Chapter 6:

"Ah~ that's just like you Tal," Kai scoffed. "Falling asleep in a tree, and forcing me to come get you." He wanted to kick the tree down instead.

"I thought I heard a guitar last night." Bryan said as Kai handed it off to him.

"I'm tempted to throw these away." Spencer said holding up the pictures Tala had been using as a bookmark. "And this too." He showed the others the book Tala had been reading. Romeo and Juliet...their leader was more depressed than they thought.

"It's not our place to do that Spence. Like Tal said to you before, he's coping. Let's give him a chance to deal with this on his own. It doesn't look like he's going to be stupid enough to forgive Hiro a second time, and I got him to agree to staying at the mansion after qualifiers until the Japanese championships end." Kai said securing Tala onto his back. "I'm so making Paulo fatten him up. He's way too light right now." He noted.

"I really wish we didn't have to leave today." Ian said as they entered the house.

"Same here, but Tala is Boris's son. He has every right to want him close by. The same applies to Voltaire with me, and I know you guys, you'd do more harm here than good. Your hearts are in the right place, but how you go about trying to help, is exactly what Tala doesn't need now so you're coming with me." Kai said before proceeding to take Tala to his room.

"Come on guys, we're leaving in a few hours, let's leave something nice for Tal to eat when he wakes up." Spencer said grabbing the cookbook in Boris's study.

"You realize we'll probably burn the kitchen down right?" Ian asked but followed him into the kitchen anyway.

"No, this time we're going to follow it step by step, without trying to add our own touches to it. This is for Tala. We owe him this and much more." Spencer replied seriously.

"I'm with you Spence." Bryan said knowing he was right.

"Good morning." Sasori said politely.

Upon Itachi's request they'd ordered Mc Donald's for breakfast.

"Good morning." The demolition boys chorused.

"Where are Tala and Kai?" Deidara asked.

"Kai's putting Tala to bed. He fell asleep in a tree out back, and we just found him." Ian replied.

"Is he ok?" Deidara asked causing Itachi to glare at him.

"Why do you care so much?" The Uchiha asked.

"What the hell is wrong with you two lately? You're best friends, but lately you've been behaving like bitter rivals." Kisame cut in.

"I think we are." Itachi said glaring at Deidara. He was hiding something Itachi just knew it.

"Enough. Itachi get off Deidara's case man, and Deidara tell Itachi what you're hiding already because we all know you're hiding something." Hidan was fed up with it already. Seeing two people as close as Itachi and Deidara fighting was just too much for him.

"No, I'm not going to tell him. We are all entitled to having some secrets, are we not? And as for why I care so much, why the fuck do you give a damn? Are you scared I might be too much competition for you is that it? I never knew you were so insecure Itachi." Deidara couldn't take it anymore. He had tried so hard to wrench what he felt for Tala out of his heart, but here Itachi was treating him like dirt.

"You'd think that wouldn't you, you little bitch? I'll bet anything you loved being caught by him when you fell from that vent. And competition? You? Please, I'd sooner feel more threatened by a mouse." Itachi retorted only to start rubbing one of his cheeks when his mind had registered the fact that Deidara had double slapped him.

"Call me a bitch again, and see what happens." Deidara spat coldly at him. "I dare you Uchiha."

"Both of you, calm the fuck down! In case you haven't noticed, you aren't in an appropriate place to be doing this!" Kisame snarled.

"Itachi, watch your mouth. You're beginning to piss me off." Sasori said calmly, but with a clear threat laced in his voice.

"If you guys keep this up, I'll make sacrifices out of you for Jashin!" Hidan hissed at them.

"That's quite enough stupidity for one morning people. Itachi, Deidara solve your squabble some other time, or I will solve it for you and you don't want that, no-one does." Kai said in a similar voice to Hidan's, but the burning glare that he gave the two made him that much creepier.

"Tala requests your presence in his room Deidara. Come with me." He informed the blond of Tala's wish, and turned to leave. It was up to Deidara if he'd follow or not. Kai was doing this for Tala, he himself could really care less.

"I brought your play-thing." Kai said opening the door to Tala's room.

"Kai, shut up." Tala bit back, and pushed Kai out of his room once Deidara had come inside.

"I'll punish you for that later." He said before slamming the door in Kai's face and locking it.

"So, you wanted to see me?" Deidara asked flinching slightly at the door slam.

"I want to apologize to you." Tala replied gesturing towards the table for two.

"Huh? For what?" Deidara asked confused as they sat down.

"You like me don't you?" Tala asked in turn.

"Well yeah, you're a nice guy and all." Deidara replied.

"No Deidara I mean like me like me, as in romantically." Tala said causing Deidara to look away.

"Don't do that. Don't look away from me." He ordered.

"I can't feel like that about you Tala, I can't." Deidara looked at him again briefly before averting his eyes to his hands.

"You don't want to stab Itachi in the back do you?" Tala asked knowingly.

"How did you?" Deidara looked at him in shock.

"He told me after you took off last night. I told him that I'm not ready to get into that kind of relationship again. I didn't know you felt like that too, and it was never my intention to hurt you Deidara." Tala explained taking Deidara's hands in his own.

"I want you to listen carefully, because there is no way that your friendship with Itachi, can remain as it was now." He said seriously.

"I figured that out at breakfast this morning. He snapped at me for asking if you were ok." Deidara said bitterly.

"I love Hiro. When I am no longer able to say that, I will be ready for that kind of relationship, and if you feel so strongly for me that you wait until that time comes, I will give the concept of us a chance. However, you are a beautiful person, and anyone would be lucky to have you, so do not simply wait for me. I am not making any promises. I just wanted to tell you, as I did Itachi, that there is a possibility. Do not fight your best friend for my sake though. No-one is worth that kind of sacrifice." Tala smiled kindly all the while as he spoke.

"Also, if you find someone else, know that I will be happy for you, as seeing you happy, will bring me happiness as well. I will not hold it against you, whether we are friends or a couple in the end." He said before Deidara could leave the room. He wanted to get up and hug the blond after that, but he knew it was not his place. Until he was over Hiro, friends, was as far as any guy would get with him, so instead he watched Deidara leave, and listened to the click of his door that told him it was now closed.

"You can come in now." He said knowing Kai was outside it.

"I will never understand how Hiro isn't the uke in your relationship." Kai said taking note of how well Tala could pull off a potential seme.

"Believe it or not, I like being uke Kai, but I can also be seme." Tala retorted as Kai handed him his book.

"I figured that first part out when you and Hiro soiled the locker room at last year's tournament in Spain, but when the hell were you seme?" Kai could see a blush erupt onto Tala's face as he dug up that memory for the redhead and resisted the urge to laugh. "You scream like a banshee Tal." He admonished.

"Proud of it Kai. And as for when I was seme, you'll just have to keep wondering. I'll give you a hint though. It has to do with when I asked to borrow your scarf during the tournament back in China last year." Tala said opening up his book.

"What did you use my scarf for Tala? Is it contaminated?" Kai was now determined to get his friend to tell him what his scarf had to do with his sex life.

"Oh come on, Kai it's a scarf. It's not that hard to figure out what I used it for, is it?" Tala had to duck when Kai attempted to grab him.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of." Kai said proceeding to chase him around the room.

As the clock struck noon Spencer started loading suitcases, into the limo that would take him away from Tala once more. He didn't want to leave. He couldn't explain it, but he had a bad feeling, and a voice in his head that wouldn't shut up about not leaving. Tala hugged Bryan and Ian, and watched them enter the vehicle with solemn eyes. Closing the trunk, Spencer moved to embrace the redhead from behind. "Call us will ya?"

"I will Spence. Thank you for breakfast." Tala said looking up at him. It still got to him sometimes how much taller Spencer was than him.

"Don't mention it." Spencer smiled down at him holding the embrace for a minute or so before letting go, and getting in the vehicle too.

"Don't do anything stupid." Kai said finally jumping off the roof of the limousine, and draped an arm over his shoulders.

"Hn." Tala supplied returning the gesture. "Take care of the kids for me."

"Take care of yourself for us. You'd better start eating right hear me?" Kai looked at him seriously smile fading away.

"I'm doing my best here." Tala said mirroring that look.

"Time to go." Kai said as Wei hit the horn.

"I guess so." Tala said as Kai finally parted from him. They had stayed with arms draped over the other's shoulder, in a comfortable silence for about twenty minutes, from what Tala's watch indicated.

"See you." They said together.

They shared a brief hug before Kai got into the limousine, and Tala stepped back a bit only to start waving as the vehicle started moving. In minutes his eyes couldn't see it anymore. Being away from Kai was difficult for Tala. It was like his other half was missing. Kai shared the same feelings, and that was why no sooner had Tala entered his house, had his cellphone started ringing, and the name flashing when he looked at it was Kai's.

"Call me later." Kai instructed.

"You know I will." Tala retorted with a laugh.

After hours of DDR, Guitar Hero, and Wii Sports, Itachi, Sasori, Hidan, and Kisame finally went home. Itachi suppressed the urge to bite Deidara's head off for being able to stay, remembering that it would be the last day as tomorrow was a Monday, and that meant Deidara's week would be up. Deidara hadn't missed the hint of hatred in the Uchiha's eyes as he went to hug him, and pulled back deciding it was better not to hug him. Itachi cast his eyes to the floor feeling guilt well up inside him, but ignored that guilt and headed for his ride home.

"Come with me." Tala instructed heading for the kitchen.

"Ice cream?" Deidara asked looking at the tub of rainbow ice cream the redhead pulled from the freezer.

"Ice cream and cake." Tala replied opening one of the many ovens in the kitchen. He had hidden a chocolate-vanilla-strawberry cheesecake away for just this moment.

"I don't get it." Deidara said taking the bowl of ice cream and cake.

"Have faith Deidara. If I know Itachi at all, he won't let something like a crush end your friendship. Now come on. We're gonna eat this stuff, and then you're going to cry out all of that misery, while I dig up lots of happy memories you have of him. Trust me, you'll feel a lot better."

"If you say so." Deidara said following him to his room.

True to his words, Tala got Deidara talking about his friendship with Itachi, and Deidara did end up crying, just as he'd said he would, falling asleep from exhaustion, while Tala softly combed his fingers through the blond's hair. Smiling down at the sleeping beauty, Tala made to take him back to his room, but when Deidara wouldn't let go of him as he tried setting the blond down on the bed in the guest room, he sighed.

"You do realize you're torturing yourself, don't you?" He asked knowing the blond was awake.

"Yeah, but I like this torture. Besides, I don't want to be alone tonight." Deidara retorted looking up at him.

"Please?" He added with a pout.

"Fine." Tala sighed and headed back to his room.

"Good night." Deidara said letting his head hit the pillow, and curling up once Tala had set him down on his bed.

"Good night." Tala said covering him with a blanket.

Tala went over to his table for two, and started reading Romeo and Juliet again. Around midnight he called Kai. The slate haired teen asked if he was okay, and Tala told him he was fine, then they let the minutes roll by listening to the sounds of the respective other turning pages in the books they were reading. Tala heard Tyson tell Kai to come to bed, and frowned a bit before smiling. He might be miserable, but that didn't mean he couldn't be happy for Kai's fortune.

"Tal?" Kai asked his permission to hang up.

"Go to him Kai. I'm fine." Tala replied and shut his phone.

"I'm never going to be able to stop loving you, am I?" He whispered looking at the pictures he was still using as a bookmark. "Tonight your voice isn't nagging at me to hang up the phone and come to bed, and one whom I must view as only a friend, occupies what should be your place there." He sighed nostalgically.

"Sweet dreams Deidara." He said supporting his head with one hand as he watched the blond's peaceful form.

Tired though he was, and having recovered his ability to sleep, he just couldn't bring himself to go share that bed. As he closed his eyes Tala frowned slightly. His dreams would no doubt be of Hiro, and his sleep uncomfortable in the chair, but there was only one man he had any romantic attraction for that he could ever share a bed with, and cute as he thought Deidara was, the blond just wasn't that man.

When morning came rain came with it, and as he sat up Deidara blinked. He was in Tala's room...in Tala's bed he realized as his face turned crimson. Why was he here? Realizing Tala wasn't in the bed next to him, he looked around the room, and frowned when he spotted the redhead at the table for two. Getting up he walked over, and made to shake the other awake, but stopped. Next to the arm Tala was using to support his head was a copy of Romeo and Juliet, and sticking out of it were pictures that were presently being used as a bookmark.

"Is this Hiro?" He whispered to himself not wanting to wake the redhead.

"They look really happy." He noted looking at them all.

"I like to think we were." He nearly fell over at the sound of Tala's voice.

"So that is Hiro in those pictures then?" He asked calming himself down.

"Affirmative." Tala replied taking the pictures from him and putting them in the book before closing it.

"Go get ready for school. I'll make whatever you want for breakfast today." He said heading for his bathroom.

Deidara would be going back to his own home after school today. The event that led to him staying at Tala's home was officially behind them now. As he showered Tala couldn't help feeling a little lonely. Come afternoon he would be stuck in a house with just Boris again, and his thoughts of Hiro would swallow him up. Sighing heavily the redhead got ready for school, force composing himself, and left his room.

"Why was I in your bed this morning?" Deidara asked as he entered the kitchen. The blond was sitting at the table, with a plate with two slices of bread with butter spread on them on it, and a cup of coffee in front of him. "I don't need to be any more of a bother than I already have been." He said answering the unvoiced question the redhead had given by pointing at the food.

"You're not a bother Deidara." Tala said pouring himself a cup of coffee and joining him at the table. "And you were in my bed because you didn't want to be alone last night." He explained.

"Did you spend all night sleeping on that chair?" Deidara asked.

"I didn't mind letting you sleep in my room if that's what you're getting at." Tala replied.

"That had to have been uncomfortable, why didn't you sleep in your bed? I'm not fat am I?" Deidara knew the answer but he wanted to hear it anyway.

"Nothing can be more uncomfortable, than the floors of the cells I was locked in many times as a child, and I didn't sleep in my bed because I was too tired to move. Don't be silly Deidara, you would be beautiful even if you did put on some weight." Tala wasn't willing to give Deidara what he wanted.

"You are a brilliant liar." Deidara said after a long sigh.

"Why make me tell you what you already know? People believe they want to hear things that in the end will only hurt them. I'm not out to be cruel to you Deidara, and if I can help it I won't be, even if I have to protect you from the cruelty that YOU try to bring upon yourself." Tala retorted effectively establishing silence over them.

Once the two had arrived at the school, Tala took off to class, and Deidara sighed before walking towards the school counselor's office and knocking on the door. After being told to enter he went inside and sat down, and told the man everything about what had happened between him and Kushina. The man blinked, and looked at him funny for a moment before speaking.

"So let me get this straight. You feel sick because your soon to be step mother, who looks gorgeous mind you, wanted to use you as a play thing?" Deidara nodded at this. "How old are you that you're upset about losing your virginity?"

"I'm sixteen sir." Deidara replied wondering which one of them was the real nutcase here.

"You should've lost it three years ago." Orochimaru said unable to understand what the problem was. Kushina was beautiful, any guy would want her. There was something extremely wrong with Deidara if he was offended by having a woman like Kushina all over him.

"She stole my first time from me! I wanted it to be special! Is that so hard to believe?" Deidara just exploded when Orochimaru started laughing.

"Tell Minato, that I am the last person who can help you right now." Orochimaru said stifling his laughter. "Go on to class. Maybe all you really need is your friends right now." He added.

"And I'm the one who needs the counselor? Humph, yeah, right!" Deidara left the man's office wondering if he was actually sane.

A/N: Another one down. Enjoy. RNR!