17. Secrets

I had been sitting in the middle of the training room zoned out for most of the day, I was completely exhausted of the little energy I had to begin with and decided to quit while I was ahead. While laying in the middle of the floor I'd closed my eyes so I could completely relax my mind and body.

"Tila! Are you alive? Un" Deidara call out, I sat up quickly and looked over as he walked towards me, he realised I was fine before taking a seat beside me. So much for relaxing.

"Yeah I'm alive, I was just meditating." I spoke softly, turning my body to face him. "Yeah... I knew that I was just making sure," he slightly exaggeratedly, I could tell he was trying to play it off cool.

"Sure, sure. You were worried, weren't you?" I teased. He scoffs. "No way, What're you doing here anyways? I heard you were out of commission for a few days, un" His face became more serious.

"Wow, Word travels fast around here.. Anyway, I'm fine. I've got more important things to worry about." I look down at my palms as I think about this technique Kakuzu had been trying to teach me.

"Like what?" He questioned. "Well, I'm supposed to be fighting someone and I don't know who.. I've seen your Jutsu Dei, It's fucking amazing..."

I glance back up and see Deidara's surprise. "You really think so? Then what's the problem? Un" He questions. "Yeah I do think so.. But the problem is, How am I going to go up against your explosive technique? Or if I'm up against Sasori's puppets?" I say, feeling a little more nervous.

Suddenly, Deidara nudges me. A small squeal escapes me as I fall onto my side. Before I can yell at him, he starts going on a tangent "Don't be ridiculous! Leader recruited you for a good reason Til, anyways Sasori's easy to beat! I could beat him with my eyes closed, Hm" He holds out his hand and pulls me back into a sitting position.

"I guess your right, I'm overthinking it.. Oh and please don't push me over again?" I look at him and notice he's cheeks were the slightest shade of pink. "Couldn't help it, You were talking nonsense so I had to knock it out of you yeah?" I chuckle at Deidara's antics.

"Whatever" I smile. As I get up and brush the little bits of dirt off my jeans, Dei follows. He looks at me for a moment. I think about this Storm Release stuff again, wonder how I'm going to use it.. Kakuzu never told me that part so I had no idea what to do when I finally did get the Chakra natures to infuse. "I need to find Kakuzu, do you know where he is?" I asked.

Dei pointed to the hallway in the middle of all the others. "His rooms down there, I'll take you, un" he gesturing for me to follow him. I follow as we both headed down the corridor. This one wasn't as wide as the others and I wondered how a big guy like Kakuzu could fit. Deidara and I had trouble squeezing through as we walked side by side.

We finally reach a massive dark green door, Deidara knocked loudly a few times. "Ey Kakuzu! You there? Got someone here to see you yeah?" He says loudly. No reply, maybe he wasn't there or maybe he was avoiding me. I didn't know but I guess I could wait until the next time I see him to ask.

Deidara turns back me. "No ones home, hm. He's probably out on a bounty, come to think of it."

"Oh well." I try and brush my disappointment off. Deidara grabs my shoulders and turns me back around in the direction we came. I walk back down the hallway with him leading me. We finally get back to the training room and he waves bye to me before heading down the far left hallway. I wave back. I'm pretty tired, I should go and get back into bed before Sasori realises I didn't rest at all today..

I started walking back. When I get there I have a quick shower then brush and tie up my hair so it's in a long messy ponytail with a few loose strands. I get into my pyjamas and stand in the middle of Sasori's bedroom. My eyes avert themselves towards his desk, I notice a small vial sitting there.

I pick it up and have a closer look at the dark purple liquid, this must be a vial of Sasori's poison. I go over towards my bag and pull out a small scroll, placing it on the floor and opening it up. A large black circle made of Kanji character is within the centre.

I put my hands together and summon a small empty vial, I pick it up and grab Sasori's vial. Dropping a few drops of his poison into my empty vial before putting it back.

It doesn't hurt to take a sample right? I believed that it was never good to leave margin for error. If the time came that I would need to administer my own antidote then better to make one when I had the opportunity.

I laid down and snuggled Sasori's pillows for what seemed like an eternity, Sasori never came back. It must have been late but I couldn't sleep, maybe I had insomnia... I got up and put my slippers on, maybe I should go for a walk.

Deciding that was a good idea, I headed down the hallway towards the training room. There was no one there, I pick a random hall and walk down it. I hadn't gotten far when I hear voices, I walked closer to the door it was coming from and stood in front of it to listen. Was it a bad habit of stumbling across private conversations I had?

"It's none of your concern." A deep cold voice says, then, the door swings wide open and a tall guy with dark black hair and red eyes walked out briskly. He hadn't bothered to notice me, maybe because I was so much shorter than him.

Wait.. The Sharingun? I didn't have much time to think before Dei's voice call out to me. "Tila? What're you doing here?" He asked as he came closer to the wide open doorway.

"I.. Couldn't sleep, Sasori isn't back yet and.." I stammered. He grabbed my wrist and led me into his room then closed the door behind me.

"Don't stress yeah? He's always out for prolonged periods of time, it's normal for him, un" He ruffles my hair. I look up at him.

"Oh okay" I say softly. He looks puzzled for a moment. "Stay with me tonight, you'll be fine okay?"

I stand there and stare down at the floor for a moment as I question myself...

What could Sasori be doing? Why was it normal for him to be out for prolonged periods of time? And why didn't he need to eat? Was there something that I wasn't getting or?

All of a sudden I felt Deidara gently push me backwards. "Ah! What're you doing?" I squeal, feeling myself fall onto his bed. "It's already decided your staying with me tonight, un" he says. I look up and that cheeky little smirk of his couldn't be more obvious, it was from ear to ear.

He lays down next to me, I sigh. "Okay, you win" He pulls up the covers and throws them on top of me then gets under. He leans over to turn off the light. "Goodnight Tila" he says between a yawn. I snuggle up into his comfy pillows. "Goodnight."

We both go silent and I close my eyes, my mind starts to twist and curve, random thoughts being thrown at me like Shuriken. Does Sasori have some kind of secret? What is it? Am I being paranoid? Why do I even care so much? Maybe I'm becoming complacent? Who was that guy with the Sharingun? Could it be Susuke's older brother...?

Even more importantly... I need to learn these Jutsu as soon as possible. I don't know who I'm fighting but .. I need to be ready. All this thinking started to wear away the last ounce of energy I had left, I felt Deidara's surprisingly muscular arm slip underneath my small frame and pull me into his side and I fell asleep cuddled awkwardly into his armpit. It didn't smell so at this point I just wanted to sleep more than anything.