CREATING AKATSUKI part 9

The weasel looked up to see his friend staring at his arm. Damn, he’d forgotten about those cuts! “Itachi, why is your arm cut up?”

The Uchiha slowly rose to his feet, not looking into Kisame’s eyes. “I’ll tell you back home,” he muttered, walking towards the exit of the store. Groceries could wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Itachi flopped down onto his couch, with Kisame sitting next to him. “Alright, spill. I want the entire story.”

“The whole thing?” Itachi smirked. “All right. Here it is.

A while back, when I was still a little kid, I lived with my brother and parents. Things were pretty good; my family had money, my brother and I were smart, and our parents were ok.

Then, one night, I was in our car with mom and dad. We started arguing, dad’s eyes left the road, and we crashed. They died that night, and I escaped without a scratch.”

“Is that why your family hates you?” Kisame asked. “Because they blame you for the crash.”

“If only it were that simple,” Itachi murmured. “After that, weird things started happening to me.

My brother Sasuke and I went to live with our aunt and uncle. Our uncle fell off a ladder and broke his neck two days after we arrived, and our aunt met the same fate when she slipped on a bar of soap in the shower.

Sasuke was sent to live with our distant cousins then, and I moved in with another aunt and cousin. About three days after I arrived, a fire burned their house to the ground. I got out; they didn’t.

Finally, I moved in with three of my cousins, who were the only ones left that would take me in. We got on a bus to go back to their home. Everything was fine, until the driver fell asleep at the wheel. We went off the road, and the bus overturned. Guess who lived, and guess who died.”

“They think you’re a jinx,” Kisame said, finally realizing the truth.

“That’s right. They were scared stiff that something would happen to them if they took me in, so they finally settled on getting me an apartment, away from everyone else. My parents’ life insurance is divided in half now; part of it goes to Sasuke, and the other half to me.”

“But that still doesn’t explain your cuts,” Kisame pointed out.

“I started keeping track of how many people died because of me,” Itachi explained, holding out his arm for Kisame to see. “The scars under my eyes are for my parents, and the other cuts on my arm are for everyone else.”

“I’m sorry,” Kisame said.

“Don’t be. I hate them all.”

“Itachi, why would they send Tobi here if they thought you’d kill him?”

“Because they wanted him dead. They always thought Tobi wasn’t the right kind of Uchiha; he’s not particularly smart or strong, and he always wears that mask. They think he’s a disgrace to the Uchiha name, and they were hoping that by sending him here, they’d get rid of him.”

“…That’s sick.”

“And that’s why I sent him to live with Pein and them. So at least he’s safe.”

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“Tobi? Where is he…” Zetsu was looking all over the house, in hopes of finding the masked teen. His good side desperately wanted to apologize to the boy, and his dark side wasn’t putting up much of a fight.

“Tobi!” Zetsu finally returned to his room, where he found the Uchiha sitting on his bed. “There he is.”

The schizo walked up to the boy, hoping to talk to him. “Tobi, can we-“

“Tobi’s being a good boy, Zetsu. Tobi’s being nice and quiet like Zetsu wanted.”

“Tobi, I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“What do you think? Stealing your mask.” The schizo walked closer to the boy, sitting beside him. “Tobi, why do you even wear that mask?”

“Will Zetsu be a good boy and keep a secret?” Tobi asked.

“Oh for PETA’s sake-yes.”

Tobi began twiddling his thumbs. “Madara always smiles about everything. People started saying Madara was stupid for smiling like that. Then they started saying Madara was a stupid name. Then they just said Madara was stupid. So Madara changed his name to Tobi, and started wearing the mask. People make fun of Tobi, but not as much as Madara.”

Zetsu stared at the teen, unable to find the right words that would comfort the boy. “Tobi, may I please see you without your mask?”

“You’ll laugh at Tobi,” the boy said quietly.

“I promise I won’t. Promise.”

Tobi seemed to think for a moment, before gently reaching up and removing his mask. Zetsu grabbed his chin and made Tobi turn to face him, looking the boy over. “What a cute face…”

“Huh?”

Zetsu let the boy go and rose to his feet. “I have to water my garden now. And Tobi?”

“Yes Zetsu?”

“Keep the mask on. From now on, I’m the only one privileged enough to see your face.”

Tobi sat on the bed, thinking, before a big grin broke out on his face. “Zetsu likes Tobi!” The boy quickly put on his mask and rushed up the stairs. Time to glomp a certain schizophrenic teen.

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“Sasori danna!”

The redhead was abruptly woken up by a certain blonde grabbing his ankles and dragging him out of bed. “Brat, what are you doing?!”

“Waking you up so we can make pancakes, un!”

“What makes you think I can cook pancakes?” Sasori growled as he was dragged down the hall.

“Dunno, un. But we can at least try, un!”

Half an hour later the kitchen was a complete mess, and a plate of pancakes were on the table, waiting to be devoured by the artists. “Thanks for helping me make breakfast, danna,” Deidara said.

“Can I go back to sleep now?” Sasori asked.

“No, danna!”

“Brat, I am tired. Let me go back to sleep.”

“But I know how to get you to wake up, un.”

“…How?”

“PANCAKE FIGHT!” The Akasuna felt something warm and sticky collide with his face before he could react, followed by the sounds of Deidara laughing and taking off.

For a moment, all Sasori could do was sit there and stare. He finally rose to his feet, grabbing the plate of pancakes Deidara had managed to forget. “That blonde is dead.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deidara had finally been able to wash all the syrup out of his hair, and was heading into the kitchen to get some dinner. “Who knew danna was such a good shot-“ but the rest of his thought was cut off by something. Or rather, someone.

There was a rather well-dressed brunette standing in his kitchen, holding a mirror in one hand while she applied makeup with the other.

Deidara stared at the strange woman. She finally finished applying her makeup and had put it up, when Deidara caught her eye. She smiled. “Deidara!”

The next thing the sculptor knew, the woman was hugging him. “Hi sweetie! Oh, it’s been forever since I’ve seen you!”

“Hi mom,” Deidara replied, finally recognizing the woman as his mother. She’d changed a lot in the three months he hadn’t seen her.

“Deidara, I’ve gotta run. Some friends and I are going out to eat.” She pulled away from her son and frowned. “We’re really going to have to do something about your hair.”

“But I like it long, un.”

“And that speech problem of yours…” she waved her hand dismissively in the air. “Oh well. Your father’s out of town on a business trip and won’t be back until next week. Bye!” And with that she was out the door. A moment later, Deidara heard a car engine start up, and his mom took off.

For the first time in a long while, Deidara felt an aching in his chest. He ran to the door and opened it, bolting outside and down the street.

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DING DONG

“Hmm?” Konan rose from her place on the couch and opened the door to reveal a visibly shaken blonde. “Deidara?!”

“Is Sasori here, un?” he asked quietly.

“Um, yeah. He’s in the attic; follow me.” Konan led the blonde through the house and up the stairs, wondering what was wrong. She stopped at the end of the hall and reached up, grabbing a rope and pulling down. A hatch opened and a ladder fell down. “Sasori, Deidara’s here,” she called out.

Deidara hurried up the steps into a rather spacious attic. There wasn’t much up there, save for a bed and a few odds and ends. Sasori was currently sitting on the bed, looking over a puppet. He stopped when he saw Deidara, setting the puppet aside. “Dei, what’s-“

“DANNA!” The blonde tackled Sasori, hugging him tightly. “I don’t fit into their lives, danna.”

“Whose?”

“My parents, un!” Deidara looked up at Sasori with tears in his eyes. “I don’t fit into their lives, un. That’s why they’re never around, Sasori danna.”

“Shh, Deidara…” the redhead held the blonde to his chest, trying to calm him down. Konan tugged on the rope again, and the springs in the ladder made it fold back up, the hatch closing with a soft thump.

The blue-haired woman entered the living room once more, taking her seat beside Pein. “I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say Deidara’s moving in as well.”

“Yup,” Konan replied, smiling as her boyfriend gave an exasperated sigh. “Aww, cheer up. Your organization’s coming together nicely, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but I didn’t know it would involve moving everyone into my place!” he growled.

Konan shook her head and crawled into Pein’s lap, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “You just have a big heart, honey.”

“And I curse myself every day for it,” he muttered, earning another kiss from Konan.