Chapter 57: True Feelings Arc - Bored and Board

I thought that I'd post this before I take my Geometry exam and get hit by a wave of stress-induced writer's block. It may be a little dull (my high school experience hasn't been too exciting so far), but it does have a bit of foreshadowing and an important view upon our world.

Hope you enjoy, and if you did, feel free to drop a review!

Disclaimer: You should know the drill by now.

Kaiya's POV

I sat by the window and stared at the plain view outside, bored as heck. It was the last Sunday of January, but of course, that didn't mean that I would be free of my exhaustion. It's not like working at a sushi restaurant bored me, but at the same time, it wasn't always the best thing to come home every day at seven smelling like seafood and still needing to do homework.

Hoshi no Sushi, for some reason, began doing a lot better ever since that Saturday when Arashi had worn his locket. After that day, I never saw him with it on again, but I didn't bother to question him about it. When I did, however, ask Naoki if he knew what had caused Arashi to suddenly change his behavior, he simply responded with a vague shrug.

Whatever happened on that Saturday must have altered Arashi for the better, since he began acting a lot kinder and addressed Minami with the proper amount of respect. Of course she was thrilled at this, and so was I, especially since it ensured that I wouldn't have to go to work and get accused of being late again. Instead, Arashi greeted people with a small smile, though every now and then, he did yell at other employees if they were really screwing something up.

As a result, I had decided to lift Yukio's punishment a week early, so the first thing he wanted to do was head to the arcade. However, I sent Kagami and Naoki off to accompany him, much to his disappointment. Still, at least he wasn't going to go alone.

As I was about to delve deeper into my thoughts, Deidara came up beside me by the window in kitten form, Firework, most likely due to having sneezed earlier. Jumping onto the windowsill, he waved his paw in front of me in order to grab my attention.

"What is it?" I asked him without making proper eye contact. Don't get me wrong: I would have done so, but I felt drained at the moment. "If you want to turn back, I told you guys already...there's a bottle of lavender perfume in the kitchen. We just restocked our supply last week, remember?"

Firework crossed his arms — or at least tried to, but I got the notion — at that, telling me that that wasn't what he wanted. "Meow…" he deadpanned simply, narrowing his mismatched eyes at me. He had explained at one point that his feline heterochromia was due to the fact that he usually had a scope on his left eye, but even so, it hadn't come along with him to our world. Nevertheless, he could still see perfectly fine without it.

"You know," I mumbled to him, finally facing his direction, "that's not telling me anything. If there's something that you want, then write it out on a sheet of paper. I know that you guys can do that, since that was how you communicated with us early on."

His ears twitched in further irritation, his tail flickering back and forth on the windowsill, kicking up small puffs of dust that had collected there. He attempted to meow at me again, but stopped in the middle and yowled, as if he was verbally berating himself for trying that. Finally, he laid down on the windowsill and stretched out his legs, flailing them up and down.

I raised an eyebrow. "Swimming isn't a good idea during this time of year, Deidei-chan. Unless...are you saying that the shower isn't working?"

He immediately shook his head at both of them, but continued waving his arms around. I swore that at that moment, he resembled his own creation: the clay phoenix who reprimanded those who ticked her off. In other words, he looked like a bird.

Wait…

"I've got it," I blurted our suddenly, making him nearly leap off the windowsill. "You want to go flying around on Akane with me, don't you?"

Instantly, he stopped flailing, nodding his head frantically. He curled his lower lip and flashed his eyes at me pleadingly, his white paws tucked close to his chest. Although I knew that he was trying to give me that look that most kitten owners fell for, I didn't by it. Well...maybe I would have, but it was kind of awkward to consider that action to be cute when you knew that the yellow feline was a former bomber that was around my age.

Scooping him up into my arms, I rolled my eyes. "You've spent too much time around my imouto again, haven't you? If that's the case, you should have known that giving me that pout doesn't work on me anymore, ya know."

His cheeks ultimately lit up in embarrassment, causing me to giggle slightly as I bounded over towards where we kept the bottle of lavender perfume. Firework growled at me in response to that remark about the trick not working, so I sighed and scratched him gently behind his ears. At once, he calmed down, purring contentedly as I set him down on the kitchen counter.

Grabbing the bottle of Asuka lavender perfume, I shook it lightly before spraying a tiny puff on the yellow kitten's head, causing him to flinch back and fall off of the kitchen counter.

A puff of smoke arose in the kitchen before getting blown away by the air conditioning, revealing Deidara, lying on the ground and rubbing his head in pain.

"Ow…" he groaned, while I stifled a giggle. "Why didn't you catch me or at least warn me first, un? At least you only sprayed a light amount of this dumb scent on me…"

My cheeks turned pink slightly as I averted my gaze away from the boy. "You do realize what would happen if I caught you, right? It would be like that time Kisame shoved us into that closet on Kagami-chan's birthday, if you know what I mean."

Deidara's face mirrored the blush on mine, and he too, looked away for a moment. "Ugh...don't remind me about that. Anyway, is there any particular place you want to go? I've honestly got nothing to do right now."

Ignoring his first question, my eyes widened at his second statement. "Wait, how come you aren't making clay sculptures anymore, like you usually do?"

Immediately after asking that, I regretted it, watching his expression fall into a downcast one as he stared at the ground. Hesitantly, he lifted up his hand, turning it over onto his palm. "I think that there's something wrong with all of us lately, since it's not just me having this problem. It's been hurting more than ever to use any kind of jutsu, even the simplest ones. Of course it wouldn't be obvious, but I can tell from the look in his eyes that Sasori is in constant pain and exhaustion from using his strings."

"How does that work?" I asked curiously. "Naoki-chan told me that Sasori can't feel physical pain anymore, can he?"

He slumped his shoulders further. "I'm not sure how it's supposed to work in this world, but Sasori just seems to revert more and more back to his human self, both emotionally and physically. Occasionally, he even paints...I mean, like the literal version of art. That isn't a normal thing for him to do, especially since he disregards most art that he doesn't deem as 'eternal'. The stranger thing is what those paintings depict: he paints deserts and only deserts, and whenever I catch him doing it, there's this strange emotion in his eyes that I really can't distinguish."

"Perhaps Sasori really has become a bit more human recently," I mused optimistically. "After all, both of you were arguing with each other about whether art was eternal or fleeting when you first turned back into humans, but painting can be either both or neither. Maybe he's trying to figure out why you love fleeting art so much?"

Deidara shrugged. "Maybe, but there are times when even I can't figure out what Sasori-danna is trying to tell me. As a matter of a fact, I've kind of started to like painting as well. But anyway, all of the Akatsuki have definitely acting rather strangely, and not just in personality. It's our jutsu—"

"It's being away from your world for so long, isn't it?" I interrupted, knowing exactly where this was going. "We're trying to do everything we can, so don't worry about it too much right now."

"That's not it," he responded, a hint of frustration laced into his tone. "Lately, it's been getting much worse. For one thing, I can't even open these anymore, un."

I gasped as he vainly attempted to open his the mouths on his hands, but they seemed to be zipped shut, a paralyzed frown stuck to them for eternity. "So...what you're saying is that you can't make clay sculptures anymore?"

"Exactly," he replied sadly. "I mean, I've done simple pottery with my hands before, but my clay sculptures and figurines are molded with my chakra. The ones I make normally will not be — though I hate to admit it — as good as the ones I normally use. Furthermore, I'm sure you've realized this, but using the Henge hurts a lot now. I don't think that we can keep our ninja senses up with your world anymore."

"If that's the case," I said, "then we don't have to go flying to get where we want today, since it might hurt you to turn Akane into her expanded form. I can just drive around town to see if there's anything happening today around town."

At that suggestion, he rapidly shook his head. "Really, there's no need to do that, Kaiya. Akane can even enlarge herself by using her own powers, so that's not even that big of a problem. Besides, remember what happened the last time that you and I took a casual drive together?"

"I know," I grumbled, "but one way or another, I've got to let go of my past at some point. I miss my parents and all, but I can't spend the rest of my years living in grief, especially since I'm not even an adult yet. Recently, I've been feeling like they've been relatively displeased at me and my fear of driving, since I shouldn't be tucked inside this shell of mine all of the time. Plus, I forgive people like you easily for the things that they do, no matter how terrible they are, but I need to find a way to be able to forgive myself, too."

His expression turned serious as soon as I finished saying that. "I guess that is true. Very well...I'll go with your wishes, but just be careful. Though still, why do you need me to come with you?"

"I could ask you the same thing regarding flying."

Okay, we both lost our seriousness there, but we continued, feeling the sullen mood quickly fade. I decided to say something first, in order to ensure that it didn't become even more awkward than the current situation. "Well, I think I've gotten slightly better since the time when we nearly hit the train. I was able to drive to the firefly meadow and to the emergency room just fine, so I think that I can do this."

"Just stay confident," he told me, surprising me slightly. "I mean, I'm used to going both slow and fast anyway, so do what you want to do."

"Alright," I muttered as I entered the garage and swiped the keys. "I'm just going to drive down the streets for a while, and if you see something that catches your eye, then let me know. I have to keep my eyes on the road, so you're the one that needs to inform me about my other surroundings."

Opening the passenger doors of the yellow Lexus, I prudently stepped inside, that familiar wave of dread washing over me. But as soon as I saw Deidara enter the car on the other side, the wave receded slightly, though the sensation lingered for a while more.

"Should we bring Akane along?" I questioned, recalling the bird also being in the car with us at that time.

"Absolutely not!" Deidara frantically blurted out, though he quickly corrected himself as soon as I shot him a menacing glare. "Well...she was pretty scared and annoyed the last time you drove, so I don't think so."

Powering the car on and pulling the joystick — yes, I still planned to call it that — I shifted the car into reverse mode and owned the garage door. As soon as it finished opening, I carefully stepped on the gas pedal, making sure that I didn't have to slam my foot down on any of the pedals that day.

This time, I was able to back out of the garage more smoothly, going down the driveway almost perfectly. Of course I was still nervous, but I mentally told myself over and over to relax and not be so paranoid about the whole thing.

"Much better," I heard Deidara mutter to himself under his breath. I couldn't help but smile at that statement, though I kept my eyes on the road as I shifted the joystick into 4-D mode.

Turning the wheel, I steered the car carefully out on the street, deciding to only lightly press the gas pedal from there on out, no freeways. Sure, only twenty miles per hour was pretty slow, but at least that was a speed that made me feel safe. I wanted to look over and see what Deidara's opinion of it was, since he was used to going fast and all on Akane, but I dismissed the thought again and stared straight ahead.

Luckily, there were not as many cars driving by at that time, so thankfully, nobody honked their horns at me. Slowly, I felt the majority of my anxiety slip away into the air, and subconsciously, my foot pressed down on the pedal with slightly more force.

Deidara must have felt this, since I could see him raise an eyebrow at me as I glanced at the side mirror. "Um...Kaiya?" he asked dubiously. "You're speeding up a little, un."

"I know," I responded with a more confident smile. "Want me to go even faster?"

"That would be great," he replied, and I could practically hear him smirk. "But only if you're comfortable with it. No crashing."

Nodding curtly, I let my foot down a little bit more, and eventually, we reached thirty-five miles per hour, just a little under the speed limit. It felt a lot nicer, though it may have been simply due to the fact that we were traveling down a straight road, rather than the windy ones.

"See anything that interests you?" I asked him curiously, slowing down just a little bit. "Remember, I can't look to the sides as often as you can."

"So far, nothing," he quickly responded. "Just birds and trees, more birds and more trees. That's all that has caught my eye, really."

"What about the buildings?" I pondered aloud.

"All normal," he affirmed, "though there are some strange people walking on the streets. They looked like they haven't changed their attire in ages, and maybe somebody should tell them that this isn't the best place to push around a shopping cart."

I immediately knew what he was talking about the moment he mentioned the shopping cart.

"Um," I began, "since the Akatsuki tend to travel across the world, have you ever come across the homeless?"

"Plenty of them," he responded, "but they usually don't look that bad off unless they're from one of the poorer countries, such as the Land of Waves."

"I don't see them around as much," I commented, "but just knowing that they're out there without anybody to help them is a terrible thing. I have no idea what Kagami-chan experienced back then that landed her in the orphanage, but she had been living homeless for nearly a month before the staff at the orphanage had found her."

Deidara's expression — which I managed to catch in the mirror again — was immediately plastered with guilt after hearing that. It seemed to me that it had awoken some old memories within in of his days of being a terrorist, which made me inwardly shudder.

It hadn't been until somebody tapped lightly on the side of the car window on Deidara's side that I had realized that I had subconsciously pulled over in order to further discuss the whole thing with Deidara.

"Um…" he stammered, pointing outside his window. I gasped as soon as I saw exactly what he was pointing at; for there, standing right next to our parked car, was a slender little boy.

By the looks of how muddy he seemed, I assumed that this poor little kid was homeless. All he had to protect him from the sun was a beaten-up hat, while there were holes and shreds in different parts of his clothing. He was pulling around a battered and faded toy wagon, almost all of the paint washed out from it. Inside sat a half-empty water bottle and various recyclable material that he had likely salvaged from trash cans.

Still, I was curious as to why he was tapping on our window, of all things. My hands reached inside the hidden pocket underneath my kimono in order to fish out my wallet, recalling that I had spare change. Fingers weaving their way across the fabric, I fiddled with each segment in order to locate the pocket while sitting down.

"Deidara, open the window," I commanded without looking at him. However, when I got no response, I immediately stopped looking for my wallet and turned to face him, only to let out another gasp of sheer shock and surprise.

His window had already been rolled down; the noise had somehow managed to elude my ears. The former bomber was sticking his hand out to the little boy, a ten-dollar bill imprisoned in his fingers.

The slender boy, of course, mirrored my look of bewilderment as he repeated glanced at the offer, then at Deidara, and back at the ten-dollar bill again. His small, beady eyes flew wide as he shakily reached out with his scarred hands to see if it was for real.

"It's for you, un," mumbled Deidara, his tone demonstrating that he was getting slightly frustrated. "Take it or leave it, kid."

Taking this as his cue, the boy smiled as he gratefully took the ten-dollar bill from Deidara's trembling hands. Nodding politely in a form of thanks, he skipped off into a nearby alley, tugging his wagon with him.

Deidara's POV

It was when he hopped away that I noticed all the cuts and bruises that lined his legs, and before I had realized it, my heart had already sunk, even though it was certainly still a foreign feeling to acknowledge its presence once more.

I've seen this so many times in my life without realizing it, I thought to myself, but why is this the first time I care about seeing them this way?

"You know," started Kaiya, jutting through my thoughts, "Deidara...that was really sweet and generous of you to do that."

"I don't know," I mumbled incoherently, my head hung low so that my ponytail concealed my guilty expression. "Is it really?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Kaiya shooting me a queer look. "What do you mean that you don't know? Giving to the poor is not a feat that a lot of people do nowadays, even though it is an extremely selfless act. You should be very proud of yourself for doing that for that little boy. It may not be enough to buy him a house, but it give him and his family a lot of hope and reason to live."

"That's the thing, un," I sighed dejectedly. "Before this whole Neko Asuka Noroi thing happened to us, I was the one who was causing them to fall into the hands of poverty in the first place. If it's such a good thing, then why does it make my heart hurt, if I even have one at all?"

Wrong choice of words: she glared at me on that last one. "Are you serious? Of course you have a heart, Deidara! If we didn't have hearts, then we wouldn't be able to live or be who we are! Personality may come from the brain, but part of it is from the heart as well. Where do you think your passion for art originated from?"

My cheeks turning slightly pink, I slumped my shoulders. "Okay, fine. I have a heart. Happy now?"

"Geez…" she muttered quietly, most likely to herself. "Let's just head back now…"

Deciding not to say anything more against it, I reclined back just as the engine revved back to life. Kaiya, her eyes narrowed to concentrated slits, rotated the wheel as she made a U-turn, carefully watching out for the sides of the road in the process.

She still can't see how I feel, I mentally lamented to myself. But is that really a good thing anymore?

The more I kept on thinking about it, the more I acknowledged the presence of the hundreds of butterflies rushing around inside my stomach. It had tended to die down quickly, but this time, the sensation lingered for quite a bit longer; in fact, it was still present by the time that we had arrived home.

This, honestly, is just stupid.

And I didn't even care that this thought of mine sounded like something Naoki would say. He had become less of jerk lately, though he hadn't really spoken to me for a while. He tended to converse only with his family, even though he did sometimes stare at Itachi for a little while.

I was so focused on this conflicting chain of thoughts that I hadn't even realized that she had already parked the car inside of the garage.

"We didn't really end up going too far," she sighed, a disappointed edge to her voice. "Still, at least we didn't have any complications or anything. However, I can't really consider that as losing my fear of driving just yet. That was a straight road, not a windy one. Don't even get me started on parallel parking, either. That is the absolute worst."

"I'm not," I grumbled as I exited the car, crossing my arms. "So, what are we going to do now?"

She shrugged. "Well, we're certainly doing something awesome right now."

"What?"

"Sarcasm."

Blinking at her, I caught on a second later. "Oh, how wonderful."

"Yeah," she mumbled in a dull, condescending voice. "This definitely takes the cake for the best thing in the world."

"I totally agree with you, un."

An awkward silence followed, with just our gazes penetrating into one another's eyes. Before either of us saw it coming, we burst into fits of childish laughter, the sarcasm feeling so unnatural and forced that it was actually hilarious.

"I sounded like Sasori-danna just then!" I snorted, even though it was a bit of an immature remark when it was put next to the current events of that day.

"Me too!" she giggled lightheartedly. "That was just...hahahaha!"

Even though I knew that most people would have been staring at us oddly at that point, it was something that I merely brushed off. Sure, it didn't make sense, but at least we were happy about it.

Plus, laughter concealed my pink cheeks, disguising them as an effect of laughing too hard. Darn this girl knowing exactly how to make me feel this way without even realizing it...

Suddenly, Kaiya seemed to receive an idea about what we should do next. "I've got it!" she exclaimed out of the blue, nearly making me flinch. "I haven't played chess for a while, but maybe I can teach you."

"Chess?" I questioned her as she carefully dug through a few boxes in the garage. "Is that supposed to be like shogi or something?"

"Somewhat," she responded, fishing out a dusty container from the bottom of one of the larger boxes. "Come inside and I'll show you, Deidei-chan."

"Drop the freaking nickname!"

"Never."

I take that back. Darn this girl knowing how to deliberately frustrate me and drown out my smirk with her own…

We shuffled inside the house, wiping our shoes on the small doormat despite not stepping in anything other than the floor of the car. Blowing off layers of dust as she walked inside, Kaiya carefully pulled a small table close to the living room couch and set the container down on top of it.

"I can't believe it's been so long," I heard her mumble incoherently to herself as she struggled to pry the lid of the box off. "Ugh...who knew that it's gotten...this...tight!"

"Here," I said, placing my hands in either side of the box as well. "Let me help you."

"I think I've got it, thanks," she declined, still attempting to pull it off. At that, I frowned, slightly offended by getting my offer turned down.

"Says the complainer," I countered, stepping back and crossing my arms.

"Be quiet!"

"Make me!"

She stuck her tongue out at me, blowing a raspberry before continuing to pull the lid off. Rolling my eyes exasperatedly, I was about to place my hands on hers to help her lift off the lid when I noticed something shiny on the side of the container.

"Um, Kaiya—"

"Can it!" she quickly retorted. "I'm not weak, and I told you already, I think I've got it!"

"I was just going to point out that there's a metal latch on the side, un."

She instantly froze upon hearing that, before facepalming seconds later. Even though it was a bad idea, I snickered at her dumbfounded expression, causing me to receive a sharp glare that similarly resembled that of a devil. Nevertheless, I smirked proudly.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier, dummy?" she whined, crossing her arms just like me. She tapped her foot impatiently to add emphasis, even though there was nothing that she was waiting for.

So of course, that smirk was already gone within the first five seconds. "Because I just noticed it now, smart-aleck!"

"Traitor!"

"Know-it-all!"

"Baka!"

"You're one to talk!"

"Can we just play?" groaned Kaiya, letting herself slump down on the couch. "I'm getting bored of this immature conversation. Maybe we should start thinking smart and learning how to play this game."

"I'd hate to admit it," I deadpanned, "but you're right. Enlighten me, your worshipfulness."

She cocked an eyebrow at me as she took out the folded board. "I'm not Princess Leia, silly. But now that I think about it, you'd make a fine Han Solo."

My face flushed bright red, remembering Leia's relationship with Han, before the smirk dominated my face once again. "Wait...in what sense do you mean by that? Is it his smooth style and amazing sarcasm?"

"That would be Leia," she immediately responded, returning the smirk slyly. "But just like Han, you're cocky, arrogant, and a bit of a jerk."

"Hey!"

That earned a bout of laughter from her as she set some strange-looking black and white game pieces on the board. "I'm just kidding, ya know! Don't take it so seriously, Deidei-chan."

"How long do you plan on calling me that?" I growled at her, but she only giggled some more.

"As long as I intend to."

"That doesn't tell me anything, un."

She flipped her hair — though it was probably an act to suffocate my ego — and flashed a foxy grin. "That's the point, genius."

Annoyed at all of this sarcasm being thrown around, I sighed, deciding to return my attention to the pieces that were set out on the square-tiled board in front of me. "Anyway, go ahead. How do you play chess?"

"Well," she began, grabbing one of the smallest pieces on her side and moving it forward two spaces. "These are pawns, or what you move around first. They can hop two spaces forward, but from then on out, they can only move one space until they reach the other side. However, if you wish to take out your opponent's pieces, then you have to move diagonally for that."

"That is really confusing," I mumbled, taking my fourth pawn in the row and moving it two spaces forward. "And what about the other pieces? I'm sure that they aren't pawns as well, judging by how different they look."

She rolled her eyes, and sighed slightly, before taking another pawn and moving it up two spaces as well. "Looks like we've got a lot to learn…"

Gradually, the game of chess progressed, with Kaiya having to constantly stop and explain what each and every piece did and how to react when pieces could be taken. I still couldn't quite grasp the whole concept — not that I would ever admit that, for the sake of my remaining pride — but by the time both of us had lost around half of our chess pieces to one another, I already become a slight expert at the bare basics of chess.

"Check," I said with a small grin as my knight began to corner her king. "Your move, un."

However, this time, as I watched her smirk widely as her hand graced over each piece like they were her personal field of flowers, I felt something different. It was as if the whole game was a plug that had somehow managed to tangle me up in its electric current.

Sure, I felt some adrenaline run up and down my veins, though it was rather suppressed due to my wave of boredom. My heart fluttered as I watched Kaiya silently make her move, fingers reaching out to grab her chess pieces left and right.

These feelings, I thought to myself as the thought returned to tease me yet again. For a second, I instinctively opened my mouth to say something, but swiftly disguised it as a yawn when Kaiya looked up at me. Luckily, she bought it, and proceeded to wrap her fingers around her king, so oblivious to the fire that was flaring up inside of my head at the moment.

This really is like a game of chess, I thought dejectedly, watching as Kaiya carefully moved her king away from my knight. Every time I try to tell you how I feel, you always seem to take a step back...why? Do you even like me?

"Deidara?" she asked, finally taking notice of my state. "Are you alright? I believe that your mind wandered again, but it's your turn."

I shrugged it off, but continued giving her that harsh stare as I placed her king in check again with my remaining bishop. "It's nothing of your concern."

At that, she cocked an eyebrow at me dubiously. "Of my concern? So there is something on your mind...why can't you tell me about it, then?"

My mind was screaming for me to tell her why at that moment, but instead, I shifted my gaze back to the game board, which seemed to be moving even slower than it had three minutes ago. Before I could stop myself, I subconsciously uttered, "I'm just bored again, okay? Can we do something else, un?"

Kaiya crossed her arms, shooting me a funny look before sweeping all of the chess pieces back into the box with one arm. "Well, why didn't you say so? Geez, that's not something that you need to hide from me, you know. It's not like admitting your honest feelings about the situation will kill you." Standing up, she placed the box of chess pieces back on the shelf where she had taken it down from. "Let's go make chocolate for everyone then, alright? I can't really think of everything else, especially since I'm still quite bored."

As she strolled off into the kitchen, I found myself standing there, staring at her back in total frustration. I hadn't realized that my hands had clenched into fists until I slammed one against the wall behind me, albeit not hard enough to attract her attention.

It's so frustrating… I mentally drawled, my teeth gritting together. Maybe we're just not cut out to be. But if all we do is move the pieces across the board without making any progress, then what will become of us? What if I keep everything to myself forever because I know how much peace means to her? I just want this stupid game to end like the chess game did just now. And most importantly of all...

Suddenly, I realized what I was doing, then removed my fist from the wall. The frustration that had previously clouded my eyes had now changed into sorrow, as if she truly had spurned me for good this time, even though I hadn't even told Kaiya anything. Heck, I hadn't even shown her anything, since she never took notice whenever I had blushed or when she had ruined my pride countless times with her sarcasm. Sighing, my gaze fell to the floor, thinking about all the clay she had bought for me and the day when I had begun to like her.

...I want you.

A/N: A small amount of Deidara x Kaiya filler, but it's gotten more serious in different ways. Hope you enjoyed!

And would you look at that: 300,000 words, 700 Google Doc pages, and 16,000 views! Seriously, you all are amazing! Thank you for supporting me throughout this story, even though it is quite long...

Question: Do you know how to play chess? If so, for how long?

May your skies and stars sparkle today!

— Tenshi —