Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Cause well if I did it probably would've ended by now…
Kairi P.O.V.
"C'mon we have to be done by two so we have time to organize and pack everything up!" Konan grabbed on to my wrist and proceeded to pull me out of the chair I was seated on and in to the hall.
How did I get dragged into this again? *sigh* Apparently Pein wasn't holding the Hidan incident against me and gave Konan permission to take me into the village to find me some new clothes. I still remember Kazuku nearly had a stroke when Konan asked for thirty thousand yen. That's roughly about three hundred U.S. dollars…Any ways, back to the subject. How am I supposed to survive three to four hours, alone, in a market with Konan!!! I mean really, how am I supposed to stick by her for every second were out- heeeey maybe if I'm lucky I can sneak away and, and well who cares what comes after as long as I get the heck out of dodge! Which reminds me does anyone else see the irony in getting hit by a dodge…? Focus!!! Jeez I'm getting off track today, I eyed the hand clamped on to my wrist, probably had something to do with being dragged away from my half eaten breakfast.
"Ehm, Konan? Is it really necessary for you to hold my wrist?" She just glanced at me for a moment before letting my wrist go. I enjoyed my freedom for about a heart beat before Konan snatched my hand again only except this time she laced her fingers through mine! I stared at our linked hands in horror, this was even worse!
"Uhhhh,Kon-"
"Konan!" We came to a stop and turned to look at the person who shouted. It was Deidara.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I'm coming in to town with you." He didn't even ask he just assumed we were taking him. Before I could comment on it Konan just smiled and said, "Okay, nice of you to join us. But if it's alright, may I ask why you're coming with us?"
He just made a bigheaded kind of face and answered, "I need new art supplies and since no one else is going to the village I thought I'd come with you, and I have a feeling you'll need an extra pair of eyes un." He turned towards me and gave me a sly smile. The butt head…
Konan gave my hand a reassuring squeeze then tugged me back down the hall with Deidara following directly behind me. I was never allowed near the front entrance of their "Base". They were paranoid that I would escape through the front door for some reason…yeah, like I was dumb enough to try that…maybe I should have tried that, I mean it was so dumb it was brilliant! They'd never expect that! *sigh* Well too late to try now…
The village was big, not Konoha big but still. It was quiet for a village not bustling with life; it was more of a peaceful mood probably cause of the early hour. It was now January but it was still freezing though no longer snowing which was a relief but even so the roofs of the buildings were still covered in ice. As we walked through the quiet streets in search of the market, I was shivering with cold. Maybe shopping for some clothes that actually fit is a good idea after all.
The market was located in the middle of the village and was more crowded than anyplace else we passed. Konan immediately pulled me into the nearest clothing shop and shoved me into an empty dressing room.
"Deidara will guard you while I get the clothes, what size are you again? Never mind you look only one size smaller than me…" and with that disappeared in to the clothes racks. Sighing I shut the door and decided I might as well wait when I turned around to sit down but instead found Deidara in the seat staring at me.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"What's it look like, I'm on guard duty til Konan comes back." He deadpanned.
I pursed my lips to keep from saying anything insulting, the last thing I needed was for pyro Barbie to get mad. Huffing I leaned against the stall's wall and waited in an awkward silence for Konan to return. We waited for about ten minutes when the door opened and Konan threw a large bundle of clothes at me.
"Try those on while I go look for more!" she yelled out before running back out and shutting the door in the process.
Sorting through the clothes I nearly forgot Deidara was right behind me. How could I be so oblivious? He was practically boring holes in to my back with his staring!
I tuned to face him, "Um, co-could you leave? I need to change…" I held up the clothes for emphasis.
"No."
I sweat dropped. "Why not?"
"Konan isn't here to watch you, so that leaves only me to do it."
My jaw dropped, dude-lady say what! "No, no, no, no, no, you cannot be in here!" I exclaimed completely infuriated with these people. They were taking things waaaay to far now.
"Believe me I'd rather not be here either un."
'Wha-what the heck was that supposed to mean!!!' "Plus who would want to see your scrawny body any way?" He stared pointedly at my breasts. *SMACK*
"Y-yo-you slapped me!!!" He was holding his reddened cheek with an incredulous expression on his feminine-ish face.
"No duh!" He was carefully prodding his cheek and I was secretly pleased with myself when I saw an impression of my hand etched out in a slowly fading bright pink color.
"If only Leader-sama didn't need you un…" he muttered darkly.
I said nothing, apparently he thought I wasn't listening to his whispered yet empty threats and curses. Huffing, I patiently waited for konan to come back so she could kick him out. She came back with an arm full of clothes twenty minutes later and was surprised to see me and Deidara having a glare off.
"What happened?" she asked with a sigh.
"What happened? What happened you ask?! He-" I pointed my finger at him, "wanted me to change in front of him!!!"
Deidara just rolled his eyes and replied, "Like I said, you have nothing worth looking at! Plus you remind me of a little kid, the only thing I can compare your body to is that of a ten year olds! Maybe if you had a decent chest and you weren't so skinny I might've done something!"
"You are a perv!!!" I yelled out.
"Shhh, shhh, shh." Konan shushed us and said, "Enough, the both of you! Deidara you should know better than to torment Kairi with your physical depravities and you know as well as I do that you can guard her just fine from outside the stall."
"Tch, whatever as if she really had anything to offer a man!" he said as he exited the stall. For some odd reason his statement hurt.
"Okay kairi lets try these on you." Konan smiled.
She had me try on many kinds of shirts some normal and some fishnet and the bottoms were mostly capris, pants, shorts and a few skirts. But what they all had in common was their dark coloring. All shades of black and grey with the occasional red or blue thrown in.
We spent the rest of are allotted time going from store to store looking for clothes konan approved of with Deidara trotting behind us begrudgingly holding the bags. Many of the outfits were repetitive and I was beginning to get bored. Didn't the Akatsuki wear any colors besides black, red, grey or blue? I was starting to get annoyed with konan, a lot of the shops we passed by had nice and colorful clothing but she took one look through the window shook her head and dragged us toward the more plain and drab ones. One in particular shop had a nice green top that I liked and she just dragged me away from it.
"Erm, Konan?"
"Hmmm?" She spun on her heel to face me and gave me a warm smile.
Well dang, "Uhhh, why-" I paused to find the right words to say, " Why is it-" She just kept the warm smile on her face and waited expectantly for me, "Why are we going to so many shops?" I asked unable to say what I really wanted to.
"Oh, are you tired already?"
"Uh, yeah…just a little."
"I'm sorry." I snapped my head up at her solemn apology, "I was being selfish today, I've been dragging you from place to place but it's been a long time since I've just been able to go out. Where I could just enjoy everything around me and not have to worry about a mission or training, where I can just enjoy the simple pleasures in life that I rarely get to experience in my daily life." She paused for a moment to observe me. "Don't you ever feel like this? Don't you ever want a day to yourself to get away from the life of a ninja and pretend to have no responsibilities, even if just for a few hours?"
I looked at her calmly and swept my gaze from her toes to the top of her head trying to understand just what kind of person she was. "Well," I started out carefully not quite sure how to express what I wanted to say, "Where I come from…I never really had to worry about things like that, I mean I've never felt the need to…" I trailed off. It's not like I've been a ninja long and back home I always had time for friends and stuff so I never felt like what she's describing.
"Hmph, perhaps Konoha is too soft with their ninja." Deidara said suddenly.
"Dah!" I totally forgot he was here. "And how exactly would you know!" I whirled around and stuck my tongue out at him.
He gave me a condescending glare, "All I'm saying is the leaf must be going if their kunoichis aren't crying, un." I bit my lower lip to keep from blurting out that Iruka-sensei made me cry plenty of times.
"What? No clever comeback?" He smirked at me then started walking down the street. Konan simply shook her head at his back gave me a comforting smile and tugged my sleeve in the same direction as him. Getting the hint I began to shuffle forward next to Konan.
Clearly Deidara's been to the village before cause he moved swiftly down the streets confidently that could only mean he knew exactly where he was and where he wanted to go. Keeping up with him was a task in itself, who knew the blonde could walk so fast, but then again past experience should have tipped me off…*sigh* must be all that air in his head, nothing to way him down.
We followed him into a small shop that didn't look like it was frequented by the villagers often. Walking inside behind him my nose was immediately assaulted by the scent of pencil shavings, dust, and a musky type smell.
"Why hello Deidara-sama! What brings you in today?" A girl with light brown hair and a plain yet pretty face greeted Deidara with a smile.
"Hello Ayumi-chan, I'm here for my package I ordered two weeks ago. Your father said it arrived yesterday and to come by to pick it up when I got the chance." He leaned against the counter and gave the girl a what-most-would-call charming smile. Gag me! And the girl Ayumi totally fell for it. *sigh* if only she really knew him. Ayumi flushed a bright pink and practically fumbled in her hurry to retrieve the package for him.
With nothing to do but wait for her to come back with the parcel out of the back room, I wandered the shop. It was small and was only lit by the sun let in through the windows but very organized. Many shelves packed with stacks of different types of paper, bundles of pencils and charcoal lined one wall. A row of smaller shelves were spaced evenly throughout the room with many more art supplies, while a long table at the back displayed different paint brushes and other painting mediums. And in the corner of the shop sat a few burlap sacks full of a powdery substance, walking over to it I read the label stamped on to it. It read "Clay Powder".
Huh? Is this where Deidara bought his explosive Clay? Curiously I opened the flap on the sack and examined the fine white powder. Looked normal enough to me…but then again not everything was as it's seemed in this world. It's not black and white like in our world, this place was all shades of grey. That was probably quite literally since this place is a manga. Grrrr, why was everything so weird! Clamping my hands on to the sides of my head in misery I accidently knocked something over.
Freezing in place I silently chanted 'please don't be expensive, please don't be expensive, please don't be expensive…' over and over again as I slowly faced whatever it is that I dropped. Nearly on the verge of a heart attack I felt overwhelmingly happy when I saw that all I dropped was a small painting. Wiping the stress induced sweat off my forehead I simply picked it up and gently placed it back on the small stand it was sitting on.
The painting was beautiful; it was an image of a cherry blossom tree in full bloom underneath a starry sky with the silhouette of a beautiful woman lying against the trees willowy trunk. As I looked closer I could see the care and dedication the artist put into every stroke of the painting.
The cherry blossoms were numerous with petals falling in the wind here and there. They were so life like it could have been taken by a digital camera except for the fact that the paint gave them a softer effect than any camera could produce. Making my way down its dark slender trunk my eyes stopped on the grass next. The dark green grass was just as detailed if not more, looking closer I could tell the grass wasn't just made of a dark green but all different shades of the earthy color. Finally my gaze came to rest upon the figure of the young woman; she sat in profile garbed in a long flowing gown made of a dark crimson color like fresh blood. She was pale with a long fall of dark hair, a small straight nose and dark pink lips. I found myself disappointed when I saw that her hair fell in to the top of her face, obscuring the rest of her features from view. I wondered what her eyes were like in the artists mind, perhaps dark and secretive or maybe light and innocent.
Frustrated and awed with the painting I backed away from it when I heard someone clear their throat. Reeling around, I came face to face with a middle aged man, a head taller and most likely in his mid forties. My mind automatically came up with the image of the old creepy pervert all teenage girls are told to watch out for. Instantly wary, I gave a small reluctant smile.
"I apologize if I scared you young lady, but I couldn't help but notice your intense study of that piece of work." He gave a rueful smile.
Still not completely sure if I could trust this stranger or not I scanned the room for Konan and found her intently examining a decorative hair comb near the front of the shop. Quite aware of the long distance from here to the front I took a couple steps back ward for an advantage.
"Uh, that's okay…you just got me by surprise is all." I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
"Oh, how rude of me, my name is Satoshi Tsukuda, and this is my shop. Welcome dear customer." He gave a small bow and a friendly smile.
"Ah. So that girl…she's your kid right?" I couldn't think of what else to say after that display.
"You mean Ayumi? Yes, she's my precious daughter. My greatest creation out of everything I ever produced." He had a look on his face that only a proud father could wear.
With a pang and a slight wince, I pushed away thoughts of my own father and gave a smile in return, "So does that mean you painted this?" I gestured over to the painting with a hand.
"Hmmm," He made an ironical kind of smile, "As much as I'd like to take the credit I did not paint that particular picture."
"Oh, then who did?" I tilted my head to the side and waited for an answer.
"Isn't it obvious, I mean you've met the artist…" He trailed off at my puzzled look.
"What artist? I don't know any artists."
With a grin he said, "Why Deidara-sama of course."
WHAT THE FLIP!!! "Deidara? The Deidara? The Deidara with a pyromaniac, gender issue and perversion complex?! That Deidara!" My mouth fell open in complete shock.
"Well I don't know about all that, but if you're talking about Deidara-sama who's helped me out many times and brings me good business then yes, that Deidara-sama."
Gah! Who would've thought blondie was the creative, sensitive, let's paint out our feelings type. I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. I can't imagine Deidara of all people to go to some art gallery let alone pick up a paint brush and not threaten to shove it somewhere unpleasant.
"I reacted the same way when I found out too. Imagine mine and Ayumi's surprise when he walked in asking for art supplies and promised us a heartfelt painting in return for our services. Imagine someone like him walking into my humble shop and not to mention all the business we get."
He kept on going on and on about his "amazing" Deidara-sama while I looked over the shop again. It was small and a little dark but clean despite the musty air. If they were doing as well as he said they were, why didn't he move to a bigger and better venue? When I asked him this he responded, "My late wife helped me open this shop and I'd hate to part with it. Even though it's old, a little shabby, and it holds sad memories for me plus my daughter and a fresh start sounds nice from time to time…I wouldn't trade it for anything because in spite of everything, it holds dear memories to us and it makes us happy to keeping making newer and happier memories here."
I smiled, I understood where he was coming from, even with the bad there was always some good along with it and even though it's hard to see…it's always gonna be there. Like the stars on a moonless night.
"C'mon Kairi, Deidara's got his package and we should start heading back before Pein-sama sends someone for us."
I nodded to konan. Turning back to the store owner I said, "It was very nice talking to you…" running towards the store front I yelled "and I wouldn't let your Deidara-sama get close to your daughter if I were you!"
With a bewildered expression on his face I looked away from him and continued out of the shop.
With a sigh I reclined on Konan's bed. That was an interesting day, saw a new village, met a few people, oh and let's not forget learning a little more about my captors! Ugh, what a day. I skipped out on lunch when konan offered since she dragged me away from my breakfast. I wasn't hungry just tired. But even lying in bed like this where I know for sure no one is gonna drag me outta the room sleep eludes me.
Sitting back up I scrubbed my hands over my face. *sigh* might as well pack up so nothing gets left behind when we have to leave this place. Walking over to the closet I sorted out my new clothes and the clothes Konan provided me with that actually fit. Dragging a large army green duffle bag over to the closet I began packing.
After a while I was done with my bag and left it near the bed the foot of the bed as I dropped face down on to it. Turning my face to the side for air I stared at the semi-empty closet. Frowning I realized Konan's bag was still empty inside the closet. I wondered would she mind very much if I packed it for her? It would be a great opportunity to learn more about her…with a sly smile and feeling much more energetic I bounced back over to the closet and began the hunt for Konan's secrets. Talk about coming out of the closet…
Frustrated beyond measure I packed the last of konan's clothes away. Nothing! Nada! Zilch! Zippo! She had absolutely nothing worth mentioning in that closet of hers! Not even some embarrassing hidden lingerie in a box labeled for emergencies only! I flushed a bright pink with the thought of Mina's last x-mas present emphasis on the "X". Meant as a gag she gave me the risqué underwear in a plain white box with a deep blue ribbon tied around it. Thinking it some t-shirt or a pair of jeans I nearly opened it in front of my entire family before Mina explained that it was a present for my eyes only and to open it later when I was alone. Later up in my room she laughed for a total of an hour exclaiming the awkward mall purchase was worth the priceless expression on my face. Feeling my face burn from just remembering the azure silk and lace underwear hidden in the furthest and darkest corner of my closet I decided it was probably better that I didn't stumble across something like that with Konan.
*sigh*Thinking over the day I reexamined the more interesting parts of today. One, the whole feeling hurt cause of Deidara thing. Yeah, I really can't explain that one much. I mean it was Deidara for Christ's sake! Maybe it's because I've always felt second-rate to other women who were more attractive than me, like Mina or konan for examples. I mean I've been told I was cute but that was usually from women or older men. *shivers* But never from boys or girls around my own age with the exception of friends of course. I mean my family said I looked like my mother with my father thrown in too. My parents said my looks were an even divide of theirs. Meaning my mom was fine boned and slender with womanly curves except she had long black hair and blue eyes. While my dad was tall and well built not like a body builder though…more like lanky with slight muscle definition, and dark auburn hair with green eyes. I was in between their looks, not like my older brothers Cain who took after mom with the exception of his green eyes and obvious masculinity or Aiden who took after dad with the exception of mom's eyes. I think being in between didn't make me more beautiful I think it just made things worse. Like a collage of features that were not in sync with each other.
*sigh*Or maybe it was because no boy has ever been interested in me in that way. True I never really made myself all prettied up and stuff before but I never really liked the thought of globs of makeup on my face or all that other artificial beauty in a bottle nonsense. I preferred natural beauty with almost no makeup at all. It seemed kind of silly to me to show the world one face and have a completely different face all together. I have nothing against makeup and going to the salon or working out but when girls overdo it then it starts to bother me. It's like they make people think their flawless when in reality their not and when they finally show the person the care about what they really look like without all that stuff caked on and no fancy outfits and stuff, they get disappointed, which in turn upsets the girl and she try's even harder to be the "perfect girl" which leads to more makeup and dieting and who knows what else!
Arghhhhh! This was giving me a headache! Well whatever the reason I did not like that someone like Deidara could get under my skin like that! Speaking of which, that brings me to number two. Why didn't he hit me like the last time today when I ticked him off?... He said something about Leader-sama needing me… So, Pein needed me huh. But for what I'm not sure. I really needed to get to the bottom of this cause I have a feeling that if I don't give him whatever it is he wants and soon, well…I'm not liking the mental images my mind came up with.
Thank you Melody Kari Starlight for your review again!!!
Um, to anyone willing to answer I was thinking about this the other day but can retired ninja or ninja who quit early allowed to move to a different village? If any one can answer that I would really apppreciate it, it's just that i can't really figure that out and it's begining to bug me!
Oh, plus if you want to see what the lingerie Mina gave to kairi looks like just fallow the link in my profile! :)
Please review!