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Clay Clocks Tick Back by Jojiro
Anime » Naruto Rated: T, English, Drama & Adventure, Deidara, Words: 9k+, Favs: 41, Follows: 31, Published: Apr 9, 2009 Updated: Jan 3, 2010 20 Chapter 1: Tick
05/02/2014
Disclaimer: I do not own the sandbox I play in.
Clay Clocks Tick Back
Arc 1 – Reset
1.01 – Tick
Look underneath the underneath.
Those words marked the start of the journey. The start for tens of thousands of shinobi across the Elemental Nations. They were words harking back to the days when shinobi were gods of deceit and manipulation, when the landmasses that shinobi fought on were rendered unrecognizable by their battles.
They are the words that will start our journey.
Are you paying attention, reader? Then answer me this: what turns a child into a bomb?
A rush of memories.
He gasped for air. His blond locks was laden with droplets of brown water, and not for the first-time, he wished that his additional mouths could breathe – but that wish was all he had time for before his head was dunked under again.
The next time he was brought up, he was choking. His tormenters were inexperienced, but brutal, and he hadn't been able to prepare that time. A lungful of water was the price of his negligence.
Again and again, his head was dunked into the trough, and then suddenly, mercifully, he was tossed to the ground. There were giggles as the other children ran off.
Slowly, between gags, Deidara caught his breath. His pale eye shone with unshed tears beneath his bangs.
He would not cry.
Another rush.
Deidara carefully balanced on the edge of his cot and pressed his clay cup against the door. It was a trick they'd learned at the academy – a trick he'd been unable to practice in class when his cup had mysteriously disappeared. The chūnin instructor had lengthily harangued him for his lack of responsibility, but hadn't met his eyes.
It was to be expected. Most people's eyes tended to swerve and lock onto his extra mouths on the days when he forgot to wear gloves.
Still, now he could practice, if only to eavesdrop on his parents.
"He's too young, Takumi! It's too early for him to be a Conscript." – that was his mother.
"We can't keep this up, Miu. People know. They see his abnormality, and we're paying the price, hm! Our bills, the vendors…you know as well as I do that we can't afford to pretend everything's fine– it's only a matter of time before they lynch us outright…and the brat wants to spend more on clay - !"
His father's voice stopped, and Deidara was frozen for a minute. Then he scrambled for his covers, but he overreached, lost his balance, and the cot fell sideways. In the next moment, before he could even get up, his father had opened the door and stepped inside.
When Deidara looked up, it was into a pair of haunted eyes staring back at him.
Despite his father's earlier anger, there was no rage to be seen in those eyes. Only despair. Dread that his truth was now known.
There could have been a lot said, but the writing had been on the wall for weeks. His father left. He tossed and turned in his bed, and somehow found unconsciousness.
