Hello there people... : )
So here is a new chapter for you all, to make your weekend more entertaining. Hope you enjoy it. If you read this, please leave a reveiw, telling me what you think. ; )
This is a pretty action-packed chapter, but I tried to keep everyone in character.
And in response to a comment I got: Originally I had intended to have Deidara's age at ten, but in the middle of the first chapter, I decided to change to twelve. I guess I missed one of the times it said ten, instead of twelve.
In other news, I am still looking for a good beta for this fic. If you think you can give good suggestions on rewriting parts, and have an eye for errors, drop me a line:)
And now, enjoy the rest of Deidara's pre-Akatsuki adventures:P
-Eureka-
Chapter Three
"Hey, wait up Shihiro," Deidara shouted. Ahead of him, Shihiro suddenly stopped on a branch, looking back at him questioningly. Deidara landed on the huge branch beside her, and straightened up, leaning himself against a pillar-sized twig that was sticking up from the branch. A few short seconds later, Deimon landed beside them, looking confused.
"What are you playing at, Shihiro," Deidara asked her accusingly, frowning. "The delivery spot is that way!" He pointed his finger to their right. "What's the point in turning left?" Shihiro looked confused, and looked where Deidara was pointing.
"What are you talking about? I never turned left… We've been heading this way the whole time," she said slowly, looking back and forth at Deidara and Deimon. Deimon merely raised his eyebrows, while Deidara looked at her disbelievingly.
"What are you talking about? You just turned left suddenly, about ten seconds ago," Deidara said, annoyed. Shihiro looked insulted, and gave him a frown.
"Are you calling me a liar? I think I would remember if I made a turn," she said angrily, crossing her arms, and fixing her gaze on Deidara. Deidara fumbled slightly for a response, but Deimon beat him to it.
"But you did make a turn, and the way we should be heading is that way," he said, pointing to the right. "I think it's better if I lead," he added, the slightest indication of a smile on his face. He held out his hand.
"The map please, Shihiro." Shihiro looked between the two boys indignantly, before tossing back her red hair, and angrily thrusting the map into Deimon's outstretched hand. She looked slightly hurt, and confused. She gazed angrily at Deidara for a second, before shaking her head, and looking away to the right. Deidara bit his lip slightly, sighing. Suddenly, Deimon was gone. Deidara looked around for a second, before realizing that he was on the move. He pushed off the twig he was leaning on, and sped off after him, leaving Shihiro to trail behind him, angrily muttering something he could not catch. As he sped along the branches, he stole a couple of glances back at her. It was just so strange, since it was not like Shihiro to make mistakes. Even if she did make a mistake, she had always admitted it at once, along with how she planned to do it better. He frowned, and shook his head, speeding up slightly. Really, he just wanted to be out of this forest as fast as he could. He stuck one hand into his pocket, just to make sure that his scroll was still there.
Suddenly, Deidara noticed a change of scenery as he went along. It was a gradual change, so he barely noticed at first. Here and there, the huge, gnarled trees were giving room to huge pine trees, big as the ancient trees themselves. It started slowly; one or two pine trees in sight at all times. But after a while, it was getting so that Deidara had to really look where the next non-spiked tree branch was. Once, he accidentally almost jumped straight into a pine tree. He managed to do a barrel roll like move in the air, narrowly avoiding the prickly stem of the tree. Around him, he could see Shihiro and Deimon moving there way through the maze of suitable branches. Deidara merely shook his head, and gave up, dropping down onto the forest floor to run along it. The floor of the forest was covered in a soft mat of brown pine needles, that made his steps almost inaudible. Here and there, a rock, or stray branch stuck up. Perfect to camouflage things in… Explosive notes, for example, he thought off-handedly. He stopped in his tracks, flicking his eye around the forest floor. Then he shrugged, deciding that he'd just have to take that risk. Ahead of him, he saw Shihiro and Deimon, who had also retreated to the ground, running along.
Suddenly, ahead of him he saw Shihiro and Deimon stop dead in their tracks, both looking around urgently. In front of them was something that Deidara could not quite make out, since Shihiro was standing right in front of it. To him, it looked like a pile of grey stones. He ran over to where they were standing, and stopped, looking around.
It was a door. A single stone door, standing there in the middle of the forest, looking very out of place. The blank stone slab was fit into a finely carved frame, which curved upwards towards the stop, ending in a nice little spire. On top of the spire, there was a gold plated sun, which was glittering in the real sunlight. The door itself was completely grey, and featureless. Completely featureless. It did not have a door handle, or any other way of opening the door, Deidara realized. The only thing on it was a tiny black hole, that seemed to go right through the door, no thicker in width then his little finger. Deidara stared at the door, before glancing over at the other two.
"What is it?" he asked slowly, glancing over at Shihiro, who was busy running her hand over the rough surface of the door.
"What does it look like?" Deimon said, not looking at him. "What I want to know, is what the hell it's doing here."
Beside him, Shihiro sidestepped, and tried to walk straight past the door. She had not walked more then a few steps however, before she stumbled backwards, as though she had hit an invisible wall.
"What the-" Deidara uttered, looking over at Shihiro. Shihiro managed not to fall backwards, and straightened up. She stuck her hand foreword, but suddenly it was stopped. Frowning slightly, she ran her hand back and forth in the air, as if rubbing an invisible wall. Deidara stuck out his hand, and just like he thought it was instantly stopped by some sort of invisible barrier. He frowned, putting all his weight behind his hand, but the barrier would not budge. Meanwhile, Deimon was investigating the door itself, rubbing the rocky surface with his hand, and pressing his eye against the small hole.
"It's some kind of barrier," Shihiro said, running her hand over it. In a flash, she grabbed a kunai from her pouch, and slammed it against the barrier, or whatever it was. There was no sound, but the kunai stopped as suddenly as if she had hit a brick wall, not even budging whatever was stopping them.
"What kind of technique is this… I mean, you can't just make a whole wall of chakra. Even the Kage himself probably couldn't…" Deidara said slowly. Deimon nodded, still looking over the door. Shihiro smirked slightly at the mention of her father, but nobody noticed.
Deidara crouched down, and jumped as far as he could straight up into the air. When he reached the top of his jump, he kicked foreword as hard as he could. Pain rang down his leg, and the kick pushed him straight backwards. Deidara stabilized himself by flipping over backwards, and spinning around to jump of the trunk of a nearby tree. He landed straight by the door again, panting. Deimon looked slightly amused.
"What's with this door, then," Shihiro asked, frowning at it.
"I don't know, but it won't budge," Deimon said, glancing over at it. "I assume that that tiny hole goes straight through the barrier… I'm also sure that there is no way we can force the barrier open," he added.
"What makes you so sure of that?" Deidara asked carefully, glancing over at the door as well. It did not really look all that strong. One good load of my clay would probably clear it out of the way…
"Well, if their going to make the invisible barrier completely impenetrable, they certainly would not do any less with the visible one," Deimon said, as though this was obvious. Deidara did not quite take his point, and sighed slightly, looking over at Shihiro, who was pushing her red hair out of the way, while looking thoughtful.
"Well this is obviously part of the test, so I'm guessing we'll have to work as a team to get through this," she said slowly, looking over at the two of them. "In that case, that would mean that we each have to use our own special abilities in combination somehow…"
"Can you dig underneath the door?" Deidara asked, glancing over at her nervously. That's how he had been feeling for pretty much the whole mission, nervous. But now, it was getting harder to hide it. How the heck are we supposed to get through this?
Shihiro suddenly reappeared out of the hole she had just made, shaking her head. Deidara sighed, and turned to the door, starting to feel slightly desperate.
Then suddenly, without warning, Deimon began to walk foreword, eyes shut, and arms outstretched like a zombie. He walked right past the door, as if there was nothing there at all. Deidara's eye widened in surprise, and he too started foreword. The invisible barrier was just as solid as before, however, and he stumbled backwards, surprised. Shihiro was looking at him, a look of surprise on her face.
"It's a Genjutsu," Deimon said in amazement, looking back at the door. "It's just you who think that there's something there… you who are telling your own nerves that you feel something there," he said quietly, before looking up again, and saying to the other two, "There's no way to open the door from here either."
Shihiro nodded shortly. She threw back her red hair, which was shimmering in a patch of sunlight, and formed a seal with her hands. She closed her eyes, and started foreword, slowly. At first Deidara thought she had managed it. She had pushed slightly past the barrier, carefully crossing it, before she was suddenly thrown back, as though she had been punched in the stomach. Her eyes snapped open in surprise, and she winced in pain, as she fell backwards onto the ground.
"Shihiro, are you ok?" Deidara said, starting over to her. She nodded, still wincing a little as she pushed herself to her feet. Deidara nodded, before turning back to Deimon. He was casually looking around, walking slowly foreword, as though checking for traps.
"How are we supposed to get past?" Deidara shouted. Deimon ignored him, holding up his hand to indicate that he should be quiet. Deidara frowned, annoyed. It's just a Genjutsu, for heavens sake…
"Hey guys, listen up," Deimon said, shaking a hand over at the two of them to get their attention. Deidara turned, and Shihiro looked up, her eyes flicking around the area around Deimon, looking for something.
"It's a bound Genjutsu," he said.
"That means it's a Jutsu bound by an anchor other then the person that used it. The most common anchor is a scroll, but anything you can write on works," Shihiro added, looking over Deidara's questioning face. Deidara nodded quickly, going slightly red. He hated being the only who did not know something.
"I've tracked the source," Deimon continued, pointing over to a spot in the trunck of a tree, straight ahead from the other side of the door. "But the problem is, the scroll is protected by an actual Ninjutsu barrier. The whole area out from the door for about three meters is sealed off. I can't get through it, but I'm pretty sure that that hole in the door goes right through the barrier."
"Well what do you sugest we do, shrink ourselves down to the size of a slug, and crawl through the hole?" Deidara asked, more desperately then he had intended.
"Of course not," Shihiro said coldly. She walked foreword to the door, and kneeled down, pressing her eye to the hole. She stayed there, completely still, as if measuring something through the hole. Deimon was circeling the area around the barriered area, all the while keeping his eyes on the hole in the tree trunk where the source was.
Meanwhile, Deidara was just standing there, mildly shocked, and wanting to slap himself. He had let his emotions carry him away. He had allowed himself to panic, and panic was your biggest enemy on a mission. For a few seconds, he closed his eye, breathing slowly. When he opened it, it instantly started darting around, taking in the situation. He turned his head to the side a little, compensating for his halved field of view.
"Shihiro, you had the best accuracy mark ever at the academy, right?" Deidara asked, looking around behind him.
"Yup," she said tonelessly, still not taking her eyes off the door. Deidara nodded, and set off into the forest, eyes surveying the forest floor, looking for a suitable stick. He heard Deimon say something to him, but he ignored it, and continued into the forest, holding up a hand indicating that he was fine. Finally, he found a suitable candidate, propped up against a pine tree.
He picked it up, and surveyed it. The twig was from one of the old, gnarly trees, but it was almost completely straight. Here and there, little twigs and spikes stuck out of it. Even though it was barely as thick as his little finger, it was strong, and very brittle. It would break before it would bend. Perfect.
Deidara frowned slightly, nervous, not sure if this could ever work. He brushed his long, blond hair out of his face, and concentrated. He focused his chakra, not into the stick, but into the open air around it. He pressed it out through his palm, trying to keep hold of it. He remembered his conversation with the Kage; this was his ability: the ability to control his chakra, even if it was not connected to it in any way. He shut his eye, and when he opened them, he almost laughed in surprise.
Floating in the air in front of him was a shapeless cloud of palely green stuff. It was like water, or some sort of liquid, even though it was acting like a sort of smoke, and even though it was swirling slightly, it was still see-through. So this is chakra…
He grunted slightly, and realized that he was sweating. He fought to regain control, since the chakra seemed to be evaporating. It flickered slightly. It's much harder to hold chakra, if it's not bound to something, he realized. His left hand was clenched into a fist.
Smiling determinedly, he tried to shape the chakra. In the air in front of him, the form of a bird slowly appeared. He smiled, but at the same time, the bird flickered a bit. His fist was shaking, and his breathing sped up. For a second he had considered just feeding his chakra through the hole, and destroying the anchor with it, but now he realized that he would never make it. He had little time to lose. Slowly, he modelled the light green chakra around the stick. When it covered the hole stick, he closed his eyes, and shaped the chakra exactly how he wanted it, independent of the stick. He frowned slightly, and pushed.
When he opened his eyes, the chakra was gone. He just caught the last bit of it evaporating into the air. He looked down, panting slightly. In his hand, the twig had been shaped into a perfect needle, right the deadly pointed end. He poked his finger with the end, and instantly, a drop of blood came out. He smiled, twirling the newly made needle in between his fingers. It had been much harder then he had expected, however, and he could feel his chakra system's tiredness at this simple task.
He stuck his hand into his pocket, and drew out a tiny bit of leftover clay, barely bigger then his fingernail; not nearly enough for an explosion. But that was not the point, either. He focused a little extra chakra into it, however, just to make sure it was at the maximum. Smiling, he smeared the clay along the tip of the needle. He smiled, as he examined his work. No time to lose…
He quickly strode back into the clearing by the door, where Shihiro was trying get through the barrier again, and failing miserable. Her face was red, and she looked more annoyed then ever. From the other side, Deimon was watching her, slight amused at seeing Ms. Knowitall fall flat on her face against a simple Genjutsu. Shihiro looked over at him venomously. Deidara ignored this whole exchange, and waited until Shihiro had got back up again.
"Shihiro," he almost shouted.
"What," she said irritable, not turning around.
"I have a way to get us through."
This caught her interest. She turned away from the barrier, and looked over at him, again brushing her red hair back from her now dirty face. Deimon was watching Deidara sceptically, as Deidara pulled out his needle.
"Shihiro, I need you to throw this though the door, right into where the anchor is. It's a straight shot, right?"
Shihiro nodded, understanding his idea. On the other side, Deimon was still looking sceptical. He did not say anything, however, and merely watched passively. Shihiro walked over to Deidara, and took the needle from him. She turned around, and aligned herself with the door, ever so carefully. She squinted slightly, crouching down to look straight through the hole, which was about at the same height as her waist.
"You only have one shot at this, you know," Deidara said carefully.
Shihiro nodded irritably.
"Can you do this?"
A pause, and then she nodded again, slower this time. Slowly, gracefully, she brought her hand up above her head, in a slow arc. It paused for a second at the top, before Shihiro swung her arm back down, completing the circle. With a flicking motion, as if she was snapping her fingers, the needle shot straight ahead. Deidara held his breath, concentrating on timing. To his relief, the small projectile went soaring straight through the hole, and directly into the hole in the tree. Deidara closed his eyes, and to his relief, felt the chakra at once.
"Release!"
From the hole in the tree, Deidara saw a little shower of sparks. He just hoped that there was nothing protecting the scroll itself, physically. For a second after the sparks vanished, nothing happened. Deidara held his breath, well Shihiro watched stoically.
Suddenly, a small plume of smoke started out of the hole. Relief washed over Deidara, and he smiled broadly, shaking back his long hair. He ran ahead, straight through where the barrier had been seconds earlier. He laughed, and turned around when he got past the door.
"Nice shot, Shihiro," he said happily. Shihiro smiled back at him, and walked over to him, past the stone door. Deidara smiled, and turned to Deimon, who was standing with his back turned to them, looking up in the trees, as if scouting for enemies. He turned around, and walked over to them.
"So, which way is it," Deidara asked, glancing at Shihiro. She did not answer, but drew the map out of her pouch, and turned away from them, walking foreword a few steps. Deidara followed her, looking around, trying to orient himself.
"I think it's that way," he said, tentatively pointing about straight ahead. Shihiro nodded slowly, lowering the map.
Suddenly, Shihiro spun around on the spot, whipping a kunai around in her right arm. Deidara was caught completely by surprise, and had no time to think, before she had released the kunai. Deidara felt his legs automatically tense, ready to jump out of the way, but at the same time, he felt a searing pain in his side. Shock stopped him from screaming in pain, and he stumbled slightly. As he fell, he caught a glimpse of Shihiro's face, as she came to a stop, facing him, her hair whipping around as she stopped her turn. She was smiling triumphantly, already holding another kunai in her left hand. Before Deidara had hit the ground, Shihiro had disappeared, leaving only a hole in the ground. Deidara put a hand to his side, feeling where the kunai had pierced him. Even in his shocked condition, he could tell that he had been lucky. He had managed to avoid a serious injury. Drawing all his strength to him, he put two hands around the kunai, and pulled it out. He screamed in pain as he felt the cold metal exit his flesh. Stars blinking in front of his eyes, he managed to push himself up into a standing position. He stumbled, and leaned up against a tree.
Over by the door, he could see Deimon looking around frantically, trying to see where she had gone. He was holding two kunai's in his right hand, and was holding a half seal with his other hand. In a second, he was beside Deidara, who was still leaning against the tree, breathing heavily.
"Are you Ok, Deidara?" he whispered frantically. Deidara nodded, still doubled up with pain.
"What the hell just happened," Deimon asked quietly, quickly glancing all over clearing.
"Don't know… She just attacked me," Deidara stuttered, before realizing what was about to happen. His eyes widened in realization, as he heard a small cracking sound behind him.
"Sh-She can burrow up trees," he said quickly, looking frantically up at Deimon, praying he would get the picture. Deimon gasped, and gazed straight up, just in time to avoid getting a kunai through his skull. He jumped up, and pushed off the tree, propelling him away twenty feet. Deidara just jumped blindly sideways, avoiding Shihiro as she came speeding down from the tree he had just been leaning against. As he jumped, he caught another glimpse of her face. She was smiling manically; she was having fun, it almost looked like. Deidara landed on the ground, and slid backwards a couple of feet, before grinding to a halt beneath another tree. A couple of meters away, Shihiro just stood there, smiling, hair flicking around in the breeze. Deidara just stared at her, in disbelief.
Then, suddenly, her eyes went wide with horror. She looked slowly over at Deimon, who was crouched on top of the stone door in attack position, to Deidara, lying on the ground, still bleeding through his shirt.
"What did I do…?" she whispered in horror. She clutched a hand to her head, falling down against the tree, shaking, tears in her eyes. Deidara watched her, confused. Over by the door, Deimon was watching her, unsure what to do. Suddenly, Shihiro jumped up again, and jumped back up into the tree. She was gone.
Suddenly, a kunai appeared out of the tree's above Deimon. He caught it with his eye, and blocked it with a swipe of his own kunai. Shihiro jumped down into the clearing, and suddenly, there was two of her. Earth clone, Deidara thought, staring at the two of them. Both Shihiro's ran at Deimon full speed, one taking to the trees, and the real one charging him straight on. Deimon jumped back to another end of the clearing, drawing a scroll out of his pocket. The same one he shown to Satou. He threw it up into the air, and caught it with his other hand. With his other hand, he formed a half seal. He smiled.
"Seal of command, primary," Deidara heard him shout. He looked around, looking for some sort of effect. To his horror, absolutely nothing happened. It had not worked, he was sure that it had not worked. The real Shihiro, (was it the real one?), continued to charge him. Deimon jumped down, and blocked her kunai with a blow from his own. He instantly ducked, and did a half spin, whipping his kunai around the other side. It's going to hit!
But it did not. It seemed that either Deimon got slower, or Shihiro suddenly got faster, since she managed to meet his blow with an awkward backhand. They continued fighting, trading blow after blow. Time again and again, Deidara though Deimon was going to hit, but every time, he was blocked.
He can't bring himself to hurt her, Deidara finally realized. He's not hitting her on purpose, since any of those blows would have maybe killed her…
Suddenly, Deidara saw the clone Shihiro had made in the trees just above Deimon, and he had his back turned. The clone jumped down, kunai in hand.
"Deimon, behind you!" Deidara shouted desperately. To his horror, Deimon did not react in time. He did not turn around at all; he was too busy blocking a blow from the real Shihiro.
But suddenly, a rock, about the size of Deidara's fist, wobbled on the ground. It began levitating, and suddenly, like a gunshot, it pelleted towards the clone. It went right through Shihiro's head, before she even got close to Deimon. Where the clone just had been, there was a cloud of dust. A kunai clattered down onto the forest floor. From where he was lying, Deidara could see Deimon smiling slightly.
Suddenly, Shihiro made a jump for a tree. Before Deidara could quite understand what had just happened, she was gone, and Deimon was alone in the middle of the clearing, breathing hard.
"No," Deidara whispered, gazing up at the spot Shihiro had disappeared. Deimon turned to him, and nodded slightly.
"Can you still walk," Deimon shouted over at Deidara. Deidara nodded, pushing himself to his feet, wincing a bit, still not taking his eyes off the spot where Shihiro had disappeared. He closed his eyes, and blocked out the pain. He just needed to think about this. He really did. He took a few deep breaths, before opening his eyes again, his pain forgotten. For now, he knew what he had to do! He ran over to where Deimon was, and took a defensive position with him.
"We have to take her out." he said quietly and emotionlessly to Deimon, glancing up in the trees, expecting an ambush at any time. "Kill her if we have to," he added, this time not managing to keep a slight shiver out of his voice.
"What? Are you crazy?" Deimon whispered frantically back, spinning around to face him.
"Stay on guard," Deidara hissed back at him.
"She was herself just now," he hissed back. "This is a team! We can't just kill our team mates."
"We have to," Deidara said, almost shouted. He was glad Deimon's back was turned. It gave him an opportunity to wipe the tear from his eye, without Deimon noticing.
"I… I just can't," Deimon whispered back quietly.
"We have to!" Deidara hissed impatiently. "We-… I won't allow this mission to fail. She still has the scroll."
Deidara turned around, and looked straight at Deimon. He was looking shocked, as though this was the first time this had occurred to him. He bit his lip slightly.
"I can't fail this mission," Deidara whispered, gazing at him, a look of hopelessness on his face. Deimon glanced down, as though feeling guilty. Slowly, he looked up, and nodded. Deidara nodded back, and they both looked up into the now silent trees, which were swaying slightly in the wind.
"It's almost as if she was being controlled," Deidara whispered to himself, not sure if Deimon could hear him. He glanced over at him. Deimon was still gazing up into the trees. Suddenly, the two of them had both jumped. Deidara ran foreword as fast as he could, following the trail of footprints in the tree branches, Deimon following closely behind.
Just let us make it…
As they sped through the trees, Deidara noticed that the forest seemed to have gone awfully quiet again. He could no longer hear any birds in the trees, and the sound of the trees ruffling in the wind was all he could hear. It was strange; he could barely hear his own footsteps.
Suddenly, from his right, he glimpsed a flash of metal. Without thinking, he jumped straight upwards from the next branch he landed on, twisting around in mid-air, trying to get a good view of what was going on. Below him, he saw a kunai speed by, just where he would have been. But now he was coming to a stop, and for a split second before he began falling down, he was completely still in mid-air. Below him, he glimpsed Deimon jumping around, looking for Shihiro, kunai in both hands. Then, straight bellow him, he saw something that made him gasp in horror. Right below him, on the branch he was falling towards, three exploding notes were fizzing away. Deidara flailed his arm around, trying to grab on to something, but all he was doing was waving his arms through the air. As he fell closer, he could see the exploding notes getting shorter. The tree was only meters away now…
Then, without warning, something smashed into him from the side, pushing him out of the way. Deidara screamed in pain as the wound on his side was hit. Dizzily, he felt himself flying through the air, pushed forward by some unknown force. Behind him, he heard the tree branch explode, with a mighty rumbling, and a splintering sound.
Suddenly, he was slammed down against a tree branch. His head connected with the rigid bark, making everything go black for a second. His breathing came in short, sharp gasps, and he could feel a warm sensation spreading from his side, where the kunai had pierced him. He forced himself to open his eye. Above him, he could see Deimon shakily getting to his feet, brushing off his arms. He glanced down at Deidara.
"Sorry… That's the best I could do," he said, smiling apologetically. Deidara nodded slightly, and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, while grabbing a kunai out of his pouch. He glanced around, but now, there was only the soft sound of trees, in the wind. He closed his eyes, and tried to calm his breathing; tried to listen past the vast silence of this wood.
Deidara snapped his eye open. Hastily, he shakily pushed himself to his feet, and stumbled over to Deimon.
"I have a plan," Deidara whispered. Deimon paused, glancing over at him, before nodding, to show that he was listening. Deidara leaned over, and whispered into Deimon's ear. His face hardened, and he nodded. Deidara nodded as well, before closing his eyes, and pressing his hand against the rigid bark. Instantly, he felt the now familiar faint sensation, and after a while, he fell over backwards, breathing heavily, feeling as though his strength was sapped dry. He pushed himself to his feet again, and pushed a little more, until he was sure that he was finished. He looked up at Deimon, and nodded, before jumping up, and taking place in a branch above the one Deimon was on. He sat there, and watched tensely.
For a while, nothing happened, and all that could be heard was the wind, ruffling the big leaves above his head. Deidara felt the rigid tree sway slightly, and gripped the branch harder, tensing slightly. Nothing happened. Below him, Deimon was standing there, glancing around, holding a kunai in a defensive position. Then, Deidara saw him pull out a small scroll, the same one he had had before. But this time, he did not do anything with it, except look at it. Probably one of those battery scrolls, Deidara thought absent-mindedly. He's probably checking to make sure it's not empty.
Slightly lost in his own thoughts, the initial attack caught him by surprise. He glimpsed something moving towards Deimon very fast, but he ignored it at first. Suddenly, he heard a clink of metal, and he saw Deimon parrying a blow from Shihiro. He pushed back, and went skidding along the length of the branch, coming to a stop just before falling off the edge. The two fighters stood facing each other. Deidara could see Shihiro glancing around, no doubt looking for him. She won't stay here to long…
Deimon held up his hand in a one handed seal. Suddenly, a pair of rocks came soaring from the ground, to rest at about his eye level, hovering lazily. Deidara's eyes widened slightly. Deimon moved quickly. He jumped foreword, throwing a kunai ahead of him. Shihiro deflected the kunai, but had to use a very awkward backhand to parry Deimon, which threw her off balance. She stumbled slightly, but as she did a clone of her rose out of the tree bark, and launched itself at Deimon, who was still skidding. The clone was faster, and at this rate, he could never block…
Suddenly, both of the rocks that had just been hovering there, shot foreword, like small grey bullets. The first stone caught the clone in the middle of the eyes, and it splintered out of existence. Shihiro was caught by surprise, and had to jump to avoid the speeding rock. Deidara saw the determination in her face as the rock suddenly curved upwards to meet her. Deimon looked up, and caught Deidara's eye. He nodded. Deidara nodded back.
He jumped out of his hiding spot, and grabbed on to a branch that was straight above where Shihiro was. He saw her eyes widen as she spotted him. Deimon's rock seemed to have vanished.
Deidara pushed off the branch, straight downwards. The wind whipped his hair back. Below him, Shihiro landed awkwardly on all fours, and pushed herself up as fast as she could, ready to meet Deidara. She was looking straight up at him, and Deidara could see a slight smile lingering around her lips. Her loose T-Shirt rippled in the breeze. She was not planning on moving, and she braced herself against the branch.
"Release!"
Below him, the branch that Shihiro was standing on splintered into tiny pieces. Deidara pushed the chakra out of the cracked bark, shattering the whole length of the branch, and catching Shihiro completely off-guard. She stumbled backwards, feet flailing around in the air, looking for something to stand on. Deidara saw her eyes widen in surprise, just before he slammed into her. He caught her in the stomach with his feet, and kicked her downwards. He saw her face contort with pain. Below him, he could see the ground quickly rising up to meet them.
Shihiro hit the ground with a muffled thump. Seconds later, Deidara had landed on top of her, and was pressing a kunai against her throat. Shihiro's eyes widened in surprise, and looked around frantically, a look of panic on her face. Deidara ripped her kunai pouch off her belt, and emptied it on to the forest floor. A couple of shuriken and kunais were all that fell out. The scroll was no where to be seen. Deidara felt a rage welling up inside him. I can't fail this mission now…
"Where's the scroll?" Deidara shouted, threatening her with the soft pressure of the kunai at her throat. Shihiro was shaking, and tears welled up in her eyes. She shook her head slowly.
"I-I don't- know…" she whispered, her voice quivering uncontrollably. Deidara gritted his teeth, before putting his hand around her throat, and slashing a deep gash across her left arm with the kunai. Blood instantly sprouted out of the wound, and Shihiro screamed, tears streaming down her face.
"Where is it?" Deidara shouted again, still in a rage. Shihiro merely shook her head slowly back and forth, sobbing.
"What's going on…?" she whispered, shaking. Deidara bit his lip slightly, and closed his eyes before opening them again. He raised the kunai again, poised for another slash. He could see the look of fear in her eyes.
"Deidara, what are you doing. Stop! " Deidara's head whipped around, and he saw Deimon running towards him with a panicked look.
"She's hidden the scroll," Deidara said loudly, still not getting up. The kunai was still poised for another slash. Deimon came to a stop beside the two of them, breathing heavily.
"Get off her Deidara," he said, looking down at Shihiro, whose arm still was bleeding freely. The forest floor around it was drenched in blood already.
"We have to make her talk," Deidara said shakily, biting his lip slightly, still not lowering the knife.
"I think she was being controlled, and that she doesn't remember anything now," Deimon said quickly, as if it was essential for him to understand this. Deidara gasped, and looked down at Shihiro, who was still crying, and holding her wounded arm with her other hand. Deidara pushed himself to his feet, and stumbled away from her. He sat down against a nearby tree, and just sat there, looking from Shihiro to Deimon.
"You're saying she doesn't remember anything she's done?" Deidara said in a scared sort of voice. Deimon nodded, looking down at Shihiro, who had stopped crying, and was just lying there, holding her arm. Deimon walked over to her, and grabbed her shoulders, helping her over to a tree that she could sit against.
"I didn't realize someone could be controlled like that Deidara whispered, his voice quivering. He raised his hand up in front of him, and saw that there were specks of blood across his hand. He dropped the kunai onto the ground, his hand now shaking violently. His breathing was shaky, and he felt slightly dizzy.
"What just happened?" Shihiro muttered, glancing up at Deimon, and then at Deidara. Deidara's breath caught in his throat when he caught the look of anger, and fear Shihiro gave him. He merely shook his head slowly back and forth, running a hand through his long hair absently.
"You… Well, I think you were being controlled by someone, or something…. You attacked us Shihiro," Deimon said, kneeling down beside her. Shihiro shook her head.
"I- wouldn't… But- I can't really remember…" She shook her head, and put her face in her hands.
"Don't worry, you're fine now," Deimon said soothingly. "I know what to do. Just calm down, this won't hurt." Shihiro looked up at him, and nodded. Deimon smiled bleakly, before putting both his hands around her arm. She flinched slightly as his hands closed around her injured arm, but she kept perfectly still, save a slight shivering. Deimon closed his eyes in concentration, and suddenly, a poisonous green glow formed around his hands. Deidara stared as the glow grew stronger. It was as if he was extracting the glow from Shihiro's arm. Shihiro flinched as the glow grew. When Deimon drew his hands away, the green glow stayed with them for a couple of seconds, before disappearing into the air. Deimon sighed, and clapped his hands together.
"You're fine now," he said, turning around, and walking away.
"I think you owe me and explanation of what you just did, I've never seen anything like it," Shihiro said shakily.
"I don't owe you anything! You almost killed me," Deimon stated simply. Shihiro was caught by surprise, and went quiet instantly, looking down into her knees. Deimon looked over at her, and for a second, he looked almost sympathetic.
"Maybe we should just quit, since you two are wounded," Deimon said quietly, glancing from Shihiro to Deidara, who was looking into his knees, still shaking slightly. "Your wound is pretty bad, Shihiro," he added.
"I'll live," she said, sounding slightly confident again. She smiled, and leaned against the tree, craning her neck towards the sky, sighing.
"Where the hell did you put the scroll?" Deidara said quietly, looking up at Shihiro, who was surprised to see tears in Deidara's face.
"Don't you guys get it? We will fail if we don't make this delivery. How do we know that she's not lying?" He pushed himself to his feet, and glared over at Shihiro, who was gazing at him disbelievingly. "How do we know she's not lying?"
Shihiro looked down, and bit her lip. Then, slowly, she pushed herself to her feet, stumbling a bit, and leaning heavily against the tree. She swayed slightly on her feet, and turned to face Deidara, who was glaring at her accusingly.
"You can't prove that I'm not lying. You'll just have to take my word for it, and for that, you'll have to trust me. That's how a team works," she said quietly, glaring back at Deidara.
"Don't lecture me on how a team works, you just tried to kill me, for god's sake," Deidara retorted, looking angry again. "I can't fail this test, not because of you, or anyone else. I'm not apologizing for what I did to you. The fact is, you may still be a danger to this mission! Controlling someone like that would involve controlling chakra outside of the host itself, something apparently only I can do, according to your own father… There is no way to pro-"
"Oh, stop it you two," Deimon interrupted, glancing at the two of them angrily. "I know that Shihiro was being controlled. She couldn't help it!"
"How can you be so sure?" Deidara shouted, looking at him imploringly. "We can't afford to get caught off guard again."
Deimon did not answer. Instead, he closed his eyes, and formed a half seal with his left hand. Deidara watched him, astounded. Suddenly, Shihiro jumped up into the nearest tree, and vanished into the foliage.
"Shihiro!" Deidara shouted after her, staring at where she had disappeared. He was about to jump after her, when he suddenly felt a heavy hand on his chest, holding him back. He spun around, and saw Deimon holding him back, smiling slightly. Fear hit Deidara like a punch. Not Deimon as well… He dug a hand into his kunai pouch, and tensed his arm, ready to strike. Deimon jumped back, avoiding Deidara's slash, surprise filling his face.
"Don't worry, she'll be back soon," he said quickly. Deidara just stood there, kunai still in his hand, in a battle stance, staring at him.
"You've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do," he said menacingly. Lowering the kunai, and striding foreword.
"I know," Deimon said with a lazy sight. Deidara nodded, and went to lean against a tree, all the while keeping his hand close to his kunai pouch.
Can I really trust anybody?
Just then, he heard a crunching noise above him, and seconds later, Shihiro appeared beside him on the ground. His eyes widened, as he saw that she had her scroll clutched in her hand. Suddenly, she shook her head slightly, as if coming out of some sort of sleep. She gasped, and glanced around fearfully.
"What just happened," she said nervously. "I just blacked again. I didn't attack any of you, did I?" Deidara merely shook his head.
"Let's just get going," Deimon said. "The delivery is that way," he said, pointing off to their right, before speeding off into the trees.
"But… The scroll." Shihiro said quickly, looking around. Deidara tapped the one she had in her hand, showing a hint of a smile. With that, he, to, sped into the foliage, leaving a behind a very confused Shihiro, who came racing after them both about five seconds later, shaking her head a bit.
The group continued in complete silence for a while. The trees sped by, but Deidara barely noticed them, since he was so lost in his own thoughts. This was a mental test, almost even more a physical test of skills. But then again, it is one of the most important parts of being a ninja, to be able to make logical decisions, even if you did not want to. He glanced back at Shihiro, and felt a small pang at the sight of her bloodstained arm, which was hanging down her side, as is she could not use it very well. Again, he took a deep breath, and shut down his emotions, since he could not allow them to get the better of him, especially now that they were so close to completing the mission
Suddenly, Deimon stopped on a branch straight ahead of Deidara. Deidara was caught by surprise, and skidded the length of the branch, before coming to a stop. He looked up, and saw that Deimon was almost keeling over, holding his hands to his head. His mouth was open, and he was breathing heavily. Where's Shihiro? She was right behind me…
"Hey, are you alright," Deidara shouted, running over to Deimon, and grabbing him by the shoulders. Deimon fell to his knees, and leaned foreword. Deidara felt helpless; he had no idea what to do. He glanced around the trees, looking for an attacker, or something out of the ordinary. Deimon was muttering something, but Deidara could not catch anything he said. Drops of sweat lined Deimon's forehead. It was as if he was having some sort of seizure. By now, Deidara was really beginning to panic, because he could do nothing about an enemy he could not see. All he could do was pat Deimon on the shoulder, trying to catch whatever he was saying.
"It's the final attack," Deimon whispered.
"What are you talking about?" Deidara said desperately, looking around wildly.
"I can't hold him back," Deimon whispered desperately. Suddenly, he heard a small noise behind him. At first he almost ignored it, thinking it to be wind in the trees. But there is no wind right now…
He spun around, and what he saw almost made his heart stop. Shihiro was speeding towards him, bearing a kunai in her arm, ready to strike. Deidara screamed, and jumped back, completely forgetting about Deimon. His eyes went wide as he saw everything, as if in slow motion.
Deimon spun around, but he was not near quick enough to parry Shihiro's attack, which was heading straight for Deimon's neck. Deidara cried out, but knew it was useless. Shihiro was less then a meter away, and all Deimon did, was whip his right arm around, as if cutting the air. The kunai would connect before Deimon's fist did. But then, Deidara noticed something odd. A black crow was speeding towards the two of them, straight for the quickly closing gap between them. Deidara also noticed that Deimon's hand was not clenched in a fist, but in a half seal.
Suddenly, right between Deimon and Shihiro, an explosion blossomed. Deidara saw it before he heard it, even though he was only meters away. His eyes widened in horror as both Shihiro and Deimon were encased in fire, before being blown backwards with a force that made even him stumble. The noise was deafening, and Deidara could feel the branch he was standing on vibrating violently, as if it was going to shatter. He stumbled backwards, and saw Deimon falling towards the ground. His neck was craned back, as if he had just been punched in the jaw. Without thinking, Deidara leaned foreword, and dived, trying to catch Deimon before he hit the ground.
At first, Deidara was sure that he had missed, and flown right over Deimon. But then he suddenly felt his right arm catch onto Deimon's waist. Deidara pulled him up with all his strength, not wanting to drop him. The ground rose up towards them faster then he liked. With no chance of making a decent landing, Deidara closed his eyes, preparing for the best landing he could pull off, which in theory involved him landing on one foot, and going into a roll.
In practice, it worked out somewhat worse. He was still holding on to Deimon, and when he landed on one foot, he overbalanced, and his leg gave way, leaving his way to the ground clear. He instinctively dropped Deimon the last couple of feet to the ground, and stretched out his arms to shield his fall. Deimon landed on his side with a dull thud, and rolled away, finally coming to a stop. Slightly shaken, Deidara pushed himself to his feet, and ran over to Deimon. He kneeled down by his side, and rolled him over.
"Are you ok?" he said loudly, shaking Deimon slightly. His eyes were closed, and for a despaired second, Deidara feared the worst. Tears welled up in his eye. This was just too much!
"Are you all right?" he shouted desperately, shaking Deimon, willing him to open his eyes. Blood stained Deimon's face in long streaks, and parts of his clothes were smouldered away. His T-shirt had tons of little burn holes in them, and below them were little marks where bits of ash had melted his skin. His face was slightly black, and looked sooty. Just then, he stirred, and opened his eyes, blinking confusedly.
"Ill live," he muttered quietly, making an attempt to smile, which failed miserably. Deidara nodded, relief flooding him.
"Shihiro…" Deimon muttered softly. "Get Shihiro…"
"You'll be alright?"
"What do you think, I'm not going anywhere," Deimon muttered impatiently. Deidara nodded shortly, feeling slightly embarrassed. Stupid question, stupid question… He got up, and ran through the forest to where he thought Shihiro should be. The ground crunched beneath his feet due to thousands of tiny splinters from the branch, which had completely shattered after the explosion. Deidara looked around, but could not see Shihiro. He was just beginning to think that she had been completely fine, and run away, when he suddenly heard a small noise to his right. He spun around, but saw only a fairly large part of the branch, that had not completely shattered. It had to be thicker then his waist. His eyes widened in horror. Shihiro!
He dashed over the branch, and looked desperately around it. Finally he found her. She was lying spread eagled on the ground, with her leg caught under the massive branch. Her red hair was lying out in a fan around her head, and her clothes were frayed, and torn. Deidara's eyes travelled down to her leg. He fought the urge to turn away when he saw her leg, which looked to be completely crushed below her knee. He could not really tell, but there was blood soaking the ground around it. Shaking slightly, he ran over to her. He bent down, and was relieved to find that she was still breathing. Deidara ran a hand through his long hair, as he did when he was panicking slightly. Shihiro did not look very good.
Deidara got up, and threw all his weight against the piece of tree that was pinning Shihiro's leg down. To his horror, it did not budge at all. He threw himself at it again, desperately pushing it, to no avail whatsoever. It still would not budge. Tears of frustration began to well up in Deidara's eyes, as he pushed it as hard as he could. Finally, he gave up, and sat down against the branch, shaking his head, tears streaking his face. In the end, I couldn't do anything, even when faced with such a simple obstacle as a piece of wood, he thought bitterly. He slammed his fist into the wood, accomplishing absolutely nothing. He put his face in his hands, trying to calm down, and think rationally. It seemed a hard thing to do, with his friend dying right in front of him.
Deidara almost slapped himself. He could not believe how stupid he was acting, when it was so obvious. He shook his head, and jumped to his feet, turning to face the log again. He slammed his hands against it, and started pushing his own chakra into the little cracks and crevices in the log. To his horror, he started to feel faint seconds after he began pushing. His chakra reserves were severely drained. At this rate, I'll never be able to break this… He grunted a little as he felt his world go slightly dizzy. But he couldn't give up now! But at this rate…
Suddenly, Deidara's legs could not seem to hold him any more. He stumbled back, and fell down on to his knees, struggling to maintain pressure between his hands and the log. He could still feel a trickle of chakra coming from his hands, draining him further. Finally, he could not handle it any more. He fell over backwards, blackness threatening to shut him in. He fought with all his might to keep his eye open. He had to. Deidara blinked a couple of times, trying to not faint. He knew that his chakra was basically gone, and that complete depletion could kill him. His whole body felt heavy. But if I faint here, we all fail…
Slowly, ever so slowly, Deidara managed to push himself into a sitting position against a tree. His head felt heavy, and began spinning when he lifted it. His vision was blurred, but beside him, he could make out Shihiro lying motionlessly on the ground, her chest rising and falling slowly. He gave himself a little shake, attempting to clear himself. He tried to feel the chakra in the log, but at first he felt nothing. A pang of fear hit him. What if the chakra just dispersed…?
Searching through himself for the chakra was like looking for a diamond in a bucket of gravel, blindfolded. At times he could almost feel it, ever eluding his clouded grasp. He did not know how long he sat there. Might be five, might be twenty minutes. After a while, he felt his head clear up slightly, as if he was slowly coming out of a trance of some sort. He closed his eyes, and reached out. Finally, he felt the chakra, just lying there. He gritted his teeth together, and closed his eyes, concentrating on positioning the chakra along the weak grain of the log.
"Release," he whispered, pushing the chakra as hard as he could through the cracks, and away from itself. He felt it rip through the brittle wood. Inside the log itself, there was a grinding sound, like bones being ground up. He felt the chakra reach the end of the road, and escape into the open air, where it was impossible to keep hold of it. Deidara finally let go, and opened his eyes, sweating.
The log pinning Shihiro down was still there, its wholeness mocking him. Deidara's eyes widened, and he felt a tear in his eye…
No… He pushed himself to his feet, and felt himself sway slightly.
"NO!" he screamed, running at the log, and kicking it as hard as he possible could. His shout reverberated through the trees.
Under his foot, the log shattered. It fell apart into tiny pieces of splintered wood, as if it had been eaten away internally by termites. The bottom part was all that remained, and Deidara grabbed it, and threw it away with all his might, breathing heavily. Not looking at Shihiro's bloody leg, he kneeled down by her side, and picked her up into his arms. She felt warm, and surprisingly light. Deidara stood there for a second, regaining his messed up balance, before he set off through the trees to where Deimon was, hoping that he was still alright.
He found Deimon right in the clearing where he had left him. He had pushed himself into a sitting position, and was sitting cross-legged over by a tree. In front of him, a pair of rocks were flying around in a circle, in a sort of dance. Suddenly, they both fell to the ground. He smiled when he saw Deidara.
"Took your time, didn't you?" he said, smiling slightly, before continuing, "Bring her over here, I need to treat her." Deidara complied, although he was not quite sure what Deimon meant. He walked over to where he was sitting, and lay Shihiro's limp body beside him, before stepping back. Deimon, frowning slightly, held his hand to Shihiro's chest, and brushed her red hair back with his other hand. He closed his eyes, and again, Deimon watched as Deimon's hand began to glow a poisonous green colour. It seemed to be flowing, and after a while, the glow around his hand grew stronger. Deimon flinched slightly.
"There, I'm done," he announced, removing his hand, which instantly extinguished. "She'll be fine this time, I promise," he added, seeing Deidara staring at him questioningly.
"You really have some explaining to do," Deidara said. Deimon ignored him, but pushed himself to his feet, and looked around.
"We'd better get going, we should be close," he said, pointing into the forest, where Deidara knew the drop-point was. Deidara nodded shortly; the sky was already starting to have a slight reddish glow to it, and the shadows were growing longer in the forest, as the day came to a close. Deidara guessed it was about three. He also realized how hungry he was, not having eaten since breakfast. Deimon sped off into the forest, although travelling considerable slower then before. Deidara glanced around quickly, before picking up Shihiro in his arms, and running after him.
As they ran through the woods, Deidara noticed that he was starting to feel quite fatigued. His legs were burning slightly, and he still felt slightly light headed. Just as long as they did not meet any new obstacles, he would be fine. They were close now, Deidara could tell. The map had marked the delivery point as a large clearing in the middle of the forest. To him, the trees around him seemed to be thinning out, not reaching as far into the air. The air smelled different, as weIll, more like it had just rained, then the old, dry forest they had just been in. The trees were dispersing on all sides now.
Suddenly, without warning, the forest simply seemed to vanish on all sides, and Deidara burst out into the clearing. He skidded to a halt by Deimon, breathing hard, and squinting in the bright sunlight.
The whole clearing was covered in grass, without a single tree on it. It was shaped almost as a perfect circle, and all around him, the smooth grass seemed to be dancing in the wind. The clearing started so suddenly from the forest that it looked as though it had been created by humans. It was like a small oasis, in the middle of the forest. Deidara carefully laid Shihiro down on the flowing grass. In the sunlight, her face looked even worse, grubby, and bloodstained, though pale underneath. Without thinking, he casually brushed a stray strand of red hair out of her face, before getting back up, and looking around.
"Interesting," he heard Deimon mutter beside him.
"Hello," a voice behind them said. Deidara jumped, and spun around, holding up a kunai defensively. Behind them stood Satou, his sunken eyes surveying them playfully, his short hair flowing lazily in the wind. "Good work on surviving so far," he said lazily, smiling. Deidara's hands clenched into fists by his sides. He raised his eyes to meet Satou's, rage lining his face.
"It was you, wasn't it? You were the one controlling Shihiro," he whispered maliciously, not lowering his kunai.
"No, Deidara, I don't think-" Deimon began, before Deidara cut him off.
"You bastard," he shouted, suddenly dashing towards Satou, his kunai ready to strike, his weariness forgotten. He saw the look of surprise on Satou's face, mixed with amusement. Deidara's kunai was a mere foot away from him.
Suddenly, something caught Deidara by the neck. He fell back, and coughed, trying to get his breath back. He could feel something holding him back in a tight grip, and he glimpsed a kunai pressed against his neck. He struggled, to no avail.
"Deidara, calm down," Deimon said shakily, holding Deidara tightly in his grip. Deidara stopped struggling, and relaxed slightly, not dropping his kunai.
"This bastard almost killed us all," Deidara whispered angrily.
"No, he didn't," Deimon said firmly. He looked up at Satou, who was standing there lazily, looking amused. "There's no way it could have been him!" Deidara felt Deimon's grip on him loosen. He shook free, and looked around at him.
"What are you talking about?" Deidara asked slowly. Deimon did not answer. He grimaced, looking up at Satou.
Suddenly, to Deidara's amazement, Deimon pulled a shuriken out of his pouch, and threw it towards Satou. Satou dodged it by diving right, but Deimon was already there. Deidara watched in amazement as he saw Deimon attack Satou, only to have his blow easily parried. For a while, they just stood there, exchanging punches. Satou was so distracted that he did not notice the rock that came shooting towards him.
The rock hit Satou in the head with a sickening crack! Deidara watched in horror as he watched Satou keel over backwards, the back of his head bleeding. He ran foreword to where Deimon was, eyes wide.
"What the hell are you doing?" Deidara shouted desperately. Deimon ignored him, instead looking around the clearing intently. Deidara's eyes widened in surprise. In a burst of rage, he grabbed Deimon by the front, and spun him around, lifting him nearly off the ground.
"Answer me!" he shouted desperately. Suddenly, something connected with the side of Deidara's head. His world went faint, and he stumbled sideways, loosing his grip on Deimon, he looked up, and glimpsed Deimon standing there, his fist outstretched.
"He was being controlled, wasn't he," he said loudly, gazing intently around the clearing. Who the hell is he talking to?
"Hehehe… I expected you to pick up on that before now," said a cold voice behind them. Deidara spun around so quickly that it made his head spin. Behind him was… At first Deidara thought he was looking at a tree covered in black fabric, but then he realized that it was a man, standing on his head. His outfit could not have been different from what Satou had been wearing: A long, flowing black robe, with patches and patterns of poisonous green sewed in. He kicked his legs upwards, and launched himself a couple of meters into the air, doing a pair of front flips before he landed. He stood there, staring at the three of them, smiling slightly.
The mans face was thin, and pale, sort of like Deimon's. His hair reached about to his shoulders, and was jet black. Deidara thought his head looked like a mop, and a very evil mop at that. The rest of his outfit looked weird with his thin face, and long, straight hair. It was as if his head was to small for his body.
"I did pick up on it before, but I made the mistake of trying to resist you," Deimon said spitefully. The man laughed, a cold laugh, which sounded unnatural, somehow.
"That was you resisting me there? I thought that was the host. You're weak, Deimon" he chuckled. Deidara saw Deimon's hands clench into fists, as he looked at the ground. Deidara stared at him with wide eyes. What the hell….?
"Well, you have both of the scrolls, so you all pass, obviously," the man said slowly, a smile that gave Deidara the shivers hanging around his lips.
"I'm your real sensei, by the way," he added, looking over at Deidara, who nodded quickly. The man smiled again.
"You know that you're the first team I've had for fifteen years, and the first for twenty two years where the whole team has survived," he said, smiling. Deidara shivered a bit, not wanting to think about death. The man smiled again.
"Yes, I did know that," Deimon said coldly. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Well, the Tsuchikage pulled me out of retirement specifically for this team," he said, grinning. "I can see why."
Deidara looked back and fort between Deimon and the man, confused. Who the hell…
"Hey Deidara," Deimon said coldly. "Meet my father!"'
- -- - -----
In the house of the Tsuchikage, dinner was made for two that night. Haruko, and the Tsuchikage both sat there in silence, not eating much.
"Shouldn't they be back by now," Haruko asked, looking slightly worried. The Tsuchikage shook his head a little.
"No, with him, it usually takes about this long." Haruko nodded, and turned back to her food, which she wasn't really eating.
"But… none of them will die, right?"
The Tsuchikage looked up at his wife, a dangerous glint in his eye.
"I've told you already, I have faith in Shihiro. I'm sure she will be on the one of ten teams that survives his test."
Haruko nodded again, smiling bleakly.
"Any idea why he wanted to take this team?"
"No, but god knows I couldn't say no to him. I mean, he's saved the village from ruin more times then I have, probably," the Tsuchikage said darkly. Haruko was about to say something, when there was a sudden knock on the door. The Tsuchikage frowned, and went to answer it. When he came back, he looked slightly pale, and worried.
"They passed, but… Shihiro's in the hospital," he said quickly. Both of them did not waste any time leaving. Both dinners were left on the table, pretty much untouched.
- -
Deidara did not go home right away that evening. Instead, he chose to stay at the hospital, where Shihiro had been committed. The medics had not found anything critically wrong with her, save a crushed leg, a powerful concussion, and numerous small injuries, some deeper then others. She had been washed and treated, so now she was just lying peacefully in bed, her long white shirt covering most of her bandages, and a cast covering her leg. She had not woken up yet, but the doctors had told him that she probably would tomorrow. Probably…
Deimon stayed at the hospitol just long enough for a quick checkup, before insisting on leaving.
"Hey, Deimon. Are you going to explain what the hell happened back there?" Deidara asked him.
"No, no planning on it," Deimon said, without turning around, leaving Deidara temerarly speechless.
"Jerk," Deidara muttered, gazing after him.
Deidara sighed, as he looked at Shihiro's sleeping face. She looked troubled, as though she was having a bad dream. Deidara leaned back, and closed his eyes, recalling the last thing that their new sensei had said to him.
"Heh... The desert test? That test's a push-over… Nobody ever died doing the desert test!" And then he had winked at him.
Deidara shivered slightly, and suddenly, all the images of the day came crashing down on him. He looked over at Shihiro, and saw that there was a big bandage on her arm. Where I…
Tears began trickling slowly down his face. He wiped them of, but soon enough, they were replaced. For a while, he just sat there, before finally getting up, and leaving.
When he got home, Deidara went straight to his room, and collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to get undressed. He fell asleep in less then a minute, completely exhausted in every way.
--------------------------------- --
Expect an update in a couple of weeks, probably. I'm also working on some original fiction, but Ill try to keep a pace of about .5-1k a day. This chapter is 11k words, you do the math. :P
Until next time. -Eureka-
-(Btw, this work is pretty much all mine, apart from Deidara himself, whose adult version is the work of a cool dude called Masashi Kishimoto. Allthough I would say the young version is differant enough to be called my work... Oh well... I guess Ill credit Kishimoto with general concepts, and inspiration. :P)-