Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ World Collision ❯ Night Watch ( Chapter 46 )

The blond haired man let out a quiet sigh as he stared into the flames of the camp fire. They had set the camp up only an hour before hand, and he knew that the night would be long. Having the liberty to take the first watch shift, he knew that it would feel like an eternity before Tobi's shift would begin as he fought sleep from taking over his eyes. At least he'd be better off than if an untrained someone was put up as a watch, like Jessica, but it didn't change the fact that his body was exhausted from the day's journey. He knew though that if Sasori were still his partner, he'd be telling him that he had no excuse since he was still very young. Being that he was now the upper hand in his partnership with Tobi, he got the new experience of being the leader. Of course, it wasn't that different from before; the Akatsuki partnerships tended to be pretty equally powered on both sides of the slate. Yet again, there was the fact that he had who must have been the most foolish, immature Akatsuki member of them all as his partner along with a slave who was more of a mascot than a helper.

 

“What am I to do with myself?” He murmured quietly as he leaned back against a tree's smooth, dry trunk. Looking from his partner to the girl who slept about a meter and a half away from one another, he envied their sound sleep. He would still have to stay awake and watchful for another three hours before his turn to rest would come around. He almost thought about going to sleep anyhow, since it would just be a waste of time if no hostile shinobi showed up. Of course he didn't want anyone to find them out, which would mean that they weren't being good shinobi, but the fact still remained that everything was boring without any around. Perhaps if someone did attack them, then he'd actually fully wake up again. At the same time, he thought about the safety of his semi-loyal slave. She had no way to protect herself from the type of enemies the Akatsuki faced. The thought did cross his mind that he should teach her some self defense at some point, but that wasn't a thing a slave girl was suppose to learn. What if she decided to then turn on him? Of course she'd never be as strong as he was, but perhaps she'd be well enough to believe that she could go off on her own. Wasn't the reason why she continued to follow him the day he struck her because she had no other way to support herself? If she had enough endurance and strength to escape from a predator, then couldn't she just run away once she knew enough to get her by on her own? It wouldn't be very surprising for any slave who knew self defense to try; who in the world would want to be someone's property?

 

Shaking his head, Deidara thought about the person who was occupying his current thoughts for a moment. Though she'd been rebellious when he first bought her, she hadn't been much trouble since. She didn't complain half as much as she use to, and over all she seemed a whole lot more calm and quiet then before. Perhaps she was shaken enough by what she had witnessed him doing to make her think twice before speaking? She also seemed to hold him in a higher position in her mind now. Could she then, still have the desire to leave? Shaking his head once again, he then decided to abandon the thought of teaching her self defense. Perhaps he'd show her a few basics for whenever they're attacked, but other than that he decided he should push the topic aside. Smirking slightly as he looked at her, he recalled the way she used to speak to him and compared it to how she spoke to him now. Even Sasori would have to admit that her bewildered spirit had been broken if he were still alive. Seeing her how she laid contently now, rapped in her new cloak on her stomach he knew that he wouldn't believe his eyes a few months back with the way she would constantly fidget during the night.

 

The thought of her being more of a mascot than an actual slave was pretty accurate; he'd been dressing her up like a doll while dragging her along behind him the whole time with the exception of the time he made her clean his old house and a few other things on their journey. He wondered how long this would last, for surely nothing lasts forever. The world around them constantly changed, and who knows how long it would be before one of them was killed.

 

“That's almost a scary thought,” he said in his mind. “Being a shinobi, an Akatsuki member of all things, I never really thought about it. All I really thought was how people just came and went; it didn't really matter. I never really thought though… What happens next? What will happen when I die? Who will Tobi's next partner be? What will happen to Jessica? Would Tobi take her, would she be set loose, sold again, or passed along between the members for whoever wanted her?” The blond then frowned in disgust just thinking about what ideas might form in the others head in what to do to her. One may say that his thoughts were a bit to perverted and improbable, but these men were S-ranked criminals; he knew how dirty their minds could be. He of course was an S-ranked criminal himself, be his was still young; he didn't really find an interest in women that much anyhow. Instead, he made his art the center of his attention. The others however, though they had other things as their main priority they still had the desire all men have awaken in them at some point of their lives. Trying to take his mind off the thought, he went back to the original thought; what would happen if he died? What would happen if Tobi died? What if Jessica died? What would happen then? How would it happen? Would he have been able to prevent it and failed to? The memory of Jessica's tear filled eyes as she told him to stay alive for her. This had happened over a week ago, and it ringed in his mind now as if it had happened that very day. At least someone cared about his well being, though he had to question for what reasons she wanted him to stay healthy. At the same time, how could even a woman cry like that while discussing it? Even if she were trying to put on an act, there was no sign at all that he could detect that wasn't real. So did she truly care about him as a person? Could she have actually grown attached to him? He almost laughed at the silliness of the thought. Why would anyone in their right mind grow attached to the person who stole everything they knew from them?

 

“Sempai,” Tobi whispered now beside the man. Jumping a bit after a few seconds as he realized that the man was no longer where he once lay, he turned his head to look at the masked man. “Sempai,” he repeated, “You should go to sleep; you aren't really in it right now. Go to sleep.” Deidara would have yelled at the man for saying that he wasn't doing his task right, except for the fact that it was the dead truth. In this situation, it didn't matter whether he fought back about it; the only way he'd be able to regain his strength was by sleeping. Sighing, he then grunted before standing up to trudge over to where his `spot' was set up about half a meter away from Jessica's left. Laying his head down on the bundle of cloth he had been using as a pillow, he then slid his eyes shut. “I wonder if Tobi will try to make me take the shift he was suppose to do anyhow even though I did half of mine,” he thought as he let sleep take over his mind.