Bursting Red

“The mouse tried to kill Hidan, then?” His flaming orange hair twisted in the breeze that carried in from under the archway. Zetsu nodded and stared intently at the man.

“Not that he would have died anyway but she’s getting bolder.” His yellow eyes flickered to the outside sky, dreary and grey. He was making it rain again. “She aimed for his heart.” Pain turned around slowly and gave a flat look to his guest, a face void of any emotion, one that Zetsu knew was almost all he ever made.

“And he didn’t kill her?”

“Deidara came in and stopped the matter, Hidan would have if he had been a second faster.” The rain came down violently now. Those pawns that all called him ‘god’ looked up to the sky and screamed miracle. He was our savior, he was our rainmaker, he was our all seeing, invisible deity. They cried it out like they had nothing else to believe in. But Zetsu figured it best not to question his ideals, it wasn’t his place to do so. “Can we kill her?”

“No, I’ve specifically called for Deidara to be the one that kills her. As much as she has seen we can’t afford to let her live. I’ll be expecting an update on the matter soon.” Pain took a seat on the edge of the building’s archway, looking over the village with little expression. Then, as if he truly believed he were a god, he stopped the rain and the sky remained nothing more but a palette of grays. Zetsu slunk back through the walls then, trying hard not to smile at the absurd scene in front of him.

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The sky was the color of ash and when the wind picked up and brought the rain down with such a violent force my body trembled even harder than before. I was supposed to remain quiet while Deidara-kun and Itachi-san trained but the cold weather was tearing apart my bones from the inside out. “It stings,” I said suddenly, bringing my head up to stare pitifully in front of me. Deidara came to a halt, glaring at Itachi through his hair and breathing heavily.

“Well, what do you want me to about it, hm? I guess you could always go inside and spend some quality time with Hidan, yeah?” I knew he only spoke to me like that because he was tired and tired of being taken control of by Itachi-san.

“Nevermind.” I brought my eyes back down to the moist ground and smothered a shudder. I heard him sigh and he walked over to me as he unbuttoned his cloak. Grumbling bitterly, he tossed his cloak to me and stalked off, thrusting a hand inside his clay pouch. I glanced at the cloak and without a second thought slipped into the oversized thing. His smell overwhelmed it and greedily I buried my numb face into the fabric and inhaled. It was intoxicating and it quickly soothed my agitated mind. The whole reason I was outside was because of Hidan. Deidara didn’t want me being left alone and it wasn’t as if anyone was jumping to baby-sit me. So here I sat under a tree while the rain poured down silently watching Deidara train with Itachi. It was dangerous, sure, but he didn’t want me out of his sights. And he made plenty sure to toss his bombs away from me. Funny how Itachi had a habit of keeping his back to me, leaving Deidara to complain and yell constantly. He had the shortest temper I had ever seen. Just as I was getting more and more comfortable I heard a familiar voice that made my head perk up.

“Nezumi-chan! Nezumi-chan where are you?!” Tobi slid through the trees and turned his head to me, clapped his hands to his head and then proceeded to yell loudly. Deidara shuddered and turned around slowly, gritting his teeth and glaring daggers at Tobi. “No way! You’re an Akatsuki member before Tobi?!”

“Uh, well not exactly,” I laughed slightly just as Deidara managed to throw a small spider on the front of Tobi’s shirt, my eyes went wide and instinctively I shut my eyes waiting for the blast. He yelled even louder than before and tried to shake it off, begging loudly for Deidara to not detonate it. With a sharp laugh Deidara waved him off and sadly, the spiders tumbled from Tobi’s cloak like paper.

“Get out of here you pest! I haven’t got the time for this, hm.”

“But I’ve got news for you, something I think Deidara-san should know! It‘s about Nezumi-chan…” He said it almost sarcastically like if Deidara didn’t cooperate Tobi wouldn’t tell him. And that was Deidara’s last straw. In a second Deidara was in front of Tobi, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him against the tree. Despite my angry yells Deidara continued to glare and grind his teeth together. It was obvious Itachi was getting sick of the interruptions as this time he made his way forward with a bitter scowl on his precise face.

“Then spit it out before I make you spit it out, yeah?” Tobi held his hands up in defense and laughed nervously.

“Fine, fine, fine. It’s from Zetsu-san. He said to tell you that you’ve got a very important mission coming up, “ his finger pointed upwards and he nodded knowingly. Deidara let go and stepped back, his face twisting into one of flat out confusion.

“You said it had to do with Nezumi, hm. I don’t get it.” He quirked an eyebrow cutely and this only made Tobi click his tongue in disapproval.

“Tobi was getting there. Now let’s see, ah right! It’s your mission to kill Nezumi-chan soon,” he turned his head towards me and raised his hands in an ‘I don’t know what to do’, type movement. “I don’t think the Leader likes you too much, sorry.” Deidara stared for a second at the masked man before opening his mouth in confusion. He took with his second option and instead charged Tobi. “Ay! Don’t shoot the messenger!” Normally, I would have told Deidara to stop but instead this time I merely sat against the tree with my eyes glued to a small ant moving a much too big leaf. It was fascinating at the moment and I simply couldn’t tear my eyes away.

“Well you can tell him to-” Itachi stood tall and everything seemed much more in sync when he spoke. All knowing Uchiha of the world, his voice made me feel inferior in more ways than one.

“Deidara, orders are orders. I will make sure he carries out his orders by the end of the week Tobi. Relay this message to Zetsu if you would.” Tobi bowed deeply and ran off, more than happy to escape the wrath of Deidara. The blonde shinobi stood still, eyes glued to the ground in the same manner mine were before he managed the courage to glance at me. “I think we’ve had enough sparring today, let’s get inside.”

“So you’re going to watch me kill her then are you? You bastard, I knew you were good for nothing, hm.” Itachi merely stared as Deidara fumed towards the ground. He gave a small smirk and took his steps toward the entrance way, leaving Deidara and I alone in the forest. “They won’t touch you Nezumi. I already promised that, yeah?”

“Yes, I know you did. And I trust you, as reckless as that sounds. How is this going to work Deidara-kun, we can’t fake a death when we have everyone watching can we?” I replied, tearing my eyes away so I could probe his angry blue ones.

“All we can do is try. I promised I’d get you back home so don’t have so little faith in me, hm. You’re predictable.” He stepped over to me and held out his hand. I took in generously and stood tall next to him.

“You’re one to talk.” And with a death sentence hanging over my head we took out time getting back into the base. Upon entering all head turned towards us and I could only assume everyone already knew the plan.

“Won’t be staying with us much longer will you then?” Hidan spoke up through the quiet. I did my best to tune him out but his persistence was slipping trough the edges. “It’s probably for the best you know,” he breathed out and flickered his eyes up in amusement. “Although it is a real shame I couldn’t be the one to do it.”

“Enough Hidan, you’re getting annoying again.” Sasori scowled and then cast his heavy lidded eyes towards us. There wasn’t a hint of amusement there, nothing. If anything it was the same blank face he always wore around. “Think of the bright side, at least this way there’s one less mouth to talk from. Maybe this place will return to the way it was before you two arrived.”

“This isn’t a joke.” I replied softly, earning reproachful glances from the other members. My face flushed a small bit when I realized I was still wearing Deidara’s Akatsuki cloak. Sasori turned his face to stare at me directly before delivering a bone chilling grin.

“Who said I was joking, onna?” Several people laughed and I was left standing there feeling ridiculed. It was enough to be surrounded by people like this but to have them speak so lightly of my impending death seemed a little out of order even for these rank of people. Was Deidara really the only one left with a heart? Yet, even that sometimes appeared to be slipping away. Deidara muttered from next to me about how he couldn’t stand this conversation and he stalked off back through kitchen, I followed hastily trying to keep my eyes down. I couldn’t help but notice how Hidan glinted the light off his scythe right when I walked by. When we entered the kitchen I sighed and rest against the counter, closing my eyes and keeping my emotions tucked away rightly.

“Tomorrow then, I think we should act tomorrow. If we wait any longer they’re bound to get suspicious.” Deidara turned towards me with a question on his face and when he finally caught on his eyes dropped to the floor.

“Tomorrow is awfully soon, un. Can’t it wait? Itachi did say till the end of the week.”

“I’m afraid…I won’t make it to the end of the week Deidara-kun. Someone else might really get me first.” When I caught sight of his face I quickly considered my other options. Coming up empty handed. “Do you love me?” I asked suddenly, earning a frown in response.

“What’s this? I say it once and you need to hear it every day, hm.” He turned his head to the side and decided to bury his face in an open cabinet. “You know I love you Nezumi.”

“Right, well, if you love me you’ll be able to do what’s right for me. Isn’t that so?” Or at least that’s always what Kaa-san would tell me. Deidara halted and turned towards me, dropping his hands to his side. “Please.” Every step he took sounded miles away as he walked towards me, he didn’t stop until my forehead was against the cold metal of his shinobi headband. His hands were placed firmly on my shoulder and he opened his eyes to stare at me.

“Nezumi, I…can’t. I can’t let you go just yet.” His hands clenched by my jaw and he took a sharp intake of breath. Suddenly, his voice got shaky and I realized the emotion of it all was getting the better of him. “I don’t have what it takes to let you leave.” He tilted his head and looked up at me with a small shy smile. “Don’t you get it, hm. You’re mine. You can’t leave me, you promised, yeah?” What could I say back. Quite frankly this behavior was more frightening than when he was angry. It was completely manic and possessive I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I told him no. The end of the world, that was it. I picked my hand up and ran the tips of my fingers along his jaw line. “Don’t you want to stay with me Nezumi-kun?” Suddenly I sensed another presence and either he didn’t care enough to detect it or his emotions were slung to high to be careful with his words. I leaned forward, aware that whoever was peaking could probably hear me. Slower, I slunk over by Deidara’s shoulder until my mouth was close to his ear and as quietly as I could I closed my eyes and breathed, ignoring the tremble of his hands by my own thin neck. It was all I could say to make this believable.

“I want you to kill me Deidara. Only, ever you.”