It was much easier getting up Saturday morning without a hang over. I'd successfully had a drink without getting drunk and I was feeling pretty good about my self control until I realized, after looking at a piece of paper stuck to my door, I'd defaulted on a ton of my duties as building manager. It was a huge list of things I'd supposedly not done, and I thought Kakuzu was just trying to get the best of me. Heck, some of the stuff listed wasn't in my original list of duties, not to mention there was no contract and no real official listing I had to do.
I was cleaning bathrooms from nine to ten, doing dishes and organizing the kitchen from ten to eleven, I breaked for lunch at twelve and by one I'd given up on having my day off. Cleaning wasn't really something I minded, I liked things tidy and germ free. The more disinfectant whipes I used the better I felt about things.
Today was the designated day off for the majority of the tenants, and I was informed upon Kakuzu's return home that many of them wouldn't be home tonight.
"So, um, I wanted to talk to you about this list," I said, unfolding it from my pants pocket, "what's with all this?"
"Their requests from the tenants. There's a sheet just inside the office you've been neglecting, listen, they pay an extra fifty dollars a month for full housing, including the extra services like cooking and keeping things clean, there's no negotiating," the accountant explained in a much mellower tone than I'd heard perviously, "where's the meal plan for the next two weeks?"
I pointed to the notes sheet on the refrigerator, now covered inappropriate drawings of male genitalia and the symbol for Hidan's cult in dark ink.
"So, uh, what'd you guys do if the building manager before couldn't cook?" I asked as he scanned over the sheet.
"Take out," he answered, going to pocket the paper when I took it quickly out of his hands.
"Sorry, uh, not done with it yet," I smiled, in a sort of pathetic way actually, and dashed upstairs to vacuum the hallway. I could almost feel his glare on my back as I ran, but the noise from the vacuum drowned out any smart comebacks he might have. I made a mental note to check that list in the office more often.
Next, after checking the laundry sheet again, I discovered it was my turn, and nearly jumped for joy when I read the page. I was probably the only person I knew that was so excited about doing laundry, but it also meant a clean sheet and clean cloths. I could sleep in my actual bed tonight instead of the chair.
Kakuzu was right about the majority of the tenants not returning home, half of them stayed out al night. Itachi rushed in at eight, Kisame staggered in at eleven, both gone up to bed after their return, Sasuke meet his curfew at eleven thirty after being dumped off by a noisy car driven by a red headed teenage girl, and finally Sasori opened the door at midnight.
I was down stairs, watching a hallmark movie with Kakuzu reading opposite me in the chair when Sasori arrived. His car was quiet, like he was, so I hadn't noticed him until the door clicked shut. I twisted around to see who was the last to make it home but settled back down after. Sasori picked up the half of the news paper Kakuzu had finished with and sat down on the other end of the couch, flipping it open and going to the local news section.
I hadn't realized I'd been starring until he caught me.
"Could I help you?" He asked, sounding slightly irritated. Something about his gaze made me squirm.
"I uh, was just wondering what it was you um, wanted me to do to make up, um, to make up for um, well you know," I finished nervously, his gaze softened a little, but not much.
"No, I haven't," he answered, going back to his paper. I left it alone after that, and was about to turn into bed when the phone rang. I answered with a brisk hello despite the time and was treated with a groan.
"Uh, Kimi, it's Deidara. Listen, uh, I'm up town by fifth and dodge, I got in trouble and they won't let me go until somebody comes and gets me," he sounded defeated, his speech impediment acting up as his voice sort of wavered in and out.
"Who are you in trouble with?" I asked, and I heard both of the news papers behind me fold.
"The cops," he muttered, probably feeling ashamed to admit it after the show he put on last night.
"Is it Hidan or Deidara?" Kakuzu asked, his deep, gruff voice projecting over the room. I responded it was the later, and Sasori stood up, sighing and looking quite angry. He marched over to me, took the phone, and informed Deidara that he'd be to get him in a few minutes and hung up.
"Could I come?" I asked Sasori hesitantly.
"I don't see why not," he answered in a short tone, and minutes later we had our shoes on and were on our way to pick up our friend. The radio was off and Sasori stepped on the peddles harshly, often jerking the car as we stopped and started. He was clearly fuming, and when we arrived at the corner of fifth street and dodge, I could see police lights slowly flashing, illuminating a half finished mural of a dove with an olive branch. We both slowly stepped out of the red Impala Sasori drove and showed our IDs to the cop, a tired looking man in his late thirties and a bad cough dressed in the classic blue police uniform. His badge labeled him as 'officer Hayate Gekko.'
"One of you is his next of kin?" The police man asked, looking behind him to the back of his squad car where Deidara sat. The blond paled and mouthed something like 'im not sorry' when he made eye contact with Sasori and the red head gave him a glare that could kill.
"I might as well be," Sasori muttered, the cop seemed irritated with the indefinite answer.
"He doesn't really have anyone like that," Sasori explained, " but I keep an eye on him."
"Apparently not very well. This is his third warning," the cop said very matter of factly, "I'm tempted to write him a ticket right now."
"Oh, he's just a kid you know?" I interjected, a nervous smile creeping on to my face with the tone of voice to match, but I was interrupted. Sasori shushed me and I stood down. He clearly wanted to handle this. The cop pulled out a pad of paper with copies of the city's standard vandalism citation notices, the ticket itself, and a pen.
"I'm sorry for the trouble he caused, I'm here to bring him directly home now. If the store owner would like, I'll have him paint over what he's done," Sasori said cooly, holding out his hand to take the unwritten citation.
"We called the city, turns out no one owns this building. I'm prepared to let him go with one last warning, but I want it in writing that he's gonna stay off the street," The officer coughed particularly hard as he went to retrieve Deidara. Before he let him out of the car, he gave him a stern talking to by the sound of it and got out another pad of paper. I thought he had been kidding about getting it down in writing, but we watched as the officer made him write out a promise to stop graffitiing and then reluctantly let him go.
"Back seat brat," Sasori commanded, turning around to get into the car. I waved to the police officer as a quick 'thank you' and fallowed them. We weren't in the car three seconds before Sasori began his lecture.
"This is the last time I'm bailing you out, your much too old for this. Honestly, I cannot believe that you'd still be out here, doing this at your age. I gave you a job, pay your rent and this is how I am repaid? I am not your father Deidara, I shouldn't have to act like it, " Sasori looked him dead in the eyes but Deidara looked like he might say something back, but he never did. I was going to reach out and give the kid a hug when Sasori turned and snapped at me too.
"Don't you dare try and coddle him," he said sternly and started the car, "where's that blasted idiot Tobi?"
"Home," Deidara said, frustrated. Sasori huffed and drove off, taking the highway home. I wished for just a second that I knew how they felt. I wished I understood why Sasori helped him with no obligation and why Deidara felt he needed to risk getting arrested for his art. It saw now that Deidara was entirely dependent on Sasori. His job, his car, his living situation, everything. If he really had been rich as some point, where was the money to back it up? Why in the world had Tobi just abandoned him when the cops came bothered me most of all. We returned home without further incident.
Sasori went up to bed as I double checked the door locks. I was coming through the kitchen to check the back door when I found the blond nineteen year old trying to leave again.
"You should probably stay in," I warned, he stopped and looked at me for a second, door still half open, as if no one had ever told him that before.
"What's it to you?" He spat, as if I had attacked him somehow. He clearly did not like being bossed around, or even given suggestions. He was an independent kid for sure.
"Nothing, I just thought maybe you'd stay in and watch a movie with me. I'm too scared to watch it alone," I said, meant to provoke him to think about what I was asking him. He'd be helping me by staying, his actions would mean something. I was sure that was exactly what he wanted.
"What movie?" He asked a few seconds later, his body posture visibly relaxing.
"Oh, uh, it's about ghosts, it's supposed to be really good," I smilied, looking away from him and fishing a bag of popcorn out of the drawer and sticking it in the microwave. I heard the door click shut and the lock snap after, and his easy footfalls on the hardwood floor lead into the living room. I ran up to my room and grabbed the lone DVD Id found while unpacking, how it's gotten mixed up in my stuff when I hated scary movies was beyond me.
Half an hour later I was hiding behind my hand as the people on the screen screamed, drenched in fake blood and bad movie make up.
"Oh my god this is horrible," Deidara laughed, shoving his mouth full of popcorn to finish off our second bowl. I volunteered to get up and get another.
"Hey, you know, Sasori asked about you the other day at work," Deidara caught me off guard, but I tried not to let him know that. A twinge of panic filled my head, why me? There are millions of other people, why me?
"Jesus your pale," he remarked as I sat down and looked away the TV and he continued speaking, "anyway, he asked me what you thought of his puppet thing, I told him you liked them. You did like them right?"
I nodded.
"Right. Well, okay, so then he asks me how old you are, but I told him I didn't know, but I bet he's still interested to know, I'll tell him if you tell me." The blonde was babbling a bit, but I didn't care. If he could watch a movie and talk I could talk and not watch the movie.
"Uh, I'm twenty two, and like, three fourths?" I replied. It was accurate, but I could tell Dei thought it was too technical.
"Tobi thinks you two would look cute together," Deidara snickered, "I still can't believe you puked on him."
I was never going to live that down was I?
"Why does everything in this house get around so fast? Do you people have nothing better to do than gossip?" I asked, Deidara burst into giggles. That was pretty much it, yeah.
"I heard Hidan went to a court hearing about child custody or something today. I guess he's got a baby mama, but she's like, in prison. If you asked me though, I think that's where he's headed. He's violent," the blonde shrugged after speaking, and took the bowl of popcorn from me. That didn't sound right to me, but then again I didn't know anyone in this house too well.
"I'm not gonna tell anybody, but, do you like, have an anxiety disorder?" Deidara's tone changed dramatically as he looked back at me from the popcorn. I wasn't sure how to answer him. I'd never been professionally diagnosed.
"It's basically panic attacks," I tried my best to explain without going in to what generalized anxiety and panic disorder was. I could sum it up best as constant fear. I was so afraid of getting sick I became a germaphobe, I was so afraid of authority figures I ran away instead of taking their words constructively, it wasn't just limited to Kakuzu. It was the reason I'd left my friend's apartment without their knowing, why I ran away from home without so much as saying good bye. I was afraid I'd fuck something up, so it was better to just stay passive and quiet, but flip out on the inside.
"Hey, sorry I asked, I didn't mean to upset you," he mumbled, and I reached out to hug him.
"You didn't upset me," I replied as he returned my embrace. Hugs made me sick. I hated to so much as even touch other people but they were customary displays of affection, so I did it anyway but reluctantly with my germaphobic tendencies. I pushed Dei away before I contracted any more germs.
The movie ended after and we went upstairs to bed, however as we tried to part in the hall way and I found myself staring into my dark, long staircase up to my room, I reached out to pull on his shirt before he could leave.
"You scared?" He laughed, I nodded. He was gone for a second, retrieving a blanket and he joined me upstairs. I took my side a let him have the other. We kept separate pillows, separate blankets, and we slept facing away from each other. That was more than okay, as long as the darkness wasn't going to eat me and we didn't touch, I didn't much care.
Sunday morning arrived and let me sleep in, it was probably eleven when I woke up, and I hauled myself out of bed to trot my ass down stairs.
When I entered the kitchen to get myself a drink of water, I found Kisame and Kakuzu sitting around while Sasori spoke in hushed tones on a cell phone. He looked at me seriously for a second and then ended his call.
"Have you see Deidara?" He asked him in a tone that conveyed he'd been looking for the blond all morning.
"Yeah, he was with me all night, I uh, I had a nightmare," I lied, but I sounded like a baby either way. Sasori heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "Why?" I asked but nobody responded.
"I suppose now we just have to go about finding Hidan," Kisame sighed and folded his arms.
"Deidara said something about him being in court yesterday for something about a baby?" I offered, getting myself my drink and sitting down at the table. Kakuzu gave me a dirty look and took the cell phone from Sasori. The phone hadn't even begun to ring when the man in question opened the door.
"There you are, you ass," Kakuzu growled, pushing something on the touch screen on the phone and setting it down, "your rents due today."
Hidan, scowling harder than I'd ever seen, took a wad of money out of his pocket and slammed it down on the table.
"I got a social worker coming in twenty minutes, don't fucking bug me," he snarled, took off his motorcycle jacket and after throwing it down, left the room to go upstairs. Kakuzu scoffed, counting the cash carefully.
"He paid off last months too," the accountant noted and shoved the money into his pocket. Life resumed after both the trouble makers had been found. Kisame wandered off after Sasuke, mumbling something about baby sitting, and Kakuzu went in to the office, leaving Sasori with me at the table. The red haired man pocketed his phone and examined his finger nails a moment before looking up at me.
"Deidara tells me you've been asking about me," he spoke calmly, his gaze bored and uncaring.
"He said the same about you," I replied. That little blond shit, what was he up to? Sasori smirked.
"Is that so?" He chuckled and stood up, leaving the room. I couldn't quite place what was happening.
I headed back up to my room to count what was left of my money to go shopping and roust Deidara, but a barricade of trash bags blocked my path. The door to Hidan's room was open, and I could see him inside bagging up a layer of trash on his floor. His walls were black with a large circle with a triangle inside painted red over his King sized bed. He had a ton of side tables of all different heights pushed up against the walls, a beat up dresser and over flowing closet, giving the room a personality to match it'd biker inhabitant.
"Um, this is a fire hazard," I spoke hesitantly, attracting the silver haired mans attention.
"Like I give a shit!" He shouted and went back to his task.
"Could I do anything to help get rid of this mountian? No one can get through," I murmured, now more so afraid of him after he'd snapped at me. I was forced to repeat myself, he hadn't been able to hear me the first time and told me so.
"Yeah, uh, that bag next to you has cloths in it. Take it down to the laundry for me?" He asked, his tone still just as firm up not as abusive. I complied and took the bags down stairs, not about to touch any of his germ ridden things in it. No sooner had set the bags down did I hear a knock at the door. I put a rush on my walking, this had to be the social worker.
"I'm here to see Hidan?"
"I'll get him, please come in," I smiled and let her inside. Hidan was down the steps seconds later, he'd changed into a clean, but wrinkled white shirt and slacks, complete with a belt and tie.
"Hi, Kushina, it's nice to see you," Hidan smiled. While they talked, I had a chance to look our guests over. Kushina wore a prim and proper suite, a black skirt and matching blazer that contrasted her burning red hair. If she worked at child services, I was glad to hear it with her cheerful personality. The baby was sleeping, wrapped in a soft pink blanket. She couldn't be very old, maybe eight months, with a tuft of black hair on her head.
After staring awkwardly at them in silence, I thought I might be being a little creepy and went off to make myself some tea. When I returned to the living room to sneak back upstairs, I easdropp on them talking about Hidan's job.
"Well um, I don't exactly have one but uh, um," he stuttered. I probably should have butted out, but I wanted to help him in a hands off sort of way. We both had a bad affliction for booze I understood and that motivated me.
"He helps me out," I chimed, bringing the attention to me. My genuine smile fell into a nervous crooked one, "he uh, helps me do stuff around here I can't do, haha, you know, too short to wash the crown molding. I'm the uh, house manager, so uh, you know, it's, it's gotta get done."
"I see," Kushina looked very interested as she looked down at some papers in her hand and then back to the silver haired man in question.
"Right, but I'm looking for another job," Hidan replied.
"Well, I'm going to skip the tour, my son Naruto comes over to see his friend, Sasuke who also happens to live in this building, so I'm sure it's fine, but moving on, who will be watching the baby while your looking for a job?" Hidan heaved a sigh of relief, but tensed up again as she continued on. He might as well have been sweating bullets.
"I will," I volunteered, raising my hand dorkishly, "I'm home all day."
It was quiet for a few seconds more until finally Kushina stood up and unceremoniously handed the baby to Hidan, telling him congratulations. I'd never seen an unmarried man so happy about a baby. I wasn't about to be getting anywhere near that little monstrosity though, so I opted to take care of the laundry after Kushina left. They puked all over, not to mention the germs, so I simply had to avoid the bouncy baby girl as her new guardian set up a crib. When Id finished with the laundry I took it up to his room where he was watching the baby sleep.
"Thanks uh, a bunch. You stuck your neck out for me," I head Hidan mutter as dumped the basket out on the closest clean surface. He'd probably wished I hadn't heard that.
"Now I'm nosey here, so let's get the record on this baby straight. You got some nasty rumors going around," I told him, holding the cloths basket on one hip and my hand on the other.
"She was my friends kid. Her dad died and her mom not doing too hot. Her names Mirai," Hidan sounded a little sad. What he didn't tell me is that he felt guilty for what happened to Mirai's parents. Asuma and Kurenai had been out with him, and they'd all been drinking. Asuma wrapped their car around a tree on the way home and landed them in the hospital with a confused baby sitter at home. Asuma died a few days later, but Kurenai was excepted to get better.
"We were buddies in high school is all. Her moms gonna come get her when she gets a chance though, it's not forever."
"Your gonna have to find a real baby sitter," I said very matter of factly and left the room, I hated kids and I hated the bacteria they carried, just because I said I would didn't mean I was actually going to baby sit. I was on my way back up stairs with another load of laundry for the hundredth time today (this time it was mine) when sleeping beauty started on his way down.
"Do you have any idea what time it is Deidara?" I asked, looking back at him as we passed.
"Two in the afternoon," he said a bit more cheerful than I liked. I rolled my eyes, teenagers. While distracted, and I really should have known, I managed to bump into none other than Sasori at the top of the steps.
"We've got to stop running into each other like this," I tried to half heartedly joke cracking a smilie, but he didn't think it was funny.
"Excuse me," he said so politely it sounded fake and moved around me.
"Uh, Sasori look," I started, but let my words die off. I didn't know what I wanted to say or how to say it. I excepted him to keep walking and ignore me. He stopped half way down the stares and looked at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"What is it?" He asked, but I had no answer. "Alright then. When you get the knot out of your tongue I'll be downstairs."
"Wait, I um," I started again to catch his attention but it just served to agitate him.
"Spit it out!" He ordered.
"Tobi thinks Miss Kimi is trying to ask you out to dinner! I'm completely sure if it!" Tobi's shrill fake voice filled the air as he bounded into the room, pulling a Deidara with him. The blonde might as well of been in stitches. I tried again to stammer out an excuse, a reason, anything, but Sasori quieted the room with his commanding, impatient voice.
"You should have just asked then," the red head spoke, his tone leveling and calming after pausing, "be down stairs at five thirty."
He continued his way down the steps and turned the corner into the hall way. I heard the office door open and shut, and vaguely I could hear Kakuzu's voice through the wall. The 'children' at the end of the steps had gotten pretty quiet, like they hadn't expected that to happen. They both took one look at me and scattered.
I stood still a while longer, my mind racing on what exactly I should do about this. I didn't want to go out to dinner, I didn't want to be anywhere alone with Sasori. I was frozen in my own body, unable to move my legs our lips. My anxiety was mounting, like it had climbed every step on this stairway, gaining strength as it went until it swallowed me whole. I struggled not to hyperventilate as I turned around quickly and fast walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I leaned against the wall, my vision closing in.
This was going to end in disaster, I was going to be embarrassed, I was going to get hurt, I was going to get fired for this some way or another. All these irrational thoughts suddenly became very possible in my twisted worry world. I wasn't sure how long it had gone on when I finally forced myself to get a grip.
"Take a deep breathe," I said out loud and I did so, "another," I commanded, and it went on like that until I finally got ahold of myself.
Exhausted, I finally stood up and looked at myself in the mirror. My face was red and my pupils were still dilated, but I wasn't hurt and I wasn't dead most importantly. Took a long shower to relieve any left over tension and got dressed after, in clean cloths. If I couldn't object to the plans that had been made for me, I could at least look decent. I combed my shirt blonde hair to the left, putting a curl in the body and flips on the ends as I asked myself why I didn't do my hair more often, only to remember why. I was yet still afraid of being embarrassed. If I hadn't forcibly made myself leave it alone, I probably would have straightened it back out.
I was ready at five forty four and so was Sasori. As soon as we closed the car doors, he turned to me.
"I'm not entirely sure what's happening, but I'm inclined to think Deidara is trying to set us up. I decided to humor him this once, however, I'd like you to know this outing has no meaning what so ever."
"T-that's fine. That's more than fine, actually, that's great," I replied and he seemed to like how I answered him.
"Where would you prefer to eat?" He asked, starting the car and backing out, trying to weasel around the other tenant's cars.
"I like Mexican?" I offered so Mexican it was then. Truth be told it was nice to get out of the house, though it was out of my comfort zone, and Sasori was pleasant to be around. We were seated and ordered our food in a timely fashion. I had to order something I could eat with my hands. I didn't use other people's silver wear.
"Thanks um, for going along with this anyway," I smiled, stirring my water with my straw.
"No problem," he returned, his gaze lazy and and his russet colored eyes looking uninterested.
"I would have thought you would have been working or something," I noted, he shook his head.
"No, on Sundays I usually work on my puppets, but today I'm out to dinner," he replied very seriously. I felt a little bad.
"You should have said, you could have done that instead," I offered but he shrugged it off.
"It's not always good to be ingrained into a routine," he stated. I smiled gently and he cracked a smirk. Our food came right after.
We left it at that and ate in silence. We chatted about useless things and went home. Returning to my room I found Deidara sitting in the middle of my bed, which he'd made.
"Well?" He asked, snickering under his breathe.
"It's not becoming of a lady to let on," I smirked and his face fell.
"No fair!" He exclaimed.
"Let this be a lesson then," laying down on my bed and using my socked foot to push him off. He caught himself before he fell on his behind and looked back at me before leaving the room. What a little weasel I thought, but whatever. He'd given me a nice night at his own expense. I figured he'd be getting his ass chewed out again by Sasori as soon as he saw him next. I put away a couple drinks before inspecting the blond's work on my bed, and dubbed it clean enough to sleep under.
This had been a long first week, and that was fine because I was looking foreword to many more.