Chapter 6 - Embarrassment
The long blond-haired boy with the warm blue eyes looked up at the dark sky that was covered over with clouds that threatened to release a barrage of rain at any moment. Hitori's was also looking up at the sky with a contemplative expression.
"Hey, Deidara. We should try and find some shelter since it looks like it's going to rain. We could go back to that village we walked through a little while ago and do the usual thing." Hitori said, still looking up at the overcast sky.
"Yeah, sounds good. We can put my awesome plan to work yet again. What would you do without me, hmm?" he smirked in a cocky manner and yelped all of a sudden when Hitori smacked him upside the head.
"What was that for?! God-damn, why do you always do that? I'm probably going to have brain damage from it!" he exclaimed, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head with his arm while pointing at Hitori and glaring.
"I don't think so. You've got too thick a head, yeah. Silly Deidara, without my jutsu, we would barely be able to eat! You are just the one who creates the distractions, not I need them..." she trailed off and dismissively waved her hand in his direction as if she was shooing a fly away.
"You are really annoying and mean sometimes. Get over yourself Hitori, seriously!" he retorted a little loudly and started walking away from her, but stopped and turned around when he heard barely restrained laughter coming from his female companion. She cracked up instantly as soon as she saw his face.
"You're telling me to get over myself! Hah! Remember what you were saying about your plan earlier? You're so weird." Hitori laughed as she told him off and he knew that he probably looked rather embarrassed at the moment.
She collected herself. "Come on you idiot. Let's get going, I just got a droplet of rain on my shoulder." she started towards the direction of the village that they had passed about a quarter of an hour ago, and shook her head and huffed in amusement as he mumbled and grumbled about her being annoying.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." he murmured while gradually falling into step with her.
They walked in silence for the next fifteen minutes or so, before they entered the village again and began to look around for the inn. Luckily for them, the place was not too bad and they quickly went over the plan that he had come up with a while ago when the weather started to get colder, and it rained more often.
As usual, he stealthily made his way into the lobby of the inn, and looked for any signs of staff. It was probably a little after 11pm. They had cased the inn a little earlier, and decided to move on to the next town, but since the sky threatened to let loose any minute now, it was better to stay there. There was a lot less staff around than before, so they probably finished up at 11pm.
There was a cleaner walking up the stairs, and an older looking female at the reception. He gestured for Hitori, who was standing behind him, to go in and set things in motion. Giving him a brief nod, she took a deep breath and walked in, teary-eyed and sniffling, looking like the young child she actually was instead of her normal, mature-for-her-age side. She began to walk towards the desk and the woman immediately looked up from the paperwork she was doing and came out from behind the desk and began to coo softly to Hitori and ask her what was the matter.
He vaguely heard Hitori saying that her and her cousin couldn't find their mother/aunt who hadn't come back when told them to wait outside the lobby while she quickly looked around for any other inns in the village because she couldn't afford for them all to have a bed at this inn. The receptionist seemed concerned for Hitori, and kept stroking her hair and then asked her where her cousin was. He knew this was his cue and he stuck his head just around the corner of the entrance to the lobby and Hitori turned around and pointed to him. He slowly walked in, and tried to look as sad as possible and stopped when he was standing next to Hitori and glanced at the receptionist then kept his eyes on his feet to make him seem shy.
"So, what are your names? I might be able to let you stay here overnight and your okaa-san can pay the fee when she gets back. I wouldn't want you two standing outside all night. By the way, you can call me Koushi" Hitori looked up at the receptionist and nodded with her bottom lip sticking out.
"I'm Asuka, and this is Katsu. I-I don't understand, okaa-san said she'd be right back." she sniffled and blinked a few times, "Wh-where did she go?" Hitori started 'crying' and put her face in her hands and Koushi just gently rubbed her upper arm and reassured her that everything would be alright. He just stood there quietly with his hands in his pockets and teary eyes and a trembling bottom lip and shuffling his feet a little.
She looked at Hitori sympathetically. "Alright, Asuksa, Katsu. I'll get one of the cleaners to fix you up a room that you can stay in, and I'll keep a look out for your okaa-san and your oba-san. What does she look like, so I'll know if it's her if I see her." she looked between them both.
"She has black hair like me...but it's shorter. An-and pretty blue eyes." Hitori managed to get out between her faked sniffles and sobs.
She walked over to the staircase and yelled out to the cleaner they saw earlier to fix up the room at the top of the staircase immediately. She gestured for them to sit down on the couch over the other side of the lobby and told them that she would get some tissues and that she would be back in a moment, which Hitori seemed to think was justification enough to start sniffling and sobbing incoherently about her 'okaa-san' saying the same thing. The receptionist looked like she knew she was walking on eggshells and hesitantly zipped off to get the tissues.
As soon as she had disappeared out the door behind the counter, Hitori stopped crying and looked up at him with a small, mischievous grin. They were almost too good at this. He gently nudged Hitori when a minute later the door behind the counter opened, revealing Koushi holding some tissues and a small container which he inwardly hoped to the gods that it was food. Hitori started sniffling a little and began wiping her 'tears' off her face with the backs of her hands as he just sat there and looked at Hitori with a worried expression.
"Here's some tissues for you Asuka dear. And I brought you some of the leftover take-out that I had for dinner tonight." the cleaner appeared at the top of stairs and said that the room was ready and Koushi turned back to them. "Alright, I'll walk you to the room." Koushi stood up again and still holding the take-out container with a set of chopsticks in the other hand, she led them to the room at the top of the stairs and the cleaner smiled sadly at them when Koushi led them through the door.
"You two just go right ahead and dig in to the food and you can have a shower too. You should try and get some rest as well. I'll come back later to check on you, okay?" Koushi smiled at them, put the food down on the small table and was just about to close the door when he stopped her by grabbing onto the bottom of her jacket. This was his time to shine. He looked up at her shyly.
"...thank you..." he said so quietly that it was almost a whisper, and quickly released his hold on Koushi's jacket and looked back down at his feet.
"That's alright sweetheart. I'll come check on you both in a while." she nodded and shut the door behind her.
They just stood there and after a moment, they both sighed and he picked up the container of food and brought it over to the bed. They caught each other's eyes and had to stop themselves from laughing in case Koushi or the cleaner was still nearby.
"I think that we are the smartest kids around, yeah." Hitori said quietly, but still displaying her cheerfulness at their plan succeeding. He muttered his confirmation while yawning and stretching tiredly. They both stilled when they heard the faint sound of rain hitting the window. He shrugged and opened the container and started eating.
They ate in silence and they didn't speak again until he asked whether Hitori wanted first shower, which she agreed to and made her way in the bathroom and came back out again about 15 minutes later. He went into the bathroom after she came out, and showered and cleaned up and came back out to find Hitori sitting on the bed with her legs under the covers and her back against the wall. She gave him a small smile, one of the smiles that were more genuine and heartfelt than a huge ear-to-ear grin. He smiled back and came and sat down on the bed in the same position she was in.
Since it was so quiet, they were able to hear the footsteps coming closer to the door of their room. They both instantly tensed, and looked towards the door. They heard a key slide slowly into the lock, and turned until there was a small click, signalling that the lock was open. He quickly glanced at Hitori, who gave him an almost imperceptible nod and he turned his head towards the door. Through a small gap in the door, eyes clearly belonging to Koushi peered in, widened slightly, then she opened the door fully and stood in the doorway.
"It's getting late. You should get some sleep, dears. Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm just glad that you're both safe and out of the rain." she smiled kindly at them both. "I'll come get you immediately if something happens. Just get some sleep." Koushi said softly.
They both nodded slowly, and slid further under the covers. "Goodnight, Koushi-neesan. Thank you for everything," Hitori said drowsily. Koushi bid them goodnight and shut the door.
"We probably should get some sleep. Just set the alarm clock on the table so we can ditch nice and early." Hitori said sleepily, slightly muffled from having the covers over a little of her face.
"Hell no, I'm not getting up! Do it yourself!" he hissed at the back of her head. Hitori only replied by pulling the pillow out from under her head and thwacking him as hard as she could with it without moving too much. "Ugh, fine. I'll do it. Stubborn girl." he threw the covers back and went over to the table and set the alarm.
He lazily dragged himself back over to the bed and picked up his pillow and attempted to get Hitori back for hitting him earlier. Hitori just stuck her arm out and blocked the hit, which earned a frustrated grumble from him and he decided against bothering to try again and instead just flopped down and settled in bed again.
It was a while before either of them fell asleep...
Deidara woke with a start. He shook his head and rubbed his face with his hands to wake himself up more recalling his dream of their old ways. He had occasionally dreamt about the things that Hitori and himself had gotten up to in the old days, but usually they weren't so vivid. He dragged himself out of bed and got dressed, and decided against putting on his hitai-ite, before stilling for a moment and listening to the faint sound of...singing? He set off to attempt to find the source of the music. He walked out of the bedroom and through the kitchen. Hitori was no where to be seen or found either, which made the whole situation more odd. The singing was gradually getting louder, and he decided to walk outside to see if it was coming from outside.
When he opened the back door and stepped outside, the sounds got louder again, loud enough to be heard clearly. It was clearly a female singing, and she was pretty good too. He did a lap around the house to try and find where it was coming from. He got back to his original spot, and looked up, checking the trees for any sign of where the music was coming from. Then it struck him. The roof. He leapt up onto the roof with ease and saw Hitori, sitting casually with a bottle of something next to her, and her back facing him. He certainly wasn't expecting it to be her that was singing, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. The singing stopped instantly as Deidara landed on the roof and she turned her head just enough to look at him from the corner of her eye and turned back around.
"Hi." he hesitated slightly coming to the conclusion that Hitori was singing, making him assume that it was sake in the bottle and that she was probably drunk. She regarded him with a sound of acknowledgement and a single wave of her hand out off to the side so that he could see it from where he was standing.She knew he had totally busted her.
"Want some?" she said picking up the sake bottle, and dangling it in the air, to try and change the subject that hadn't even been brought up yet, even though she knew that wouldn't help much with Deidara. He always spoke his mind.
"Was that you...singing?" he walked over and sat beside her, before taking a small swig of the sake.
She closed her eyes for a few moments, almost sighed and said "Who else could it have been, dumbass" she shook her head in 'frustration' to cover up her embarrassment. He just looked at her with a raised eyebrow and the corners of his mouth turned upwards slightly. He figured he'd probably embarrass her with what he was about to say, but he never bothered walking on eggshells around people. Her especially.
"It sounded pretty good. But I have to wonder whether it's the sake that's getting to you enough for you to be singing. I've never heard you sing up until now." he said with a slightly mischievous tone.
"Are you suggesting that I'm drunk, Deidara?" she bothered to turn her head and look him in the eyes when she said his name. His shadow of a smirk became a small grin and he huffed in amusement. Her expression mirrored his, yet a little less obviously and she huffed in amusement as well.
Deidara leaned his head closer to her with a devious smile. "Maybe I am, yeah." he leaned back and took another mouthful of the sake before handing the bottle back to her, but never took his eyes off hers.
Hitori narrowed her eyes slightly, and he noticed her gaze became incredibly piercing, as if she was looking straight through him. He could feel the slight change in her demeanour and wondered what was going through her head right now. He'd have no problem sleeping outside on the grass for the next week if it meant he knew what she was thinking. She was a lot harder to read now and he guessed that'd she just become that way over the years since most shinobi were pretty good at hiding their reactions, emotions and thoughts. At least she wasn't like Itachi, that emotionless bastard.
Meanwhile, Hitori was taking notice of how much he had grown for the first time since they'd reunited. The softer, more boy-ish face that he used to have was long gone, and had been replaced with a thinner, finely structured face of a young man. Albeit, a young man with a touch of femininity, which she figured came from the long blond hair that most girls would probably kill to have. His eyes were still vaguely the same shape they used to be, just a little more refined. His blue eyes were a little darker than she remembered. His soft looking, thin lips seemed to be always slightly turned upwards, as if he was always smirking. She mentally laughed a little and thought that was exactly like him.
She realised that she actually found that he was rather attractive, which certainly took her off guard. She didn't exactly think that finding her childhood friend attractive was a good thing. Obviously when they were children, these things weren't an issue. But now that she was an adult woman, who liked men, though she had no experience with them, she was starting to pay attention to him in a different way. Inwardly, she shook her head and sighed.
Deidara didn't take his eyes off her and when he noticed her gaze on his mouth, he got a slight tingle in his chest, which caused him to frown fractionally before quickly composing himself again. Her gaze was still intense and he gave up on the idea of sleeping on the grass for a month just to know what was going through her mind fives minutes ago. He would gladly sleep in a bathtub filled with ice for a year to know what she was thinking right now. He also noticed how much her appearance had changed since they were pre-teens running around, causing havoc and trying to survive.
Her face was elegant and feminine, but she still looked like a bit of tomboy. She still had those same pale grey eyes, which he noticed looked a little more dull than he remembered, which were framed by long black eyelashes. Her cheek bones were set rather high on her face, that would in a certain light probably make her look a little gaunt. She still had that smooth looking, pale skin that contrasted with her black hair and her small, but full pink lips. He also realised that she had become pretty damn attractive, beautiful even. He almost found her more amazing than his art, and internally frowned in confusion at his thoughts. Sure, he found many other women attractive so it shouldn't bother him, even if she had a perfect figure, not too curvy, but not too straight-up-and-down either, and that shiny, waist length black hair that was undoubtedly as soft as it looked.
You could only imagine their reaction if they knew what each other was thinking...
The sound of a bird's call nearby broke them both of out their thoughts and both of them tensed, and snapped their heads in the direction of the sound before relaxing after they both realised it was just a bird. They were both too embarrassed to look at each other after that, for fear of possibly revealing their thoughts to the other. Instead, they just sat in silence, listening to the distant sounds of the wildlife around them and occasionally sipping the sake until it was empty.
"I'll go and get another bottle, yeah." Hitori said before swiftly getting up and dropping off the roof, landing silently in front of the door. She walked inside and walked further into the kitchen and opened what she had affectionately deemed her 'Cupboard Of Certain Inebriation' which was packed full of bottles of various sizes and shapes that had come from all over. She looked at two different bottles, and decided on the one on the first shelf, and she picked it up and shut the cupboard door.
Hitori slowly made her way towards the door, and she was slightly concerned that it would still be awkward when she went back to the roof. There was a different air between them than the last time they were together, almost 10 years ago, and she wasn't sure what it meant for them. She certainly didn't want it to be tense or awkward after they had just found each other again.
She took a deep breath, and let it out before starting out the door, and leaping back up onto the roof. She opened the bottle, and smelt it and she smiled and exhaled satisfactorily before taking a large mouthful. She was about to take another mouthful when she heard a snort of amusement and barely restrained laughter beside her. She slowly turned her head towards the source, which was Deidara, who was shuddering with the effort of not cracking up laughing and had his hand over his mouth.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? What's so damn funny?" Hitori asked, thoroughly confused by his sudden outburst.
He collected himself after a few moments. "You're such an alcoholic Hitori." he said, still laughing, and he lost it and cracked up when he saw Hitori's utterly bewildered expression as if she was completely and thoroughly shocked by this comment.
"Ah, screw you, bastard. You haven't even seen my cupboard full of bottles yet and you are already calling me a drunk. Isn't that a nice start to the god-damn day?" she retorted with what looked like a scowl and a pout put together and crossed her arms and looked off into the distance resentfully. Inwardly, she was smiling that things were no longer awkward.
"You have a cupboard full of bottles? Gods, I was even more right than I thought." Deidara said before laughing again at Hitori's expression, which with every passing moment turned into mock-anger, and she was clearly fighting off a smirk and laughter. His expression sobered for a moment. "Why do you drink so much?"
Her face went blank at the sudden question. "To forget. I'm not as strong as I thought I would be when I first went into ANBU." she stared aimlessly into her lap, eyes unfocused.
"I was never as strong on my own as I was with you. You always made sure I didn't get into trouble." Deidara said quietly, his tone speaking volumes as to his own emotional turmoil through the years they were apart. He was quiet for a moment, and tried lightening the mood. "Now I'm going to have to make sure you don't get drunk and start fights."
He nudged her playfully and they sat there for the next few minutes laughing which turned into the occasion chuckle, between them both taking sips of the sake. For at least the next half hour, they just sat there, occasionally talking about random things and making various passes at each other which usually ended in one of them laughing, while the other crossed their arms and mock-glared at the other, or Hitori smacking Deidara upside the head affectionately and calling him various insulting names.
After a few moments of silence, Deidara decided to say what he'd been thinking all morning.
He smiled softly. "Hey, I'm pretty glad we met up with each other again, yeah. Much better than being stuck in the Akatsuki." he yawned while stretching his arms above his head.
"Me too, yeah. Even though I bet you are going to be a pain in the ass. Free loading off me and what not." Hitori replied and giggled a little at him rolling his eyes.
"You go under the pain in the ass category too. And you'll probably turn me into a drunk as well." Deidara retorted with a smug expression and a look of triumph in his eyes. Hitori just stuck her tongue out at him which he laughed at and held both his hands up beside his head and stuck out and wiggled all three tongues at her in retaliation.
"You'll always lose on that front, yeah. I can do much more with three that you can with one." he looked at her with a suggestive glint in the eye that wasn't covered by his blond locks and she couldn't stop her jaw from dropping at the innuendo in his words. She turned away to hide her flushed cheeks and he heard her muttering something about him being a complete pervert and he just laughed.
He tilted his down a little. "Who said I was talking about anything like that, hmm? Your dirty mind just twisted it that way, yeah. I was just showing off my...artistic advantages." he said while chuckling at her being a little flustered at the current topic of conversation.
"How could I not think of it like that? You said it with so much innuendo that I couldn't help it." she trailed off and he noticed that she must have turned away from him because from what he could see, her cheeks may be slightly more pink that the rest of her face.
He leant forward and tried to look at her face. "Is someone blushing?".
"Pfft, no...idiot." She turned away further and leant forward so her hair would cover her face more and crossed her arms.
"Why are you blushing? It's a normal thing for people to do, there's no need to be embarrassed. I'm just a little better...equipped..than most guys are. No one has ever complained about it before." he looked at her with an expression that would only be more smug if someone was complimenting his art.
"I know it's a normal thing for people to do, yeah. And I'm not going to even comment on the other things you said. Let's just change the damn subject." Hitori said, still looking away and feeling a little mortified that they somehow got talking about this.
Deidara just regarded her silently for a few moments with a slightly puzzled look, and she finally looked at him, after she got her blush under control, of course, and asked him what the problem was before he spoke.
"Hitori, answer me honestly. Are you...a...virgin?" he asked a little hesitantly, but he was so curious that he couldn't not ask. He raised an eyebrow when she visibly tensed, and tried to blank her expression as much as possible, which failed and ended up looking like a mix of apathy and blatant shock.
She shrugged a little and mumbled something incoherently and he leant forward as if to encourage her to speak up a little, which she did, but it was still just as incoherent as the first time.
"What was that?" Deidara said quietly and could see her tensing even more.
"...maybe..." she whispered so quietly that if he was sitting any further away, he wouldn't have heard her.
He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his face. "Really? That's kind of surprising. I'm sure you would have at least kissed someone though...right?" he added the last part after she didn't reply right away. She just put a hand over her face and sighed quietly, before repeating what she said before.
"Are you kidding me? That does not make sense." his expression became more serious.
"I did have to seduce a guy for a mission, but I barely touched him. Once we were alone...I just did what I had to do, and that was it. That's the closest I've come to...you know." she trailed off awkwardly.
He felt anger bubble in his gut hearing about that, but pushed it aside. "I have no idea why that is. You have become pretty attractive and everything, so I'm sure that someone would have been interested at the very least". He said with slight confusion in his voice.
Hitori raised an eyebrow at his words. "...thank you...I guess" she said quietly, growing more shocked as his words sunk in further.
"Don't thank me. I'm just calling it as I see it, yeah." he said with slightly forced nonchalance.
Hitori didn't bother saying anything more as she figured that he actually might not have meant it in a complimentary manner, just speaking his mind as he quite often did. After a little more silence, they both agreed to go inside and make some lunch which was filled with more talking and laughing, and more various insults flung in both directions. She threw a chopstick at him when he started to tease her about being a virgin. After they finished she suggested that they should go outside a spar a little, for something to do.
Hitori went into her room and got out a few kunai and shuriken for both of them to use out of her weaponry draw and handed some to Deidara before she fastened a few to her leg holster. He had left most of his weapons at the site of their battle, and he watched intently as her pant leg went up and down again and they strolled outside into the clearing and faced off with a few yards between them.
"So, I'm thinking...no ninjutsu or genjutsu. No use of chakra at all. Just taijutsu. And we can use our kunai and shuriken, yeah." Hitori said while stretching her legs and arms a little and tilting her head to either side, which earned a few small cracks from her neck.
"Alright then. I'll see how I match up against the Kage Oni in close combat." Deidara said before going into a fighting stance and held her gaze.
Hitori smirked. "Since I'm not using any chakra, I won't hold back on my speed. Got it?" Deidara just nodded once and waited for her to move first. "I hope...that you can...keep up with me" she said playfully while cracking her knuckles.
"I hope so too." Deidara admitted with a soft laugh.
Hitori disappeared and reappeared to his left and she continued to reappear in different places around him. He smirked when he realised that she was basically running in circles around him, and then out of nowhere she swung her arm out aiming to punch him. He only just blocked and attempted to counter, but she was just so fast that he could barely go on the offensive at all. She finally got one kick on him, which landed on his right side and the force pushed him a few feet away. Even without chakra, she was so damn strong. He thought as he pulled out a kunai and lunged at her with it.
She blocked it with her own kunai and they grappled for a minute or so, just slowly circling each other, waiting for someone to make a move. They both had a small smile on their face, and were both feeling the thrill of the fight, even if they were only sparring. Hitori finally changed it up and threw a shuriken at him as fast as she could without enforcing it with chakra which he dodged easily and he threw one of his own, which she moved out of the way at the last second, as if to tease him. Deidara ran at her again, and began slashing with his kunai, and she blocked or dodged every one of them and then swung her left leg at him, to try and kick him or at the very least to make him dodge and force him to make an opening.
Unfortunately it didn't work and he just jumped backwards out of her taijutsu range. Before he could recover, she flung the kunai she had in her hand at him and disappeared only to reappear on his right just after he dodged the kunai and was put slightly off balance. Perfect, she thought, before taking advantage of his opening and instead of punching him or kicking him, she just shoved him with both hands and laughed as he stumbled backwards, with a confused expression.
"You're too slow. Although, I am rather impressed how well you did against me, even though if I did use any chakra in the kick that landed, I would have shattered your ribs." Hitori said a matter-of-factly and moved a few feet back away from him and stopped to let him recover before coming at him again and began a barrage of punches, kicks, elbows and knees. She noticed that he was able to keep up with her a little bit better now, and was even recognising a few of the moves that she purposely used again.
They stopped after a few minutes for a quick break, and she talked him through a few things that he was doing wrong, and few things that she was quite impressed with. He took in everything that he could. She showed him a few tricks with kunai and shuriken that he never even knew about, probably because he didn't use them unless he had to, and she helped him improve his technique when he had figured out how to do them. He was a quick learner, so he was able to master a lot of the things she taught him and she could tell that he was rather proud of himself.
Then they started doing some more taijutsu and he was able to react to her a little quicker, as well as do some offensive instead of just being stuck blocking and dodging most of the time. He almost landed a kick to her side at one point and when she dodged it, she looked at him with a proud smile and he just smirked and shrugged. His taijutsu was strong, but it was practically she had trained in while she was in Konoha. ANBU taught her a lot of what she knew.
She told him to sit down for a few minutes, and that she'd be back in moment and he just nodded and watched her jog into the house. When she came out again, about a minute later, she was carrying two wooden katana and two bottles of water. She handed him one of each and he looked at her incredulously and she just smirked and shrugged before drinking some of her water.
They stood around for a few minutes, having some water, and preparing themselves for what was next. He had trained a little to use a katana, but he never bothered with it that much, so he never became that good at it. When Hitori was ready, she moved into the middle of the clearing again and waited for him to do the same. She ran him through a few basics before moving a few yards away from him. She made the first move, and limited herself to using basic swings that didn't have too much force behind them at about 50% speed. He was learning rather quickly with using the katana and she started to move a little quicker, which he noticed and countered it by moving quicker himself.
By the end of their session that lasted until late afternoon, he had increased his speed in taijutsu, as well as being a little better using kunai and shuriken and he had actually picked up using a katana rather well and was able to use a lot of basic swings with good execution. They went inside and slumped down on the couch before arguing who would get first shower. Not that either of them made any move to try and get in first, they just weren't bothered. Hitori kept saying that she should because she was a woman and also his sensei, so he should listen to her, which he retorted with saying that he didn't give a shit about her being his sensei, and that he'd do as he damn well pleased. All of a sudden Hitori disappeared from next to Deidara on the couch, and reappeared in front of him, stuck her tongue out and held up both her middle fingers at him and ran towards the bathroom and shut the door, the sound of her laughter trailing along behind her. He tried to swat at her as she ran past, but failed epically.
"If I was bothered to get up, I'd bash that door down and drag you out of there!" Deidara yelled after her before laughing softly and sighing in exhaustion. He was rather proud of how much progress he'd made in just a few hours and realised that Hitori was a really good teacher. She didn't say that she had ever taught anyone before, but he doubted it. Then he suddenly remembered their conversation on the rooftop earlier in the day as he heard the shower turn on, being very aware of his friend who was probably naked in the next room.
He was surprised that she had no experience with men. All kunoichi knew how to use their femininity to their advantage, which was why a lot of them were employed as thieves or assassins, but business was different than their personal lives. Deidara was certain that she would have been hit on before, because she was attractive with her long, midnight coloured hair and pale complexion, but he wondered if maybe men were a bit intimidated by her, since her grey eyes were frightening sometimes.
Hell, if he didn't know her and saw her at a bar somewhere, he would probably try and take her home. All the women he had been with over the years that he had actually paid attention to women all looked fairly similar to her, now that he thought about it. He had slept with a woman a few months ago that had black hair that fell to her shoulder-blades. She had brown eyes, and was about his age. He couldn't even remember her name, but there was a trend appearing in his mind.
Even though he had only been with four women in his life, they had all had dark hair and dark eyes. Not entirely sure what to think about that, he headed into the bedroom in the tiny, transportable house and grabbed the clothes he slept in previously. He wondered how she washed her clothes since there didn't seem to be any sort of machine around, and thought briefly if she even wore anything when she was in the house.
The explosions expert laughed inwardly and shook his head as he realised that she was right, he was a pervert. He shook his head vigorously to try and dispel the naughty thoughts and get rid of the mental images, which didn't work too well.
It got even worse when she walked into the bedroom, wrapped up in nothing but a black fluffy towel and dropped her dirty clothes on the ground started rummaging through her draws. He thought his thoughts were perverted before...well he was quite wrong. He nearly moaned in appreciation as he saw a pair of skimpy looking black panties sitting on top of the pile. She felt the weight of his gaze and looked over her shoulder at him.
She raised an eyebrow. "What? I didn't get any clothes to change into because I was trying to get into the bathroom before you, yeah."
He just stood there, not saying a word and looked away before picking up his clothes off the bed and headed towards the bathroom as quick as he could. Hitori just stood there, utterly confused by his display and just went back to finding some clothes to wear. When she was dressed, she took Deidara's clothes out of his pack and grabbed her dirty clothes off the floor before going into the kitchen and opening up the door to the biggest cupboard which was underneath the counter top and held a small washing machine in it. She threw both their clothes in and walked over to the bathroom door and knocked.
"Deidara, can I come in and get the clothes you wore today? I'm about to do a washing load." she said through the door, speaking loud enough so that he would hear her over the sound of the water.
"Um, yeah. But I locked the door." Deidara said loud enough for her to hear through the door. Hitori only replied by opening the door. As if a bathroom door lock would stop her. She walked in and picked up the clothes he had on today off the floor.
"Do you want me to wash your other clothes too and you can just borrow a pair of my pants or something?" she said while holding the items of clothing in question.
"I'm not walking around in a pair of pink boxers that leave nothing to the imagination, yeah." he replied with a small laugh at the mental image.
Hitori also laughed at the mental image, but then shook her head as it became slightly more 'detailed' in certain parts. "Nah, I purposely buy men's clothes to sleep in. They're more comfortable. I'll bring them in in a sec."
She walked out, leaving the bathroom door open and throwing in his clothes in the washer before putting the powder in, and turning it on. She went to the draws again and picked out a nice pair of plain black boxers for him to wear and walked back into the bathroom before setting them down on the small counter.
"They're just sitting on the counter, okay. And I made sure to get you a nice pretty floral pair to bring out your feminine side, yeah." she said with a laugh, which quickly died down when she noticed that she could see a vague silhouette of him in the shower curtain. She couldn't really see anything...significant since he was facing directly towards the wall, but her mind began to imagine what was missing. She shook her head and walked out, shutting the door behind her to let him finish showering in peace. Her eyes were wide as she was wondering why the hell her brain just decide to fill in the blanks for her, and she busied herself in the kitchen.
When he came out a few minutes later, he found Hitori in the kitchen making tea for both of them. When she was finished he carried both mugs into the living room, where he found a shogi board set up on the small table and two cushions on the floor on either side of the table. He set the mugs down and sat down on one of the cushions. She walked in after him and sat down on the other side. He looked at her questioningly and she only replied by making the first move. They played for a while and Hitori was surprised and impressed that Deidara could actually plan things out when he wanted them to, and that most of the risks he took worked to his advantage. She did beat him though he challenged her and definitely didn't make it easy. She was lucky that she had that to concentrate on previously, but unlucky now that they had finished playing because she noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Random question, are you cold at all? Because I totally forgot to get you a shirt as well." Hitori said, trying to cover up the fact that she was rather impressed by the physical appearance of the man before her. He didn't have as much muscle mass as someone who used a lot of taijutsu, but that was to be expected since he was a predominantly a long-range fighter. Nevertheless, he was in very good shape, which she had noticed previously.
"Nah, I'm fine actually, thanks" Deidara said before finishing his tea, then sitting back and leaning on his hands. He didn't seem to notice Hitori's appraisal as she subtly watched his muscle ripple when he shifted his weight to get more comfortable. She tore her eyes away, and finished her tea, before taking his mug and getting up and heading to the kitchen, and began to make dinner for them both. When she was done she brought it in and sat it on the table, moving the shogi board over a little to make room, before using a small fire jutsu in a lantern on since it was getting dark and sitting back down. They played another game as they ate which Deidara won. Hitori won, bouncing back with a vengeance after her loss and she proceeded to tease him about it for a few minutes before he finally said something back.
"Virgin." he stated simply, with crossed arms, and looking off to the side. With that one word, she stopped instantly and her expression went deadpan before she started flinging shogi pieces and various creative insults at him. He just put his arms up to protect his face and laughed while being hit with every single shogi piece there was.
When she finally ran out she growled and looked out the window, noticing it was dark now and the moon was rather high in the sky. Deidara was still chuckling every now and then and she stood up and threw the cushion she was sitting on at him which he put his arms up to block, before she ran away laughing into the bedroom and jumping on the bed.
Deidara got up and grabbed the cushion he was sitting on, and silently stalked into the bedroom before trying to hit Hitori with it. Before he could realise, she had grabbed a pillow off the bed and blocked the hit with it before sitting up and kicking his cushion out of his hands. She smirked and stood up and started trying to hit him with her pillow, while he desperately tried to get to the other side of the bed and get the other pillow so he could defend himself, and attack her. She finally let him get it, and a large pillow fight that lasted for approximately five minutes straight ensued. They ran all around the house, jumping over the table in the living room and the kitchen counter, hiding behind the shower curtain (and Hitori nearly slipped over on the wet tiles) and basically just making a mess. They ended up back in the bedroom somehow, and they both collapsed onto the bed still out of breath from running around and laughing at their antics. It was undoubtedly the most fun both of them had had since they were separated.
When they finally calmed down, they both made the unspoken decision to go to bed and get some rest, since they agreed they would train again tomorrow. Hitori fell asleep surprisingly quick, and Deidara smiled sleepily at her sleeping face before drifting off himself.
The cloaked figure walked into the room silently and made eye contact with the other person, who sat in a chair over the other side of the room. The only source of light was a small lamp sitting on a table next to the chair occupied by the other person. The first person walked over and was slowly made visible and her face with grey-ish blue eyes with hints of amber, a lip piercing, and soft blue hair and a paper rose was illuminated by the dim light.
"Deidara has been killed. Unfortunately, we do not know who killed him and there was no body." the woman said quitely with a calm tone.
"This is unfortunate. He completed every mission he was given with a professional attitude. He will be difficult to replace." the other person said with an emotionless voice. He leaned forward to reveal his face which was covered in odd piercings and he had almost hypnotic ringed eyes and orange spiky hair.
"Indeed. Shall we tell the other members now?" the woman asked, with the same calm tone.
"Yes. Let's summon them immediately." the male said after thinking for a moment.
A while later, there were six coloured silhouette standing on six fingers on two hands of a statue in a large, dark cavern.
"Where's the blondie? Did he blow himself up or something?" the tallest figure said laughingly.
There was a moment of silence before someone spoke. "We do not know the specifics, but Deidara has been killed."
The tallest figure chuckled under his breath. "I knew he'd get himself killed next."
"There is also no sign of a body either." the man with the ringed eyes stated, which earned a disappointed groan from a large plant like looking figure.
"What if he isn't really dead though, since there is no body?" asked the same figure that groaned just a few moments before.
"Unless he really did blow himself up." said the same figure, but with a distinctively different voice.
The tallest figure spoke again. "That certainly wouldn't surprise me".
"It is a great loss to Akatsuki. He will be difficult to replace. I will mourn this loss of a comrade. Dismissed." the ring-eyed man said with finality.
All six figures flickered out, and the cavern was left in darkness once more.