AN// another of myself and Katsuya-chan's role plays. Again, myself and Sasori, with the bold writing, and Katsuya-chan as Deidara with the normal writing.

"And your partner, Sasori." Itachi rolled his red eyes at Deidara's pout of disdain, and wandered off.

Deidara was surprised, to say the least. He already missed Zetsu. Damned Orochimaru, quitting like that. Sasori had always creeped him out a little, small slots full of evil for eyes and no hair to be seen. Deidara sighed again, but tried as hard as he could not to frown. Good first impressions might save him from an unsightly death. He forced a smile at the other, and extended his hand to be shaken. Palm-up, without thinking.

Sasori extended his hand, turning Deidara's in the process, and shook it. His tails flicked restlessly, the cloak twitching with the movement. "Hnn." The disapproval of his partner was shown thickly in his voice, his eyes glittering with venom.

Deidara was a little scared. This guy was even more unfriendly than Kisame-kun. He gave up slightly on the grin, and hung his head slightly. "Yeah, we should set off... It's a long way to the fire country, yeah..." He had a thought suddenly. "We should talk battle strategies or something on the way, yeah." One of the dark clouds of gloom flitted away. At least the awkward silences wouldn't be his fault.

Sasori grunted, and trudged away, somewhat quickly for being so hunched. He threw glances over his shoulder towards Deidara, not really caring whether he followed or not. He was, to say the least, pissed off that Orochimaru, that goddamn child molester, had just ran off to find a different container. Stupid Itachi was the one to blame, too. Never liked him.

Deidara followed like a puppy. He wasn't really ever going to lead anyone anywhere. He wondered off-handedly why Sasori was being so unpleasant. Maybe he was missing Orochimaru? His hand dug into his satchel, and he found one of the last candy bars. That was one of the perks of travelling with Zetsu; his chocolate obsession rivalled his flesh one. He chewed his twix idly, glancing between the beautiful blue sky, and the other guy. He pondered them ever becoming friends. He shrugged off the idea, deciding anyone that ugly wasn't worth it.

Sasori glanced at Deidara, and made a soft gagging noise. "Yuech. That chocolate stinks." Sasori snarled, pressing a sleeve to his masked nose.

Deidara shrugged. "I missed breakfast; Ita-san said I had to get here IMMEDIATELY, yeah. So I'm eating now. I don't have anything else, yeah." He sighed, he didn't really like arguments. "And I think you're weird, yeah."

"That's nice." One tail twitched in annoyance, while the other curled over Sasori's head. "What the hell is your skill meant to be, anyway?"

"I'm an artistic explosives expert, yeah." He watched the tails idly. "Ita-san said Akatsuki was in need of a long-range attacker, so he sent Zetsu-chan scouting, yeah." He crumpled up the candy bar wrapper, and shoved it in his pack. Deidara tried to imagine Sasori's skill. Probably catapulting himself at the enemy.

"Hmm." Sasori sighed, and stretched his arms out in front of him, clicking every single one of his joints in the process, making a chorus of clicking noises. He clicked his neck, both ways, and just to creep of Deidara, turned his head backwards to look at him.

Deidara thought he was probably right. He wasn't grossed out by the neck-thing; Itachi was well-renowned for his double-joints. Deidara was bored, hot, and angry that Sasori was such a jerk, and there was sand in his sandals. So he was pretty down. He found a lump of clay up his sleeve, and his left hands mouth started chewing it down. He removed his cloak, draped it over his right arm.

Sasori, quite annoyed that his trick didn't work, turned his head back round. Being a puppet, he couldn't feel the heat.

Later on, some time after sunset, Sasori stopped walking and pulled his pack from underneath his cloak. "We camp here." He had hidden his tails beneath his cloak, for the metal would catch the cold and THEN he would feel it.

Deidara was silently grateful. He sat down heavily, and pondered sleeping lying on his back under the sky. Tents were so bothersome, and he was exhausted from walking. He hoped they were at least NEAR grass, it felt like he had marched all the way across rock again. He flopped backwards with a small squeak, and shut his eyes.

Sasori buttoned up his cloak fully, and sunk his head down. He looked vaguely like a pigeon waiting to die. Except he wasn't grey. He was black and red.

Deidara started tapping. He was bored, and he had some ridiculous song stuck in his head. A bunch of drunken idiots him and Zetsu had run past in rock were singing it, and their awful voices were running around his head. Something about lobsters. Deidara didn't open his eyes. He didn't WANT to talk to that guy, he would be rude and dismissive of anything Deidara had to say, and he had a feeling.

Sasori's eyes were darting around, suspicious of any activity. He growled low in his throat whenever the bushes rustled, or something landed on a tree. Which, thank god, wasn't frequent.

At the first growl, Deidara jumped slightly. The sound was too similar to the rattle of a snake for his liking. He tapped away on the sand absent-mindedly. He was hungry.

Sasori looked at Deidara. "If you're hungry, there is so such thing as rabbit. Tche." He turned his head at the sound of a rustle in the trees, followed by a clunk. "That sounds too much like Ninja for my liking." He growled. His tails curled and twitched, flattened, curled, and twitched.

Deidara sighed. He was tired, couldn't the stupid ninja come back later? He pushed his hands together, and henge'd himself invisible. "I'll leave the fighting to you, yeah." he rolled back onto his back, and watched the tail idly.

"Yeah, thanks." He snarled. When the source of the thuds came into view, Sasori chuckled to himself. "A Genin team and a Jounin." A blonde haired boy, dressed in orange, growled, an ebony haired boy flicked his hair, and a pink haired girl drew backwards, obviously scared enough to faint. But the Jounin - "Copy Ninja Kakashi. What a nice way to meet." Sasori smirked, and clicked his shoulders.

Deidara, as silently as possible, shuffled behind the group. He kept eye-contact with the girl, as she kept looking about. He moved slowly, just in case he was spotted. If his henge failed, he was going to run. He glanced back, making sure Sasori was alright. He was having a glare contest with the jounin with the dumb hair. So Deidara increased his step, and made it past the three kids. One of them looked familiar. Oh well. He knelt down, and fiddled in his pockets for clay.

The Jounin prepared himself to fight, and looked at his three Genin. Sasori laughed. "Worried about your team, Kakashi? You should be." He pulled a scroll from his pocket, and unravelled it. Blood seeped through his thumb joint and he struck it along the scroll. A puppet appeared, in a puff of smoke. The blonde boy looked shocked as hell. Chakra exploded from Sasori's fingertips, sticking to the puppets joints. The puppet did a small whirl in the air, and its jaw dropped. A small blade poked from where the tongue should be. It stuck forwards, and it revealed that it was either painted red or had a very recent coating of blood. The puppet flung forwards, its jaw clicking against the blade. The jounin jumped out of the way, but the ebony haired boy was too slow. The blade stuck into his shoulder. He yelled in pain, jumping backwards, and ducking as the puppet moved again. The girl screamed, running to his aid, and the blonde boy charged for Sasori. "Naruto!" Kakashi ran after the blonde, but too late. Sasori had knocked him against the tree. Kakashi pulled back, kunai at hand. Sasori rose an eyebrow, but wasn't ready for the blow that followed. Kakashi had a clone sneak up behind Sasori, and kick his back, hard. Sticking in a kunai for good measure, the clone 'poof'ed. Sasori coughed, and the shell burst open. A cloaked figure, still with chakra leading to the puppet, struck at the Jounin. He hit the Jounin square in the chest. Blood spurted everywhere. The blonde roared in anger, heading straight for the new cloaked figure from the shell.

Deidara's fingers deftly worked at the clay, pulling stalagmites, and snapping them off with the other hand. He dug further into his pocket, pulled out a vial of poison. He placed three inside the vial, placed his mouth to the other end, and sucked lightly. He stopped the ends of the tubes with excess clay stuck under his nails. The other ends had small shards of broken glass shoved in, to break the skin. He readied his fingers, and aimed for the homely girls back. Only two hit, but they stuck in at the right angle. She sighed, and collapsed to the floor. Deidara loved using sedatives, they robbed honour and consciousness. Deidara walked a simple four feet to the left, and readied his next lot of darts. He would aim for the blonde, he had a feeling the kid in blue would notice. Deidara saw the blonde move, and threw two, then another two, then another two. At least three would hit, he hoped.

Four did hit, but all over. One in the blonde's upper arm, one in his ribs (JACKPOT!) and two stuck next to each other in the kid's ankles. If he pulled them out, he would hopefully bleed to death.

But no, the blonde didn't seem to notice. He took another three steps towards what was apparently Sasori, but his left leg gave in and he fell to the floor. He tried to reach for a kunai, but his arm wouldn't move. He pointed directly at Deidara, and screamed "SASUKE! GET HER!" Deidara growled. He had forgotten to keep his genjutsu up. He ran for it, digging out a readymade number 17 (named by Itachi as "rocking robin" ;D) out of his back pocket. He threw it over his shoulder, and ducked as it exploded in red sparks. Number 17 was a distraction, not an attack. While everyone was (hopefully) blinded/not looking, Deidara recast his genjutsu.

Sasuke, the ebony haired boy, jumped at Deidara, drawing his fist back, and grabbing a kunai from his pouch. He drew both fists back, and tried to strike. But was surprised by the sparks, so drew back. The new cloaked figure took off, the puppet poofing into smoke. A strong hand grabbed Deidara's wrist, and pulled him along, chakra flooding from the fast moving legs.

Deidara was surprised, to say the least. But he ran like fuck anyway, trying to think of something to say. ""Get her!"" he mimicked, making a face. "Fucking chubby kid, yeah. I'm glad I didn't knock him out, I bet he feels REAL stupid now, yeah." He spat roughly. He glanced at Sasori, and was a little shocked. Short red hair, grey bored eyes. He looked about thirteen, not about forty. Christ. How did he miss that? Where was he looking in battle when he could be staring slack jawed at the tiny guy pulling him by the elbow?

Sasori said nothing, just kept moving. Tugging Deidara up into a tree, he used the branches to push off. Much quicker than just running. About five minutes later, he stopped. There was no hint of breathlessness, or Chakra depletion. He pulled down his hood, shaking down his maroon hair and closing his blue-grey eyes.

"Come on. We'll camp at the next clearing."

Deidara sighed. There was no pleasing some people. He bounced obediently after the other. He eagerly awaited the next clearing.

Sitting down, his shrugged off the hooded cloak to reveal another Akatsuki cloak. He grunted, rubbing his back through the cloak.

Deidara plonked down on the grass, ass first. He flopped onto his back again.

Sasori hugged himself, and closed his heavy eyelids, the thick, dark eyelashes tickling his skin.

Deidara tried to make sense of the day quietly. He failed miserably.

Sasori sighed, or made a noise that sounded like a sigh. Considering he had no lungs, it was somewhat difficult to sigh.

Deidara shifted a little closer to Sasori absent-mindedly. He watched three clouds dance across the sky lazily. It was gonna be a crap day tomorrow.

Sasori cast a heavy-lidded glance to Deidara before closing his eyes again, and falling into a light sleep.

Deidara's sleep was interrupted and annoying. Two of his dreams had pirates in.

Sasori woke up in the morning with light shining on his face. He winced at the bright light, but stood up, clicking his joints. "Hey, Deidara. Wake up."

Deidara sat up instantly. Any distraction from pirate-Kakashi was welcome, even sunlight that hurt his eyes. He got to his feet, and shook his head a lot. "DAMNIT, we're still in wind. Yeah?"

"Hnn. Only a little way from the next border." Sasori clicked out his heels, and waved a hand to Deidara before starting his lazy, slow walk.

Deidara followed him, yawning and reaching in his satchel for "breakfast". This was some water from his flask and a kit kat. He waited for Sasori's complaints about the chocolate.

Sasori gagged his disapproval of the kit kat. "Why don't you eat normal food? Like ramen or SOMETHING other than that vile stuff?"

"Ramen is hard to pack, yeah. Chocolate comes wrapped in foil, and it's nice melted." Deidara grinned. "I have some skittles, yeah, but they're even SWEETER."

"At least they don't REEK of sugar!" Sasori wrinkled up his nose.

"They do!" Deidara giggled.

"Just don't eat chocolate in my presence, alright? It stinks, and it makes me want to vomit. Thankfully, I can't. Or I probably would have worn away my windpipe. Which I don't have."

"How do you SMELL then?"

"I just do! Alright?" Sasori snapped.

Deidara rolled his eyes. Sasori was allowed to be rude and tense, but if he asked a question he got into trouble. This guy reminded Deidara of mother.

Sasori huffed, and scowled. His lazy steps turned into half-stomps, and his pace quickened somewhat.

Deidara sighed gratefully. "Yay, no more sand!" He wanted to dance in joy, but he heavily doubted that would please Sasori. He kicked off one shoe, shook sand out of it, and then did the other. He sighed. "So... Yeah..."

Sasori rose an eyebrow at Deidara, then rolled his eyes. "There should be a village somewhere around here."

"The village of grass?" Deidara sighed. Now he REALLY missed Zetsu.

"I knew that." Sasori snapped. His eye twitched. Oh, he missed Orochimaru. ALOT. Orochimaru wouldn't sigh at him, just laugh. And then Sasori could laugh too. Deidara made him feel stupid. He would pay for that later...

Deidara trudged along wearily. There was something emotionally draining about Sasori. He couldn't really say "BE MORE PERKY", because that was his and ZETSU's in-joke, goddamnit. He, instead, shrugged. "Glad it's not too hot today, yeah."

"Hnn. I'm glad for you." Sasori muttered, blinking lazily.

Deidara growled. He was trying, for fucks sake! He dug in his sleeves for a distraction, and found some cinnamon gum. When the hell did he have gum? Oh yeah, Itachi gave him some. Cinnamon doesn't really smell sweet, he reasoned, and shoved a stick into his mouth. He chewed with his mouth shut, trying to remember what their stupid mission was.

"Our mission was to get to Konoha, and trail the Jinchuuriki." Sasori blinked, and looked at Deidara. He caught the whiff of cinnamon, and the scent was so strong he sneezed.

Deidara blinked, wondering how Sasori knew what he was thinking. The sneeze also baffled him. There was no wind, he supposed, so the scent would dance about freely. Odd metaphor there, he thought, wishing vacantly that he could dance about freely.

Sasori shrugged turning his gaze toward the path ahead and ignoring Deidara, somewhat.

After a few minutes, Sasori snapped out of his ignoring of Deidara, and turned his gaze to him. He dug into his cloak, and pulled out a sandwich of sorts that was filled with something that resembled wafer thin ham.

Deidara's jaw dropped. HAM? What the hell. Deidara just wondered how long it had been in the folds of his cloak. And if it had any mustard. Deidara ignored the sandwich, and searched for something to say. He fed his right hand some clay.

Taking a bite from the sandwich, some red stuff spurted from the other end of. He licked off the thick red stuff that was dribbling from the end, then gave Deidara an odd look. He swallowed, and then spoke. "You feed your hands?"

"They're better at sculpting than I am." Deidara extended his right arm, and the tongue poked out. A small panda sat on it, in mid-roll. "Yeah, I did say I was an artist."

Sasori blinked in surprise, not bothering to hide the impressed look on his face. "Wow. I didnt think you were that good of an artist."

Deidara BEAMED. "Thanks a lot, yeah! Maybe you aren't such a jerk after all!"

"You thought I was a jerk? Well, maybe you'll have a grudge against scorpions..." Sasori trailed off, frowning in thought.

"You didn't answer any of my questions, and you were really rude to me when we met, yeah, and you say "Hnn" too much, yeah, and you don't like CHOCOLATE, yeah, and... Yeah..." Deidara continued following the other, with a puzzled face as he tried to reason with himself.

Sasori let out a small 'huff' of laughter, grinning. "You really have no clue."

Most of the time, yeah." Deidara grinned back. "Zetsu-chan said Ita-san told him to look for dumb blondes as well."

"Well, Zetsu would be travelling with one, neh?" Sasori turned his attention to the road ahead, taking another bite from the sandwich.

"Is that ham and ketchup, yeah?" Deidara wrinkled his nose slightly. Ketchup ruined a perfectly good sammich.

"No. Blood." Sasori held back his bouts of laughter, wondering what the blonde would have to say to THAT.

"Oh, okay. I just hate ketchup, yeah." Deidara pondered. "How'd ya get blood to stay in a summit, yeah? Surely it'd soak through the bread, yeah?"

"I'm kidding. Its ketchup. And from my experience, bloodline limit blood doesn't seep through things."

Deidara smiled wryly. "Blood is thicker than water, yeah?" He scowled at the ketchup dripping from the crusts mildly, and pulled his flask out.

"Indeed." He folded the sandwich into a large lump, then put it into his mouth, and started to chew. It was gone within about thirty seconds.

Deidara drunk heavily, and decided not to ask about eating. He chewed on his gum, and spun in a circle. He shrugged when he saw no village pop up. "Yeah."

"Why do you say 'Yeah' all the time?" Sasori queried.

"I do?" Deidara seemed genuinely baffled. "Zetsu-chan said that too, yeah, but I don't really notice. One of those things, yeah, speech impediments."

Sasori grinned, his blue-grey eyes sparkling with amusement. He chuckled. "You really do have no clue."

"Conversations as dizzy as I am, yeah. We've already said this part." He poked his tongue out.

Sasori rolled his eyes. "I figured that you were dense, so I should repeat myself to get the point across."

Deidara just tutted. "Sure, yeah. I believe you, yeah." He winked.

"At least I'm not as dense as you." Sasori briefly wondered why he was mocking his partner in a game of tease, then dismissed the thoughts to the back of his mind.

"Few people are so lucky, yeah." Deidara shook his head, making his ponytail waggle.

Sasori grinned, and looked up at the horizon again. "I can see Grass... faintly."

Deidara looked, shaking his hair aside. He peered, with his scope. "There are four guys standing outside, yeah. With daggers on their belts. Guards, yeah. Two of them are kinda drowsy, yeah. One is reading a newspaper."

"And the last?"

He kept his head at such an angle so Sasori couldn't see his scope. "He's... Scratching his crotch, now, yeah."

Sasori shuddered. "Maybe we should henge ourselves, even though these people are so goddamn thick they probably wouldn't notice us anyway."

"I think I could knock 'em out easily, yeah. They look tired enough as it is."

"Yeah, which would attract attention." Sasori rolled his eyes, and performed a few seals. He concentrated, and he was suddenly a slightly older looking person, with black eyes and shocking white hair tied in a ponytail. He wore a black and white mesh shirt, and a pair of trousers that could only be described as denim. His sandals remained the same, but he didn't have a hitai-ate.

Deidara mimicked Sasori, and came out in the fug-ugliest khaki pants ever and a white n' blue cheesecloth shirt. He tied his hair into a low ponytail, and discarded his headband. "Fine.."

As they approached Grass, the guards gave them odd looks, but didn't say anything. He gave a small nod to them, and then looked up at the sky. 'Nearing sunset...' He walked through the gates, calmly, and scanned the empting high street for an inn.

Deidara trotted after him, in his usual dazed child style. "How much money do you have, yeah? I think I'm too poor for my own room, yeah..." He dug in his pockets, and scowled. "Damnit, yeah."

He picked up several random leaves, and cast a genjutsu over them, turning them into notes. "About fifty quid."

"Fuck, YEAH!" Deidara grinned.

Sasori grinned, and pointed at the sign ahead - a large goofy face painted on it, with 'inn' in kanji in one corner. "There's our inn."

Deidara had a feeling tonight would suck. He didn't particularly want to explain his thumb-sucking to Sasori, nor did he want to spend the evening alone on the floor. The latter was a lot more probable.

The foyer was small, cramped, and made of wood. There was a bored, ill looking man behind the counter, who immediately perked up as Sasori walked through. "A room for two?" He chirped. Sasori raised an eyebrow, and nodded. "Room for two." He put the money onto the table, held his hand out for the keys. He got them, and checked the number on them. He ignored the money held out by the innkeeper, and walked up the stairs, opening up the door that they were assigned too. 'Oh, brilliant.' A double bed was the centre piece of the front room, and then there was the beginning of the bathroom, which seemed to be a suite.

Deidara snorted. "Great, they think we're a couple, yeah."

"Considering the aura of girly-ness coming from you, I don't blame them. We'll just have to share." He dispelled his Henge, and shrugged off his cloak to reveal his wooden exterior, and the large claws that poked out of his back.

Deidara tried not to stare at the "wings". They were possibly the most beautiful things he'd seen in a long time. Yet the sharp-looking edges made them a bit obvious a weapon. Deidara was kind of amazed by the workmanship of the joints, the angles of the blades. "...If you say so, yeah."

He turned, showing his stomach of wires, and the small plug where his heart should have been. "...?" He half expected the blonde to have a hyperactive fit.

Deidara just plain gawped. The wings may have been pretty, but his front sure wasn't. He shrugged it off, and flopped onto the bed. If he could ignore Zetsu's flytrap, he could ignore that.

With an irritated flick of his wings, he frowned, and walked into the bathroom. There was another door from the suite. He raised an eyebrow, and opened it. "What the fuck - A FRIDGE?" Sure enough, there was a giant fridge filled with random drinks and food.

Deidara squealed. "I hope there's CHOCOLATE, yeah!"

"There's... cheese. And a very large bar of chocolate, which is cold, so I cant SMELL IT! HURRAH!" Sasori closed the fridge, rolling his eyes, before lying down on the bed. A trap closed over his stomach, and he half-closed his eyes.

Deidara didn't move, but made a mental note to have chocolate for breakfast.

Sasori fully opened one eye. "Don't leave the chocolate out so that it's not cold. Otherwise you'll be having savoury food for breakfast." The eye half closed again.

Deidara smiled. "Sure thing, yeah." He closed his eyes and rolled to one side.

The light that dared shine THROUGH the thin blinds seemed ultra-painful. It was really bright, and really cold. Deidara hated mornings. He hated cold mornings the most. He tried waking, but it hurt to open his eyes. So he just wiggled his toes, and tried to tempt his hand into moving. He tried to think of the chocolate in the fridge, but it did little to fight the sluggishness in his limbs.

Sasori opened his eyes at the slightly movement that Deidara gave off. He blinked hard at the sunlight, and when he had gotten over the brightness, glared at it. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and stretched to a chorus of his clicking joints. He shook his head, messing up his auburn hair further, before walking into the bathroom to get the chocolate from the fridge for Deidara.

Deidara didn't notice much, besides the bed suddenly getting hell'a lot colder. "Sasori?" He croaked into the day, shivering at the thought of leaving his warm sanctum to go and fight fox-spirits. He pulled the blankets up over his eyes, hugged his knees, and yawned a lot.

"Hnn?" Sasori pulled with chocolate from the fridge with a grimace, walking back to the bedroom and placing the chocolate bar beside Deidara's blankety form. "Breakfast."

Deidara tugged the blanket down past his chin, and examined Sasori wearily. He pushed the blanket to his waist, shivering, and snatched the chocolate. "Morning!" He chirped, and then started pushing the bar into his mouth. He ate like a garbage-disposal, that is to say fast. He smiled with a brown mouth, and groped for his cloak. He tugged it on, and sighed quietly. He looked up at Sasori again coyly. "Thanks, yeah."

"Go and wash your face. You look like you've fallen into a puddle of mud." Sasori rolled his eyes, pulling on his own cloak and curling up into a small ball on the bed.

Deidara obediently trudged to the bathroom, but the blanket went with him. "AI! It's really cold, yeah."

"Get used to it, its winter. We might get snow. And then you can go and make little snow sculptures." Sasori grumbled.

"I'll take up knitting, yeah, and make everyone really ghastly scarves." Deidara grinned. "And we'll all be real itchy in the mornings because I've knitted you all matching hunter green pyjamas, yeah." He emerged, chocolate-free, brushing his left hands teeth. "This is why you can't give me ideas, Sasori."

"I'll keep that in mind." Sasori smirked, and looked in interest at Deidara.

Deidara returned his little glance with a giggly wink. "It feels so early, yeah." He stretched half-heartedly, and blinked a lot. He pulled his hair over his shoulder and glared at it. Somehow, it was still blonde, and straight. Everyone else envied his hair, Deidara loathed it. Its brightness gave him a migraine, on bad days. "So we keep moving east, yeah?" It was going to be a rough morning. He'd slept like a log, and woken up all together too quickly. He'd had another flying dream, which was nice, but they always seemed to predict up coming evil. Deidara stood up, and started making use of the rooms tea-making facilities.

He smirked at Deidara glaring at his hair, finding it really quite amusing. "Yep. We'll probably get there at somewhere around dusk, so there's no point in looking for Kyuubi until tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah." Deidara sounded quite relieved about that. "And I finished the chocolate, yeah." He tugged his hair up slowly, winding his tie around it. He shrugged. "I hate walking, but we have to I guess, yeah. At least this place is pretty, yeah."

"Hnn. At least. Come on, we better bolt before they have ninja on us. I can't be assed for Henge..." He swung open the window, leaving the keys on the ledge, and sprung out, making his way through Grass with powerful jumps across the rooftops. No-one seemed to notice. Sasori was quickly out of sight over the wall.

Deidara's jaw dropped slightly, but he grabbed his bag and sprung after Sasori. Deidara landed his first jump awkwardly on his left ankle, which proceeded to cheerfully hurt like buggery. He did his best to ignore it and catch up with the other, ignoring the aching twang every few minutes. The pain reminded him of his mother in that it just WAS, wasn't awful or great or gone, was just there to make things that bit harder. Deidara had ignored his mother while she was alive, so he planned to do the same for his stupid foot. "Sasori-san!" He breathed, slightly annoyed the other had rushed off without him.

Sasori appeared at the top of the wall. Chakra strings fell from his fingers, and he wrapped them around Deidara. He pulled Deidara up to the wall top, and jumped off again.

Deidara squeaked in irritation. He was being treated like a five-year old! Maybe it was the chocolate. He pouted, but bounced off the wall after the other anyway. His leg reminded him he was hurt, which made his tempter slightly worse.

Sasori looked at Deidara. "Are you alright?" He stepped forwards, head cocked to one side as he looked at Deidara's leg.

"Yeah," Deidara grunted lightly. He didn't trust himself to say anymore, lest his temper explode, leaving him stuck with a very angry Sasori. He didn't really fancy incurring his wrath. "I screwed my ankle a bit, but it's no reason to stop moving, yeah." See? That was calm. He congratulated himself.

"Come on. Sit down." Sasori put a hand on Deidara's shoulder, and pressed lightly, urging him to sit down.

Deidara sighed and plopped backward onto his backside. He bent one knee so the offending foot sat on his lap. "It's not that bad, yeah, I just knocked it the wrong way... I think I should try and walk it off, yeah?"

"Shut up. If you walk it off it'll only get worse." He sat down in front of Deidara, and pulled Deidara's foot towards him. He pulled off Deidara's sandal, looked at the ankle, and sent small waves of chakra out of his fingertips and into the foot. He moved the foot back and forth. "Does that hurt?"

"Yeah." It was a simple breath of "ouch", but that wasn't really Deidara's style. He only said such ugly words when he was REALLY hurt.

Sasori frowned, and sent more waves of chakra, stronger this time, into the ankle. He wiggled the foot again. "Still painful?"

Deidara sighed. "This is wasting time, yeah."

"And? Does it hurt?" Sasori locked eyes with Deidara, frowning.

Deidara just sighed. "Yeah." He flushed slightly, the direct gaze of the other not something he was used to.

Sasori turned his attention back to the ankle. "You've screwed it pretty badly. If you walked any more than this the tendon would have snapped. I'm not surprised it still hurts." Sasori wove some chakra strings around the ankle, his chakra slowly seeping into the tendon. "Come on - we'll keep moving. You'll have to lean on me for a while, unless you find a crutch of sorts."

"Oh, you're JOKING, yeah." Way to prove your strength, Deidara! Deidara was horrified. His foot was talking to him. But he sighed and wrapped an arm around Sasori's shoulders, shakily supporting himself on one leg.

Sasori walked slowly, despite wanting to run, but hey - he couldn't have a partner with a broken tendon. He looked at Deidara with something readable as concern. He shocked himself. He was hardly ever concerned for himself, let alone other people. Oh, well.

Deidara hardly noticed the others look, he was too hiding in his collar and feeling stupid. Day two of their (hopefully) wonderful friendship, and this happens. Deidara pondered how lame he must seem, how weak and girlish he obviously appeared to the other. "I'm holding us up, yeah?"

"It doesn't matter. We'll just get to Konoha a bit later, is all. When your ankle stops hurting, just say." Sasori had his gaze focused ahead.

Deidara sighed. "Yeah, okay." He hung his head a little, still feeling pretty useless. He racked his mind for conversation, but came up with absolutely nothing to say.

Sasori smiled, somewhat content in the silence.

Deidara shivered. He buried his head further into his collar. He was already fucking crippled, he wasn't allowing himself to get a cold as well. He longed for tea, a bath and bed. They were on a mission, however, so he was going to have to do without. Plus Sasori thought he was obsolete already. Deidara realised, with a sad sigh, that what he really wanted was a slap to the back of the head and a gruff voice calling him "Deidara-Hime". Princess Deidara XDDD

Sasori raised an eyebrow at Deidara. "What're you thinking?"

"I... Yeah." Deidara felt bad, now. I mean, the guy was obviously trying. It would be a bit cruel to say "I'm lonely" when he had basically agreed to carry you. "I'm thinking," he began shakily, "of something to say, yeah."

Sasori chuckled softly, but didn't say anything for a few minutes. "Your ankle any better?"

"It's still there." Deidara smiled faintly. "I dunno." He poked the ground with his foot, and winced horribly. "It's getting worse, yeah! I did say I'd walk it off... Yeah." He frowned. "Am I spoilt?"

"Not really. Maybe you should use that bird of yours to fly to Konoha. It would get us there quicker..." Sasori looked at the sky for a moment before turning his gaze to Deidara. "What d'you think?"

Deidara stared blankly. "How did you know about number 22?" making up the numbers ;; "Don't tell me it's, yeah, a legend among Akatsuki or whatever." He laughed faintly. He reached for his pocket, started searching for something.

"I know things." Sasori tapped his nose, grinning. He tried to peer into the pocket, but considering it was the other side of Deidara, he couldn't.

Deidara sighed. "It'll take a while, but I guess it would get us there, yeah." He pondered. "I couldn't do any fighting after, though. Too chakra-consuming, yeah... I don't have a lot of clay on me, y'see... Yeah."

"I could run while you fly. Less weight on you. And if you get too tired, I'll give you some of my chakra." Sasori looked at Deidara. "That alright?"

"That's ridiculous, yeah."

"No it isn't. I have enough chakra for the both of us." He rose an eyebrow, daring Deidara to defy him.

Deidara sighed. "I'll be there, like, an hour before you. And you'll be exhausted. And we'll get spotted and it'll all go wrong, yeah."

"If you stay low, you wouldn't need to worry about that. Just jump off when you can see Konoha and Konoha cant see you." Sasori shrugged. "As long as we get to Konoha, its fine."

Deidara shook his head. "You're gonna run. All the way? We're not even at Rain yet, yeah."

"We'll just stop off. If you're that defiant, I'll fucking carry you there." Sasori was somewhat threatening.

"Gods, alright! Yeah, I just think it's stupid I should fly while you RUN! It's about nineteen miles! And that's if you can run regular speeds through MARSHES, yeah!" Deidara hadn't raised his voice much. He just seemed a bit indignant. "if you have that much chakra, you can help me with 22. We can fly together then, and there's no chance of you being ambushed or me being caught, yeah?" He had on his lion-taming tone. It was the tone generally used on special children, and Kisame.

Sasori smiled. "Alright. Tell me when you want the chakra."

Deidara seemed a bit shocked by the sudden change in Sasori's attitude, but said nothing. He put his hand in his pocket, and found... A pointy knife and half a sandwich? Cool, but... "Yeah, you're wearing my coat." Deidara blushed faintly, realising how stupid the situation was.

"I am?" Sasori looked into his pockets, and found clay. Clay. Clay. And more clay. He grinned. "I am." Still supporting Deidara, he took off the cloak and draped it around Deidara. "That better?"

Deidara frowned. "Take yours, there's a bottle of something weird in the other pocket." He took them both off, and held the offending garment out.

Sasori rolled his eyes, and took the cloak, slipping it on. "Just be glad you didn't open it."

"Why?" Deidara grinned. "Something naughty, yeah?"

"Actually, its incredibly lethal poison."

"Sounds bad to me, yeah. You should keep poison in a bag, or a box so it won't get squished." Deidara dug into the pockets of his coat, digging out the clay. He rolled it about, bashing it on his right thigh. He remained sitting on the grass, moulding and tugging at the clay. It started actually resembling a bird, rather than a lump. Deidara frowned when the wings went floppy, but continued to work. After about ten minutes, Deidara was holding a very real looking bird. If one were to ignore the large, bulbous head, and the vacant, hollowed-out eyes. The bird was, well, a lot bigger than Deidara by now. "When you're ready, yeah."

Sasori nodded, gathering chakra into his fingertips. He placed his palms against the backs of Deidara's hands, and let his chakra flow through.

The bird was, ahem, around 9 feet high now. "Yeah, that'll do." Deidara stood up abruptly, and crashed into Sasori's face.

Sasori grunted. "If I wasn't a puppet and actually felt pain, I would be throttling you."

Deidara was TRYING not to laugh. So he was giggling in a strangled way.

Sasori shook his head. "If you want to laugh, then laugh. Don't... giggle. It makes you too feminine."

"Okay, sorry, yeah..." Deidara bit his bottom lip like a teenage girl Which hardly helped. He shook himself sane Which rarely works and arranged his hands into a seal. "START, YEAH!" A bolt of chakra hit the bird in a large, staring eye. The blueness spread into something resembling an eye. The bird blinked, and lowered its head. Deidara beamed. "Let's go, yeah."

Sasori jumped onto the bird, and swung Deidara up with him. "Don't want to pressure your ankle."

Deidara blushed. He leant down and poked the bird in the neck. Its wings started. The turbulance was bad, but Deidara stayed standing hopping. "I love flying, yeah."

"Hnn." The usual calm noise was now slightly queasy. "I haven't had good experiences with flying... so I bloody well hope that this is going to be better."

Deidara glanced at Sasori, in something near disbelief. "You get travel sickness, yeah? Aww" He actually "aww"ed. It was odd. But he limped over to Sasori, and walked him forward a few feet. "If you sit nearest the middle, and hold on, it's not so bad, yeah." He was resisting the urge to pat Sasori on the head.

Sasori walked near the middle, and sat down. He made a queasy groaning noise, looking off the edge of the bird. He didn't even bother glaring at Deidara. He stuck himself to the bird, pulling a face.

Deidara did feel sorry for Sasori, but he wasn't going to let his dodgy stomach ruin his flight. He stood right near the wing, going up and down fast, and faced the wind. He held his arms out, closed his eyes. A little serene smile painted across his lips.

Sasori looked at Deidara, and suppressed his laughing, grinning. He thought it hilariously funny that Deidara was standing there. It reminded him of Titanic.

Deidara heard a faint snicker. He responded by tapping his foot lightly, three times. The bird proceeded into a barrel roll. Deidara cackled.

Sasori's eye twitched. He stood up, sticking himself to the bird with Chakra, proceeded to walk towards Deidara, growling. "Stop. The. Rolling. Now. Or I swear I will puke over you."

Deidara giggled. He tapped with his right foot, and the bird fell neatly out of its roll. Deidara pouted. "You're no fun, yeah."

"Thank you." Sasori sat down again, sighing. If he closed his eyes, he could just about forget about the height and the strange sensation of flying.

Deidara sat down next to Sasori, sore foot dangling uselessly down one side of the neck. He tapped again, and the bird slowed down. "We won't get there until nightfall, but if it makes you feel better, yeah." There wasn't any real rocking at all now, just the odd tremble as the wings flapped again. "He isn't designed for gliding, but he can do it."

"Hnn. We should stop about an hour from Konoha, run from there. Hopefully your ankle will be alright by then.

"Yeah, seems sensible." Deidara yawned.

Sasori sniffed. "Hmm." He stretched, and looked out along the horizon. "In fact, best land now. I can see Konoha. Wont be long until they can see us."

"Aww..." Deidara tapped a couple of times. The bird just stopped, and fell. "Yeah,that's not meant to happen" Deidara said quickly, as they were thrown onto the ground.

Sasori rolled over, and quickly went over to Deidara. "You alright?" He frowned, locking eyes with Deidara.

Deidara was laughing. "Yeah... Just kinda bummed, it never listens to me." Deidara looked up, where the bird was shrinking. A lot.

Sasori blinked, and pulled up Deidara's trouser leg to inspect the ankle. "Feel any better?"

"I guess, yeah." Deidara was still a bit baffled at the attention, obviously.

"Kay. Come on." Sasori stood up, and held a hand out to him, offering to help him up.

Deidara took his fingers, obviously trying to keep Sasori away from his hand mouths. He pulled, and stood. Deidara shook his head, and held out the other hand. A big lump of clay splatted in it grossly. Deidara deposited this into his coat pocket idly. "So let's go." He made no attempts to let go of Sasori's hand.

Sasori smiled, his grip slackening but not letting go, completely. He began his slow, lazy pace, looking up at the dusk-night sky.

Deidara was glad. For the company, for Sasori in general. He sighed, and walked alongside him.

Sasori glanced over at Deidara, then at their hands. When was the last time he had held someone's hand? Years. Lots of years.

Deidara didn't really notice Sasori's awkwardness, so he didn't let go. He kept the idle, comfortable pace. He was humming, under his breath, and staring at the trees ahead.

Sasori found his head bopping slightly in time with Deidara's song. He chuckled, his blue-grey eyes half closing.

Deidara was snapped slightly off-beat by the faint laugh. "Yeah?" He asked, trying to remember his place, humming bars ultra-fast.

"Nothing." Sasori grinned, wider than he had ever grinned.

Deidara glanced sideways at the other, and giggled at his face. "Sasori, you look ridiculous. Stop laughing at me, yeah!" He pulled a face and flailed with the other arm.

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at myself." Sasori was still grinning, seeing as it was the only thing that could substitute for the laughter.

Deidara quirked his visible eyebrow. "Huh?" Then his face lit up. He'd obviously remembered his place as the humming started again.

Sasori turned his gaze back up to the sky, then looked ahead. "We better henge soon... Konoha is getting nearer." For some odd reason he sing songed 'nearer'. He chuckled again, then bit his tongue softly to stop any more flooding out.

Deidara was just plain scared now. But he squeezed Sasori's fingers, to let him know it was okay. "Yeah..."

Sasori grinned. He couldn't remember the last time he was as happy as he was - maybe it was when his mother and father were still alive. Or rather, when he killed them. He cocked his head to one side, still looking at Deidara.

Deidara was singing softly under his breath now, bobbing his head to the music he couldn't hear. "Sasori-san?" He paused for a second, and looked at the other. He smiled, stood closer, and gave the others hand another tug. "I changed my mind, you aren't a jerk, yeah."

Sasori grinned, and nuzzled Deidara's cheek with his nose. "Glad to hear it." He whispered into the other's ear.

Deidara smiled broader, very content now he had a friend to travel with rather than a scorpion. He leant closer, sighing happily. Life sure was bliss when you forgot about the jinchuuriki... Goddamnit. Deidara was disappointed when the other pulled away... With an idle thought of "what the hell, yeah" he turned his face and kissed Sasori on the cheek.

Sasori gave Deidara a smirk, turning his head and returning the kiss on the cheek. He then turned his head towards the road like nothing had ever happened.

Deidara was kinda glad Sasori didn't flip. He was also quite appreciative that the lips that briefly pressed against his skin were soft, and near enough to warm. He shrugged off the awkward feeling growing low in his stomach, and started walking again. He considered releasing Sasori's hand.

"We should really henge soon, you know. We aren't walking on treadmills." Sasori rose a brow, tugging his hand out of Deidara's grip to form some hand seals. With a puff of smoke, he was slightly older, with heavy bags under his eyes and messy auburn hair that hung over his eyes, wearing khaki jean-type things and a black trench coat that hung open on a normal bare chest.

Deidara sighed. "I do hate this, yeah." He looked Sasori up and down, and sighed. With a similar poof, he looked younger. Around thirteen, perhaps. Hair pulled back into a tight braid, and dressed in red flares and an odd, scary pink shirt. "Call me Otoutou, yeah." He giggled.

Sasori grimaced at the sight of the pink shirt, but ruffled Deidara's hair anyway. "Yeah, yeah. Otoutou. You have to call me Anikii then."

"Yeah!" Deidara's face was split in half now, with a toothy grin that didn't suit him. He added in a whisper, "I like this shirt, yeah. I might wear it under my uniform, yeah."

"Oh, god, no. Please don't. I'd have to buy sunglasses." The gates were large and towering now, guards sitting to the sides, chatting idly. Sasori seemed hesitant with his steps, but he hid it, somehow.

Deidara shook his head like a moron. "Nuhuh, aniki! I LIKE the pink, yeah!" As usual, an undertoned whisper added to the speech. "Was that okay, yeah?"

"Just act normal, baka, if you add things in undertones they'll suspect something." Sasori's hushed tone could barely be heard over the loud chatter of the guards. He rolled his eyes, and ruffled Deidara's hair again. "Yeah, yeah, otoutou. Remind to get sunglasses while I'm here."

Deidara bounced through the gates. He realised, that even with these henges, he was taller. That made him laugh. Everything made him laugh all of a sudden, it was probably the exhaustion. Or the haze of evaporating alcohol coming from that store.

Sasori gave Deidara an odd look, while pressing between his shoulder blades to guide him along. "Geez, you're acting drunk. Do you have a secret stash of alcohol that I don't know about?"

"Breathe the AIR, yeah!" Deidara cartwheeled in giddy glee. Three old women stopped to applaud him.

Sasori rolled his eyes, grinning. "Come on, you crackpot. We need to find an inn. Or somewhere to camp."

Deidara smiled faintly, and took Sasori's hand again. His eyes glinted. He leant forward, opened his mouth to say something of possible importance, but then he screamed (worryingly close to Sasori's ear) "HEY! YEAH! LOOK, AN INN!" He pointed madly, and ran towards it.

Sasori yelped, clapping a hand to his ear. "JESUS!" He walked after Deidara, pouting and stroking his ear. "That bloody hurt..."

Deidara was jogging on the spot infront of the counter. Behind it, a tired-looking teenager sat, smudging his eyeliner to tear-stained perfection. He was glaring at Deidara, possibly angered at his joy.

Sasori walked in, and gave Deidara hefty whack to the head. "That /hurt!" He hissed. "One room please." He muttered gloomily to the teenager at the counter.

The teenager looked up gloomily, seemingly very pissed off he had to work. He dug under the desk for some keys, held them out. He pointed solemnly at a board with prices on.

Deidara, meanwhile, was spinning on the spot, throwing and catching a wodge of clay.

Sasori dug into his trousers, but could only find a sandwich. 'Oh, fuck.' He hoped his idea would work. He made some one handed seals, and the sandwich changed into notes. Sasori grinned, holding out a note to the teen, who took it and put it down on the counter. He took the keys, and walked down the hallway. He looked at the number on the key, and then at the door. He opened the door, and found that the room was tiny, and horror of horrors, pastel pink. At least it wasn't a double bed - it had two small bed on either side of the small room, the door to the bathroom between them.

Deidara burst out laughing. "No wonder that guys so miserable, yeah!" He had a sudden thought. "I need a shower, then I'm going to bed, yeah?"

"Alright." Sasori closed the door with his foot, and released the henge. He threw his cloak onto the nearest bed, collapsing on top of it. "This is my bed."

Deidara happily danced into the bathroom, humming. The sound of a smoke bomb confirmed Deidara's release of the henge, and then the shower went on. "YEAH! FREE SHOWERGEL!" Deidara was one of those odd people who lived on free, tiny quantities of things. He would happily sleep anywhere, but the welcoming mint on a hotel pillow made him the happiest man in the world, for about twelve seconds.

Sasori sighed into his pillow, shedding his trousers and climbing beneath the covers, snuggling into the mattress.

Deidara was a fucking long time in the shower. His plan was to use all of the free shower goodies. And he was going to wash his hair, the horrible task that was. And then brush all of his teeth... And then he was going to bounce about and ruin the ugly peach bedspreads. Yeah, one hell of a plan.

Sasori was half asleep, but the pattering on the shower kept him up. He finally sat up, and decided to fill his arm with more poison. He began to rummage through his cloak.

Deidara had been spaced out for about ten minutes. His skin was now lobster-red from the boiling water, but he barely felt it. His hair was still soapy as fuck. He was too tired to move. He pondered sleeping in the bath, curled up. The thought of getting out, getting dry, getting semi-dressed, and then climbing into bed seemed too much. His hand mouths drooled. His eyes were clenched shut, to keep shampoo out of them, and that wasn't helping his consciousness. Perhaps bouncing about like a chipmunk on fast-forward was a dumb idea when you were low on chakra. Deidara shrugged inwardly, and willed his hands to move.

Sasori found his bottle of poison, and pulled back a little slot. He pulled out a small tube, and tipped the poison slowly and carefully into the tube. He half emptied the bottle, then pulled the slot back into place. He went into the bathroom to rinse off his hands. He ignored Deidara as he poured the soap onto his hands, rubbing them together.

Deidara froze. Someone was in here. In the back of his head he knew it was Sasori, but he still threw the soap at him. "Yeah, how long have I been here?"

"I don't know, about half an hour?" He washed the soap off his hands, then looked at Deidara. "You look like a tomato with a yellow stem."

Deidara shrugged. "'M a HAPPY tomato, yeah." But still, he turned the waters temperature down. And went about actually washing his hair, rather than just throwing soap at it and hoping.

Sasori rolled his eyes, and turned back to the sink. He polished his face and then his arms. He went back into the bedroom, and collapsed onto his bed. He closed his eyes, and went into a very, very light sleep.

Deidara emerged from his lengthy washing dressed in no less than three towels. One knotted around his waist, one tying his hair into a bundle sat atop his head. The third (a hand-towel) sat about his shoulders, catching all the drips from his hair and there were many. He walked straight to his bed, and fell in an ungraceful heap on it. The blanket was pulled over his legs, and he sighed contently.

Sasori was awoken by the bed springs creaking. "Night, Dei..." He mumbled, falling back into a deeper sleep.

When Sasori woke up, he blinked, yawned, sat up. He looked around the room, his eyes half open. He hissed at the bright light, and shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand. He stumbled towards the bathroom, only to walk into the wall. He tried again, walking into the wall. Again. "GODDAMNIT MOTHERFUCKER!"

Deidara was (needless to say) startled by this, and sat up shrieking. He too was blinded, but he did the most sensible thing a person would do in offered situation. He threw his pillow at the window and pushed his face back down into the mattress, groaning. "Why'd you have to wake me up, yeah?" His hair made a good curtain from the sun, though it hung in knots and kinks this morning. Going to bed with wet hair bad idea.

Sasori glared at Deidara, his eyes twitching. "Shut the fuck up, blondie." He snarled, finally finding his way into the bathroom, and he splashed his face with water. "Ughn… I'm so TIRED." He grumbled. He stood up, and looked out of the window, only to find – "Itachi? What The fuck are you doing here?"

"To give you your mission briefing." He raised a hand; it held a neatly stapled wad of paper. "Information's all in here." Uninvited, he pulled the window open and stepped in. He glanced about the bleak blue bathroom. "Nice place you have here, to borrow a cliché or two."

Sasori glared, and pulled the paper from Itachi's grasp. He scanned the paper quickly, and smirked. "We're off the Kyuubi mission, then?" 'Oh, fucking brilliant excellent! No more fox hunting!'

"But of course. We do, after all, have a lot of time." Itachi glanced disgustedly at the blonde, yawning heap. "It's ten thirty, you should be up."

Deidara sat bolt-upright upon sensing someone else's presence… He scrabbled at his face, tugging hair from his eyes. This took a very long time. When he could actually see, he came to find the Sharingan gazing idly at him. "Oh! Um, morning… Yeah." He lay back down, cheeks flushing. Of all the times to wake up with a mop on his head, wearing a fucking towel. Or at least he HOPED he was wearing a towel. Damned Itachi… What the hell was he doing here anyway? "Um, what the hell are you doing here, Ita—Uchiha-sama?"

"He's here to give us a somewhat better mission than we are on now. Go and assassinate a perverse asshole who decided to give Leader-sama debt problems." 'No idea why we need to do Leader's dirty work for him…' Sasori grinned, and held the papers out to Deidara.

Itachi rose an eyebrow, shook his head, and jumped to the window, where he was met by Kisame, wearing a small, ridiculous hat with 'I 3 TEH GRAS' printed on it. Itachi glared, and pushed Kisame backwards out the window before jumping after him.

Deidara waited until he no longer felt the chakra of the Uchiha around before gathering the blankets around his waist and rising to accept the papers. His eyes flickered back and forth across the text, and his eyes widened slightly. "What the hell is EGL, yeah?" He gave up on tugging knots from his hair, and just tossed it all backwards. It made a slight "whumph" sound as it hit the wall.

"Don't worry. I'll teach you." Sasori reached over, and patted Deidara's hair. "You really do need to either cut it, or brush it."

Deidara's eyes widened in horror. "Cut my hair? Yeah, never! I've never cut my hair!" He actually looked shocked, which didn't suit him. He wandered casually to the bathroom, glad the towel had stayed with him through the night. He reached for one of the free hairbrushes, and started tugging at the blonde tangles. "I'll be about an hour, yeah."

"Oh, fucking hell…" Sasori rolled his eyes, and went into the bathroom, turning on the shower. Hey, even puppets feel dirty.

Deidara did ponder his urge to wash, but ignored it. He continued to pull strands of his hair, and rake them with the flimsy plastic brush. He tried to think of something to say, but failed miserably. He hummed lightly, doubting the other could hear him over the buzz of the shower.

Stripping down, Sasori stepped into the shower, drawing the curtains. He squirted a dollop of shampoo onto his hand, massaging it into his hair, then washing it out quickly and carefully, being careful to wash out all the suds. He scrubbed violently at his shoulders and the nape of his neck, before he turned off the shower. About two minutes after he got into the shower. "Dei, hand me a towel please." He held out an arm from the shower curtain.

Deidara paused in his complex combing acts, and reached for the towel rack, There was one left, a hand towel. He sniggered inwardly, and handed it to Sasori. "There you go, yeah."

Sasori threw the towel at Deidara. "Give me your towel. A FULL SIZED towel, you complete fuckhead."

Deidara tutted. "You just wanna watch me dance about wearing THAT? Bad, BAD Sasori-san!" He pulled the brush violently from his hair, and wandered back to the main room. "I'll put some pants on, there's a stupid idea."

"Its not a stupid idea, fuckface. It's a GOOD idea." Sasori snarled, leaning against the shower wall.

Deidara re-emerged, wearing his usual black cut-offs, and chucked his (damp) towel in the general area of the shower stall. He picked up his brush, and continued.

Sasori leant out of the shower, grabbed the towel, and towelled all the water off him, scrubbing at his hair, and then wrapped the towel around his waist, stepping out of the shower and walking through the bathroom – only to slip in a random puddle of water. Landing in an ungraceful heap on the floor, his eye twitched as he proceeded to untangle himself and began to begin the process of standing up.

Deidara quirked an eyebrow. He stood up and banged the brush on the sink. "DONE! YEAH!" He grinned broadly. He looked properly at the heap of… Um, Sasori. "Very graceful, yeah."

"Tch." Sasori stood up, and walked out of the bathroom, glaring at the window, like it was the cause for his ego depletion. He put on a pair of boxers, and then his Akatsuki uniform on over that. He cast the same henge as yesterday – the older, strange hair-coloured version of Sasori.

Deidara reached for the free toothbrush supplied with the room, and began cleaning his hand teeth. "Yeah, we have plenty of time. Do I need the same henge for this mission?"

"I don't actually think you'll need to do much of a henge at all. But I'll probably have to keep this henge. You'll just need EGL." Sasori snickered softly, his eyes glinting evilly.

Deidara pouted, and his left hand spat foam. He moved swiftly onto the other palm, and raised an eyebrow. "You still haven't told me what EGL is, yeah."

"I'll tell you when we get the necessary equipment, Dei." Sasori suddenly could not contain the evil, and cackled. Long and hard.

Deidara's face fell. His hand spat toothpastey water at Sasori childishly. Deidara poked out three tongues. "That doesn't sound right, why can't you do it?"

"Because… you look the part more, and it would take less chakra. For me, it's a different story." Sasori instantly had a straight face on. A mask over his giggle fit. But bear in mind, it was an EVIL giggle fit.

Deidara sighed, and gave up on the idea of flossing. He crossed the room lightly, and hunted for his hair tie. He hated wearing his hair down, it got in the way of the most simple actions. For example, eating. And it made him look like a skank, he thought. Aha! Fingers closed on a bandage, and he wrapped half of his hair into it's high ponytail. A slight tinge of memory reminded him of yesterdays braid. "Um, Sasori?"

"Hnn?" Sasori grunted, turning his attention and gaze to Deidara. A questioning, yet EVIL gaze.

"Please tell me you can plait hair, yeah." Deidara struggled to remember how braids even WENT, the thought of doing one himself seemed a bit hard.

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Come over here, sit on the bed."

Deidara plonked down on the bed, and remembered his toplessness. Oh well. He tugged the tie from his hair and offered it to Sasori. "Sorry, I forgot how I did it yesterday, yeah." He cringed slightly.

Sasori divided Deidara's thick, blonde hair into three sections, and deftly began to wind the hair together, forming a somewhat neat braid.

Deidara sat, staring somewhat blankly forward. He wondered vaguely that it was odd Sasori knew how to plait. But he shrugged it off, as it made life easier. He giggled slightly, remembering the pink shirt.

Sasori finished the plait, leaving a large tuft of hair at the end. He pulled a bandage from the confines of his cloak, and folded the plait on itself. He then tied up the braid, and left it tightly wrapped with the small tuft of hair poking from the bandages. Sasori grinned. "There you go."

Deidara had no idea what had happened to his hair, but decided it didn't matter. He grinned, knowing two words that would ruin Sasori's good mood. "Pink shirt, yeah."

"Oh, god no. I guess I'm going to have to endure it. It'll be worth the EGL, I guess. Infact, it will DEFINITELY be worth the EGL." The evil glint of the eye was back. If Sasori was any eviller, the Devil would give up his job.

Deidara glared. "What IS that? For gods sake, yeah." He pressed his hands together, and the ugly pants and shirt were back.

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Come on, Dei. Lets get going." He opened the door, and motioned for Deidara to leave first.

Deidara sighed, pulling on his shoes. He grabbed his bag, and stood up. "Yeah, okay."

Sasori rolled his eyes, walking out towards the front desk, and leaving the keys there. The emo teen looked at Sasori, for lack of a better word, emo-ishly, and handed him a package. "Weird man left this for you. Said it was for the EGLing." Sasori grinned, "Thank you. Otoutou, I'm leaving you behind!" He dumped the keys on the desk, and walked out of the inn, expecting Deidara to zoom after him any second.

Deidara shot a grin at the emo kid, and raced after Sasori. "OPEN IT! Open it, yeah!"

"No. Wait until we get to the next inn. We're heading towards Sand, but its some strange town that nobody has ever heard of. So its back the way we came." Sasori grinned.

Deidara tutted. "Aniki, that's so mean!" But he turned, and started sprinting off down the road. "TO SAND, YEAH!"

"God, calm down, Otoutou..." He tucked his hands behind his head, watching Deidara sprinting down the street – in an odd hairstyle and a pink shirt. A pink, floral shirt. A SCARY pink, floral shirt.

Deidara paused in his running, and screeched to a hault. He put his hands on his hips, and pointed at the strolling Sasori (miles away) and screamed. "HURRY UP, ANIKI!"

"You need to slow down, not me hurry up." But despite himself, he started jogging, leisurely, towards Deidara. The scary, floral pink shirt guided him.

Deidara seemed all too aware that his shirt acted as a lighthouse, the glare of magenta shining all too happily. He tapped his foot, waiting for the other.

Sasori finally caught up to Deidara, then broke off into a sprint, using a small amount of chakra to make him run faster. "Cant catch me, Otoutou!"

Deidara giggled uselessly, and easily matched Sasori's speed. "Too fast, yeah!" He stuck his tongue out, and ran faster.

Sasori lengthened his strides, and sped out of the Konoha gates, almost toppling over a Konoha chuunin with a scar over the bridge of his nose. Several of the guards shouted after him, but none bothered to chase. He cackled, and skidded to a halt suddenly, spinning on the spot and collapsing onto his arse, giggling madly.

Deidara giggled like a nutcase. He threw himself into a cartwheel, legs drooping slightly. So he just fell into a pink and yellow bundle, and rolled into Sasori. The chuunin were no longer worried, now just assuming they were drunk. Or mad. Deidara placed his hands on the floor, and pushed himself into a crouch. He tried to keep a straight face, to speak, but the laughter wouldn't stop coming.

Sasori bit his bottom lip, and in an extremely tipsy fashion got to his feet and held a hand out to Deidara to help him up.

"Come on... We have to get to the Wind country within the next week... and doing this isn't going to get us anywhere." Sasori broke into another fit of giggles, shaking with laughter.

Deidara shook his head, still chuckling uselessly. He took Sasori's hand, and tugged himself to his feet. "Yeah, yeah…"

Sasori finally managed to calm his giggles, and he had a straight face on again. Well, not exactly a straight face. A trace of a smirk was still there – but only a very, very small smirk.

Deidara just followed after Sasori, tossing his braid over his shoulder. He was still laughing softly. "Sasori-san? Can you remember why we were laughing at all, yeah?"

"No. I don't, unfortunately. Come on." Sasori began walking, looking up at the sky, which was blue and cloudless. No rain – hurrah!

Deidara followed, his flip-flops clacking on the pavement. He gazed forward, searching for something pretty to look at. "Sasori-san, you have yet to tell me what EGL is… Yeah." He grinned cheerily at the other, He tugged his shirt straight, and quirked an eyebrow.

"I said when we get to the next inn. And unless we fly, we aren't getting to Wind in one day." 'EGL so is brilliant for manipulative things. And I wont hurt my feet.' His little mental image of himself was cackling and rubbing his hands together. But his face remained the way it was – stoic with the trace of a smirk.

"Flying, yeah? Pah." Deidara made an odd face. "it's way too tiring." He scowled lightly. "Sand is so far away…"

"Yeah. Very far away. And Sand is where you'll find out what EGL is..." Sasori glanced over at Deidara. "So far away…."

Deidara stomped a foot in frustration. "MEANIE!"

"I know I am, Dei." Sasori smirked smugly, then looked behind him. "Feh. Gates are out of sight now." He released his henge, and became Sasori again.

Deidara shrugged. "I would change, but…" He grinned. "I do love this shirt, yeah."

"I'm glad you like pink, Dei." Sasori's eyes glinted. "There's a clue to what EGL is."

Deidara scowled. "I wish I could remember what you said about this mission, yeah." He'd missed out on the actual briefing, hiding under the quilt from Itachi. He sighed, and with the trademark smoke screen, he was regular Deidara. Albeit Deidara with a plait. "This uniform… Kinda comforting, yeah?"

"I guess." Sasori shrugged. "We are meant to assassinate a PERVERSE old man. Who has a thing for little children. More clues for EGL there."

Deidara scowled. "I don't like the sound of that at all, yeah."

"I'm not sure you'll like what EGL is then. And here I was thinking you'd enjoy it." Sasori grinned, glancing sideways at the scowling Deidara. "I had to do it once, and I actually enjoyed it."

Deidara frowned. "Sounds kinda dirty to me, yeah." He pouted, trying to figure it out. "Yeah, this is gonna drive me mad."

"That's a good thing. Sasori TV! Brand new entertainment channel – LIVE!" Sasori chuckled. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Deidara tutted some more. "I might just not talk for a bit, yeah. Need to do some thinking." He shook his head. "I don't want to be wound up all the way to sand… Yeah."

Sasori grinned. "Well, you can think while we speed up. We might get to the borders of Wind by dusk, if we're lucky." Sasori jumped into the branches of a tree, and took off, jumping from branch to branch.

Deidara stayed true to his word, not responding. He was humming, but he generally was. He took after Sasori, able to match his steps idly. It was kind of unnerving, as he didn't seem to be looking.

Sasori glanced over at Deidara, and quirked a brow. He shook his head, and focused on the steps and jumps between the trees.