"Hold on! You're not going anywhere without me!" I shouted angrily and madly grabbed the leg of now a flying white giant dragon that looked too cute to be a fearsome dragon like on how the old myth describes a dragon to be fierce and monstrous.
"I don't know what happened exactly, but I do remember that you owe me!"
Before I can make everyone confused again, let's go back from the days before today.
It wasn't much to talk about it though.
Just like how I passed out on a burning town with the two-tailed cat, then woke up one morning on a whole new environment.
That's also exactly what have happened to me back after they left me. First, a village looks like it was once wealthy. It's quite sad that it all went to ashes and charcoals. And second, my brain started imagining that my death was coming, and asking how I went to the same situation twice like it's my really my fate to get burned to death.
The only difference with the two events are, I woke up this time on the same place where I lost consciousness.
But I'll never forget how my body suffers from unspeakable suffering I had been though. I may be unconscious, but even in my dreams, every inch of my body felt everything. It was my very worst nightmare of my life! It was very realistic that even genjutsu will cry!
And gaining back my consciousness from the same place where I blacked out, my brain immediately made me remember everything that happened before I lost consciousness and gave every little information that can help me.
And my mind brought me all that memories back just so I can track them down again.
I remembered them talking about going to village of ceramics to look for a high quality clay. Given to that clue, with my weakened body, I pulled myself together. I wasted no time and went on my way, hoping that I will see them there just in time.
And with the same theme like how I met them is how the village of ceramics have welcomed me.
The flames burst as if they were red flowers that blooms on the night sky─pretty cool description, right?('• ω •')
The commotion that was happening, it gave me a notification that it was their hand work. I'm certain that they are here.
"How come you're still alive?" Asked the blonde guy, with his eyes a little wide open and was wondering and confused at the same time. I don't know what is on his mind and I also don't want to know how messed up his mind right now as he was figuring that all out.
"Like I said, I don't know! All I knew is that I woke up and remembered that you guys left me to die!" I talked back.
"Well, interesting, hm," he says plainly, but his face says that he wasn't interested to know about it at all. "So, are you here for revenge?"
"Like I told you, I am here because you guys owe me big time!"
"But you talked to the wrong guy, I'm not nice. And this dragon has no place to keep you in here. So just go," he says, as he waves his hand at me, telling me to shoo away.
I growled under my throat.
How can this guy shut me out simple like that! ٩(╬ʘ益ʘ╬)۶
Before I can come up with a sentence to talk back to that mean guy, there's something that went through me that next thing I know, I was scooped and landed to where their feet are standing.
I was placed to stand behind the blond guy and without wasting a second, that distinct steel was on me again.
The tip of his tail made of steal was pointed under my chin, as if for a normal human, it was a thing to do when you want someone to look at you and only you.
"How could your little body survived to my poison?" He asked in a very deep voice. "Forget that I pointed out how small you are. But no one had ever survived from my poison before."
I was just glad that he pulled his tail away from me, but there's at least seventy five percent of myself was scared from him. What if he decided to kill me this time? Now that I'm in a point blank range away from him, it won't get him a lot of work to do that.
But I already made a choice. I had my mind fixed and decided before I set out to find them.
If I died here, then good bye. I don't feel I had something to regret.
"So tell me, little girl. Why are you here?"
"Yeah, in what purpose?" The blond guy seconded, looking over his shoulder to look at us who's behind him.
"It was a long story─"
"Then make it short." They both said, synchronising.
I can't make out a word to say about that. But.
grrrrr...('皿'＃)
"I noticed that you had the same set of clothes, just like them," I said, starting to state what my real purpose was. "I originally wanted to ask if you had an idea where Itachi and Kisame are, but judging on how impatient you are, you only wanted to answer one question. So, I'll just discard that and ask for the other question."
From what I've been through, this isn't enough to compensate. I've almost died! (╬ Ò﹏Ó)
Well, judging them, they're not the type of people who will make acquaintances. Specially to me who obviously won't give them anything in return that could benefit them.
I was the one who's in debt.─I mean, I am the one who will be in debt when he accepted my request.
But he had to accept it! There's no place for if's!٩(ᗒᗣᗕ)۶
"That's on point," says the blond guy who's trying his best not to burst out into laughter, not to mention that the tears on his eyes were siding. Clearly, he was on the verge to laugh out loud.
"And what's the other one in exchange for your original question?" He asked calmly and was serious, that I find it unusual. I was half expecting him on beating up his companion for taking everything as a joke.
"I like to know more of your puppets. I'm fascinated by it. So please, teach me."
I'm leaving that much space to tell you guys how long the silence had occupied us.
And yeah, I even bowed ninety degrees, half of my body was bent as my face completely faces what's below me. I know, it's embarrassing to how formal I was, but I had to set aside my pride, because first of all I am the one who's bothering people. The least I could do is to humble myself. And the bow was merely to give him the message that I am willing to do everything.
Even if he'll try to kill me again. I will find my way to keep my soul attatch to my body.
And I can promise him that I will find him again.
"I think, something was wrong with him, my man, hm."
I would like to point out that I am a "she" not a "he", his "danna" can even tell that I am a "little girl."
But as much as I wanted to talk back to him, I should strain myself on doing that as I was humbling myself to his companion.
"Before I could answer your question, I want you to answer my question first," he finally said something, but it also made me feel anxious. I lift up my head and so did the half of my body and waited for him to state what he wanted to ask me about.
"What is your definition of art?"
That slight longer spaces was to give you the message of how blank my mind was. I was expecting him to ask for my name or where I was from that I even went to rake my brain to come up with a name and which place did I live.
I'm not sure on how to answer that random question. Even my body has something to say about it. My eyebrows were knit together, my neck tilted on the side and my hand finds its way to scratch behind my head and to the neck even though there's nothing to scratch on that part.
"I'm not so sure, for my head formulates a lot to describe it. But to give just one and straight answer to avoid more explaining, art was commonly used to describe beauty. It was made to express life that aims to manifest still to the next generation and beyond." I wanted to laugh now on how I tried to came up with the words that can't contradict to every form of art.
I mean, art can be expressed in many forms. It was a physical expression of human creativity, skills and imagination. And the widely expressed art was the visual arts then literary art was almost on par with it.
I only made two as an example, but art isn't in just two forms, alright?
If I had to name everything in here, we'll take forever.
Art is as flexible as water. Find your own expression of art.
And those spaces were here to represent how time had leaped that far ahead.
Next thing I know, the great white dragon landed on a seemingly remote area, no neighbors, nor pathway that was present to hint that people may have come and go just to pass. And with the blond guy had protested this decision highly, but the man with a tail said nothing, implying he just ignored him.
"The lamp was over there. Light it," he says simply, pointing the direction by its tail upon stepping in to the house made of bricks in the middle of nowhere.
"You have no permanent place to stay, ye?" The blond guy huffed, uninterestedly roaming his sight on the empty old house. "For him to be this hospitable for a little girl who just popped out of nowhere, I'm impressed," he mutters, but still audible for it to be a whisper. He turned to my direction where I was currently lighting a lamp that I found on a cupboard above the sink. "You got something to get him to like you," he says with a bored looking face that I totally tell by reading his face that he is trying to tell to me that I should suck that in because it's a "compliment."( Ò﹏Ó)
As much as I wanted to respond a strong violent reaction. Again, I am very grateful to them to be this unexpected kindness they actually capable of giving that I expected them to be the least people who could give such expressions.
"Come here," he called.
With the ignited lamp on my hand, I went to follow him to where he wanted to take me.
I've never asked for their name, just also to avoid for them to ask for my name as well. But being around them and addressing each other's name, I've learned that their names are Deidara and Sasori.
Sasori was the one that drags his body with a tail on his back. And Deidara was the blond guy and the one who made that cute giant flying dragon, and respinsible for the fire on both village that I happened to be there.
I would want to avoid them to ask for my name, and I'm grateful that they seemed to be uninterested of who I am anyway.
Sasori calls me "little girl" and sometimes "little brat" was fine by me.
And Deidara who was provoking me until now had now called me "rojineko-chan" and "noraneko-kun" at least twice since this day one.
I don't know if he calls me that way because hates me, but I can't figure out how I offended him though. Though he explains that he saw me that way for the ragged clothes I had, barefooted and the ungroomed hair. But he was kind enough to cut it for me, because he says my long hair has no chance to get saved when he used his hand to comb my hair. And he says I should take care of it again once it grows.─like cats does. And I'll be a cute cat, not ragged. A very smart way to offend. A euphemistic person. (￢_￢;)
And who am I to disagree with him anyway, it was the truth. I was a stray cat, and I perceive myself that way too, so? Well, I guess, we had the same perspective in life. ┐( ˘_˘ )┌
"You know how to read, don't you?" He asked.
"I do," I answered almost immediately.
He looked up and roamed his eyes around the room he leads me to go with him.
The red flare flickers as it lits the room with a dim light. It helped me to see what was inside the room.
There are a lot of things hangs around, and looked similar to the ones that I saw on that village. Puppets.
"This is where I do some recreation in my art," he says that I think it was a brief introduction of what reason of why he brought me here.
"Look to that shelf."
I turned and lifted the lamp on my hand to light where he was trying to point to me.
"I've written everything on how I do my artistry, step by step," he says before turning his back on me and went to head to the room's door. "Every tools that you'll be needing in order to create your art, you can find it all here. Use this room as you please. And the rest is unto you." And he left me.
I went out to follow him and what waited me outside was just a gust of wind. And all that I could do was to wave them goodbye as I watch them on the sky.
I had a lot of questions to ask, but maybe like he says, the rest is unto me.
But before I begin with my self-study, I am excited an all, but I really need to eat.
It's bothersome, but I'm starving ( ╥ω╥ )
Luckily, there's a plenty of trees that bears fruit around. And because the place was not inhabited that is I guess, only population one, which is only me who was here to live now, all these bountiful nature's gift was a waste.
But I'm still lucky and blessed, I don't need to steal just to quench my hunger.
I went back again to that house with no electricity current, just lamp, and did what I had to do.
There are a lot to read, but I went to look for the first step, like a common human to do before starting a long process.
First step: Rough Sketch.
Not that complicated, it just needed creativity. It's basically speaks on the features or visual prototype. The talent to do it just go second.─Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work. It's an old saying, take it from me.
It was also hard for me to do something fancy like what was the puppets that I visualized in my head. So I just go to what I think the best I can come up with.
Second step: Blueprint.
Okay, maybe I'm already facing what makes this art really difficult, but of course everything was difficult in the first try. It's a sign that you're trying to learn for something new and didn't stuck on what you know.─take this again from me.
No kidding, I did a lot of wasted ink just to get the right drawing and measurements that my patience was tested heavily.
But what if I gave up? What will I gain?
Third step: Bone Work.
And the list goes on with these steps.
Fourth step: Put flesh.
Fifth step: Build Limbs.
Sixth step: Sphere Joint.
Seventh step: Face.
Eight step: Hair.
Ninth step: Eyes.
Tenth step: Make it stand.
From the third step to the last step, which is basically you start to build the puppet, step by step, with just glancing back to the first two steps that is you where you base from.
This wasn't put in, but I'm putting a last step for myself. Eleventh step: make up! (ﾉ'ヮ')ﾉ*: ･ﾟ
"And what is that supposed to be?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow, bending to sit as he stared at that thing on the ground. "An art, huh?" He drawled.
"Yup!" I says proudly. "Her name is, koneko-chan." Very satisfied for my first puppet, a white chuncky cat. (*˘︶˘*)
"It looks like the cat in business stores. You know? The white or sometimes gold colored cat, displayed in front of stalls that waves its hand to invite costumers in. There it was called the lucky cat."
"It's cute, right?" (*'▽'*)
"You're missing the point here, hm," he says as he pointed the cat I made that I was doing a demo that I had learned a hiden jutsu called the puppet technique.
"I know, I know," I sighs, "It's just a body, but I haven't forgot about the stuffings. I am merely just showing off what I worked for a week."
"You put too much effort on the appearance of your art. It'll get destroyed in every battle anyway. You'll have to fix everything again right after every battle," he informed, talking lazily.
"I have learned that, having to make improvements and fixing every weapons you have in your arsenal. It would be tiring, but I'll be looking forward to it." ( ＾◡＾)
He scoffed, "There's no point on talking to you."
"I'm just teasing you, Deidara-san," I laughed. I do understand what was his perspective and his way of appreciating on art.
According to him, true art is fleeting. A flash of beauty burning brightly and then vanishing in a heartbeat.
His art was very inspiring, it reminds me of beautiful times are always fleeting. Bright shining days vanish in an instant.─sounds like, my life. (Q__Q)
"Here," he opened his palms that had been closed together and shoe d me a white cat made out of white clay, molds exactly the same with my wooden cat. And just two seconds after showing it, he burst it that now had nothing but smithereens.
But my life doesn't end like an explosion, it defines permanence. I don't know if I can still endure it, but I can see hope now at least. (ಥ﹏ಥ)
If I had to live a life that long, then I had to be strong.
I'll just have to exhale that heavy feeling for now.
"Oh, right."
I lifted my chin and looked up to him to stare back at his sky blue eyes.
"I haven't mentioned that the color of your irises looks beautiful, right?"
"What was that just now, huh?" He said, dumbfounded but also not interested like he always does. "I get the message on your statement, but," he coughed to clear his throat. "We had a mission at hand. Maybe I can ask Sasori that you can tag along."
"Really?" (*°▽°*)
"Well, yeah. You might learn a thing or two," he says with a sweat drop on the side of his face. "Why are you that excited? Just so you know, you're not coming with us to have a detour."
"I had a better idea where she'll be tagging along."
I almost jumped in surprise from hearing him talked just behind me.