21
"I said, get the fck out!" Aline said pushing Itachi aside. He stepped away and spoke to the closet.
"Will you ever clean up after your own mess?"
Deidara stepped outside the closet as Itachi made his way towards him. Aline stood up between them and pushed him further away slightly alarmed.
"He's here, now leave us the fck alone"
Itachi looked from him to her, a smug plastered on his face, making his way to the door. Tobi walked right into him, arms full of bandages.
"DEIDARA-SEMPAI!"
He screeched throwing away all of the former things he had been carrying.
"You have to be kidding me"
A now clearly upset Aline stood up and stormed out of the room, leaving behind the three Akatsuki members.
She laid down under a tree waiting for her body to generate enough chakra to heal back. Honestly, she had been expecting Deidara to follow her, but as she got back to the headquarters a couple of hours later she found out he had set off on a mission with Sasori.
"He never even said goodbye" she thought bitterly to herself, completely unaware of being talking out loud.
"Can't stop thinking about him, can you?"
She turned around, to face the owner of such emotionless voice.
"Oh, I see you're still here. Don't you have better things to do like, go after your little brother or something?"
Her last words were cut off by a sharp kunai on her throat.
"So it's going to be like this, huh?" she asked, slightly caught off guard and though she wouldn't ever admit it, suddenly afraid of Itachi.
He seemed as alarmed as Aline by his actions and removed the kunai from her throat, however he didn't step back. A long hand reached out for her face and cupped her it ever so gently she was again taken aback again.
His mouth opened, as if to speak but no word ever came out, he leaned into her meeting an afraid gaze, and as soon as she blinked he was out.
She remained silent for a few seconds, trying to process what just had happened, her left hand touched the place where Itachi's hand had been.
"What the fck is wrong with him?!"
"Wrong with who?"
At least, a friendly voice.
"I don't know! Everyone? Itachi was being obnoxious as usual and well then he got… intense"
"What do you mean by intense?"
"Intense! You know kunais and death glares, I swear sometimes I feel like he's PMSing or something… and Deidara! Can you believe the bastard didn't even say goodbye?"
Konan sat on the couch and laid down, a sight escaping her lips.
"Yeah, Pein does it a lot as well…"
Well at least someone empathized, she thought bitterly to herself she needed a distraction… how long had it been since she last visit the village?
Something inside her seemed to break. Of course, she hadn't gone to the village ever since she'd seen Deidara and Otamu there.
She shied away from that memory, shaking her head furiously.
"Geez, are you ok?"
"Not really, I think I'm going mental actually… I need some air"
She found the trail to the village without conscious awareness and ran off without thinking, without noticing where she went until she found the place. The sun was setting in, and she was greeted by hundreds of little lights, people here and there, couples holding hands, families with little children running around, music, food.
"Is there a festival today? What day is it?" she thought while slowing down, trying not to crash onto anyone on this much too crowded space.
A glimpse of green caught her eyes. There was a woman running towards her, arms stretched wide open, a big smile on her face. So beautiful it made her heart sink, utterly self-conscious, her hair probably looked more like a mane than anything, her clothes were ragged and loose, when was the last time she had showered?
"I would kill for a shower" she thought grimacing while wondering whether or not to make a run for it, probably not, that would be most impolite, and she actually liked the girl, or at least thought she did… if she didn't happen to love the one man who she couldn't live without.
"Aline!"
"Run"
"Aline!"
"RUN!"
Otamu watched the play of emotions flashing on her face, her arms still wide open however the unfocused look on Aline's face made her take a step back.
"Eh… Aline?"
"Fck" "Hey!"
Was the enthusiasm in her voice too fake? She might as well try harder.
"Otamu! Hey! How are you!"
Otamu gave her a dazzling smile and embraced her tightly. She stood there, motionless an awkward, cussing inside for not running.
"I'm great! So what do you think? Do you like it?"
She turned around gesturing with her arms towards the decoration of the little town.
"You, you made this?
"Of course! I… I thought that's why you were here. Didn't you come for the festival?"
"Ehh"
It was then when Otamu looked at Aline more closely, taking in her messy hair, her dirty clothes, the slight blush on her face.
"Actually I just kinda ran into it"
"I see"
"What are we celebrating?"
"We celebrate art of course!"