12
Tadpole hugs the mud
With tiny arms and fingers
As it becomes a frog
Across the rocky horizon, the sun shone its last faded blades of light against the sky, lighting up the wispy clouds that still hovered in the air. A few stars glimmered on the far end of the horizon, away from the quickly fading light of the sun, and the monotonous pattern of boulders and stone were soon painted with a hazy gray that seemed to give no discerning edges to their forms. Inside a cave, a small fire crackled in its nest of shriveled branches, casting dancing shadows all over the walls.
Two people slouched by the warmth of the flame, their features sharply defined by glowing light and deep shadow, their shadows flowing out behind them like trailing garments. At the far end of the cave, a third figure was bundled in a red and black cloak, unmoving.
"Who are you anyway, un?" the taller of the two asked.
"Inazuma Hachi," she answered, leaning forward to warm her hands over the fire and refusing to make eye contact with the boy. Deidara spat a glob of slightly reddish saliva at the edge of the fire and rubbed a couple fingers against his chin absentmindedly.
"Huh," he grunted, and glanced over at the far end of the cave, "How'd you meet Sasori?"
"I… " She was going to tell him that she'd found him by the stream back home years ago, but her throat seemed to have closed up. She tried clearing it, loudly, but it just made her throat feel scratchy. She tried swallowing a few times, but that didn't help either.
Deidara raised his eyebrow at her as he attempted to forcefully rip his hair tie out of its ponytail. He then winced, dropping one hand to grip his side, his dirt-coated fingers dragging against his skin.
"You shouldn't do that. It'll get infected."
He glared at her, both eyes burning spitefully, with one just slightly visible from behind a few sooty strands of yellow hair. She shut her mouth and turned her eyes back to the fire. After a final second of glaring, he too faced the fire. There was an uncomfortable pause in which neither of them said anything.
Then, "You're from the Land of Lightning, aren't you? I've never seen dark skin and white hair on a person from any other country, un."
"Yeah." She nodded, although she wasn't facing him.
"So what're you doing in the Land of Earth, un?"
"Sasori summoned me."
"Huh…" he said thoughtfully, "I didn't know humans could be summoned like that."
She shrugged.
"But why would he summon a little seven-year-old to help him, of all things? You can't be old enough to have even started academy, un."
Irritation flared at the pit of her stomach. She may be small, but she wasn't that puny. "I'm nine. And I'll be taking my exit exam at the end of the school year."
He didn't bother to mask the vague flicker of surprise that flitted across his face. It was, after all, somewhat unusual (though not unheard of) for ninja to graduate from the academy after just two years. "No kidding? Maybe you're gonna be more useful than I thought, un. But if you're still not even a genin, I don't see what use you could be to him."
"I can't give him away."
"Un?"
"I…" she swallowed spastically, and coughed, trying to get her throat to work. There it was again.
Deidara leaned forward and squinted at her a little as she shifted uncomfortably. His hand dropped out of his hair. "Imagine that, un. The bastard put a mind seal on you, didn't he?"
"What's a bastard?"
Deidara just smirked. He reached up and gave his hair another tug, winced, and gave up.
Note: Apologies if the time change jarred you. This is before she got back to her Village, still in the Land of Earth. Please review this chapter, I'd love to know what you think about it. :)