Chapter 41: Akatsuki Christmas Arc - The Daffodil Princess

Holy mother of Alfalfa. I wrote so much over spring break, and I completely lost track of how long the second document was getting. Nineteen pages on Google Docs? Nineteen? Geez...I guess I reverted to my busy self over spring break. Perhaps this is why the chapters are coming out so slowly now?

But then again, 4th quarter is always the toughest for me in school. I'm drawing a bit more than I used to, and I don't spend as much time on this site as I did in the last couple of months. In addition, I'm debating about the plotline for this fic with my friend, and we're currently talking about how I should make a sequel to this story. I still don't know what to do...if I made a sequel, I don't know too much about what will happen. Furthermore, there are times when I just feel too lazy to research characters just so I can write chapters because I still haven't watched Naruto Shippuden. In fact, I had to do research on Shisui for the previous chapter...yes, I'm that lame... XD

Thank you to everybody who is enjoying this fanfic so far! In celebration of Easter/April Fool's Day tomorrow, I'm posting this extremely long Deidara/Kaiya chapter for all of you guys! I love you all, my dear readers! *sends virtual hug*

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing except for the plot and the OCs.


Kaiya's POV

"Onee-chan!" shouted Kagami into my ear. "Get up now! I had another dream!"

Immediately, I shot up out of the bed, rapidly recalling the last time she had woken me up like that. "Did you receive another dream from Shisui Uchiha last night?"

She nodded in confirmation as she backed away from my bed. "Yeah! Shisui-san was able to figure out a bit more about the scintillating orb, and he wanted me to deliver the message to everybody! Tobi-chan and I are waking everybody up!"

I dashed out of my bed, noticing for the first time that Konan was also trying to exit the room, but was currently waiting for the traffic of Akatsuki members to pass. Pein had slept downstairs, away from almost everybody because he had still not forgiven us for the whole necklace thing.

"Geez," I mumbled to myself as I shuffled out of the room. "How fast is your best friend at waking everybody up? I swear, I might even consider replacing my alarm clock with him…"

She shrugged. "Tobi-chan is just...Tobi-chan. But still, hurry! It's already nine in the morning, onee-chan! You can't stay in bed all day!"

"I'm already out," I deadpanned. "I'm just waiting for somebody to come and direct the flow of Akatsuki traffic in the hallway."

Her hand instantly shot up, as if she was still going through a school day. "Ooh, ooh! I wanna do that, onee-chan! I wanna direct the traffic!"

Before I could stop her, she snatched a small wooden pole that I kept in the corner — in case I got woken up in the middle of the night — as well as a small frying pan that I had thrown at Deidara at some point and ran outside, pushing past Konan and the Akatsuki members. They didn't seem to be too happy about that, based on all of the grunts that I heard coming from outside, but since it was Kagami, they didn't bother saying anything too negative to her.

"What is going on, imouto?" I heard Yukio say. "Are fire-breathing dragons circling the house outside? How many Death Stars are out there? Maybe even a volcano eruption? Mother of Alfalfa, are we being invaded by unicorn-headed aliens?"

"It's not any one of those, Yukio-nii-chan!" Kagami called over all of the noisy clamors of the Akatsuki. "Shisui-san has sent me another important message!"

Immediately, everybody in the hallway fell silent. By the time Konan and I managed to leave the room, the Akatsuki were already staring expectantly at Kagami, especially Itachi. It seemed quite obvious to the Akatsuki that this regarded the scintillating orb, based on their reactions.

"Listen, everybody!" she shouted, banging the wooden pole against the frying pan like a gong. "He has done more research on the scintillating orb for the past couple of months, and managed to calculate that the completed orb is indeed the size of a golf ball, like onee-chan had originally calculated!"

Everybody turned their heads to look at me with slightly shocked expressions, save for my brothers.

"I guess we can't really help it," mumbled Naoki, shrugging his shoulders as I slumped to the ground in slight embarrassment. "Onee-chan is just super intelligent like that."

'Kagami-chan," I told my little sister, "go ahead and continue. What else did he tell you about the scintillating orb other than the fact that it was the size of a golf ball?"

She scratched her head as if she was racking her brain for answers, then seemed to get an idea. "Oh yeah! Shisui-san also told me that because all of the Akatsuki members aren't able to train anymore, their chakra is weakening as a result!"
All heads shot a more or less sympathetic glance at Pein, who was currently wearing a spiked purple necklace around his neck. He sent them all a furious glare, and their heads whipped back around just as quickly as they had when they had turned to look at him. Kagami and Konan continued to gaze at him sympathetically, but he either didn't care or didn't notice.

"He told me that in conclusion," she continued, "we need to get the scintillating orb back together as soon as possible. The sooner you return to your world, the sooner you can recover from chakra loss."

A couple of the Akatsuki members donned saddened expressions, specifically Deidara and Tobi. I could understand why Tobi didn't want to leave, but Deidara? Perhaps they had all just gotten too used to how our world worked…

Akane seemed to sense the sadness coming from her master, since she flew out of Naoki's room to perch on his shoulder. He gave her a comforting stroke and sent her a soft smile, though I could tell that it was mostly fake. After all, that was the same kind of accessory that I used to wear as well.

"Chee…" she chirped, nuzzling his cheek. Deidara just continued petting her as Kagami spoke again.

"In addition," she said, "he suggested an idea that I'm pretty sure that you'll all love in order to collect the scintillating orb fragments. We can all find some while we celebrate Christmas together!"

Kisame tilted his head to the side. "What's Christmas?"

"It's the best holiday of the year!" Kagami responded, bouncing up and down. "Christmas is when families and friends get together on the twenty-fifth of December to exchange gifts, blessings, and love! Anybody can celebrate it!"

Kakuzu's ears seemed to perk up, though I couldn't see them. "Did you say gifts? As in free gifts?"

Kagami nodded. "Of course! We all buy each other nice gifts, but sometimes, we can give each other money and toys! Or even new clothes!"

"Ooh! Tobi likes that idea!" the masked boy squealed. "Tobi wants some toys and candy!"

I couldn't help and laugh at that moment. "Gifts are always fun to exchange on Christmas Day. But still, you've got to remember that it isn't the gift itself that counts...it's the person who's giving it to you and how they feel when they're giving you the gift. Giving a gift to somebody on Christmas tells them that you really care about them and consider them to be important to you."

Hidan stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Then that's fewer gifts that I have to buy…"

"Do you really hate everybody that much?" I reprimanded him. "Give it a break, Hidan. Lighten up, or else you'll just drag the happy ones down and cause more bad things to happen. Anyway, is there anything else that you've been able to get from Shisui?"

She shook her head. "Nope! That was it, onee-chan! You can all go back to bed now!"

"I'm good, thanks," I mumbled, though I was still kind of tired. "I don't really feel too sleepy anymore. Besides, it just doesn't feel right to be confined to a bed on a perfectly normal day during winter break."

Suddenly, I felt a tug on my arm, prompting me to spin around and face the culprit. After I did so, I pretty much mentally facepalmed myself, since I could have easily told who it was based solely on their actions.

"Good morning, Deidei-chan," I greeted, smirking as he glared at me for using the nickname. Although I had called him that for over two months whenever I felt like teasing him, he still seemed to feel embarrassed by it. "Is there something that you need?"

He scratched his chin, Akane still perched firmly on his shoulder. "Not exactly, un. Are you free right now? I kind of want to train Akane with you today, since she's been cooped up in the house for a while in this form."

I shrugged. "Sure. I don't have anything to do today, so why not? Perhaps we can help her with the flamethrower, or just flying in general so that she doesn't have to make me scream every time she performs a nosedive?"

"Sounds okay to me," he said, smiling as we walked downstairs. "Also, I still need to take you to that special area that I found the other day...remember that day when I carried you out of bed and almost frightened you to death?"

The memory was already clear inside of my head by the time he had asked that. "Of course I remember it. Sorry that I didn't have any time for that one...and to think that we're heading out to the Charcoal Mountains in just three days…"

"Maybe you don't have to drive," he reassured me. "You mentioned something about flying something else...what did you call it, planes? Yeah, those things. They look pretty sturdy and big enough to fit all of us."

"That's what I was planning to do," I mumbled. "But I still need to drive you all to the airport, since it's quite far from here. Also, you all have to ride on the plane as kittens, since it's cheaper and less suspicious that way."

Deidara scowled, making me giggle as we exited the front door. "Seriously, is having Kakuzu in the house rubbing off on you, Kaiya?"

"Not exactly," I responded. "I'm not greedy, and I'm certainly not that mean, am I? He seems like one who saves money for himself, but I try to save money for the sake of others, especially my siblings. Not everything has to be for self-benefits, so we help out whenever we can."

He seemed to think about it for a little bit, his gaze proving that he was lost in his thoughts. "You kind of have a point, un. I've never thought about it that way before. But I wasn't suggesting that you were exactly like that old dude. You don't look a day over fifteen—"

"Excuse me?" I growled, causing a smirk to form on his lips. "I'm seventeen, thank you very much! My birthday's in August, though…"

Deidara just laughed. "I already know that you're seventeen, but you do look a bit young for your age. Or maybe it's just your kimono and the fact that you have big eyes. I'm nineteen, but a lot of people think that I'm two years younger than I'm supposed to be."

"I guess that's true," I agreed. "By just looking at Sasori, I never would have guessed that he was thirty-five, if Naoki-chan hadn't told me. Itachi does look like a teen, for being twenty-one, and...I don't know how old Tobi is. I'm going to guess that he's in his twenties, but his brain is still stuck being five years old."

Laughing, he ushered Akane off of his shoulder, and proceeded to make a hand seal. Seconds later, a large cloud of smoke appeared, then quickly dissipated to reveal her in her life-sized form. She cawed, but not too loudly, which I was thankful for.

"Hop on," Deidara told me. "But promise me to not scream again, alright?"

Shrugging, I took a seat on Akane's back, behind Deidara. "I'll try my best, but I won't guarantee anything, Deidei-chan. Promise-keeping is not one of my strong suits, but then again, neither is lying."

He smiled, then proceeded to stroke Akane's neck. "Go ahead and take off whenever, but try not to make anything abrupt throughout. Promise me to not scare Kaiya again, Akane."

The phoenix cocked his head at him. "Scree!" she cried, spreading her wings slowly like a fan. I nervously wrapped my arms around the clay feathers to brace myself, until Deidara stopped me by tapping my head.

"Hold onto me," he suggested, a playful smirk dancing on his lips. "It'll be much easier than just lying down and holding onto her like that all of the time. And you can trust me on this one when I say that you'll be just fine."

"I'm good, thanks," I politely declined. To be honest, although I had grown out of the childish stage a little bit, I was still slightly stuck in it, and didn't really like touching others as a result. No, I did not think that Deidara had cooties, unlike what the kindergartener version of me would have probably said. Simply put, I wasn't one to show affection to anybody except for my family, even if I touched people without intending it to be a gesture of affection.

"Are you sure?" he asked again. "You'll get a better view if you're not all the way down, and it will be much more comfortable for yourself, too. Besides, I don't want to be the one getting blamed if you get a stiff neck from being in that position, un."

I quickly shook my head, even though Deidara's suggestion did seem like a good idea. "Really, I'm okay. I can see perfectly fine, and if my neck hurts, I can just use the rocking chair or take a nap on my bed."

He shot me one last look before returning his attention to the clay phoenix. "Very well, if you insist. Akane, prepare for takeoff. The destination...do you still remember the rainbow-streaked area that we found a couple of weeks back?"

"Awk!" she nodded in confirmation, then proceeded to slowly flap her wings to lift us into the air. At first, it felt rather foreign to me, since I had grown slightly used to Akane just zooming off without warning, but at least it made me feel more secure and at ease.

"Thank you," I told her, stroking her back. "Good birdie."

Akane seemed to smile at me, then proceeded to fly towards the sunrise. Instinctively, I released one of my arms and lifted it above my forehead to block the incoming sunlight. Deidara copied my actions, though I think he did it in order to scout our current location rather than block the sun.

"So," I began, realizing that for the first time, I could speak whilst riding on Akane's back, "can you describe this rainbow-streaked area for me? I kind of want to know what it looks like."

He only smiled at me. "You'll see when we get there. But at the speed we're going, it may take about thirty minutes, unless you want her to zoom across the sky like she usually does."

"She can fly super fast if she wants to," I quickly said. "I'm not trying to stop Akane from doing what she likes to do. And don't both of you like being in the fast lane, from what I've observed?"

Deidara shot me another look. "We're not going to do anything you're uncomfortable with. Yes, we do like going fast, but after that whole train thing...I think we'll just take it slow for you. I don't wish to awaken those horrible memories of yours again."

Immediately, I hung my head. "If you say so. But still, maybe we can have more fun when we reach the destination. For now, I guess I'll just enjoy the view from here and watch the passing birds and clouds."

To prove my point, I allowed my eyes to wander our surroundings, looking at clouds and making verbal observations of what I thought they looked like.

"Look, Deidei-chan!" I said childishly, tapping him on the shoulder and pointing towards a large, puffy cloud. "That one looks like a shuriken!"

"Shuriken aren't that fluffy," he countered. "If anything, it looks like a marshmallow—"

"Don't they all do?" I retorted. "Use your imagination, like you do when you make clay sculptures. Look at them from different angles and let your brain run wild...who knows what they'll end up resembling?"

Sitting up straighter, Deidara began to look around the vast sky as Akane carried us further away. Finally, after a while, he tapped my shoulder as well, then pointed at a thin, wispy cloud.

"I'd say that one is a twister, un," he mumbled. "It's all curled up, and it definitely looks as if it was deliberately twisted, like a fork twisting noodles or something of that sort."

"A twister, huh?" I responded. "In my opinion, I think it's more like a ramen cup, with the paler, more wispy clouds as the steam and the fluffier clouds as the noodles."

Deidara squinted towards the spot, trying to observe the "ramen cup". "I don't see it," he muttered after a few seconds of looking. "I can only see the twister...though it's slowly turning into a dragon. That's not a bad thing, is it?"

"That's alright," I reassured him. "Think about it as your view of art, and then my view can be Sasori's view of art. You both have different ways of viewing it, but either way, both are considered true art, right? The same thing applies to clouds. No matter what it resembles in everybody's eyes, the one thing that will never change is the fact that they're still clouds."

His gaze grew distant as he continued staring at the clouds with me, a smile still drawn on his face. "You're right…"

We sat like that for a while, completely forgetting about the time. Occasionally, I pointed out a funny-looking cloud to Deidara, who would show me another queer cloud in return. Sure, it wasn't exactly the most fun thing to do while riding on the back of a giant clay phoenix that could possibly breathe fire, but I found it to be quite entertaining.

Especially because I was with a good friend.

Yes, Deidara could definitely be extremely cocky and annoying at times. That was why I loved annoying him to the Pure Land and back, to give him a taste of his own medicine while making myself laugh at the same time, in order to satisfy my childish side. It was something about that easily annoyed expression that just filled me with mirth and mischief.

But despite all of that, I knew that Deidara really cared about me, and that I cared about him as well. He had been very sweet that day, bringing me flowers after I had been traumatized again by the near-train crash. Somehow, he had managed to figure out that daffodils were my favorite flowers, but perhaps it was because I had made it super obvious that yellow was my favorite color.

However, that didn't make me want to stare at his hair, even though it was a yellow-blonde color. After we had gotten home from school on Friday, he had washed the dye out of his hair with help from Kagami and Naoki. I would have helped him as well, but I had probably scared him off with the punishment. Now, it was back to its original, golden color, and he seemed much happier like that. It pretty much defined what seemed to be his reputation, which I knew that he took great pride in. I definitely did not want anything to do with anybody's over-inflated ego.

Or did I?

Subconsciously, I felt my fingers reaching for strands of his hair, grabbing them by the clumps. They snatched three long clumps of hair, and it wasn't until I began subconsciously twisting them together that either of us began to notice.

"Kaiya," he growled at me, sounding slightly irritated. "What are you doing?"

Nothing, I wanted to say, but I knew that Deidara was definitely smarter than he looked. It was already quite obvious that I was playing with his hair, though he wouldn't really believe me if I denied it, hence my poor lying skills.

So I just told him the truth. "Um...playing with your hair?"

Deidara flipped his hair, causing the strands to slide out of my hands. "I know that you're going to do something embarrassing with it, knowing you. Why do you want to play with my hair, anyway?"

I shrugged, then just decided to tell the complete truth. "The thought of it just crossed my mind, and before I knew it, my fingers were intertwining with your hair. I accidentally looked at it for too long, so that's what happened."

Deidara sighed, then turned back around, flipping his hair back. "Fine, but don't do anything that will make the Akatsuki laugh at me. Or else I will just abandon you at the destination when it's time to return."

"Alright," I told him, grabbing three thin clumps of his hair again. "I guess I'll just let you off today, since it's almost Christmas. Consider it as an early present to you, because I originally planned to give you twintails."

Concentrating, I twisted the strands around each other repeatedly, remembering the pattern of tying braids. The first one over the other. The other over the third one. The third one over the first one. Repeat.

It wasn't until I had repeated this process about ten times that I realized how thin the three clumps were. Suddenly, a vision of a hairstyle from a very familiar movie came to my head, and I swiftly worked on his little braid. I doubted that Deidara was going to be pleased with what I was doing, but at the same time, he wouldn't be angry at me.

I finished making the tiny braid in his hair — by securing the end with a small hair tie that I kept on my wrist — just as Akane finally began to descend towards the ground. As soon as he felt my fingers leave his hair, he grabbed the braid, turning his head in order to take a good look at it.

"What kind of braid is this?" he questioned, running his finger over it. "This is so small…"

"You don't remember?" I responded, with mock hurt in my tone. "It's a padawan braid from Star Wars! Remember how Anakin Skywalker had that in his hair at one point in the second episode?"

His eyes instantly lit up with realization. "Now I remember. But I'm not an apprentice or a Jedi, so why did you do it?"

"I was going to give you just one normal braid on the side of your head," I admitted. "But I realized how small the clumps in my hands were, and the idea just clicked. So here you are, with the padawan braid. If you don't like it, I can just take it out—"

"No!" he said quickly, then swiftly corrected himself, rubbing his forehead while sporting a nervous smile. "Well, I mean, it's perfectly fine! I like it, since it's not a hairstyle that makes me feel or look too girly."

Gratefully, I returned the smile. "Thanks! Anyway, are we almost there?"

"Looks like it," he replied, his eyes scanning our location. Once he was aware of his surroundings, he returned his attention to the bird. "Alright, you can descend a bit faster now, Akane. We're here."

Akane let out a happy squawk, then began lowering herself to the ground even faster. Sensing the plummet, I wrapped my arms around Akane's back, not wanting to fall overboard.

When she reached the ground, I leaped off of her back, finding myself in the middle of a deciduous forest. However, before I had the chance to look around any further than a couple of trees, Deidara covered my eyes with his hands.

"Oof!" I cried, flailing my arms around. "Deidara, I can't see!"

"That's the point," he mumbled. "I need you to keep your eyes closed. There's somewhere that I wanted to take you, but it's been a surprise for about two weeks already."

"I don't know," I said dubiously. "Are you sure closing my eyes in a random area in the middle of Kami-knows-where is a good idea?"

"Of course it is, un!" he retorted. "If I knew that it was a bad idea to come here, then why would I have taken you all the way here on Akane's back?"

"It's not that I don't like this area," I replied, "but I don't know if I should trust you with closing my eyes. I mean, what if you lead me to a pit full of spiders or some spooky cave? You can do literally anything if I close my eyes!"

Deidara looked hurt, though I could tell that he was feigning it. "Aw, come on! Do you really not trust me that much, Kaiya? Haven't I already saved your life a couple of times ever since I came here?"

Don't forget that you've also jeopardized my life a couple of times already, I mentally mumbled, but in the end, I merely sighed and closed my eyes. "Fine, but just this once. However, I'm closing my own eyes, so you can take your hands off of my face."

"See?" he teased, removing his hands and grabbing mine. "Just hold my hand and follow where I'm going, okay? I promise that this isn't a scary jungle crawling with centipedes or rodents."

"It better not be," I deadpanned, walking with him as he led me off to somewhere else. "Or else I'll ask Tobi and my imouto to bother the heck out of you."

"No!" he cried out in panic, making me burst into laughter. "Anything but that! I'd rather get poisoned by Sasori-danna!"

I thought about the last suggestion, smirking lightly. "So would you like me to—"

"Oh, shut up and follow me!"

Giggling, I went along with him, shivering slightly every time I felt the land underneath my feet grow bumpy. Mentally, I told myself to calm down and just keep up with Deidara while keeping my eyes closed and our fingers intertwined with each other.

Okay, that just sounded very weird, I thought to myself. I swear, I just made it seem like a scene from a romance movie, which is definitely not the case. Besides, I don't fully trust Deidara, but that's all I really can do right now, because I don't want to hurt his feelings, either…

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, he finally stopped. Unfortunately, I did not notice this in time and instead bumped into him, sending him to the ground. Luckily, I caught myself with my feet, or else it would have been extremely embarrassing.

I heard him get back up and dust himself off, even though I was pretty certain that the forest didn't have much dust at all. Finally, I heard the words that signaled my next action.

"You can open your eyes now."

They instantly fluttered open, and upon catching sight of everything around me, I gasped. All around me was a lustrous field of flowers, in almost every color and type imaginable. Colorful songbirds flew through the air, singing what seemed to be the sweetest of morning songs that I had ever heard: even better than the modern ones that I occasionally heard on the radio. Luminous, leafy trees surrounded the entire grove, letting in thin rays of sunshine to illuminate everything.

And best of all, right in the center of everything was a serene pond, which shimmered with brilliant rays of light. Like Deidara had originally told me, it was streaked with small rainbows everywhere, dancing along the surface without leaving behind any ripples. In the very back was a large, tall waterfall, which was currently spawning tons of rainbows as the sparkling drops cascaded towards the pond: the only thing that was disturbing the calmness of the water.

Rushing over to the nearest patch of fluorescent flowers, I breathed in their wonderful aroma, sighing in bliss as the fragrance filled my nose with the power of a thousand flowers. Subconsciously, I stroked their soft petals, my brain too numb to register what type of flowers they were. All I saw was an environment of pure color.

Walking up to me, Deidara smiled, observing the clumps of flowers. "What do you think?"

"It's...beautiful," I breathed, stunned by pretty much everything around me. My fingers fiddled with a small purple flower as I mumbled that, my eyes staring at the polka-dot pattern on its gentle petals. "How...did you find this?"

"Let's just say that it was fate," Deidara answered. "I honestly wasn't looking for this, but I happened to find it when I was training Akane one day. When I first saw it, I knew instantly that it was something that you'd like, since you and your family are all about bright colors and staying happy and positive."

"You really do know me well," I mumbled, before I realized what I had just said. "I'm not as positive as Kagami-chan, but I am definitely a color person, though I do like yellow a lot more than most—"

"If you really like colors," he whispered into my ear, silencing me, "then maybe you'll like this. Here, I'll put it on for you."

Before I could say anything else, I felt something soft and gentle land on my head. From the shape, I could tell that it was a flower crown, but I could not see which kinds and colors they were. I felt tempted to take it off and take a look, but Deidara led me over to the pond, which turned out to be even more reflective up close.

I usually did not spend much time in front of a mirror, so I often surprised myself by staring at my own reflection. However, this time, I didn't gasp at the sight of myself as usual, and instead gasped at how pretty the flowers in my hair were as I twisted the garland. Every color of the rainbow was present, but every other flower was a yellow daffodil. The species of the other flowers varied, but I was slightly more focused on what color they were instead of what they looked like.

Deidara came up beside me, staring at both of our reflections at the same time. "You know," he remarked, "that flower crown makes you look like you're the princess of this flower grove, un."

At first, I felt like scolding him for calling me a princess again, but the serenity of the grove quickly swept away any negative feelings that I withheld. For some reason, all I felt like doing was smiling like an idiot and smelling all of the flowers. In addition, I did not seem to have the heart to tease Deidara and annoy him. If anything, I just wanted to observe the flower grove with him.

And as much as I hated to admit it, I did look like a princess in that flower crown. There were no ribbons, jewels, or metals, but wearing the crown still made me feel like royalty, as if Deidara and I owned the entire grove.

My thoughts were interrupted when Akane, now in her normal form, flew up to my head and perched in my hair. She then proceeded to play with strands of my hair and tickling me with her wings, causing me to giggle.

"Cheep!" she cooed playfully as she continued messing with my hair and making me laugh. Deidara was giggling as well, but all of a sudden, he stopped and hung his head in what seemed to be grief. Immediately, both of us stopped playing, and I rushed over to him to see what was the matter.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried about how he had suddenly turned sorrowful. "There's nothing to mope about here."

"It's really sad, now that I think about it," he muttered dejectedly. "I spent most of my life destroying the lives of others. But in the end, the only life that was truly being destroyed was my own. Every time I get the chance to see glorious wonders such as this, it reminds me of the people that I've forcefully snatched this opportunity away from, and for what?"

Shaking my head, I stood in front of him, placing both of my hands on my garland. "Stop thinking about things like that! Yes, you are speaking the truth, but don't dwell too much on the past, unless you really want to destroy yourself over it. Instead, think of the present and maybe the future. You got the chance to show me this gorgeous grove of flowers, so think more about that. Don't you remember the meaning behind the daffodils that you put in this flower crown?"

Deidara nodded. "New beginnings."

"Exactly," I told him. "Think about this as the start of something new, where you can live a life where you refuse to dwell on all of your past wrongdoings. I'm not saying that it's wrong to not think about them, but compare it to Hidan's profanity. Both can become extremely unhealthy, mainly if one just overdoes it."

Picking up a long, thin stick, I walked over towards where the waterfalls were, carefully traversing the rocks that surrounded it. Deidara followed me as I balanced precariously from the stones that stuck out of the edge of the pond, occasionally using the stick as a balance.

Finally, I reached the area that I wanted to reach — a blank patch of mud right behind the waterfall — that was neither wet nor dry, but good enough to be protected by the waterfall for a long time. Not a single drop of water seemed to graze it, and I winked at Deidara as soon as I saw it.

"Over here!" I called to him, stepping over to a patch of stepping-stones on the opposite side of the tall, thin waterfall. He nodded to me, but he remained on the other side of the waterfall as I handed him the stick.

"Do you want me to—" he asked, eying the patch of mud, but I cut him off with a simple nod.

Taking the stick in his hand, Deidara dug the end of the stick into the mud, writing out his name in the neatest font he could. Despite this, it still came out to be somewhat messy, but there wasn't much either one of us could do about writing in the mud.

Once he finished, he passed me the stick, and taking it from him, I wrote my name right beside the spot he had written his name, in cursive. After writing out my name, I proceeded to sketch some small flowers around our names, as if we really were the prince and princess of the grove.

When I noticed Deidara eying the stick, I passed it back to him, and he drew small objects around the names. At first, I couldn't tell what they were because his arm was in the way, but once he backed out, I could easily tell what they were meant to be, though I was confused about why he had drawn them.

Hearts? my mind wondered. Why, of all things…

Assuming that it was simply that he loved the beautiful grove, I waited for him to finish up with the design, and together, we both headed back over to the shore, trying our best not to fall into the water.

But of course, as I was trying to traverse the last couple of stepping-stones, my right foot chose to slip at that very moment. I let out a slight yelp as I fell towards the water, but luckily, Deidara turned around in time and grabbed my hand before I could fall into the pond and get myself drenched.

For some reason, I found myself staring at our hands as our fingers intertwined with each other instead of pulling myself up. If Deidara noticed this, I couldn't tell from his expression. Five seconds later, he awkwardly pulled me to shore, where he released his grasp on my hand.

"Be careful next time," he told me. "Good thing that I saw you slip in time, un. Anyway, we need to head back home. I'm kind of hungry right now...I never got a chance to eat breakfast."

In response, my stomach growled, and I laughed nervously. "Neither did I. Kagami-chan woke me up so early that I had barely any time to comprehend anything. But still, we should visit this place again sometime. After all, it's our personal grove, right?"

He nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a great idea. I definitely like this place...speaking of it, since we were the ones who discovered it, should we give it a name? It would feel strange if we returned here and called it simply The Grove, wouldn't it?"

"What about Prism Grove?" I suggested. "It's covered in rainbows of all different types, and both of us like colors...right?"

"I'm not as colorful as you or your imouto," said Deidara, "but yes, I like colors and that idea. And even more, I'm thinking that we shouldn't tell anybody about this place."

I blinked at him. "Are you sure? There's nothing wrong with telling everybody, and besides, I kind of wanted to show Kagami-chan."

"But if you do," he responded, "then this place won't be as special anymore. Just keep it between me, you, and Akane, okay?"

"Okay…" I stammered, feeling slightly uncertain. But for once, it wasn't because I wanted to tell my siblings: I actually felt fine about keeping Prism Grove a secret. For some reason, I felt uncertain about...something else.

"Let's head home," Deidara told me, then proceeded to remove my flower crown. "It's a shame that we have to leave this thing here, though. I think you looked pretty while you were wearing it."

Okay, that last line shocked me. "You think so?" I inquired, slightly suspicious. Deidara usually doesn't compliment me out of the blue like that…

As he performed the hand seal to turn Akane into a giant creation, he smiled at me. "Of course! Actually, with or without it, you look pretty, Kaiya. You don't need the flower crown to look like a princess."

What's going on? I thought to myself, panicking slightly. Is this really Deidara standing in front of me? No way, this can't be him!

"Who are you and what have you done with Deidara?" I muttered stupidly, then quickly covered my mouth to prevent myself from saying any more.

Luckily, Deidara didn't seem to take it the wrong way. Instead, he just doubled over with laughter. "Hey, the man known by that name is still here, un! Did the aroma of the flowers mess with your head or something?"

I placed both of my hands on my hips. "If anything, you're the one whose head the flowers messed with. I don't recall you ever complimenting me like that."

He sighed, then placed the flower crown back on me temporarily. "Nope, my head is still the same." Suddenly, a mischievous glint sparkled in his eyes. "Perhaps this is all a dream, then?"

I rapidly shook my head. "I doubt it. But still, why does everything feel so...real, if that's the case?"

Deidara grabbed my hand and hopped on Akane. "Who knows? Dreams are supposed to feel real, or else they wouldn't really live up to their own standards, would they?"

"I guess not," I replied. Actually, he's kind of right. The Pure Land is so vivid and real, and I can even talk to its inhabitants, like Yahiko. However, I think it's the only time when I'm actually fully aware that it's a dream.

He then pulled me up, and I quickly sat on Akane's back. The clay phoenix stretched her wings out as Deidara carefully set the flower crown on a large leaf in the middle of the pond, where it floated towards the waterfall.

"We're going to speed home," he warned me. "If we don't everybody will get totally suspicious again, just like they did last time."

"That's fine with me," I fibbed, then braced myself for the turbulence. When it didn't come, I opened one of my eyes, just in time for Akane to take off at full speed.

Of course, I screamed, but the wind prevented any sound from escaping. Instinctively, I attempted to wrap my arms around Akane's back, but I could not get a firm grip, as she was traveling so quickly. In addition, I couldn't get down to wrap my arms around her.

So instead, I wrapped my arms around the second closest thing to me: Deidara.

In my mind, I knew that it was him that I wrapped my arms around, but I didn't care. I was scared that I was going to fall off, as much as I disliked to admit it. And for some reason, I only felt like turning to Deidara for comfort.

But why? I continued to think to myself. I don't recall feeling like this before...so why am I getting...this unfamiliar feeling inside?

I tried my best to ignore it and instead continued holding onto Deidara, though I could not see his reaction. My eyes were shut tightly like window blinds, though I was pretty certain that Deidara was smiling. I just didn't know what he was smiling at.

Even more, I didn't even realize that Akane had landed on our front lawn until Deidara tapped my shoulder lightly, jolting me out of my train of thoughts.

"Um...Kaiya?" he said, waving a hand in front of my face. "Hello? We're home, so you don't have to keep holding onto me like that. You can also get off of Akane's back now, since I'm going to transform her back into her normal form."

Yelping, I swiftly got off of Akane's back, blushing for some reason. Deidara laughed as he made the hand seal, causing a small cloud of smoke to fill the lawn before clearing to reveal Akane, all back to normal.

The little bird perched on my head and began to fiddle around with my hair. Laughing, I tried to swat her away playfully, but instead, she zoomed around me and knocked me to the grass playfully.

"Kaa!" she squawked, as if she was trying to laugh as well. "Kaa! Kaa!"

"Whoa, there!" I cried, both Deidara and I laughing at that point. "Down, girl! Don't attack me like that!"

We probably would have continued laughing and playing out there all day, had Yukio not have stuck his head outside and yelled, "Oi! It's instant ramen time! Come inside, you slowpokes!"

"Alright, we're coming!" I called back to him, and we all raced inside to have lunch, which he and Naoki had prepared for all of us.

That night, I had trouble going to sleep. For some reason, all I could really think about was Deidara and Prism Grove, and how it was our little secret. I had felt quite uncomfortable about keeping a secret from my siblings, but for the first time, I felt like keeping it that way.

It's just the after-effects of being in Prism Grove, my inner mumbled. The flowers are just giving you a funny feeling, that's all. Don't dwell on it too much. Or maybe it's because you and Deidara completely forgot about training Akane to shoot a flamethrower after all of that happened...

But as the hours passed, I still could not fall asleep, my only thought being the time we had spent together in the place...alone. It had felt almost unreal, like an illusion or a dream. It had felt almost as if the entire world had just left both of us alone to explore what was supposed to be one of its hidden wonders that only we could see. It had felt like we really were the prince and princess of Prism Grove, even though I was the only one with a flower crown.

It had felt...like a date.

At that point, I didn't even know what to think anymore. I was sure that a pink blush was present on my cheeks, but I couldn't see it. The only reason why I could tell was because my face was currently heating up.

What has gotten into me…?


A/N: Yes, Kaiya. Looks like you've got a little crush on Deidei-chan as well. I think your crushes on each other developed about...thirteen chapters away from each other. Yay! It's my favorite number, too!

Well...I never understood why, but lucky things always seem to happen to me on Friday the 13th. Speaking of that, it's coming up in exactly two weeks, so if you are somebody who has bad luck on this day, I wish you good luck! Make sure to stay prepared, calm, and focused!

Question: Alright. I've got a very, very, special and important question for all of you. For all of you silent readers, I want to know the answer to this question as soon as possible, so this is your chance to speak up!

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HOW MANY OF YOU GUYS WANT TO SEE A SEQUEL TO THIS FANFIC?

(Dun dun dun!)

That's right! I said it in all caps as well, which I never do in a fanfic (because they really annoy me)! I want to know if you guys actually want one, so readers, if you have 1-2 minutes, please speak up! I don't know for certain if you guys actually enjoy the stuff I put in this fic...

You can also use the poll on my profile, which also contains information about the main OCs in this story. Thank you all in advance!

I feel fully motivated to carry this story on inside another adventure as soon as I finish this one up, thanks to all of your support on this fanfic so far! 115 reviews? I wouldn't have even dreamed of it!

Thank you so much! You guys are the best!

Best regards,

— Tenshi-chan —