Vision of Truth II: Shield and Sharingan (Naruto)

Confessions

"Acceptance is the key to be
To be truly free
Will you do the same for me?

Unconditional, unconditionally
I will love you unconditionally, yeah
And there is no fear now
Let go and just be free
'Cause I will love you unconditionally" 

- "Unconditionally" by Katy Perry

Chapter 34: Confessions

Deidara and I arrived at the base late after our day of exploration and fun. I started for my hallway when Deidara's voice stopped me. "Katsumi?" he said. "Will you come to my room with me for a minute? I have something I want to give you."

He appeared nervous, which piqued my curiosity. He was usually excessively confident. I offered him a gentle smile. "Of course."

Deidara gave me a small smile in return. "Great." He led the way to his room, leaving me near the doorway as he rummaged through his things. He returned to me with his fist raised. "Here." He opened his hand, and I gasped.

I carefully picked up the tiny clay phoenix, formed perfectly just like in my drawings. I instantly understood his intentions. The figure was the right size to fit alongside the wooden animals around my neck, and there was a tiny hole to thread it through the necklace. "You're giving this to me to wear." It was a statement, not a question.

Deidara smiled slightly. "If you will accept it. I did infuse the clay with my chakra but not because I plan to blow it up. You know I would never do that yo you, right? I just thought- you can sense chakra, and I thought it might bring you comfort to feel my chakra when we are apart." A faint blush dusted his cheeks. "But maybe you don't like the way my chakra feels. I can always-"

"It's perfect." I made sure the phoenix was safe in my fist before flinging my arms around him. He felt surprised, but he quickly hugged me back. "Thank you, Deidara. Your chakra feels wonderful." He did not let me go, so I relaxed against him. I opened my senses to take him all in: his chakra, his scent, and the feeling of his body pressed against mine. It was all overwhelming and yet not enough at the same time.

"You're welcome," he whispered against my ear.

I pulled away but remained close to him. I removed my necklace, careful not to let any of the figures slip. After looking over the animals for a moment, for symmetry's sake, I decided to put the phoenix in the middle next to the fox. Then I placed the necklace around my neck and smiled at Deidara.

"Looks great," he said with a grin.

I lightly touch the phoenix as my expression grew serious. "You know what this means, right? You are one of those I will do anything to protect. I don't care that we're going to be on opposite sides and may be pitted against each other. It doesn't matter what kind of horrible trials we'll have to go through. Nothing that's coming could stop me from caring about you. I will always choose what I believe is best for you... even if that puts me against some on my side."

Shocked flashed on Deidara's face, but then he smiled warmly at me. "That means a lot to me, Katsumi. Thank you. But don't work yourself up too much about it. It's not like it's inevitable we're going to have some huge conflict right away."

True enough. It was unlikely we had anything to worry about anytime soon, but we were bound to cross paths at some point when I was best friends with one of the jinchuriki the Akatsuki wanted to capture and good friends with another. "Maybe not, but I want to get everything out in the open. It's never going to be like this again. Even if we do see each other after this, there will be circumstances that limit our interactions. This is our chance to be totally open and honesty with each other so we'll know the truth no matter what we have to face."