Chapter 36: Travel Preparation Arc - Ocean of Memories
Wow. I don't recall the last time that one of my chapters was this long. But anyway, hope you enjoy! This long chapter is all about Deidara and Kaiya, as well as Kaiya's long-awaited backstory...
Disclaimer: *sigh* I don't own anything except for the plot and my OCs.
Kaiya's POV
At that moment, I didn't think that I could have sobbed harder.
I had just confessed my darkest secret — the one that I kept hidden from my siblings for a year — to him. Deidara, someone who I had only known for about three months. I knew that there was definitely something wrong with me, but I didn't bother to rebuke myself for it. Instead, I just continued to cry.
When I just hugged him, I kind of half-expected him to kill me for it, being a terrorist bomber and all. But then again, that was usually what I did to him if he touched me, not vice versa. Also, he was the one who initiated the hug in the first place, not me. The main reason why I hugged him back was because the guilt came crashing down on me like a pile of utter blasphemy.
A few moments later, he decided to speak. And for some reason, when he uttered the words, they seemed to sound foreign: something really out of his nature.
"I'm sorry."
My eyes widened slightly at his response to my confession, shocked that he had said that. "It's not your fault. This happened a year ago...long before I met you, the Akatsuki, and even Kagami-chan. It's all my fault...I...I killed my parents...Deidara. I killed them."
"Stop saying that," he commanded, wrapping his arms around me slightly tighter. "You didn't kill them, Kaiya. It wasn't your—"
"I killed them!" I suddenly roared, then blinked, surprised at my sudden outburst. Luckily, nobody was nearby, so I assumed that nobody had heard it. "I can't forgive myself for that...I killed them…"
"Don't!" he responded, putting a finger to my lips in a gesture of silence. "That's not something you should say, un. Nobody knew that they were going to die. Nobody knew that the car crash was going to happen that day. Nobody...knew."
How I wished that I could believe what he said. But still, nothing that anybody said would make me believe that I wasn't a killer. My siblings made me super happy, but it was only a way to mask away what I felt inside.
"Hey," he continued, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to — I'm pretty sure that you don't — but what exactly happened on that day?"
I froze, my mind actively debating whether I should continue telling Deidara about the incident. Sure, it was a way in which I could finally let out all of my guilt that I had kept in for so long, but at the same time, it was all to a criminal. Was what I was doing really considered right?
"I…" I began, but could not find the words to complete the sentence. Deidara seemed to look at me funny, but resumed his soft gaze before I could see anything.
"Go on," he urged lightly. "Let it all out. It will make you feel a little bit better once you stop holding in such a big secret. Besides, you can trust me. I promise that I won't tell a soul, un."
Well, I guess there's no going back now...
"That day, all I wanted to do was to surprise my father for his fiftieth birthday...
[FLASHBACK]
The silver Toyota sped down the road, swerving past clumps of trees and grass like an airplane flying close to the ground. Above it, the golden ball that was the sun planted a gentle kiss on the horizon, making the witnessing sky and clouds blush bright red. We were driving down the street, late in the evening. My hands on the steering wheel and my foot hovering above the gas pedal, I sat in the driver's seat, feeling happy and confident. My parents sat in the back seat, smiling at me as I drove on. I had just picked my father up from his workplace, since he had chosen to work slightly later that day.
It was just a typical evening, really, with no clouds or wind. We didn't really expect anything to happen, other than the surprise that all of us had prepared for my father back at the house. Both of my younger brothers were already there, waiting for the guest of honor to arrive.
"Otou-san," I started, gaining my father's attention, "how was your day at work?"
"It was okay," he said sternly. "People did come and yell at me, but then again, that's what being an office clerk is all about. Nevertheless, I still love it."
My father was usually a serious man, very mature and calm. He knew what to do in many tough situations, and tried to make as much money as he could for the family. Despite this, he had some sort of soft spot for children, and was often sassy and playful around them. Naoki had inherited his seriousness and love of television, but on the other hand, Yukio was born with his sassy and slightly playful side. Both of my brothers had inherited his brown eyes.
I didn't really take on too many of my father's traits, really. My mother was where I had gotten most of them from. She was slightly shorter than my father, with long brown hair and rainbow eyes. Well, at least that was what she called them, since she thought of gray as being every single color and white mashed into one. In addition, I even looked a lot like my mother, and wore kimonos just like she did. According to my father, she wasn't really interested in a relationship when they had first met, and even slapped his hands away whenever a boy touched her. But over time, both of them fell in love with each other, and after college, they got married.
"Your okaa-san had a whole personality change during that time," he would often say whenever he retold us the story. "At first, she was this cold, antisocial girl who had her nose buried in a book all of the time. Boys didn't dare to mess with her, not wanting to risk a kick in the groin. But when we fell in love with each other, she just transformed into a shy, awkward girl. Either way, she was adorably childish."
Anyway, I was just simply driving along when all of a sudden, the gas pedal stopped working. I wasn't sure exactly what was wrong, but whatever was wrong with it, I never had a chance to check it, since we were right smack in the middle of an intersection.
"Is everything alright, Kaiya-chan?" my mother asked, reaching out with her hand. "Is something wrong with the car?"
I quickly shook my head, slamming my foot on the gas pedal again, accelerating the Toyota. "No, okaa-san. I think that the gas pedal got jammed for just a second. But otherwise, it's totally fine. Perhaps it's because I'm a bad driver…"
"Don't say that, Kaiya-chan," my father scolded me. "You drive perfectly fine. If you didn't drive well, then they wouldn't have given you your driver's license last month, would they?"
At that, I giggled. "I guess not. I still need to improve on parallel parking, though, as well as losing focus while driving. As much as I want to listen to some of my favorite songs on the radio, music distracts me."
"Still," my mother said, "you are better at driving than me, Kaiya-chan. Look at that...sixteen years old, and you're already an adult! Whatever happened to our little angel, who was just taking her very first steps not too long ago?"
She intertwined her fingers with the lace at the hem of her velvet dress, which she had picked out especially for the party. I couldn't resist a childish laugh at that, recalling the time when I had been nothing more than a little toddler, sometime before Naoki had been born. "She's still here inside me, okaa-san! I still have my halo, don't I? Remember when you taught me to do the halo dance?"
As we stopped at another red light, I let go of the steering wheel and used my hands to make a little halo around my head. After that, I was supposed to twirl around, but nobody did that while driving a car.
"Indeed, I remember," she sighed wistfully. "It was so long ago, too. You were just a little girl, an angel in so many ways."
"She's right, you know," added my father. "Kaiya, we love you and your little brothers more than anything else, because you three are practically our world. I don't think that you even need a halo dance to specify yourself as a little angel. Forever and ever, you will always be our—"
He never got to finish that sentence. Never.
At that very moment, I heard an explosion noise coming from behind me. Initially, I thought that I was hearing things, but all of a sudden, I heard it again, followed by a lot of thuds and crashes.
Before I even had the chance to scream or turn around, the car was thrown forward, beginning to tilt over on its side. It flew through the air for several yards, just before crashing onto the road and sliding across the asphalt. Desperately, I tried to cover my ears to block out the deafening screeching noise, to no avail.
My parents were screaming, but I could barely hear them, due to the volume of my own screams at the time and the noise from when the car slid on the road.
Suddenly, the Lexus skidded to a halt, right before it was about to smash into a tree. If the car had skidded any further, I probably would have been killed by it. But before I had time to think about anything else, dizziness took over my mind and sent me spiraling out of my seat. As I fell, I looked through the window, noticing a few flames next to the car.
"Okaa-san...otou-san…" were the only two words I had managed to whisper before I passed out. The last thing I heard before slipping into unconsciousness was the sound of a blaring siren, followed by many more.
I woke up in the emergency room, gasping for air.
As much as I wanted to speak, I couldn't. There was no tube in my throat that was preventing me, but I felt so fatigued and exhausted for some reason. All four of my limbs felt completely numb. So, I ended up observing my current situation.
Several IVs were attached to my right arm, seemingly providing me with water. When I turned to look at my left arm, I nearly screamed.
A cast was wrapped tight around my left arm, showing me that it wasn't just the fatigue and weariness that was making it feel numb. It was being held up by some white strap that was attached to some sort of machine. Speaking of machines, there was even one beside me that was measuring my heartbeat, like the ones I saw in hospital movies. It even made the same beeping noise when it kept in sync with my heartbeat.
What happened? I asked myself, without talking out loud. All I heard was a lot of crashing, screams, and explosions...and then there were sirens wailing—
Immediately, my eyes shot wide open.
The sirens.
It was all starting to come back to me, from the violent rear-ending to the Toyota being flipped over onto its side. I saw the small flames again, the one thing I saw before darkness had taken me hostage. My mother and father's muffled screams of panic filled my ears. It was all very much like an unrealistic blur, like it had all been a dream. But still...
Where did my mother and father go?
Suddenly, I heard the door click, before opening to reveal a nurse. At first, she appeared quite frightened, but when she saw me, sitting on the bed with my eyes wide open, she sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness," she breathed, almost as if she had been holding it in for...however long I had been in the emergency room. "You've finally managed to wake up."
"How…" I stammered, finally able to find my voice, "how did I get here?"
"A team of paramedics was passing by at the time, and luckily witnessed the entire crash scene. We managed to recover you and your parents' unconscious bodies in time, and they've been trying their best to treat you while you slept through three long days."
So it wasn't a dream, I thought sadly, before my eyes widened at the amount of time that she had said that I had been out cold. "Three days? What happened to my okaa-san and otou-san?"
At this, the nurse froze, eyes widening to the size of saucers. If I wasn't mistaken, she looked as if she was going to throw up. Then, I heard the sound of the door quickly slamming, and she was gone...just like that.
When her actions finally registered inside of my brain, I felt extremely sick as well. But ten seconds later, Yukio and Naoki came bursting into the room, eyes clouded with worry. As they ran towards me, I noticed that neither one of them were wearing smiles.
"Onee-chan!" shouted Yukio, trying to hug me before noticing the cast on my arm. "You're alright!"
I tried to smile at him, but failed. "Yes I am, little otouto. Say, where's okaa-san and otou-san?"
Yukio's face suddenly softened greatly, and so did Naoki's. Before I knew what was happening, Yukio burst into tears, Naoki trying to comfort him. Turning extremely queasy inside, I sent Naoki a look to see if what Yukio was insinuating was true, and silently, he returned it, his eyes full of grief. It was one of the first times that I had ever seen it in his eyes.
"Are they really…" I stammered, tears welling up in my eyes. "Naoki-chan, are they really—" I trailed off, my voice breaking at the mere thought of it.
Naoki looked at me with remorse, then nodded slowly. For the first time, I noticed that he was crying as well: a river of tears wasn't running down his face like Yukio, but they were definitely in his eyes.
That was the moment I realized that no, they weren't here with us anymore. Both of them had — without a doubt — died in the accident.
I heard the sound of something in my chest shattering, like fragile glass. There was absolutely no doubt that it was my heart breaking. And not just in two: I knew that there were several hundred bits and pieces.
My head fell back against the pillow suddenly, as if the IVs had suddenly stopped working. I saw the world fading to white as I slowly passed out, the last thing I heard being the panicking screams and shouts of my two younger brothers.
[END FLASHBACK]
I finished retelling the story to Deidara, in more tears than when I had started. His blue eyes seemed to be filled with sympathy, but I couldn't really tell.
The Toyota that I had driven that day belonged to my parents, while my personal Lexus was still in our garage at the time. After I was released from the hospital, I learned that it was quite damaged beyond repair, which I had pretty much expected.
In addition, sometime later, the paramedic sent me an email regarding my parents. My mother had died en route to the hospital, but my father and I had survived the ambulance trip. But three hours later, he too, had died in the emergency room. They did not tell me what their wounds were, and I was partially glad that they didn't. That part of me wanted to imagine a quick death for both of them, so that they didn't have to suffer so much pain. But still, it would have been better if neither of them had died at all.
When they had reached my unconscious body, there were a few cuts here and there, and my arm was twisted at a very odd angle. They had also mentioned that I had been the least injured, which had made me feel extremely sick, more than I had been in the emergency room when I had first found out my parents had died.
I had gotten my cast off about two months later, but the guilt and memory had continued to stain my mind. Daichi and my brothers comforted me throughout, and Yukio and Naoki had even tried to encourage me to drive again by painting my Lexus yellow, my favorite color. But not even they could convince me to go near a car again...at least, not for a few months.
Eventually, I had decided that my fear what somewhat pathetic and that I shouldn't keep blaming myself for what had happened. However, I had completely lost the will to drive, and it had taken me a while to figure out how to drive like I had used to. And it had only been one time, when I had to drive to a pharmacy when Yukio got sick. Then, I had left the car unused for about six months.
The incident had also made me more antisocial and less willing to make friends, and on the occasion, grumpier. Luckily, I had still kept my politeness and niceness — if those were words — and remained being friends with only one person: Daichi. I was pretty sure that the reason why I began liking him in the first place was because he still remained my best friend through it all.
Yes. Yukio had inherited our mother's habit of kicking people's crotches. I had inherited her habit of threatening boys and slapping their hands away whenever they touched me, mostly Deidara. I didn't kick crotches, but did threaten to on rare occasions, whenever somebody annoyed me to oblivion at school.
Naoki and Yukio had also been largely affected by the incident. Naoki was much grumpier and spent less time outdoors than he already did, using Star Wars and other movies as an excuse. Yukio's groin-kicking rate had gone up, and he had grown more protective of his friends and us. Fortunately, he did not resort to becoming stoic, maintaining his sassy and playful attitude.
We had also abandoned the whole halo dance tradition after the accident as well. It reminded us too much of our mother.
"Wow," breathed Deidara in shock of what I had to go through. "I never really thought of it that way, un. Losing your parents has really changed you, unlike me. I didn't even know my parents."
I jumped. "What happened to them?"
"Killed during a war mission," he said sternly, "that I had no idea about until about a couple of years later. I was less than a year old at the time, and I barely knew anything."
"When you were only one?" I nearly shouted in shock. "That's so sad!"
He nodded in agreement, hanging his head down. "I never had a chance to get to know them all that well. That's also the reason why everybody calls me just Deidara as well. I was a wartime child, born when the world was stained with blood and grief, born without a surname."
Born without a surname? I thought incredulously. That's got to be very hard to endure.
"At least the people who ran the orphanage in Iwagakure took me in," he continued. "I lived there and enrolled in the ninja academy through that place. I really like playing with all of the clay they had there, and that was how others back at the orphanage began to notice me. They liked me for my art, and thought I was a born natural at it. But when I turned eleven, I was kicked out of the orphanage to live on my own, since I was old enough."
"Say what?" I almost screamed in fury. "So they just forced you out to live on your own when you were only a kid? That's so wrong!"
He only nodded sadly. "It's fine, really, since I knew how to survive on my own. But still, I really liked all of the attention I received from my friends in the orphanage. After I was kicked out, I never saw most of them again."
"That's also cruel!" I shouted. "They don't have the right to just separate you from the people you cared about!" Shivering, I briefly imagined the terrible thought of Little Alder Orphanage eventually kicking poor Kagami out to live on her own when she turned eleven, had we not have adopted her.
"It's all a part of being a shinobi," he deadpanned. "If we can't fend for ourselves, then we die. Simple as that."
"The policy of survival of the fittest really sucks," I remarked, and he nodded again. "Anyway, we should head home. People are going to be wondering what happened to us."
Begrudgingly, both of us returned to the car, where Akane was waiting for us. I stroked her shoulder in order to comfort her, but when I informed her that we were heading back home, she ducked back underneath the jacket and shivered. I assumed that she was just as scared as I was to return home.
I turned the engine back on, then made a U-turn, not caring if it was legal or not. I really didn't care about it anymore: all I wanted to do was go home and clear my mind with a bath and maybe a movie.
The ride home was about as rocky as the first one, with all of the same twists and turns. Luckily, I didn't accidentally drive the Lexus up our neighbor's curb again, and we were able to make it home without any more close calls or accidents. Deidara and I didn't talk at all so that I could stay concentrated, but I did scream every now and then.
Closing the garage door, I ran inside the house, and to my surprise, not many of the Akatsuki or my siblings were up. Hidan was still asleep on the couch, while Zetsu was sleeping in the wall, his plant-like appendages closed tightly. Quickly, I ran upstairs to take a long shower, bent on clearing my mind of all the guilt that I had just blurted out. But then again, what would warm water do?
Deidara's POV
At that point, I didn't know who had it worse.
It was hard for me to really feel bad for my parents, since I never got to know them at all. I had some sort of idea about what familial love felt like, but had never really experienced it for myself. The closest to a family that I had ever received was probably my friends at the orphanage, but most of them faded out of my life the moment I was kicked out. I did have a few friends and fangirls after that, but some dubbed me as a freak after I had stolen the kinjutsu to make my art better.
There was one girl whose name seemed to stand out to me, but I couldn't remember it. It was Kuro...well, Kuro something. She had treated me a lot like a brother, and her grandfather was both the Tsuchikage and my teacher. But when the Akatsuki had accepted me, I had left both of them behind to begin my new life.
Kaiya, on the other hand, had been very close to her parents. When they had died, it had broken her heart, and she had been rendered unable to drive or even look at a car for months. And even more, there was Naoki and Yukio as well, who did not feel as much guilt, but had been greatly affected.
And then there was me, who went around killing people.
For the first time in a long time, I felt guilty. Not as pity for someone, but actual guilt. I actually felt bad for ending the lives of so many innocent civilians, who probably had families as well that they really cared for.
"Cheep?" asked Akane, who had perched on my shoulder. She tilted her head at me, as if she was checking to see if I was alright or not.
"I'm fine," I lied. "But still, I don't know about Kaiya…"
The brown-haired girl was definitely quite distraught, and I didn't need to look at her to notice. I could easily feel it in the air around her.
Akane suddenly flew off of my shoulder, zooming into the kitchen to grab something. A minute later, she returned, a small flower in her beak. Dropping the flower in my hand, she squawked, as if she was trying to tell me something. Moments later, I finally got the hint.
"That's it," I blurted out, petting the bird's back. "Akane, you're a genius, un. Girls love flowers, so maybe I should buy Kaiya some to cheer her up. Still…" The idea of me buying flowers for the girl that I sort of had feelings for made me blush. Fortunately, the people who were in the room at the time either didn't notice or were asleep.
I set Akane down on the couch, right next to Hidan's nose. "I'll be right back," I told her, patting her gently on the head. "If you want, you're free to go slay this lazy baka."
Opening the front door, I walked out, making sure to close it behind me. I didn't lock it, since there was no option to do so. In addition, part of me was also glad that I couldn't, since the slightly open door allowed me to hear Hidan's train of curses from almost a block down.
Good work, Akane.
Although I was quite unfamiliar with the area, I decided to keep on walking in a random direction, but on the sidewalk, of course. I did have a little bit of money in my pocket, and luckily, my bleached hair and my casual teenage attire made me somewhat blend in with the public.
Well, not exactly teenage attire. Just casual stuff, like a black t-shirt and gray sweatpants, as well as sneakers. All I had to do was to make it through the entire thing without sneezing.
Because lavender perfume was the one thing that I did not have on me.
Finally, after walking for a little while, I came across a small flower shop. Smiling, I walked inside, sniffing the air that was filled with a mix of floral scents. I never liked flowers, and hadn't bothered to see what scents they provided. But this store in particular contained hundreds of flowers that seemed to absolutely captivate me.
I looked around, trying to see what flowers I wanted to buy for Kaiya. Roses? A red rose stands for love, but it's probably too cliché. Daisies? No, their scent just isn't strong enough. Baby's breath? That one doesn't even have a scent!
Suddenly, my eyes fell upon the bouquet of the flowers in front of me, and I gasped at how beautiful they were.
Yellow daffodils.
I leaned in closer and inhaled their lovely, fresh aroma, sighing in bliss at how soothing it felt. Although I didn't usually bother with researching flowers and their meanings, I knew well that daffodils stood for new beginnings or simply a sign to encourage the other to return the giver's affections. Plus, they were yellow, which Kaiya had told me was her favorite color sometime before. In addition, many of the kimonos that she wore were embroidered with flower patterns, so I assumed that she liked flowers as well. The lovely scent from the flowers distracted me from all that was happening in the real world, until the sound of Kaiya screaming filled my ears again. Deciding that they were the flowers that I wanted, I grabbed a bouquet of them and walked up to the cashier to pay for them.
I handed her a twenty-dollar bill, one that I had probably stolen from Kakuzu. "Keep the change," I told her, running out of the flower shop with the cluster of beautiful daffodils in my hands. I didn't look back to check for her reaction: I simply bolted out of the door, wanting to get home and help Kaiya feel a little bit better.
If the daffodils could distract me from all that was going on in the rest of the world, perhaps they could make her forget the guilt, even for a second. I wasn't certain if they were going to work or not, but either way, it was worth a shot.
And maybe, I thought, my cheeks turning slightly pin, they might convey my feelings to her, if she will notice them.
Somehow, I knew the way home. It was probably my homing ninja senses, which I had suppressed in order to keep my identity a secret from the public ever since I had been sent to Kaiya's world as a fluffy kitten named Firework.
Reaching the house, I tried to open the door, but to my surprise, somebody had locked it. Growling, I tried opening it again, but to no avail.
"Argh!" I shouted, hoping that somebody was by the door and could hear me. "Somebody open the freaking door, un!"
I held the daffodils in one hand, making sure that they were to remain undamaged as I pounded on the door harder. Just as I was about to give up, I heard a clicking noise, and the door swung open to reveal Kagami in her pajamas.
"Hi, Deidei-chan!" she squealed, giving me a hug. I glared at her, causing her to quickly bounce away. "What were you doing out...oh."
She stared at the bouquet of daffodils in my hand, and smelling them, sighed happily and gave me a thumbs-up. "Those are perfect, Deidara! Onee-chan will definitely like them—"
"Wait, you know?" My eyes immediately widened upon hearing that statement. She nodded, her eyes shining.
"You're really obvious, Deidei-chan," she told me, a slight smirk appearing on her lips. "But so far, I don't think that onee-chan has noticed it yet. If you want, I can go tell—"
"Shh," I ordered, putting a finger to her lips. "If you know, don't tell anybody. It's a secret between you, me, Sasori—"
"And Kisa-nii," she finished, removing the finger. "You'll be fine. Just act normal, but don't come on too strong and explosive. That way, you might scare away onee-chan."
Or she'll threaten to castrate me again, I mentally said, shivering. "Thank you, Kagami. Wish me luck, un."
Smiling, I ran upstairs, clutching the bouquet of daffodils just tightly enough in order to make sure that I didn't damage nor drop the flowers. Pinpointing Kaiya's room, I knocked on the door three times with my free hand, to see if she would come answer it.
No reply.
"Hello?" I asked, pounding on the door again. "Kaiya? Are you there? It's just me, Deidara."
Wondering if she had locked herself inside the room out of guilt, I tried turning the doorknob, and to my surprise, the door was unlocked. Swinging it wide open, I looked around the room for Kaiya. Konan and Pein were not in the room, their sleeping bags abandoned on the floor.
Indeed, there Kaiya was, asleep on her bed. She held her stuffed fennec fox tightly to her, and seemed to be in quite an uncomfortable position. Her feet were stuck in the air, looking as if she had been kicking it for a while, and the down comforter had been thrown off of her. On her face she wore a grimace, as if she were in pain. And based on her hair, it was clear that she hadn't taken a bath at all.
I tiptoed silently across the room, being careful to not disturb her from her rest. Placing the flowers carefully on her desk, I turned back to her, and upon closer examination, she seemed to be...uttering something.
"Kagami..." she mumbled in her sleep, pain laced in her voice. "Naoki...Yukio…please..."
What in the world is she dreaming about? I asked myself, staring at her sleeping form. It's really the first time I've watched her sleep, since this morning, I carried her out of bed without a second thought.
"Don't...die…" Kaiya whispered, and at that, my eyes widened. "Akane...Deidara…"
I immediately raised an eyebrow upon hearing my name. It almost made me blush again, but some greedy part of me didn't like how everybody else's names were said before mine.
Averting my gaze towards the thrown off blanket, some sort of instinct took over me. Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed the blanket, draping it over the sleeping girl's back. Kaiya seemed to appreciate this, since she immediately snuggled into it, as if it were a giant pillow.
"Thanks…" she mumbled, a smile reappearing on her face.
"Sleep tight," I subconsciously whispered, walking out of the room with a smile on my face. The daffodils sat on the desk, watching over Kaiya as I closed the door again.
That night, just before I was about to go to sleep, I was woken up by Sasori. The puppet-man had a small box in his hands, and seemed to be handing it to me.
"Brat," he muttered, giving me the box, "it's for you. Open it if you want to, but I'm going to rest for a little bit."
"I thought that you don't sleep, danna," I said, surprised. Sasori just shook his head.
"I don't know why, but I feel rather...exhausted today," he responded. "Not as in sleepy, but I want to lie down for a little while. Go ahead and open the letter: I think that it's from Kaiya, since I don't know who else would give these things to you."
Sighing, he laid his head against his pillow, but kept his eyes open. I silently opened the box in the moonlight that flitted through the window, illuminating its contents.
"More clay…" I muttered to myself, going through what was inside the box, "an origami crane, and a note…"
Curiously, I unfolded the note, the moonbeams reflecting off of Kaiya's neat handwriting. Holding it by the window, I thoroughly read what she had written inside it.
Dear Deidara, the note read. Thank you for saving my life. I'm sorry for getting so mad at you recently, but maybe it's because I was stressed out about driving. The accident really changed up my personality, so I sincerely apologize for all of the trouble that I may have caused you in the past few weeks. I mean it, Deidara. You're a really great friend to me, and I can't believe that I failed to see that. I hope you accept these tokens as an apology and a thank-you.
I smiled, looking at the container of clay and the little crane. The more I stared at the clay, the more it seemed to resemble Akane, who was sleeping in the corner of the room.
You're welcome, Kaiya, I thought, feeling thankful that the moonlight didn't reveal the blush on my face to anybody in the room. Noticing some more writing underneath my thumb, I removed it and read her postscript.
P.S: I loved the yellow daffodils. I've got to say, you sure know me quite well, for an S-rank criminal who has only known me for a few months.
Folding the letter carefully, I placed it underneath my pillow, not wanting to forget about it. Immediately after, I opened the clay, thrilled that she had bought me some more for me to make more creations with. After all, she still refused to let me take some from the art room.
I wasn't exactly sure what I was aiming to make when I fed a ball of clay to one of my handmouths, but when I saw my creation, I knew that it was definitely what I wanted.
It was a flying heart: a smooth little object with feathery wings that allowed it to drift through the air. As much as I had wanted to sculpt an arrow through it, I rejected the thought, thinking that the heart was already beautiful. Sure, it wasn't the usual animal, but I liked how different it was from everything else.
Walking over to the desk, I grabbed a paint bottle off of it, then flashed it in the moonlight to check what color it was. It was a bright yellow, almost the exact same shade as the daffodils that I had just bought. Smiling, I walked back over to the desk and snatched a paintbrush that Kaiya had left in her brother's room, dipping it in the bottle of yellow paint.
It had been a long time since I had last painted something, but somehow, I quickly got the hang of it. With every stroke of the yellow paintbrush, I grew more and more confident about painting, and before I knew it, I had painted the entire heart yellow, minus the wings. Sasori watched me curiously, probably wondering why in the world I was painting my creations instead of blowing them up. But if that was on his mind, he said nothing, then curled back into his sleeping bag and laid down.
When I finished, I watched the heart flutter in the air, a blush growing on my face. Yes, Kaiya was in a different room, but it was quite...queer that I had put some passion into making a painted sculpture. My own heartbeat even seemed to be in sync with the flaps of the heart's wings.
I'm attracted to her, I thought, now certain that they really were true, romantic feelings for Kaiya. Falling in love...how weird.
That was the first time I didn't mind my art being long-lasting. Just like my growing feelings for the brown-haired girl to whom I had given the daffodils.
A/N: Oh my...what did I just write? Well, considering that I had a lot of homework this weekend, I guess it just made it all the more fun to procrastinate.
Question: Just out of pure curiosity, do any of you guys mind that I threw Akane into the plot like that? She'll be pretty important much, much later on, but I'm not sure if you guys like her or not...
I went back and added the names of the story arcs each chapter is from for each one, since one of my friends suggested it. After all, this story is going to be well over fifty chapters long...
Anyway, see you all next time!
— Tenshi
