Karasu and Deidara

[firecrackerart]

Characters: Karasu and Deidara
Status: Closed Log
Location: Street then to Karasu's apartment
Date: Thursday, January 18
Summary: Deidara and Karasu meet on the streets and go hang out at Karasu's house cause it's coooold
Warnings: There's a bit of language I think... that's all



A slight breeze blew his hair back out behind him then caused it to return and get in his face. He barely paid it any mind except to causally brush it aside absentmindedly. He was contemplating going home to take a nap, but wasn't sure if he should or not. He was window shopping now, glancing into stores he hadn't bothered to go into before. Having money on him on a regular basis was an odd feeling. Maybe he should put it to good use and buy a hair tie... A waste, he decided and pushed the thought aside.

Karasu carried a bag with him, the rest stuffed into his bulging messenger bag. On his way home from shopping, and thankfully ensconced tightly within a thick leather trenchcoat. He glanced ahead seeing Deidara and sped up, still moving quietly.

It took Deidara a few minutes to spot Karasu, and only when he turned the corner and caught the approaching figure in his side vision did he pause and turn to wait for him. "Hey," he said, once the other was the correct amount of distance away to be greeted without the need for a raise of voice.

A smile, dipping his head in greeting to the other as he approached him. "Well....greetings." he murmured, turning his eyes over the other. "Playing in the cold today?"

"I've been in a hot sweaty gym all morning, un," Deidara informed him, tilting his head to make his lopsided grin seem even more so. "I'm blow-drying my hair." He laughed a little as another gust of wind blew over them, trying to snatch their hair with it.

The wind was determined to play with their hair and Karasu shivered, glancing over the shorter. "Perhaps we should go inside....?" he asked coolly.

"Cold?" he inquired with another grin. Despite his faded jeans, t-shirt and jacket, the blond didn't look very cold. Shrugging he nodded, "Why not?"

"I get cold easily." he reminded him quietly, turning, heading past, leading the way back to the apartments. He knew Deidara would follow, glancing back over his shoulder once or twice before opting to just head inside. From the foyer to the elevator to the 6th floor...and all the way to his apartment.

Quickening his shorter stride to keep up with the other's longer one, Deidara did indeed follow. Noting where they were going after a few memories of certain objects came to mind. As he followed Karasu inside, he glanced down to the other end of the hallway. Itachi's room. It was a brief pause before he went into the apartment, hands slipped into his jacket pocket. "Dress warmer then," he suggested, giving him a smug little grin.

"Trenchcoat, sweater, undershirt. Cold blooded." he remarked in joking as he removed his jacket once inside the apartment, setting it on a coatrack.

Deidara made a noise that could have been an imitation of a rattlesnake's tale as he took off his jacket to repeat Karasu's action. The last time he'd been in Karasu's apartment was the day he left the complex... christmas. "What's new?"

"Oh...many new things." he replied with a low chuckle. "Sakon and I have done the first initial photoshoot for the band...ah..." a wince crossed his face as he glanced at the other. "Give me a moment...make yourself at home..."

Deidara noticed the wince and narrowed his eyes slightly. In thought not questioning. Brushing it off as though he hadn't noticed it, he shrugged and went into the kitchen. "Be careful, I might just do that, un."

"I'll throw you out after awhile." He warned before disappearing into the bathroom, closing the door with a soft click

Deidara just snickered at that and went about the kitchen, searching for that drink Karasu had given him the last time. Not as good as juice boxes but quite close.

The orange drink was there, on the middle shelf of his fridge, nice and cool. Karasu returned a few moments later, leaning against the doorway, smirking lightly.

Deidara looked up from where he'd been sitting on the counter, sipping the drink. His eyes narrowed in a mock innocent manner as if to indicate he had said to make himself at home. Why not raid the fridge while he was at it?

Karasu didn't seem to mind. He didn't eat much so better someone ate some of it.

"I saw the pictures, un," Deidara said, finally replying to the explaination of Karasu's latest happenings.

A grin split his lips, nodding his head slowly. "Aside from that life's been rather...well pelasent. The next shoot is around the 20th...and we'll start piecing our first album together..."

"Congradulation," Deidara said, meaning it though his tone might have indicated boredom of the subject. "Just you two or are there other members?"

"Just Sakon and I at the moment...." he murmured, shrugging. He...mourned the loss of Kin, in his own way...though perhaps it would turn out better. "We will likely...pick up another member or so in the future..."

Nodding slightly, Deidara tipped the bottle back for another drink, swinging one leg casually. "Fun," he replied. Fun might not be a word Karasu would use to discribe it, but Deidara was aware that it was 'fun' for the older man... in his own way.

It was. It was..the realization of a dream, to Karasu. Something he could do for himself alone, no matter anything else in his life. "It...is in a sense." he said, formally, though a girn threatened to split his lips.

"Touring the world with people fangirling for you," Deidara droned. "I dont think I could stand that kind of attention, un." He laughed aloud a moment before finishing the drink and dropping it into the trashcan.

"I can see it...andI'm sure I can stand it. At worst I'll just have to hire a bodyguard." he murmured to himself, shaking his head lightly before turning, moving towards the living room, clicking his tongue once to get Deidara's attention.

He was being called like a dog. Deidara looked annoyed, but followed after hopping down off the counter.

It wasn't...a conscious action, just something Karasu did when he didn't feel like talking to tell someone where he was going. Dropping into his chair, he flipped the tv on and hit mute. "How is work, hrm?"

Opting for the floor, Deidara dropped down after folding his legs under him. "Busy enough," he said, eyes catching the motions on the tv. Lonely, but busy enough that he didn't notice.

Legs went over the arms of the chair, lounging in that lazy, indolent fashion. "We never seem to see you around here anymore...but that is a part of not living here...isn't it?"

"'We'?" Deidara inquired, not turning his face from the tv. "I have no reason to come, un."

"You have friends, don't you...?" he murmured, arching a brow in thought as he gazed at the other intently.

Deidara glanced back at him for a moment, thoughtfully, then looked back at the tv. "Most are quite busy, un," was his responce.

"I doubt that means that they don't want your presence." he pointed out,a rching a brow as he leaned forward to catch the other's expressions

Deidara shrugged slightly and let his expression close as Karasu leaned forward. He ran his fingers through his hair then turned his head slightly to look up at Karasu with a raised eyebrow as though he didn't know why the other was leaning forward to look at him.

Because Karasu enjoyed studying those around him. Especially those close to him. "Whom have you played with recently, little phoenix? Unsuspecting patrons at your bar?

"No one," Deidara replied blankly. He wasn't getting entertainment out of it recently.

A faint look of surprise...though he understood in his own way. "Life has been keeping you busy...and yet not..hasn't it?"

"I suppose... more not then been, un," he said with a shrug. He shifted slightly, but otherwise stayed still. "I've been.. cured of my madness, un." In a way. In another it was making it worse.

"Have you...? Well that would come from getting away form it...but that really...." he shook his head. Karasu wouldn't really offer advice. He wasn't one to talk.

"Makes it worse, un," Deidara said, finishing Karasu's sentance whether the other had been going to say that or not. He crossed his arms loosely.

He nodded, sitting back, sighing lightly as he drummed his fingertips against the arm of the couch. "Well...they say abscnece makes a heart grow fonder...."

"They say, but I'm sure they weren't taking us into their calculations, un," he muttered bitterly. You couldn't grow fonder of someone you were never fond of. The fondness would be one sided.

He shook his head lightly, having nothing to say that that. In his mind...Itachi was too psychologically damanged at the moment for anythign healthy, it seemed.

Turning away once more, Deidara let his eyes rest on the movements inside the television. He drew his knees closer to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He wasn't really watching it though.

Karasu had nothing to say to that, turning his attention to the screen for the time being. "Do you sill play?" he wanted to know after a few moments, flipping through a small notebook on the end table.

"Music? I haven't in a while... I left my drums in Sapporo... And there isn't much space in the dry storage at work to keep anything anyway, un..." Which was where he was sleeping. He didn't mind that, though it did sound rather pathetic for someone who made as much money as he did in one night.

Karasu didn't seem to judge the other for his words or actions. "You live your life according to yourself now though...yes...?"

Glancing back at him, a curiously questioning look was now on his face. "What do you mean?"

"You do what you want when you want, yes....?" he murmured, leaning forward. No Itachi to tell him right from wrong....though that was likely a curse and a blessing for his blonde...friend.

"Yes," Deidara replied with a nod, though it went with a shrug. He worked when he wanted, acted how he wanted, played when he wanted... Such freedoms were a burden as well as a gift sometimes.

Something...Karasu seemed to understand, and let slide for the moment. "Have you tried contacting your parents?" he asked then, waiting,w atching. He wondered at times, about the parents of those he associated with. How they were like and unlike his own

Turning around, Deidara gave Karasu an odd look, obviously showing him what he thought of that question. There was also a thoughtful look. Did Karasu know his relationship with his parents...? "What for?" he asked.

"Curiousity, Awai-kun." he rpelied with a smile meant to reveal sharp white teeth. "You've....rarely...if ever spoken of them except to tell me that they weren't oging to pay for you to attend Tokyo University..."

Deidara was quiet for a moment before tilting his head to the side and speaking, tone simple as though what he said didn't bother him, "My parents dont want me. They left me at a foster home when I was eight. They do their best to keep me out of their life, un."

No emotion flickered in his eyes, though Karasu had to wonder jsut how a parent could do that to a child. Something else to look into, to study. "Are you better off without them or do you miss them?"

"What do you think?" he asked, giving him an amused look at the other's questions. His life wasn't that interesting.

"In your own way perhaps you are...." he replied instead, letting cool eyes rake over Deidara thoughtfully as he settled back into his throne.

"...I... miss them, un," he said quietly, leaning back against the arm rest of Karasu's chair. "But I'd rather them be happy, un." Which meant he wouldn't interfer with their lives.

A hand slid down, brushing through Deidara's hair. He listened in silence, stroking the hair gently. Eye narrowed, analyzing what Deidara had said, turning it over in his mind.

He sighed softly and relaxed a bit against those fingers, but that was the only reaction he gave this time. Too lost in memories to enjoy it.

It was something Karasu could give easily enough. A stroke of his hands through that hair to calm his seemingly constantly busy thoughts. In truth it worked well enough for them both. Both received a sort of stress relief from this excercise.

Shifting slightly away from facing the tv, Deidara curled up against the chair on the floor and laid his head down on the edge of the cushion to let Karasu treat him as a pet. He barely registered the thought of it like that though.

That hand descended down on Deidara's head once more, stroking his hair as one would stroke a prised golden retriever or other such loyal canine. It seemed the other needed some form of comfort for the trials he'd gone through and he saw nothing wrong with offering this.

Deidara was silent for a long while, relaxing as though he would doze off under those long fingers and their work. With a sleepy voice he added to his previous thought of his missing his parents, "..I miss Tachan too, un.." Everyone he cared about seemed to not want him around.

"Perhaps you should give him time...that one...is locked in his own shadows. It isn't your doing. Perhaps..no longer is. I do not think he knows how..." he offered coolly, using this as...another attempt to study Deidara, learn more about the near unraveling figure before him.

His head tilted slightly so he could look up from him with half lidded eyes. "He doesn't want me. Time wont fix anything, un," he murmured, returning his head to it's previous position. His own fingers absently playing with the hem of Karasu's sleeve in front of him.

"Tsk...everyone has their own baggage, little phoenix..." he crooned. And it was certainly true. The new wound on his body was proof of that, but it was a far more welcome sort. Sasuke had his own baggage, as did Itachi. Deidara...almost everyone he could name had....something.

"I want to throw my baggage in the closet and forget about unpacking it for a month or two, un," Deidara grumbled. "Unfortunately I dont have a closet any more, un."

"Somehow...hrmm...it never works that way though...you just...can't do that." he added with a light snort, nails scraping over that scalp, lifting strands, carefully placing them back down.

A soft groan of innocent pleasure escaped his throat. "Wouldn't it be nice though?" he murmured, completely entranced by the feeling.

Another time, a previous world and the smile that grew over his lips would have been much colder. It was still a thing of beauty, of predatory cruelty...but not as it had used to be. "Of course it would be nice." he acknowledged in amusement.

"It'd be fucking awesome, un," his voice droned softly with drowsy air. He was slowly loosing the touch of reality to sleep, though he was keeping himself awake to enjoy the scratching touches.

Karasu didn't seem to mind. His wounds were tended to and he had nothing pressing to do. The images from the photoshoot were in and spread over the coffee table. With the day ahead of him why not indulge the younger for a time?

Several more moments had Deidara asleep with his head resting against Karasu's leg. He only slept for a few minutes though before his head shot up, looking sleepily startled. He didn't seem to know where he was at first.

"Did you have a nice nap....?" he asked the otehr clamly, arching a brow upwards, staring down into those slightly muddled china-blue eyes.

Deidara made a noise that could have been anything and rubbed his eyes then raked his fingers down his face to stretch out the skin as he looked up at Karasu. "How long was I out, un?" he asked.

"A few moments, not long at all...." he replied, rising, sighing softly. "Be back....in a moment."

"What's wrong?" Deidara said finally, blinking himself awake. His tone, though still sleepy, was clearly showing he knew something was wrong and nothing wouldn't be an acceptable answer.

He glanced back, smiling rather softly, but sharply at the same time. "For once...it is not wrong. It is right." but he trailed back into teh bathroom.

Deidara's eyes narrowed in annoyance. He rose and followed him down the hallway. Going into the bathroom, he crossed his arms, letting Karasu see his annoyance with his arrogance.

He turned to watch the other for a moment, arching a brow. "Can I....help you...?"

"I think you're smart enough not to need to ask that, un," Deidara said with a snorting scoff. He didn't move from the doorway.

"Can I...use the restroom in peace....?" he asked, widening his eye sas if in surprise.

Deidara couldn't have looked more annoyed at the other. Turning, he slammed the door hard enough to make something rattle then went back to the living room and sat down in Karasu's chair, arms and legs crossed.

With a chuckle he tended to his wounds and, cleane dup the bathroom, putting things away. Moments later he was slipping out of the bathroom, watching the annoyed male with an arched brow. "What....on earth has you so angry....?"

"Oh, nothing," he said in a clipped voice. His eyes were on the tv again. He didn't like being brushed off when it was painfully obvious something was up.

And he wasn't brushing the other off. At least not in his mind. He merely wasn't telling him somethign that...wans't his business or anyone else's. It was too new. So he settled on his couch, letting Deidara take the chair.

Deidara's relaxed and sleepy demeanor was replaced by a foul mood that he didn't bother to hide. He ignored Karasu on the couch, though the television wasn't all that interesting.

Karasu didn't seem to mind, flipping thorugh the album of images from the photoshoop, grimacing at a few. If Deidara wanted to stew over that was fine with him. He wasn't about to control another's emotions so...openly

Picking up the remote he amused himself by flipping through channels, which he barely glanced at as they went by. Television was so boring. "What. Happened?" he asked finally.

"Does it relaly matter if it isn't depressing or upsetting....?" he asked, letting sleepy violet eyes slide over the other, amused and curious over Deidara's seeming hostility.

"It's rather annoying to see you go like this," he imitated Karasu's previous wincing, "without some form of explaination."

"It happens with new scars." he said with a roll of his eyes, offering the other an indulgent smile.

Whoever invented vaguness was getting destroyed when Deidara went to hell and found him himself. Not pleased, he went back to rapid channel surfing.

Sighign very softly he let his eyes skim Deidara, noting the furious way he continued to skim channels. The black haired man shook his head lightly, stroking fingers over the open album. "Calm down, little phoenix...."

"Why?" was the short response.

"Because you're getting worked up and upset over nothing."

"So?"

Another sigh, white fingers pressing to his fingertips. "Would seeing the art make you feel better? Because...I honestly think it would do little to improve your mood. Perhaps leaving things as they are meant to be is wiser...but you're a grown man...you can be your own judge."

"I didn't say I wanted to see it, un," Deidara snapped, giving him a narrow look from the corner of his eye.

"I didn't say you did either. You're the one who's getting so snappy. Concerned for my sake....little phoenix....? You needn't be...." he added quietly.

"Dont call me little, un," Deidara grumbled as though picking up on the title for the first time. In an almost snobish voice he continued. "Of course not. Everything's always just peachy for you isnt it, un. Why should I waste a thought?" His attention went back to the tv.

"My my...is this the first time you've picked up on that?" a slim black brow lifted upwards. "You waste or use what you will..." a shrug, turnign to the next page.

"No. Then dont tell me not to, un," Deidara said smugly. It wasn't the first time, he was never bothered by it before.

A shrug, pointedly keeping his attention on the album. If Deidara was going to be snotty there was no need to pay attention.

Turning the tv off with a sharp click of the remote, Deidara stood and went to get his coat. Why indeed didn't he visit more often. Because he hated being ignored and hated things being kept from him. Almost as much as he hated being alone and hated going back to the bar to sleep before his shifts because his best friend kicked him out of their apartment.

"You should know...I have never ignored you...." he called out of nowhere, still staring down at the album, turning to the next page. Eyes rose slowly, taking the other in, watching him for a moment. "Especially with how I treated you as you came in...and then...you throw a fit because you aren't given a single piece of information..." he shook his head.

"I dont like being pointedly denied something that's so obvious, un." Deidara said, keeping his back to the other as he slipped his shoes on.

"If it's so obvious then why state it?" he murmured in response

"Curiousity's sake? Friend's sake? I'll remember that for later, un." he said as he shut the door to the apartment. Going down to the opposite end of the hallway for a moment...wanting so badly to go in, Deidara paused, hands stuffed in his pockets.

A sigh, rising, watching as he slid out of the apartment, watching him for a moment as he left. Karasu did not always reveal things...it was just second nature to hide things. He opened up far too often for his liking around the phoenix and others. He watched as those steps slowed outside the apartment at the end of the hall...but he said nothing

Not knowing there were eyes on him, Deidara reached out as though he would knock on the eldest Uchiha's door before his hand slid to touch the handle, then fall limp at his side. He couldn't do it. With a sigh, he finally backed away from the door, leaning against the wall a moment.

Karasu's eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he stepped into teh hallway, watching Deidara, watching how his hand lingered on knocking...then the doorknob...and then how he just sank to teh ground. Love...or perhaps obsession....and it was...frightening.

Noting the movement at the end of the hall, the pained expression creaping over his face disappeared instantly. "What?" he asked quietly.

"I didn't say a thing." he murmured, coming closer, staring at the door, batting his eye sover the number and then looking away, failing to give it another thought.

"You dont need to, un," Deidara murmured, keeping his eyes to the ground, though his face remained blank. Karasu had seen his meeting with Itachi's door. In his own mind it was pathetic.

In Karasu's mind no more pathetic than his breakdown before Deidara due to his breakup with Sasuke. A mirror image perhaps now...though distorted, teh scenery different.

"I don't like being alone, un," Deidara murmured again. He didn't mind being alone, didn't mind living on his own as he was, if it could be called that. But he didnt want to be away from Itachi... And the elder didn't want anything to do with him. He'd lost his closest friend and boyfriend in one day... All due to a question.

A sigh, shaking his head gently as he strode down the hall. Perhaps...because of the treatment Deidar had shown him...in his breakdown so seemingly long ago...he would not let this slide. Perhaps a means of repayment. He moved to teh other's side, offering his hand to help him stand.

Taking it, Deidara let himself be helped up, then ran his fingers through his hair. "Sorry," he muttered, turning to leave. He wasn't use to comfort when upset, didn't know what it was when offered.

"Come with me." he replied, speaking softly, but in a tone that showed he was in no mood to be disobeyed either. Back down teh hall and towards his apartment.

Tilting his head to the side with a confused frown, Deidara obeyed and went back to the apartment he'd just walked out of to stand in the door way, watching Karasu for some explaination.

"Just come inside. You're...welcome to spend the night here. Tonight." he murmured. He honestly didn't know if it would be accepted or not...but wondered all the same, left the invitation open

Obviously startled by the invitation, Deidara went in, closing the door behind him. "What for?" he asked, still looking slightly confused.

"I can't really..give a reason...." he murmured, shrugging his shoulder as if it weren't a big deal.

"...Okay..." Deidara still looked confused but sat down on the couch, leaving his coat on, but relaxing back against it.

"IT's comfortable...I have blankets and a pillow...I don't know if you get cold like I do....." he murmured, turning away.

Aparently Karasu hadn't been informed that Deidara had a tendancy to sleep on benches or in trees no matter what season if he didn't have a place to go when he was tired. "That's fine, un," he said, fiddling with a piece of his hair. He still didn't understand the point of this... why Karasu was letting him stay.

And he likely wouldn't get a reason. At least not at that moment. White hand pointed down the hall. "Bathroom, obviously. You can take a shower if you want or need...when I go to bed I'll be upstairs. The other bedroom...I'm sorry to say is offlimits though...else I'd offer you that instead...."

"I sleep in a hammock in between jars of olives and boxes of glasses, un," Deidara informed, making the curve of a hammock with a motion of his finger. "I dont care, un." He shrugged a little and shifted to curl up on the couches cushions. He'd be content like that even, blanket or no.

Still, a blanket was draped over his shoulder all teh same, a soft murmur of goodnight leaving him as a light was clicked off from somewhere behind him. Karasu would perhaps...speak with him more the next morning, when he'd had time to sleep, calm down. For now he was...repaying a debt. He couldn't truly offer comfort like others...but he offered his nest as a sanctuary...

Deidara returned the goodnight as he pulled off his coat and pulled the blanket tight around himself. Late working nights and only small naps left him dozing off almost immediately, curled up in a cat like ball on the couch.

And the Crow studied him for a time, standing behind the couch in the darkness. And then he simply turned and sashayed up the stairs to change and ready himself for bed as well.