Chapter 21!: Companions!

Yuki

I woke up to see Deidara towering over me, giving me a big grin.

'Happy birthday.' He murmured.

'Oh, no!' I exclaimed, and turned around, pushing my pillow over my face.

'Look.' He said, and sat next to me. 'I got you something.' I life my head up and squint my eyes at him.

'If you've spent over fifty yen.' I hiss. 'Then I will hate you for life.' He fell silent. 'Don't say you...'

'Well... Not on this bit, un.' He murmurs, and hands me a box. I sit up and almost cry. I could swear he knew I hated presents on my birthday. I carefully prise the lid off the box, and pull out the contents. I couldn't help but admire the dress that was shaded from lilac to dark purple that I held in front of me.

'D- Dei...' I whisper.

'Maybe it was a tiny bit over fifty...' He admits, and I look up at him, then swing my arms around his neck.

'Dei! I love it!' I exclaim, practically crying into his shoulder. 'Thank you!' He smiles, and hugs me back.

'You're most welcome, love.' I pull my head away from his shoulder, then kiss him.

'Man.' He murmurs as I pull away. 'You're not meant to be crying on your birthday, un.' I point at my face.

'Happy tears.' I smile lightly, and he grins at me, brushing the "happy tears" away.

'As happy as they are,' he murmurs. 'Go and get ready. I can help you with your hair and makeup if you want.' I look at him wide eyed.

'My hair?' He nods.

'Like if you want it your normal spiky, or down.' He runs his hands through my hair which is currently down, as I hadn't styled it. 'As for your makeup...' He examines my face, then grins when I give him a scared look. 'Hey, love? I'm an artist.'

'But are you qualified for being a makeup artist?' a pause.

'...No...' He kisses my nose. 'But I'm sure I'll manage.'

'Not convinced.' I walk to the bathroom, taking the dress with me. 'You can do my hair while I do the makeup.' He paused.

'Fair enough.' He grins again. 'And you're gonna wear that, un?' I nod.

'I'm not gonna keep it in its box for the rest of eternity.' I smile and he chuckles.

'Good. I bought it especially for today.' I smile at him again, and walk into the bathroom.

After a few minutes, I walk out and He gawks at me.

'Man...' He says, looking me up and down. 'I'm good at picking dresses.' I give him a worried look while he walks towards me.

'Don't say that.' I say, as he puts his arms around my waist. 'Or I'll come home to find you in one of my dresses.' He chuckles and kisses me again, then with his eyes closed, he murmurs against my lips;

'Or maybe I'd come home to you in one of my dresses.'

'You're so strange.' I say softly, and he jabs my side and I make a high-pitched squeaky noise. 'oh shizz! I exclaim, and hit his shoulder. He laughs uncontrollably and I glare at him through squinted eyes.

'You are such a jerk.'

'Nah. You love me.' He said through giggles. I glared at him some more, then pushed him onto the bed.

'I guess that's one way to put it.' I say, and sit in front of a mirror scowling at myself. In my reflection, I see Deidara's head peek up from behind my shoulder, then he snakes his arms slowly around my waist. 'Freak.' I mutter and he giggles like a child.

'You need to grow down.' He murmurs, and twists a bit my hair with his finger.

'And you need to grow up. Way up.' He looks at the clock.

'Look, it's eleven. Party's at twelve, un.' He murmurs. I scowl at my reflection again.

'Okay, fine... But don't mess my face up.' He grins triumphantly, and runs to the bathroom, then comes back out with my makeup bag.

'I'm surprised you know where that is...' I say slowly and he slows his walk to a halt and gives me an embarrassed, cheesy grin.

'I'm just awesome like that...' He says, continuing walking, and sitting beside me. 'And I've also planned this out.'

'Wow.' I murmur, as he takes out a purple liquid eyeliner container. 'I'm surprised how well you plan ahead.' I hear him chuckle, then he murmurs.

'Close your eyes; otherwise you may have a brush in them.' I give him a sarcastic look, and then obey him. After a few moments, I hear him rummage through my bag again, and pull something out, which, I gathered, was an eyeliner pencil. About half an hour passes, and I can hear my dad moving around in the front room.

'There.' Deidara murmurs, and I hear him move away. 'You can open your eyes now, un.' I open my eyes and look at him. He gives me a big smile.

'You look stunning, love.' I blink at him, then turn to look at my reflection. My eyes widen, and I look over the black and purple haze over my eyes, and making my eyes stand out. I look back at him and he's smiling.

'Do you... Do you like it?' I stare at him in amazement.

'Just do me one favour...' His face turns confused. 'Don't you even dare turn gay on me! It's marvellous!' I hug him, and he smiles.

'Glad you like it... Oh yeah.' He picks up a black headband with a small black bow on it. 'This'll make you look awesome.' He sides it in, and he smiles at me softly. 'Damn it girl, you look so darn... so... so beautiful!' I laugh a little and hug him again. He hugs me back. 'Also, I made sure the makeup was waterproof.' I smile.

'That's good... I think it'll need to be.' I say, and pull away from him.

'Oh god.' He said, looking down at his jeans. 'Now I have to look nice.'

'Hair...' I murmur, and he looks at me. 'Not my hair, yours.' I point at his hair and it's all scraggly. 'Is this a formal party?'

'Most likely.' He says, glancing out the window, and seeing Sasuke being fussed over by his mom about his tie. 'Good job I have a suit...' He walks to the bathroom, and I wait for him. He comes back in holding two ties.

'You scruff bucket.' I smile as he wiggles the ties around.

'Which?' He asks.

'I don't know...' I say.

'Well, you're the one who has to put up with me.' He says, and I grin.

'I guess so.' I examine them, then point at a navy blue one. 'That one. It goes with your eyes.'

'Awesome.' He slings the tie around his neck and freezes. 'Uh... Do you know...?' I laugh, and do his tie up. ''Thanks.'

'You're most welcome.' He grins at me, and slaps my back in a friendly way.

'We done?' He murmurs, and looks at the clock again. 'It's twelve.'

'Ah. Geez.' I say and then grin at him. 'Let's do this.' He nods, and we both walk out the door and through the hall.

'Ah!' He exclaims. 'Hang on.' He walks back, then emerges a few moments after.

'Don't worry.' He laughs. 'I had it with me.'

'What was that then?' I ask, a cheeky hint in my voice. 'Your sanity?'

'No, actually.' He says, then grins at me again. 'It was my dignity.' I laugh, and we walk into the front room, where my dad, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were stood. Sasuke looks at me and smiles.

'Happy birthday, Shimai.' I smile at him and thank him. Naruto gawks at me, and I turn my attention to him.

'Jeesh, Yuki.' He says and points at me. 'I knew you were pretty, but I didn't know you were that pretty.' I blush.

'Uh, thanks...?' He grins at me.

When the clock said half twelve, everyone was at my house. Well, not everyone. It's a long list but let me see... There's Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Pain, Zetsu (Pain told me they had to feed him before they got here.), Toshiko, Konan, Kisame, Hidan (Yes, I saw Deidara giving him glares... Sheesh.), Kakuzu, Gaara, Temari (Despite her hating my guts.) and Kankuro.

There were long hours of talking, people wishing my a good birthday, and even Temari showed a little respect. But I think Gaara talked to her before she got here. After a few moments, I decide to take a breather, and stand outside on the deck. I hadn't realised how late it had gotten. The sun was starting to set, and I noticed I was starting to get sleepy. I heard footsteps, and turned my head, to see Deidara walking towards me, but he wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the floor. I also noticed my father was watching him.

'Hey...' Murmur as he stands next to me.

'Hi...' He says, and takes hold of my hand.

'Gee...' I say softly, looking up at the newly appeared moon. 'Hasn't it gone quickly?' He nods, and I look at him. 'Are you okay?' I ask, and he looks up at me, and smiles.

'Yeah, I'm fine, un.' Despite his words, I can see he wants to say something, but his eyes are looking far away.

'Ah, good.' I say, continuing as if I hadn't noticed. 'You just look a little pale.'

'It must be the moonlight.' He murmurs and I nod. After a few moments, he comes clean. 'My love?'

'Yes?'

'I need to ask you something, un.' He says, and I look at him blankly.

'Ask me anything.'

'Okay, but don't like, freak out or anything.' He says, and puts his hands in his pockets.

'I won't, I promise.' He smiles, taking his hands out of his pockets, and grabbing hold of mine.

'Do you know how long we've been together for now, un?' He asks, and I barely even need to think.

'Of course I do.' I smile. 'Five years and three quarters.' He nods. 'Why? Did you think I had forgotten?' He smiles.

'Not exactly.' I notice his voice is soft, as if he doesn't want to make me panic. 'But anyway. The thing I wanted to ask, un.' Whoa, wait, that wasn't it? Now I'm lost. Completely.

'Could you... uh...' He says, and I see his cheeks darken, even in the dim moonlight. 'I mean... What...' He sighs, and rubs his forehead with the back of one of his hands. 'Okay, what I'm trying to say is, un... Would you... Will... Will you marry me?' I suddenly felt my cheeks darken, and my eyes widen. I also felt slightly stupefied. I look down at my hands where his slid off, and left a beautiful ring left in my palms.

'D- Deidara-kun...' I whisper, and look up at him. He gives me a shy smile, and I sling my arms around his neck and hug him tightly. 'Damn it, Deidara! Of course I will!' He laughs, and kisses me and I kiss him back. I had never been so happy in my life before. Despite all the near-death experiences, the fact we had a huge argument, and the stupid way we had arguments in the Akatsuki. It turns out like this. Seven or eight years later from where we met. Five of them he was unconscious. And never before had we wanted to stay by each other's sides. The best part now, was that we were one, and we belonged to each other.

When he pulled away, he smiled at me and I looked at him with nothing but love and happiness. He looks down at my hands which have the ring in, and he takes the ring, then slides it onto my finger.

A tear slips down my cheek, and I see he already beat me to it.

'Deidara-kun.' I whisper, and hug him again.

Later on that night, I was sat on my bed after everyone had gone home. My father came in and smiled at me.

'You saw, didn't you?' I asked, and he nodded.

'I got you a birthday present.' I rolled my eyes.

'Dad, I said no-'

'No, look.' He handed me a slip of paper, and I opened it. The image of a house was on it.

'D- Dad?' I said, and looked up at him. He smiles.

'Fits in with the whole engagement, doesn't it?'

'Did you... How did you know about it?'

'Deidara came to me for permission.' He said, and sat next to me. 'I knew the bond between you two, and how hard it is to break, so of course, I agreed. I would have agreed anyway, of course. But for you have someone you've known for so long...' He looked down, and I saw the pain in his eyes.

'Dad, I don't want to leave you alone.' I said, and hugged him.

'Ah. An old dog like me can cope.' He said, trying to reassure me, but I could tell he was hiding the sadness. 'You just go out there and live your life.' I smile at him and kiss his cheek.

'Daddy, sometimes you're too nice.' He smiled at me and hugs me. Deidara walked into the room and smiled.

'I'll leave you guys alone to talk about it.' I nod, and he gets up and leaves. Deidara pads over and sits next to me.

'What's that?' He asks, and hands me a mug of tea.

'Thanks.' I murmur. 'My dad bought us a house.'

'Seriously?' He says, and I hand him the slip of paper. 'Gee... This didn't come cheap.'

'I know...' I murmur. 'I'm worried about leaving him alone, too.'

'Hmm, same...' He yawns. 'I'm so damn tired.' I nod, and put my empty cup on the bedside table.

'Me too...' I stood up and walked to the other side of the bed, and slipped my dress off over my head. I catch Deidara staring at me.

'What?' I ask, and he looks away, blushing.

'Nothing.' I then realise that I'm stood in front of him in nothing but my underwear. I grin to myself, and he looks back at me.

'Why are you stood there mostly naked?' He murmurs, and crawls over the bed towards me.

'Cuz I haven't gotten in my pj's yet.'

'Ah.' He acknowledges, and sits down. I look at him suspiciously.

'I know what's going though your head.' I say softly, and he blushes, even though he wasn't looking at me. I snake my arms around his neck and push him backwards so I was lying on him. He kisses me softly, then I rub my nose against his.

'Well, you win.'

'Win what?' He asks, rubbing my lower back.

'Like I said. I knew what you were thinking.' I murmur and kiss him again. He smiles at me.

'Psychic.' He murmurs, and rolled over so he was on me.

'Noo.' I say, and put my hands in his hair. 'I'm being squished by a fat Blondie!'

'Bitch.' He mutters, and slides his tongue into my mouth. I pull him into me, and I feel him smile. 'I love you, Yuki-Chan.' He murmurs against my lips after a few moments.

'Dei-kun... I love you too...' I whisper, and he looks at me, his eyes hazy and far away. He smiles down at me, his hair like a wall between us and the outside world. We both turn to look out the window, and fireworks are exploding in the distance. Deidara rolls over, and crosses his legs, then snakes his arms around my waist, pulling me into his lap. We both sat in silence watching the sky change from a smooth blue to an ambient green. When the sky faded back to a dark an ominous black, Deidara laid backwards and rubbed his eyes.

'Tired?' I asked, turning and lying on his stomach. He smiled at me and ruffled my hair.

'A little.' I put my head in the crook of his neck. 'Not enough, though.' I look up at him and he smiles again.

'I did say I knew what you were thinking...' I murmured, and stood on my hands and knees so I towered above him. He chuckled, and put his hand on my cheek.

'Indeed.' I smiled down at him, knowing that in both of our heads, was a better, mor fulfilled future. And man was I right.