Clay - Chapter Four

“You’re morphing, what can you turn into, hmm?” Deidara asked. 1

“Anything,” I said. “Any creature, person, thing. It’s pretty fun.” 2

“Yeah?” 3

“Yep. I can even read minds.” 4

Deidara almost tensed up. 5

“Relax, Deidara. When you told me someone helped you get into the Akatsuki, I know you actually lost a ‘bet’ to someone called ‘Itachi’. That’s why people tell me the truth; because I can read minds. Don’t worry. It doesn’t come all the time. It comes and goes. It chooses when to come, and chooses when to go.” 6

“I’m—”7

“I forgive you,” I said. “See? You were about to apologise.” 8

“Could you show me your magic, un?” Deidara asked. 9

I nodded and pulled out my magic book. “Okay, um…” I flipped through my chapters, trying to find a really easy spell. Then I heard the little girl I bit crying, “Mommy! Mommy! It still hurts so much!”10

“Perfect. Okay.” I looked at the ‘Healing Spell’ and recited carefully, “‘This child can’t take anymore harm, so bring forth healing powers and help their arm.’ It’s not the most ‘interesting’ spell in this whole book, but it’s the only healing spell that I could find. That one was level one, but there’s this one that’s really advanced. I’m good at it, but it’s hard to read.” I looked up. “Uh, Deidara?” 11

He had gone to check out the little girl’s hand. It was all better.12

“Good, huh?” I asked when he came back. 13

“Yes, un,” he said. 14

“So what can you do besides that…clay thing?” 15

Deidara looked around. “I can’t show you here, un.” 16

“We have to go to a clearing, don’t we?” 17

“Yeah.”18

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“Remember that clay bird from earlier, un?” Deidara asked, letting go of my hand. He had been holding onto it the whole way. I was just happy the mouths on his hands hadn’t touched me. 20

“Yeah, of course,” I said. “How could I forget?”21

He set the clay bird down by the cliff edge, put his hands together, stuck up his two index fingers and did something I couldn’t really follow. Suddenly, the bird grew into a giant one (about one hundred times more than a dove) and came to life. 22

“Oh, my gosh,” I breathed. “That… That is, um…” 23

He climbed onto the bird and held out his hand to me. “Come on, un. You’re not scared, yeah?” 24

“Uh, define scared.”25

“If you hold onto me, you won’t fall, un. Come on.” 26

“’Kay.” I grabbed his hand, pulled myself up, and sat down right behind him. 27

“You might want to hold onto me now, yeah?” he asked. “You don’t want to fall?” 28

“Uh, are you sure this is…?” I started to ask, but once the bird moved underneath me and was about to take off, I let out a quick scream and wrapped my arms tightly around Deidara. 29

“Are you okay, un? Or are you really afraid?” 30

“No, it just really, really freaked me out.” 31

The bird finally took off and flew off closely to the sky. And, I have to admit, in my head, I was still freaking out a little. 32