Words of Wisdom
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd be on a beach sipping martinis and ignoring all age limits. Screw the rules; I have money. Oh, and the money phrase does not belong to me either.
Author's Note: Hard to believe I've been here for a year, eh? Harder to believe I've only dished out five stories. If I'm to write for the rest of my high school career, that means I'd end up with a total of four stories. Thus, I decided to double up on stories rather than be a stickler for my own, self-imposed rule of having only one chapter story going at a time. Besides, I really like the idea of this one, though it took me forever to write this chapter. And I hate the title, so it's susceptible to change, as are the chapter titles. Gr... Oh, well, it's my first AU as well as DeiSaku, so please bear with me. I know it's a completely different take than the 'conventional' AU DeiSaku fanfictions, but I'd love feedback. I'm not really sure whether or not I should continue this story or just write something more worthwhile.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: First Encounters
Drag in a long breath, just long enough to taste the smoke, and exhale smoothly, creating a small cloud of pollution. Not that the blonde man cared about his contributions to the environment, of course, so he continued his constant pattern. Drag, taste, exhale, and repeat.
He sighed and closed his eyes, shoving his stray bangs behind his ear in a vain attempt to tame them. They fell back in front of his left eye, concealing its striking azure hue beneath a curtain of yellow.
The man inhaled again, sucking in sharply whilst savoring the taste of the cigarette in his mouth.
Life was slow. He had not released any of his novels recently, due to an unfortunate writer's block, and he knew all too well that he was slowly slipping into the forgotten memories of the people's minds. Needless to say, that was something he desperately wanted to avoid. After all, the sales of his stories were all that kept some food on his table and some money in his pockets. And that was all he needed for now.
Suddenly, a higher-pitched and more mechanical version of some one-hit wonder rock song from the year before rang through the air.
Heh. Kinda like me.
Smiling ironically at the connection, the man flipped open his cell phone in one fluid movement. "Yeah?"
"Deidara, where the hell are you?" asked an irritated voice from the other line. "More importantly, where the hell is the manuscript you promised me? How am I supposed to be an editor when there's nothing to edit?"
Deidara, the blonde man with a cigarette, frowned. "I told you already, I've been having some trouble writing lately, yeah. It wouldn't be worth your time to even look at this stuff I've concocted. It's some seriously bad crap, yeah."
"Whatever. Just give me the crap. The publisher's getting all up in my face about your newest book, and they're really pressing me to send it to them ASAP. So hurry before someone gets mortally wounded." With that, Deidara's grumpy editor hung up.
"Stupid moron," muttered the author as he closed the phone and stashed it in the right pocket of his jeans. "Writing is an art and can't be hurried, yeah. When will he learn that?"
He looked to the sky, leisurely taking another drag of his cigarette. "O, sky, wherefore hast thine inspiration left thee?"
Deidara stood for a moment, just staring at the heavens above, almost as though he expected an answer, but of course, he received none. Instead, he just grinned enigmatically to himself and walked away.
"—and nevermore would the dragon plague the kingdom." Sakura smiled kindly to the young children surrounding her with wondrous expressions. "My name is Haruno Sakura—that's S-A-K-U-R-A—and I'll be reading to you today" had been how she introduced herself. It was always how she introduced herself to young children. For some obscure reason or another, they always seemed interested in how her name was spelled, so she made it customary to address that in her self-introduction. She also made sure to address the topic of her unique hair color.
It was natural! She swore it was!
"Bye-bye, Haruno-sensei!" called the class in unison after her as she swung open the door, arching her neck to grant them one last friendly grin.
"See ya later, kids!"
With that farewell, she walked through the doorway with a lighthearted gait, almost seeming like she was floating, for lack of a better word, down the hallway. Opening another door, the woman strode, much in the same fashion, out onto the sidewalk.
She had only taken a few steps down the street when she heard a low, disbelieving voice speak, "Pink hair, yeah? My eyes deceive me. Must be getting old, yeah…"
Sakura swiftly pivoted on her heel, ready to angrily face down the idiot who was about to insult her hair. Or, at least, that was what she assumed.
"Suddenly I'm inspired. I think I'll write this into my story, yeah. Screw whatever the editor thinks; I like the ideas coming into my head," he finished, not quite talking to anyone but still informing anyone who heard. "Oh!" he exclaimed, suddenly noticing that she still stood there. "Um…hi, yeah."
"I inspired you?" was the first thing that left her mouth, surprising herself since she had originally intended to shout at him in some way or another.
He appeared unsure at responding. "Well, it was more of your hair that inspired me, but sure, yeah."
Sakura could only stare at the odd, blonde man.
"What, yeah?"
Shaking her head, she reminded herself of her manners and introduced herself, "Sorry. I'm Haruno Sakura."
"Fitting name," he mumbled, bringing a cigarette that she somehow failed to notice before to his lips and taking a long drag. Then, he grinned and followed her suit, "Most people know me by Deidara, yeah."
Deidara, huh? The name rang a bell in Sakura's mind, but it did not quite click immediately. However, it did soon enough. "You mean the author Deidara?!"
"Artist," he promptly corrected. "Writing's an art, yeah. A much more difficult one to master, too."
Sakura, who was in too much of a shock at meeting Deidara of all people, did not process the question enough to argue, instead asking, "How so?"
Deidara was more than happy to share his beliefs, maybe even 'convert' another person or so. "You know, instead of just drawing or whatever-ing what you see in your mind, you have to try to get the reader to see the exact same image with nothing but words to help you. Then you have to pick the exact right word to portray the right image, otherwise the reader's completely lost, yeah." He sucked in some more of the smoky air, closing his eyes as he lost himself in thought.
Before he became completely immersed within his subconscious, Sakura abruptly recaptured his attention. "You do realize you're right outside an elementary school, right?"
He shrugged. "What of it, yeah?"
"You're setting a terrible example for the children inside. Smoking is a 'bad' thing," she told him, making air quotes as though to emphasize that the tobacco would lead to misfortune in some way or another.
Deidara laughed at her. "Cute," he commented in reference to her hand gestures. "I don't believe I've seen air quotes since high school."
"Har har."
"I know, yeah. I'm just hilarious, aren't I?"
"You have awful speaking skills for an author," she retorted, despite having not really been insulted and thus not having much to retort to.
The blonde man smirked. "And that's precisely why I'm a writer, not a reader."
Sakura blinked. This smart-mouthed man, he could not be Deidara! Certainly not one of the many (and boy, did she mean many) celebrity males that her best friend fawned over. The pink-haired girl vaguely remembered from a few years ago how her friend described the most recent obsession at the time.
"Oh. My. God. You will not believe how hot this guy is!" Ino squealed, clutching the magazine portraying said hot guy to her bosom like a prize. "I mean, seriously, when you think 'author,' you think of a skinny, ugly nerd who stares at a computer all day until he's suddenly inspired by something poetic and types faster than I can say sleepover, am I right?"
Her friend remained silent, wisely choosing to not voice her opinion of authors.
Ignoring the silence, the pony-tailed girl continued, "But this guy! He's the most beautiful man I have ever seen, and not the gay type of beautiful! I mean, seriously, his eyes are gorgeous, and his hair—don't get me started on that!"
"Show me the picture already, you pig."
"Forehead!" Ino shot back, but laughingly obliged and tossed her friend the magazine.
Right on the cover was a black and white photograph of a man, maybe a few years older than the two girls, wearing a half-unbuttoned black dress shirt. The head title 'Prodigious Author Leads the New Generation to Fame' was printed in bold red across the small, buttoned portion of his shirt. Sakura flipped to the page of the article and read the story.
'Young prodigies have been popping out all over the nation and the brilliant author known simply as Deidara is just the first of them. With already three novels reaching #1 on best seller lists around the world, he may easily also be the most talented. Other up-and-coming young people include Uchiha Itachi, the promising businessman and heir to Uchiha Enterprise, Akasuna no Sasori, the eccentric yet multitalented artist as well as a reportedly close friend of Deidara, and a civil rights activist known simply as Hidan who advocates for the right of free speech and freedom of religion around the world.' Pictures of all the men mentioned by the reporter lined the article like a border.
"What a load of crap," said Sakura ironically. "There's talent in every generation; what makes this one so special? The fact that they're all sexy, young men?"
"Well, there's no denying that!" Ino exclaimed with a giggle. "Besides, who's to argue when there's a wonderful drool-worthy picture of each of them on one page?"
The other girl clicked her tongue. "You're so shallow, Ino. For all we know, they could be the most stuck-up pricks we could ever find on this half of the planet. They certainly look like they are, at least."
"Jeez, Forehead, it's not like we'll ever meet them," her 'shallow' friend grumbled. "Party pooper."
"You only like Deidara so much because his hair's so much like yours."
"Shut up!" the blonde snapped with flushed cheeks, snatching the magazine with the oh-so-important pictures back and hugging it to her bosom once more.
Needless to say, Sakura was quite certain that Ino never threw away the magazine, possibly having cut out the pictures and framed them instead.
"Whatever happened to you?" asked Sakura.
"What do you mean, yeah?"
"'Prodigious Author Leads the New Generation to Fame,'" she recited. "You were in the headlines everywhere. One of the 'greatest young minds and an asset for the future' was what they called you. What happened to that?"
He shrugged. "It's not my style."
"Not your style?" she scoffed. "You mean you don't like all that publicity? It sure didn't look like it in those pictures!"
Deidara narrowed his eyes. "Have you even read my stories?" he asked.
"Well…no," she admitted, "but I'd assume that if you were as good as they say, you'd take pride in all the fame that comes with it."
"Sure, I'm pretty good, yeah. But I'm not about to change the future. That's not my thing."
"Could you please—oh, I don't know—elaborate?"
The author laughed at her impatience. "Like you said, I'm bad at talking. But whatever, since you're obviously not letting me out of this anytime soon, yeah." He took a longer drag of his cigarette than before, as though taking a deep breath to prepare for what was yet to come.
"My style… Well, I don't believe in all that 'lasting forever' crap, so I've never really tried to make a truly memorable character. Even if you read my book, you wouldn't remember the hair color or eye color or whatever. Their personality isn't much to remember either. But what really mattered to me were the plot and the words. Each and every moment had to keep the reader enchanted by some spell that only I would know the words to." His eyes seemed to have lit up with each word.
"Uh…sure." Sakura shifted her eyes longingly towards the direction of her small apartment. "Look, it was great meeting you and all, and any other day I would've gotten your autograph for my friend, but I really better get going." Without waiting for a response, she walked off in a hurried pace, eager to leave the man for a warm cup of coffee in her humble abode.
"The pleasure was all mine, yeah," Deidara called after her, half irritated that she was not listening yet half amused at the same time. "Bring your friend next time!"
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered to herself. "What a weirdo, spilling secrets and things to a complete stranger. Talkative, too. Yep, definitely Ino's type." Suddenly, it hit her. "NEXT TIME?!" she almost shrieked, spinning around to find that he was already gone. Sighing, she turned back around, mumbling, "One can only hope not." As fate would have it, one's hopes were dashed the next day.
The weather had gotten even colder, and Sakura, not for the first time, wished longingly for the possession of a car. Of course, her wishful thinking remained merely that, and she was left to trudge from yet another school, in which she read to the classes, to her small apartment. The young woman's only comfort was the coat she wore and seemed to continuously wrap tighter around her body in an attempt to make it warmer inside. Needless to say, the biting wind in her face did nothing to help her cause.
Suddenly, a rather nice sports car drove up beside the girl, its window rolled down and the driver leaning towards the opening to talk to her. "Need a lift, yeah?"
"I'm fine," Sakura gritted through teeth that were tightly clenched, partially due to her irritation but mostly because of her frozen state. "Only three more blocks to go."
"I have butt warmers…" Deidara offered in a tempting voice.
And rather abruptly, the prospect of getting into a car with a man she just met and decidedly disliked did not seem so bad. "Fine, but we go straight to my house, okay? Nothing weird or whatnot."
"Gotcha, yeah."
A stern expression directed at the man, and Sakura climbed into the passenger seat, resisting the urge to emit a relieved sigh at the warm air and admittedly comfortable…
"Butt warmers?" She looked at her blonde 'savior' incredulously.
"What about them?"
"You mean 'seat warmers,' right?"
He gave her an equally incredulous look back. "Uh…sure. Whatever floats your boat, yeah."
Sakura resisted the urge to glare at Deidara, having thoroughly enjoyed the fancy heating system he had installed in his car very much. She would never admit she appreciated his hospitality, though.
"Why don't you have a car, yeah?"
Unable to suppress the temptation, the young woman finally allowed herself to stare down the driving author. "Unlike some people, I don't have the money for college, an apartment, and a car, not to mention food and electricity and the like. What's it to you?"
The blonde man shrugged. "Dunno. Just wondering, I guess. What about a bus or a taxi?"
She snorted, "I only live a few blocks away from the schools I read at and my college. What's the point of wasting money?"
Her only response was another careless shrug. "I guess that's why you're working, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Why do you hate me so much, yeah?"
The question appalled her, leaving the pink-haired girl in quite the state of silence. "Wha—bu—I—" Sakura sputtered incoherently. Although shocked by his inquisition, she could not help but note some purpose to it. What, indeed, had he done to cause her to dislike him so? Personally, he had only complimented and helped her so far, yet she still responded haughtily. Perhaps it was the article's fault for its portrayal of him as a spoiled kid who loved the spotlight in her opinion. Or perhaps it was her jealousy of the very same spotlight he hogged. Or maybe envy of his ability to most likely obtain whatever he wanted in life. Whatever the cause, the girl had never truly thought of it until he brought it up.
Deidara continued, despite having not received an actual answer at that moment, "At least, it just feels like it, y'know? I'm getting these vibes from you that aren't necessarily nice, yeah."
Sakura remained unable to find an answer.
And he still went on. "So I began wondering if I did anything wrong, yeah, and I feel I should get a second chance 'cuz we don't really know each other, yeah? "
Still speechless, she nodded.
After a sideways glance to see her reaction, Deidara grinned. "Great, yeah! How about tomorrow at ten? Unless your schedule's filled already…"
She shook her head.
"Perfect. You said three blocks, yeah? I think we're here."
"Thanks," Sakura finally managed to mumble as she stepped onto the curb, her expression still blank from the question earlier. Strange how one sentence can affect a person, is it not?
"No problem," he said, his eccentric grin widening. "See you tomorrow, yeah!" With that, he drove off, leaving the young woman to stare at the rear end of his automobile.
Suddenly, it dawned upon her.
"Did I just agree to go on a date with that jackass?!"