A/n: Lalala. Chapter 5 is up quickly! I've been going on a bit of a writing rampage. As always, thank you to everyone for the reviews!! They makes me so happyful. :)

Artist's Alley
by: roses.red

Chapter 5:

For my first ten days living with him, I rarely saw Deidara. He was either at school, away working on an art gig, or down in the basement (I wasn't really sure what he did down there; all I knew was that I sometimes heard loud bangs coming from the basement, but I was too scared to ask him about it). The few times I was able to see him and let him look over my artwork, the same scenario was pretty much repeated over and over again: He would tell me to paint a certain picture, I would do so, it would turn out no so great, he would make sure I knew it. Rinse and repeat. It wasn't until my 11th day there that I actually made some progress.

"Crap," Deidara said, tossing the first of the paintings I'd done aside. "Crap, crap." He sighed, dropping the entire stack on the floor. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked up at me. "Can't you give me something at least halfway decent, un?"

I scowled at him, crossing my own arms. "Maybe if you would actually give me a halfway decent assignment," I threw back. "But no, it's always rainbows and flowers, like I'm some kind of little kid!"

"If you can't even manage to draw simple things like that, how are you going to do well on anything else, hmm?" he said.

Urgh. As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. But that didn't make it any less irritating! Sighing, I bent down and started to gather the discarded artwork so it could be added to the ever growing trash pile in my room. "Fine, fine. I'll go try again," I said.

"Good luck, un."

I resisted the urge to turn rabid on him and decided to just ignore him instead, walking back to my room and picking up the paintbrush to start over. When I was finished, I once again brought the painting to Deidara. His reaction was even worse than the last time.

"It's horrible," he said. "It's not even worth looking at."

I stared at the floor, taking his harsh words silently, as always. He was getting aggravated, I could tell, but he had nothing on me on the aggravated factor. I was frustrated and depressed, a bad combination, especially when a certain someone kept pushing my buttons constantly. Angry tears were welling up in my eyes against my will. I couldn't take much more, or I was going to blow.

Deidara stood up from his chair with his back facing towards me. "I'm going to the basement," he said. "Try again if you want. It doesn't seem to matter much." He started to walk away.

"Fine," I said. My voice was low, but he paused. "You're never around anyway," I continued. "You always put me down, but you've never even once lifted a hand to help me, even though you're supposed to be my teacher. So tell me to try again if I want, and I will, even though it won't make any difference whatsoever. I don't even care anymore."

There was a long moment of a silence, and then he grunted something under his breath and left the room. I sat down in the chair and pulled my knees up to my chest, hiding my face in them.

"Stupid Kaya," I muttered. "Now he's definitely going to kick you out." I sighed. Life could be so troublesome sometimes; I really just wanted to give up. Standing up, I dragged my feet back to my room and stood before the blank paper on the easel. Maybe I would try one more time, and then I would pack my things and head back home. My poor parents were probably thinking I was dead by now anyway. I could finally ease their minds.

Paintbrush in hand, I began to work on a rainbow, but after only a moment I st the brush back down. It honestly looked like a picture I had done in first grade. Pathetic. I sunk to the floor, burying my face in my knees again. "This is stupid," I said. "I really am useless."

"Wrong," a familiar voice said behind me.

I raised my head and looked over my shoulder to see Deidara standing in the doorway. He came forward and pulled my sad excuse for a painting off the easel. "Have you ever seen a rainbow?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Did it look like this, un?" He held up the painting for me to see.

I looked at it and saw an arch of colors. That's what a rainbow was, right? "Yes," I repeated.

"Did it really?" he asked. "Think about it, un."

I thought back to the few rainbows I had seen. Actually, now that I was remembering, rainbows didn't look like just a perfect arch, and the colors I'd used were way too bold. "Oh," I said stupidly.

He smiled and set the painting on the floor, then grabbed my arm and pulled me up (somewhat to my shock). "Now," he said. He put the paintbrush in my hand and placed it on the paper. Moving closer so that his body was pressed against mine, he whispered in my ear. "Close your eyes."

A chill raced through my body at the feel of his warm breath tickling my ear and the back of my neck. I swallowed hard and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ignore the warmth of his firm, muscled chest pressed against my back and his legs brushing mine.

"Picture the image in your head," he whispered again. His breath was soft and warm against my bare skin.

I shuddered and squeezed my eyes harder, trying to do as he said, but it was hard to concentrate with him so close. Somehow, I managed to grasp the image in my mind.

"Do you have it, un?" I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, and hoping he wouldn't notice my reddening face. "Now, focus on the details—the way the colors blur together, the light, the color of the sky. Once you're ready, start painting."

I opened my eyes, and began to move the paintbrush over the paper, until my rainbow hovered in a blue cloudless sky on the paper.

"Alright," Deidara said. He moved away from me, much to my relief; I could finally breathe normally again. "Is there anything else you want to add, un?"

I glanced at my picture. It did look kind of bland. "Yeah," I said. He seemed to be waiting for me to continue painting, so I shuffled through my thoughts for a moment, and then I knew what I was going to do. I dipped the brush in the paints again and began working.

I'm not sure how long it took, but with Deidara standing there watching the whole time, it seemed a lt longer. At last, I finished and stood back to survey my work. The rainbow in the sky was now reflected on the surface of a sparkling lake surrounded by dark, green trees. The painting might not have been even close to professional, but to my joy and amazement, it definitely didn't look like something a five-year-old had done. I turned, grinning, to Deidara.

"Very good, un," he said. It was the first time he had complimented me.

Before I realized what I was doing, I had thrown my arms around him. "Thank you!" I cried, and then I noticed I was hugging him. "Oh, s-sorry," I said, immediately letting go.

He smiled and rubbed my head (normally, that would have annoyed me, but I was too happy to care). "I don't mind, un." He looked back up at the painting and stepped closer to it, peering at my work. "There's still something lacking though," he said after a moment. "What's your inspiration, un?"

My inspiration? I opened my mouth to reply, but quickly closed it again. I wasn't quite ready to tell him about that. "I have my reasons," I said quietly.

He seemed to get it, because he nodded. "Good job, un," he said again. "I'll go set up the computer for you."

He left the room, and I turned back to my painting. It really was amazing, compared to what I usually did. But why now, all of a sudden?

'Because you actually spent time on it this time, dummy,' my inner voice said.

Oh…that's right. I had never really thought much about my art before. I had just done it, and hoped it would turn out good, but not really expected it to. The result was that I never actually tried. I hadn't noticed that until now. It was my own fault my artwork had always been bad, because I'd never spent time on them, but I had blamed it on Deidara. Crap…now I would have to apologize.

I crept into his room, where he was sitting at the computer. He stood up when I came in. "Finally, un," he said. "You're so slow, you're like a turtle."

I forced myself to ignore that comment. Apologize. I had to apologize. "Um, S-sensei, I'm, um, I'm sorry about w-what I said earlier."

His eye narrowed at me. "You'd better be, un. Do you know how much of a pain it is dealing with you? Now quit bothering me. I am trying to work, un."

I frowned at his back as he left the room. Just a moment ago I had felt guilty about what'd I'd said, but now I was just irritated. Ugh. I groaned and flopped down at the computer. I would never get used to this guy.

But, in spite of everything, at that moment I was really, truly happy. Too bad it wasn't going to last.