Naruto Fan Fiction / Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ With You I Will Journey Life's Path ❯ The Lucifer Effect ( Chapter 10 )

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 10: The Lucifer Effect

Sasuke opened the door looking bored, raising an eyebrow at his older brother on the doorstep. Itachi glared straight back at him, eyes narrowed dangerously. The effect was marred by the redness of his eyes, which Sasuke picked up on immediately.

"Why have you been crying?"

"What did you say to Deidara?" Itachi asked in a low hiss, ignoring the question. Sasuke simply stared at him before smirking, the epitome of arrogance.

Itachi glared harder at him and grabbed his shirt collar, pulling him forward with one sharp movement. "I said, what did you say to Deidara?"

Sasuke pulled himself free, scowling at Itachi. "What happened to your patience?"

"I have none right now. You said something, and I'd like to know what it was."

"I said the truth," Sasuke shrugged.

"And what would that be?"

"What's got in to you?" Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes at his brother. "Just calm down and stop acting like a madman."

The words were barely out of his mouth before Itachi had him up against the hallway wall, pinning him there while he radiated anger.

"It's Madara isn't it?" He asked sharply. "What has he said? What did he say to get you on his side?"

"Who says he said anything?" Sasuke asked, calm in the face of Itachi's anger. His response only angered his usually composed brother further- Itachi clenched his hand around Sasuke's shirt tighter before dropping it, seemingly using all his strength to withhold from smacking him.

"Out with it, Sasuke. He said something, and I want to know what it was. Deidara left. I want to know why."

"He just showed me the truth," Sasuke replied, though his eyes were wide in shock at the knowledge of Deidara's departure.

"Deidara always gets his own way with you, doesn't? He leaves a path of destruction on your life and you don't even notice-"

"Because I don't care!" Itachi raged back, shouting over him. "I love him, Sasuke! So what if he's infuriating sometimes? So are you, but that doesn't mean I don't love you, even if right now I'd like to knock you senseless."

"You wouldn't," Sasuke replied sharply.

"No," Itachi murmured, his anger seemingly beginning to drain away as he unclenched his fists, looking more and more defeated. "Deidara said to tell you that you'd won, but he's wrong. You're wrong, too."

With that he turned and exited the house, leaving Sasuke to watch him stalk determinedly up the garden path. The moment he was out of sight he leant against the doorframe and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the guilt creeping up on him.

Going to see Sasuke probably wasn't the best of ideas, but Deidara didn't care. His ideas were never all that clever, after all. However he didn't expect to find Sasuke sitting on his own doorstep, a cigarette in hand and looking deep in thought about something.

"Oh," Sasuke mused as he glanced up, narrowing his eyes. "It's you."

"We're going to talk," Deidara warned as he sat down next to Sasuke. Surprisingly Sasuke didn't argue or move, simply staying quiet.

"I heard you left my brother."

"Something like that. I don't know, yeah."

"I warned you if you hurt him again I'd break your face."

"First you tell me to leave, and now you tell me you aren't happy that I have?" Deidara sighed. "Make your mind up, Uchiha."

"Itachi came to see me," Sasuke murmured.

"Is... Is he alright?" Deidara asked cautiously.

"Not really. For the first time in my life I actually thought he was going to kick my ass- he's scary when he's annoyed, you know."

"So what did Madara tell you?"

"Stuff," Sasuke shrugged, putting out his cigarette. "Look, I feel guilty as hell about all of this, all right? When I realised how upset Itachi was about this..." He paused, throwing his hands up in frustration. "You're suited or something- that kills me to say, you know. But you are, and he needs you. Go home and make up with him."

Deidara smirked at that. "I thought you'd be jumping at the chance to keep us split up, yeah."

"Me too," Sasuke sighed deeply. "But I can't stand seeing my brother like that, and I definitely can't live with being to blame."

"I'm going to bet you didn't tell him that."

"I didn't think about it until he'd left," Sasuke admitted, having the grace to look a touch ashamed.

"It's not just you," Deidara admitted softly when they'd been sitting in silence, both thinking about their respective joint issue of Itachi. "Your brother sucks at reading the mood sometimes, yeah. He said something that really angered me."

"What was it?"

Deidara hesitated for a moment. "Well, I proposed recently," he admitted, cheeks stained slightly red in embarrassment.

"You did? He never told me that."

"He turned me down. But he tried to use it as a bargaining tool- he said he needed me gone so he could pretend to Madara that we'd broken up."

"Why?"

"He needs Madara to trust him." Deidara halted, giving Sasuke a suspicious look. "I'm not telling you any more, yeah. You're in league with him."

"No I'm not," Sasuke hissed back. "I can't do that to my brother. I tried- I can be an asshole to anybody, but not Itachi. It's like kicking a puppy or something."

"He won't be pleased that you likened him to a puppy," Deidara remarked with a good natured grin.

"No, I mean- he's so kind and loving, and he protects me even when I'm acting like a jerk. For him to be so angry with me about something is rare and I don't like it. I want to fix this, and so you need to go make up with him so I can stop feeling like I want to go jump off a bridge or something."

"Dramatic aren't you?" Deidara grinned, earning a customary scowl from Sasuke. "I don't appreciate him using the marriage idea as a bargaining tool, yeah."

"This is Itachi," Sasuke pointed out. "He's inept when it comes to this kind of thing. Cut him some slack- I'm sure he feels terrible about it as it is."

"He'd better do."

"Marriage aside, do you want to spend your life with him?"

"I wouldn't have proposed if I didn't."

"Right. So get the fuck off of my doorstep and go make up."

"I told you, I can't. He's with Madara, and he needs to think we've broken up."

"Is that so?" Sasuke mused, pulling himself to a stand. "Come on, Blondie. Itachi's not the only one who can weave a decent plan around here."

Sasuke led them back to their house, explaining his idea as they walked. Fugaku's car was parked outside, as was Madara's, signalling that they had arrived and were talking business.

"Perfect," Sasuke praised. "Go on, open up the door."

Deidara did so, leaving Sasuke to stalk through and slam open the living room door. Itachi, Madara and Fugaku were seated around the table together and all glanced round in shocked unison.

"Not right now, Sasuke," Itachi told him firmly. "How did you get in anyway?"

"Me," Deidara replied, stepping inside the room and making his presence known.

"Itachi tells me you've broken up," Madara interjected smoothly."How unfortunate."

"I'm here to help them make up again," Sasuke said determinedly.

"Is that so?" Madara remarked with one eyebrow raised. "That's unexpected from you, Sasuke."

"We're in the middle of an important discussion," Itachi cut in, his voice level. "Please leave."

"Not until you've talked to each other."

"I have nothing to say," Itachi replied evenly. Deidara watched him in wonder, seeing no hint of anything but indifference in his eyes.

His years of pretending to be perfect had given him the chance to work on a remarkable poker face.

Deidara had to resist a smirk. Sasuke had told him to storm in and act dramatic- if Madara was going to think they'd broken up, then he should get a decent show to 'prove' it.

Itachi would be none the wiser, but since he wanted his uncle to believe that he wouldn't do anything except play along. It was genius really, even if Deidara would never admit it to Sasuke.

"But I love you!" He cried, clenching his hands together. "Please don't do this, Itachi!"

"I made my opinion clear," Itachi replied, though there was a tiny flicker of confusion at Deidara's words. After all, Deidara had been the one to leave, rather than Itachi throwing him out. Regardless, as planned he didn't say a word about it. "Please leave."

"But Itachi-"

"You heard him, boy," Fugaku snapped, joining the conversation and rising threatening from the table.

Apparently Itachi hadn't clued him in on the charade, judging by the look on his face. "He told you to leave, so you'd best make yourself scarce."

"Come back for your things later," Itachi told him. "Until then, get out."

"Come on," Sasuke muttered, indicating to the door and ushering Deidara out into the hallway. Determined not to have his act cut short, Deidara began to wail and sob into his hands.

"Itachi!" He called as Sasuke nudged him towards the door. "Itachi!"

"You can stop making a scene now," Sasuke hissed as he shoved him back outside.

"Can we go for ice cream?" Deidara asked the moment the door was shut, cheering up from his fake crying instantly.

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes. "I suppose," he consented. The added 'it's the least I can do' rang out in the silence, unvoiced but clearly felt by both parties.

Itachi had quite a few problems on his hands- namely, the complete mess that had just occurred in his living room in the form of his brother and his boyfriend.

He'd administered damage control as best he could to save his father storming down the warpath about his boyfriend, managing to grab him aside as he and Madara had made to leave.

"We haven't broken up," he'd hissed quietly, much to his father's confusion. "Don't tell him that, and I'll call you later."

Fugaku had stared at him for a moment, perhaps thinking his eldest son was deranged, before nodding slowly and following Madara to the car. Itachi had practically slammed the door behind him, sighing in relief and knowing he'd helped one problem.

The second, Sasuke, would prove to be trickier. Despite all his bravado and harsh talk about hating Deidara, it was clearly all an act. At least, this was what Itachi gathered from the phone-call he'd just shared with him, after discovering they were eating ice cream together.

At first he'd wanted to rush straight there. Instead, he'd sat down and stared into space attempting to get his thoughts into place. He didn't have any idea what had happened, but Deidara had come back and had acted along with his plan.

That meant some level of forgiveness in Itachi's mind, but that didn't stop him from acting like a hopeless romantic in an attempt to make it up to his partner.

He entered the ice cream parlour roughly half an hour or so later, clutching a box of chocolates and a single red rose. He wasn't a romantic person by nature, but somehow he felt he owed it to his partner to do something to show how sorry he was.

"I'm sorry," he apologised as he reached Sasuke and Deidara's table. Saying the words was always a good start. He laid the chocolates down and held the rose out. "I shouldn't have-"

"Itachi," Deidara cut in as he slowly took the rose. "What in the hell is this? I'm not a girl, yeah. This is kind of pathetic."

Itachi stared at him before glancing across to Sasuke, who was smothering his laughter into his hands. "I'm not impressed with you still," he snapped, which instantly dispelled the mirth in his younger sibling's eyes.

"Sit," Deidara beckoned. Itachi did so, looking down at his hands guiltily. "You shouldn't have said what you did, but it's happened now. I appreciate that you're sorry and that's enough, as long as you really mean it."

"I do," Itachi replied immediately, looking up at him sharply. "Honestly, Deidara."

"Then that's enough," Deidara grinned, before tearing the petals off of the rose and arranging them on the table in what Itachi presumed was an artistic manner.

"I'm sorry too I suppose," Sasuke muttered, earning Itachi's attention. "Like I told Blondie, you're suited. I don't have to like it, but it's not my life to live. If you're happy- fine, whatever."

"Is that supposed to be an apology?" Itachi asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"What more do you want from me?" Sasuke snapped, folding his arms in annoyance. "At least I'm not buying you roses and chocolates like a sappy fool."

"You can't get out of this that easily," Itachi told him firmly. "You allowed Madara to manipulate you. You attacked Deidara in an uncouth manner that makes me very angry, and-"

"It's fine," Deidara cut in, surprising Itachi. "He might not have gone around it the right way, but Sasuke was right. I am just leeching off of you, yeah. You might not view it that way, but technically that's what I do. I have a way of fixing it."

"You don't need-"

"Shush," Deidara cut in again. "Let me talk, Itachi. I'm going to enrol in the evening cooking class at college. It's one night a week, and hopefully it'll teach me how to cook without having to follow a recipe every time, yeah. I know it's not much, but it's a start."

"That doesn't mean that Sasuke's attitude was okay," Itachi pointed out, turning to glare at his brother again. Sasuke stared straight back, not one to be easily intimidated. "I will forgive this transgression once, Sasuke. If you attempt anything like this again to fuck with my relationship, then you and I will fall out. Are we clear?"

Sasuke nodded swiftly. The moment Itachi had cursed at him had snapped his attention and his attitude fully into line. "You have my blessing," he sighed begrudgingly.

"I don't care for your blessing- I just want you to tell me you won't do Madara's bidding any longer."

"No, I won't."

"Good. Then shall we move on from this sorry mess?"

"That sounds like a good plan," Deidara agreed. "Except one thing, yeah. You offered to draw."

Itachi stared at him before looking skyward. "Yes, I did, didn't I?"

"Then I want to see you draw," Deidara concluded with a grin. "I know you've been trying to tell me how you're creative in other ways, but I don't care about that. You offered, so now I want you to keep your word."

"Fine," Itachi sighed. It was the very least he could given the circumstances, and right then he was happy to do anything to keep the unstable peace that had finally been created.

When Deidara was fast asleep that night, Itachi slipped out of bed and cautiously grabbed a box of his partner's art supplies on his way to the living room. Opening it up, he sighed and frowned at the array of different things in front of him. All he knew was that pencils were for drawing with and paints were for colouring. He knew the difference between a 3H and a 5B pencil, but he had no idea why it mattered.

He quickly closed the box and tried another one- Deidara had boxes and boxes of supplies, most of it seemingly the same thing. Deidara would argue that it wasn't, or that a certain shade of paint that looked identical to another was not identical in the slightest, and the next thing Itachi would know he'd have accidently started an argument.

That was why he was sitting underneath a lamp at gone midnight, a piece of blank paper in front of him and absolutely no idea what to do with it. Consulting Deidara was out of the question.

He stared blankly into space and let his mind wander, hoping an idea would magically appear. As he did so he began to doodle on the paper, wondering just how Deidara took so much pleasure from such a simple act. Then again, he was aware that it a hobby, and since he himself had no actual hobbies of his own he couldn't really compare.

Attempting to be perfect and reading the occasional book weren't hobbies, in the same way getting dragged to the pub for drinks and snooker with Sasuke wasn't a night out (Itachi would call it orchestrated torture, but that was another story).

He noticed with a start his doodles had begun to take the shape of Madara's cat. At least in his eyes it was supposed to be Madara's cat, but instead it looked as though it might possibly have some kind of physical or mental deficiency.

Aside from being anatomically retarded, Itachi was struck with the feeling that should such a cat exist in real life he would probably have it put down to end its misery. Either way it gave him an idea as he hastily scribbled it out, grabbing a clean sheet of paper. If his mind wanted to draw a cat, a cat it would draw.

The following morning Deidara awoke at his usual five am, carefully slipping from the bed so he didn't wake Itachi up. He put one hand to the bedroom door to open it before halting, frowning in the darkness at what appeared to be a picture stuck on the door. He tugged it off lightly and stepped into the hallway, switching the light on to make it out.

A rough yet recognisable picture of a cat greeted him. It had been coloured with pencils in browns and golds, much like Madara's calico Miya. Deidara admired the colours with a hint of pride- Itachi did have some creative flare after all, even if his cat wasn't the greatest. His colours were superb.

Of course, since he was Deidara, he didn't react to the picture's crowning glory- a set of cross googly eyes attached in the correct place, jiggling as he walked through to the living room with a smile on his face.

Another picture was attached to the living room door. This time it was of a brown dog, complete with a set of happy googly eyes. Deidara took that one down as well, eagerly hunting the rest of the house for more.

The kitchen had a grey rabbit, complete with what Deidara liked to call 'five year olds grass'- a green squiggly line beneath the paws of the rabbit. He would never say that to Itachi's face of course, but it made him chuckle none the less. This time the googly eyes were normal, though Deidara found himself analysing the colours more than anything.

The bathroom door was a seahorse, with huge googly eyes far too big for its body. This time Deidara laughed outright, pulling it from the door and adding it to the collection in his hands before heading for the front door. It was the only one he hadn't checked, and he wasn't disappointed- taped to it was one last picture, and in Deidara's eyes it was the most spectacular of all.

Itachi wasn't a great artist. They both knew that, but he tried which was the most important thing. However this time the animal in question was in proportion- though neither of them would be able to say for sure, since Deidara was quite sure he had never actually seen a real unicorn that didn't involve some kind of hallucinogenic drug.

It had been left plain on the white background but Itachi had coloured its tail and mane in pink and drawn a rainbow in the background to accent... Well, Deidara wasn't sure, but he liked it.

He especially liked the stars Itachi had drawn in a trail behind the mythical beast, coloured with silver metallic marker. To top it off it also owned a set of googly eyes, though these ones were small and normal looking. Deidara tugged it off the door, catching a small note written on the back in Itachi's handwriting.

This one was pretty fun.

He smiled widely and took the collection through to the living room, opening up a box that he kept old sketches in and placing them carefully inside. He wanted to keep them just in case Itachi never picked up a pencil again- which would be a shame, he mused as he made coffee. He really was good with colours.

Chapter End