Reality Check: A Deidara Love Story

Chapter 18: To The Beach We Go

Less than an hour later, Deidara and Rai returned to her house to find that it was, in fact, still in one piece.

Fortunately, too.

She let out a relieved sigh and pulled him up to the front door as they each held large bags printed with shirtless men (Holla at Hollister) - to which Deidara was a bit doleful about - and burst inside. To her suspicion, all was quiet.

A little... too quiet. Deidara must've suspected too, because he set down his bags and furrowed his brows, taking his steps much more lightly. Rai did the same, tiptoeing around her house quietly while keeping her alert high. Together, they ventured through her entire house and scoped out every single room.

Her living room, her kitchen, her bedroom, the guest bedroom, the bathroom (which still had the gaping hole in the door), the hallways, and even the tiny closets. To their utter shock, they could find no one. They rendesvoused back at the front door with no clue as for what had happened to the other members of the Akatsuki.

"Oh no," Rai gasped. "What if they've gone to the city? Oh, no, no, no! Dei, if they've gone, they'll get discovered!"

"Wait," Deidara halted. "Don't freak out just yet. There's still one place we haven't checked, yeah."

A few moments of contemplating silence followed.

"...The basement," they said in perfect unison. Together they slowly crept towards the indicated door, its presence seeming to be more meaningful than it actually needed to be. Deidara shooed Rai backwards and took his time to slowly curl his fingers around the brass knob, steadying himself in case anything were to happen.

Rai followed behind him, as quietly as a mouse, as they descended down the stairs, detonating clay sitting in his palm in preparation for any threat.

'I wonder where he pulled that out of,' Rai thought, but shook it off with a slight shrug.

When they reached the bottom, they were surprised to see that the light, in fact, was on. They were beyond shocked to see every member - besides Konan - was completely wrapped up in coils of paper threads, slips of papers covering everyone's mouths.

Hidan looked about ready to burst into flames as he thrashed about violently, trying to break free of the bonds that held him tightly. Sasori just looked terribly irked, his amber eyes flashing towards Deidara dangerously as if to notion for him to help him go free.

Zetsu, as always, was nowhere to be seen. Kisame was trying to reach Samehada, still bandaged and strapped on his back. Itachi... he wasn't even awake. He snoozed lightly in the corner, not actually having a care for the bounds around his unmoving body.

Kakuzu was trying to release the tentacles from the scars of his body, but the papers formed a thin cocoon-like layer across his skin, restricting him from any movement. Tobi was frantically squirming against the papers, small muffles emitting from under his mask.

Pein sat on one of the armchairs, his elbow resting on one of the arms as his fist propped up his head. His purple eyes were shut, but they opened as Rai and Deidara stepped into the room. Suspiciously, there were no binds around his body.

"Ah, Konan?" Rai sighed, stepping out from behind Deidara.

A few slips of papers fluttered forward from each of the members and formed into a black and white form of Konan, but only from the top of her head to her shoulders.

"Yes, Rai?" she chirped, a strangely cheery look on her face.

"When I asked you to keep an I eye them earlier, I didn't exactly mean... for you to... imprison them."