Sixty Days

Chapter One: The Deal

It was a beautiful day in the city of Konoha. The sun was shining, the temperature was just right and the wind wasn't too harsh. I hate days like this. Well, maybe hate is a too harsh a word. No, I prefer rainy days because they are relaxing and refreshing.

Most people hated it when it rains, because outdoor occasions had to be canceled. I'm not really an outdoors kind of guy, only when it rained. I sighed as I watched the many people walking down the sidewalk and cars coming and going down the street from my bedroom window. The sigh caused a lock of my honey gold colored hair to float upwards, defying gravity for its one second of glory before falling back to my pale cheek. I wrinkled my nose because it was kinda tickly.

I have elbow length blond hair which I liked to wear in a high ponytail most of the time. I let my bangs frame my face because I liked to play with them when I'm thinking. I was wearing a form fitting white tank top which accented my slender build and slightly muscled form. My favorite black cargo shorts rode low on my hips causing a small sliver of pale skin between my navel and the hem of the pants to peak out.

I'm not a tall person, no my brother got all those genes and he's younger than me. I stand at a good five foot six but I more than made up for it with my fiery personality and loud voice.

I was bored, more than I was lonely. I'm used to having my annoying (not really) little brother there talking/fighting with our roommate. My roommates are an overly affectionate ball of sunshine aka my little brother, and a dark haired antisocial boy. Naruto is my younger brother's name. He was attending some college classes so he wasn't there. I never really saw a reason to attend college, so I never went.

I am an artist. I had yet to sell anything and I was working myself to the bone to help pay for the apartment. Naruto paid a third of the rent, which was a considerable amount these days.

He is tall; around five foot nine with shaggy honey golden hair and bright brilliant azure eyes that were so much like my own. He had three whisker like markings on both sides of his face making him look like the blond Kitsune he most often acted like.

Naruto was studying to be a video game creator. I liked that fact because I often sat down and got to help him plan out small games for his homework. He has such an aptitude for creating games that it amazes me at times because he could be such an oblivious child at times. Of course that was probably why he was so good at making games.

Our other roommate was Sasuke Uchiha. He was always in a moody mood and it was ten times worse when he was around Naruto, god help us all. He was also in class then but he was studying Writing. He wanted to be an Author.

They both went to the same technical College in town so they rode together in Sasuke's shinny black 2007 convertible Mustang. I'm so glad I have my own ride and I didn't have to ride with those two. I loved them both like brothers, I honestly do, but their bickering could lead to serious migraines.

I was surprised when the apartment door opened and I heard footsteps walk into the living area. I slid off my window seat and padded across my baby blue colored carpeted floor to take a look at who just arrived. The person looked like Sasuke but when he turned I instantly knew it wasn't the younger Uchiha because he didn't have long hair.

It was Sasuke's older brother Itachi whom I had known for as long as I'd known Sasuke and probably longer considering I went to high school with him. I'd never seen him look so disheveled before because he almost always had freshly pressed cloths and didn't have rings under his eyes.

"Itachi?" I spoke as I approached him from behind. He turned his head to look at me with onyx eyes that were so full of emotion and in a second they were gone. A normal person who hadn't been around an Uchiha all their life would have never have seen those emotions. Something was up.

"Ah Deidara, I didn't think you would be here." He spoke in that smooth baritone voice that sent lovely shivers down my spine. Itachi stood a good five foot eight, two inches taller than his little brother Sasuke. He was a beautiful man, yes beautiful. He had this feminine semblance about him. From his long lashes to his high cheekbones and full bottom lip. He was drop dead sexy.

"It's Friday, they didn't need me. What's wrong, hm? You look like shit." I told him then as I crossed my arms and stared thin lipped at him. Itachi's lips tilted downwards as well, into a weary frown.

"Thanks." He mumbled causing me to scoff and roll my eyes at him. Itachi sighed.

"When is Sasuke due back, there is something I need to discuss with him?"

"In twenty minutes or so if those two haven't killed each other yet, yeah." I told him with a slight upturn of my lips. Those two either needed to sort out their differences or fuck already. I walked around the island bar (and Itachi by proxy) and to the kitchen sink and started to fill the kettle for tea. I preferred coffee to the green tea that Sasuke and Itachi liked so much, but I knew from the way Itachi looked that he could use a good cup of tea.

"Can't tell me what's up, yeah? Am I that unimportant?" I half joked before turning on the stove and setting the kettle on the burner.

"I'd rather not repeat myself, if you don't mind." Itachi replied before slipping into one of the barstools at the island bar. That was fine with me, as long as he was going to tell someone what was going on. Keeping stuff like that locked away wasn't a good thing for one's mental health.

I watched Itachi for a while as my mind lazily went through the ideas of why the Uchiha looked the way he did. No doubt it was because of their father, Fugaku Uchiha. I sighed at that thought. He could be a bit overbearing at times and it was one of the reasons why Sasuke jumped at the chance to move in with us.

"It's about Fugaku again isn't it?" I asked as I leaned against the countertop on the right of the stove. I had to strain my ears to hear the almost inaudible sigh Itachi released. A few minutes later the kettle whistled and I poured Itachi a cup of tea, watching as he took a small sip of it.

"You know, if he's giving you shit again you can just stay with us, yeah. I'm sure Sasuke wouldn't mind if you took his bed." I joked, but only about the last part. I knew the younger Uchiha would pitch a fit and raze hell before he would give his bed to his brother.

"It's fine Deidara." He said and I couldn't help but frown at that.

"I care about you Itachi. You know that, yeah?" I locked my sapphire blue eyes with the elder Uchiha brother's dark onyx and a small but true smile worked its way across his face.

"I know." He said and I grinnned at him.

"As long as we got that straight, yeah." No sooner had I said that the apartment door swung open and a loud 'I'm Home~!' rang throughout their abode.

"Welcome back, yeah!" I half yelled half chuckled happily. Sasuke was the first to come through the kitchen door. He frowned at me before tuning to look at his brother.

"Brother what are you doing here?" the younger Uchiha asked a perplexed look on his face. I would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. Naruto bounced in and around me to open one of the lower white cabinet doors to fish out a cup of instant ramen.

"What, no 'Hey bro'?" Naruto looked at me for a second before chuckling.

"You missed me~" he said as he hugged me. I was fine with the hug but when he started nuzzling his nose to my throat I pushed him off and glared mildly at him.

"Don't do that, yeah." I droned and he mocked me (yeah included) as he tore the wrapper off the cup of ramen. He used the water I used for tea to fill his cup up before he jumped on the counter on the right of the sink to wait. I turned my attention back to the two Uchihas and frowned worriedly at what I saw.

Itachi looked like he was at wits end and Sasuke looked pure murderous. It grew into one of those uncomfortable silences once Naruto saw what was going on. Sasuke was the one to break it.

"That fucking bastard!" the younger of the two Uchihas said as he slammed his fist on the granite countertop of the island bar. Naruto jumped and stared wide eyed at Sasuke.

"Now Sasuke-" Itachi tried to pacify his sibling but it wasn't going to work. Not this time. I could tell this was completely beyond what Itachi normally had to put up with and I could also tell it was wearing the elder Uchiha down.

"NO! He has no right to do that to you!" Sasuke spat. He was beyond seething and I pushed away from the counter.

"What did he do?" I couldn't help but ask. Cold onyx colored eyes turned to me then and I almost jumped. I'd never been affected by the dark glare that only an Uchiha could posses but this one was practically evil.

"Our so called Father," he spat with venom, "Has arranged a marriage with Hyuuga Corp. Itachi has to marry the Hyuuga heir." I almost didn't hear the last part because I was seeing red. I don't know when I had slipped my skater shoes on (without socks I might add) and jumped into my shitty blue Ford Tempo and drove to Uchiha Corp. but I found myself glaring down at a seated Fugaku.

"ITACHI IS MINE YOU BASTARD! You're NOT making him do this!" I screamed as I slammed my hand down on his desk. My dark angry azure eyes never left his dark grey ones. Wait what? Oh shit! What did I just do!

"Is that so." It was a statement, not a question and I felt the dirt under my fingers from the hole I just dug myself into.

"Well then, since you seem to have more than just friendly feelings towards my son I have a challenge for you. Are you listening? Good." He stood and walked around his desk to look me straight in the eye even though I was two inches shorter than him.

"You can't tell Itachi or Sasuke. If you can manage to make him fall in love with you in a month then I will forget about the arrangement and I'll sponsor your art career. If you fail however, you don't want to know what would happen if you fail." I gulped and backed away. Damn and I thought Itachi was scary. I opened my mouth to reply but I didn't trust my voice.

"Well? What is your answer?" He asked as he returned to his seat and leaned back in it. Shit! How was I going to make a straight man fall in love with me? This isn't about me though is it? This was for Itachi. I knew for a fact that Itachi didn't want to get married like this. I locked my determined azure eyes with Fugaku's.

"You got a deal, yeah." I told him.

I was doing this for Itachi and that was that. So why did it feel like I just dug my own grave?

…