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Deidara screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow to fall, since there was nothing else he could do. Determined to stay silent, he clenched his teeth, hoping that all this wouldn't last long and that just possibly he'd get away without a broken nose.

Please let someone come. Please let someone come. Anyone, someone. Please, HELP ME!! Don't let this happen, please anyone, save me, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease...

The punch landed.

Deidara opened his eyes.

The punch had caught his cheek with all the force of a thrown sponge. There was no pain, no rebound, no ominous crunching noise. He stared at Pein, who stared back, then both gazes turned to Pein's fist.

As if testing a theory, the orange-haired youth drew back and let fly what should have been another vicious hit. This time it landed on Deidara's forehead, and again felt no worse than a ball of tissue paper having been thrown at him.

"Leave him alone, now!"

All heads turned to the mouth of the alley, where a new person stood.

"Itachi?!" Deidara's gleeful shout was somewhat hindered by the hand still gripping his throat, but he had never been so glad to see someone in his life.

"Keep out of this, it doesn't concern you." Pein ordered, addressing Itachi, but without taking his eyes off his current victim.

"It certainly does concern me! And if I were you I would accept some friendly advice and leave now." Itachi answered straight back, completely uncaring to Pein's gang status or the implications of taking on a whole gang single handed.

Pein sneered and shook Deidara. "Hear that Blondie? Your friend is trying to be your knight in shining armour, much good it'll do you!" He punched the blonde again.

Deidara felt the fist land against his sternum, with a force that should have broken ribs. But it didn't break his ribs, it didn't even hurt. There was a distinct cracking sound, but it wasn't from him, or Pein. He turned his head to see Itachi holding out one of the wooden doll-like figures. Even as he watched, a crack appeared down its chest – two were already marring the head.

"No way..." He just stared.

Pein looked between Deidara and the newcomer, eyes narrowing. He'd felt the difference when his punches had connected; to him it had seemed like he was hitting wood, not flesh, and now his sharp mind was putting two and two together as he looked over the Hitogota Itachi held.



"I think I know who you are." He stated with a disdainful sneer. "You're the freak Konan's mentioned; the one they say killed a boy just by putting a curse on him."

"That's me."

"And you think that little piece of wood will frighten me off?"

Itachi looked down at the Hitogota he held. "No, it isn't meant to." His gaze returned to meet Pein's. "But if you don't leave right now, you'll regret it!" Was it a trick of the light, or had his eyes taken on a red gleam?

Pein laughed, and the rest of his posse laughed vacantly, quick to follow their leader.

"Boys, I think we have a hero here who needs to be taught a basic lesson in manners, and when not to butt in to conversations that don't include him." He said with a less-than-pleasant smirk.

Itachi's own grin became feral. "Try me!"

Deidara was still pinned to the wall, so could only watch helplessly as Kakuzu and Kisame – two of the largest in the gang – lumbered forward towards his friend. Kisame got there first and took a swipe at the smaller man that should have sent Itachi flying.

So it wasn't quite clear why Kisame was the one to hit the floor instead. Kakuzu glanced towards his fallen companion – who was groaning whilst trying to sit up – and snarled, barrelling forwards with his head down like a rugby player. Itachi sidestepped easily and – using the taller man's forward momentum to his advantage – brought his knee up into Kakuzu's stomach, flipping the heavy man in the air and sending him sprawling to the ground like Kisame.

Deidara couldn't help but feel that he was watching a Jackie Chan movie or something.

Advancing on Pein, Itachi's glare was frightening. "I warned you!" His voice was a low hiss.

Pein's grip had loosened on his neck, and Deidara took the opportunity to kick at his attacker and slip free. Pein didn't even glance in his direction, instead concentrating on the approaching Uchiha.

What had seemed to be a simple job – beat the crap out of Deidara – had taken a sudden and nasty turn for the worse.

Itachi grinned demonically and held the Hitogota over his head. A sudden wind swept up the alleyway, seemingly originating from him, causing the old cans and rubbish on the ground to roll along at a surprising speed. Pein tried to shield his eyes against the sudden gust that blew dust and dirt up into the air.

"What the fuck...?"

Even Deidara backed away as Itachi began advancing on the orange-haired man. The Uchiha laughed and began to chant.

It was a low, sonorous voice that rose above the sudden gale and sent shivers down everyone's spines. Over and over, just a few lines, but in a language that was alien to Deidara. And looking at the others faces, he could see that it made little sense to them either. All anyone knew was that it was filled with angered intent and was directed at Pein.



Said man was backing away now, and as Itachi raised a threatening finger towards him he finally let out a yelp and fled, his gang hot on his heels.

As the attackers scrambled away out of sight, the winds died down and the aura surrounding Itachi seemed to dissipate. He walked up to a now very cautious Deidara, beginning to chuckle.

"You okay?" He asked. Looking the blonde up and down he couldn't see any visible bruises beyond the one on his friend's throat, but that didn't mean there weren't any others.

"A few sore ribs and an aching stomach, I've had worse." Deidara said with a tired smile, rubbing his neck. "But what the hell was all that about?"

Itachi threw him the Hitogota, which he caught with ease. On close examination, there were three distinct cracks running against the grain; two on the head, and one nearly cutting all the way through the chest. On the strip of paper a set of Japanese symbols were hurriedly scrawled, unintelligible to the blonde.

"Still think it's voodoo?" Itachi asked, coming to stand next to him.

Deidara smiled at him. "I think I've been persuaded to think otherwise." He passed the little wooden figure back. "What do the crazy symbols mean?"

"Those 'crazy symbols' as you put it are called Kanji – the Japanese written language – and it spells your name."

"My name?!"

"Of course, otherwise it wouldn't work." Itachi grinned. "I made it into a substitute for you, so that the damage you should have acquired transferred and you were unharmed."

"Something I'm very grateful for, believe me." Deidara handed the Hitogota back. "But what the hell did you do to Pein? Even I was terrified of you!"

Itachi laughed. "That? That was nothing. The wind was a simple trick, and everything else was just playing on his fear."

"But what were you saying? Did you put a curse on him?" The hope on Deidara's face wasn't easy to miss.

That really set Itachi laughing, and he clapped the blonde on the shoulder. "That?! No, that wasn't a curse!"

"So what did you say?"

" 'Your aunt looks like a baboon', on repeat, in Russian."

Deidara stared at him. "You're bloody joking!"

The Uchiha shook his head happily. "Nope!" He repeated the chant he'd been doing earlier, although now that Deidara knew what it meant it didn't sound half as spooky.

"So you know Russian?"



"Among other things."

"And why say that?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Deidara just shook his head in awe, rubbing his throat absentmindedly again. He was certainly thankful that his friend had showed up when he did, despite the Uchiha's odd way of dealing with the situation. Speaking of which...

"Hey –" He looked over to where Itachi was now leaving the dim alleyway. "- How did you know where I was, or that I needed help? Telepathy?"

Itachi rolled his eyes and glanced back over his shoulder at his friend. "I've told you quite a few times now that I can't do that." He stated, stepping out into the main street. "No, I just heard you screaming and came running."

Deidara followed him out, frowning as he did so. "But...I wasn't screaming. I didn't make a sound." He said uncertainly. He was positive of that fact; he'd promised himself that he wouldn't give Pein the satisfaction of getting a reaction from him. And he'd never degrade himself as far as screaming!

The Uchiha frowned as well. He was certain of what he'd heard; Deidara had been calling for help, but if the blonde said he hadn't been then...He shook his head, maybe Naru was right after all. Itachi knew damn well that he was unable to read the thoughts of others, but he could receive thoughts from an real psychic. Did that mean Deidara was actually...

"Hello? Earth to the Uchiha, knock knock!" There was a light tapping on the side of his head and he shook himself out of the thought process.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, now looking his friend up and down in the daylight. Despite Deidara's waterlogged appearance, he didn't seem overly worse for the wear. The bruising around his neck was beginning to blossom nicely, and he had an arm wrapped around his stomach, but he was upright and smiling, so it couldn't be that bad.

"Yeah, as I said; I've had worse." The blonde said with a tired grin. "But I'm really glad you showed up when you did. Thanks."

Itachi returned the smile. "Here to help." He handed the Hitogota back to Deidara. "You can keep that, they can only be used once, and I usually destroy them, but you can have it if you want."

Deidara accepted it with a rather solemn expression, well aware that the little thing had saved him from a very nasty beating.

"I'd better be going." Itachi picked up a small plastic bag that was lying by the alley entrance. "The milk will go off."

Deidara laughed.

"How could you?! You stupid, selfish bastard!!" Konan screamed at her brother. "You promised me you wouldn't!"



"I promised I wouldn't do anything illegal." Pein corrected, catching her fists as she tried to hit him.

Angry tears ran down Konan's face as she tried to wrestle her hands free. "And you call beating someone up perfectly within the law?" She shouted back. "You've already been in trouble with the police, Pein; I don't want to lose you too! It's bad enough with Mum and Dad in jail!"

Pein let go of her wrists, and before she could hit him pulled her into a tight hug. "I know, and I promise I'll stay out of the police's way." He pulled back a little to look his sister squarely in the eye. "But I also promised to look after you, and I intend to do that!"

"Beating up Deidara wasn't necessary!"

There was an awkward pause. "Well, we didn't exactly beat him up..."

Now that Deidara was well acquainted with Itachi, it seemed he'd been given the same social stigma as the Uchiha. Most of his old friends no longer wanted to hang around with him, and he found himself increasingly alone during breaks times. It was strange how little it seemed to matter though. Itachi was an engaging person, and they readily found that their tentative friendship strengthened with the passing days.

Deidara had always held a fascination for magic and such-like, and now having someone who not only wanted to talk about it, but was able to do many of the unknown arts was a delight. Lunch times usually saw the two of them holed up in the school library, Itachi going over some ancient rite or just correcting the many assumptions Deidara had.

Such as the fact that there were many types of 'magic' – as the blonde insisted on calling it, despite many protests – and just because Itachi excelled at some, did not mean he could do everything. Telepathy being a case in point.

This was something Deidara was still struggling to get his head around.

One chilly afternoon – nearly a week after the attempted attack – the two were back in the sixth form section of the library, as close to the radiator as possible, with a large book on paranormal phenomena open infront of them. Why the school had such a book was unclear, and it was even less certain why it had been put on the shelf along with the religious material, but Deidara had found it wedged between a dog-eared Bible and a book on Hinduism.

"So that doesn't actually happen?"

"Not as such, you generally need an incantation to raise a spirit, or a medium for it to work through." Itachi turned the page idly. "Ah, now poltergeists are something I'm more familiar with!"

"You've had to deal with poltergeists? What happened?"

He shook his head. "I've dealt with many, and each one is different. It'd take all afternoon to go through them all."

Deidara grinned. "Well, RE has been cancelled again so we do actually have all afternoon..."

Itachi sighed.



The week had passed less pleasantly for Pein.

At first it had seemed inconspicuous, just silly little things, nothing to worry about; an accident here and there, simple everyday occurrences, but happening all too frequently. At first, Konan had insisted that he was being paranoid, however even she was forced to admit that it wasn't all just in his mind.

Panicking would cause him to do things such as lose items, or drop breakables; it would not make completely unrelated incidents that he had no control over occur. For instance; when walking under some scaffolding that over hung the pavement, he'd nearly been hit by a falling brick. Paranoia could not have caused that. Sure, it may have been a coincidence, but too many similar incidents had happened now, and he – Pein, the leader of the town's most notorious gang – was beginning to freak out slightly.

The cat had tripped him down the stairs, the toaster had suddenly blown up in his face for no reason, he'd nearly been wiped out on his motorbike when a lorry rounded a blind corner on the wrong side...The list was endless. And all the time, his brain kept going back to a certain alley-way and a dark chant that had chilled his blood.

Was it possible? He certainly wouldn't have believed it a week ago. But now too much had happened in too short a space of time for it to be a mere coincidence.

When voicing this fear to his sister, she had insisted that it was merely simple psychiatry, and that he was causing it himself. However, after he'd needed to go to the doctors on seven different occasions in one week for stitches, Konan began to believe that maybe something besides a clever mind-game was at work.

So that led to the meeting of the gang in Pein's living room, their usual haunt.

"Let me get this straight; you think you've got a curse on you?" Hidan asked incredulously. He flicked a finger against the side of Pein's head, earning himself a punch in return.

"It's one out of a number of theories." Konan stated, pushing both her brother and Hidan off of the sofa so that she could sit there herself. "All the others revolve around Pein being a paranoid idiot." She threw one of the lager cans at Pein's head. Pein caught it before it hit and opened it.

Hidan shoved the pierced man away from him and jumped back onto the sofa. Konan huffed and shifted enough to give him some room, but he just pulled her legs onto his lap so that she could resume her former sprawled-out position. "So, if it is a –" He had to smother a snigger. "– curse, what do you intend to do about it?"

Pein really couldn't do much more than shrug. "Well...I don't know yet." He gulped down some more lager to cover up his embarrassment. "This isn't exactly something I've come up against before."

"I doubt anyone's come up against this sort of thing before." Kakuzu muttered in his heavily accented English. He was Spanish, and despite being in the UK for five or six years, retained his accent and dark tan. Scars from backstreet matador events covered every bare inch of him, and now a new one curved down his arm from the encounter with Itachi. "But that kid needs teaching a lesson!"



Next to him, sporting a black eye, Kisame nodded grimly. "Amen to that!"

Pein nodded reluctantly. "He does, and Blondie still needs a lesson in manners. But I'm not sure it's a good idea. We don't know what we're up against."

"We're 'up against' your overactive imagination!" Konan muttered.

Her brother shot her a long suffering glare. "You weren't there Kon, you didn't see it. It was like...like a movie or something."

"Yeah, with bad special effects." Sasori added. He was flicking his phone open and shut, a bad habit that served as a displacement activity.

There was an uncomfortable silence around the room. The gang were confident in the face of the police, rival gangs and God knows what other urban rubbish Nottingham could dredge up, but this was something beyond their realm of experience. This was beyond anyone's realm of experience.

Pein realised he was losing face, and tried to rally.

"Okay then. I can't say I know what's going on here, and I can't say I know how to deal with it. All I do know is that over the past week I've had more accidents than I've had in my whole life, and it all started that day in the alley." He held up his arm, and pulled back his sleeve to expose a long livid wound held shut with around fifteen stitches. "This is one of many, and they are getting worse! I was tripped down the stairs down yesterday by someone's cat." He shot a glance a Konan, who glared back. They'd already had the argument over the cat. "I don't want this to escalate. Stitches I can deal with, broken bones I don't want to have to deal with."

"So do you want us to get him?" Hidan asked, drumming his fingers on Konan's shin. Konan kicked him with her other foot.

Pein swilled his lager around the can, thoughtfully. "Not yet. We need to find out more about him."

"Itachi Uchiha, moved from Japan two years ago, no friends other than Deidara, known freak. What's to know?" Konan asked, her voice laced with boredom. "I've been researching general paranormal usage though-"

"Reading Anne Rice books don't count as research." Her brother interrupted.

"Well, they cover paranormal phenomenon."

"They cover vampires. I'm having a hard time believing that Itachi even cast a curse, you're not going to persuade me he's a vampire now!"

Konan huffed and folded her arms with a scowl. Hidan patted her knee in sympathy, earning himself a smack for his troubles.

"Anyway." Pein turned back to face the others. "No, I don't think we should make a move on Itachi yet."

There were muted mutters around the room, but people nodded consent. Pein was the leader, it was their job to listen to him.



"Well..?" Kabuto pushed his glasses up his nose, leaning forward eagerly to hear the low-down on what had happened in the gang meeting.

Orochimaru sat down on the bar stool next to him and ordered a cider before answering his friend. Kabuto wasn't privileged enough to be in Pein's gang – he had no discerning talents that would make him useful, and tended to attach himself to more powerful or influential people. Orochimaru had originally filled this position, having once been Pein's right hand man, although he'd gone down in favour since nearly getting arrested twice. Still, he was allowed into the gang meetings, and that was enough for hangers-on like Kabuto, who wanted to get themselves noticed by Pein.

"He's still hung up about that business with the Uchiha guy." Orochimaru said finally, flicking at the small head of foam on his cider.

"And that means what? They're going after him?" Kabuto's face gleamed savagely with animalistic fervour at the idea of a hunt

"No, Pein's too scared." The dark haired man smirked as his companion choked on his own drink at that statement. "He doesn't understand what's happening, and that scares him."

"So what do you want to do about it?"

Orochimaru rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It'll be brownie points for me if I take Uchiha out for him. I can put in a good word for you, and you can be accepted into the gang." He took a sip of his drink. "Of course, all we need to do is scare the guy a little, just some threats to make him take notice, then we tell him to take the curse off."

Kabuto put his glass down on the sticky bar top. "Do you really believe it's a curse?" He asked sceptically. His companion looked at him with a more serious expression than usual.

"I was still in college when Shisui died. I was there in that cafeteria and I know I heard Uchiha say something, and I'm guessing it wasn't love poem. Now I don't know about curses, but that guy can do something alright, and whatever 'it' is, he's done it to Pein."

"Okay, you know best."

Orochimaru pulled his phone out and handed it to his friend, this was something the rest of his group of hangers-on might want to get involved in. "Call the others, tell them we're on to something."

Kabuto nodded, flicking the phone open. "Are we leaving now?"

The dark haired man checked his watch. "Yeah, school's out in five minutes, we'll catch him on his way home." A sly grin twisted his face as he pushed up the sleeve of his jacket just enough to show the handle of a knife. "And tell them I'm prepared."

The bus park was its usual screaming mob of children trying to find their respective buses once the end-of-school bell had gone. Itachi and Deidara, like so many of the people who walked home, were pushing their way through the crowds.



The rain had eased off over the week, and although it remained overcast, now it was just plain cold. Deidara's reaction to this was to wear a rather fetching blue and green striped scarf that was ridiculously long and far too bright.

He was happily shoving through the crowd, smacking kids aside with his sketch book if they didn't move quickly enough. Itachi was following behind at a more sedate manner. He'd found over time that he didn't need to force his way through, people liked to give him as wide a berth as possible.

There was a yelp from up ahead, and he pushed forward a little faster just in time to see Deidara whap a kid out of the way. The boy turned round to hurl a mouthful of abuse at the blonde until Itachi grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

"Hi Sasuke, good day?" He snarled, dragging his younger brother along with him. Sasuke struggled and fought back, but the grip on his coat collar was like iron and he had no choice but to wave goodbye to his friends and allow himself to be manhandled out of the bus park.

"Itachi! Let go of me you prick!"

Itachi didn't do as asked – or rather demanded – until the three of them were well out of the school gates. Then he let the boy go.

"Deidara, I'd appreciate it if you didn't thump my brother with your sketch-book." He said with hardly any emotion. "It makes him grouchy."

"Fuck you!" Sasuke spat.

Deidara sniggered. "Oh come on, I hit anyone in my way, kiddo here was in my way, QED kiddo gets hit."

Itachi's lips twitched into a grin, and Sasuke snarled at him, bunching his hand into a fist. The elder Uchiha raised an eyebrow at the gesture, as his little brother drew back to hit him. Then the boy paused, lowered his hand with an aggravated growl and turned away to start storming off up the hill.

"Oookay..." Deidara came up to stand next to Itachi. "What happened there? I thought he was going to smack you one."

Itachi shrugged. "He obviously realised it was a bad idea." He began following his brother on the road home. "Are you coming?"

Deidara frowned slightly; sure that he was missing something. Sasuke had defiantly been about to slug his brother and yet had...stopped. Itachi certainly hadn't done anything, and the younger Uchiha didn't seem the type to be cowed by paranormal threats either. Something had stopped Sasuke, and it hadn't been fear or conscience.

He shook himself when Itachi called him, and ran to catch up.

The wind picked up along the road that crested over the top of the hill and Deidara shivered as he fell into step beside his friend. Sasuke was still slightly ahead of them, but slowing down now that he had made his point. Itachi was watching his younger brother with a half irritated half amused look on his face.



"Seems like younger siblings can be a pain in the arse." Deidara said conversationally. "Makes me glad I'm an only child."

"It wasn't always like this." Itachi murmured almost to himself. "Then again, life goes on."

"What are you talking about?"

He shook himself. "Nothing, it's nothing."

Deidara didn't look convinced, but didn't pursue the line of enquiry. He knew that Itachi had gone to live in Japan at the tender age of thirteen – a difficult age to be when you're thrown into a country where you can't speak a word of the language – which would have made Sasuke...eight, if his maths was correct. So, the brothers had been parted for nearly five years, in which time Sasuke had entered the troubled and hormone laden years of being a teenager, and Itachi had left them as a mature adult. Cue instant melt down when they meet again, especially if they'd parted on bad terms.

Of course, this was just speculation on Deidara's behalf, but it kinda made sense. Now just to find out what had made them hate each other in the first place.

He didn't realise that Itachi and Sasuke had both come to a halt until he walked into his friend's out stretched arm. He looked up, wondering why Itachi had stopped him, and saw that the way was now blocked by a group of men.

The seemed around Deidara and Itachi's. And none of them looked friendly. One girl was hiding at the back, dirty pink dread locks swinging around her face and what appeared to be a flute case strung around her neck. The others were a mismatched group; one guy large enough to be a wrestler, another pale one with red rimmed eyes that looked sickly, a white haired geek with glasses, twins, one freak with a hairstyle that put people in mind of a spider and finally the Leader.

He was a nasty piece of work, and Deidara was sure he'd last seen him down in that alley a week before. Long, greasy black hair that was in rather bad condition, sallow skin the colour of ash and deep set sunken eyes. He sneered at Sasuke, who had been further ahead than Itachi and had nearly run into the gang when they had jumped out of the side street. The boy jumped back a few paces to collide with his big brother, who put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Excuse us; we'd like to get past." Itachi said, glaring at the man.

"No, you aren't going anywhere yet." The guy folded his arms with a smirk. "My name is Orochimaru, and I'm here from Pein. You see, he has a bone to pick with you. He's not happy, not happy at all!"