When I woke up, it was nighttime. The crescent moon blanketed everything in soft silver light and the stars sparkled prettily in the vast sky, winking at the Earth. Wind rushed noisily around me and tugged violently at my hair and clothes, and the crisp air burned my lungs and chilled me thouroughly. When I tried to move, I found I couldn't. I was rapped up tightly, but with what? To my right I saw what must have been a large bird; it had large wings and bird-like legs.
I suddenly realized I wasn't touching the ground. My panic rising, I looked all around me and had to hold back a scream; I was hundreds of feet in the air!
"So you're awake," an unfamiliar voice said.
I jerked my head up and looked at the stranger. I couldn't see his features very well, but he definitly wasn't one of the guys from earlier. I stared at him, my mind not functioning properly.
"Huh? What's going on?" I asked in a shaky voice.
"Is she awake Sasori no Danna, hmm?" a different stranger asked.
"Yeah," the first, Sasori, replied.
Something in my mind clicked. These were the two that other guy had been talking about! Sasori and...Deidara!
"Uh...C-can you get me out of here?" I asked shyly.
Sasori and Deidara looked at me. Suddenly, whatever had me wrapped up tight let go, and I started to fall. A scream escaped my mouth, and butterflies fluttered hectically in my stomach. Luckily, the giant bird they were sitting on caught me before I could fall to my death.
I automatically clung tightly to the vearest one of them. After a moment I realized what I was doing and quickly let go. I looked away from them, hoping the darkness would hide the warm blush that was blooming rapidly across my face. Tears formed in my eyes from fear and embarrassment, but I quickly blinked them away. The one I had been clinging to just chuckled in amusement. I could feel the blush on my face deepen, and I cursed at myself in my mind for being so shy. Curse me for getting my mother's shyness.
I was sitting in between Deidara and Sasori, Deidara being the one I had clung to. I kept my eyes focused on the bird. I hadn't known I was afraid of heights until now. Well, you learn something new everyday, right?
Before long we were slowly descending. I sighed in relief. I was finally on the ground again! I looked around; we were in the middle of a dense forest. Little critters could be heard scuttling around, but they never made themselves seen. Deidara and Sasori were spreading blankets on the ground to sleep on when I noticed there wasn't a fire.
"D-don't we need a fire?" I inquired.
"Only if we want someone to find us," Sasori stated simply.
"I want someone to find us," I said quietly.
Deidara snickered. "Kinda sucks to be you then, hmm."
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Hours passed by. Deidara was sound asleep (I think) and Sasori was working on a puppet.
"How come you're not sleeping?" I asked.
He hadn't slept yet, which made me curious.
He looked from his puppet. "I could ask you the same thing."
"I'm not allowed to sleep," I told him. "I'm not trying to run away though," I added.
What the heck? Why had I felt the need to add that last part? I mentally slapped myself for being so stupid.
A long period of silence fell between us. God, I was so bored. I picked up a twig and started drawing in the dirt, even though I wasn't really that great at it. I drew some random doodles and sighed. What I REALLY wanted to do was write.
I put the twig down and looked up at the stars. I wondered about how Kakashi was, if he had gotten away from those other two, if he had completed the mission, it he was looking for me. I hoped so. I didn't want to be a part of whatever sick things the akatsuki had planned, and I DEFINITLY didn't want to be labeled as a criminal.
"What village are you from?" I questioned tentatively.
He didn't look up from his puppet and he didn't respond right away. I thought he wasn't going to, but he finally did in that uninterested voice of his.
"Suna."
"Why did you leave?"
"Reasons."
I narrowed my eyes at him. What was his problem anyway? Every time I heard him talk he sounded as if he was going to die of boredom, and he didn't really answer questions that well. I hoped he wasn't one of those people who thinks they're too good for stuff.
The longing to sleep finally caught up to me, as it did every night. It made my heart heavy and took away my interest in everything else. It also usually brought back memories of my ruined childhood. I stared at one spot for a long time, the memories starting to flood my mind...
I woke up from my slumber, feeling like I had been beaten up. I brought my hand to my mouth to cover up a yawn and dropped something in the process; the silver blade of a knife glinted in the early morning light.
My entire body froze. I looked down at my hands; they were covered in fresh blood. I tore my eyes away from my hands and saw that the room I was in was covered in the recently shed blood of my best friend.
A piercing scream erupted from my six year-old throat that seemed to shatter the sky. Before I knew it, I was running as fast as I could...
"Hey! Are you listening, hmm?" Deidara asked, obviously annoyed.
"Uhh..."
It was morning. I had been reminiscing for hours!?!
"Are you gonna get up or what?!"
Tears sprang to my eyes. "Y-yeah. S-sorry."
Deidara sighed. "C'mon."
For the first time, I was able to see what they looked like. Deidara had long blonde hair that covered half of his face and was partly in a messy ponytail with a visible blue-green eye that carried a friendly look in it, and Sasori had short, fluffy redish brown hair and brown eyes that carried no emotion.
Sasori, Deidara, and I got on the bird (me in the middle again) and took off. Oh god. Today was going to seriously suck, me being afraid of heights and all. Of course, there was also the fact that we were heading to the akatsuki base. Yeah, today was going to suck.
