The Witching Hour

- Chapter One -

Something wicked(ly annoying) this way comes

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Sasori often traveled into the forest when he was feeling a little art-blocked. Something about the expanse of nature and the animals calmed his mind. All the greens and vibrant colors were such a stark contrast to the desert he was raised in - an alien environment that felt oddly comforting. Sketching out the plants and foilage numbed his mind and let him settle into calm routine as he relaxed.

Plus, the quietness of the forest (with the exception of animal chatter and leaves rustling in the wind) was a welcomed relief to the either deafening silence of the house or Deidara's "muse inspiring" music blasting obnoxiously loud.

He found a nice shady spot under the branches of a tree, leaning back against the trunk as he tapped the end of his pencil to his sketchbook. Eyes falling on a cluster of flowers a few feet away, he lazily began sketching, glancing from the plants to the paper and back. Inwardly, Sasori wished be had brought something for coloring - the flowers were a pretty shade of purple that faded to pink, basking in a beam of sunlight from a break in the canopy overhead. Content to just sketch and let his mind go blank, he relaxed against the trunk as he mapped out the path of the subtle veins in a leaf.

"Ooh, that looks really good." Came a voice, some twenty minutes into his sketching.

Sasori gave a slight nod, erasing a stray mark as he mumbled a, "Thanks."

It took him a moment to realize that someone had spoken.

Sitting up, he quickly looked around with narrowed eyes and a tight frown. There weren't any other cabins nearby and town was a half hour drive away. Who the hell was out here? Glaring into the trees, he stood and tucked his sketchbook under his arm.

"Who's there?" He called, unable to spot anyone hiding in the underbrush. "Show yourself!"

There was a small rustling overhead and he jumped forward, spinning around and glancing up before giving an annoyed huff. Just a bird.

Sasori squinted, staring curiously at the oddly colored bird standing on a branch above him. It looked like a canary but was startlingly pink, a stark contrast to the usual yellow. Pastel pink and presumably far from home (obviously a pet considering how curiously it was watching him and how at ease it seemed). Weird bird.

He couldn't help voicing this thought, one hand resting on his hip as he stared up at the canary. "Odd bird. Never seen a coloring like that..."

Sasori felt a little perturbed when he realized the bird looked oddly insulted.

It's chest feathers puffed up and it gave a warning tweet before-

"Odd? Excuse me? And stop staring at me like that!"

He would have spun around to look for the speaker if he hadn't been watching the bird as it spoke.

Same voice as before.

Sasori gaped up at the bird for a few moments, trying to process what had just happened. This was some sort of prank, wasn't it? Deidara was fucking with him and the bird must be some sort of robot and this couldn't be real, could it?

The canary gave an indignant huff and jumped to side to side on the branch, opening its tiny beak. "Would you quit staring at me like that? This is embarrassing enough."

The redhead looked away simply to clench his eyes shut and count to five, rubbing his forehead. Maybe he was hallucinating. And hearing things. When he looked back, the bird was gone and he gave a tiny sigh of relief, slumping against a tree trunk.

A soft rustling to his left indicated movement and Sasori glanced over to a near bush just in time to see the pink, talking canary land delicately in the foilage.

"Look, I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know where I am. You wouldn't happen to have a book with a transfiguration reversal spell in your lair, would you?"

Sasori stared at the bird for a full thirty seconds, head swimming with questions and unfinished thoughts.

"You... spoke. You're speaking."

The canary gave an annoyed huff again and jumped onto a tiny branch closer to him, chirping again.

"Yes, spoke. Am speaking. This can't be the first time you've encountered a talking animal - I mean, I'm not one but.."

This was becoming more and more surreal by the moment.

"I've never... This can't be real." He groaned and rubbed his forehead again, running his fingers through his bangs.

It seems to frown at him for a moment before fluttering it's wings in realization. "Oh! You're not-? But I can feel your... Ah, shit, this is even more embarrassing."

Taking a breath, Sasori glancing up at the bird again. Still there. Still talking. Shaking his head, he gives a strained laugh.

"This is some kind of joke, isn't it? Deidara is around here somewhere with a little remote control and a recorder, isn't he?" He turns around, glaring into the forest and taking a few steps away from the bird before pacing back to it and away again, calling into the trees as he throws a hand up in exasperation.

"Very funny, Deidara! I don't have time for this."

The canary watched him nervously as he moved around, tweeting in surprise as he begins to leave. It takes flight, following after him.

"W-wait! Where are you going?"

Sasori ignored the fake bird and it's fake voice and made his way home, intent on asking his roommate just where he got this - admittedly amazing - robot from. A quick glance behind him revealed that the bird was no where to be found. Maybe it had been some sort of hallucination. That was the last time he pulled an all-nighter, three days in a row.

By the time he made it home, Sasori had stubbornly played the whole thing off as some weird day dream and decided to just take a 12 hour nap. He stepped through the backdoor of the house, kicking off his shoes and locking the door behind him before making his way inside.

Deidara was in the kitchen, playing with a bowl of mixed berries as he sat at the table. He glanced up at Sasori as he stumbled in, offering a questioning smile.

"You look kind off, man. See some freaky shit in the woods, hm?"

Sasori shoots the blond a half-hearted glare, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. His reply was cut off by a sharp tap and he glanced towards the window, nearly stumbling backwards in surprise.

It was the bird. Pecking at the window.

Deidara shot him a look, eyebrow quirked as he glanced from man to bird.

Numbly, Sasori reached towards the latch and opened the window, staring as the bird hopped onto the kitchen counter. Deidara continued to watch curiously, fruit forgotten as he rested his chin in his hand.

"Made a friend out in the woods..?"

Sasori ignored him, lips pursed tight together as the bird glanced around the room, hopping from side to side on the counter before it's gaze focused on Deidara. It seemed to perk up, darting over to the table and peering curiously up at him.

"Ooh. So thats why I felt so much magical residue coming off of him!"

Deidara jerked back, eyes wide as he stared down at the canary, which seemed oddly pleased with him. He glanced quickly up at Sasori, who was rubbing his forehead.

"You hear it too?" The redhead mumbled, slumping against the refrigerator.

"Uh..."

The bird looked between the two of them, feathers puffing up. Deidara seemed a little conflicted, trying to find something to say and, unfortunately, the bird continued speaking.

"Sorry about bursting in all of a sudden, but I really need some help and I can't believe my luck in finding a witch all the way out here. I-"

It was cut off by a sudden surprised cough from Sasori, who was staring with an increasingly shocked look. As odd as all of this was, there was something very much real about this bird and, while he was still trying to come to terms with the fact that there was a talking bird in his kitchen, his attention zeroed in on one key word.

"Did that bird say 'witch'...?"

The blond looked a little pained, rubbing the back of his head as he glanced down at the canary before back up Sasori.

"Uh, about that..."

Beak opening and closing, the bird started to piece things together.

"Oops."

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notes: a short and kind of awkward beginning to a new fic that I've been thinking about for months now. wanted to post it on halloween, so! happy halloween everyone u◇u wrote all of this (and posted it) on my phone so please forgive any spelling errors, I didn't proofread very well

ill get to working on the next chapter of riptide soon, I'm sorry for disappearing for so long again ;w; ive got two other new fics planed that I should hopefully get finished up soon!

thanks for reading and please leave a review!