All These Things I Hate: Deidara Love Story

Chapter 1

(^^^Human Pretzel Game)

A little bit of shading here. And some more there. And done. I hold out the finished product and smile. I set the drawing on my desk as a knock sounds on my door. I crack it slightly and see Kisame, my best friend. Grinning, I open it completely. "Hiya Kisame!"

Kisame smiles a toothy grin. "Hi there, Akemi. Pein wants us all to have a 'bonding' picnic today. I don't know what the hell he is thinking will happen but I guess we should comply."

I laugh. "Yeah really. It's not like we're all going to be holding hands and singing ring around the rosy by the end of it." I sigh. "Do we really have to go? I mean...how is this going to help us capture the nine tails?"

Kisame shrugs. "I mean, we could try to skip it. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?"

"Wrong," said a deep voice from behind Kisame. Pein.

I sigh exasperatedly. "Pein! Why?" I drawl dramatically, trying to annoy him.

"Akemi, this organization needs to learn teamwork. Kakuzu and Hidan can't even complete a mission without Hidan getting a limb amputated. Deidara and Sasori take three times longer to complete a mission because of their bickering. Tobi is...Tobi. And you and Deidara can't even get near each other before one of you is at the other's throat. We would work more efficiently as a team."

I roll my eyes. "So you think having a picnic is going to solve all of our little problems?"

Kisame grabs my arm tenderly. "Akemi, remember what happened last time you argued with Leader-sama?"

I growl and snatch my arm away. "Fine...we'll go to your stupid picnic. But that's it!"

"Actually, one more thing. We're camping out." Pein walks away and leaves me to steam in my anger.

"Camping?! Is he serious?!" I growl.

Kisame grabs my shoulders comfortingly. "Look, it won't be that bad. You can just share a tent with me and Itachi. There won't be any problems!"

I calm down a bit. "Okay. You're right, as always. I don't know why I got so irritated. I guess I just...wasn't thinking."

"That's okay. It happens a lot," Kisame chuckles.

I giggle and hit him on the head. "Oh shut up!"

The walk to our picnic and camping site was a long one. I guess he did that on purpose so none of us would sneak back to the base. I sigh. Why did our leader have to be smart? I glanced around at the rest of my peers. Hidan and Kakuzu were walking with each other; Hidan talking as always and Kakuzu staying silent. 'Hmmm...they still walk together even when there's other people to walk with. They act like they hate each other but in all honesty, they only have each other.' I had never seen either of them hanging out with anyone else. I changed my gaze to Pein and Konan. They were obviously enjoying each other's company and having a pleasant conversation. Itachi and Kisame always got along, though it bothered me that Kisame was submissive to Itachi a bit too much. He was such a kiss-ass. I chuckle to myself, rolling my eyes. Zetsu and Tobi were goofing off-or should I say Tobi was and Zetsu was watching. I smile to myself at Tobi's childlike nature, wishing I lacked all the knowledge that forced me to grow up. Finally I let my eyes wander to Sasori and...Deidara.

Deidara and I didn't get along. At all. Period. Everything about him irritated me. Everything about me irritated him. But the thing is, we had so much in common that it didn't make sense why we weren't BEST friends. We both had a burning passion for art. We both had bad attitudes and wicked tempers. We both liked to take our time. But somehow we couldn't be nice to each other-never really tried I suppose. But at this point, it didn't really seem possible.