Chapter Eight

"How are you?"

Nakiro bowed her head at the question, tucking a strand of dark turquoise behind her ear. She wasn't sure how to answer that question, after everything that happened, she wasn't sure if she had it in her to handle being a shinobi anymore. She'd never wanted this life to begin with, witnessing all the war and tragedy throughout the lands had slowly enforced her pacifistic nature. Fellow shinobi were losing their lives to war and other horrendous situations, even the skilled spies of the Anbu. Her entire squad, overpowered in a mere instant before her very eyes. As much as she'd wanted to save them, she knew she was required to put the mission above all else, she could've saved them and yet...she fled, like a coward would. She knew what would've been said about her behind closed doors had she stayed to help her squad, it would've been a complete repeat of what had happened with Hatake Sakumo years before so she'd put the mission above her fellow shinobi; she wasn't so sure she had the strength to do it again one day. She tilted her head up, red eyes meeting onyx.

"I blame myself." she admitted, Itachi sighed softly next to her.

They had met late at night near a waterfall in the village, Itachi had sent her a note via messenger bird as soon as he'd heard of her arrival back, Nakiro agreeing to meet with him in an instant. As soon as she'd seen the familiar black crow at her window, relief had washed over her at the idea of seeing Itachi. She'd needed his support and comfort, she had seen enough death in her lifetime, how she wished the world was different. She could've smiled when the elder Uchiha cupped her cheek, leaning into his touch without a second thought.

"This is not your fault." he told her.

"Demo had I known what would happen-"

"The responsibility fell on the leader of your squad." he interrupted, brushing her cheek with his thumb. "You did what you could."

"I didn't do enough." she murmured, her eyes locked with his.

"You survived." he whispered. "You came back to me safely."

She felt her cheeks go warm at his words, not knowing how to respond. He'd never said something like that before to her, never opened up to her in that way, did he feel the same way that she felt? She could feel her heart skipping at the thought, hoping he could see the way she felt for him. There was no one else in the world that she would fully entrust her life to, except Itachi. There was no one else that shared and believed in the views that she had, no one that understood the meaning of things the way she did, except him. There wasn't one person that could make her feel the way she did, just from casual conversation. The feelings she had for him were ever growing, as the days passed he grew more important in her life. She didn't think she could ever be without him, she wanted to spend her life by his side. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest when he moved his arm around her shoulders, pulling her slightly closer, face to face.

"Itachi?" the girl questioned.

"I don't know what I would do, if something were to ever happen to you." he confessed, she glanced up through her bangs into his onyx eyes.

"I don't understand." she breathed. Her cheeks went hotter when Itachi smiled warmly, his eyes shining as he stared into her own, his nose bumping hers when he leaned slightly closer.

"You mean more to me, than anything else in the world." he admitted. His fingers caressing her cheek moved upward, his fingers slipping through her hair, running through it soothingly.

"Don't say that." she pleaded softly. "Your family, your clan-"

"The clan is corrupt." he mumbled. "Demo...you're my light."

She could feel her breathing growing heavier in her lungs at his seriousness, the look in his eyes was sincere, honest but she couldn't begin to understand what he meant. The clan was corrupt? Was something going to happen? What if something happened to him? She wouldn't begin to know what to do, Itachi was all she knew.

"Why are you saying these things?" she whispered, his smile softened.

"Because I need you to know, how important you are to me." he told her. "You opened yourself up to me, showed me your true self, I want to do the same."

"I showed you who I am because I trust you." she confessed, her breath coming out softly.

"And I trust you." he murmured.

'Is this what love is supposed to feel like?'

She felt her heart skip again in her chest when Itachi leaned closer to her, his hand slipping from her hair to her back and closed the space between them, brushing his lips against hers. Her eyes slipped shut and she scooted closer to him, their lips meeting in a soft kiss, a kiss that made her heart melt.

'I love him.'

"Everything okay hm?" Nakiro blinked dumbly, moving her eyes from her sketchbook, meeting Deidara's curious expression. She nodded a little, not understanding where that had come from. "Your hair was changing again." he explained.

She made an 'oh' face and held up a strand of her hair, focusing for a moment before it bounced back up into perfect curls. She turned her eyes from the blonde and examined the temple for a moment, going back to her sketchbook. Today was the day that they would be blowing up the temple and then start their traveling again, Nakiro had decided weeks prior that she wanted to record some of their journeys by drawing the things that stood out to her the most. The temple they were hired to destroy had wound up being beautiful so the girl had convinced her partner to wait before executing the mission, wanting to capture the beauty on paper. Deidara had complied without complaints, he'd been leaned back on the grass next to her for the past three hours as she'd drawn the temple and surrounding area, watching her with the utmost dedication.

Deidara had told her once the contract was complete and they'd collected their earnings, they'd be traveling to Takigakure, the blonde had managed to find something of value to their mission. According to her partner, one of his contacts had informed him of some shinobi in Taki that could give them information on their target, Orochimaru. Apparently these men knew a fair amount about the Sannin and were willing to tell them the information they sought, for a price. After thoroughly discussing it together, they'd decided it was worth the risk and had planned out their route to the village. Nakiro was ecstatic about the idea of learning more about her tormentor, hopefully she and Deidara would manage to make a plan to take him out.

"It looks beautiful hm." Deidara murmured, propping himself up with his palm.

He set his chin on her shoulder, staring at her sketch as she finished up a few last details. She could feel her cheeks going warm when he placed his hand on her hip, his arm wrapped around her back. She swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to shrug off her nerves as best she could. He still continued to make her nervous, no matter how casual the gesture was, was it possible she was forming a crush on her partner?

'No, I can't get involved with him like that.'

She shook her head to herself absentmindedly and removed her pencil from the paper, examining her work. It was perfect, the most appropriate memento to have for this part of their travels. She turned to observe Deidara, watching the soft smile come to his lips as his visible eye wandered her sketch.

"It's perfect hm." he stated. "I didn't know you were such an artist."

She shrugged one of her shoulders, she wasn't really, drawing was something she enjoyed doing to pass the time. When she'd been alone, it had been something she'd done often, she had even drawn some portraits of Itachi back before she had met her partner. Some of them were just of him and then some were of the two of them together, drawings of her memories of their life. She could feel her heart twinge at the thought, wishing she knew where to find him, it had been too long.

"Well, are you ready to get this started hm?" he asked slyly, a grin coming to his lips.

She could feel her cheeks go warm but she nodded anyway, knowing that they needed to finish up their contract and get out of the area. They'd been relaxing in the small village for a few days, gathering gear and other supplies for their journey, they'd even went as far as getting extra clothes. It was beginning to get closer to autumn, the air was beginning to get more cool and they'd need to be prepared for a harsh winter, freezing to death was something they planned on avoiding.

The former Konoha shinobi shut her sketchbook and placed it inside her bag, along with her sketching supplies. She rose to her feet, standing next to Deidara as he shoved his hands into his clay pouches, his visible eye shining with excitement as he stared at the temple. She watched him with a small smile, knowing how excited his was to use his art. She'd learned so much about his art and different techniques in their time together, as well as the different levels of power he had for them. There were up to five different levels for his art, one through four and a zero, zero being what he called his ultimate art, however Nakiro wasn't entirely sure what it was.

"Are you ready hm?" he asked, she nodded in agreement. "I'm going to share something very special with you today hm." She tilted her head to the side curiously, confused with what he meant, something special? She pulled her conversations book out of her bag and flipped to a clean page, writing.

What do you mean?

"It's something we've never done before but I just recently perfected it hm." he began saying, removing his hands from the pouches. "You're the first person I'm sharing this with hm." She felt a smile come to her lips, feeling honored that he wanted to share a brand new technique with her. "Watch."

She bit down on her lower lip when Deidara tossed what appeared to be a small bird into the air, watching as he formed his hand into a seal, a puff of smoke appearing in the air. She scrunched up her nose, trying not to cough at the smell of the smoke, her eyes widening when she saw the large clay bird. She was surprised to say the least, he'd never created a sculpture that large before, the size expansion was quite impressive. She turned her head, her green eyes meeting Deidara's blue one, her eyes were shining with admiration as she stared at him.

'It's amazing.'

Deidara jumped up onto the clay bird and turned to her, extending his hand.

"Come on hm." he pressed.

Her cheeks turned pink and she took a step forward, placing her hand over his, his fingers wrapping around hers. She could feel her cheeks burning when he pulled her up onto the bird, moving close to her as he turned his attention to the temple.

"Here we go." He swung his hand, multiple large clay insects flying out of the hand-mouth, heading in the direction of the temple. "Focus your chakra into your feet hm." She was unsure why he'd said that but nodded nonetheless, following his instruction and almost jumped out of her skin when she felt the bird shift, flapping it's wings and moving upward.

'It's moving...but how?'

Deidara held his hand up into a sign, his gaze focused on his creations as they entered the temple.

"Katsu!"

Explosions rang out into the silent air, the light from the fires and smoke began filling the area. The stone crumbled against the ground, falling in on itself as the temple collapsed, dust erupting from the collision. Nakiro felt a heavy breath leave her lungs, Deidara's hand tightening around hers.

"Art is an explosion hm." he exclaimed, staring admirably at his work.

Nakiro nodded slightly, feeling as though she could appreciate the moment he was so proud of, she understood completely what he meant when they discussed the single moment of art. She felt a smile come to her lips at the sight of him, her heart fluttering in her chest.

"Do you know what else we can do with my art hm?" he asked, turning his visible eye to hers. She shook her head, a curious expression on her face. Deidara grinned widely and wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her close to him, their chests touching. "We're going to fly." Her eyes widened when she felt the bird shift in the air, flapping its enormous wings as it began moving through the air, making a graceful turn.

'Flying...we're flying.'

An inaudible gasp escaped her throat when the bird picked up speed, gliding through the air with ease, she moved her hand to grip Deidara's shoulder, her face shining with admiration as she looked at him. For the first time since he'd left, she felt happy. Being with Deidara, it made her capable of feeling again, feeling things she hadn't felt in a long while. She didn't understand it in the least but what she did know, was that she cared for him. She could feel her cheeks going warm, she'd just confessed it to herself, she cared about him. She hadn't thought there would be anyone she could care for in the way she cared for Itachi but she had, she cared about Deidara. Was she falling for him?

"What do you think hm?" he inquired.

She smiled brightly, nodding her head energetically to show her enthusiasm, her hair whipping around her face. It was beautiful, flying for the first time in her life, it was certainly a moment she would remember for the rest of her days. She was thrilled that Deidara had wanted her to be the person he shared this masterpiece of his with, she was in awe of the capabilities of his techniques.

"We should head to the location, get what was promised to us hm." he suggested, she nodded in agreement.

Another smile came to her lips as the clay bird flew higher up in the sky, well above the trees in the area, the entirety of the sky visible to them. The teenage girl felt a heavy breath leave her lungs at the sight of the sunset, the bird gliding through the sky with ease. She couldn't begin to think of a moment where she'd felt so at peaceful and one with the world, she'd never experienced a moment more magnificent. The colors were streaking across the skies, lighting it with the most glorious shades, all the colors vibrant and beautiful; it was so much more entrancing than watching the sunset from the ground.

"Kiro." Deidara's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, she turned to face him, her cheeks going warm at the look on his face. "Kami." he murmured, brushing some hair away from her face. "You're stunning hm."

Her cheeks were burning at his words, the pink of her cheeks complementing her, giving her more of an innocent look as she stared up into his visible eye. She could feel her breath caught in her throat when he leaned down closer to her, resting his forehead against hers, his fringe moved slightly to reveal his other blue eye. She watched a small smile grace his lips, the look on his face genuine as he stared down into her eyes. She blinked curiously at the expression, not knowing what to do with herself. He was staring at her with the utmost dedication, something hidden behind his eyes.

"You know hm." he began. "I think I could be happy spending the rest of my life with you."

'Nani?'

She felt her stomach do a flip when he tilted his head to the side, looking at her from a different angle, was he going to kiss her? She lowered her head slightly, her eyes cast down towards the clay under her feet, her heart stopping when he gently pressed his lips to her forehead. If it was possible she was falling for him, maybe he was falling for her as well. She felt another blush come to her cheeks when he wrapped both arms around her waist and pulled her into an embrace, holding her body close to his. She sighed in content and relaxed into the hug, moving her arms around his torso, hugging him just as tightly.

"Arigato." She moved her face out of his chest, looking up at him questioningly through her lashes. "For being here with me hm." he murmured. "You've changed my life more than you know."

She smiled softly, knowing exactly how he felt. Had it not been for him, she'd still be alone, out in the world on her own, he'd saved her from the loneliness. Without him, she might have given up on her ambitions and dreams. Because of Deidara, she had been able to keep pressing forward in hopes of finding him one day.

"There's so much darkness demo, you're my light in it hm."

'Itachi.'

Author's Note: Ta Da! We're on the right track with this weekly update thing. It really gives me motivation to keep pushing myself to finish each chapter so it can be out to you guys on time. I still have a long way to go before the story actually wraps up and I'm still playing with a few different ideas, but hopefully it will all flow together quite nicely by the time we're finished. Thanks again for reading my work!