Naruto Fan Fiction / Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Every Light on this Path is For You ❯ Wings ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: The characters, items, places etc of Naruto are property of Masashi Kishimoto. These objects are used without permission for entertainment only, not for making money. No infringement is intended.

Chapter 2: Wings

Sasuke was clearly not impressed at the idea of sharing a tree with his brother's idiot of a boyfriend, giving his best glare in response to the request to climb. Deidara matched it and simply pointed upwards before scaling the trunk himself, glancing down to see if he was being followed.

He was. He smirked and continued his ascent until he was sitting on a branch he had begun to get quite acquainted with over the time he'd known Itachi- it sat about a third of the way up and was thick enough that there was no danger of it collapsing.

"Itachi told me a little about how you guys were brought up," he said quietly when he realised Sasuke was glaring at him expectantly, looking uncomfortable as he sat on the branch at his side. "I know he needs to be perfect because of your father's..."

He trailed off, not wishing to sound rude. Sasuke had no qualms with that however, filling in the blank.

"Dad's way of raising him? I know, I get all that. He doesn't need that kind of approval anymore though, he hates talking to him."

"He hates talking to him because he pushes the perfection complex into overdrive, yeah. I've witnessed it. I don't think it's because he dislikes him."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow curiously, but didn't ask for an explanation. "So you're saying he cares because even though he pretends not to, there's still part of him that wants approval from Dad?"

"Maybe. It's a possibility, yeah. There's more to it than just being perfect for him because of an old habit."

"That's ridiculous," Sasuke sighed and no more was said. They sat in the tree in awkward silence, Deidara wondering whether if he pushed the younger Uchiha if Itachi would be awfully mad at him or not. Probably, he mentally relented, keeping his hands to himself and his eyes on the road below them.

"They're coming now?" He asked, attempting to make conversation even though he knew the answer.

"Are you deaf? You heard him, you know they are."

"I'm just trying to fill the silence!"

"Don't bother. If I have to hear your voice for much longer I might just jump."

"I hope you break your neck, yeah."

"You'll be the one explaining to my brother why I'm dead in his garden."

"I- this is stupid! You aren't going to jump and I'm not going to need to explain anything, yeah."

"Are you challenging me?"

"You'd actually do it? Are you stupid?"

"I believe you're talking about yourself."

Deidara huffed in annoyance, folding his arms and looking away. "You're so immature, yeah. I don't see how someone like Itachi is related to you."

More silence passed, both parties in the tree looking in opposite directions and sulking with enough negative force that Deidara was surprised a raincloud didn't form comically above their heads.

"Why didn't you take a gap year?" He asked rather rudely. "I have to put up with seeing you around college now as well, yeah."

The statement was a true one. Rather than take a year out, Sasuke had decided to head straight into college life much to Deidara's dismay. Itachi seemed to like the idea of seeing his brother around the small college from time to time, and didn't take kindly to Deidara's suggestion of walking the other way when they were about to encounter each other.

"That is absolutely none of your busin- wait, shush."

"I wasn't talk-"

Deidara found his words muffled by Sasuke's hand, glancing down to see two figures he assumed to be the Uchiha parents getting out of a car that had just parked outside the gate. One glimpse of their mother gave him that answer- it was obvious where the brothers had got their looks from, Sasuke especially.

"Say nothing," Sasuke told him, his voice barely audible despite his post right next to Deidara.

Deidara nodded as Sasuke pulled his hand away, both of them observing Fugaku and Mikoto getting out of the car and heading for the gate. Deidara thanked that he and Sasuke were both wearing dark clothes, feeling suddenly conscious of his blond hair reflecting sharply in the moonlight when Sasuke blended in nicely with his own dark hues.

Neither of the visitors noticed them, knocking the front door and waiting for Itachi to answer. He did so immediately, as though he had been waiting ready for their arrival (which both of them deduced he likely had).

Once they were all inside, Deidara turned back to Sasuke. He had his arms wrapped around himself, shivering slightly despite what appeared to be a phenomenal effort not to.

"Cold?" He asked, receiving a glare and silence as a response.

Sighing, Deidara slipped his jumper off and handed it to the younger Uchiha. Sasuke gave him a glance that suggested he'd better take the item back quickly before he set it on fire somehow, but when the offer was not redrawn he finally took it.

"Thanks," he muttered begrudgingly, slipping the garment over his head gratefully.

"Sasuke," Deidara murmured quietly when they'd been sitting in silence for close to ten awkward minutes. "You know I care for your brother, right?"

"I know," Sasuke replied curtly, seemingly unwilling to engage conversation.

Deidara continued regardless, feeling he needed to speak. "I know you care for him too, yeah. Can we agree the most important thing here is his happiness?"

"I suppose. If you're trying to suggest that I like you, you can fuck off."

"Just be civil," Deidara suggested instead, ignoring the jibe.

"Over my dead body. Itachi will just have to accept you and I don't see eye to eye."

Deidara glared at him, folding his arms sulkily. "Fine. If you're not willing to be civil then neither am I."

With that he tugged on the jumper he had given over, ignoring Sasuke's yell of protest.

"Stop it you idiot! Are you trying to get me killed, I'll fall if you keep that up!"

With horrifically bad timing, the front door opened and Fugaku and Mikoto witnessed their youngest son tussling with a strange long haired blond in the tree.

"Sasuke!" Fugaku called, causing them both to halt in alarm. Deidara still had his hands on Sasuke in an attempt to grab the jumper, but from the Uchiha parents' distance it looked rather like an embrace...

A smile curled on Mikoto's face as she waved to them both. "Is that your girlfriend, Sasuke?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to correct his mother but Deidara smiled and tightened his arms around Sasuke, lips close to Sasuke's ear.

"Don't say a word," he muttered, smiling wider when Sasuke simply waved back shortly and forced a half-smile to his lips.

"You'll have to bring her over for dinner sometime!" Mikoto called as they walked down the garden path, giving Deidara a coy smile. "Hello young lady."

Deidara tightened his grip even more on Sasuke to halt the light snickering, but he kept his mouth closed and simply continued to smile. He risked a glance to Itachi, who had one hand on the doorframe rather like he was close to collapsing without it.

"Don't let her distract you, son," Fugaku remarked loudly- earning a scowl from Sasuke- before glancing over his shoulder at Itachi. "I'll be in contact."

Itachi didn't reply, closing his eyes and exhaling shakily. Both Deidara and Sasuke's smiles faltered just a little, keeping up their act until the Uchiha parents were safely inside their car and pulling out of the parking space onto the road.

"What did they say?" Sasuke asked as they walked briskly up the garden path, having descended the tree as quickly as they could. Neither of them brought up being locked out or what had transpired in the tree- the look on Itachi's face was a higher priority.

"They didn't disapprove," Itachi replied slowly, blinking a few times in apparent shock. "They seemed to care more about the sudden display of Christmas in my home, actually."

Sasuke frowned at that. "So why do you look so upset? What did they say?"

"Nothing," Itachi replied, heading off down the hall. Both Sasuke and Deidara trailed him but he slammed the living room door in their faces, causing Deidara to yank it open and glare sternly at Itachi from the doorway.

"Stop with the attitude, yeah," he asked. "That's your brother's forte, not yours."

"Not right now," Sasuke muttered as he pushed past. "Save the fighting for later."

He padded across to the sofa where Itachi was sitting, looking rather numb. Seating himself as well, he attempted to earn his brother's gaze.

"They didn't disapprove," he attempted to reason quickly. "So what's the problem? It's not like they disowned you on the spot."

"They didn't approve either," Itachi stressed. "Dad said he'd talk to me about it later then changed the subject. He didn't say anything about it. He just stared at me."

"It's probably just a shock."

Itachi shook his head slowly, rising from the sofa almost as though he was in a trance.

"I'm going to bed," he murmured, pushing past Deidara without a word to slip out into the hall and towards the bedroom. Deidara attempted to grab his arm but Itachi pulled it free, leaving the artist to step into the living room instead.

He almost wished he hadn't, noticing the thoroughly crushed look on Sasuke's face. It was gone moments later, but it was enough to prompt him into sitting beside his boyfriend's younger sibling in an attempt to cheer him up.

"He'll be fine," he said quietly. "You tried at least."

"He's not going to sleep," Sasuke responded flatly, but the usual malice in his tone when addressing Deidara was gone. "He's such an idiot- and so are you, just so you know. What was that stunt you pulled in the tree all about?"

"I wasn't going to tell them who I was just yet," Deidara replied, recoiling at the thought. "I wanted to know what they said first, yeah."

A familiar smirk found its way to Sasuke's lips. "Young lady, eh? It's an easy mistake to make I suppose."

"Not another word, Uchiha."

They stayed silent, Deidara eventually retrieving his sketchbook and settling at the table with it. Sasuke didn't speak any further, curling up on the sofa seemingly deep in thought. Deidara let him, glancing around about fifteen minutes later out of interest to see his eyes closed and his breathing even.

He smiled a little, fetching the blue blanket he had used for so long from the airing cupboard where Itachi optimistically put it back each morning. Laying it over Sasuke's shoulders, he slipped out and gently pushed open the bedroom door.

The room was dark, only moonlight flitting in underneath the curtains. There was enough illumination to see that Itachi was lying on the bed, facing the wall in the other direction.

"Itachi?"

"Hey Deidara."

The tone wasn't exactly welcoming, but it didn't scream that he should leave so Deidara padded over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. He ventured a hand to Itachi's side, pleased when it wasn't turned away.

"I wish he'd just said something to indicate how he felt," Itachi offered up by way of starting the conversation he knew was imminent. "When he says we'll talk about it another time, what am I supposed to say to that?"

"You say 'okay'," Deidara supplied gently. "It's probably a shock. Like Sasuke said, he didn't disown you on the spot or throw a temper about it- he just needs time to get used to it, yeah."

"I told you this before," Itachi murmured, shifting so he was sitting up.

Deidara's hand fell away from his shoulder as he did so and moved to the cover instead, clutching it tightly as Itachi continued. "My father had always been under the impression a relationship would hinder me, so he always told me not to get caught up in one. How will he view me now? He'll think I'm not so perfect anymore."

"Your standard of work didn't slip in all the time we were chasing each other," Deidara pointed out with a shrug, restraining himself from pointing out that they were attempting to rid him of his perfection complex anyway.

"Yes, but when we were chasing each other if I said I was going to study, you usually said okay. Now you might prefer me to spend time with you, right?"

Deidara exhaled and rolled his eyes, a good natured look within them. "Itachi, I understand how important your academics are. If we only get even one night in a week to spend together then I'll be happy, yeah."

"And if we don't even get that?"

Deidara hesitated for just a second, and it was enough. Itachi fixed him with a resolute glance and sighed heavily, shaking his head.

"I don't need to study as hard as I do to stay doing well," he murmured softly. "The sensible thing would be to cut down on the studies and spend more time with you. I'm positive I can manage both effectively- however, there's a problem."

"The complex," Deidara continued flatly. "You can't cut down on the studies because you think you're then destined to fail everything you touch."

"Exactly. I did also say I'd try so the best thing for me to do would be to abandon some of my studying. Perhaps keep weekends study-free except Sunday night in preparation for Monday?"

"That sounds sensible."

Itachi nodded. "It does," he agreed. "But we both know I can't do that because that would be simple and normal."

Deidara winced slightly at the bitter tone in his partner's voice, struggling with what to say in response that might make him feel better. "I accepted that change would be difficult when I came back," he finally settled on. "I didn't expect it to be overnight, yeah."

"But you did want change to happen at some point because without it, we're stuck in the same loop where I dedicate the vast majority of my time to work and not to you?"

The silence gave the answers Itachi needed.

"And if I don't change you're liable to walk away from this because otherwise it's just two guys who live together and don't ever really see each other?"

"No!" Deidara cried immediately, shaking his head. "I'm not that shallow, yeah. I thought you were worth coming back for so here I am- I'm not about to start walking away because things aren't perfect."

Itachi chuckled darkly at that, averting his eyes to the floor. "Right," he murmured. "Perfect."

"Itachi, you need to go easy on yourself, yeah. It's difficult- I know tha-"

"Deidara," Itachi interrupted. "We're done talking about this. Where's Sasuke?"

As much as Deidara wanted to push the conversation, he relented and let Itachi change the subject instead. "Asleep on your sofa."

"Is that so?" Itachi sighed, slipping off of the bed. "I'm going to offer him a ride home. Do you want to come for the drive?"

"No," Deidara replied as Itachi headed for the door. "I should probably get on with some work myself, yeah."

Itachi gave no response other than the closing of the door, leaving Deidara to sit alone in the moonlight darkness of the bedroom. He did so without moving until he heard the front door close a few minutes later, finally rising to a stand and heading back to the living room. His black sketchbook was on the kitchen table and he snatched it up, curling up on the sofa with only a pencil in hand as he set it to the thick paper.

He was gifted with almost endless inspiration and a lot of positive energy, usually. However Deidara was rather pleased at that moment that Itachi was blind to art, because only another artist would be able to see the sadness that was currently radiating from the rough sketch of a dove already beginning to take shape. More importantly, a dove with a broken wing.

What felt like only minutes later Itachi returned, just as Deidara was scrawling the title for the quick sketch. As the living room door opened, he dotted the I in the word 'perfection' before snapping the book closed, ready to hide behind his smile and enthusiasm once more.

The soft, naive smile he received in return from Itachi told him that he was really too good at such acts these days, leaving him to half hope Itachi would ask what he had been drawing so he didn't have to do so any more.

"Coming to bed?" Itachi asked quietly instead so Deidara rose, setting the book aside. Even if Itachi did look at the sketch all he would see was a dove with a broken wing after all, the true message it portrayed lost somewhere between his eyes and his mind.

Chapter End