Love Is Art

by

ensngre

"Tch… you got Deidara, eh…?" Sasori said to the blondie-head while hiding behind another one of his puppets. "Now that's impressive."

Naruto looked at his sides. Both Sakura and Chiyo-baa lay spread on the cold, stone-floor. They weren't dead; no, they breathed alright. This was bad though, he thought… Kakashi had drifted into unconsciousness just seconds ago, but not before ordering the Jinchuuriki not to mind him, and instead to assist the two team-members in the cave. They had, unfortunately, fallen victims to Sasori's great puppet-skills, and now they too lay unconcious.

"You…" Naruto growled. It wasn't as if he couldn't hold his ground. He believed in his abilities.

"Well, Deidara was over his head. Didn't expect him to handle a youngster like yourself…" He continued, "container of the Kyuubi."

Naruto was not in the mood for making conversations. "You'll pay for what you did to Gaara!" The battle begun.

"Hmm… you're… somewhat cute…" Sasori asserted. "You would've make a great component in my puppets… but I feel that it would be a waste letting you die."

"Shut… up… you took away Gaara, you bastard…" Both shinobis had become pretty battered after the fight, because somehow neither of them was willing to end the other ones life… it did not, however, stop Naruto from crying. He hadn't seen a lot of death in his short life – the opposite could be said of Sasori – but the little he'd seen had made him tired of it.

"I didn't even touch the one-tail," Sasori, for some reasons unknown even to himself, had an urge to explain himself to the blonde lying next to him. "Why should you care about the ones whose existance is no more?"

"Because he was one of my brethren! That's why…" he gathered tears again, "that's why he didn't have to die…" Sasori started laughing.

"You have a twisted way of viewing death with… you piss me off. You're weak." They concurred for silence.

Sasori knew he was in deep shit, lying here in silence with the blonde. Soon reinforcements from the Sand would come, a pick-up party that'd probably be accompanied by an ANBU-team. With his puppets shattered, he was on par with a good Chuunin-level shinobi, at best.

But he found himself not caring, in fact, lying side to side with his obnoxious enemy were quite satisfying. He felt at rest, like the uncountable hours he used to spend tweaking and designing new murder-dolls. This feeling was a lot more comforting, though, and he silently gave his destroyed puppets a thought of excuse for not holding them higher.

No, it wasn't that he didn't held them high enough. They were more precious to him than his own life. Yet, that feeling he had now was better than the puppets, and he already regretted that he didn't drag out the Jinchuuriki's entrails and peeled off his skin while he still had the lust for it... now, all he could do was to hope that the Sand and it's allies had the indulgence enough to let him live.

Or that his granny wouldn't be too upset that he would have included her in his infamous art-collection. Yeah… he did hate his granny. Always had, he tried to persuade himself.

He could bet the reinforcements were almost there now, so he'd have to make this quick. "You… jinchuuriki… what's your name?"

Naruto painfully turned his head to the former Sasori of the Red Sand. "What…? It's Naruto. " Naruto, eh…

He moved closer to the blonde person. That took all of his might, but he was now lying very close, dangerously close his ex-opponent, tilted on his left side, looking into a pair of blue eyes that were looking back. If those eyes were real artwork, he thought, then I would be a mere blacksmith whose hands barely could create simple numbers on paper.

His head searched for support on the left shoulder of the youngster, eyes never leaving eyes. He explained, "I have a very weak body." He examined the body of the younger boy, finding it miraculously strong, muscles showed; though not too big nor small. It was the body of an athlete, not a body-builder. He loved it, and he got a feeling of inferiority, as his own body was as feminime it could get, only trained for agility and dexterity. That feeling of inferiority soon turned into a sense of security, a feeling he'd only experienced with his own mother… who had died while he was young. He blushed, curling up against the tanned boy. Naruto got a very weird feeling in his stomach and chest, something he wasn't so sure about being glad to have.

"It was… hmm, nice… nice fighting with you…" Sasori exclaimed. Naruto stared a little, and nodded.

"Your puppets were frightening," he managed to comment on the battle. "Very handy… tricky…" It stung! And he cried out in pain. Poison.

"I see that my poisons are working, even with the remarkable healing-ability of the Kyuubi…" He smirked. He'd always fought with poisons, but they hadn't been tested on a strong body. Not as strong as this body, that is, he thought to himself. Well, then… the antidote…

"Shit…" Naruto mumbled. His sight had become diffused, blurred, diluted…. And he didn't like it. He didn't want to die, not like this. The other concious shinobi said something, and he concentrated.

"I have the antidote," it said. Antidote… antidote! He has the antidote! The posioned leaf-ninja was about to ask for it, when the other voice spoke up again. "Do you want it? Just nod if you do." Naruto nodded. Sasori responded with a 'good', reached within his pockets and drew forth a bottle of antidote. He said, "the antidote must mix with human saliva before you can use it. Otherwise, it's just a useless fluid." Then he put the opening of the bottle to his own delicate lips, poured it in and mixed it. Then, "open your mouth." Naruto just stared weirdly, and asked if it was poison. Sasori responded with a simple "just open your mouth."

And he did so. The mass-killer moved down his head to the others, removed his own hair away from the front of his face, and with closed eyelids pushed his lips to the younger ones. The fluid seeped through the puppet-user's teeths and into Naruto's encavement, then the weak-bodied ordered him to swallow, and he did so. The pain subdued.

Naruto stuttered. "Th-thank you… but why?" The former Sand-nin only answered with a sly smile. Naruto sighed. And reopened his closed eyes shocked, "h-hey! If the antidote needed human saliva, you could've just put it in my mouth directly!" Sasori's smile became slyer. A silence ensued. "What'll happen to you after this?"

Sasori answered. "It's the usual… interrogation, prison, interrigation again and then execution. If I have bad luck…" Naruto looked stunned and was wide-mouthed. "The Sand is not as forgivable to traitors as you leafs are. But…"

"But…?" Naruto wanted answers to a lot of questions, but that could wait.

He was unsure about this. His soul had always been artistic, and thus very unpredictable, erratic. But he'd always followed his heart – now was not a time not to. "Would you like to get better acquainted with me, if I manage to get past these coming weeks without getting killed?" He would certainly like to explore this new branch of art he discovered; love. And he decided that no 'paper' was in finer quality than this blondie, and he would paint that paper with care and with the same quality of brushes and colors that were of the paper worthy.

"I would… like that…" And he grinned sheepishly and blushed.

"Thank you, Naruto-danna. I'm glad." And he smiled back warmly to the blonde he had fallen in love with.

When the Sand-nins and the other team from the Leaf arrived, they spotted one famous silver-rug of hair that belonged to the famous, unconcious Hatake Kakashi. Inside the cave, the nins were greeted by two more unconcious ninjas; shocked at the sight of the village elder Chiyo, and amused at the cute pink-haired kunoichi.

The most adoring thing they ever came to see that day, was a couple of young boys entangled in each others arms, asleep. The bigger of the two boys mumbled, "just you wait, Akatsuki… I'll bring life back to Gaara no matter what…"

Authors notes

The end, finito! I just HAD to write SOMETHING about Sasori. Damn, he's a bishie! I hadn't expected THAT beautiful face under that ugly-looking doll. I believe this fic is really low-quality, probably lots of mistakes, but it's the first edition… hopefully not.

Some things: if you haven't seen Sasori's REAL face/figure, you'd probably be pretty disgusted at this fic. And I know that he's old – most definitely older than Kakashi (he left the Sand 20 years ago) – but his body (if it's his at all?) look so young and perfect! Enough blabbering, I'd appriciate reviews… :)

Second edition: I think I'll leave it like this. Some minor changes… anyhow, Sasori's probably a bit taller than Naruto in the serie, but that's just details. ;) Crappy fic, but the fact that Sasori is in it makes it worth to read. :)