Chapter 27: Clay Sculpture Arc - It's Nothing, Really

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! I finished this special chapter as my late gift to you guys...hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: All I own is the plot and my OCs. Nothing else.


Deidara's POV

I raced around the area frantically, searching for the two little idiots that had somehow wandered off while I had been staring at a pile of clay.

They couldn't have gotten that far, right? I thought, in a vain attempt to reassure myself. I mean, they're just two little kids...inside, of course. If they were kidnapped, then Kagami probably would have screamed in fear or something. Most likely, they wandered off somewhere. Wherever they went, I've got to find them.

My eyes scanned the entire area, attempting to locate them. They wandered around the various shops, weaved their way through the crowds, and observed every potted plant, although they didn't literally do that, since they were my eyes. But after a minute of simple searching, I could locate neither Kagami's brown tuft of pigtailed hair nor Tobi's lollipop-shaped mask. Both of them had managed to wander away from the current area.

Sighing, I muttered my own thoughts to myself. "Whatever. Kagami probably has some sort of trick up her sleeve, even though she is pretty much her immature self around Tobi. She can find her way back to Kaiya on her own, un."

It wasn't until five seconds after saying that did I realize it.

Oh no, I panicked, the realization hitting me like a blast of water. If Kaiya finds them, she'll be wondering where the hell I am, and why I wasn't watching them. Even though I don't want to, I've got to find them!

Panicking, I moved to the next part of the area, checking around the pillars, by the fountain, and inside shops, no matter what kind of weird looks the workers at the shops seemed to shoot me. When I ended up finding neither one, I ran towards another area, making sure to peep inside all of the stores for the kids. But of course, ever time, I was only greeted by the odd stares of some weirded-out customers and workers, and not a certain bouncing duo.

Scrambling around the corner, I peeked at the crowds again from behind a pillar, but still wasn't able to spot her or Tobi. Not being able to find them, I sighed, my back leaning against some strange, bright-colored screen.

"Where the hell could they be, un?" I grumbled to myself. "I don't know where in the world they would possibly want to go!"

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head, I recalled Tobi's first words to me upon heading out.

Senpai! Tobi wants some candy! Tobi wants some candy!

"That's it," I whispered to myself in realization. "The candy store! Why didn't I think of that? But then again, where in the world would a candy store be in this huge mall?"

"You looking for something, young one?"

I spun around, half-expecting Tobi to be sneaking up behind me and disguising his voice, but this time, that was not the case. Tobi was not there, but standing there was a senior citizen, a hearty grin on his face.

"Well, yeah," I admitted. "A candy store that my friends ditched me to go to, in fact."

The man laughed. "Ah, it's quite a strange thing indeed, how you folks can't even figure out your own generation. But still, I don't know any candy stores at this here mall. However, I know a friend of mine that can help you."

I sat up, interested. "Who?"

"Turn around, young one," he told me. "She's a kindly old fellow, always ready to help another person out with that map to wherever your next destination is. Her name is Directory."

Sweatdropping, I obeyed him and turned to face the screen behind me, gasping at what I saw.

It was some sort of color-coded map, with everything labeled and numbered. They were in all different shapes and sizes, and there was even a You Are Here marker. I scanned the numbers quickly, trying to detect any candy stores that were among the various stores. Finally, after about two minutes of looking, I finally found a candy store.

"Sugar Top Central," I read. "Number twenty-eight. Definitely somewhere that the two would love to go to."

I politely bowed to the senior citizen who had helped me, and then raced towards the candy store, the directions inside of my head. Although I was not that excited to head to Sugar Top Central, I wanted to do anything to make sure that...uh, Kaiya didn't kick me where it hurt. Yeah, let's leave it at that.

Picking up the pace, I continued sprinting towards where the directory had stated where it was, ignoring the odd glances being sent my way. Ironically, all I wanted to do was to find Tobi and Kagami before they stirred up any trouble.

Finally, after running as fast as I could, I managed to reach Sugar Top Central. It seemed decently popular, but at the same time, brand new, since none of its signs or lights seemed damaged or worn out. A flashing sequence of lightbulbs sat underneath the large neon sign that read the shop's name, flashing some sort of greeting at me.

Still, I paid no attention to the light sequence, since I had found the ones that I had been looking for inside of the building.

Standing in line by the counter to pay for the candy he had bought was Tobi, with Kagami squealing happily by his side. Tobi held an enormous jar of candy, and based on the amount of candy in there, I was pretty sure that the total was over fifty dollars.

But before I could run over and grab her and Tobi, Kagami turned to face me, looked above my head, and shrieked.

"Masaru-san! Look out!"


Kagami's POV

Suddenly, some sort of container exploded above Deidara's head, and a ton of confetti rained down on him. Growling, he swatted the little colorful bits out of his long hair, but as soon as he had managed to clear out all of it, some nearby people threw some more confetti on top of him. Then, they all started clapping, which only added to all of our shock.

"Congratulations, lucky customer!" one of them cried, placing a flower necklace around Deidara's neck. "You are our ten-thousandth customer!"

He blinked. "R-Really?"

The man who had spoken nodded furiously. "Yes, missy! And we would love to present you your reward: being our wonderful advertiser for an hour for free! Isn't that awesome?"

Deidara twitched, but I clapped my hands to show my appreciation. "Cool! What happens now that Dei—er, Masaru-san is your advertiser?"

The entire crew suddenly grinned mischievously, then the man held up a bag full of clothes. "First, have her put these on."

"I'm not a girl!" he fumed, making the workers flinch. "What kind of outfit is even in this bag?"

"You'll see," the man stated simply, handing the bag to Deidara, then shoving him towards the bathroom. "Go change into the stuff in there, and then we'll talk about what you've earned."

Sighing, Deidara took the bag and headed toward the bathroom, clearly not amused. However, Tobi and I giggled, but stopped when we heard a scream coming from inside. Five seconds later, a very ticked off Deidara walked out, with large pink ribbons, a green miniskirt, and a white dress in his hands.

"For God's sake, I am not wearing this monstrosity, un! Nor am I reciting this stupid slogan!"

"It's just a cosplay outfit of Sailor Jupiter from the popular kids' anime Sailor Moon," the man explained to us. "It's from an old experiment last year that we did when we were trying to attract young children to our store. This outfit proved to be the most successful at attracting children, so here it is."

This made Deidara even more ticked off. "So why are you forcing me, a guy, to wear something like this rather than wearing it yourself?"

"Well," the guy stuttered nervously, "you...um, look more like Sailor Jupiter than any one of us. And besides, you get a free item in our store after you finish an hour-long shift!"

As he uttered that last sentence, my eyes flew over to examine something else: something that I would never have expected to find in the store that was called Sugar Top Central.

A mechanical pencil that looked exactly like the one Daichi had given Kaiya, save for the ducky-shaped eraser at the end. Running over to pick it up, I examined it carefully, checking to see if it really was a perfect match. From the size of the pencil, I could tell immediately that it used 0.7 lead.

"Masaru-san!" I exclaimed, catching his attention. "Psst! Look at what I found on the shelf!"

He turned to face me, then gasped when he saw the pencil that I had clutched in my hand. His eyes instantly went wide, then he returned his attention to the man, an expression of resignation etched on his face.

"Fine," Deidara muttered, heading towards the bathroom once again. "I'll do it...but only for the pencil. Kagami, don't you dare tell anybody else about this, un."

Entering the bathroom with a huff, I heard him lock the door, and Tobi and I giggled. From examining that outfit, I had already determined that the green miniskirt that Deidara was being forced to wear was shorter than the one that he had to wear to school. Although I didn't watch Sailor Moon like Naoki did, I knew what some of the characters looked like. And there definitely was no Sailor Boku no Pico.

But still, I couldn't help but laugh super hard when Deidara walked back out of the bathroom. And neither could anybody else in the store.

Deidara looked heavily embarrassed and angry, although he looked more like a ticked off tsundere because of the outfit that he was wearing. He had on the miniskirt and dress, as well as long white gloves and a pink ribbon around his neck. His ponytail was now tied with a string of blue beads, making him look more like a girl than ever.

"Aww!" I gushed, and my inner doubled over laughing. "Kawaii! You look so cute in that Sailor Jupiter outfit!"

The boy scowled, tick marks appearing on his forehead. "Shut up, Kagami! Your sister better be thanking me for doing this!"

Tobi bounced up and down, then ran towards Deidara and glomped him, squealing. "Senpai looks super adorable in that dress! Tobi thinks Masaru-senpai should wear it for Halloween!"

"Hell to the no!" he roared, his fist raised. "Anything but that, you idiot!"

"Oh yeah," interrupted the man, handing Deidara a human-sized lollipop that was shaped like a staff. "Wave this around. That way, everybody will know that there's coming to a candy store and not an anime convention."

"This hour better pass by soon," Deidara growled threateningly, "or else I will kill all of you!"

The workers seemed to look at each other warily, until the man who had originally given Deidara the costume screamed.

"Run!" he shouted to everybody, waving his arms in the air. "It's that time of the month again! If you treasure your lives, then I beg of you, flee now!"

Gasping in mock horror, all of the other Sugar Top Central workers shrieked and headed for the door to their kitchen. The last person in was the same man who had shouted that rude remark, who bid us goodbye by telling Deidara, "An hour starts now!"

After that, the only person that remained was a very pale cashier who hid behind the counter in fear.

I turned towards Deidara with a remorseful expression on my face, but he continued staring at the door with a blank look. After five very awkward seconds, the words that the man had said seemed to register in his brain, and Deidara finally exploded.

"What the hell is wrong with you people, God d*** it!"

At that, Tobi and I had to giggle, and we fell to the floor laughing as Deidara sent death glares towards our direction.

"What are you waiting for, Deidei-chan?" I teased him. "Let's help attract some more children to Sugar Top Central!"

I swore at that moment, smoke was actually coming out of his ears. His eyebrows were crunched down, and he gritted his teeth together angrily.

"I dare you to call me that one more time, un!" he thundered, making Tobi wince.

Shooting him an innocent look, I donned on the brightest, most innocent smile ever. "Okay, Deidei-chan! Let's go advertise!"

"Shut the hell up!"

Deidara stomped out of the door furiously, making us howl with laughter. Outside, we could hear even more kids laughing as Deidara miserably chanted the slogan of Sugar Top Central.

"Dance with us and do the bop!" sang Deidara, looking totally humiliated as he waved the giant lollipop around. Sing your way to the sugary top! Keep on going and never stop! Lolli, lolli, lolli, pop!"

We fell to the floor coughing and guffawing like we had just gone insane. At that point, Deidara had a crowd gathering around him, making his already red face turn even redder.

However, while all three of us were distracted, our candy jar was snatched away. Shrieking and sitting up, I turned my head in every direction, trying to find the culprit.

When I turned my head back to ask Tobi if he had seen anything, he was gone as well.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of fierce arguing coming from behind me, and I turned around, finding the candy jar. However, Tobi was using it in some sort of tug-of-war match against two mischievous twin girls.

"Give Kagami-chan back her candy!" begged Tobi, tugging on the jar harder. "Give it back now!"

"Never!" growled the two girls, tugging harder on the jar. "The candy will be all mine!"

Well, this situation seems oddly familiar, I thought to myself, recalling the time when that one boy had tried to take away Shiroyuki and the Ferris wheel ticket.

I began to stand up in order to try and help Tobi, but before I could, somebody else punched me in the head.

"So we meet again, jerk," he grumbled, and my eyes widened in shock. Getting back on my knees, I looked up, finding myself face-to-face with a very familiar boy.

"You!" I growled, trying to sound as kind as possible. "What do you want?"

"What do you think I want?" he answered, his fist raised. "You're the one who stole my Ferris wheel ticket! I might as well steal something from you as well!"

By then, Tobi had managed to take the jar back from the twin girls, and he immediately rushed to my side.

"What do you want?" Tobi growled, his voice changing into that odd deep tone that he has used at the carnival. "Step away from Kagami-chan, now!"

The boy huffed, unfazed by Tobi's suddenly harsh tone. "No way, you idiot. Give me the jar, and then I'll quit bothering her."

Before I could respond, Tobi had the boy in a chokehold, pinning him to the floor. He tried to scream, but Tobi covered his mouth as well.

"Listen up," Tobi snapped. "If you touch Kagami-chan one more time, then I will kill you without hesitation. Do I make myself clear?"

Eyes as wide as saucers, the boy quickly nodded, and Tobi released him. Quickly, he and the twin girls ran away as quickly as possible.

My eyes were fixed on Tobi, shocked yet again by his sudden overprotective actions.

What is with him? I asked myself, staring at the masked boy, who seemed to have reverted back to his normal personality.

"Yahoo! Go Masaru-senpai!"

I sat there in silence, watching warily as Tobi continued to cheer on the oblivious Deidei-chan in the green miniskirt.

An hour later, Deidara's shift had finally finished. He was so relieved when the shift had finally finished, and we left the candy store, with a huge jar of candy and the mechanical pencil for Kaiya.

"Thank God," he kept on sighing in relief. "It feels so good to be wearing a man's clothes again, un."

I giggled again, just as soon as Tobi saw the Akatsuki and my siblings.

"Tobi's over here!" he called to them, and they turned and ran towards us immediately. They all seemed to be holding Halloween costumes, but before I could take a good look at them, Kaiya handed me a fairy costume.

"You wanted this, right?" she asked, and I squealed.

"Thank you, onee-chan!" I thanked her, and just when she was about to smile at me, Deidara tapped her on the shoulder, holding up the pencil he had worked so hard to earn.

"Here," he simply said, and she took it, leaving without saying anything to him. His smile running away, he rejoined Sasori's side and stayed there for the rest of the time.

As we walked home, a strange feeling settled in my chest, and I suddenly recalled how Tobi had originally threatened to kill the boy if he touched me anymore. It seemed just way too...overprotective.

Rin-chan? I asked, still feeling uncertain. Are you there?

Yes? she answered, What did you find out today? Did Tobi do something again?

He did, I answered. Tobi used that gruff, deep voice again and threatened to kill people at Sugar Top Central for stealing my candy. But still, why that over candy?

Tobi loves candy, Rin commented simply. And he likes you, Kagami-chan. Put them together, and that's something he would fight for. But yeah, maybe I should tell you more about Tobi.

There's definitely got to be more to Tobi-chan than just the mask, I told her. This is the second time he's acted like this. I'm not sure why, but underneath that mask, there's got to be something else. A different person, maybe?

Tobi definitely isn't what the Akatsuki make him out to be, Rin responded, a solemn tone lacing her voice. I've been trying to tell you this for weeks, but couldn't find the heart, strength, or time to tell you. Besides, you two have quickly become playmates and best friends, so I didn't want to ruin it for you.

Rin-chan, I responded seriously, Tobi-chan...who is he, really?

She went completely silent for a full five minutes. Although the walk home was rather noisy from all of the Akatsuki conversing with each other, the entire world seemed to fall completely silent. Without either of us knowing, I found myself walking further away from Tobi.

Then, she gave me her answer. Kagami-chan, Tobi is indeed the man known as Obito Uchiha.

I swore that after hearing that, my heart stopped, then resumed again, as if nothing had happened in the first place. However, I had still been able to felt it when my heart came to a sudden standstill due to pure shock and disbelief.

Liar, I told her, a defiant look spreading across my face. Tobi can't be Obito!

She seemed to panic nervously inside of my head. N-n-no! I swear, Kagami-chan! I'm telling you the truth here! Tobi is Obito!

He can't be! I argued back, beginning to get upset. He might be another person, but Obito? That's too far, Rin-chan! Maybe Obito really isn't among the Akatsuki, since Tobi isn't as heartless!

Kagami-chan, believe me! Rin begged. It's true!

I scowled silently. Leave me alone, Rin-chan! I don't want to think of Tobi-chan as a heartless killer!

"Imouto?" said Naoki, sending a worried glance my way. "Are you okay? You're crying again."

Shaking my head, I turned to look into the troubled brown eyes of my brother. I wanted so badly to jump into his arms and cry like I used to, but I couldn't bring myself to.

"It's nothing, nii-chan," I reassured him falsely. "It's nothing."


Deidara's POV

That night, I sat on the balcony alone, watching the stars in the sky twinkle.

I bet if anything Kaiya is still upset, I thought. She wouldn't even speak to me after I lost her sister and Tobi at the mall or during the entire walk home. It was if I was a plague that she was desperately trying to avoid or something...but then again, I probably deserve it.

Cupping my face in my hands, I sighed, then wondered to myself why I was feeling so guilty. I had never felt guilty about blowing up entire villages, so why was I feeling so guilty about a broken pencil and nearly losing two kids? Especially since I had managed to find all three?

I was too busy staring at the sparkles in the night sky that I didn't hear the footsteps coming from behind me. Before I was even able to sense her presence, Kaiya tapped me on the shoulder, causing me to spin around in surprise.

"Hey," she greeted simply. "What are you doing out here alone? What happened to Sasori?"

I shrugged. "Probably doing a puppet show or something similar for Kagami, un. Aren't you going to slap me or something?"

Kaiya shook her head. "No, I don't really feel all that grumpy anymore. You can stop squeezing your eyes shut and holding your breath, Deidara. I'm not going to slap you, if that's what you're thinking." She then proceeded to show me what she was hiding behind her back.

"What's this?" I asked her, eying the opaque barrel-shaped container that she was handing me.

"It's for you," she explained. "Open the container."

For me? My curiosity taking over, I rapidly opened the container, gasping at what I saw inside.

"Clay?" I asked, staring at the large pile of alabaster-white material inside the container. "But why? You wouldn't allow me to use clay at all for this past month, let alone blow something up other than fireworks, un. In addition, I blew up the mechanical pencil that Daichi tried so hard to find for you. Furthermore, I lost both Kagami and Tobi at one point. Aren't you angry at me or something?"

She chuckled, then smiled. "I'm not angry at you, Deidara. I'm sorry if I overreacted a little, especially over a simple mechanical pencil. Plus, Kagami and Tobi are alright now, and that's all that matters. They both seemed pretty happy to be spending time with you as well."

"Still," I remarked, "why are you allowing me to use clay? You do realize what I'm going to do with this, right?"

Kaiya nodded. "I already know you're going to blow up stuff. But as long as nothing gets too damaged and nobody gets hurt, I'm fine with it. As dangerous as it is, it was kind of wrong for me to stop you from having fun and doing the things you love, and not just in Art while wearing a girl's outfit."

I stared at her in utter shock, my poor brain attempting to register what I had just heard. "You want me...to be happy?"

"Of course!" she chuckled. "No matter if you're an innocent civilian or an S-rank criminal, everybody deserves to be truly happy. Deidara, you can be loud-mouthed, impatient, cocky, and arrogant, but at the same time, you're very nice to be around, despite being known for blowing stuff up."

Blinking at her, I took a moment to process that thought, and then smiled.

"Thank you," I whispered, surprised that those words even came out of my mouth. "That really means a lot to me."

Ten seconds of silence followed after that, but to my surprise, Kaiya spoke up, a large grin appearing on her face.

"You know," she giggled suddenly, "I think you actually would look nice in a Sailor Jupiter outfit."

My eyes widening, I turned to her, fuming with anger as my smile immediately faded. "Where the hell did that come from, un? When did you see that moment happen?"

She snickered. "My imouto and I tell each other everything, Deidei-chan! I wished that I could see you in a dress and a miniskirt, too! Even Tobi wouldn't stop talking about it!"

"Hey!" I growled at her. "Don't use that nickname! And as for Tobi... I'm going to kill that masked idiot the next time I see him." I made sure to emphasize the word "kill".

Kaiya just kept on laughing uncontrollably. "That must have been awesome, Deidei-chan! I wonder if they took any pictures of you!"

"I said to stop calling me that!" I retorted, causing her to laugh even more. "I told you, that isn't funny at all, un!"

My face was red with both anger and embarrassment, and I was glaring pointed daggers at the seventeen-year-old girl. My hands were clenched into tight fists, and my body was trembling with rage towards the laughing Kaiya.

But still, a small part of me was happy that not a single trace of irritation or anger was left on her. Instead, the sound of her laughing felt rather...comforting, in some odd way.

We continued to sit out on the balcony in silence, watching the stars glow and scintillate. They looked as if they were actually gems — diamonds, to be exact — waiting for some lost soul to come and mine them out of the sky. Before either of us could speak again, we were interrupted by a loud sparkling noise in the sky, and we turned to look at the sparkling source.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing towards the glowing pink object in the sky.

Instantly, Kaiya snatched it out of the sky. "Another scintillating fragment," she whispered, and my ears perked up in sudden interest.

"Another?" I inquired. "How come I didn't know?"

She shrugged. "I plucked the others out of the air right in front of you guys, but you didn't seem to notice. But still, we usually only find these things when we encounter an epiphany or some other strange feeling."

"It's strange," I commented, staring at the fragment in my hand. "We find these when we least expect it, and for some reason, only one person usually sees it. Why is that so, un?"

"I don't know, Deidara," she answered plainly, her eyes clouded as if she were thinking deeply about that one question. "I don't know."

Examining the jewel a bit more, Kaiya then decided to store it in a safe place, where she had stored all of the other ones that she had been able to collect. Kagami also seemed to have had some hidden in her dresser as well, so Kaiya had taken them without her knowing.

"How many fragments do we have now?" I asked, glancing at the small jar in which they were kept.

"Probably around five tiny ones," she answered, closing the drawer so that nobody else could see them. "But still, we've got a lot of progress to go through, especially if you guys want to go home. If you were to superglue all of the pieces we have together, they would only be about the size of a couple marbles. I don't know how big the orb is supposed to be, but it sounds as if it's as big as a golf ball or something."

I shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see, un. For now, I guess that all we can do is sleep on it or something. I honestly don't know."

She stood up, walking back inside of the house. "It's pretty late, Deidara. Let's get some well-earned sleep in."

Nodding, I followed her inside of the house, remembering to shut the door behind me. Both of us silently walked up the stairs, remembering hat Tobi and Kagami had gone to sleep already.

"Sleep well," she told me before heading into her own room. "And thanks for the pencil."

You're welcome, I thought, unable to say the words. Yawning, I crawled into my sleeping bag.

I felt rather uncertain as I pulled the covers over myself, wondering about both the scintillating orb and the issue at the mall. Then, my eyes refocused on the cylindrical container that sat next to me, reflecting the sparkling moonlight.

It's settled, I thought, a small smirk appearing on my face. I'm going to start making my real true art tomorrow: ones that for once, actually explode.

Outside, I heard an owl screech into the night sky, reminding me of the creations I often modeled after then. But when I looked at the container again, I saw another vision.

An image of Kaiya laughing wholeheartedly, doubling over and having fun in her own way. She was smiling and on her back, and just the sound of her laughter made me giggle as well. Sasori gave me a cold glare, but ignored me and laid back down in his sleeping bag.

And that was the very first night that I had gone to sleep at the Hoshiyume house with a genuine smile plastered on my face.


A/N: And there you go. A sweet moment with Kaiya and Deidara as my late Valentine's Day gift to everyone...though I'm sorry if it wasn't as good. Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Question: Favorite type of candy? I love anything sweet and fruity, but I don't like chocolate. I prefer Skittles, Sour Patch, and Gummy Bears.

Toodles!

— Tenshi —