Chapter Five- Dull Dusk
Konan looked blankly at the young boy, though her heart reached out to him. Abuse was never easy, and it led to extreme scarring of the young person's mind in most cases.
It certainly did in his case, poor kid….
She sighed, placing the boy back gently on the bed.
"Listen, Deidara-san, I understand your pain. I wish you never had to go through it, and I would have taken your place if I could have…" She paused, sighing gently. "But you're stronger than this. I barely know you, but I can tell. Deidara, you have too much potential to let it go to waste with worrying over your past. I'm here for you whenever you need to vent, talk, or anything. Don't let your fears hold you back." She smirked before adding. "And don't let that moody Sasori get you down. He'll come around sometime."
Deidara could only look up at her in awe for a moment. It took a lot to make him speechless, and she had just managed to do so.
After a moment more of his gawking, Deidara nodded politely.
"Thank you, Konan-sama."
He couldn't think up any other way to answer her, so he settled for a simple thank you.
Neither person understood what just happened. In a matter of a few words, Konan had formed a friendship with Deidara. She gained his trust, and gave him confidence.
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That confidence would grow on him, easing the nightmares, even if they could not take them completely away. Now when he was picked on by Black-eyes and Green-eyes, there was also Amber-eyes that came to save him.
He had figured out what everyone in his dreams represented. Black-eyes was his father, who had hated him ever after his mother died. Especially when he found out his problem. Green-eyes was his sensei, who had loved him and praised him. Until his problem was revealed, of course.
Brown-eyes was somehow Sasori. He didn't understand how the calm, almost gentle, Brown-eyes could ever have been the grouchy, short-tempered Sasori. But he didn't reject the idea. Changes happen. And Amber-eyes was of course Konan, both of them being loving and nurturing, sweet and gentle.
The dreams carried on, each seemingly happier and brighter than the next, with Amber-eyes and Brown-eyes showing up earlier.
Deidara almost felt as if life was becoming too easy. And indeed, yes, it was.
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Deidara's body healed quickly from the several wounds Sasori gave him. The scars only made him look that much tougher, and handsome in his own eyes.
He began to flourish in the Akatsuki, getting along with Kisame, who was his closest friend besides Konan. With both of them by his side, he felt stronger. The support of knowing that they were with him, supporting him, made his life easier- if only by a tiny bit.
Currently, it was his fifteenth birthday.
In all honesty, he looked much healthier, grown-up, muscular, and masculine than two years ago. His once near-anorexic appearance had given way to healthy, lean muscle, which rippled down his body, giving him quite the handsome build. Despite Konan's pleas to cut his hair, he kept it long. She had pranked him one time by pulling it into a pony-tail, but her plan to get him to cut it back-fired. He loved the style, and in fact, kept it completely. It became his "signature" style. He had grown over a foot and a half, now even two inches taller than Sasori, who seemed to despise that fact.
Deidara could only grin.
His relationship with Sasori.
Heh, now that's a subject, un.
He and Sasori shared a very, very unique relationship.
Deidara was the brat, as always. That fact would always remain. Sasori was the Danna, and it was his job to be a nagging, overbearing, temperamental brute. Deidara grinned every time he got under Sasori's skin. It gave him a sick satisfaction to know that he was one of the very few people that could irk his Danna. Sasori was indeed a typically stoic person. He hated emotions, and had fought to kill them off. Deidara never ceased to prove him wrong. With just a few words or a single action, the blonde could have the redhead angry, furious, annoyed, ticked off, frustrated, and on a single occasion before, even confused.
Sasori never ceased to beat him up afterwards, either.
Deidara could only grin. That's all he could do.
At one time, he hated life. He had wanted to die. Not that he loved life now, or cared if he died or not, he just could stand it for once, and actually somewhat enjoyed it. With his friends, Danna, and even his enemies, he felt more complete than he'd ever felt in Iwa.
And that was definitely good.
Some would say great, even.
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Deidara clenched and unclenched his fist. He was incredibly bored. All of this thinking, nothing that was the least bit of an action. It actually was quite annoying.
Where's a Danna when you need someone to annoy, yeah?
He inwardly smirked as he wandered out into the hall, then further into the main room of the hideout.
It was empty.
"Hmph. That's odd, yeah. I wonder where everyone could be, un…" Deidara mused aloud.
It was odd for none of the Akatsuki to be in the main room. Usually Kisame was sprawled out on one of the couches or Kakuzu was counting money in there. Sometimes even Itachi came out of hiding to sit there, and if Sasori was bored enough, this was the first place he would come.
They have to be somewhere around here, un.
Deidara was never directly informed of everything that they did. He was still considered only a subordinate, expendable, and not worthy risking a mission over. To some of them, at least.
Maybe they're in a meeting, un…
He had always wanted to be in one of their meetings. It seemed so official and exciting, his inner child was roused by the mystery of it all, and the curiosity was killing him by now.
He merely plopped down on the sofa, though. He couldn't just barge in the meeting room, especially if they were having a meeting. He'd probably be killed on sight. Or killed by Sasori shortly afterwards.
So he just waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Hours ticked by, and the plain clock on the wall had never irked the blonde more than it did currently.
He had been laying there for three hours! Surely, their meeting should be over.
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"You all should know the point of this meeting. Deidara-san has been with us two years. He is fully-healed, and nearly fully-grown. It is time to decide whether to accept him into our ranks, or dispose of him."
Konan watched as her Leader went on. She nodded, almost blandly, after he was finished speaking. She knew Deidara would be accepted. He had unique powers, and an extinct kekkei-genkai. He was strong, analytical, and very loyal. Leader was not fool enough to turn that down.
Sasori wanted to snort. The brat as his equal? Fat chance. The kid was inexperienced, and too cocky for his own good. Strong? Yes. Potentially valuable? Yes. But, a brat is a brat, and he was merely an expendable tool to them. He should remain as a subordinate, that was where he belonged.
Leader glanced around.
"The best way to solve this issue is to vote on it."
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*gets shot*
I am not dead (yet).
School is just EVIL. And I lost all inspiration for this fic, but I sucked it up, and got to writing.
Please tell me this was good enough… please?
REVIEW.
Goodness, I HAVE TO THANK AnonymousHZ. She sent me this essay as a review for two of my stories. Epic, just epic. :D
So, this is for you, Anonymous!
You guys have no idea how much I depend on reviews. So REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW.
*looks around* Ok, I'm done now.
