Lilacs and Cyanide, Part Vingt et Un
Disclaimer: Naruto Characters (c) Kishimoto
Yokaze no Yuka (c) Me [Takika/Manixa-chan
Kurosawa Miya (c) AromaticPain [deviantart
Deidara frowned. "Unfortunately you will have to meet Pein-sama. He is our leader." He added. "And I didn't say you were fat."
Yuka shook her head. "It's nothing, Sasori-san." She put the book back on the shelf and looked for one in a language she understood. There was no point in telling him about such trivial things like not being able to read a book. She scanned the small collection of books and pulled out another book, eying the cover oddly. "Icha Icha Paradaisu?" She sat back on the couch and flipped open the book.
"... I didn't say you did, I just made it clear that I'm not skinny but I'm not fat, either." Miya muttered. "Anyway, yeah, I'm going to find something useful to do with my short life span if you don't mind." She got out of her seat and slowly walked out of the kitchen.
Sasori nearly choked when she read the title; and he was a puppet, he couldn't even do that. "That's probably Kisame's." He stated while rolling his eyes. How many times had the shark man be warned not to leave those smutty novel around? Not just because of their contents and Tobi's curiosity, but also because Konan didn't seem to appreciate who they had been written by.
Deidara followed her. "Short life span, huh? Well, if you start wandering around on your own, you'll find your life span suddenly greatly shorter." The Akatsuki Lair wasn't exactly safe for those who didn't know where they were going.
Yuka read the book, curled up in her spot on the couch. The kunoichi nearly had a nosebleed reading the smut. She couldn't divert her attention from the novel, even though she was getting very sleepy. Reading in a quiet, comfortable place did that to her.
Miya stopped, placing her hands on her hips in that way mothers do when they're scolding someone. "So what, I have to follow you or Tobi around twenty-four seven or spend my time stuck in a room owned by some crazy religious man who stabs himself with a pike through the stomach, until someone wants me to take care of a mild burn?" She asked. She knew he probably didn't mean it that way, but it made her feel like she was a caged bird; and birds are supposed to be free.
Sasori raised an eyebrow. Had Yuka not heard him, or was she just that keen on reading that kind of smut? Even if it was well-written - yes, he was guilty of reading a chapter or two at some point -, he wouldn't have guessed a woman would want to read it.
Now, that was just so sexist of him, but he couldn't avoid it.
"... I'm sure Kisame would absolutely love it if you asked him for the other volumes." He said loudly, flipping a page of his own book.
"I don't mean it like that," Deidara said. "Just be careful of where you go, un. Danna, for example, has his room rigged so if anyone but him tries to get in, they get poisoned."
Yuka didn't answer Sasori. Nor had she heard him. Moments after Sasori finished what he was saying, the kunoichi fell over onto the couch, asleep. A few strands of her hair fell into Sasori's thigh, but otherwise she was not touching him.
"... 'Kay." Miya didn't need to be reminded to be careful, but she didn't say anything; she had seen how a little comment had set off a rather uncomfortable situation, so she figured a snappy comeback would do no good to either of them. "I'm going back to 'my room'." She muttered, even making that quoting sign with her hands. She had left her travel bag there and if she had nothing better to do, she could at least continue reading scrolls, like she had been only the previous day when she had been so rudely interrupted.
Sasori's eyes widened the slightest bit when Yuka fell over, not because of how she - and her hair - had ended up, but rather because it had been so sudden and unexpected: though he'd never admit it, for a split second he had thought she had fallen over dead and right now he was mentally scolding himself for not having reacted... While at the same time he was glad he hadn't or he could have scared his subordinate; it was one thing to push off a half-asleep Deidara, but pushing off a girl who hadn't actually bothered him was a completely different matter.
Deidara let Miya go to her room. She wouldn't get into any trouble in there. If Hidan came in the room in a rage, all she'd have to do would be to pull out a tampon or something and he would run away. He decided he would find Danna. He hadn't really had the typical 'quality time' with him. He walked into the living room and found Yuka taking up the whole couch that Sasori wasn't sitting on. "Danna, move her or I'm sitting on her head."
Sasori looked up at his partner, surprised not to see a shorter mess of brown hair or a pile of fluff adorned with an orange mask tagging along. Of course by that he meant the girl that he - quite fortunately - wouldn't have to deal. And Tobi.
"No." He answered quite simply, shutting the book and setting it on the couch's arm. "If you want to sit, go to your room or grab a pillow and sit on the floor."
Yuka stretched in her sleep and got into a more comfortable position. She faced the back of her couch, her legs curled and her left arm was pressed against her chest, while her right arm was tucked under her head, the top of her hand laying on Sasori's thigh where her hair was.
Deidara frowned. "You're just going to sit there and let her pretend to sleep so she can molest you?"
No, Sasori wasn't thinking very well now; it wasn't exactly the most comfortable feeling in the world to have someone else's hands where they shouldn't me. He looked down at the sleeping figure and gently moved her hand away, only to look back up at Dei. "Happy now?" He asked in a flat tone. "Or are you just jealous you're not the one doing that?"
He almost twitched at that. It was like thinking of Orochimaru come time before he left the organization... Except less creepy.
Deidara frowned. He turned and turned the TV up. Loud.
"Turn that gawddamn thing off now or I'ma gonna shove a stick up your ass," Yuka groaned irritably. How the hell could she sleep with a lot of racket?
Sasori shifted away from Yuka the slightest bit, thinking that would avoid any fault in communication - in which case he'd be the one suffering instead of his partner.
... Well, he wouldn't, he was an S-ranked criminal who'd be long gone before she could make that threat real, but even so.
"Just turn that off, brat. Or at least lower the volume." He muttered.
Deidara frowned. It took everything he had to not to knock the shit out of the kunoichi. He turned down the volume of the TV, slightly. "Why don't you take her to her room or something, Danna? Or make her take herself, un."
"Because she can be here if she wants to, just like you, Leader-sama, Tobi or anyone else." Sasori replied while rolling his eyes. He paid no attention to the television or... Anything else, for that matter. He seemed to slowly return to his not-so-unusual apathetic state. "If you're so bothered, then off my planet, brat. There's more things to do than watch television."
----
Yuka stepped outside of Pein-sama's 'office'. She had just returned from an undercover mission and had reported all the details to him. She had been serving Akatsuki for several months now. By the looks of it, she was doing a good job--she was still alive. She walked down the hallway towards her and Miya's room. The room they were now staying in was made habitable several weeks after their arrival. Yuka had hardly any time to enjoy the comforts of a room without the bloody raving Jashinist--she had been sent out on a mission, the one she had just completed. It had taken about a month and a half. She met up with Zetsu ever week or so to relay important information. Now that she was back, she had been able to give a more detailed report.
Yuka wiped her brow absentmindedly and stared at the blood that come off. She had forgotten she was bleeding. She shook her head and walked into her room. "Hey, Miya-chan!" She sat down across from her and pointed to her eyebrow. "Leader-sama said that I should have you look at this." That was completely true, too. The gash on her wasn't very deep, but it would require stitches.
Miya sighed loudly; it wasn't unusual, by now, to find her in 'her' room. Yes, she had enough liberty to walk around the hideout and the field surrounding it, or even go as far as visiting the closest town every one or twice. But it still didn't make up for the fact that only months ago she had doomed her life span to shorten a bit every day, by becoming part of the same household as a group of S-ranked criminals.
She was a pretty quiet person, usually sitting in her corner, reading, et cetera. She only ever had the need to say more than a few words or small phrases when she had to heal one of those people.
... In 'her' room. Because this Kakuzu person was too cheap and bought a couple of cheap cupboards and cheap supplies. He probably hoped half of the people in Akatsuki had a cheap deaths at the hand of a Konoha medic nin.
One that, over time, proved to have some sort of personality issue. It wasn't that she was bipolar or had multiple personalities, but she had odd personality changes. She'd often just smile and say it was a 'little monster biting at the back of [her head'.
The brunette hadn't expected anyone to show up now; she was actually going to take a nap - staring at the wall was making her sleep - when her eyes snapped open. "N-nani? Yuka-san, you're finally back?" She blinked; was this some sort of weird dream sequence?
Apparently not.
She smiled, focusing on her wounded eyebrow. "You can't imagine how much I missed something that wasn't a paper cut or a pike through the stomach..." Miya shook her head and stood up for a moment, heading to one of those 'cheap cupboards' and took out a few things, then she sat back down next to Yuka. "Alright then, how've you been?" She asked.
The Konoha girl didn't need much concentration to take care of a wound; she had started by 'numbing' the spot slightly after cleaning most of the blood away and she was going to dew a few stitches. It wouldn't hurt.
Yuka grinned. "Same old. I enjoyed that village I was at...they had a very big brewery. Very nice." She couldn't bring herself to mention anything about her mission. She had just had a seemingly three-hour long meeting concerning it. "I figured I'd celebrate for a successful mission...Had some sake at a bar...and got in a fight. Funny how it didn't stop bleeding, huh?" It was odd that her wound bled so much. Yuka didn't get injured too often, so it just might have been that she wasn't used to bleeding.
Tobi looked down at his finger and sniffled. He had another paper cut. He ran into Miya's room to get her to fix it but stopped in the doorway when he say Yuka. "Yuka-san is back?" He grinned happily until he saw blood. "Oh no!" He ran out of the room to Sasori and Deidara's room. "Sasori-san! Yuka-san is back! She's bleeding! I think she's going to die!"
Deidara grunted loudly at Tobi's loud intrusion. The blond had been enjoying a nice cat nap. "Damn it, Tobi, do you know how to be quiet, un?"
"Heh, sounds pretty fun... Or would sound if it wasn't for the whole 'more than just fun' factor." Miya frowned in concentration; she was always afraid her hand might slip and she might stick a needle in someone's eye. "And yeah, I suppose it's a bit odd that it didn't stop bleeding, but it's not a first." She looked to her side for a moment like someone had just told her something, then shrugged and went back to finish sewing the cut. She was about to finish it up when someone came in. Tobi, to be exact, and he seemed to have the wrong idea about Yuka's wound.
"No, wait!" But he was already out of the room. She sighed. "He's always like this."
Sasori dropped the glass eye he was about to place on a small puppet as soon as Tobi - rather rudely - came into the room and announced Yuka's return... And current state?
That's what had shocked the puppet master enough for him to let that precious blue orb shatter on the floor. However, he paid no attention to that.
He stood up and headed over to the doorway, only stopping to glance back at his partner. "Of course he doesn't. Apparently you don't understand an imbeciles' mentality. And I thought you would have learned something with yourself." She shook his head and walked out the door. "Lead the way, Tobi."
Yuka smiled despite herself. "I look that bad then?" Tobi over exaggerating was one thing...but his reaction seemed greater than that.
Tobi beckoned Sasori to follow him and raced to Miya's room. "See, see?"
Deidara got up. Tobi has ruined his sleep, there was no way he'd be able to get back to sleeping until later that night. He followed Tobi with Sasori and walked into Miya's room and got a good look at Yuka. "Idiot, she's not dying, un."
"No, of course not." Miya shook her head; she had gotten used to Tobi's personality only enough to not give him a 'what the hell' kind of look whenever he overreacted to a certain situation. She looked over as Tobi came back with two of the three resident artists. "No shit, you actually believed that?" The brunette asked upon hearing the blonde's rather obvious statement. She turned her attention back to finishing the process of sewing the cut. "Okay, all done."
"... I see a cut on her forehead." Sasori said bluntly as he and the other two reached the doorway. He sighed, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. "Do you need to be constantly reminded of the difference between a small wound and a lethal one? Or should I exemplify it for you?" He glared up at the masked man. "Just run off after those butterflies Zetsu is going to set free. And see if you break your neck while you're at it."
Tobi's mouth gaped. "But it was on her head!" He looked at his feet while Sasori chastised him rather cruelly. He sniffled loudly. "I'm sorry, Sasori-san!" Hearing the word 'butterfly' he smiled broadly. "Butterflies?" He skipped out of the room to find Zetsu.
Deidara shook his head. Tobi could be such an idiot. No, it wasn't could be. It was that he was.
Yuka touched her eyebrow, feeling her stitches. "Thank you, Miya-chan!" She frowned slightly. "It won't scar, will it?" Yuka really didn't mind scars, but she didn't particularly want one on her face.