The wind blew fresh on my face and ran child-like through the grass. I stood there in the empty field just outside of the base, Deidara next to me, his grip no longer around my wrist because his hand was busily digging into the bag that hung from his waist. I waited, watching him intently.
"Well?" I asked.
He smirked as he held his hand out before him and uncurled his fingers, palm up.
"Are you watching?" He glanced between me and his open palm. The light reflecting off his hair sent the sun rays bouncing outward, creating an almost halo-like sheen around his head. It was beautifully unfitting for him.
The mouth in his hand curled back its lips to reveal a malformed lump of clay. He clasped it between his fingers and opened them once more, exposing a tiny clay bird perched in his hand. I took a nervous step back, remembering the last time I saw one of these clay birds. Deidara noticed this and must have realized my trepidation.
"It's not gonna blow up, un. I promise," he assured. "Just watch".
"If you say so," I muttered and nodded warily, looking on as he threw the little bird into the air and it suddenly expanded into a massive flying creature. Strong gusts of wind wrapped around me as it beat its wings and touched feet to the ground. It lowered one wing to the earth and looked at me. I stepped back and looked at Deidara bewildered.
"W-why is it looking at me?" I asked nervously while taking a step behind him. He laughed at my concerned expression and walked towards the bird, stroking its neck.
"He likes you. He wants you to get on, un!" he said, gesturing towards its wing that acted like an entry ramp. I stared at him like he was crazy and took another step back.
"Come onnn, it'll be fine," he encouraged as he stepped towards me and grabbed my hand to lead me up to the beast. I followed him cautiously, very much trying not to think too much about the way my hand felt in his.
"It won't hurt you," Deidara promised, taking my hand and placing it against the creature's puffed out chest. He stood just behind me to the side, one hand resting on top of mine, gently leading my fingers to trail across the bird's form. His other hand held firmly against the small of my back so I couldn't be startled backwards. Although part of me felt like a child, I had to admit that it was kind of nice to feel protected...
"See? This is my art." Deidara said with a certain pride in his voice.
"It's terrifying but… really amazing, Deidara," I replied in awe. Shinobi were truly incredible. I had been so sheltered, I didn't even realize such things were possible. It both astounded and scared me at the same time.
"You ready to get on?" Deidara asked but was already guiding me toward the bird's wing before I could answer, and I couldn't help but notice he was still holding my hand...
A gust of wind blew fiercely at my back as if pushing me towards the bird. Deidara gripped me hard as he pulled me up onto the huge clay creature. My fear quickly transformed into a giddy excitement as I stood atop the massive form and looked out over the landscape before me. How many people got to experience something like this?
"This is amazing," I beamed at him and he beamed back, seemingly pleased that I liked it.
"This is nothing, hold on," Deidara cheered as the bird began flapping its wings. I immediately dropped to all fours and crawled to the edge. I peered over and watched the detail of each blade of grass disappear and mesh into one giant sea of green.
"Sure beats walking, un?" Deidara said as he stood, staring out at the horizon thoughtfully. The view was beautiful, the lush greenness of the forest seemed to go on infinitely and an overwhelming feeling of bliss swelled inside my chest. I smiled widely up at Deidara, hair whipping around my face wildly.
"Yeah," I agreed loudly over the wind as I shakily pushed up to my feet, my arms out to help keep balance. A small chuckle sounded from behind me.
"What?" I groaned as I turned to face him, hands on my hips. He shrugged as he stifled another laugh.
"What?!" I threw my arms in the air as I stared at him.
"I'm just thinking of when we first found you. To think we actually thought you were a kunoichi, un."
"What's so funny about that?" I asked while crossing my arms defensively.
"Is that a rhetorical question?" He retorted.
"Here's a rhetorical question, do you want me to slap y—" I let out a yelp as I suddenly felt myself falling backwards. Deidara's eye widened as my feet went out from beneath me. I reached my arms out toward him, grasping wildly at the air that slipped through my fingers. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion but too quickly to react at the same time. A scream caught in my throat as Deidara's fingers wrapped around my wrist. My stomach returned to its usual position within my abdomen rather than in my throat as he pulled me up into him, my body crashing against his with force.
"Oh good lord…" I breathed out deeply as I clutched Diedara's cloak between my small fingers. My heart raced inside my chest like a stallion. Deidara pushed me back lightly with his hand on my forehead, a concerned expression painting his features.
"Are you alright, un?" he asked while pushing some strands of wild hair from my face.
I swallowed deep and nodded my head, "I think so."
"We must have hit some turbulence, I should have been paying more attention," he said apologetically as he released me from his hold. Tried to release me anyway. Without even thinking I grabbed at his cloak and pulled him back against me. I was still shaken and certainly not ready to fly solo, pun fully intended.
"Sorry," I murmured into his cloak, my face buried in his shoulder.
He let out a small chuckle. "The hell are you sorry for? You're not gonna hear me complain, un" he assured, one hand rubbing my back while the other rested against the back of my head. I breathed out a heavy sigh of relief as my nerves began to settle. We stood like that for a moment before Deidara suggested we sit. My legs were still tired from my trip with Itachi and Kisame so I eagerly agreed.
"You gave me a little scare back there, un," he joked as he sat behind me with his legs splayed out. I sat in between them with my back against his chest. Deidara was essentially my child safety chair and I was very thankful that he couldn't see how flushed my face was.
"Hah, yeah. Apparently I have a thing for near-death experiences? That kind of thing has been happening a lot lately..." I said with a small humorless laugh.
"What do you mean?" he questioned.
"Well some stuff happened while I was on my trip..." I began, divulging the entirety of the events that took place, particularly the strange guy I met at the bath house.
"He knew your name without you telling him, un? And why was he watching you in the spring? What a creep!" Deidara was shouting by the end of his questions.
"Yeah... it was really bizarre. I'm just hoping it was a weird little blip in my life but I'm not feeling like I'm that lucky." I laughed to make light of it and tucked my knees under my chin.
It didn't take long for us to touch back down to the ground again. The bird landed at the outskirts of town and let its wing rest against the grass to give us a ramp to disembark.
"Shall we?" Deidara asked playfully with his elbow out. I looked at him and laughed.
"You wish. I mean really, how many chances am I going to get to slide down a giant bird wing?" I stuck my tongue out and planted my butt at the top of the wing, pushing myself off to whizz down it. That's what I thought would happen anyway. Turns out the bird wing wasn't exactly slidey.
I slowly, and I want to stress slowly, skidded down the wing in a jerky movement while having to awkwardly thrust myself forward every few feet just to keep myself moving. Deidara watched the entire time with an absolute deadpan look on his face. I finally made it to the bottom, tumbling over slightly before standing up with an awkward huff. "Okay well, that went differently in my head...but it was certainly an experience! Hey Deidara, can you make the wings a little more slideable in the future?" I asked with a smile.
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "You are one strange girl, un." I scoffed and followed him into town.
"Wow, busy day in the village, huh?," I remarked as we weaved through the sea of people.
Deidara took note of this as well and looked back at me, "Yeah, make sure you don't get lost. And put your hood up, yeah?"
"But it's hot out," I pouted. He glared at me gravely. I quickly shut up and pulled the hood over my head, sending shadows to play across my face. I followed Deidara closely as we bobbed through the seemingly never-ending packs of people.
"Here we are," Deidara grinned as we arrived at 'The Chicken Shack'. Once inside, Deidara was all business and no play. He negotiated vigorously with the man behind the counter until he ended up with everything he wanted, which was mostly a sack of raw chicken.
"Do you feel better now?" I asked sarcastically as we left the shop.
"Be quiet," he commanded sternly as he pushed me against a wall. My back cracked against it roughly, I felt like I was having a flashback of when we first met. I stared up wide-eyed at Deidara, who wasn't even looking at me, but rather glancing over his shoulder.
"What are you d—" he clapped his hand against my mouth and narrowed his eye at me. "I said be quiet, Izumi." My eyes went from annoyed to frightened, unaware of why he was suddenly treating me this way. When he glanced down at me, his angered expression dropped slightly and he removed his hand.
"Someone is following us," he whispered as he searched my face for something. Several moments of tense silence passed between us as he continued to stare at me with a look of unease on his face.
"Come on Izumi, please don't look so scared," he said pleadingly as he brushed my bangs from my eyes. I looked up at him and nodded apprehensively. I tried to understand he wasn't angry with me, he was only trying to protect us.
"Stay close," he ordered as we made our move to leave. His walk was brisk but I kept up for fear of what would happen if I didn't. My eyes darted from building to building, searching for anything suspicious.
There he is.
Smiling at me, just sitting there smiling at me through the crowd. He wasn't even trying to be discreet as he sat cross-legged at the edge of a ramen shop roof with his hands buried child-like in his lap. He rocked back and forth slightly with the wind that blew madly through his hair. When our eyes connected his smile grew even wider.
I felt a rough tug on my wrist.
"What are you doing?" Deidara hissed under his breath. He looked at me with frustration before following my eyes to the man on the rooftop. The man's smile dropped into a look of confusion as if wondering why we had stopped, and particularly why Deidara was looking at him. I heard a low growl erupt from deep within Deidara's throat when the man suddenly looked chipper once more and waved at us.
I pulled on Deidara's sleeve. "Deidara, that's him… from the bath house," I whispered.
He wore the same outfit as last time. The tassels of his hooded jacket blew lazily in the breeze and his eyes wrinkled at the corners as he smiled broadly in my direction. There was something about him, something about that smile and those eyes that struck a chord within me. Inexplicably and out of nowhere, the noise of a baby crying nearly shattered my ear drums. I looked around frantically to see where the cacophony was coming from but there was no explanation. My face scrunched and I shook my head as if I could rid myself of the deafening cry with the flip of my hair.
"Who the fuck does he think he is, un?" Deidara's voice was rough and shaky as he spoke. His eyes were knife-like, narrow and dangerous, hoping to spill blood. I tugged lightly on his sleeve again but he didn't even acknowledge me.
"Deidara, I think we should go... please," I pleaded while pulling on him with more of my weight, the shrill infantile cries just beginning to wane. Deidara snapped out of it and looked at me with fire in his eyes.
"Are you crazy? I have to get him," I could feel the heat in his voice, every word igniting from his lips.
"What do I do then? If you go after him, do I just wait here alone? What if something happens to you?" I hated how the worry set a tremor in my voice.
I could see him doing the calculation in his head. Evaluating the risk vs. the reward. His jaw clenched as he stared down at me, the vein in his temple bulging with frustration.
"Alright, let's go," he said curtly, grabbing my hand and pulling me behind.
"Deidara, he's not there anymore," I said, my eyes erratically searching the crowd and building tops while struggling to keep up with the blond.
"What?" He exclaimed as he looked at the roof of the ramen shop—empty. Deidara whipped his head in every direction, scouring the crowd.
"He could be anywhere, un... come on," He growled and continued to tow me behind him, the two of us making for the woods with haste. Once there, Deidara created a bird to take us home. He seemed beyond frustrated which made for a very quiet ride back. I didn't usually see him that way and I wanted to do everything in my power to avoid annoying him even more.
The Akatsuki held an impromptu meeting as soon as we returned to base. I got to cooking right away. The sooner I finished, the more of the meeting I could listen to through the door…
A/N: Thanks for reading! Drop a review if you're feeling generous :)
