Vision of Truth II: Shield and Sharingan (Naruto)

Mysterious

Chapter 24: Mysterious

I awoke with the realization I had slept half on top of someone, our arms around each other. It was not Itachi; he never held me like this. And if it was Itachi, he would have woken me up by now. The memories came back to me, and I relaxed. By his breathing, I could tell Deidara was awake. I smiled to myself. I could not remember ever waking up feeling so peaceful.

"Good morning," I said, my face still resting on his chest. His bare chest.

"Morning," said Deidara. "You know, you're not a cat, you're a koala." There was a light teasing tone to his voice.

I tightened my arms around him. "You don't seem to mind."

"Maybe I don't, hmm."

"Good. Then go back to sleep."

Deidara chuckled. "It's time to get up, Katsumi."

"I don't want to."

"At least look at me. I want to see your beautiful green eyes."

"They're not as beautiful as your eyes," I said absentmindedly just as he brought hand to my face and lifted my chin to meet his gaze. He smirked at my comment, and I felt myself blush. Did I really say that out loud? My filter did not work great in the morning. I pulled my face down to hide from him. Then I noticed something on the left side of his chest. It looked like a tattoo of a bomb with a line in the middle that was sewed shut. "What is this?" I brushed my hand across the markings.

"It's nothing." His tone changed, but I could not discern the emotions behind his reluctance.

"Deidara..." I bit my lip and gave him a pleading look. Clearly it was important, and I wanted to know everything about him.

A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes. "That's not fair. You're too cute." His smile faded to a frown. "It's just... That's my fourth mouth."

I blinked. That I had not been expecting. "Why is it closed?"

"For safety reasons. That one I don't have as much control over."

"What does it do?"

There was that look again. He averted his eyes. "You don't want to know."

Something in his voice caused my stomach to clench. "Now I have to know. Please?"

I finally recognized one of the emotions on his face: guilt. "That mouth is for self-detonation."

I froze. "What?"

"With that mouth, I can turn myself into the ultimate art. It will be an explosion like no one has ever seen." Deidara gave me a desperate look as if needing my approval. As for me, I felt sick.

"You're not going to do it, are you?"

"Well, I don't have any plans to do it anytime soon."

"I see." That was not good enough. He was not a huge planner anyway. I turned my back on him and hugged the sheets to my chest. I hated the thought of losing him like that. Sure, my ninja friends risk death every day, but this was different. That he would choose it, even consider it...

"Hey," Deidara said softly, "don't worry." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. Then he nuzzled his face into my neck and whispered, "I have no reason to do it. There is so much more I want to experience with you."

I twisted out of his tight grip so I could turn in his arms and look at him. "If you try it, I will stop you."

Deidara stared at me with incredulity and... something else. There was something intense in his eyes that made it feel like he was seeing into my soul, and I could not look away. "What are you doing to me?"