Sketchbook [Deidara]

Sketch #4

Sketchbook

Sketch #4

-

Rina's home was the orphanage. Her parents had died in a freak accident while they were travelling from one country to another as merchants, leaving her an orphan. She was very young then, around 4 years old.

"Mother! I'm back...!" Rina greeted, opening the orphanage doors. There was no one to greet her yet, but once she had called out, the sound of multiple footsteps sounded around the large house.

"Rina! You're back already, my dear!" A robust woman came from the corridor, along with many other orphans who were both younger and older than her. She was middle aged, but she was the kindest woman that Rina had ever met. She was the orphanage owner and took care of all the children like they were her own.

She met her in a strong hug, grinning ear to ear. "Welcome back!"

The other children greeted her with smiles on their faces, but then they stared at her appearance, seeing that she was dirty yet again, forcing sighs and laughter to come from their mouths.

Mother grabbed Rina's wrist and pulled her along, "You're taking a bath, young missy! Why do you always come back all dishevelled? You looked perfectly fine when going out this morning!"

Rina laughed lightly, letting herself be dragged, "I keep falling off trees...and tripping over..."

Mother laughed heartily, finding slight humour in those words, "Yet you never come home with a scratch on you! Well, not never, but sometimes!"

Rina laughed a little, staring at her fingers, which were still bandaged. Mother knew that she had gone off into the forest nearly every day, but she didn't know the reason behind her bleeding fingers. Rina hadn't told her – fearing that she would worry too much if she revealed the truth. Instead, she told her that she accidently scrapped her fingers against rough tree bark. Even though Mother was sceptical, she believed her nonetheless. Rina had let her fingers heal, but when they did, she would go off again to draw; that was when she met Deidara, and he had wrapped her fingers in bandages. The look of surprise on Mother's face was priceless, but she didn't question the girl.

Once all cleaned up, Rina looked completely different to what she looked like before. Instead of the messy brown hair, it was straight and combed, coming to her shoulders. There were no dirt marks on her face and her attire was completely different – she was wearing a floral dress that Mother prepared.

"Why do I have to wear this...?" Rina questioned, staring at the cute design. Normally she would just wear a casual T shirt and shorts that were hand-me-downs from the older sisters or brothers in the orphanage.

"You forgot? We have a dinner tonight, Rina!" Mother rummaged through some of the drawers and found what she wanted, clipping up the side of Rina's hair with a flower clip. "You look splendid! Look!" She grabbed her shoulders and placed her in front of the mirror.

"We have a dinner?" Rina questioned. She didn't care too much of what she looked like. It wasn't exactly important to her right now.

"Yes. The Tsuchikage wanted to meet with you all." Mother grinned.

"Why would the Tsuchikage want to meet with us?" Rina questioned. She hadn't the faintest idea of what the Tsuchikage wanted, nor why he initiated a meeting. "It doesn't make any sense..."

"His advisors said that he wanted to see which ones of you would be suitable for training." Mother led Rina out of the room, showing her to the other kids, who ooh-ed and ahh-ed.

"...is that so?" Rina contemplated a little bit. She didn't know what was going to happen – she didn't dream about any of this.

While the girl was deep in thought, the other children in the orphanage went to get dressed and look proper for the coming night.

-

"Deidara, hurry up." Onoki, the Tsuchikage ushered the blonde, who sighed with a scowl. "You're being too slow."

"I'm coming, I'm coming, yeah!" Dei hurried his step. The old man was walking to the dinner destination. His granddaughter, who was around Deidara's age, was coming along too.

She grinned at the blonde, "You're so slow, Deidara-nii!"

Deidara made a funny face at the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, but continued along. He could never keep up with them in terms of walking speed. Even though the man was old, he was a fast walker.

"AH! MY BACK!" A crack was heard on his back and the old man fell over, but was ultimately caught by some guard ninja that had followed them in the shadows.

"Tsuchikage-sama! Are you alright?!" One of them asked worriedly.

Deidara caught up with them and stared at the Kage with a raised brow. "Why do you walk so fast if your back's going to act up, hm?" He questioned almost smugly.

"Shut it, Deidara!" Onoki massaged his back and hip before standing up again. He turned to the guard ninja, "I'll be fine. Go back."

The guards did as told and the Tsuchikage was back on his feet, albeit feeling the effects of the back. He massaged it gently with his hand.

"So why are we going to dinner, un?" Deidara questioned. He only heard the Tsuchikage tell him that he'd be going to dinner and that he'd be dragged along. "Why am I going to this, hm?"

"To pick out someone worthy of becoming a fine ninja. Most orphans don't have the opportunity to become ninja." Onoki continued ahead, but at a slower pace.

Kurotsuchi skipped behind him, hands entwined behind her back as she did so. She was so used to seeing her grandfather's burdens with his hip and back that she became unfazed by it.

"Hah? So why me, yeah?"

"Let's put it this way – do you want free food or not?" Kurotsuchi grinned and wagged her finger at Deidara, who became silent, "He's saying that you might be able to help pick out a few of them."

"So we're meeting with the orphanage then, hm?"

"Yeah."

"But aren't there a lot of them, un?"

The Tsuchikage turned to Deidara with sharp eyes, "What do you take me for, a broke, weak old man!?"

"I never said—"

The old man's fist hit a blonde head.