Forget Me Not
Chapter Two — The Unwelcoming
I'll name my town "Unwelcome," and the sign will say, "Welcome to Unwelcome."
- Jarod Kintz
The poor amnesiac felt a hand grab at his insides and twisted it cruelly as the implications of the printed text finally began to soak in his cerebrum. His heart gave a lurch against his chest at the thought that his own grandmother would do something as cruel as to release him in the custody of that she-devil.
He scratched the top of his head in perplexity, "So if I sign these, you'll be handing me over to that…" Deidara struggled to find words to describe her, words that wouldn't end with his cheekbones being assaulted yet again.
And judging from the look that Tsunade sent him, it could be a definite possibility.
"…to that woman?" he inquired, quirking a light brow and looking over the clipboard at Tsunade, who stood very ominously by his bedside with arms crossed over her bust.
His doctors had declared his physical self to be in fine shape and hence there was no reason to keep him cooped up anymore. But as much as he hated hospitals, he just could not accept being discharged without having remembered a single detail about the alleged last ten years of his life.
The lady heaved a frustrated sigh, "Yes Deidara, and that woman is your wife, like it or not. Perhaps if you spend a little time in your home with her and your kids you'll start to remember a few things," she said shaking her blonde head to and fro. It was hard to resist the urge to roll her eyes, not when the boy was being so damn uncooperative.
It was bound to be a long recovery, and she was beginning to feel rather sorry for her grand-daughter-in-law.
"Why can't I stay with dad?" he whined childishly, even had the nerve to pout and drop the clipboard as though he were ready to throw a tantrum. He sent her a pitiful yet annoyed look and folded his arms. "I want to stay with dad!"
He refused to go home to a house full of unknown rug rats and a fat woman with a temper. What was Nana thinking, sending him into uncharted territory like that?
"You have your own home and your own family, impose on them. Your father kicked you out a long time ago." She straightened herself, saying with assuring authority, "Besides, it would be counterproductive to have you living under Inoichi's roof."
"Why the hell is that?" he couldn't care less.
"We don't want you being stuck in the past," she explained. "Now sign the damn papers and stop being difficult. Everything with be fine, I promise," she took a steadying breath.
He was getting under her skin, much like he did…back when he was actually seventeen. She only hoped that he would be wiser with his choice of vocabulary around his wife. She was a no nonsense kind of woman. Tsunade had seen her knock Deidara around enough to know that his condition would do very little to dissuade her from physically keeping him in line.
"Tenten will be here any minute to pick you up," she warned, watching his reaction through the slits of her eyes. His face went florid with anger and something else that she could not place.
His own eyes narrowed in irritation and he scowled, "I still can't get over how fucking ridiculous that name sounds. Her mother must have been high off shit when she named her."
"You've always liked her name," she reminded him, then added solemnly. "You loved her even more."
For a fleeting second he struggled to contain his composure, his fingers now clutching at the sheet of the bed either side of his body as if to anchor himself, "Love her?" he choked. "Just look at her granny, she's hardly my type."
When he met Tsunade's gaze again, her eyes were like glittering diamonds: hard and impenetrable. "What exactly is your type Deidara?" she asked tersely. "Unnatural hair colour, face piercings, tattoos and cheap mascara?"
He was quiet for a moment, his spirits instantly lifting as the memories flooded back. At least he hadn't lost too much of his past, he thought in cautious relief. "What ever happened to—?"
She held up a silencing hand, cutting him off. One of her shoulders rose and fell in a dismissive shrug that Deidara somehow felt wasn't quite representative of how she felt about the subject being brought up. "You really ought to be getting ready."
"But Nana…" he complained.
"You're not some teenager Deidara, I know the concept is hard to grasp at the moment but you will just have to deal with it," she told him sternly. "Forgetting the last ten years of your life must be frustrating but you're lucky to remember at least seventeen years, some people forget themselves completely."
"I just can't wrap my mind around it, yesterday I was seventeen, and today I'm twenty-seven. And you say I was in a coma for how long?"
"Two weeks."
He gave his head a little shake but it felt as if a jar of marbles had spilled inside. He groaned and put his free hand to his temple, confusion, despair, grief and disbelief all jostling for position. "Either my math is way off or you're fucking with me."
Tsunade growled, "Watch your tongue boy!"
"According to you I'm not a teenager anymore, therefore any and every word is at my disposal," he informed her smugly, the notion pleased him. He had quite a mouth full that he would like to tell her.
The silence stretched.
Finally her lips stretched into a brief on-off smile that didn't involve her eyes. "That doesn't give you the right to swear at me. Now off with you," she ushered him into the bathroom after he reluctantly signed the papers and leapt out of the bed, fetching the clothes she had laid out for him.
When he emerged from the bathroom freshly showered and clothed, he stumbled across what he deemed the not-so-pleasing figure of the creature he was to call his wife. If possible she took a size larger than she had yesterday. She was dressed in a summery creation the colour of bananas and embroidered with fine, clear beads that gave an added shimmer. The dress had a deep halter neckline and a fitted top that showed off her ample cleavage, and the full skirt swirled around her legs.
Couldn't someone have told her that yellow wasn't her colour? She looked like the fucking magic school bus in that thing!
She sat on the chair propped beside his bed with the small brat from yesterday in her lap. It was a wonder how there was even space for the kid to sit, seeing as though her stomach was the size of a truck tire.
For a moment he just stood there, drinking in the sight before him and choking all at the same time. He felt the cacophonous boom of his heart again. It felt as if his chest wall was going to blow open with the sheer force of it again as he watched them—watched her. Why couldn't he remember her?
Long, chestnut-brown hair framed the delicate planes of her jaw. Dark brows slanted over quizzical brown eyes brightened with flecks of gold, like pinpoints of sunlight. Her lips curved in an amused, yet gentle smile that annoyed him to no ends. The young girl lay cradled in the crook of her arm, her eyes half-closed, giggling loudly as Tenten tickled her tummy.
They could be twins, born in different generations, he thought to himself. But then snapped his mouth shut when he realized he must've been staring at the two like a besotted fool.
"I was beginning to think that you wouldn't show chubs," he said haughtily, making his presence felt.
Her smile disappeared, and the light in her eyes dimmed. He could tell that she was trying her very best to be polite to him. "I had to pick up our daughter from daycare," her fist balled up at her sides.
He grimaced at her choice of pronoun. Our. "Well where is the little sucker?" he asked, looking about the room aimlessly.
Tenten sent him a death glare.
"Here I am Dei-dei!" The little girl squealed in delight, clearly thinking it was a game.
He chuckled, "I almost missed you there, underneath that huge boulder thing," he pointed at Tenten's stomach.
If looks could kill. He would had died a long and tortorous death from the cold once over she gave him.
"That's not a boulder silly," the girl giggled. "Its Tendeira."
He couldn't stop himself, "What the fuck is a Tendeira?" if he drew his brows together anymore he swore they would permanently merge into a unibrow. "Is that a new breed of spider?"
Tenten fumed silently, she would not lose her cool. He still thinks he's a teenager, she reminded herself. The man she married would never have shown such apathy to their unborn child, especially considering that he had given it that ridiculous nickname to begin with.
"Kaa-san why is tou-san being so strange. Does he weelly not rememwer anything?" Harumi looked up at her mother with large and uncertain brown eyes.
For a moment Tenten was at a loss for words, mostly because Deidara had just thrown the f-bomb in front of Harumi, and his attitude was completely unlike the man that his daughter was accustomed to. How was she to respond to such an innocent yet heart-felt question?
Deidara did not recall a single thing and was not too keen on remembering the life he clearly resented either. He had made that painfully clear. Tenten could only hope that once he arrived home his attitude would change and some of the familiarities of the life they had built together would spark up some of those smothered memories in that thick skull of his.
"He'll remember soon enough, Harumi." She smiled softly and patted the girl on the head before setting her down and getting to her feet. "Let's get Tou-San home, huh?" She asked in a light tone, hoping it would ease her child's mind a bit.
Seemingly it did, for Harumi shrugged her tiny shoulders and rushed to Deidara, grabbing his hand as she normally would when they took strolls together. She loved her father so much it amounted to an obssession. In fact, Deidara himself was known for spoiling his little princess who had him wrapped around her pinkie finger, for the most part.
Certainly such was not the case anymore, every time he looked at the child it was like he was mentally beheading the poor girl.
A scowl found it's way upon Deidara's face as he felt her small palm wrap around his index finger and she began tugging him enthusiastically towards the exit with Tenten following close behind.
The pink haired nurse from yesterday caught a glimpse at the trio and waved, touching her colleague so she could take watch his comedic departure.
"How cute," her companion mouthed.
His eyebrow twitched and he yanked his hand away from Harumi's like something had pricked him. "Cut that out, you little twerp." He hissed through gritted teeth.
She looked up at her tou-san in shock and despair. Clearly he was different, and she realized that now more than ever. All her efforts to be warm and friendly had been in vain. He was even meaner than nii-san.
She only wanted to help him, Nana had said that he was feeling terribly helpless and alone without his memory and she was just trying to make her daddy feel like he belonged. The same as he had always done for her.
But it was clear that he didn't want her help. He didn't even want her around, she thought, frowning deeply, then turned on her heel and rushed to her mother as she desperately fought with the urge to cry.
Her lower lip quivered and her arms were outstretched vertically toward the brunette woman that she resembled so much. "Kaa-san, deidei doesn't love me, anymore."
Tenten shot Deidara an icy glare and scooped the child up the best she could given her massive gut and rested her on her hip comfortably as she approached the blonde man. Harumi nuzzled her face into her mother's shoulder, her own shoulders shaking between sorrowful sobs.
"I know you don't remember any of this yet, Deidara," Tenten started in a low, hushed voice with a stern and rather peeved look upon her face, her earthly eyes piercing his. "But these kids don't deserve to be treated like this. Get your act together!" She scolded quietly, the child still sobbing. "...before I have to do it for you," she added menacingly.
Deidara's jaws clenched tightly, his lips forming a thin grim line and his fists curled together tightly at his sides. He really wished she would stop talking to him in that patronizing tone. Just who the hell did she think she was? Scolding him like that?
He was a grown man and he could do and say what he pleased. What did the woman expect? He didn't know them, he certainly wasn't about to act like it. That brat was not his child, he did not produce fucking cry babies.
He hadn't know them for a day yet and they were already starting to get wedged under his skin. He wondered if agreeing to go home with them had been a good idea, the doctor hadn't prescribed any anti-psychotics and he just knew they would come in handy whilst he stayed with them.
Surprisingly, he suppressed the urge to reciprocate with a snide and witty remark. Mainly because she had already stalked off down the hall and was heading towards the exit with Harumi still crying in her arms.
Pathetic, he tsked.
He watched her walk for a moment, a little irritated at the fact that it was more of a waddle than a walk. It seemed as though she would burst at any moment, prick her stomach with a pin and she probably would. It was just plain disgusting, he grimaced to himself, rolling his eyes before he followed her out of the building.
When the bright sunlight hit his skin, he felt a warm sensation begin to tingle his arms and face, and his light eyes had difficulty adjusting at first. The fluorescent lights in the hospital hadn't been so harsh, however his lungs was thankful for the fresh air, it had been stifling far too long under the stench of sickness and death. He hadn't realized just how much he wanted out of that place until he stepped outside.
But for the first time in his life freedom held more defeat than triumph for him. All because of that witch and her little minions.
He followed her through the parking lot, watching her adjust the child in her arms to find a more comfortable position. There was nothing more unattractive than this, a plain jane who obviously hadn't the luxury of a mirror this morning, her stomach protruding out like a melon had been stuffed under her dress holding a child whilst searching for a vehicle he assumed would be some type of minivan.
And he was right.
No surprise there, he acknowleged to himself as they walked up to a silver minivan Colette with family stickers on the back window and car seats in the back. "Good God, what an ugly piece of Sh-"
"Would you refrain from swearing in front of our daughter?" Tenten asked, something fiery blazing in her eyes. It was the only thing on her face that he could see because the child's head was blocking the rest of her visage. "Please," she plead, pulling her car keys from a black purse that had been swung sloppily over her opposite shoulder.
With the press of a button, the passengers side back door slid open, and the woman hoisted the child up and into the seat. Deidara watched in awe as she managed to bend and maneuver her body enough to get the kid into the seat and fasten all the straps in order to secure it.
Tenten then placed a soft kiss on Harumi's forehead and looked at Deidara with a bland expression on her face. "Get in, we're ready to go."
The drive through town was a bit strange for Deidara, he noticed several buildings in Konoha he had sworn he had never seen before in his life. He made note of which ones were new, and Tenten informed him of how many years they had been in establishment. He was more than annoyed and only slightly baffled as he crossed his arms and leaned back into he seat, eyes glued on the scenery that was passing him by.
It was a surreal feeling for him, being in a town that had obviously grown in the two weeks he had been out. Perhaps his Nana had been playing some joke, or trying to make him feel better. Certainly he'd been out for ten years, why else wouldn't he have remembered any of this? The growth of the town, the fact that he had married such a unexceptional woman, and had two little twits with said unexceptional woman. And had another little shit on the way. This was ridiculous, it had to be a ploy.
But he was snapped from his thoughts when he felt the hideous vehicle slow down as it rounded a corner and entered into a relatively nice neighborhood. The houses seemed to be well built and most likely middle class, they were not bad. Whatever he allegedly did for a living must've made some decent money.
The car soon pulled into the driveway of a light yellow house with dark brown trim and shingles, it had a garage and a nice green front lawn and a white picket fence that lined the yard. Oh the white picket fence, he mused unpleasantly, miserable wife—check, unwanted kids—check, crap wagon—check, cue the way-too-many fucking pets and it'd be the perfect cliche.
What ever happened to his supermodel wife and sporty collection of expensive cars?
He continued to broodingly take in his surroundings.
A large weeping willow tree grew in the center of the yard, shading a good portion of it with it's large and lengthy branches. There was what looked to Deidara like a large garden in front of the house, but he couldn't match names to the plants that were growing there.
From the driveway, there was a stepping-stone pathway through the grass up to the front steps of the porch to the front door.
All of this unfamiliar to the blonde. He'd never laid eyes on this place once in his life, unless perhaps he and his buddies came one night to sling toilet paper along the tree, yard and fence. Which was more than plausible. No doubt it was something Hidan would have suggested. Speaking of which, maybe I'll give that guy a call... He thought to himself as he exited the vehicle and slammed the door closed.
This caused poor Harumi to be jolted abruptly from the sleep she had drifted into the moment she was placed in the comfort of her car seat.
Rubbing her eyes, she looked around frantically and was instantly calmed when the door opened and her kaa-san was right there, scooping her up from the seat before joining the bewildered man who stood in the grass looking at the house with his hands on his hips.
"Brings back any memories, Deidara?" Tenten asked curiously as she wached her husband from the corner of her eyes.
She could tell by the look upon his face that it hadn't rung any bells, he still seemed baffled and empty. One thing was for certain, there was no trace of the man she had married eight years ago in this...boy.
He wasn't passionate about anything. Not even life itself, it would appear. He no longer wore that look in his eyes—the one he wore everyday since he first took off to that art supply house for a few extra things he needed for a piece he had been diligently working on.
Tenten didn't know that that man whom she had adored would have gotten into a life-threatening accident leaving him with amnesia, forcing her to bring a complete stranger into their home.
Her heart was a little heavy at the thought, but it certainly didn't mean that she would lose hope. She had stayed up last night researching these types of incidents. Only in rare cases did the patient never regain their memories, she hoped to goodness Deidara would not be one of those rare cases.
But there was no way of knowing for sure. She just needed to give it time, and hope her patience would not wear thin.
"Why don't we go inside?" She offered softly, giving him a slight smile and a gentle gleam in her chocolate eyes.
Deidara shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Why not? I'm starving," he yawned loudly. "And I hope for fuck's sake that you cook a lot better than you dress, chubs."
A/N: Shout out to my collaborator Tifa-Lockhart-Scarlet, this wouldn't have been possible without you! And lots of love to the readers, reviewers and followers, the drive just wouldn't have been there without your support.
Please do leave a review to let us know how the collab is going so far. Shall we press forward or call it quits? It is never too late...cause I'm evil like that =^.^=