And then there was darkness.
Darkness was suffocating their bodies like a damp, musty, thick blanket, clinging to every inch of their bruised skin. (Y/N) had slowly opened her (E/C) eyes and started to gently touch the cold floor around her, checking her mobility. She had enough chakra to be alive, yet her she struggled to move her legs. Even when she managed to, they wouldn't move accordingly. Her body seemed to be almost fully paralyzed. In that moment her whole world could have been blown away in a storm, but the only thing she'd worry about would be the darkness weighting on her chest. She could smell the misty, humid air mixing with the almost diluted smoke. The empty space around her seemed infinite and tenuous, distant- but on the contrary, touchable. Despite not being able to see, her hearing wasn't sharpened, in fact she couldn't hear a single sound. She lied frightened, shivering, gasping. Just as she was ready to start crying, she heard deep, silent breathing.
"He's alive." She said aloud, excitement and energy spreading through her body. "It's just severe fatigue, (Y/N), you can do it. You'll be able to help him when he wakes up."
She was correct about her condition. Half an hour later she was able to move fully but decided not to in hopes she'll gather chakra faster. Her thoughts were positive, confident Ren and Sora will get her out of the cave soon, after they defeat the puppet master. That it. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind that her friends will save her shortly and the three of them will head back to Konoha with a smile on their faces. Coping mechanism or not, it helped her get on her feet and start to look for the blond boy. She crawled, gently feeling the cool, wet ground with her hands. Sound of the boy's breath was getting louder.
"Who's there?" Deidara's voice echoed through the large space. "I can't see anything."
"The cave collapsed; we're stuck until somebody finds us." (Y/N) calmly explained. She stopped crawling in order to evaluate the likeliness of the boy attacking her in case she found him.
"What? You pulled me back into the cave? I'm going to kill you." He threatened, his voice full of rage. "Damn it!"
The only thought running through his mind was killing (Y/N) in cold blood. He fantasized about an explosion intense enough to blow her up, but weak enough for her body parts to visibly be blown off and splashed all over the walls of the cave. When he attempted to move it felt like he was trying to lift dead weight. Unlike (Y/N)'s, his body was completely paralyzed with an exception of his head. He didn't know how to feel. Curious and prideful as he was, he tried to suppress his urge to ask (Y/N) if she was paralyzed as well. He silently cursed and decided the best tactic was to keep as quiet as possible in order to not be found by her.
"I see." She smiled while staring into pitch black. "I'm glad the poisoned eased up in your facial muscles."
"The poison? Did she poison her arrows or something?" He though.
He remembered the jutsu she used to pull him back into the cave. Her arrow scratched him before he felt the pulling force and the burning sensation in his limbs. Both Deidara and his art were humiliated. It felt unreal for him to be defeated by somebody as weak as the girl he was talking to. The more humiliated he felt, the more he wanted to kill her.
"It can't be." He thought. "She tricked me with her chains and humiliated my art. How did I let it happen?"
"Don't worry! I instructed Sora to make all my poisons harmless. You're going to be fine in no time." She interrupted his thinking. "Since we're not going to be here together, I guess I'll introduce myself. My name is (Y/N) (L/N)."
"How dare you act like you're above my art?"
Deidara's anger was fading away as he was trying to think of a clever plan to kill (Y/N) and escape the cave. His estimation was that no earth style he knew could break through the enormous amount of crumbled rock, so he simply had to wait for either pain or Zetsu to come and save him. If they ever come, that it. He knew (Y/N) was harmless and killing her wasn't necessary, but he couldn't fight the urge. Her voice was disgusting him to his core. The fact that she always talked about other people doing things for her just added oil to the already wildfire that his anger was. She seemed to be incompetent to do things on her own. She lived in a bubble where everything was happy, plain and boring. Deidara resented her behavior and refused to acknowledge it further. Her closed off mindset barely acknowledged his art, and what an art it was. A thought of his explosions doing so much damage fed his ego and since it was the only thing calming him down, his mood changed and thoughts about (Y/N) completely vanished.
"Would you stop talking already?" He asked, trying not to let his wrath dsitract him.
"I'm sorry."
He was shocked by her apology for a split second, but after realizing unnecessary apologizing seemed logical for her weak personality, he shrugged it off. (Y/N), on the other hands, felt guilty for accidentally paralyzing Deidara. When taking an arrow out of her quiver she didn't pay attention to what size she was taking (since she knew them by touch) so she ended up using the one of the two poisonous arrows she possessed. Approximately an hour has passed after he had woken up, but Diedara still couldn't move his body. She asked him how he felt multiple times, but he successfully ignored her. Still furious, he couldn't stand (Y/N)'s overly understanding, caring personality.
"My friends are going to come get us soon." She commented.
"I told you to stop talking." Deidara finally spoke.
"I just know they're thinking of a plan to get me out. There is a birthday party I need to attend." She continued. "If I stop talking then I you won't tell me to shut up. If you don't tell me to shut up, then I'll feel like you're dead. If you die, I'll feel guilty."
"You're weak, annoying and have no sense of dignity. As soon as I gain my mobility back, I am going to kill you." He complained. "Just shut your mouth already, un."
"I really think you're just bitter because as a child you didn't get enough attention from your mom." She laughed.
Surprised by her cynical tone, he lost the calm act and started to yell.
"What did you just say? You're just a child that doesn't understand anything about art. How can you even think you understand me?"
"You seem awfully annoyed by my concern about you. Why do you think you understand me?" She said. "You called me a coward earlier because I didn't want to kill you, remember?"
Deidara's anger was increasing by each second of their conversation. He couldn't put his finger on why he hated her so deeply anymore. Her behavior was unstable, unpredictable and random, things he liked about himself. After taking a moment to think about it, she seemed to be too kind and loving for him to handle. Her soft voice and concern reminded him of perfectly balanced oil paintings, a safe landscape. The annoyance she caused him was immense.
"I'll shut up if you tell me your name." She said.
(Y/N) demanded to know his name for three completely different and unique reasons. The first reason was simply curiosity. Second reason was her wish to benefit from the situation and find out as much as she could about the enemy. The third reason she didn't completely understand, but she was still ashamed of it. Her curiosity was wrapped in a feeling oddly like friendship, reminding her of how she felt when Sora and she were watching Ren from afar before they met him. She was unimaginably attracted to Deidara, but the feeling managed to sneak past all her senses. He's wasn't particularly special looking, but to in her eyes Deidara was the most unique person she ever encountered. There's something about him, confidence and inflated ego, she thought.
"You're an artist, right?" She asked softly. "My dad makes pottery, but he isn't a ninja like you. Thanks to him I know a lot about clay myself."
"How is it possible for somebody to be this annoying". He thought." She dares to disrespect my art and then proceeds to start a conversation about it. What a bunch of bullshit, un."
Deidara felt disgusted (Y/N) was comparing his sculptures with simple pottery, but he already learned to channel his anger into energy in order to get rid of her sooner. He bit his lip and loudly exhaled. He was able to move his body, but so little it was practically useless. He closed his eyes and started imagining himself destroying (Y/N) while using his ultimate art-
"Fire Style: Spark jutsu." (Y/N) said.
Deidara gasped in panic, his eyes still shut. Fortunately, instead of being hit with fire style he felt comforting warmth on the left side of his body. When he opened his eyes, he saw (Y/N) standing in dim, orange light. Upon further inspection, he noticed she infused her arrows with fire style and shot them into the walls of the cave around them in order to create beautiful illuminating light. One of her arrows was in the ground just around a meter away from him.
"You can use fire style?" He asked in a rough tone, completely forgetting about his anger.
"No, don't worry. I'm skilled in lightning style only. This fire style is just a useful trick I learned, but it's also the peak of my ability when it comes to using different chakra natures." She innocently laughed."I actually created this jutsu for situations like these."
Deidara noticed (Y/N)'s gentle gestures. Her body moved in a unique way, both innocent and sensual simultaneously. Even her (H/C) hair seemed soft and fragile, solely for the fact it was on her head. He distracted himself from admiring the girl's unique body language by revising his escape plan. Taking advantage of her kindness was easy and he'd have no regrets in doing so, but her odd behavior suggested that (Y/N)'s shell was a bit sturdier than he expected. His body started rapidly gaining energy. Instead of attacking, he discretely checked his mobility by discretely moving his hand. As he realized he can move normally, he grinned, making (Y/N) aware of the situation. Blood lust and hate overcame his body.
"I'll show you what my art can do." He thought.
"Fortunately for me, you don't have your detonating clay with you." She commented. "It must have fallen off as you were getting quite literally dragged here. I must admit, you would have beaten me easily if you weren't as distracted as you were. Am I than interesting?"
"You talk too much." He answered. "I guess I'll have to show you what my art is capable of using some different techniques."
Deidara threw a kunai in (Y/N)'s direction. She avoided his attack by moving backwards, counter attacking with multiple shuriken. His attacks were fast and effective, allowing him to get closer to (Y/N) and use taijutsu. Despite her attempts to block his kicks and punches, he managed to bruise her multiple times. His anger controlled his movement as if it was providing him with external power. (Y/N)'s taijustu was precise, but not nearly as powerful as Deidara's. He kept forcing her to move backwards without any apparent plan. What ruled their fight was sense of chaos chaos Deidara embodied. She tried to keep eye contact during the fight, but his eyes were too frightening to look at. Deidara wanted to kill her and she was aware of it.
"You're going to experience art one way or another." He yelled and pulled a paper bomb out of his torn coat.
"You are such a pain in the ass." She yelled back and kicked the paper bomb out of his hand.
(Y/N) started to spit blood as Deidara was repedeately kicking her stomach. His plan was to make her as weak as possible and use paper bombs to blow her up, making her his artwork. Unable to counter, in order to save her life, she jumped backwards without apparent direction. Deidara, still visibly deranged, jumped as well. As she was still in the air, her back parallel with the floor underneath her, Deidara was just above her, holding a kunai. Assuming he's going to attack she gripped her kunai tighter and looked into his eyes. He was afraid. Deidara tried to change the direction of his jump. but it was too late. Underneath them was a dark hole with seemingly no end and they were falling straight into it.
...........................................
Hello guys! This chapter was a ride for me. I studied Deidara's personality a lot in order to portray him accurately and I hope I'm doing a good job. I might start updating more frequently, but it all depends on my school at this point.
I'd like you to give me some feedback! Comment or send me your answers if you'd like. Today's question is:
Is the lenght of the chapters good? Should they be longer/shorther?
Again, thank you guys so much for reading my story. You can always hop into my private messages, I like making new friends. I love you all and hope you have a great day! <3
