A/N: I don't own the series. I wish I did though... it's bloody awesome! Yes... I'm an Aussie! I spell like one too! Colour is c-o-l-o-u-r, not c-o-l-o-r! Sorry, random tangent, but I love Gaara and Deidara. Mwaah!
Deidara POV: The Stars' Search... for me.
"What the fuck is up with that fucking puppet? He's always fucking late!" Hidan was cursing again. I buried my head in my pillow. No way was I going to calm him down. I shot the Kazekage towards him but the baka couldn't kill him and Gaara ran for Kohona... to my sister. "Fucking hell, new assignment and this time with the blond and puppet... I'm angry, so fucking sue me already!"
"Calm the fuck down! Pein gave you an assignment; you do it and complain later!" I kept very still, afraid of scarecrow {Kakuzu} more than any of the Akatsuki, but he still wasn't scarier than Gaara in Shakaku mode. "Besides, you're only angry because you have to deal with Sasori as well as the blonde. If it was just Deidara, or just Sasori for that matter, you'd be fine, it's only that they're together, and they hate each other." That was the longest speech I'd ever heard money grabber say, and the longest he'd gone without mentioning money. All I had to see now was him spending more than two dollars on me. Ha, as if.
"I'm sorry Kuzu but this is just too much. They are always arguing, they are worse than Itachi and I were. And we annoyed the hell outta you and Zetsu, back when you were partnered with him. If you ever spend more than ten dollars on Deidara, on what he wants when he wants it, I'll go on this mission. Got that, money whore?"
"What! You know that that little cow's ass and I hate each other!" that wasn't quite true. Kakuzu hates me but I don't mind him. I think he can be nice when he wants to be, he just freaks me out a little. "I can't believe you'd blackmail me like this! It's... it's a disaster! He'd just want more clay!"
It was true; I was running really low on clay. It didn't help the fact I used Bushin-no-jutsu to get a job in the nearest town. I was a sculptor, and my little statues didn't explode, I just made them and sold them as an old, aging man who needed the money to help with the search for the real me. I acted as my grandpa. I started to get dressed slowly. I didn't want Hidan to blackmail Kakuzu into anything but I did need a new sketchpad and pencil. I sketched in my free time and I'd had so much lately that I had filled up the pad and used up the lead in my pencil. I flicked through the pad. I had sketches for my next statues and of my latest dreams. I had sketches of my parents, Kana, Temari and Itachi the first time I met him. I did a lousy little self-portrait too. I wanted to sketch Hidan but when I went to ask him he had been in the middle of a ritual for Jashin so I just walked away.
Now was a perfect time to ask Kakuzu if I could have the sketch pad, just so he'd con the immortal into going. The money-obsessed scarecrow was standing with Hidan in the kitchen, arguing with Pein against the deal Hidan had made with him. Pein agreed it was time I got a little more income, as he knew about my outside job. I had gone to him for advice, and he gave me the choice of cleaning duties or going outside for a job. I used the clay I used to dig up for my explosions.
"Kakuzu-san, un?" I asked, nerves shaking me. He knew as soon as he looked at me that I was going to ask for money. "I need some money, un. I need a new sketchpad and two pencils, un. That cost nine dollars, un. I checked last time, un." That raised some suspicion.
"When was the last time you went to the town?" Kakuzu asked, his eyes narrowed with suspicion as I shook my head, worried now. "When did you go there last? Did you spend any money?"
"No! I just went down a few days ago to look at how much it cost, un!" Pein shook his head as Kakuzu glared at Hidan with a growl. "I just wanted to know how much I needed to save up, un!"
"Since when did you asked me for anything but clay? Clay is your specialty, why are you drawing? 'I need clay, un.' Where is your old lines?" Whoa, Kakuzu has officially lost it!
Pein eventually managed to convince Kakuzu that I had gone to the town with his permission, and that I was doing something for him. I got the ten dollars I was promised and it was a done deal. I got a few lollies too, to share with Tobi, who helps me with my clay. I figured the shithead, no matter how annoying, deserved it. Minties! Yum, my favourite! I grabbed a pack, desperate. I pulled out some of my money too, needing lots of the minty snacks.
By the time I got back I saw Sasori arriving back from his 'mission' to find where Gaara had hidden, even though I knew. I ate a few of the white sugar chews as I walked back to the lair. As soon as I arrived back, Pein called me and Hidan to the meeting between him and Sasori. As soon as he started to speak, I knew I was right.
"Okay. Sasori found where the demon was hiding. It was in the..." Pein was about to say and I interrupted.
"... It was in the oldest corner of Kohona with a group of girls, un. Namely, Kana, Tamara and Dana... Also three other girls you don't know, un?" I spoke with reserved indifference. I hadn't looked up my sister, but I remember where she lived, who she usually lived with and how many were in a team. "They were all dressed in black cloaks with face masks of the same colour, their black cloaks had a silver star on the back, directly centre and a gold outline, un. The buttons are silver, un."
"What the hell?" Sasori was so shocked, it was rather funny, the look on his face. "How did you know? It's like you read my mind." His eyes narrowed even more. "Were you spying on me? After all, that was a single person mission."
"God no. I'm not like you mob, un. My sister is Kana, she's the founder of that group, and I was the one who designed the cloaks and masks, un. It's weird but I am partly the reason she made the group, un. She made it to protect me, un." I explained, my cheeks getting stained a bright scarlet as I thought of the other reasons. Kain -- how much he was around always bugged me – was getting targeted by missing-nins from his own village... so she wanted to protect him too. Gaara even – he was always targeted by his dad getting abused and planned assassinations – was protected by the girls. Now, the group of girls protect anyone, rich, poor, life-threatened or reasonably safe.
"Well, those girls, The Stars, are determined to hunt down Sasori, Hidan and you, Deidara, for the damage you've inflicted on Lord Gaara. They also intend to hunt down Deidara because of his relationship with the founder, so that he can be 'saved'." Pein's voice was mocking on the last word, the tone driving me to the floor. I wished the floor would just open up and swallow me whole when he said that. My sister went too far this time... too far. "Baby Dei-Dei-chan!" That was way too much. I clenched my fists, the teeth in my palms digging in, drawing blood.
"What kind of sister embarrasses the hell out of their baby brother? That's just damn mean!" Sasori put on a baby voice and mimicked me, my words and all. "Art is a weawl bang. It goes bang! Katsu! Ha-ha, it went boom!" Sasori and Hidan roared with laughter, Sasori actually wet himself, while Hidan was crying through his laughter. "Ha-ha. That's real cute, Dei-Dei-chan!"
"That's it, yeah! Omigod, I'm so sick of you guys mocking me, un! You guys can kill Kana, Dana, Tamara, Shai and anyone else in The Stars by yourselves! Un!" I ran, up to the roof and grabbed out my sketchpad and pencils. Grabbing some Minties, I started to sketch what I remembered Gaara looked like. the red, floppy hair, the 'ai' {love} mark on his head, the shadows under his eyes, so black I mistook them as eyeliner at first and the sea-blue eyes. "I miss you all... un."
I'd been on the roof for a good hour when I finished Gaara's memory picture. When I'd finished, I realised someone was watching me. I looked up and saw this girl sitting on a tree branch. I hid the picture but she'd seen it. She jumped down and grabbed the other book, the filled one. She flicked through the sketches, her eyebrows rising at the pictures of Kana, Gaara, Mother and Father, and the sketch of Temari made her giggle. I'd remembered her as she'd been fighting, and she was in the middle of drawing her fan.
The girl looked at me with these blue-green eyes and she smiled, her pale skin flushed from her run, her brown hair flying loose and her cloak lying on the floor, ten metres or so from the tree she'd been sitting on. She had a black top on, all gothic style, and her pants were black too, and the pocket had a set of skull and crossbones on it. I smiled at her, about to introduce myself when she spoke. I noted she was rather tall and thin, with curves in all the right places.
"Hi... I'm Becci. I already know who you are, there's only posters all over Kohona and Suna. Nice pictures... I didn't know that senpai's brother could draw like that." It was then I noticed the star on the cloak, cursing myself for being so star-struck. "Kana misses you... she wishes you never left. She half-killed our 'leader' because the baka called you a dipshit, or dickhead, I can't remember which one. She has hung pictures of your family before 'that time' all over her home. She doesn't want to lose you, but seem to want to be lost." Becci looked at me, tears streaking down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I know this wasn't right but I had to tell you. You have to know, no matter what Kana says she loves you." The girl pressed a picture into my hand. It was folded many times and I looked at her. I smiled and bowed. "Thank you for not exploding me, I'm very grateful."
"Yeah... thanks for coming, un." That was stinging with sarcasm but she looked at me with a grin.
"I know you mean that more than you do. You really are glad I came." I looked at her like she was insane, maybe she was. "Oh, don't look at me like that. Just make sure you look at the picture alone. Then you can show people... if you want. I got to go. They'll know I'm gone soon. See you."
That was weird. I've never felt more compelled to listen to a woman before. My mother didn't even have that effect on me. The girl, Becci, she was just like Kana used to be, before 'that time' as Becci so cunningly put it. The photo was one of me, Temari, Kana and Gaara. Kana was standing in the background, instructing Temari on a cool way to act with her fan, making her appear flirtatious and threatening at the same time. Gaara and I were in the foreground, clashing in a dangerous fight, Shakaku being nearly out in the open. We were all grinning, ut both mine and Gaara's smiles were forced.
There was another smaller picture in the middle. The new Gaara and Kana, a picture ripped from her star picture, with all of the Kages' and members. I saw Becci's face in the corner, grinning and ignoring the other people... wait; that was a different background. Becci was a newer member in the group, her eyes full of sadness whether she was smiling or not. She's just like me! She's never really happy, she's worried, she's scared but she's never happy. She's a Gaara and Deidara kind of girl...