Chapter 8 – Shut Down
He ran his thumb over her cheek soothingly and slowly brought his face closer to hers and with slight hesitance, he softly pressed his lips to hers...
She just stood there. Stunned. She didn't pull away, but she still had her arms around him, but she was so shocked that they dropped to her side. Her eyes were wide, and she had no idea how to react. Nothing like this had ever happened before. No one had ever been this...intimate...with her before. Kakashi had hugged her a few times, awkwardly, since he wasn't really used to it either, but nothing romantic. Just when she had lost a member of her cell and was having a bad day.
Deidara had absolutely no god damn fucking clue what he was doing. He just had to do...something. She was just looking up at him with those eyes filled with worry, and biting her lip. She looked so beautiful to him right now. So much like her old self, when things were easier. When they didn't have the risk of being hunted by anyone who bothered to try. As well as the risk of him not being dead being discovered by the Akatsuki. He was just following his instincts, acting on urges. He knew that she wouldn't have any experience with anything like this before, but he just felt compelled to press his lips to hers and show her that he was there, and that it was okay.
Hitori felt some odd feeling welling up inside her. She couldn't identify or describe it, but she knew that it was...different...and almost interesting. She was feeling a little short of breath, and not for obvious reasons. Then, Deidara pulled away. She subconsciously leaned forward with him when he pulled away. He still had his hands cupping her face but he began to lower them a little and went to start pulling away completely when Hitori realised that the feeling that she had was gone. It confused her, but intrigued her. She wanted to experience it again.
She reached up quickly and grabbed the front of his shirt which made him stop pulling away from her. He wasn't sure what that meant, but when she pulled him closer, he knew what she wanted. He put one hand around to the back of her neck and the other around her waist and kissed her again. She sighed a little and relaxed in his arms and her grip on his shirt tightened significantly and she had her eyes tightly shut as she felt that oddly interesting feeling again. They only separated again when they had need for air, and Deidara rested his forehead against hers again and tried to comprehend exactly what the fuck just happened.
They were both completely stunned by the spontaneity and lack of sense the situation made and it could be said that the last part of their trip into town made up for the hunter nin and the possibility of being recognised a little. All Hitori knew was that it was just her luck that Deidara would get found out and killed, and as much as she hated that she actually spoke what she was really feeling and thinking instead of pretending that part of her didn't exist, she knew she was right. She had been alone for too long, and to have Deidara taken away from her again, back to the Akatsuki, or killed, was just something she didn't want to have to deal with. She inwardly vowed years back that when she got him back and they went back to doing whatever the fuck they wanted, that they would get rid of any possible threat to that. The Akatsuki, however, would be ridiculously hard to deal with compared to some piss weak hunter nins who just wanted the glory of taking out an S-class missing nin.
Deidara lent back and dropped his hands from her face and gently took hold of Hitori's smaller hands that were still fisted in his shirt and just stood there quietly for the next few moments that were full of a mix of comprehension, shock, and maybe a hint of something that could possibly be...pleasant. He still had no idea what he was doing, and the whole situation really hadn't sunk in yet. In a way, he was almost hopeful it wouldn't, just in case Hitori snapped out of her emotional state and smash his skull for taking advantage of her. Either that, or just tear his head straight off his shoulders. He inwardly shuddered a little at the thought that she could probably do that, and decided to be smart and not give her more ideas. He'd already made that mistake before with the strangling him with his hair idea.
Slowly, other thoughts began to cloud his mind. Firstly, why he was acting like such a little boy? Secondly, Hitori had wanted him to continue, and while it may have shocked him to no end, there was a small part of him, which he couldn't squash completely that absolutely loved it. Thirdly, the idea of him actually enjoying Hitori's desire to continue, but not the usual 'take-this-hot-bitty-back-to-my-hotel-room-and-make-a-'bang'', but something a little more different than that. It just didn't feel like the every day lust. Fourthly, the fact that there was a possibility that he might have 'feelings' beyond anger, frustration, irritation, creativity, lust, satisfaction (the latter two usually went together) and homicidal intent, with the occasional suicidal tendency – sacrifice for his greatest work of art - ...well the notion was completely, utterly, and pathetically ridiculous. He thought that he had buried those along with the memories of Hitori, just in case he never saw her again.
Apparently it was the same for Hitori. She was still a little shaken, if such a thing existed with her, but she knew that this whole...thing...was entirely out of character for her. She didn't bother 'feeling' any more. All she did was stay in a constant state of indifference and the only things she actively took part in was, train and drink herself stupid when she had nothing else to do. She would occasionally sleep, when her body allowed it. Whenever an emotion reared it's obnoxious head, all she did was squish it down to the soles of her feet and walk it off. Literally. It was just how she dealed with things. Always had done. She'd just pack up her bags and wander until she wasn't bothered to keep wandering any more.
Just this one little seemingly insignificant event was suddenly changing everything. Hitori could already feel the dynamic of their relationship slowly altering as the moments went by, and it scared her to no end. She had already let him into her life as her best friend, only to have him forcibly taken from her years ago. She wasn't sure that she could let him into her life as anything more than a friend or a companion. Not only that, but she hadn't the faintest idea how these things worked, so even with all her common sense and intellect, it didn't mean she could figure out what to do.
She had always depended on her ability to see through other people's facades, but she equally depended on her ability to not let anyone see through her own. Deidara had always been able to see right through her, and she could not let that happen right now. She was scared and unsure, and she could not let him know. It would kill her with humiliation if he found out how terrified she was.
There was only one solution for that. To shut down. Completely. And that's what she did. She took a deep breath with her eyes shut, and when she opened them again, she was carefully blank faced. She let go of his shirt, dropped her hands, spun around and walked off. That was the only thing that she could think of doing at the moment. The only thing that would keep her pride and heart intact. She tried to convince herself this was the right this to do as she strolled off.
Deidara just stood with his arms still in the position they were before, looking down to where Hitori was all of a few seconds ago. His mind was still quite blank, and when he snapped out of it, he realised that cursing in the most colourful ways imagineable from the mountain tops would be nowhere near enough to convey his confusion.
She just shut down. He thought that finally, she might open up a little more. Not just about her past, or her favourite way to kill. About what was running through her head. She was so unreadable, and it drove him nuts. It was so different to how she used to be. She used to wear her heart on her sleeve with him, and he could always see through her, but not as much any more. Not through the missing-nin part of her.
He had honestly no idea why he was being so god damn soft about this whole thing, but it wasn't like anything like this had happened before. Usually his interaction with women ranged from being in an Akatsuki meeting which involved Konan being present, and she barely ever said a word, to taking a half drunk, attractive woman back to his room and having some fun. Nothing like this. If a woman turned him down he normally just...well...actually...no woman ever turned him down before. In fact, they usually came to him. Most of the ones that hit on him were actually rather interested in his mysterious and potentially dangerous nature. He was the typical bad-boy type. And not like he would turn them down if they were attractive and willing, which had only happened four times previously. He just wasn't the tender, chivalrous, affectionate type of guy, who would open doors and serenade his woman with a song.
The bomber felt a little pathetic thinking over his most recent actions, worrying about her for a bit over 9 years, moving closer to her in his sleep and even letting her beat the shit out of him because deep down he knew he deserved it for being an arrogant shit. He was even cooking for her too.
What the hell is wrong with me? He thought to himself and rubbed his face with his hands irritably. He was dying to blow something up, just to try and prove to himself that he was not going soft, and it was simply the result of the shock of being reunited with Hitori which was making him act like a complete idiot, by his standards. He was feeling way out of his comfort zone, and he didn't know whether to be pissed off, or...well, he just didn't know.
Eventually, he started following after Hitori who was just heading back into the trees, for lack of not knowing what else to do. A little voice in his head kept saying that he fucked it up, that he took it too far and ruined their friendship by doing something so impulsive, but the voice was promptly shoved back from where it came in his mind. The only thing that he knew for sure, was that it was going to get awkward. And exceedingly so. It was something that he wasn't really looking forward to, and to save himself from the earliest possible confrontation, he stayed a few yards behind Hitori as they leapt through the trees on the way home.
When they did arrive back home, it was getting rather dark, and Hitori busied herself by patching up any bruises, cuts, grazes that she might have and leaving out some medical supplies for Deidara just in case he needed to use them. She certainly wasn't going to heal any superficial wounds that he had, especially when she had no idea how to act around him now. The only knowledge of romantic stuff she had was just talk around the village and between some of the hospital staff, who could be quite the gossips at times, which made sense considering that they hung around every single patient they had, and people being in the hospital had a strange way of uncovering facts and feelings.
She knew that when someone kissed you that usually meant that they liked you or at least wanted you. But that was impossible. Deidara was her friend, and she brushed it aside by telling herself that they probably just both had a weak moment. She figured that with his curious nature, and persistence that he would probably ask her about her reaction sooner or later, and she would have to decide carefully on what to say to him when the time came. In a house as small as this one, she couldn't possibly avoid him, and at one point she seriously considered just wandering around, doing anything she needed to whilst using her jutsu so he couldn't see her. As tempting as it was, she quickly dispelled the thought since it would make her look like a coward.
While Hitori was thinking, she went through her nightly routine like a robot, not even realising that she had somehow managed to pack away all the groceries and other supplies they had gotten in town, have something to eat, have a shower, and by the time she realised this, she was pretty much ready for bed. It was completely dark by the time she had finished it all.
At that moment, Deidara walked in the room, fresh from a shower, and without sparing a glance in her direction, he walked over to his pack and rummaged through it for a few minutes. Hitori took that chance to jump into bed and get comfortable and pretend that she was trying to go to sleep just in case he was going to try talking to her. She was relieved when he walked out of the room without a word or glance, let alone acknowledging her presence or existence at all, shutting the door behind him. It was obvious that he was just going to ignore her, which she was secretly grateful for. She needed some time to sort out what was going on in her head. All the emotions made her tired, and she hoped she would fall asleep as soon as possible.
On the other hand, Deidara was laying down on the small couch, doing everything in his power to sleep, which seemed to be avoiding him like the plague, or like...some other fancy and creative metaphor describing his situation. He was so pissed off, furious, embarrassed, and offended that he couldn't think straight. He didn't really know why he was angry either, which served to anger him more. It was Hitori's fault that she didn't know what to do, but of all things, shutting down completely was most definitely not the desired reaction he wanted from her. But to Hitori, that seemed to be the only option since it didn't take her that long to act on it.
He still didn't know why she had done it, and felt embarrassed that he had made himself vulnerable by kissing her, only to be kissed back and then rejected. If she truly didn't want that from him, then why did she respond in the first place?
They had never stayed angry at each other for long back in the day, but they had both grown more mature, and they were probably just as stubborn and hot-headed. As well as being incredibly sadistic now. The only thing was that this was not just a silly argument between children. This was something that may not be easily solved amongst adults. Feelings that neither of them were familiar with had developed since they reunited, and some of those feelings were hurt and tumultuous in nature.
Who knew when it would get sorted out, but all Deidara knew was that he wasn't in the mood for it to be any time soon. He still couldn't figure out for the life of him why she would just clam up like that, but he had a feeling that it wasn't just because of her inexperience in that situation.
His mind kept on having arguing with itself until exhaustion finally took over and let him sleep...
#
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The endlessly obnoxious sound continued as both Hitori and Deidara slowly wake up and regained awareness of their surroundings. They both groaned irritably in unison.
"Hitori...turn off the alarm 'fore someone hears..." Deidara drawled sleepily as he nudged Hitori's half-asleep figure.
She just grumbled curses in response and got up. At least she knew that had to be out of there as soon as possible, instead of whining about having five more minutes as her lazy, Aryan looking companion did. She turned off the alarm and went to use the bathroom, all the while telling Deidara to get the hell out of bed. Slowly, he complied and dragged himself out of bed and got dressed. He used the bathroom after Hitori came out, and a few minutes later, they were ready to go.
The window was closed, so Hitori pushed it fully open and Deidara leapt out and landed quietly on the ground beneath him. With a brief glance around the make sure that nothing was left behind, Hitori jumped out of the window as well and landed even quieter than Deidara on the ground next to him. They glanced at each other for a moment and with a single nod, they started off in the direction of the trees.
Later that day, they arrived at the next village. It was much bigger than the last and was probably more of a town than a village. The place was crowded with people and Hitori guessed that something special was probably going on. Her thoughts were confirmed when Deidara picked up a colourful flyer from the ground saying that there was going to be a fireworks festival that night.
"Well, that explains the crowd. Sounds fun, we should stay for it, yeah. I've never seen fireworks before." Hitori said in a cheerful voice. It had been a while since they had had some proper down time to just do whatever they pleased.
"Either have I." Deidara replied with an equally cheerful tone, his young features forming a happy smile.
They kept walking around the town, and got themselves something to eat while waiting around for the fireworks to start. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long since the sun was already beginning to set when they first arrived in the town. They made their way over with the crowd to the large hill a few minutes' walkaway overlooking a large farm like area and sat down a little ways from most of the crowd.
After around half an hour of waiting, the first firework lit up the night sky in a beautiful array of blue sparks. The next was a little smaller but just as fascinating with red flecks decorating the sky. The crowd made 'oh' and 'ah' sounds each time a firework went off and spread its colours across the heavens. The last few were let off around ten minutes later, and there one a small green one, with two larger ones, one purple and one a silver with gold undertones colour. Then there was a huge blue one that illuminated not just the sky, but also gave the faces sitting on the hill a blue tinge as they smiled up at the beauty of the sight, and the sky became dark once again.
Slowly, the crowd began to thin and people moved away, back to their homes and back to whatever they were doing before. Hitori and Deidara, however, stayed sitting on the hill, still quite amazed at the sight they had just seen.
"That was..." Deidara stuttered and trailed off before he could even think of a word to describe it.
"...amazing..." Hitori finished his sentence for him, and turned to him. Deidara thought that she was just as amazing as the fireworks display at that moment. She had such an alive, radiant expression, and her eyes were brighter than any of the fireworks they saw that night. Her pale grey eyes, looked an almost luminescent silver in the moonlight and her faint smile displayed more happiness than the biggest of grins. He'd never seen her so happy before.
By the same token, he probably looked the same. They had never seen anything like this before, and it felt like ...just for a while...they could be kids again and enjoy something that they weren't able to when they actually were kids, not children that they were more like almost adults in kids bodies.
They hadn't been able to feel that way since their lives had taken a turn for the absolute, and irrevocable worst. They had both been left on their own, doing anything they could do survive. It certainly helped when they found each other, but things were getting harder as they were getting older, and soon they would have to find somewhere to stay for more permanently and try and get some work instead of stealing money, or food any chance they could. Anythingto survive.
As they sat, revelling silently in the beauty of it, for pre-teens, their heads were both reeling with questions that should be beyond their years, but when it all came down to it, they were both much more mature than most their age. Deidara was the first to speak.
"Don't you think that fireworks are so artistic? Just a moment of beauty, then it's gone as quick as it came..." he said quietly, his gaze inward even though his head was tilted towards the sky. Hitori simply looked at him as her gaze also turned inward for a moment and with a wistful smile, nodded and made a sound of approval, just loud enough so he would hear it. He murmured his acknowledgement and started looking at the sky again, instead of just staring off into space.
Most of the crowd had moved off already, except for a few couples who seemed wrapped up in their own little worlds. After about an hour, it was only Hitori and Deidara left sitting on the hill, staring at the stars. They had barely said a word to each other that whole hour, and when the sound of a twig snapping occurred, it brought them both back to the real world and out of their thoughts.
It was dead silent after that, and Hitori's instincts were screaming that there was presences very close to them. They may not have looked it too much, but they were both instantly on their guard as their intuition told them something was wrong. Still and quiet as possible, they listened as hard as they could for any signs of sudden movement.
A man dressed in shinobi attire appeared in front of them so suddenly that they both flinched and they both stood up and took up their version of a fighting stance. Inwardly, they both knew that it was probably impossible for them to stand up against a proper ninja, and whatever hope was lingering inside them was entirely dissolved when another shinobi, dressed the same appeared behind them. They were both wearing masks and had ninjato strapped to their back.
Deidara had a thought that they were probably the ANBU that every hidden village had and he knew that they would have no chance against them. They were experts in the darker sides of shinobi work, not that there was exactly a good side, so to speak. It was ridiculously naive to think that they could defeat them, let alone get away since they clearly had something that they wanted from them, but Deidara wasn't going to go down without a fight, and he knew that Hitori would be exactly the same, no matter how much more logical and rational her train of thought was.
"What do you want from us?" Hitori said, her voice shaking slightly, and her heart pounding as the adrenalin began to rush through her veins.
"We have been ordered to retrieve an item that it believed to be in your possession. It is a diamond ring. Return it, and we will spare your lives." the first ANBU spoke tonelessly, not making any sort of threatening movement.
Shit! We sold that two days ago!Hitori groanedinwardly at the thought of trying to negotiate with these guys. Even if they did tell them where they sold it, and did everything they could to get it back, they would most likely end up getting killed anyway.
"Too late, we sold it straight after we stole it." Hitori sounded a little more confident than she felt, and mentally shook her head as she waited for the inevitable. "I can tell you where we sold it, if you spare us."
"You twostole it?" the second ANBU asked, sounding a little confused at the idea of these two...kids stealing a valuable ring out of a nobleman's home.
"Hell yeah we did." Deidara spat out, his anger rising at the indirect insult.
The two ANBU gave each other a quick nod and lunged at Hitori and Deidara. They jumped in different directions, just barely getting out of the way of the grasp of each ANBU. They both started into a dead run and it was barely a moment before the ANBU caught up to them with relative ease.
Then as if fate were finally throwing some luck their way, the full moon came out from behind a small cloud and cast small shadows on the ground. Hitoriknew that she could take them by surprise now, even though she wouldn't be able to hold the jutsu for very long, maybe just long enough to give them more of a chance or injure them so they could get away.
She disappeared and the pursuing ANBU made a sound of confusion and stopped running. Hitori crept quietly around behind him and drew her only kunai. She knew she only had one chance, and she had to stop him from moving, then she could help Deidara, who was struggling in vain, doing all that he could to get out of the nin's grip. She held onto the kunai tightly, and swung her arm down to lodge it in the back of the thigh of ANBU who was standing in front of her, looking around frantically.
It made contact and with a loud yell of pain from the nin, Hitori pushed it into the nin's leg as far as she could before jumping backwards out of his range. The jutsu instantly released itself, and Hitori began to pant slightly from the effort of holding the jutsu as perfectly as she could. The nin fell to the ground groaning in pain and clutching his leg, and Hitori heard Deidara's cursing and yelling at the nin to let him go.
The nin suddenly drew a kunai and held it to Deidara's throat, and with a low growl and a few muttered curses, he stopped struggling instantly. Hitori called out to him and made a move to start towards him, but stopped as he looked over to her with a look that said 'Don't you dare'. She furrowed her eyebrows even more so, and didn't even realise that the the other nin was getting up until Deidara called out to her in distress and by then it was already too late. The shinobi had drawn a kunai and already had snaked one arm around her waist and it held the kunai to her neck.
"You move, you die. And so does your friend" he spoke in a low and dangerous voice laced with pain in her ear and she cringed a little at the thought.
And then, something that no one had expected happened. Deidara suddenly stopped cursing and smirked deviously, and let go of one of his hands that was trying to pry off the nin's arm. He opened his hand, palm facing the ground, and Hitori could have sworn that she felt Deidara's chakra change. Itwas too dark to see what he had doneexactly, or where it went so she just had to trust that he did something to save himself at the least.
Please let this work!Deidara pleaded mentally, and concentrated as much as he could in that moment. He hadn't tried this yet since he only had one shot, and he had hidden it from Hitori as well, because he wanted to learn to use it without her worrying about him getting hurt.
"Hitori, I'm sorry." Deidara said quietly, and tried as hard as he could to drown out the sound of Hitori's screaming, asking him what he did, and to save himself.
Then there was a small explosion and Hitori began to feel very light-headed, and her vision started to blur and shake and she felt herself fall to the ground. She faintly felt a warm liquid dripping down her legs, but she paid it no heed as she hit the ground, barely able to use her own arms to soften her landing. She was still barely concious, but everything was rather hazy and spinning.
Meanwhile, Deidara still couldn't get out of the grasp of the nin, which tightened unconsciously when he realised that his comrade was dead. Killed by the little kid whose throat he was holding a kunai to. But the thing that didn't make sense to him, was that there was no way in hellthat this...brat...could have made an explosion from that distance without an exploding tag, and it would be impossible for these kids to get them without stealing them from a shinobi, which wouldn't be an easy task.The ninja
Things made a little more sense, when he figured it was most likely a kekkai genkai or some sort of clan jutsu, which could certainly come in handy. He had the fleeting thought that maybe that's how he made the explosion, even though it seemed quite impossible. He might even get a promotion if he brought the kid back with him.Especially if it was a kekkai genkai that they could breed into the village.
"Seems like you are a little too valuable to kill, brat. I'll be taking you back to Iwagakure with me. The Tsuchikage will certainly find you interesting." the nin said with a hint of triumph and laughed a little at Deidara's reaction of trying even harder to escape his grip.
The last thing Deidara wanted to happen was for Hitori to be on her own again, but if it meant that she survived, he'd just have to accept it and so would she. He couldn't stand the idea of being taken to a hidden village he'd only heard bad things about, but it seemed he didn't have a choice.
Hitori came back to conciousness and used the last of her strength to scream out to Deidara as loud as she could, from what she could see, he was moving further and further away from her in the clutches of the other ANBU member and drifted away into the night.
And with that, she finally passed out...
#
Deidara woke up the next morning with some serious back pain. Sleeping on that small couch did not do any good at all. He kind of regretted not just swallowing his pride and sleeping in with Hitori, even though he was incredibly pissed off with her.
With quite a lot of discomfort, he got out of his makeshift bed, and slowly made his way towards the kitchen, while trying to stretch out his back to relieve some of the tightness in the muscles. Before he could begin making some breakfast for himself, he noticed a note on the counter, next to a small scroll.
I'll be back. Don't go anywhere.
Hitori.
Deidara opened up the scroll sitting next to the note. It was encrypted to shit house and the hell if he could figure out what it said. However, when he accidentally dropped the note Hitori left, and it landed on the other side, he noticed that she had already written down the contents of the scroll on the other side.
You have a mission available. It's the usual. Go to the village named Ashinami, about half a day's travel directly north-east, and assassinate the man known as Sozoku who runs a small crime syndicate out of the village. Apparently, he's been terrorising the villagers, demanding that they pay him for living on 'his land'. Shouldn't be too much trouble. We'll send your pay as soon as the guy who asked us to do it sends us the funds.
Be careful.
Sighing, Deidara put both the scroll and the note down. No doubt that Hitori probably left the information on the other side just so he would know what she was doing if he took the time to investigate. The last two words of the letter rung in his head, and he couldn't agree more with whoever wrote it. Sure, he was still pissed at her, but that didn't mean he wanted her to die, let alone get hurt.
He convinced himself that she would be fine and made himself some breakfast. He sat down on the couch and ate in silence and soon enough he was incredibly bored. He decided to try and have a nap, since he didn't sleep very well that night due to his discomfort and he wandered in and flopped down on the bed. It didn't take long for his eyelids to get heavier, and eventually fall asleep.
Several hours later, he woke to the sound of the door being slammed open, and what seemed like groans of pain along with enough curses to rival Hidan. After a moment, he realised it was probably just Hitori coming back from her mission. The second thought struck him like a brick to the face is that by the sound of it, she was injured. He jumped up and ran out of the bedroom to find her stumbling towards the place he had just come from and without a word or glance between them, he helped her to the bedroom and watched with a faint hint of worry as she rummaged through her medical supplies for something.
Roughly half a minute later, she pulled out a syringe and without any hesitation, stuck in right into her neck. She kept on looking through her pack as the needle dangled from her neck, its contents slowly disappearing into her bloodstream to do gods know what. She eventually pulled out a large roll of bandages and sat straight down on the floor after unstrapping her katana and setting it down on the bed.
She pulled off her blood-soaked fingerless, elbow length glove from her left arm, and hissed at the sight of the large, deep gash that went down the majority of her lower arm. She muttered something about troublesome matters and shook her head as she closed her eyes, and after a minute or two, she opened her eyes again after the skin had closed and the only sign of the wound was a large red line where the cut used to be. Hitori huffed faintly in approval, lowered her arm and directed her gaze down at her right leg which seemed to have nasty burn covering about a third of her calf.
After she had literally peeled off her mesh legging and taken care of the burn, and wrapping both of the wounds up with the roll of bandages, she just sat there leaning against the wall, still for a few minutes, eyes shut and concentrating hard. It took Deidara a minute to figure out that she was actually healing herself from the inside, and with that thought, he became extremely impressed. Nevertheless, he was still torn between being angry and concerned for her.
He was snapped out of his thoughts with Hitori getting up, removing the syringe from her neck, which she had seemed to almost have forgotten about, and start taking off her clothes. Instantly, his thoughts went from something along the lines of "Ah, I hope that stupid bitch is alright. Not that I really care, I mean she did fully reject me and all, even though she did make me kiss her again..." etcetera, to "Oh. My. Fucking. God. Please, feel free to continue with the removal of your clothes."
When she was just about to take off her undergarments, she vanished into thin air, and after a moment of attempting to figure out if he was still asleep and just dreaming or not, he had an epiphany as to what she did. Sneaky woman. Using her jutsu to ruin hisfun, perverted as it may be...but she started it by stripping off in front of him. He argued with himself mentally and if she wasn't mumbling and grumbling about troublesome missions and stupid shinobi he wouldn't have known that she'd left the room, leaving her clothes drenched in blood and water on the floor.
After a few moments, the sound of the shower muffled by the bathroom door filled the house, and he figured that now would be a good time to make some dinner and then ask her about what the fuck happened to her.
A short while later, the bathroom door opened, revealing no one behind it, and as Hitori walked through the house, still concealed by her jutsu, leaving a trail of water on the ground as she walked, still muttering various curses, to the bedroom to grab her towel, which she had somehow managed to leave in there before she had left for the mission. While she was getting dressed, she smelt dinner and instantly sighed. She totally hadn't realised how hungry she was until now. This morning before she left, she only had an apple and some tea, assuming that the mission would go easier, so she could just get some take-away on the way back.
She strolled out of the bedroom with a vicious scowl plastered on her face which may have softened slightly when she smelt her favourite; miso soup with pork. And to top it off, there was a large bottle of sake sitting right next to her bowl. The scowl softened a little more when she realised Deidara knew her well enough to know that this is probably exactly what she would have done for herself and he came out of the bathroom a moment later and with an unsure expression on his face, he brought the two bowls over to the small table and Hitori brought the bottle of sake and two cups. They sat down, and again, without words or glances, Deidara opened the bottle of sake and Hitori began to almost inhale the soup. It wasn't the best she'd ever had, but regardless it was still good considering Deidara probably didn't have the chance to cook too much.
Without noticing her mouthful of soup and pork, Deidara took this chance to speak up.
"Um...what the fuck happened today?" he asked and shook his head at the sight of Hitori turning towards him, cheeks ballooned out slightly from all the soup in her mouth, and laughed softly when she swallowed and smirked a little when she figured out what she must have looked like at that moment.
"Basically, the guy I was supposed to take out, was actually much more of a big shot than we thought. Apparently, his business goes all the way up north. So he had actually some pretty decent shinobi working for him, yeah. There was a guy there that set off some explosive tags after I had actually killed Sozoku, which gave me that nice burn on my leg. Then a missing nin from Kiri turned up, which was certainly interesting. I've been training with my timing for Kage Bunshin, which came in handy because at one point, he used Suirō no Jutsu, which luckily enough, only got my clone instead of me, yeah." she quickly finished off her soup and then began talking again as she poured sake into the two cups.
"Anyway, I used a fire jutsu to take him out and that was all fine, unntiiiilll...I came along another missing fucking nin from Kiri. I think I recognised him from the Bingo Book, but it's been a while since I actually perused through it. This Sozoku guy certainly seemed to have a taste for hiring them, though I don't blame him, this guy was pretty sadistic." she growled in irritation. They both drained their cups and Hitori filled them again while Deidara spoke.
"That's pretty much a given for most Mist ninja, yeah. You should meet Kisame. The guy is actually pretty funny sometimes. But he is probably one of the most sadistic shinobi I know." Deidara said with a little laughter at the memory of drinking and playing pool once at the Akatsuki headquarters in Amegakure with Kisame when they had some down time.
"He gave me the nice laceration on my arm, and very nearly missed taking my head off at one point. But he was the quick fight type, and didn't have the stamina or the chakra reserves to keep up with me and I took him out pretty easily after that. To his credit, he did give me some difficulty though, yeah. After that, there was a nin who was probably a taijutsu expert, and I'll admit, he gave me a bit of trouble too. Then it was just lame guards who thought they could stand up to a little girl and had no hesitation about trying to take me out, which I'm sure you figured out is a big mistake. I don't bother killing witnesses unless it's in my orders to do so, but if someone attacks me, I'll kill them either way, yeah." she smirked devilishly, hiding nothing about her train of thought.
"With the combination of having several fights, one after the other, I was just not in the mood for them, and I basically ended up killing everyone in the building before making my way out of the village. My arm was a real pain, since it was so deep and believe it or not, my body doesn't really take to me healing it for some reason, so it took me a while to stop the bleeding and do a little bit of first aid on it. My leg was alright, the burn wasn't that bad in the first place. Other than that, I was just a bit battered and bruised from my fight with the taijutsu guy." she drank her sake and put the cup back down.
"So, what was the stuff in that syringe you just shoved into your neck? Something to help you heal?" Deidara speculated and drained his sake cup again before filling his and Hitori's cups again.
She nodded. "It's basically a medicine that allows the brain to boost the cells in your body that repair injury and help to fight disease, illness and such. I developed it after I got some pretty serious injuries on a mission that kept me out of commission for like a whole month. I probably wouldn't have done it if I didn't get injured. Now it's pretty widely used in Konoha. Mostly on patients who have some really severe injuries and a pretty low rate of survival, yeah." Hitori said, recalling the memories of the head medic telling her that she wouldn't be doing any missions for a month. She very nearly had to be strapped down to the bed because of her reaction to the news.
"Oh, and I think we should probably move tomorrow. Just in case, yeah." Hitori said before downing her cup again, and sitting back against the couch and giving herself a quick medical check to make sure everything was back in working order. She focused on her arm the most, since a few tendons had been sliced clean through, and it had made things a little odd sometimes when she moved her arm a certain way. Her left arm had already been almost destroyed by one of the Tsuchikage's jonin, there was no need for it to be made any worse.
Her head lolled forward until her chin was on her chest and she grumbled in realisation as she remembered that she would be needing new gloves, as well as mesh leggings. Basically, she just needed some new shinobi attire in general.
She groaned thinking about the mission money spent on something other than food. She filled her cup with sake and gulped it down with ease. She was starting to feel the effects of it, but as usual, it never did much to her. She had just been drinking too much, for too long, so it was only natural that she had a high tolerance for alcohol.
Drinking just...helped. It helped her forget the comrade she had seen get decapitated, or the fellow ANBU squad member who had been practically crucified as a sign of disrespect. It helped her forget the many times she had almost died, and been injured so severely she was unable to move or even scream because it hurt too much. She remembered all the crazy, fevered dreams she had, trying to fight off infection and poisons.
After they finished the bottle, Deidara toddled off to have a quick shower, before going back to the bedroom to find Hitori already half asleep, her head resting on her arms, that she had crossed on the table. He smiled at her, glad she was okay, and picked her up, carrying her to the bed and tucking her in.
He climbed in beside her and they both soon fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from the day's chaos...
#
The next day, they got up bright and early, packed up, and traveled until dark before finding an inn at a small village and crashed for the night. They got up early yet again and ran until sunset before finding a spot similar to the previous one and set up camp and settled in. Surprisingly, out of the ordinary happened over those days, which was a refreshing change, and they enjoyed a nice dinner before getting a good night's rest.
Little did they know that the very near future would make up for a lack of action for a short time…
It was ground-breaking that they were all gathered in Amegakure for once. What was left of them anyway. They sat in a dimly lit room, and waited for their leader to join them. A few minutes of waiting later, and he walked in, at a calm, unhurried pace. He sat down in the chair facing all of them directly, and waited a few moments before he spoke in a quiet voice that demanded your attention in an impossibly subtle way.
"There have been rumours brought to my attention of a disturbance with details that have undoubtedly caught my interest." he waited another few moments before speaking again, in the same tone, completely devoid of emotion, before sitting his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together. "Kisame, Itachi, please elaborate on this for us."
He turned his head towards the large, blue skinned man, who looked more like a shark than a human, and in comparison the rather normal looking, aside from the red eyes, smaller male sitting beside him. The latter spoke in a similar quiet voice to the leader, one lacking emotion.
"Yes. We have heard of a fight between an ANBU cell and two shinobi. One was described as a small to average sized female dressed in all black, with black hair and a pale complexion. The other however, was the one that caught our attention. A male of average build and height with long blond hair, dressed in dark blue attire who seemed to use explosives though whether it was an explosive tag or not could not be confirmed."
The leader nodded once in understanding. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Although it may turn out to be nothing, your vigilance is something to be praised. I will have my sources verify the information immediately."
"Does this mean that Deidara-senpai might be alive after all?" one of the others spoke in a louder, hopeful voice that completely contradicted the two quieter and emotionless ones before it.
The blue skinned man chuckled and spoke up. "Maybe. Maybe not. We might just have to wait and see how things play out Tobi." he finished with another small chuckle.
"When I have been notified of the authenticity of this rumour, you will all be informed of the result and the actions we will take if we discover that Deidara is still alive." the leader spoke again with an air of finality. "Until then, you are all ordered to stay alert and look out for any more possible signs."
With that he quietly stood up from his seat and strolled out of the room, the blue haired woman following suit, while the four remaining people sat for a moment before getting up and walking out of the room as well, all the while Tobi was blabbering on about how good it would be if 'Deidara-senpai' was still alive...