- Chapter 05 -

Explanations and Explosions

The girl opened her eyes and stopped in mid-way, starting to realize what was going on. She had felt a small push to her side but had ignored it completely, listening to her needs for more sleep. But when she felt that push again, she had no other choice but to start waking up. Her brown eyes looked around and through her slightly blurry vision she managed to recognize Itachi. 

What is Itachi-senpai doing in my room? Akira thought at first but as she looked around, she realized that this wasn't her room at all.

"Akira-kun. Wake up. We'll be late for school," Itachi's soft voice rang in her ears. The female sat up abruptly and started rubbing her eyes. She obviously hadn't understood what all this was about, giving her that baffling feeling about her surroundings.

"What. . . What's happening?" she asked bluntly, earning a raised eyebrow from the Uchiha.

But as soon as she woke up completely, she recognized Itachi's well-organized room, her shoes in a corner and the owner of the room sitting besides her with his school uniform on. 

"Wait - Is it morning yet?! And I slept in your room?" she asked with a trembling voice, unconsciously clenching the sheets and realizing one more thing. "And I slept on your bed?"

The weasel simply nodded in response and motioned to his partner to keep her voice low so he wouldn't be in peril from the other inhabitants of the house. Akira nodded calmly but shot up from her position, trying to rearrange her stuff for school. Luckily, her classes were almost the same as yesterday so she wouldn't have to worry about failing and being accused with misbehavior in her new school. Itachi just watched the anxious shortie struggling to get ready for school as fast as possible. He was actually surprised by how concerned Akira was for school since the majority of his classmates merely cared whether they were going to get expelled. 

After the ginger head had packed her things, she rushed out of the door and called for Itachi to come and hurry up. Itachi just smiled slightly and followed after his short partner.

Akira waited impatiently for the Uchiha to lock the door behind him but before he did, the girl could swear that she saw a mop of bright orange hair disappearing behind the staircase. Without having any time to analyze it, she grabbed Itachi's sleeve and began dragging him with her but soon she had to let him go since he could easily keep up with her pace. Akira checked anxiously her clock and noticed with horror that classes were about to start at any minute.

"Damn, damn, damn," she kept repeating cussing words under her breath while watching the school coming in her sight. Despite her being exhausted and just have awoken, she increased speed and received some weird looks from the still sleepy passengers.

Itachi, for the first time since they had left the house, decided to speak up, "Say, Akira-kun, why in such a hurry?"

Akira sighed. "I just want to get good marks, not another detention," she explained truthfully and yelled happily when the school building appeared right in front of them.

Itachi almost laughed at her reaction but reluctantly followed her in since they had History in their first period. The girl rushed quickly inside as soon as the bell rang and started shoving some students aside while mumbling several apologies to them. The raven head was following her quietly but before he could warn her, she almost fell on top of a student, more correctly dragged him on the floor with her.

Akira stood in an uncomfortable position but immediately shot up, her cheeks flashing red from embarrassment. "I'm so sorry! Oh gosh, I didn't mean to make you fall down!" She helped the figure stand up but kept her head down, feeling ashamed.

"It is okay, I didn't get hurt," a deep voice stated bluntly, making the girl's eyes widen in surprise.

That voice. . . Could it be. . . she thought in surprise, adjusting her gaze and observing the male in front of her. Same school uniform, taller, red spiky hair and that . . . That kanji symbol above his left eye he had decided to keep permanently. Her heart sank as she fully recognized the boy in front of her.

"Akira?!"

"Gaara. . ." she breathed out and felt lightheaded as soon as she had to face reality.

Gaara Sabaku, he was attending the same school as her even though it was impossible for her to be there.

His green eyes widened momentarily when he caught sight of her. His thoughts were all over the place - her presence in this school, her sudden departure from Konoha High, not contacting him for a long time . . . Everything was making sense now. Yet, he wanted to hear from her why all of this was happening. For which reason, it was truly mysterious.

"Care explain what in the world is happening?" Gaara asked as calmly as possible and kept his intense stare on her tiny figure.

The girl was shaking all this time. She was truly scared about the upcoming outburst she thought Gaara would have. His calm tone was surely more dangerous and scary than when he was yelling (which had happened only once) and she gulped in fear. What was she going to tell him? But before that, she would have to make sure than no one else was listening to them.

"Itachi-senpai, go ahead. I will come in a bit," she turned to her senpai and the Uchiha glanced indifferently at Gaara before leaving without any sound.

Only Akira and Gaara were standing in the empty hallway, silence filling the place completely. When the girl decided to look at her childhood friend, she saw the glimpse of anger in them. A pang of guilt made her heart ache but she just grabbed his hand and pulled him outside the building. He followed her without protesting and none of them dared to say anything more. The only thing that was left to do was to clear up the whole situation.

When they finally arrived at the front yard, the boy snapped his wrist off her hold and glared at her, "Talk."

"Gaara, I- " Akira started mumbling and fidgeted nervously with her finger. "I'm not who you think I am, right now. I have completely changed- a part of my personality, my dress-up, my way of talking . . . Everything. Sorry ab-"

"Why?" Gaara cut her off suddenly, folding his arms in front of his chest. Clearly and harshly; he really wanted to learn what the heck was happening.

The girl sighed and rubbed her arm. Shall I tell him? "I. . . I-I'm afraid I can't tell you. But it is all happening because I want to protect you a-and I just. . . My father-"

She was cut off by him walking away. Akira shot up and tried to grab his arm but he skillfully snatched it away and looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Just one time. Can't you tell me the truth? Can you stop throwing shit and tell me the damn truth?!"

"But I am!"

"Go and--" Gaara cut himself off before he would say something offensive. He pushed his lips into a thin line and clenched his fists to his side. Akira was truly scared and she backed off, tugging on her shirt anxiously.

The red head glared at her, "Yeah, back off. Just leave me alone"

He proceeded walking back in the school building and leaving her alone. When the girl snapped out of her daze, she ran behind him and stopped him right before he was ready to enter his class. She was desperate. She didn't even know what she was doing. Everything was spinning around, leaving her speechless and defenseless. How much she wanted this to be a dream right now. How much she wanted to escape everything, everyone.

Gaara grabbed her hand and shoved it violently back to her. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because. . . Because you are my best friend," she whispered the last part, letting her arm fall to the side. 

Her wrist was in pain because of Gaara's hold on it but it couldn't be compared to the pain she was feeling on the inside. It was roaming in her body, pumping every single part of it, eating her from the inside and trying to be set free.

When he heard those words escaping her mouth, he tightened his grip against her wrist and pushed her forward, shoving her against the wall with her hand trapped above her. "Then, tell me the truth."

"Why are you acting so violently towards me?" Akira asked, staring at him with her fierce brown eyes. "Is this how you behave to your friends? I thought that friends weren't trying to hurt each other."

Anger and frustration was building up inside her. She wanted to explain calmly to him how the situation had; yet she was acting like the exact opposite.

"Tell . . .me."

"My father forced me to do this. I have nothing to do with that fucking situation! All I want is to protect you and not screw up! That's the shitty truth! Wanna hear more?!"

Before they could argue further, the door of Gaara's class opened and the teacher gave them a look of amusement. 

"Mr Sabaku, class has already started. Come in, now," the adult warned him but the student kept his piercing glare on his childhood friend.

He lowered down his head so she could only hear him, "Bullshit." 

And with that, he set her free and walked in his class, leaving a speechless teacher on the door. The professor looked at the other student who was holding her wrist and was gritting her teeth.

"Mister, can you go back to your-" but before he could persuade her to go back in class, Akira ran off from the corridor and slammed open the main doors. Then, she sprinted out of the school and disappeared from the point of view of the teacher who was scratching his head in utter confusion.

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The final bell rang and a massive yell of joy was heard from all the students. Deidara just slammed his fist on his desk and grabbed his bag, slumping it over his shoulder. 

His day in school was hellish- he had to attend the detention room with Ibiki-sensei because he had blown up the Art room. But I swear, it was a mistake! My hand just slipped, yeah! the blonde thought in annoyance and groaned as he followed the mazes of students which were leading out of the school. 

However, he had been wondering about the absence of Akira this day. Fukui-kun seems like an independent person and he would never miss a day . . . Maybe I was wrong, un?

"Oi! Itachi!" he yelled at the Uchiha who happened to pass by. 

Itachi just stopped on his tracks and looked at his comrade. Deidara neared closer to him and stood in front of the weasel.

 "Where is Fukui-kun, un? Leader-sama informed me that he saw you and someone else leave the house this morning. And since Kisame was with me, tha only person would be Akira. So where is he?"

"I don't know," Itachi replied truthfully at his demand and continued his way back to his house.

The bomber scratched the back of his head and shrugged; he assumed that maybe the newbie had felt sick and had returned back to her house. Deidara started walking back to his house, or more like Leader-sama's house. 

Itachi's father had introduced him to Itachi years ago after his parents' death. The young Uchiha and the bomber were always rivals yet they both joined Akatsuki for their own personal reasons. Deidara just wanted to be somewhere, to have something he could call 'home' and 'family'. The organization was everything he had now and even if he didn't show it, he considered them as a true family.

"What the hell . . . Stop having these thoughts, un," he scolded himself and intertwined his fingers behind his head, leaving his bag hanging from his shoulder. 

As he was passing quietly over the bridge, he heard a weird sound. It sounded like something splashing in the water under him. He stayed quiet for a few minutes and carried on his way when he heard nothing but there went again this sound. Curious, he got off the bridge and went under it where you could easily get wet if you weren't being careful. As his blue eyes trailed all over the place, he noticed a figure sitting against the cold wall of the bridge.

The figure was really tiny, closed itself in a small ball and had its hands propped on its knees. A mop of light brown hair could be seen along with a ponytail and the school uniform of Shinobi Academy was worn by the person. Sniffles were heard from it as well as screeching sounds. The only person he was familiar with and had this appearance was . . .

"Fukui-kun?" Deidara walked quickly to her side while she tried to wipe clean her eyes and make them look less puffy and red.

Akira shook slightly and looked up at Deidara with her red eyes, trying to force a smile up to her lips, "Hey, Deidara-kun. What brings you here?"

"Why are you crying, un?"

"Who. . . Who's crying? Huh."

"Tch. You're a terrible liar, hm," the blonde pinpointed and sat by her side, his eyes glued on the opposite side of the bridge. The ginger just stayed quiet and tightened her grip around her feet, feeling new tears whelming up to her eyes.

Deidara noticed that she was in the verge of tears but didn't say or do anything - he really didn't know how to act in those kind of situations. The girl started crying again and that time she buried her face in her knees so her friend wouldn't watch her sobbing. 

"I want to die and be reincarnated as a different person. . ." she mumbled after a while, catching the bomber's attention.

He just scratched the back of his head and looked at her, "Did your girlfriend dumb you?"

"Idiot. No."

"Then, I don't see any reason why you would be sitting here, crying like a baby," he exclaimed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, wanting to make a point.

Akira just shook her head. "I. . . I just made a terrible mistake. I feel awful and- You can leave, you know. You don't have to sit besides me and hear my sob-story."

Deidara didn't reply. His only movement was when he shoved his hand in his pocket and took out something small and white. He extended his hand towards the girl and she caught sight of the small creation which was resting on his palm. A small clay bird with some black stripes drawn on it was offered to her but she looked at it like it was an alien. The blonde just rolled his eyes at her and brought forward his hand, throwing the bird away from them. While it was ready to fall in the water, the bird exploded with a small 'bang!'.

Akira twitched in her place from the surprise. Even if the explosion was as small as possible, it sure scared her. Yet, she was intrigued to find more about those clay birds and their purpose. "What are those?"

Deidara smirked and took out one more of those clay birds, showing it off proudly. "Bombs, of course! Those are some clay creations of mine which are used as bombs! Because art is a bang!" And with that, he threw another bird which exploded too after some seconds.

The rest of their afternoon passed with them throwing clay birds around and scaring the passengers with their explosions. Deidara was glad that he had made her smile, even a little, but the thing he didn't know was that the pain in her heart was yet not repaired.

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Edited by me - 28-08-2018

Dedicated to vigaro_27 because. . . Well. . . much wow. Thanks for commenting and voting. You cheered me up and made that AkiDei smell being spread in the newest chapter T^T