I lead the group to Deidara's position.

We enter a house that is filled with statues, which I can't identify and can see Deidara standing across from us.

"Who are you?"

"We are from Akatsuki."

Why is Sasori suddenly the guy who starts talking.

"Akatsuki? Don't care~ Now get lost. You are currently interrupting me from my art appreciation time."

"This brat is my new partner? I would rather prefer Mai then. Itachi let's trade."

"You know that our leader wants his talent for Akatsuki, Sasori."

You know. I will just watch the show for now.

"You know about my talent? Then you must have heard about my art, un!"

"Your...art?" Oho~ Sasori doesn't seem to be amused.

"Yeah~~" Deidara holds out his left hand and a spider out of clay appears out of one of his disgusting mouth on his hands.

"Look. Such refined lines and perfect form! But my art even goes far above that!"

And here comes his speech.

"My pieces are first of all multipurporse. While they may look simple, they are no simple objects, un! But they can also explode and when they finally explode they make their existence more sublime and finally comes fully to their own!

I feel that true art lives only in this flash of sublimation and think: True art is an explosion!"

Silence. I can't believe how fervent Deidara is about his whole art thing. During his speech the tongue on his right hand had been licking his own hand the whole time, while his eyes gave him the look of a fanatic.

"Disgusting." "Disgusting."

I look at the one who said the same thing as me.

"For once we agree, girl."

"Indeed, Sasori. I hope he is done with it."

"Let me handle this."

"Hey Sasori want to take a bet how many moves Deidara will make before Itachi beats him?"

"No bet. That blonde idiot won't last even one move."

"If I win, then you will join the Akatsuki."

"Fine! Just don't start crying when you witness my art!"

Seriously. Itachi activates his Sharingan and Deidara looks right into his eyes. At that exact moment Deidara was trapped in a genjutsu and the fight has already been decided.

Deidara then throws his spider bomb at Itachi, completely misses and is then trapped in his own centipede bomb.

"You should take a look at yourself:"

Good guy Itachi at least stops Deidara from killing himself.

"What? A genjtsu? Since when?"

"Right from the beginning. The moment you looked into Itachi's eyes, you already lost."

This whole fight is even more pathetic than my fight against Orochimaru.

"Those red eyes... They are beautiful. Eyes... These eyes are art."

Oh my god. Is this why Deidara started hating the Sharingan?

"No. I can't be intimated by someones ability! Those eyes? Art? Never!"

"You lost. Mai give him his Akatsuki robe. Sasori and I will be going ahead."

"Don't forget to tell him about Akatsuki, girl."

I do as Itachi says and give Deidara his robe.

"You want me to wear these weird things?"

"Just take them so that we can finally leave."

"Have you seen these things? Wait, I am sorry. I just forgot that you are blind."

"Hm~ don't worry about it."

"Your horns look gorgeous by the way. Their smooth form complements your skin and adds to your overall charm. Looking at you now, reveals a real beauty, un!"

This came out of nowhere.

"Thanks."

"About your organisation?"

"We accept missions for a cheap price, which makes countries dependent on us and meanwhile corners the other shinobi villages. At least that is what I got told and I am pretty sure that there is more to this whole thing."

"Interesting."

"By the way. You can call me Mai. The one that put you under a genjutsu is Itachi and the other one is Sasori. Sasori is also the person you will be partnered with."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Partnered? So Akatsuki works in teams?"

"Ye-"

"Do you think Sasori will appreciate my art, un?"

"You know~ why don't you just ask him of his definition for true art? I was told that Sasori is pursuing his own art form."

"Marvelous! Let's go! I will have to convince Sasori of my art!"

----------------------------------------

"No no no. You don't understand it all, un! It is the moment, my art exlodes, when true art appears!"

"I don't want to hear your stupid hallucinations about 'true art'. Art is not something so prmitive that every idiot could throw a exploding seal at someone and call it art."

"You still don't get it, un! When I create my pieces, they are already works of art, but it is the moment they change and turn into more. It is in this flash of sublimation that my pieces true beauty shine!"

"...Are you retarded? I keep telling you that exploding 'art' is only junk. Only a suicidal idiot would call bombs beautiful."

"So you are calling me a suicidal idiot? Then what is that crap about 'art is eternal'. I can understand your point, but your art is just too boring and simple. Eternal? Then go polish a diamond and call that your masterpiece."

"Brat. You are annoying me. How can you even call explosions fine art? Fine art is something wonderful that is left long into the future, that is eternal beauty."

"I can see your point, but how can my explosion not be a form of art? They transcend their original purpose and manage to create wonderful works, un! How can you not call that fine art?"

"Pah! Transcend their original purpose? Do you also call using a kunai as simple kitchen knife fine art? Did that kunai not transend its original purpose?"

"Un! This is it! We have been talking for hours now and you are still not willing to see reason!"

"Good for me."

Finally silence! I already started preparing a genjutsu to knock Deidara out.

"Sasori, Deidara. Mai is also an artist. You might want to ask for her opinion."

Oh no you didn't, Itachi. How dare you sell me out.

"Traitor!" And he again simply smirks at me.

"Un! You agree with me don't you, Mai? Art is an explosion!"

"Don't listen to his crap. I have heard your music and it isn't that bad."

"Mai is a musician?"

"And also a painter." Itachi please stop it.

"You should take a look at her paintings back at her room. Some perfectly capture an object on paper, while others merely use colors to express emotions."

Now even Sasori is intrigued by my possible pieces. Damn. I never wanted to end up in one of their 'beauty talks'. Sasori does not even want to consider Deidara's 'fleeting moment', while Deidara already accepts Sasori's idea of beauty. I don't even know how they can talk for hours about something, when both know that the other won''t agree.

"Mai. Tell them." Itachi you will suffer for this.

"Tell them about 'true art'."

"Urgh. Let's make camp and then start our discussion."

"Now tell us what you think, un!"

"Let's just get on with this."

"*sigh* Let me first summarize what both of you think, then I will go on with my own version."

Itachi... I will make you the most delicious dangos you will have ever eaten in your life and they will all be poisoned. They will be so delicious that you will start begging for more, but the poison will completely render you immobile, while every nerve in your body will respond with pain to your brain. It will be hell, but you will want to return just to taste the best food ever.

"Fufufufu."

"Mai, un?"

"Ah, sorry. Anyway, Deidara your art is the appreciation for a fleeting moment. Be that the moment your pieces 'transcend' and explode or even just the explosion itself. Sasori on the other hand prefers pieces that manage to persevere through time and can keep their beauty."

"Yes, un."

"Yes."

"Now what do I think is art?

I think art is a means to find oneself. During the process of creating an art piece, the artist is the one that is doing everything. He decides what colors to use. He is the one who decides what to draw. And most importantly he decides his pieces' meaning. Your art pieces will be filled completely with your own view of the world. Isn't it obvious that a blind person's painting will be completely different from someone with a Sharingan?

I think art is a means to lose oneself. You are not only experiencing a creation process, no, you also experience art pieces from other people. When looking at other people's works, you start seeing the world from the perspective of someone else. Their pieces will evoke emotions that the artist will have felt at the creation process. Did you never feel the moment, when you just lost yourself in something 'beautiful'?

I think art is a means to connect with another. You create pieces that resemble yourself. They represent you and open up ways for others to experience different sides about you. Your art pieces will evoke feelings in others that you have felt. Your pieces will have meaning that others will also perceive. Is that not similar to how we talk and understand each other?

Alas as art is a way to understand each other, it is also a way to misunderstand. While one person will look at a rotten apple and see beauty in its rotting and enjoy it as a symbol of mortality, another will only at it in disgust. While one person will enjoy a sad song that remind of a loved, lost one, another would instead enjoy a happier song to remember a happy time with their loved ones.

I think art is a means to tell stories. Some will create pieces of beauty and others will instead create pieces with meaning. But what they all have in common is a connection to its creator. They both share a story. Why did he create a painting full of corpses? Why did he create a song full of power?

In the end art is a language that everyone instinctively speaks. The question is simply whether you are willing to understand it or not. Will you try to understand what the artist tried to convey or will you simply walk away?"

Silence.

And Itachi smirking at me.

Yeah.

They won't leave me alone ever again.

"Girl, we will talk after seeing your paintings. No idea how a blind woman is supposed to paint, but you intrigue me."

"Un. I really want to see your paintings now."

"Then we will have to get back to our base."

----------------------------------------

Back at the Akatsuki base, Deidara and Sasori are officially made partners.

On the way to base, there hasn't been any further talk about art.

Itachi has also been smirking the whole time, but he has yet to experience the consequences.

We four go to my room and they take a look at every painting, at all my calligraphy scrolls and even ask me to play some songs for them.

In the end it is the last piece, when I took their breath away.

It is a painting that I made, when I had a flashback to my past life. In that memory I was on a birthday party of a friend and it had a really great atmosphere. A lot of talking and partying and it was really great.

But at that moment I also felt really lonely, which is exactly what I tried to convey with my painting.

Solitude (Grand Piece)

A boy that is surrounded by friends and family.

Yet he is all alone.

This painting will evoke the exact same feelings the boy felt at that time.

Seeing this painting for the first time will grant 3 Wisdom.

A boy that is standing and laughing together with his friends, but everything about him screams of pain.

His smile puts someone on edge.

His body posture makes one cringe.

His position is slightly off making him seem out of place.

His eyes only show suffering.

Together with the perfectly happy surrounding, you achieve a stark contrast that amplifies that feeling of solitude.

I put everything I could feel into this painting and it turned into my finest piece up to now.

Sasori, Deidara and even Itachi are just looking at it without moving.

There is complete silence for almost 15 minutes, when Deidara straight up leaves the room.

"Girl. You made me remember something important. I thank you for that."

And then Sasori leaves the room leaving only Itachi and me.

After another 15 minutes, Itachi is still looking at the picture and I kind off start to worry about him.

"Itachi?"

"Hm?"

"You kind of spaced out for at least 30 minutes."

"Hn."

"Are you alright?"

"It is just... I  started thinking back to Konoha.

Hana, Shisui, the clan, my parents and my brother.

The painting just made me realize how much I appreciate you now being here with me."

"I see. Don't worry about it, partner! We are best buddies after all!"

"Yeah."

"Want to have a taste of home-made dango?"