AFTER DARK | naruto

53 | homesickness for traitors

And maybe he was right, you didn't really care what he was talking about.

"If you say so, Sasuke." Karin pushed up her glasses. "I won't deny that she looks utterly insane... If she plead insanity, I'm sure they'd accept it." These friends of Sasuke sure had some nerve.

'She's right, you do look insane. Even without me in your head, you'd probably look stupid.' Diaval commented just to get a rise out of you—but this time around, you could only sigh. You really did look that insane that they couldn't stop talking about it. So, you went quietly for the rest of the trip to the stone village. Outside of Suigetsu and Karin, they were quiet, too. Actually, no, they were not quiet. Suigetsu and Karin were loud enough to make up for up to a years' worth of silence. And in a valley like you were in now, it echoed.

Sasuke was surprisingly patient with them; not once did he lose his temper and tell them to shut up. Maybe you would've if you were an actual member of their little group—which you weren't. They were interesting enough to listen to at the very least, but even that wasn't saying much.  There was only one person you knew that came from the cloud village, and that was Deidara. As gross as it was to remember that you had your sisters eyes implanted, it could be possible that all those she had summoned with a blood bond were still there, right?

Deidara would make this mission a lot easier, but what was the chance of it actually making him come over here? After all, he was actually alive again because of your sisters blood bond. Or had he disappeared between the time she was dead, and you took her eyes? There was no way to really find out you didn't know how to trigger the blood bond contract. And having your new Seishingan activated right now hurt in an odd way.

So you deactivated it, lowering your head and rubbing your eyes to ease the pain away. You didn't need help from Deidara, anyway—he wouldn't know where the Light Dragon was, anyway. You heard an obnoxiously loud yawn near you. You initially brushed it off as your own, seeing as you were both bored and exhausted out of your mind. Though, something beside you caught your eye.

Without so much as a second to waste, you turned your head. Not entirely expecting anything to be there after all your self-talks about possibly going insane, but the blonde beside you seemed entirely real. He looked back at you, not nearly as surprised as you were by his sudden appearance.  The two of you made eye contact—and to confirm that he was actually there, instead of some sort of figment of your imagination or as a ghost, you punched him in the face. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest way to go about it, but that seemed to be your automatic response to beings that weren't supposed to be there actually being there.

Of course, he let out a groan of pain when you knocked him over—you just pummeled an ex-member of the Akatsuki. He wasn't even wearing an Akatsuki cloak, instead he was wearing a grey jumpsuit. And what kind of man didn't have fishnets on these days? Deidara was no different, clearly. In outfit trends, and in temper. "What the hell was that about, you brat?! Do you just greet everyone with a punch in the damn face?! You—" He stopped his yelling mid-sentence. "Hey, wait." He pointed a finger at you, "You're not even the right sister!"

At all the commotion he made, the group in front of you turned around.

"I can't tell which clan I hate more, the [Lastname], or the Uchiha! You're both full of brats with sticks up your—"

"Sasuke, I thought you got rid of this guy?" Suigetsu questioned.

"I did." Sasuke answered swiftly. "She's from the [Lastname] clan. Make the connections."

"The [Lastname] clan?" Suigetsu repeated, one hand on his hip and the other picking at his ear. "First I've ever heard of it."

"That's because you're an idiot, Suigetsu! All of you Mist villagers are so sheltered!" Karin fumed. "The [Lastname] clan are known to be masters of the dead; don't you know that much?! Well, of course you don't!" She answered herself.