Hidden Villages

I: Implications

The feelings of jealousy quickly left and were replaced by feelings of anger. Deidra found it hard to remain jealous regarding his younger sister's early graduation when the friends she'd known since she first started walking abandoned her so easily.

He'd overhead too much of the conversation. Mentally he didn't want to think about what that particular seven-year-old said, particularly when the type of conversation she was having was far from appropriate for someone of around his sister's age. He'd also met the Kazekage and thought the man ugly, but imagined any children the man had would also be ugly unless of course the children took after their mother.

"Did you hear?"

Such words always made Deidra take pause, but he found himself more inclined to listen in to the gossip. He recognized the voices as three of the older male students at the academy.

"Hear what?"

"Kurotsuchi is getting married to an old geezer."

"What do you mean old geezer?"

"I'm talking about the Kazekage."

"That old fart."

"Yeah. She'll be out of our hair after the chunnin exams. No more getting beat up by a girl."

"I thought we stopped getting beat up because she no longer attended the academy and had taijutsu classes with us?"

Deidra took a deep breath. With quite a bit of agility he climbed over the wall and jumped down between the three boys. He stood up and cracked his knuckles. "So, are you three talking bad about my little sister?"

The three guys froze. Deidra's hand shot out for the one who had the easiest route of escape and grabbed him by the front of the shirt before punching him in the face. Instead of the others attempting to flee he soon found all three of the boy's ganging up on him. He didn't hesitate in kicking and hitting them, but likely got far more blows in on them than they did him.

"Deidra!"

The sound of his father's voice made Deidra stop, but the other three boys fled. The man walked over with his arms crossed. "What the hell do you think you're doing? What did you do to make those boys want to pummel you?"

"They weren't the ones trying to pummel me. I was pummeling them." Deidra retorted. His father reached out and grabbed his ear.

"You are so grounded."

"Hey, let go of my ear!" The man of course did not let go of Deidra's ear and instead kept pulling him along. They arrived at the home of the Tsuchikage where they came to make their home after his father married the daughter of the Tsuchikage. He stormed over to where the man in charge of the village was having tea and slammed the door open. "Your grandson has been playing hooky again!"

"He's not my grandfather!"

"And he's been getting into fights!" The man pushed Deidra slightly making the boy stumbled forward. A beautiful woman who looked like a Kurotsuchi but with much longer hair sat in the room watching him. Deidra sat on the cushion and didn't lift his blue eyes up from the ground. He heard his father plop down on one of the other cushions. "Seriously. What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with the three of you?" Deidra's head darted up. His fingers twisted around his pants legs and he found himself almost biting his lip.

"What are you talking about?" Onoki looked up with a rather amused smile on his face. The man closed his eyes so he might continue savoring his tea.

Deidra watched his step-mother poor his father his own cup of tea. The preteen felt his entire body shake in anger as his father lifted a cup of tea to drink. "I'm not going to let you marry Kurotsuchi off the Kazekage over my dead body!"

If the situation wasn't so deadly serious Deidra might have found himself laughing over what happened next. Tea came out of father's mouth and nose spraying all over the Tsuchikage. Onoki opened one eye and looked right at Deidra who in turn swallowed knowing full well he was in serious trouble.

He quickly stood and took off running while his father's voice bellowed after him. "Deidra! Get back here!"

The preteen dived into a room and attempted slamming a kunai into the door so it wouldn't open, but the man still managed to open the door with the immense strength Deidra himself lacked. The man turned his head to see the damaged door, but when Kitsuchi turned back towards Deidra knew he'd overstepped in yet another way. The man lunged forward and grabbed him by the collar.

Soon, Deidra found himself sitting down at the table where the Tsuchikage sat, but this time found it rather painful to sit. He twisted his hands into the seat of his pants, but refused to look any of the adults in the eye. Onoki had returned to drinking his tea, but was the first to speak. "Where did you get this ludicrous idea from that I would be making your sister marry the Kazekage?"

Deidra kept his mouth shut.

"She might end up marrying one of his brats, but I doubt she'll find his son a suitable match."

"Then it is true?" Deidra swallowed.

"What is?" His step-mother asked. "Deidra, where are you getting your information from?"

"Is it true that the only reason my father married you is because the Kazekage refused an arranged marriage with you and he was the only one who would marry you, but now Kurotsuchi is stuck fulfilling the contract with Suna regarding the marriage?"

Onoki snorted into his tea. The old man pulled his cup away before speaking. "I doubt my darling granddaughter would ever fall for Rasa's son. That boy enjoys picking his nose too much."

"Are you going senile? I asked if there is a contract?"

"Yes, but Suna obviously doesn't want to fulfill their end of the bargain, but I'd only push the issue if she fell in love with that nose picking swine."

"Father..." Kituchi spoke in an even tone. "I don't think such language is appropriate in front of Deidra."

"Why? I told Rasa as much to his face. He seemed to agree with me that the nose picking habit was disgusting." The man took another sip of his tea. "I doubt any man is worthy of my Kurotsuchi, so you need not worry."

Deidra glanced at the ground. "I'm sorry I implied father only married you out of pity."

His hands twisted into his pants leg. Kitsuchi said something which surprised him. "I fell in love with your mother because she adored you. That told me she'd be a wonderful mother for you, though you're not really leading up to the expectations of a wonderful son to her picking a fight like that."

"Yeah, but..."

"There's no reason for fighting fellow villagers." His father remained stern. "Where though did you hear all of this from?"

Deidra narrowed his eyes. "From the guys I beat up, but also Kurotsuchi's so-called friends who abandoned her because they're jealous she graduated early."

"Well..." Onoki set his glass down. "I know you're not wanting to praise Deidra for picking a fight Kitsuchi, but I on the other hand must. While Kurotsuchi can very well hold her own, I appreciate the fact he's defending his sister when she's not there. In fact, I think you're too hard on the boy."

"I am not, and it is my choice on how to parent my children."

"Well, I like being the grandfather who spoils grandchildren and encourages them to get into trouble."

"Father!" Deidra's mouth twisted up at his step-mother's reaction, but he attempted hiding his mirth from his father who seemed just as exasperated with his father-in-law as he was his own son.