A Thousand Mornings [Deidara Love Story]

VII - The Trade

Man, did I sleep good or what? Climbing out of my sleeping bag, I let out a satisfied yawn and stretch like I was at home sleeping in my own bed and not in a clearing in the middle of the forest. I was really happy; and why shouldn’t I be? Training began to show some positive results by the end of yesterday. I was able to throw a kunai in a straight line with the blindfold over my eyes and I actually dropped Ayumu’s chakra down pretty low - which was a sign that I was making him use more jutsus, thus more time and energy to best me. That was why he treated me to the instant ramen - to congratulate that. Not only was the training going good, but I somewhat forgot the eyes on my back and slept like a baby the entire night. No nightmares plagued my sleep and I felt like I was ready to take on anything.

Well, anything besides what ended up happening to me.

Anyway, I grabbed my water bottle and took a long drink of that until my throat was satisfied. I turned to where I thought Ayumu was still fast asleep, but ended up seeing nothing inside his sleeping bag. The fire was also out, which meant he must have woken up before me. That was unusual; Ayumu never woke up before me. It was almost a known fact of life. I ended up shrugging it off; he probably just couldn’t get to sleep last night and decided to go for a walk or something.

As I set the water bottle back down again, I tried to search for the eyes again, but today I didn’t feel anything. Hmm… they probably got tired of standing around; nothing that was any of my business. Though, I was secretly glad that we didn’t fight with the mysterious person or else there would have been unnecessary blood especially since the person was just staying for a short amount of time. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder who it was that was watching us so intently yesterday…

Well, anyway, since Ayumu wasn’t around, I took the time to take a bath. The reason Ayumu and I chose this spot out of many was because there was a stream close by with fish in it and there was a lake connected to that stream just further ahead. The lake was pretty and fairly clear which told us that it was safe to enter. Algae coated one part of the lake which I found rather icky but I could hardly complain. Weeds and cattails stuck up from the bottom, but that was one of the only downsides. All in all, the lake was the best place I knew of to take a bath. Though… I would rather have a shower or a bath in civilization, but I guessed it was for the safety of others that I trained in an area unpopulated; considering I had the Nine Tailed Beast’s chakra waiting to be awakened inside of me.

Before slipping off my clothes and stepping into the freezing cold water, I looked around in case anyone was watching - especially that person from yesterday. I didn’t want any peeping toms hanging around when I was bathing. Just to play it safe, I only stripped down to my undergarments and made contact with the water on my bare skin. The initial shiver lasted only a moment as I steadily adjusted to the temperature.

Soon, my bath was over but there was still no sign of Ayumu or the person in the vicinity. The fact that Ayumu wasn’t around worried me a little bit, but he could take care of himself and should be fine. Still, we were attacked by those outlaws before and it wasn’t a good idea to be separated for long. I didn’t want to find him hurt or even worse dead when I saw him next. That would be too much - even just thinking about it caused my heart to swell. I could only hope that he was OK for the time being.

Even though I had an exceedingly long bath, when I came back, Ayumu was still nowhere to be found. I looked around worriedly, but couldn’t find any trace of him. That is, until I found a note stuffed in his sleeping bag. I probably didn’t notice it before since I was still half-asleep. Thanks to the cold water waking me up in an instant, I now noticed it clearly; making me feel a bit silly for missing it before. I picked it up with a shaking hand. Hopefully it wasn’t the last thing I was going to have of his.