A Thousand Mornings [Deidara Love Story]

VI - Play on Emotions

I was awoken to violent shaking and Ayumu’s voice that kept repeating my name. I turned over on my side, groaning along with my entire body. My body ached everywhere. Even my feet felt like they were going to run away without me. It was like I went through a really tough fight or something. At that thought, my eyes shot opened and I sat up quickly, accidentally slapping Ayumu in the mouth. I looked around in all directions for the bandits we were fighting. The sky told me it was dawn, but when we were fighting those guys it was a least five in the afternoon. I turned to Ayumu, my eyes wide.

“Wh-where did they go, Ayumu?!” I asked quickly, getting to my feet despite my protesting aches and pains. I grabbed a kunai from my pouch and tried to focus in case anyone’s chakra was close by. There was nothing… well, besides my own and Ayumu’s.

“They’re dead, Chiasa.” He simply said.

“Dead? You finished them off?” I wondered amazed. It was three against one - how could he defeat them so easily? Then I noticed all the bandages that covered his body. There was a giant one around his shoulder that was when it struck me that he protected me from that lady’s lightning attack and took the hit for me. I bit my lip, feeling really bad. Yet, I didn’t really have a clue as to what happened after that. The only thing I could think of was the fact that I got really upset at so many things: The fact that he took the hit for me, the fact that it was all my fault that it happened to him, the fact that I was inexperienced… after that, nothing came to mind.

I sulked, kneeling down to place my hands on the bandages on his shoulder, “I’m sorry, Ayumu. You didn’t have to do that for me…,” He poked me in the nose and chuckled at me even as I glared at him. I hated it when he did that.

“You’re right in that I didn’t have to do it for you; but you’re wrong because I wanted to.” Ayumu explained. As I looked into his sincere eyes, I knew it to be true. Sniffling with blurry eyes, I latched onto him, crying into his shoulder, repeating the same words as if it were a mantra: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…,” He didn’t reply to any of my apologies, all he did was rub my back softly, waiting for my crying to settle gently.

When I eventually did stop crying (which he was probably really annoyed about since it seemed I was crying for a long time), Ayumu told me that he would be all right due to the Kekkai Genkai, but how that wasn’t what we should be concerned about.

I tilted my head to the side, “Then what is it that we should be concerned about?” Ayumu moved his shoulder around a bit, probably because it was in pain again.

“The bodies - they’re what concerns us.” Ayumu told me, whispering. I didn’t know why he was saying it in such a low voice. I didn’t sense any chakra in the vicinity, but he was probably just being careful. I leaned in closer so I could hear him clearer, “When I woke up, I saw you nearly in critical condition with burns all over your back and a big gash in your arm. Then I looked around and saw that there were only two bodies of our attackers left. What scared me the most was that they had claw marks on their bodies.” Faintly, the memory of them being attacked like that came into my head. I looked down at my hands and saw them soaked with dry blood. I gasped and Ayumu quickly placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I know. Something tells me that the Nine Tailed Beast’s chakra took you over and you went all out on them attacking them with your nails.” Ayumu told me gently. I shook my head slowly with my heart beating faster than I thought was healthy.

“No… I killed them… without hesitation…,” I whispered softly. I wrapped my arms around myself feeling a slight chill in the air. I couldn’t believe I lost my mind like that and brutally murdered those people. That definitely wasn’t me. That couldn’t be me.