ReaderXCharacter: Holiday Version

ReaderXDeidara - Christmas Colors

“What’s this?” You ask, looking down at the strange box in your hand. After watching it closely to ensure that it will not suddenly explode, you turn your attention to the blond man who gave it to you. He says nothing, so you ignore him once more and look at the box. It is about the size of your head and wrapped in green and red paper, revealing that it is, in fact, a Christmas present. A silky, white ribbon is wrapped around it.

You have only been in the Akatsuki for less than two months and you have already been proven wrong on so many occasions. When you were forced to join, you thought that you would hate every moment of being in the same base as your once-enemies. However, you have enjoyed the last month or so, since you began to truly give them a chance.

Another, more recent thing is that you thought the Akatsuki would not celebrate holidays, and yet, here you are, in a thoroughly decorated room. Colored lights line the tables and the bottoms of the walls, along the framing. Red and green streamers decorate the ceiling, giving you the sense, once again, that the Akatsuki is not all that bad of a place to be. Even though no one would openly admit it, all of them act more like a family than a team.

“A present, but don’t open it until tomorrow, un.” The blond man finally says, his cheeks turning an odd shade of red. If you hadn’t known the reason for the coloring of his face, then you would have said he was sick.

About a month after you were brought into the Akatsuki, the blond, who had been your temporary partner while Leader-sama found someone more permanent, suddenly blurted out that he liked you, and then ran off. Ever since then, he has been pointedly avoiding you and keeping any needed contact between you two at a minimum. You asked Sasori about it, but the puppet would give away nothing, as, despite his obvious dislike towards the blond, he is quite loyal to his partner.

“Um, alright.” You answer, giving him a guarded look. He never gave you the chance to answer, not that your answer would have been positive for him. He probably already knew that, which is why he has been avoiding you in fear of your rejection. After all, you hold no affection towards the man that brought you here. It is his fault you were forced out of the village and taken to the enemy.

Three months ago, you bumped into a strange man wearing a cloak on the way home from your mission. A blizzard had been raging at that time and you both decided to stay together, hanging on through the snow storm in each other’s company. You had grown fond of the man in the twelve hours you spent together. He was surprisingly smart and you talked for many hours.

You fell asleep at one point, and when you woke up, he was gone and left no signs that he was ever there. At first, you though it might have just been a strange dream, but what happened barely a month later said otherwise. He appeared once more in your village on a cold, snowy night.

At that time, you had been inside, sitting by your fire. Sometimes, living in the Hidden Frost Village can be a real problem, as it is almost always snowing there. Only in the spring can it be pleasant, while the rest of the year is cold and dreary.

There had been a knock on the door and you remember opening it to find a blue-eyed blond on your doorstep. You grin, inviting him in and asking how he found you. You walked into your living room, hearing him close the door behind him. When he doesn’t answer, you turned around to face him and froze, the smile dying on your face.

Even though he had been alone when you opened the door, there are two people standing in your living room with you. The blond man and an older, hunched over form. You remember asking what was happening, and then blacking out a few minutes after getting cut by the edge of the hunched form’s tail. You didn’t fight, knowing the second the poison entered your body, you had lost.