a storm cloud filled with bickering thunder and lightning, flashing and roaring at one another. This would have been an ideal storm except for the fact that it was the desert. Not a drop of rain was supposed to come down from the sky. No rain in the desert, right? But this time there was.

When it came, the destruction and the power of it became a reality. It was like all sounds from moments before were put on mute, and now there was only the raging of the thunder. The skies around were filled with flashes of lightning, like giants taking pictures. Screams and the thumping footsteps of hundreds of panicked people, scrambling to their homes were heard. Everywhere, roofs were flying off, and buildings were set on fire.

The storm found its next target, a store sign, and it sent the whole place into flames. It was the corner bakery shop, and all the dangos were gone. A girl shrieks in the distance, you could tell that she too, had fallen to the storm.


Numerous miles away, Naiyuri and Deidara were strolling through the busiest street in Suna, unhurriedly walking toward the meeting spot. There was a light, happy feeling in the atmosphere that both Deidara and Naiyuri strongly disliked.

It seemed like everyone in the village was preparing for an important event. Children were running around with banners flying behind them, Happy Birthday Temari-sama!

Each banner included a picture of what was probably meant to be this 'Temari-sama'.

"They call that art?" asked Deidara in wonderment. "Hmm…like I've always said, stupid people can't comprehend art." Deciding to show them true art, Deidara waved his arms and in one swift movement and produced a clay model of a bird. "I call this, Saliva and Sand" he announced, his chest swelling up with pride.

He smirked, "This is art, yeah…"

Leaning on the model and looking extremely satisfied, he was soon surrounded by the 'stupid' children who were beaming at him.

"Wow, mister!" one of them said, "How did you do that?"

"Uh…yeah…" He clenched his fist, making sure his palms were unseen.

"Mister..." another started asking, "What is saliva?"

"Uh…" Deidara looked around nervously. They weren't supposed to talk to anyone outside of Akatsuki when it wasn't necessary.

Something caught his eye, or rather, a lack of something, someone to be more specific. Wait…where's Naiyuri?

He scanned through every crowd, past every face around him. That bitch—I turn around for one second and she disappears…


Naiyuri felt a cool rush of air as she walked in. She heard a soft jingle of bells as the door closed. Thank god for air conditioning, she thought. The desert sun was unbearable; she didn't know how the people of Suna could handle it. She just couldn't take any more outside, and besides, she had to get away from Deidara and his stupid habit of saying yeah; she knew that once his 'art' caught his attention, he would be as annoying as hell. Well… He's already annoying as hell…

She walked up and down the isles of display counters and shelves; she was in a jewelry store. Stopping at a particular corner, she bent down. It featured her favorite stone, jade. There were bracelets, necklaces, earrings, rings, brooches, and the centerpiece of the display, a beautiful hair pin. The pin itself was gold, polished thoroughly. It had a lily on it, garnished with jade leaves. The small details of each leaf were in a different stone, emerald. The lily's pedals were made of the finest jade she had ever seen, and the heart of the lily with the clearest crystal.

"That's the early 17th century Princess Kikuko's favorite hairpin."

Naiyuri looked up. The owner of this new voice was an elderly man in glasses with graying hairs and a name tag stating 'Kayahara—founder'.

"It was one of the Princess's most prized possessions; it was a present to her from the emperor for her 16th birthday."

Naiyuri stared at it, and as her interest grew, the center of the stone illuminated into a light warm hue. She had never seen anything like it.

Kayahara opened the display and very slowly took out the hair pin. "It's special," he said as he lifted it up closer to them. "It is assumed that this pin gives eternal life." He was now turning the pin from side to side. Gradually, the crystal was changing colors. First was a deep red, then a rosy pink, and going on to an orange… and on and on to the colors of the rainbow and the in-betweens. "After the pin was given to her, she never got hurt, she never got sick, nor did she age. Supposedly, she lived for 121 years, the longest life ever."

They stood in silence for a while, Naiyuri taking in the information the man said.

"So… How did she die?" Naiyuri asked.

The man replied, "The most common theory is she drowned herself on her birthday, taking the pin with her. Something about joining her husband in heaven. Still, if it were me, I would've kept it. Who wouldn't want eternal life?"

"Do honestly believe in that Kayahara-san?" said Naiyuri, shaking her head.

"Well, no, but it makes an interesting selling point, doesn't it?" smiled the shopkeeper.

"Could I try it on?" Naiyuri asked.

Without hesitation, Kayahara handed the hairpin over. He had always had the problem of trusting people too easily.


Ah…where is she? Deidara was now three streets away from their initial position.

Fuck her…causing so much trouble— I swear I will kill her... now that Sasori's gone; she'll have no one to protect her, yeah… This thought had preferably lightened his mood; he was now imagining the ways of killing Naiyuri that would bring the most pain…

Just as he turned at the corner, two figures emerged from the other end of the road.

"EEEEEEEEEHHHHHH! Gaaaaara! We're almost there! Why can't you just come with me?" this was all said in probably the most whiny voice ever heard by humankind. It was Naruto. "C'mon, you know exactly what Temari-oneechan wants! PLEASE!"

There was a half grunt-half sigh, followed by a "Fine." That was Gaara. The truth was he really didn't know what his sister wanted for her birthday…

"Alright! Good thing you know what to get her! Shikamaru said when he forgot her birthday last year; he had to stay at the hospital for a whole month! Haha" laughed Naruto, "So much for men being stronger than women!"

For the rest of the journey, Naruto talked nonstop about a couple of times he had been beaten up by Sakura and in general how scary women were. "Once, Sakura-chan punched me really, really hard—for no reason!" said Naruto, "I was only walking past the women's changing room!"

Gaara held back a laugh, which resulted in another half grunt. "What? Haven't you ever been hit by a girl?" Naruto snapped.

"Naruto…only you would 'walk past' the women's changing room…"

"Eh? How can you say that? I'm not stupid!" he yelled, fuming.

"Are you sure?" My god, Gaara made a joke. Just how much does Uzumaki Naruto influence people?

Looking at the idiot's shocked face, Gaara shook his head and smiled (smiled!). They made the final turn towards the 'Kayahara's Fine Jewelry' shop.

Jewelry, at a time like this? What is she thinking?


Naiyuri was admiring herself with the small mirror in front of her when she heard a soft jingle of bells. She turned the mirror slightly and saw that two ninjas had entered.

"Welcome!" the founder called out. "I'll leave you here, Miss." Naiyuri nodded in response as Kayahara left towards his new costumers.

"Ew! What's that disgusting smell?" the shorter boy whined. He had an unnaturally annoying voice, too.

She heard a couple excited yelps from the old man. "Kazekage-sama! What a surprise!"

Naiyuri's head shot up, Kazekage? Where? Seeing only the two children, she was forced to believe it. One of them was the Kazekage! The three had converted to whispering in the corner; she couldn't hear anything except for a couple of whiny 'Gaara's'. That name…Gaara…she remembered…wasn't he supposed to be dead? They did extract the Ichibi, didn't they?

It was then when she heard another soft jingle, and this time when she turned, she saw a very worried looking Deidara. He was frantically pointing at the corner where the other occupants of this store stood whispering. Naiyuri looked at him questionably. Then he began waving his arms, looking very stupid….While Naiyuri, who still didn't understand after Deidara stuck his thumb over his shoulder—the universal sign for let's get out of here, mouthed What..?

When Deidara finally gave up, he quickly glanced at Gaara and Naruto before rushing towards Naiyuri's side. "Let's go!" he hissed and grabbed Naiyuri's hand. Once again leaving her in a daze of confusion, "What…?" she replied. Having no time to explain why they, especially him, can't be seen by the people on the other side of the room, he pulled Naiyuri to the door.

At the sudden tug, Naiyuri saw a flash of bright light. The jade pin! Naiyuri was quick to make the catch, grabbing it out of thin air only centimeters before it would have hit the ground (and make an unnecessary sound that would bring the old shopkeeper to realize that his most valuable piece of jewelry was still in her hands). It was great that she chose that moment to lean over; being that a flash of something the size of her fist flew over her.


Now safe a couple meters out the door, the flustered male abruptly turned around just in time to see the bomb he threw hit a counter. That very counter cracked at the impact and completely shattered a split second later.

"Huh?" He heard the old man turn around and gasp at the site of his display destroyed. The elder whirled around just fast enough for his glasses to fly off. Abandoning them, the soon-to-be-deceased man looked up at them.

"What in the world—"

Deidara lifted his arms to begin a series of hand seals, a notion he's done in millions of situations before.


There was a sudden, loud BANG and by the time Naruto opened his eyes, he was inside a small dome of sand. He heard Gaara's panting behind him and whirled around, opening his mouth to ask what was going on, but Gaara covered his mouth. "Shhh" was all he said.

As the noise settled down, voices became clear, along with the screaming in the distance. They were coming from outside the store, where all noises were crystal-clear, since the window was now diminished to only shards of glass on the floor.

"Must you go around and kill everyone?" a female voice smirked. Smoke was still surrounding the sand dome.

"We have to go! We're already late!" followed a shouting male voice. "Who cares? Just go!" There were fading footsteps and all that was left were the screams of the villagers.

"Hey Kayahara-san, are you ok?" asked Naruto in a new, serious tone. Naruto turned around and stopped. Leaning on the back wall of the dome, was the founder of Kayahara's Fine Jewelry. Dead. He was cut everywhere with pieces of glass and sharp jewelry. He would've made it though, if his throat wasn't slit by a sharp broken piece of a golden pendant.


"YOU IDIOT! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU CAUSED ME?" Deidara blasted a few minutes later, when they got outside the village gates. "FIRST, I HAD TO GO AROUND THE WHOLE DAMN CITY LOOKING FOR YOU, THEN I HAD TO FOLLOW TWO NINJAS, BOTH WHO HAVE SEEN AND FOUGHT ME BEFORE!" he paused, taking in a sharp breath. He continued about 'only to find her in a jewelry store when they had to get to a very important meeting, her first meeting', but was cut off.

Naiyuri blinked. "Trouble? Trouble that I've caused you?" said Naiyuri in an unusually quiet and calm voice. "Is it my fault you couldn't find a store with a huge window right next to your 'Saliva and Sand' statue? Is it my fault that the ninjas you fought didn't die and might still remember you?"

"No, it isn't. In fact, none of it is," said Naiyuri before Deidara had a chance to reply. "But you know what? Let me tell you something that's your fault, we just went two miles off course in the opposite direction! Maybe you should focus on yelling at your own ugly face!"

Due to the off-track, they had to travel a few extra minutes, practically ensuring a punishment later. They were finally getting closer to their destination, a sand hill surrounded by the rest of the desert. At the top of the hill was a tree, an alive and healthy tree. As the two youngest Akatsuki members approached the tree, a branch gave a small twitch and their fellow member-in-crime merged with it.

"Late, I see" said a voice full of smugness.

"Save it, Zetsu…just…open up." Deidara was too tired to say much more. Even if it was only a few miles away from Suna, they were not used to the desert at all with their black cloaks.

Zetsu obediently 'opened up'. He left the branch and soon enough, the bark of the tree dissolved and left a hollow hole leading deep down into the ground. They jumped in immediately, not wanting to take any longer, and landed in the middle of a circle of people, made up of the other 7 members.

"You're late Deidara," said the Leader, and then turned and nodded, "Naiyuri."

"We got in caught in some trouble…" Deidara muttered.

"Sorry, it was all his—" Naiyuri started, pointing at Deidara, but was cut off by the stern voice of the Leader.

"It doesn't matter." Both fell silent. "You will make sure it won't happen again." He turned away in disgust. "Itachi, teach them a lesson they won't forget."

"Yes," said Itachi dutifully and moved towards Deidara. "Tsukiyomi!" Naiyuri only saw a brief moment of surprise on Deidara's face. A second later, his body was shrunken and his face hung low. What could possibly happen that could be that bad?

"…and Naiyuri" ordered the Leader.

Naiyuri closed her eyes, afraid. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes and immediately saw the Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan. The walls of dirt surrounding them became nothing but air. Naiyuri looked down; she was stranded on a cross and locked in place with unbreakable wires. When she looked up, Itachi came to her with a katana, slicing her open, again, and again, and again. A huge pain came rushing in chest. It was intolerable.

"Please, Itachi-sama, stop," cried Naiyuri, the tears wouldn't stop. "Please, please!"

Itachi's face was expressionless, but he stopped for a moment. "A true shinobi keeps her feelings to herself, she must never express fear," Itachi said as he raised his sword.

Naiyuri looked at his eyes, her tears, uncontrollable. "Maybe I wasn't meant to be a shinobi," she whispered softly.

As soon as her tears touched the ground, she was returned to her seat—Sasori's former.

"Now Itachi and Kisame, what were you saying about the Kyuubi?"

"We know that it's staying with the Kazekage. Gaara survived," replied Itachi. "His life was restored in exchange of the Sand's legendary Chiyo-baasan's. This is a slight problem; he's able to recognize our appearances and might find out that we're here to capture Naruto. However, as long as we stay out of sight, we'll be fine."

Deidara winced inwardly, He's not going to be a problem anymore…but…If Gaara was dead, then so was Naruto… he just killed the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. Now what? Where will the Kyuubi go? Or will it bring Naruto back to life? Hmmm…they don't know yet, as far as they're concerned, I know nothing, yeah...as long as Naiyuri doesn't tell...

"I've got a plan," Deidara's voice perked up. "Now that we have a woman" he said nodding in Naiyuri's direction, "we could lure him out alone with Naiyuri."

"What? I'm supposed to be kind of like a sex icon now?" Naiyuri choked out, angrily.

"Well, yeah, that is what I'm suggesting," Deidara smiled mischievously. All the fear from the Tsukiyomi disappeared with the nasty look he threw her.

"No! Wa-" Naiyuri's weak voice started to object.

"I think that is a perfect plan," the leader approved. "Naiyuri, we might just keep you…"


A/N:

TaurenLeaf Primary- Okay, I'm still an amateur so please help me improve any way possible…just be nice…. I would also like to thank (Haha, I sound like someone who has won an award) Tokyo Kusonagi for being the only one to review on the prologue!

TaurenLeaf Secondary- Wow… I've never done so much writing in my whole life! So you guys better like it! P (No seriously, I got yelled at so many times because I was on the computer.)