Chapter 44

Nightfall was quickly approaching and we hadn't found a single trace of the wizard.

"Are we in the right town?" I asked while glancing around the area.

"Yeah, we are." Kikuhana answered. "But there's also a chance he could be long gone by now." She added.

"Regardless, there's not sign of him today, hmm." Deidara said as he folded his arms behind his head. Sasori then let out a sigh and paused to look at the restaurant we were standing in front of.

"I'll buy you girls something to eat and we'll head back to the hotel." Sasori said as he leaned against the door to push it open and held the door for us.

"Oh," I said in surprise. "Thank you, Sasori." I smiled pleasantly. It was a local restaurant, nothing fancy. All of the tables were full so the four of us had to sit at the bar.

"Are Kiku and I allowed to sit here?" I whispered to Sasori.

"Deidara's 18 and I'm older than that. You'll be fine since you're with us." He assured me. "Just don't go asking me to buy you something." He joked.

"I'm more responsible than that." I laughed as I playfully pushed his arm.

"I know you are, I'm just messing with you." Sasori chuckled. I smiled and laughed.

The waitress came by and I ordered a cup of iced green tea while Kikuhana ordered a soda and Sasori and Deidara ordered tea as well. The waitress dropped off a sample plate of sushi when she gave everyone their beverages. My sister and I ate most of the sushi but Deidara took a couple of pieces. Kikuhana glanced around the restaurant before hopping off her chair.

"Where are you going?" Deidara asked.

"Bathroom," Kiku simply replied.

"Hurry back," I called as I stuffed another piece of sushi into my mouth.

After Kikuhana came out of the ladies room she began to make her way back to her group when she bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kikuhana apologized as she dusted herself off.

"There's no need for an apology," A male voice replied. She looked up to see a man with shoulder-length, pail blond hair and icy blue eyes. Kikuhana noticed how attractive the man was and slightly blushed at his good looks.

"I'm Howl," the man politely introduced while holding out his hand. Kikuhana stared at him in a trance for a moment before answering.

"I'm—Yuuki," Kiku lied with a smile and shook his hand. She made a quick decision to give him a fake name. The man, Howl, was probably harmless, but she wanted to be safe and lie about her name.

"My, quite a lovely name for a lovely lady." Howl complimented as he bowed his head and kissed the back of Kikuhana's hand.

Wow, he's so charming. Kiku quietly giggled to herself.

"Now, Miss Yuuki, may I buy you something?" Howl offered. Kikuhana, who happened to be dazzled by the prince-like young man, momentarily snapped out of her trance to answer him.

"Oh, no that's ok, I already ordered." Kiku said as she looked over to where Sasori and I were sitting. "Please," she turned back to face Howl. "Don't let me keep you from doing whatever it was you were already doing." Kiku said with a polite smile.

"I wasn't doing anything that important before I had the pleasure of meeting you." Howl charmingly smiled. Kikuhana smiled and kept her gaze locked on him. Howl looked around the room and then paused with a puzzled look. "Who are those two?" He asked. Kikuhana turned around and followed his gaze. "Those two redheads, they keep muttering to each other and looking at you."

"Oh—those are just two of my friends." Kiku explained with a bit of a nervous smile.

"I'd be glad to meet them," Howl said with a friendly smile. Kikuhana paused for a brief moment.

"Ok," she answered and the two started walking back to the bar.

"I understand you two are friends of Yuuki." Howl said with a friendly smile. The two of us stared at him strangely.

"Yes, we are." Sasori replied after a pause.

"Howl, this is my best friend," she turned around. "Reiko." She said while looking at me.

"And this is her brother," she paused and motioned towards Sasori. I assumed the pause meant it was my turn to come up with a name.

"Akira," I blurted out. However, I spoke at the exact same time my sister said "Shiki." We both froze and looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Akira is my first name and Shiki is my middle name. I go by both names." Sasori lied in such a casual manner that it was very believable. I mentally gave a sigh of relief.

"Well, Akira Shiki," Howl looked at Sasori. "Reiko," he looked at me with a charismatic grin. "It's a pleasure meeting you both."

"You too," I smiled.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to spend some time with Yuuki, just for a bit." Howl said with his eyes fixed on my sister.

"Not at all. But could we borrow her for just a moment?" Sasori asked.

"Of course," Howl graciously bowed his head and walked away.

"Nice job," Sasori said to Kikuhana once Howl was gone.

"What do you mean?" Kiku asked, bewildered.

"Howl, you found him." Sasori told her. "Although, I must say, I didn't expect him to charm you." He added with a bit of a laugh. Kikuhana still looked lost.

"Howl's the wizard." I told her.

"Wait, what? How do you know?" Kikuhana asked with some surprise in her tone.

"When the leader said we were looking for a wizard you automatically of an old guy, long grey beard, glasses, pointy hat and a robe, didn't you?" Sasori asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, kind of…" Kiku said while poking her index fingers together. I didn't blame my sister, I thought the same thing.

"I assumed so." Sasori responded.

"And when he got closer we could feel the aura coming from the scroll so he definitely has it on him." I added.

"What are you guys talking about, hmm?" Deidara asked as he walked back to the bar where we were all sitting.

"Where the heck were you?" Sasori asked.

"Just walking around," he replied.

"Why?" I asked.

"Boredom," Deidara shrugged. "Anyway, are we ready to go, hmm?" He asked.

"Nope! Kiku found the wizard." I grinned.

"Oh really now?" Deidara focused his attention to Kikuhana.

"Yep, and now I need to work on getting the scroll. So sit here, it shouldn't take me long." Kikuhana said as she started to walk back to Howl. Kiku returned to Howl with a smile and the two started talking.

"Wait, that's the wizard, hmm?" Deidara asked a bit stunned. "I thought he'd be—"

"Old?" I finished Deidara's sentence.

"Well, yeah," he murmured.

"Now we just have to sit here and wait…unfortunately." Sasori muttered the last part with some annoyance as he took a drink from his tea.

Time ticked by and my sister was still chatting with the wizard. I could tell both Sasori and Deidara were starting to run out of patience. Sasori had an irritated look and rested his chin in his palm while drumming his fingers on the countertop. I was able to keep myself occupied by sipping my tea and slowly spinning around on the barstool. I began to slip out of my thoughts when Sasori let out a groan.

"Hey, Sasori, I thought you hated waiting, hmm." Deidara said.

"Why do you ask me that every time like you're expecting a different answer each time?" Sasori snapped. Deidara had the nerve to look surprised by Sasori's response. Suddenly, Howl got up from his seat and walked away.

"Alright, I'm going over there." Deidara announced as he got up from his seat and walked over to Kikuhana.

"Hey, what are you doing? What if he comes back?" I hissed, but he just ignored me and kept walking.

"Hey," Deidara called to Kikuhana to gain her attention.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"You're not on a date, hmm." Deidara said, avoiding her question.

"I know that," Kiku said with a faint trace of pink on her cheeks.

"Oh really? Then where's the scroll, hmm?" Deidara questioned.

"I'm working on that." Kikuhana crossed her arms.

"Well you need to work on that faster because I'm pretty sure Sasori is about five minutes away from turning everyone in this place into a part of his puppet collection, hmm!" Deidara exaggerated.

"Well what do you want me to do? Grab the scroll, say 'see ya!' and walk right out the door?" Kiku argued.

"If that'll make the process faster, hmm!" Deidara argued back.

"You know what? Why don't you—" She froze mid-sentence and her eyes widened as she looked passed Deidara's shoulder.

"What? Run out of insults, hmm?" Deidara taunted.

"Deidara…" she said with her wide eyes still locked on what was in her sight. "Kiss me." Kikuhana ordered as she glanced up at him.

"—What!" Deidara asked with an astonished expression.

"Don't ask questions, don't hesitate, I'll explain later, just do it." Kiku told him while remaining still. Deidara stared at her with uncertainty. "Now!" She demanded. Deidara grabbed Kikuhana's head and pulled her in, crashing his lips against hers.

"What is he doing…?" Sasori confusingly asked out loud.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I asked. I followed Sasori's gaze only to see Deidara locking lips with my older sister. I blushed and let out a small yelp of surprise.

The kiss lasted for about five seconds before Kikuhana pushed Deidara away. They both stared at each other with pink faces but Kikuhana's expression was rather blank. Deidara stared at her, still unsure of why she made him do that. Kikuhana raised her hand and slapped Deidara dead across the face. Deidara held onto his cheek and was completely stunned. Kikuhana walked passed Deidara and back to Howl.

"What was that all about?" Howl asked Kiku.

"Oh, he's my ex; he's been having some trouble letting go." She lied.

Deidara came back to me and Sasori while still looking surprised.

"Why on earth would you try to kiss my sister you—?"

"I didn't," Deidara cut me off. "She told me to. She didn't say why, she just told me to kiss her so I did, hmm." Deidara explained while still holding onto his face.

"Did she say anything afterwards?" Sasori asked.

"She said something to that wizard about me being her ex." Deidara answered.

"Well that's kind of… weird." I said. We all were still very confused by Kikuhana's orders; however we just had to wait for her to obtain the scroll before we could start questioning her.