AN: This story isn't supposed to be as long as all the others so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Deidara and other characters used by Kishimoto, nor will I ever. If this story resembles someone else's then it is just a mere coincidence.

Everything italicized is a dream!

Aurora Borealis

Chapter One

It all started about three years ago, when Sasori and him were to go to Rock Country for a mission. It was a fairly good mission that lasted for what it seemed for a week but in fact only four days. Rock Country hadn't changed a bit since he had left; the ancient volcanic rock towered high over their heads touching the crisp blue sky. Green plants dangling off the sides of each cliff. Caves of ebony hidden behind the lush foliage, where this country's history was kept untouched. Indeed, Rock Country still held that sense of grandeur that brought him into the art world.

However, there was one problem after the mission was accomplished. Someone had escaped and ran for shelter after the blood bath of an explosion. Sasori quickly told him that he was careless and threw some kunai in the direction of the escapee. An audible shriek was heard and he had gone to figure who it was, Sasori staying behind in case they'd be caught.

When he had gotten to the site, he was prepared to kill on contact but was only stunned to see that it was not a ninja. The bird, that was in his hand, flapped away and perched itself on the body. A kunai was bore deep within her leg and one in her arm. He frowned and took a step forward to kneel next to the girl; amber eyes met with a frightened emerald. He peered at her with a rather pleasing face, a small smile tugging at his lips.

That was the day he had met her, a girl from his own village but had never seen. She was seventeen at the time, she had short dark blonde hair that always dangled in her face and it annoyed him to no end. When they had met, and she was cleaned up, he had told her that if she listened to him she would live. Then, he backed up with the statement that she was going to be his student. Both comments though only made the girl look even sadder than before.

He had taught her only the basics and then left her, even though he never knew he would ever come back. He had never told Rei-sama about her and didn't ever plan to tell him. Except now, he had Zetsu on his team, with Zetsu came Tobi, and with Tobi came aggravation. An artist should never work with such people where the only mood is total annoyance. Sure, Tobi was a true companion to Zetsu and the Akatsuki but was always in the way. He never seemed to make anything go right and had forced both members to tackle him momentarily. Tobi was only human though; he had his idiocy while Zetsu had his strict but silent side. Him on the other hand, was just an aspiring artist who felt as alone as alone could be. He had taken up the job to go back to Rock Country for another mission.

He was happy . . .

"Deidara-san, how much further?"

"SHH!" Hissed Deidara as he turned around a corner carefully. He looked forward and saw the target; Zetsu did too and worked his way over to the unsuspecting victim.

"Deidara-san—"

Tobi's mask met Deidara's scarred left hand and the elder man grabbed onto his collar with a grin in place.

"Tobi, be a good boy and sit far off in the distance waiting for us . . . un!"

Letting go of Tobi's collar, the younger stood for a couple of seconds before walking off in the opposite direction. Deidara was an Akatsuki member and to Tobi was just as much boss material as Zetsu. He couldn't go against Deidara for obvious reasons. One of them was that he wasn't exactly one of them; he was just a tag along.

When the victim had been killed, Deidara and Zetsu took off into the direction of Tobi and into the maze of boulders. All three of them scattered and hid themselves in separate places. For several hours, they didn't see each other until a signal was given by one of them to come out of their places. ANBU was on hot pursuit with Akatsuki, and the prey had been an ANBU Captain.

Rei-sama was irritated by the men who were trying to track the organization and ordered Zetsu's group to kill the Captain leading it all. This Captain just happened to live in Rock Country, yet Deidara found it strange that Stone Village would take part in such a waste of time. Stone Village kept to themselves and hid themselves carefully from their enemies, not just chase them down.

The next day wasn't as eventful as the first but still just as exasperating. Tobi thought it funny the annoy the hell out of Deidara once more, but instead of seriously harming the younger, Deidara, being seriously out of character, walked away.

Zetsu knew something was bothering the artist and stayed his distance. Deidara was never enjoyable when he was in a sour mood. He had been rather vexed ever since the incident with the Konoha shinobi and he had lost his arm. Zetsu had found it humorous though that Deidara is still trying to save that arm that he had lost five months ago. So far it's worked, with the occasional medic jutsu used by our leader, the arm did not decay but it did not regenerate with the rest of his arm.

The artist as of that moment, had no inspiration, had no more patience, and had no good humor left in him. He needed some way to break the wall between him and the art that he so desired to accomplish. He'd create birds, fold tarantulas, and just write for the mere fun of it, but none of it helped. It just made him feel worse.

Collapsing onto the ground and starring up at the stars, a small remnant of a smile graced his lips.

"In that fleeting moment, that is when you can see beauty . . . un."

Yet, to him there was no beauty, there was only the pounding noise of explosions that rang in his ears. The smell of blood and decay permanent in his nose and the sights he'd seen were unable to be erased. For the past few months he'd been trying to find something else to make him feel better and only took on this job to make himself feel better but still felt horrible. He didn't understand it; everything he does just seemed dull and idiotic.

Rolling onto his side, he starred at the bare rocks beneath him and the muke-nin did something that was rare and occasional . . .

He fell asleep . . .

Sensei . . .
Amber eyes sprang open to the no longer dark skies above him. The light, still just as bright as any day, blinded him as he pushed himself back up. He felt tired still, and drowsy. Now he knew why he never liked sleeping, when he woke up he felt even worse. Though, he had let his brain rest, he had a headache like no other before. He felt like he was sick now. Maybe he was sick and couldn't think because of it.

"Have a nice rest?"

"Go to hell . . . un."

"I'll take that as a no."

Taking a step near the edge of the cliff, the man in black clothing stretched and yawned once then continued to scratch the back of his head starring off into the distance.

"What a hard terrain." He said, still scratching his head as if Deidara hadn't heard him but unfortunately, he had. Deidara stood and forced a grin, "It's best that the ground is hard . . . un."

Tobi turned around and looked toward him then crossed his arms, "Why?"

Deidara slowly walked up to him and held up his hand, his grin looking a little weaker.

"So that when you fall, you won't feel anything . . . un."

Tobi snapped and immediately darted away from the cliff clumsily.

"HEY! Zetsu-san's not going to like it if you did that!" yelled Tobi, pointing his finger accusingly at the man with blonde hair.

Deidara frowned, "I never said I was going to push you over."

Tobi's finger faltered but quickly gained strength, "Of course you weren't, you were going to use one of your explosions to push me off!"

Now that he thought about it, it wasn't that bad of an idea to get rid of the sarcastic little punk using clay. No, that would be a waste of perfectly good material.

Just a thought though . . .

Maybe he should keep it in mind . . .

Three years . . . and now he's back here again. He hated it, yet he sincerely loved to be in the terrain again. However, there was no one with him that had the same artistic heart as he did, like Sasori. He was angry that Sasori let himself get killed, he was always the one to tell Deidara to be more prepared.

"He's such a hypocrite. . . un."

Deidara starred off to his right side, peering into the shadows of the jagged rocks. The formations they created like hands reaching out for the sky, a place that only few people had been able to touch. His amber eyes softened for a moment and a delicate smile graced him. He could imagine himself up above the clouds, the wind pushing fiercely against him and the cold air invigorating him. Yes, he could see it now, the feeling of being weightless and free, and the shivers that thrilled him, the annoyed screams of his partner . . .

His partner . . .

The amber eyes lost their light instantly and the sight once again left him. He glanced over to the men making their way through the slight openings of rocks. Stopping every once in a while to find another way out of the dead end.

He wanted to die . . . What else could he do now? The sky seemed to no longer except his longing soul. It would cast dark mist and blind his eyes from the artistic light he worked with. Each day would pass and it felt like what creativity was left inside him was slowly fading away.

All he wanted was to touch the sky again, without the dull feeling attacking him.

It would be days before they got back to their employer, the man who said he would pay them a considerable amount of money if they killed the ANBU soldier coming after him. As soon as they got there though, they were planning to immediately leave.

Deep within the forests atop a mountain in Rock Country, was a large town. It was bustling with people, so many that it wasn't rare to see shinobi's walking around. Actually, it happened every day.

This was the place he had left her . . .

The memory offended him and promptly he put in further back into his mind. He was here strictly on business, nothing more and nothing less. The employer either gave them their money or he was killed. It was simple, though Deidara and Zetsu had no idea why it was necessary to kill such easy prey. There were many questions involving the pathetic mission and they were sure to ask every single one of them.

Abruptly, Zetsu stopped, "Tobi, go and wait for us."

Tobi slouched but did as he was told, jumping onto the nearest building and ran off. Deidara observed his strange companion before walking into the direction of the businessman.

"Go and prepare some seats! I believe they'll be here any moment now!" yelled a short and plump man, pointing his finger toward the door. His servants sighed and left the dark room, then silently closed the door behind them.

"Geez, how ignorant they are!"

"Ignorant wouldn't be the word . . . un."

The stout man jumped around, surprised at the sound of a man's voice. He gaped at the rice paper wall with a form stealing the light from the tan color. Taking a deep breath, the man gave a cheeky grin.

"Ah, Deidara-san, it's good to—"

"How did you know we were coming, un?" asked Deidara, not waiting another second for the blabber mouth to say another word.

"Why, I saw you all coming from my window. You know I have quite a view of the village. I've been waiting for your arri—"

"The money . . . un."

The man paused and frowned, "Now just wait one second! Where's the other one?"

It was Deidara's turn to frown as he looked back up to sky, "He doesn't talk."

The plump man began laughing and opened the shoji to the porch outside, then stepped onto the cold wood. Deidara watched him out of the corner of his eye. Either this man had something up his sleeve, or he was extremely stupid.

"Doesn't talk huh? Poor man, that's the best way to get work done is to talk. Giving details about things and reporting for duty. So he doesn't talk?"

If Deidara hadn't had a good sense of patience in him at the moment, the man's throat would be sliced open at that instant.

"The money."

"Oh yes, the money. Well, two grand at your disposal then, I'll have one of my servants get it for you. But while you're waiting, why don't you come in and sit. Make yourself comfortable." The pudgy man wobbled over to the furthest seat and Deidara closely watched.

The man had to be stupid . . .

There was nothing that gave him a mere feeling that there was something up the idiot's sleeve. Nothing. Just the sense that the man was trying to be 'friendly' to him.

Taking this into account, he decided it might be fun to do so and he silently walked inside.

"I'll do just that then, un. I can also ask you a few questions . . . un."

Beady black eyes blinked at him, completely confused what the other was saying. Upon seeing the slight smirk on his face though, he thought the shinobi was amused.

Smiling, he mused himself, "What, need some time to yourself?" He laughed the most strangest of laughs, one that sounded like a repetitive hiss that could annoy any one to no end.

Deidara took his seat, crossing his legs comfortably and leaning slightly back on his arms. "No, actually . . . It's about the mission . . . un." He glanced at the round man, his straw hat nearly falling over his face. The man who was about to take a drink of some liquid, stopped, and set his drink on the table dividing the two.

"It's about the ANBU captain, isn't it?" He questioned, his beady eyes closing.

"Un."

"It's as I said Deidara-san, the ANBU have been trying to track your organization down."

A long forgotten grin replaced the frown, the amber eye not leaving the man's ugly face.

"That's what confuses me. Why did you help the Akatsuki?" The smirk grew extremely when the man didn't answer.

"Well, for one, you're of our country and for two—"

Deidara quickly stood, the grin falling just as abruptly, "Ah ha, I see, this is a trap then. . . un." He mused, blank eyes could nearly tear open skin. The small man squirmed in the gaze and held up a hand.

"No, Deidara-san, that's not—"

"Not what? Un? I found it rather odd that you let a killer into your home just as easily as a guest, now your fear confirmed my first assumption . . . un."

He took a step forward, his hand reached into his pocket and slowly pulled out a kunai. A slight upward turn of his lips made the man instantly get up and attempt to get away. He only got a few steps before his heavy body was chucked at the wall, a cold blade pressed up but the meat of under his chin.

"Believe me, this isn't the usual way I do my business. It's usually quick and painless but for you, there is an exception . . . un"

The small man wriggled under the pressure of the shinobi's body and tears rolled down his cheeks. He knew he was going to die.

"You picked a hell of a time to have me murder someone since I haven't been in a very good mood lately, un." Deidara got real close to the man's face and whispered. "But, I think I might enjoy this homicide."

The man gasped as the kunai sliced open skin and threw him to the ground writhing in pain. The blonde turned around and stepped on the fat one's back. He drove the kunai into the back of the neck, immediately killing the man. There wasn't as much blood as he had expected. Most of it though was in fact on him. Drops of it ran down his cheek and dripped off his hat.

He didn't enjoy it, as a matter of fact, it bored him.

Not a second later, the door in front of him slammed open. Deidara's head snapped up to the intruder and his body slowly backed away from the body on the floor.

He froze . . .

In the doorway stood a girl with wide green eyes, her expression that of being surprised at the sight.

She froze . . .

"Eos-kun! What's happened?" came a hurried voice, footsteps growing louder. He knew that if he didn't move he'd get caught. His amber eye didn't stray the the dark green ones, both bodies stuck in their spots.

Usually he would kill the witness and run off without leaving a trace of him behind. However, this time it was extremely difficult, he couldn't kill the witness because . . .

It was her . . .

Next Chapter: "What now?" Deidara, stuck on the borderline of depression, finds the one person he didn't need to see. What will he do? Coming up! Chapter 2!
AN: Well, well, what did ya think? I feel like I had Deidara OOC but then again, wouldn't you be sad if you're friend died? I know it's a little childish but hey, Deidara's human! Even if he had two extra mouths that normal humans don't have . . . he.

Fanfic by ione