Tenten woke up for the first time in a long time, relaxed. Her limbs ached and some parts of her were still sore, but her body felt well rested. Her eyes opened to see Deidara facing her, his hand absentmindedly combing through her long brown hair, now unbound from their buns to fall down her back.
Tenten couldn't resist a twitch of her lips as their eyes locked. "We should do this again sometime," Tenten said, moving closer to his chest as Deidara rolled his eyes.
"I never pegged you down as someone who is this needy for sex, Tenten," Deidara muttered. Tenten only winked at him.
"Don't tell me that you didn't enjoy it," Tenten murmured, running her fingers through his long, blond hair, "I thought you liked things that went out with a..."
"Kami, don't you dare make that same pun again—"
"—bang," Tenten finished, eyes glittering while she smirked.
"Oh, you're going to get it—" Deidara growled before the scowl turned into a smirk as he lunged at her. Tenten yelped as she felt him pin her to the bed before he started tickling her sides. Tenten squirmed, laughing uncontrollably as she wheezed.
"S...stop it....I'm tickl..ish—" she gasped between breaths but Deidara was utterly merciless, being the S rank shinobi that he was.
"Do you give up, un?" He stopped for just a second.
"Fine, damn it—" Tenten wheezed, "I give up."
"Too bad, un—" Deidara replied as he began to tickle her again.
Nearly a good twenty minutes passed by, ending with Tenten who looked drained and Deidara, who somehow ended up getting socked in the face multiple times.
But eventually, they consented to lie down next to each other. Tenten rested her head against his shoulder while Deidara had his arm encircled around her waist. They just stayed like that, as Deidara stroked her head again while Tenten pressed herself against his warmth.
After a while, Tenten spoke. "Do you have any plans for the future, Deidara?"
Deidara knit his eyebrows. He had to admit, he never really thought about what he'd do. It was just that in the Akatsuki, things were run in a specific way and there was no room to think of the future when one could die tomorrow. "I don't know, un," he shrugged, "I guess maybe show off my art some more."
Tenten snorted, "You're probably going to destroy everything in sight."
"Oh yeah, then what about you?" Deidara challenged, "what's your plan for the future?"
Tenten became quiet for a moment. She then sighed, "When I was five, I had this one dream: to show that a woman was just as strong as a man. So I trained my hardest and poured all of my blood and sweat into my training. I'm not sure what I've accomplished so far, but I ended up killing a bunch of people and becoming a part of the Akatsuki. Now...I guess I don't know what I want to do—at this point, it's kind of exhausting to just live."
"I know what you mean, un," Deidara replied, staring up at the ceiling, "it's like you're on a path that you can't go off of, right?"
Tenten nodded, staring up at the ceiling with him.
"Well—" Deidara cleared his throat uncomfortably, "I guess...maybe one day, we can...uh...uh....maybe get..."
"Married?" Tenten finished for him.
Deidara closed his mouth, cheeks brightening. "Yeah, un."
Tenten remained quiet. Both of them knew how impossible it was, but for once, perhaps they both wanted to dream of such foolish things. If they got married, if they started a family within such a bloodthirsty organization, what good would it do? Their children would be convicted just because of their relation to their parents and they would spend the rest of their lives running. Both Deidara and Tenten knew what a horrible feeling it was. Being robbed of a sense of belonging, to be persecuted and have people want nothing more than to have you dead. The people who didn't want you dead only wanted you to further their own purposes, treated you less than human beings.
"I think if we got married—" Tenten said, rolling on her side, "and had maybe one...two little brats running around....they should have your hair...and my eyes—"
Deidara shook his head, eyes amused. "They should have your hair—it's truly beautiful," he wove his hands through it in admiration, "it reminds me of dirt."
Tenten snorted, "Dirt? That's not very flattering..."
"Hear me out, un—" Deidara looked faintly embarrassed, "dirt gives life to everything and has that rich, earthy smell—"
"Shut up, Deidara, you clearly pulled that shit out of your ass—" Tenten rolled her eyes.
Deidara didn't dignify it with a response. Instead, he changed the topic. "I think our children will be super powerful, un—being talented in exploding things and spreading art to the world while also having your kickass taijutsu and fuinjutsu skills—"
Tenten let out a soft response of approval.
"Hey, Tenten—" Deidara started, "Do you mind if I do your hair, un?"
Tenten nodded, as she sat up in an upright position. Deidara parted her hair, his fingers skilled and dexterous as they wove and twisted the strands. When Tenten looked into the mirror, she saw the two buns on the side of her head, but with braids trailing down on either side. "Damn, you're good at hair," Tenten murmured as Deidara smirked.
"How do you think I pull off this beauty, un?" He gestured towards his golden hair.
"I thought it was a wig," Tenten said innocently as Deidara gained an irk mark on his forehead.
"Fuck you, un."
"You're forgetting that we already covered that part, Deidera," Tenten smirked as Deidara rolled his eyes.
Moments like these were when Tenten felt happiness.
But happiness never lasted.
"Be careful," Tenten murmured as she watched Tobi and Deidara being assigned for a mission together as she was assigned with Kisame and Itachi.
"I'll be fine, un—you're forgetting who you're talking to-" Deidara scoffed, but his expression softened a fraction when he saw her face. His hand reached over to take her's, fingers curling together.
"I'll be back in a flash," Deidara smirked, "and then perhaps we can make some art together with a bang—"
Tenten rolled her eyes, "Forget I even asked."
People are always gone when you need them the most.
Tenten stood at the grave without a corpse. Deidara.
They said he blew himself up to become part of his art.
She felt the wind whip against her face. Her grandfather's grave was right next to his. Deidara's.
"You asked me why I liked you," she murmured, her voice flitting in the wind, "I had no reason. I liked you because you were you, simple as that."
She stayed silent for a moment before she turned away, her cloak flapping in the wind.
"Rest in peace, and don't wait for me," she murmured before she burst chakra to her feet, jumping into the air.
The next few years were nothing but bloodshed. Her weapons slaughtered hundreds throughout the war before she was caught in the middle. Her weapons failed her then. The katana snapped underneath the strength of the Rasengan and the Chidori was shoved into her chest cavity, her beating heart landing in the hand of Sasuke Uchiha, his Sharingan bloodred and merciless. When he ripped his hand out, Tenten fell to her knees before falling on the ground.
Her eyes stared at the sky that was soaked with blood.
Her dead body lay, limp as the other ones that littered the battlefield as her hand still clutched around the bloody kunai.
On her face, however, was etched a peculiar expression as if she was being embraced by a person who waited for her this entire time.
In the end, her grandmother was right.
The only reward for a shinobi was death.
**********
I know, sad ending, but this was the only way I can see it ending. Nevertheless, I do hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this book. I enjoyed every single second and once again, thank you all for reading and supporting this book.
Here are some bonus Tenten / Akatsuki pictures:
This is how I imagine Deidara did her hair ^^