Yumeji sighed and closed her eyes, finally giving up.
It was impossible...
Shutting Tobi up was absolutely, positively, totally impossible.
"Jiji-san! Look, look!"
"Neh, that's nice Tobi..." Yumeji muttered, not even bothering to open her eyes. Tobi, who had turned away from whatever he had been doing, peered at Yumeji through the hole in his swirled mask.
"Jiji-san, you're not even looking..."
"Yes I am." Yumeji said, resting her head on her fist, her eyes still screwed shut tightly. "I can see through my eyelids."
Silence.
"REALLY?!"
...
Urgh. That boy couldn't sense a hint of sarcasm.
How the hell had Tobi gotten accepted into the Akatsuki anyways?
Yumeji sighed, successfully ignoring Tobi.
When the said man received no response, he surprisingly grew quiet.
Kami-sama.
Yumeji had been dreaming of this moment ever since Deidara left.
Maybe the impossible really was possible...
Although Yumeji's eyes were still closed, she could tell that Tobi had turned his attentions back to his current activity, because there was a little 'plop' noise that followed his silence.
Fully knowing that he was doing something that most likely would drive her to strike him again, Yumeji exhaled, trying her best to ignore the childish young man.
The woman had tried to have a decent conversation with Tobi, specifically about why he and Deidara were here, but unfortunately that hadn't worked out. Tobi was surprisingly secretive. He wouldn't utter a word about himself, Deidara, or the Akatsuki's plans like Yumeji had hoped he would. Alas, he kept going ADD and poking at Sasori, not seeming to learn his lesson from Yumeji's constant screeches.
Yesterday, when her and Deidara had had that interesting "confrontation", her mind had seemed to run blank. She had forgotten her suspicions momentarily, seeming to grow more entranced with Deidara and his injuries.
However, after her first full night of sleep in a week, Yumeji was fully refreshed and completely aware. She did have to thank Deidara though; he had offered to keep watch over Sasori's body, so Yumeji could rest.
At first she was a bit skeptic, mainly because of her unease about Tobi, but after some gentle coxing by her old friend, Yumeji had reluctantly given in. However when she awoke this morning, Deidara was no where to be found.
Tobi had said that he had gone on a "super secret mission" and would be back later in the afternoon.
Yumeji was almost positive that it had something to do with who had caused Deidara's injuries, but she merely nodded her head in response and sat down at the coffee table, watching Tobi out of the corner of her eye do odd things she couldn't even think of names for.
And currently, she had seemed to take on that sport again.
He was huddled over something in the far corner of the room, his arms working in hyper-speed. Yumeji, somewhat worried at how quiet he was being (Tobi hadn't been this quiet the three hours Yumeji had been with him) stood up and walked over towards the odd boy.
"Neh, what are you doing Tobi?" Yumeji asked, leaning over his shoulder as she reached him. However no matter how far the grey haired girl leaned, she couldn't catch a glimpse at what Tobi was so diligently working on.
Suddenly, he stood up, causing Yumeji to stumble back awkwardly. As she straightened up, a mass of color was abruptly shoved in her face.
"Jiji-san, look what I did for you!"
Yumeji inhaled sharply, staring at the mass in front of her.
It was her geisha puppet.
And...
Tobi had drawn her a face.
Yumeji gazed blankly back at the doll's crudely drawn face. It looked as if a child had taken black ink and splattered it across its face, trying to make it look beautiful for their Kaa-san or Oto-san.
For all she knew, that's what Tobi had done, because he seemed to grow fond of calling her "Jiji-san" and treating her like a real grandma. Maybe one could even consider it a filial affection...
However this simple act of kindness, if you could call it that, was overlooked.
Yumeji was filled with sudden anxiety. She was sure she had stored the doll away in her knapsack before Deidara and Tobi had even been in the room. And how could Tobi have known that she thought it needed a face?
Was Yumeji over-analyzing the situation at hand? Or should she be licitly concerned?
But then the woman realized something else. All her nervousness was swallowed by sudden anger.
She had wanted Sasori to paint it a face.
Not Tobi.
"Jiji-san...don't you like it?"
"..."
"Jiji-san-?"
"YOU BASTARD!"
Upon Deidara's return, he was greeted with an almost humorous sight.
The first thing he saw was a fuming Yumeji, who had her foot placed roughly on top of Tobi's head, stomping down on it violently less Tobi make any sort of protest. Deidara's partner was stooped over something small and fragile looking.
Hm.
Yumeji's geisha. That wooden thing Sasori had madder her awhile ago...
He vaguely remembered stealing it from Yumeji once...
"Neh, make sure you get all that shit off of it!"
"Ah Jiji-san that hurts!"
Deidara, having not been noticed, slipped quietly into the room and headed over towards the bed where Sasori was still located. He watched his Danna with a hint of sadness; although he and Sasori argued often, Deidara held a worship-like respect for the puppet man.
The blonde artist unconciously placed his hand on top of Sasori's head, admiring how soft and real his amber colored hair was...
"Deidara-sempai?"
Caught in an embarrassing gesture of care, Deidara's hand immediately shot back behind his head, rubbing it vigorously as if nothing had ever happened, his cheeks a bright pink. "H-hey Tobi! Jiji-chan! How's it going, yeah?"
"Good." Yumeji answered shortly pretending to ignore Deidara's affection towards Sasori and obviously still peeved at Tobi's inconsiderate act of painting on her precious puppet (as Deidara had just noticed a pot of ink nearby, which made him immediately jump to the correct conclusion). She was now cradling the doll like a child, idly making Deidara wonder if Yumeji would be a good mother...Would she ever get married and have kids...?
Most likely not.
Deidara turned away from Yumeji, and faced Tobi. His usually joking voice was laced with seriousness, taking over the awkward situation from before. "Tobi, it's time to get going."
Tobi, not even affected by the words, jumped up from his sitting position and nodded. "Alright Deidara-sempai!"
Yumeji glanced at Tobi. "You're leaving already?" Her voice sounded almost relieved, which made Deidara suddenly feel unimportant.
However, the artist knew for a fact that it was because she was unsure about Tobi. Deidara was to, but he wouldn't admit it.
Deidara also knew that she was running out of time; she had to finish the final repairs on Sasori's body so she could perform the "technique" as she so fondly put it. When he asked if she could explain more about this "resurrection" technique she was planning on executing the girl merely turned her head away and grew quiet.
The Iwa native knew he should have questioned her more, but he decided that Yumeji was old enough and smart enough to make her own decisions now.
She was also more self-controlled, so Deidara believed in his old friend.
He brushed aside his inferior feelings.
"Jiji-chan, we've got some business to do, yeah."
"Yeah, business." Tobi echoed, walking towards the door with a small wave at his "Jiji".
Yumeji merely nodded her head and looked up at Deidara. The man turned to Tobi and gestured him to leave, which shockingly he did, after a few moment of hesitation though. Tobi shut the door behind him, not slamming it this time.
They were alone.
The grey haired girl stepped closer to Deidara, her grey eyes catching his aqua ones in a soft stare. "It has something to do with those "demon" things, right?"
"Yeah."
"You still not gonna tell me what happened to your arm?"
Deidara shrugged, amused that she was still anxious to know. "Maybe next time, yeah."
Yumeji smiled. "Okay, next time..."
There was a moment of silence as the two of them watched each other.
"You aren't going to tell me why you came here either, are you?" Yumeji suddenly whispered as she placed her geisha doll on Sasori's nearby bed. Deidara closed his eyes.
"No."
"Why not?"
Deidara opened his eyes and smirked. "Well, you didn't tell me about the technique..." Yumeji frowned, knowing where this was going. "So we're even, yeah."
The girl crossed her arms, her scowl growing deeper. "You're so damn annoying Deidara."
"I know, yeah." Deidara turned his gaze towards the ground. Yumeji seemed to subside her irritation as well. "You should get going." She said softly, following Deidara's eyes to the ground. She stared awkwardly at her feet.
"Yeah..."
Another moment of silence.
"Hey Deidara-chikan?"
Deidara looked up, catching sight of Yumeji smiling at him now. "Neh, be careful out there, okay?"
The blonde artist gave the girl a small smile before stepping closer to her. Their bodies were now touching. "I will, yeah."
Yumeji gazed up at Deidara long and hard before raising herself up by her tip-toes, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. For a moment, Yumeji had the notion that maybe she could go with him...
But she knew that was impossible. She had Sasori to take care of, and Deidara...well, he had Tobi.
It ended as quickly as it came, because as soon as her ridiculous thoughts drew themselves out, her lips were met once again by the room's dusty, cold air. Deidara was standing next to the open inn door, seeming to move as if on fast forward.
The grey haired girl was still rooted to her spot.
"When you leave the village, tell the inn keeper, yeah." Deidara said, his back to Yumeji. His voice sounded monotone as he spoke, for he knew that as soon as Sasori and the girl were ready, she would disappear. She had explained her plans late last night. That is, if her technique worked...
Yumeji idly touched her lips. They were freezing. "She's a spy, isn't she?"
Deidara nodded, even thought Yumeji couldn't see, and opened the once closed door. The handle felt horribly cold in his warm hands. "Not mine; she's a spy for another Akatsuki member, Hidan, yeah."
"So she'll report to this Hidan and he'll report to you?" The grey haired girl asked quietly.
Deidara took a step out the door. "He said he would do me that small favor, surprisingly, yeah."
Yumeji turned to gaze at Deidara's back, her hand back at her side. He was now looking at her as well.
"Neh, Deidara-chikan, find me as soon as you can."
"Don't worry...I will, yeah."
"Bye, Deidara."
And with that he was gone. There was a soft creaking noise, and soon following that, the door was shut again.
Yumeji glanced over at Sasori's form. She wondered what he would think of her if he had seen that. He most likely would have been disappointed with her, being so fragile and weak acting.
Oh well.
Yumeji was human after all. A rather unstable one, surprisingly.
She sighed inaudibly before walking over towards the dusty window, wiping her gloved hand against it to clear a view. Yumeji could see Deidara and Tobi exiting the inn. Deidara glanced up at the window, which caused Yumeji to smile and wave.
But Deidara didn't seem to see her gesture, because he quickly swiveled around to speak with Tobi.
Yumeji closed her eyes as she pressed her fingers against the glass of the window, her smile deepening momentarily.
However, in due time that smile would become a painful reminder of what she could have had...
Because that was the last time she ever saw Deidara.
"There, finished."
With a deep, satisfied breath, Yumeji stood up from her work, her hands on her hips. She studied the intricate black design she had drawn, making sure the swirling ink that Tobi had used earlier that day was neat and perfect in every way. Pleased with the outcome of the design, she stepped back and walked over towards Sasori's bed, where she had set down the chakra container she had created earlier.
Taking that in one hand, she tucked it under her arm, also making a grab for Sasori's old, cracked container that Yumeji had somewhat repaired a few nights ago. She studied the cylinder before nodding her head, reassured that she had done her work correctly.
After all, she had checked over her repairs at least four times now.
Everything was ready for the first phase of Sasori's revival.
Yes, there were two phases; the first comprised of transferring Sasori's chakra back into his original "heart", as it was the only thing able to hold his chakra permanently and efficiently. Yumeji was slightly worried about the state of the container, as she had tried to repair it the best she could, however there were still multiple lacerations. Yumeji didn't have a choice though, seeing as it was the only thing that she knew would be able to hold Sasori's strong chakra within itself.
The second phase would be inserting the chakra container back into Sasori's body, which in Yumeji's opinion, would be the easy part. That is, if the crappy old container didn't break on her.
Yumeji knew for a fact that this first phase was going to cause her pain to the point where she wanted to just die. She would most likely feel it after she came out of her destined coma-like stupor though, gradually allowing the girl to prepare herself for it.
Yumeji, who was now pulling her hair back to avoid the blocking of vision, was aware of the risks due to the fact that she had done this technique once before. It was incredibly difficult and tiring to do so, but not impossible.
However, even if Yumeji did have the experience, there was no plausible way that she could do both phases at once. She'd most likely screw it up, meaning the complete death of Sasori. And maybe even herself...she wasn't sure, and she didn't particularly want to find out.
So she decided to schedule them following one another. She would perform the chakra transfer first, and then tomorrow (hopefully tomorrow, if she wasn't in too much pain), she would place Sasori's artificial life force back into his body.
He would be alive again.
Yumeji, now sitting in the center of her sealing design, placed the two containers side by side. The newer one was warm to the touch, due to Sasori's chakra that was sheltered inside of it. The older one was quite the opposite, cold.
However the older container was much prettier, even with its mild damage.
It did have the "scorpion" kanji mark that Yumeji so ardently admired, unlike the blank, warm one after all.
With her design ready and the two containers in front of her, Yumeji crossed her legs and closed her eyes, willing her chakra to beckon at her call. Once again taking deep, controlled breaths, Yumeji placed her hands together into a diamond formation, centering the symbol above her heart.
Before issuing her transfer jutsu, she thought of Kabuto. It was a random thought, considering she hadn't even remotely been thinking about him recently, but she none the less found herself almost smiling as her chakra began to pool in her chest.
He had been a kind, wonderful sensei. Although Yumeji doubted his loyalty towards Sasori (and also Orochimaru), the woman trusted him in a strange way.
Maybe it was her ignorance speaking, but she knew that this complicated jutsu he had taught her was aiding in her goal of reviving Sasori.
Yumeji was one to trust people easily.
It had ruined her five years ago, after all.
But...
She knew that this was the way.
Yumeji didn't really have a choice anyways. It was either this jutsu Kabuto had which would cause incredible pain or it was Chiyo's that would ultimately kill her, due to its large chakra consumption. Yumeji respected Chiyo for putting so much effort into being able to save Sasori, but she found it kind of sad that she would kill herself for it.
Yumeji was willing to take risks, but she didn't want to die; she wanted to see Sasori again. And Deidara, and Kabuto...and maybe even Tobi, even if he was annoying...
Kabuto's jutsu, although it did have a chance at death if the body wasn't capable of handling the pain, was the best way to go.
Yumeji tightened her closed eyes.
"I created this jutsu to return life to a lifeless puppet..."
"...So you're willing to sacrifice yourself for him Chiyo-baasama?"
"And you're not?"
"No silly Baabaa, I would want to be able to see him again."
"...Then why are you here?"
"Because I want to learn more about him..."
Yumeji relaxed and opened her eyes.
"Kon tensou no jutsu!"
Her black ink design reacted, seeming to twirl against the dark wood of the floor as it stretched itself around the room, eventually slithering its way up Yumeji's arms and towards her heart...
Pain.
The ink danced along her like a kaleidoscope. Yumeji winced as it danced among her, feeling as if it was fire, burning her.
It was beautiful in a somewhat horrifying way.
The two chakra containers began to glow with a crimson shade of light. Yumeji raised her voice again, trying not to cry:
"Gokuin!"
Yumeji couldn't feel her arms as pain shot numbly up her spine and in a matter of seconds, her body went limp, causing her to fall completely to the floor, unconscious from the sudden pain that she wouldn't feel until she awakened...
The ink faded, leaving Yumeji's body and dousing the room in silence. The container Yumeji had created splintered into pieces, scattering around the original chakra sealer.
The kanji mark of the remained container glowed red momentarily, before fading away...
"Why would you want to learn more about him? What would you want to learn about him? Who are you...exactly?"
"I'm his apprentice. And..."
The first phase was complete.
"I want to know why he gave away his humanity."
Funny picture in results!
WELL, I thought it was funny. >_>;
Anyways, I can't tell if I like this update or not. Neh.
-_-; Anyways...I threw in that SasoDei thing more out of the friendship pairing...it plays a huge part in the story.
Pick and message please?
