Hello again! It's Megs here with yet another chapter! This is kind of a filler chapter? Since I've been focusing on the girls I wanted to have some boy time, too. I always forget that Deidara has such an odd personality. He really interests me (Actually all the characters that die too soon interest me haha. )Any who, I hope you enjoy this chapter of Bright Eyes- which was written while listening to a copious amount of Bright Eyes haha. Also thank you all so much for reading and reviewing; I would answer all of them all personally but I'm awkward and really all I would say is I love you so much, thank you hahaha.
Oh also quick Naruto series thing. Does anyone else find Road to Ninja completely and UTTERLY hilarious? Like. It's an AU fan fiction and I love it and Sakura's parents are in it? That's just awesome. Well. And Kiba is actually my favorite character. Confessions.
Chapter Eleven: Different Sides
Deidara sat in a chair. The room was almost completely dark. He had gotten up, he approximated, about an hour ago and couldn't fall back asleep. Usually he would blow off some steam by either sculpting but it was much to dark for that or by blowing things up- a simple pastime for a simple man like himself. Yet lately he couldn't bring himself to do it and especially not in his room. Not because he suddenly became aware of the mess or suddenly explosions lost their allure it was more or less because it wasn't just him anymore. She had come into his life
She was Hinata Hyuuga. If he had to describe her in one word he'd probably use explosive. If someone, for instance Sasori-danna, told him to cut the stupid puns and get serious he would use the word bomb. This would only piss people, Sasori-danna, off, but Deidara had his reasons.
When they first met he had expected her to be a dud. She was a Hyuuga- which he figured translated quite literally to boring. But that one day they talked it was like she exploded and changed his life and made way for things and took down walls he had built up and it was crazy especially looking at her.
She had all the looks of a mild mannered girl. Deidara admired her, for lack of a better word, bigger assets. She also had a nice, easy to look at face. Some might even find her enchanting- beautiful.
This is the part where Deidara found his face heating slightly.
"Pull yourself together, man," He said to himself putting his face in his hands "You are acting like an academy kid."
His thoughts drifted to Hinata again. There was just something about how she carried herself. She was so crippling shy he thought but she carried herself with grace and poise. He often wondered how two creatures lived in one body. There was Hinata the shy girl, perhaps even a bit awakward, and kind and there was the Hinata who was more akin to a warrior princess- strong and well spoken.
"I wonder which one I like more, un," he wondered out loud brushing his hand in his hair. Realizing what he was saying, Deidara put his head into his hands again- he couldn't believe what he was thinking. This was a Hyuuga- a KIDNAPPED Hyuuga, he reminded himself sternly, you need to stop.
Deidara studied his hands. The mouths on them smiled up at him. He felt himself smiling back. This only caused him to sigh. Akatsuki members were supposed to act poised and proper and not let petty things like anger or embarrassment get the best of them.
This was another thing about Hinata. She made him more emotional- even volatile at times. He hadn't felt like that in a long time not even to this extent when he was a kid and terrorist ( okay so he still hadn't reached the age of twenty but he definitely was not a child.)
He looked back down at Hinata still sleeping.
"What would you say if you knew the things I did," he half whispered leaning back in his chair looking at the ceiling. "The lives I've destroyed. A long time ago someone told me that to keep your own life you must sometimes borrow other's time but that's the thing. I've stolen a lot of time. One day someone's going to do it to me, you know? They're going to steal my time, un. Like I did yours too. You don't need to be here," the last bit he said quietly.
Hinata didn't stir. He figured as much only in terrible stories did the girl ever hear the embarrassing confession.
"Do you believe in fate?" he was talking despite himself eyes set on the ceiling. "I don't think we were supposed to meet one other, Ino too. I think something went wrong. That the world decided to play a prank on us, un That sounds stupid but I mean it. I don't think I was supposed to meet someone like you."
"But you did," came a little voice from where Hinata laid, looking down he noticed that her back was turned to him again. "You and I met. So you're going to have to take responsibility, okay? You kidnapped me." Deidara noticed how her voice faltered and sounded small. He wondered what her face looked like- if it was red or not. He found her slight stutter to be oddly endearing and found himself smiling.
"I will," He said getting up and moving to the bed sitting down. She made an almost inaudible noise as he did so. "What if tomorrow you wake up in your village?" he didn't know why he said those words but suddenly he felt confidence.
"I'd wonder if all of this was a dream," Hianta said her back still facing him. "But somehow I think I'd know. That you really were out there somewhere."
"Me too, un."
"Go to sleep," Hinata said turning around to face him. Even in the darkness he could tell she had been blushing and he smiled at her.
"I'm going to lie here," He said lying down looking at her. "Is that okay, un?"
"It might be cramped," she said softly biting her lower lip. "I might be overbearing."
"I doubt it, un," Deidara whispered to her closing his eyes. "I'm strong. I will be okay."
He could feel her breath slow and could only assume she closed her eyes as well as he drifted to sleep.
Ino rolled over in her sleep and fell onto the ground. Sasori watched the whole thing happen. She was still lying there, too, completely unaware of everything. She was, Sasori often thought, a clueless airhead. She had that oblivious personality sometimes.
Sasori paused and shook his head- only a part of Ino was like that though. There was another part of Ino that was quick and cunning and mysterious. She was complex. Although, he noted, it was easy to just see one side of her.
Ino was different- although he found that people often used that adjective when they could not think of better words. She had the looks of a typical female- one much too obsessed boys with a pendant for dramatics and tantrums. Yet she was also steady and overflowing with a confidence. Ino was, he figured, a fountain of confidence.
Because that was just it. Being near the blonde made people want to change for the better. There was something about her that made people want to strive for their best. She lent you some of her power when you were near her- let you have some of the Ino essence. There was something about being with Ino that made you want to do your very best.
Something warm overcame Sasori as he looked down at her. She had somehow barged- pushing and screaming, falling, sometimes quite literally, into his life. It had been a long time since anyone had done that. People didn't show so many emotions to Sasori of the red sand. There were just things you didn't do for murderers.
But then again Ino didn't see it like that. When she looked at him all she saw was Sasori, the person. Note even Sasori the puppet.
"Don't do that," Ino said dreamily talking in her sleep. Sasori noticed that sometime in his thoughts she had rolled out onto her stomach- limbs splayed in all directions. He found himself chuckling at how ridiculous she looked (another thing he hadn't done for a long time).
He wondered how many people got to see the serious, silly and strong even the completely odd and bizarre different sides to Ino. People who had seen sides to Ino he hadn't even seen. He figured those people must miss her but he only scoffed a bit.
"They should have taken better care of you," He said picking her up, "Because I won't be giving you back."
Ino didn't wake up as he set her back on the bed. He inspected her some more. He was a little annoyed that she had spent a good part of the night outside with Hinata- presumably crying judging from how puffy her eyes were when he and Deidara found the girls. It wasn't as if Ino even cried a lot, he mused. She cried the most on the initial days of being here but that was natural. Mostly she tear up in frustration or hints of angry- a little quirk of hers. Yet usually she wasn't one for full on waterworks.
He was also slightly annoyed, he figured, that she hadn't told him why she was upset. Not that he gave her much room to nor did he ask. But he assumed if something made her want to cry that she would find that information to be something she would share with him.
This was another emotion he didn't understand and it only proved to annoy him more as he tinkered with his things. He wondered in the back of his mind if Deidara was having these difficulties with Hinata but figured Hinata was easier to handle then Ino. He should have picked her to stay with him instead of the drooling pig that was sleeping to the left of him.
Actually, he wondered, what if he hadn't taken Ino that night. What if the reason the girls were cring because they were sharing in a moment of misery.
"What if what?" He looked to his side finding Ino staring at him. She looked tired but she was definitely awake.
"Nothing," he said turning away. "I was just thinking."
"I never thought Sasori would be one to wonder but what ifs," Ino giggled propping herself up on her elbow.
"I keep the puppets of people around," Sasori said rubbing his temples. "I am a man that dabbles in the what if more than you would think."
"That's actually really sad," Ino mumbled after pausing for a bit. He turned to look at her. She was laying on her back her hands covering her face. It reminded Sasori of the first time she laid there.
"Are you crying again?"
Ino quickly took off her hands and looked at him, eyebrows raised.
"I've had enough of that for one night," Ino laughed it off trying to sit up. She sill looked tired and leaned her back against the wall for support.
"You've done that before,"Sasori said looking at her. "Put your hands over your face like that. When I first used chakra strings on you. You cried then, right?"
Ino made a shocked face and looked away from him. She bit her lip.
"I was sad then," Ino said suddenly looking back up but not at him. "I thought: wow. This is it, huh? They're going to give my village some ransom knowing good and well Konoha doesn't deal with criminals and I can't even try to get away. But also. I didn't want to be connected."
"Connected?" Sasori frowned.
"You don't remember?" Ino said looking at him. "You said that we were connected. You lifted my arm. I was so mad at you. But now it's just scary."
Sasori didn't say anything for a while.
"I scare you?" He finally said raising her arm in the air again. She smiled but it different have the usual spark to it.
No," She said and he dropped her arm abruptly staring at her. "I'm scared of being connected to someone like you know. Not because I don't feel safe but because I do. I'm scared of getting pulled away from you and Hinata and this place. What would I do without you?"
"Continue on to a normal life."
"What's normal?" Ino laughed lying back down. "Does it mean being weak? Does it mean conforming to gender roles that are so stupid? Because I can't like flowers and be strong and girls are troublesome, right? I don't want to be normal."
"You probably don't mean that," Sasori said getting up from his chair. "You just think that because I am a potentially dangerous individual. Your mind is fooling you into thinking I'm not," he got out a kunai. "I'm in the position to kill you. No one here would bat their eyes or even question my motives. You'd just be a memory- one that wouldn't even be thought about. Only on occasion when they saw a girl with blonde hair might they think: what was that girls name?"
"Do it then," Ino said looking up at him. "Will you make me into a puppet? Will you forget my name?"
Sasori dropped the kunai and turned around.
"I knew you wouldn't."
"Your reasoning?"
"Because you ask if I'm crying," Ino said smiling closing her eyes. "I understand Sasori better than you think I do."
"You really do," Sasori said fondly as he watched her. "Now go to sleep. You can't waste your time being awake. You have things to do in the morning."
"Goodnight, Sasori," Ino said with a smile falling asleep. In her last moments of consciousness she might have recalled something brushing against her lips but in the morning she would chalk it up to just being a part of a good dream.
Sakura Haruno went over the mission briefs in her head for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. She had to accompany some merchants to a check point. Usually that was something that was handed to a group of genin but this was a special occasion. Apparently these merchants had dabbled in selling goods to rivals and had become the target of quite a lot of scorn. So much scorn that they were worried that big names could get involved.
Sakura had no idea how in the world the men had gotten themselves in such a mess but she also didn't care too much. She was going to be accompanied by Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara. Which, she had to admit, was really, really weird but apparently the two had been quite useless since Hinata's disappearance and Tsunade hoped that a mission would get their minds to focus elsewhere.
Sakura knew the feeling.
"Hey," Shikamaru said as she approached waving. "Welcome to the depressed team." Sakura frowned at the attempt of humor. Kiba didn't even laugh and usually he was one for a good laugh, no matter how horrid the joke was.
It was looking at Shikamaru that Sakura remembered Ino-Shika-Cho. She wondered how Chouji was doing with the loss. Kiba looked despondent but probably not nearly as despondent as Shikamaru.
"Let's all do a good job," he smiled and got grunts in return. Sakura had to admit that was exactly how she felt.
This was actually quite a fluffy chapter. Thanks for reading anyways!