Ghosts of Konohagakure (Sequel to Shadows of the Village)

Chapter 4: Backup

Present day...

A young man sighed as he moved through the rain soaked village. Vibrant hues of greens and pinks, purples and blues danced across his skin as he moved between neon signed buildings. Darting between the cover of buildings until he could no longer, finally striding out to the streets under the falling rain. 

He was soaked to the bone from his previous outing, clothes were heavy against his lean frame and sticking to his limbs like a second skin. The floating film of water above his head, caught the rain as he walked towards the apartment building in search for home near the gigantic centre tower of the village. And when he ducked under cover of the building, the floating film rushed to meet the ground with a splash.

He shook his head like a wet dog. Damp blue hair flicked water to the ground and when his head stilled, stuck against the skin of his forehead and neck.

"Careful there, kid." A voice hissed from his shoulder. Two large black eyes glared up at the teenager as it's tongue poked out and wiped rain drops from it's unblinking eyes. "I'm not as strong as I use to be."

A chuckle shook the teenagers chest, causing the newt to hiss and bite onto his shirt to remain a still as the teenager climbed the stairs. "I'll remember that for next time. Sorry, Aka."

The red bellied black salamander's tongue shot out and hit Imori's cheek. He shuddered, telling the amphibian to knock it off as he pulled keys from his pocket and unlocked the front door. After cleaning his shoes on the welcome mat, he removed them and placed them in the rack beside a pair of smaller ones.

He closed the front door with his damp socked foot and dropped his keys in the bowl before moving past the living room and into the bedroom. He came back out moments later, half dressed and with a towel draped over his head. 

Aka remained on his shoulder muttering about his desire to get under the heat lamp as soon as physically possible. 

There was a low whistle coming from the owner of the smaller pair of shoes that was splayed out across the couch he had claimed. Imori sighed more than a little irritated at the lack of privacy he had in his own home. 

"Looking hot, Mori!"

"Fuck you."

The blond on the couch chuckled. "I'd like that very much, thank you. As long as you keep that chest bare I'm all for it, I do love those scars of yours."

Imori didn't pay Deidara any further attention as he moved over to the large tank opposite the couch and carefully placed Aka in. He turned on the heating lamps and the salamander sung his prayers for looking after such an old lizard. 

The salamander sighed at the warmth of his furnished tank, muttering a quiet good night to Imori as he beelined it towards his little sunning rock. Imori chuckled at his friend's actions, knowing that the last mission had worn the little guy out a fair bit. The cold certainly didn't help the ageing salamander's joints. 

Deidara watched Imori move about the space fluidly as he prepared dinner, huffing out a breath as he got comfortable on the cerulean blue cushions. He knew better than to comment about the scars but he just couldn't help it sometimes, especially when they were on a body like that. Deidara tried to keep himself from commenting further knowing it was still a sore topic years later. 

But still, who the hell could stab their own brother and leave him to die? 

In less than a year he learned a scarce amount about Kuma but nothing about any of those stolen bits of information had ever pointed to the betrayal that had occurred. What made it significantly worse was that Imori hadn't even seen it coming. The thought alone had Deidara's hand clenched around the edge of the beloved cushions, pushing himself upright as he watched his friend for any sign of discomfort.