III. Where and How They Meet
Deidara liked the kitchens because of the fireplace. To be technical, though, it wasn't an actual fireplace, it was a wood-filled crevice which provided the heat for a makeshift stove, but it was always lit, as if it were, in fact, a fireplace, so Deidara couldn't be fucked calling it something else. The blonde glanced around the area before grabbing an apple off the fruit basket in the middle of the room and squatting down near the fire to warm himself. It was a particularly cold night, but he hadn't bothered to bring a coat with him. It was because he never lingered in the kitchen for long—he couldn't risk getting caught in the castle—and he thought that the warmth of the fire would suffice anyway. But now that he was actually here, the fire was a little too good to leave so quickly, and—
The door creaked open. Deidara sprung up immediately and tossed the apple into the fire. If he was going to get caught here, at least he wouldn't get caught for stealing. He licked some of the apple residue off his fingertips hastily.
The first thing that struck Itachi was that the fire was ablaze and that there was somebody in the room. He himself was wearing his sleepwear, but had flung a thick, fur-trimmed coat over the top. The other person in the room was not wearing much at all, and at once Itachi had him down as one of his subordinates that worked outside in the fields. That much was clear from his slightly dirt-smeared shirt and loose brown pants that were cinched just above his hip. But what struck Itachi most was how the fire lit up the man's face: it made him look mysterious and surreal. He was absentmindedly mesmerized, and only when the blonde coughed into his fist did he realize he'd been staring. While orange-yellow flames licked at the slices of wood, filling the room with a pleasant crackling noise, Itachi said, "I was under the impression there would be nobody here,"
Deidara smirked a little despite the situation: he was too busy inspecting the Duke's features. He hardly ever caught a long enough glimpse of the man, after all. He looked severe, intelligent and calculating, even more so than Sasuke, and Deidara never thought it humanly possible, and the lines that slanted across his cheeks made him look perpetually troubled.
"Me too, sire," Deidara replied, opting for a more jocular statement so that he might be able to coax his way out of the room. He offered a slight smile, one the Duke didn't return. Expected. After all, Sasuke never returned his smiles either. Itachi looked around the kitchen. To be completely honest, he had hardly ever ventured down here before, but as the night progressed he had lost his appetite completely due to the nonstop badgering of the Vice-Admiral, and he had decided in bed to come down here to grab a bite to eat before he lost it again when he met Danzo for breakfast. Deidara eyed the Duke carefully. He was nervous, no doubt, about being in the presence of the Duke himself, but there was something about the man's current demeanour that made him forget about all the formalities and social etiquettes and just sat himself near the pseudo fireplace and rubbed his arms. He began to regret not bringing his coat.
The calmness of the other guy around him surprised Itachi. Indeed, it was highly unusual for any of his subordinates to even sit down in such a way around him, let alone look like they didn't regard him as the Duke at all. This blonde was acting like Itachi was just some other guy. The Uchiha didn't know whether to feel insulted or pleased. In the end, he was intermediate between both, and walked nearer to the small fireplace to warm himself.
"How was your night, sire?" Deidara asked when he sensed the Duke near. He didn't lift his eyes from the fire. He was watching his apple burn. He was only starting a conversation to be polite, and because sitting around in silence while he was obviously trespassing seemed a little awkward.
We're both trespassing, in a sense, Deidara thought, smiling a bit at the thought. He didn't think the Duke was allowed to come out for midnight snacks.
Itachi didn't consider the question much, just answered automatically: "It was tiring,"
Deidara smiled a crooked smile because the cold was making his lips shiver. "Ah. The daughters tired you out, I bet, un,"
Itachi's fists involuntarily clenched at the mention of the daughters. It seemed over the top, but it was not only his mind that had become completely reproachful whenever somebody mentioned daughters or bachelorettes, but also his body. His muscles seemed to have a mind of their own, and it was a reactive habit of his to clench his fists for the smallest fraction of a second when the words were mentioned. Nobody ever noticed this of course, so Deidara just sat there like he hadn't just mentioned the currently most dreaded word in Itachi's dictionary. The statement, though, was true.
"Yes. They did,"
"Hmm. What a life," Deidara mused light-heartedly. He didn't sound jealous, nor did he sound like he was mocking Itachi. It was just a simple statement. The blonde exhaled loudly and got up. He looked at the Duke and cocked his head a little. Itachi still thought it weird that this guy was acting in complete nonchalance around him, and it obviously showed in his face:
"You know what the rule is around here?" Deidara began again, tapping his fingers gently against the rim of the fruit basket. Itachi raised an eyebrow. Was this stable-hand asking him if he knew about rules? Was he about to impose one on him? It was a little ironic.
"You see, sire, if you ever meet anybody in the kitchen who is also not permitted to be here in the hours of the night, you're meant to pretend you never saw anything, un…," the blonde grabbed an orange and tossed it up in the air. "…and you're meant to overlook the social statuses of the parties present,"
Including a Duke? Itachi thought. Deidara looked at him in the eyes again and smiled.
Including a Duke, he seemed to think back. The blonde's smile transformed into a grin as he chuckled a bit at the dark look on Itachi's face.
"We're both somewhere we're not supposed to be, after all," Deidara explained, his attention on the orange now. "We might as well make the experience more enjoyable, don't you think? If you made a ruckus out of it, you'd be in trouble just as much as I am…yeah,"
Probably on different scales, but yes. Itachi could just imagine the crap that would come out of his advisor's mouths about how rude it was creeping around at night with guests around, even though Itachi found no basis in the statement at all. How was that even rude?
He nodded wordlessly. Deidara glanced at him then began peeling the orange. His body was suddenly buzzing with something: it was an odd feeling that he was with the Duke, but an even odder one that the Duke was listening to what he had to say. It made Deidara's stomach flip, in the way your stomach flips when you're with someone you find interesting…alone. But of course Deidara didn't think that way. He just took it as nerves.
"I take it you're hungry, hey, un," Deidara went on. "There's bread and butter in the pantry. You can make toast,"
Itachi looked behind himself, peering into the darkness. Deidara brushed past him and opened a door quietly. Itachi could barely see him. He re-emerged with a loaf of bread and butter on a wooden block. He placed it quietly on the table, pulled out a drawer and produced a knife and a butter knife. As the Duke buttered the bread, Deidara peeled and ate the orange. It was a nice atmosphere, like everything was indeed forgotten.
"I better go soon," Deidara said all of a sudden. He tossed the peels into the waste basket and wiped off his hands on his clothes again. "I have to be up at dawn. I better catch the last few hours available to me, un,"
Itachi just nodded. He put the bread on the end of the long metal tongs that sat beside the stove and began toasting his bread.
"What are you?" he asked, his voice husky in the quiet of the kitchen. He glanced up at Deidara.
"Me, un? I am a stable-hand," Deidara ran a hand through his long blonde hair. "My name is Deidara,"
"Deidara...I see. So…," Itachi withdrew the bread from the fire and straightened up. "…you're looking after the Vice-Admiral's horses, I suppose?"
"His own horse, no less," Deidara grumbled. "If so much as a hair is lost off that horse, un, this is the last you'll ever see of me, sire,"
This made Itachi smile a bit. Deidara noticed this and returned the smile tenfold. It was true. The man was crazy about his horse.
"Well, I suppose I should leave you alone now," Deidara waved a bit at Itachi. "You probably need some peace and quiet before those advisors dig their claws in you again, hmmm?" he gave the Duke one last, knowing look before letting himself out the back door, closing it very slowly, very quietly behind him.
Itachi bit into his toast and turned back to face the fire. There was an apple burning there.