This is dedicated to yhe Lovely Ms. Tattoo Kitty, and her fluff adicted preferances. XD. Merry Christmas. SASORI AND DEIDARA ROCK! Woot!
No, sorry, I don't own Naruto.
Oh, and this is a Secret Santa Project.
It was raining.
Yes, it was raining. It was always raining. That was why it was called the Village hidden in the RAIN after all.
Do you know what that meant?
If you do, have a cookie. If not, well…too bad.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three successive blasts went off, shaking the dust off the ceilings, making it fall all over the room, including on the red head, sitting at a work table, tools spread across the surface, an unfinished puppet before him, and a clenched wooden fist, around a screw driver. God damn it, he almost poked his eye out just now.
Sasori Akasuna stared at his screw driver, before sighing, irritably and lowering the tool on the table. He let go off it, deciding to move on to a…safer tool. A paint brush, for the puppet's design. He took the wood in his fingers, bringing the brush closer, closer. It was a very delicate procedure…the paint was wet and he had a very intricate emblem. He lowered it, once again, making a smooth curve on the wood, then a line. A curve, curve, curve…a scorpion was almost made out on the wood. All that was needed was ne more stroke.
BOOM!
The brush skidded across the wooden surface, it was only a small slide, but it left a large black mark crossing over the scorpion. Sasori blinked. SNAP! The poor brush splintered in half. The chair flew back ward as he stood up, with a 'woosh', his black Akatsuki cloak billowing as he stormed through the door, ash colored eyes glinting with annoyance. That stupid blonde was two minutes away from a one way, all expense paid trip to hell, sponsered by teh ever generous Sasori of the Red Sand.
"Deidara!" he snarled, as he walked into the large training room in the headquarters. His voice echoed through the cave's walls, as he stood there, furious ash colored eyes zipping around the room, hunting for the offender. It wasn't too hard. Just look for the most mess.
He found the blonde sitting on a boulder, one that had yet to be destroyed. He was surrounded by smoking craters, in a perfect circle all around him. God he must be bored to have put in such precision, Deidara was usually more of the, let go kind of guy. You wanna blow something up? Great. You wann let loose your anger in a violent artistic manner? Go for it. You wanna set fire to little children? I'm not the one who's going to explain to the parents why their children have mysteriously lost their hair and skin. (Don't forget to pay the teacher extra. She'll have to deal with twenty eight miniature ghost riders zooming around the class room. Ah, and also, please remember to call the Fire brigade BEFORE school break).
"Deidara" Sasori began again, "what are you doing?!". The blonde cracked open an eye, glancing at the red head , "what does it look like I'm doing, un? Twidling my thumbs?". Sasori pursed his lips. Oh ,so he was going to play that game.
"If you wanna have any thumbs left to twiddle with, you better stop your rough housing. It looks like, you are disturbing my work" he said through clenched teeth. The blonde only looked at him once before tossing another bomb. It went off with a glorious boom, blowing another few unfortunate trees away. "Oh! I'm sorry, un. Was I…disturbing you?" said the blonde fixing Sasori with a pair of faux innocent eyes.
Sasori did his best not to mash his teeth together as he fixed his partner with an icy stair that would make Sub Zero look like Fun in the Summer Sun next to him. "Deidara…" he said warningly, "Do. Not. Test. My. Patience!".
The blonde leaped up from his rock, as he swooped down in front of Sasori, a look akin to annoyance if not anger on his face. "What? What are you gonna do, un? Spray me with wood shavings?!". Sasori clicked his tongue. He had no idea what was going on in this immature blonde's cheese crumbled brain but he just used up his patience quota for the day.
Just like the paint brush earlier( rest it's soul) Sasori snapped. "What the hell is your problem?!" he demanded, taking a step forward. They had always been on thin ice, what with their clashing views about art but they had managed to make it work. Until now.
Deidara huffed, mirroring Sasori, taking a step forward till they were face to face. "My problem is your damn, rotting puppets, un!".It was about his puppets was it? "Well, they're a hundred times more useful than your little fire crackers and a thousand times more useful than you!".
Time stopped for a moment, and to Sasori, it seemed as though the look of shock and hurt was frozen on Deidara's face and in his memory before time regained it's continuum and on Deidara's face a scowl melted into place. "That's it, un! One day I'll seriously blow up those precious puppets of yours!!" he shouted turning on his heel as he walked away. Sasori's face darkened and he pointed a finger at the blonde threateningly, "Deidara, I'll turn you into a puppet" he said in a low, dangerous voice.
The blonde cast a dirty look over his shoulder, "yes, please do, un!". And with that he disappeared, down the hall way, his angry foot steps echoing all the way down until they disappeared and even then, Sasori hadn't moved.
Yes, please do, un!
That was the end of it. There were no more explosions the rest of the day. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day still… in fact, Sasori hadn't seen Deidara, or rather, hadn't had the chance to talk face to face for days. He had sometimes caught sight of Deidara's shadow on the wall, glimpsed a blonde ponytail disappear around a corner, saw a bit of claying lying around…but that was it. That was the only proof he had that Deidara even existed at all.
He found himself begin to stop and look more often when he saw these hints of existance. He'd follow the elusive shadows with his eyes, pass by the west wing more often in hope that he'd catch a glimpse of blonde hair disappear around a corner. He'd even stop, and scoop up the left over clay on the floor and set it neatly away on a table, in a corner, or by Deidara's door.
The Puppet master couldn't explain these human compellations. He even tried to discourage himself from engaging in it. What did it matter? He had all the time in the world, to work on his puppets, and without the disturbances he could work faster, perfect them more. In fact, it was a good thing that Deidara steered out of his way, ignored and avoided him. If only he could convince himself that.
Sasori sat at his work table, tools sprayed about him, as in his hand, he clutched a paint brush, (the deceased pant brush's brother twice removed to be exact). He proceeded with care, painting his emblem. A curve, then a line, a curve, curve, curve…his hand wavered over the puppet. As if waiting for something. He stayed like that for a while before he realized what he was waiting for. He scolded himself for waiting. He was waiting for the ceiling to shake, for dust to fall and for his brush to skid over the emblem, ruining it.
He paused, still waiting…Damn it. He hated waiting. Damn that Deidara. He stood up, his robes billowing. How dare Deidara make him wait? Why wouldn't he blow something up already? Why had he kept him waiting for so long, three days?!
He stepped outside, striding quickly and with purpose. He ignored a questioning glance from Hidan who had arrived only a few days earlier and ignored his comment, "what the fuck are you so worked up about, Barbie?!". Only one thing was on his mind, and he would not allow himself to be deterred, not even by Hidan's unintelligible ranting.
He barged in the room, swinging the door opening and causing Deidara to leap off of his bed. The blonde jumped to his feet, tired eyes staring at the intruder first with surprise, then annoyance, then seeing who it was, down right vexation. "Whaddya want, un?" he hissed, smoothing his disheveled hair down.
Sasori paused, at a loss for words. What was he doing? He wasn't even sure. Something about…explosions…waiting…but it had been such a spontaneous, disconnected thought, that it didn't make any sense to him now. What did he want? What was he hoping for…?
He almost turned around and walked back to his room, had part of his mind had not been screaming at him, "don't do it, it'll make you look stupid, barging in someone's room for no reason", and the other part of his mind was screaming, "calm down, calm down, think of something to say…this is no biggie. Analyze it, pretend you're painting puppets...".
Puppets.
"Hey, what have you got against my puppets?". It was a while ago. He wasn't even so sure Deidara would remember it. "You barged in here to ask me that, un?" Deidara raised a brow, looking at him speculatively. Damn it, Damn it, Damn it. No turning back now. "Yes, I came here to ask you that…….you don't have to answer, it's just a stupid question anyway…" he said turning to leave.
"Is that it, un? Is that all you have to say…?" the blonde asked, straightening up. Damn it to the tenth power. Sasori stopped in his tracks. He should have known…he knew Deidara would pull something like this. He turned around grudgingly and glared Deidara in the eye, his lips, a straight, hard line. The blonde stared back, eyes hard, defiant. Finally Sasori relented, "I'm…sorry…for snapping at you". Deidara crossed his arms, nodding, appearing satisfied before his shoulder's slumped. "I kinda deserved it, un…" he said quietly, "for bashing your puppets, your art, like that, un". Sasori blinked, that was unexpected. "Which goes back to my first question", he said finally.
Sasori cleared his throat. This time, it was Deidara's turn to be wary. "What've you got against me puppets?", Sasori reapeted, staring teh blonde down with rose ash colored eyes. Deidara looked up slowly, one saphire eye cracked open to look at the red head, "because I'm…jealous, un".
Sasori blinked.
Jealous… Deidara was jealous…Deidara was jealous of a puppet…good god.
"Why?" Sasori asked in disbelief. "They're puppets! They can't move or feel stuff, they can't do anything on their own!". Deidara sighed, rubbing the back of his head, "yeah I know. Any sane person would feel sorry for 'em, un. Can't move, can't talk, no will, can't eat, sleep, blah, blah, blah... So, maybe I'm not sane,but…you pay much more attention to them than you do to me, un…" he said, quietly, a blush burning on his cheeks.
Suddenly, everything, the rampages, the snide comments, it all clicked into place. All of it.
Yes, please do, un!
Oh. Now it made sense. That's why Deidara had been sour. Because, he…Sasori hadn't been paying attention to him…So to Deidara ,being a puppet was a better alternative…
The blonde was right. No way he could be sane. No way any sane person could go that far, to care that much, about a cranky, wooden, thirty-something puppet maker-slash-puppet.
Sasori swallowed, his hands balling ever so slightly, hidden by his long sleeves. He felt bad. It was a foreign feeling, for a puppet, but he felt it. The feeling reeked of 'bad'. He felt bad, bad for hurting Deidara, so indirectly, so nonchalantly and not even knowing. Who knows how long he had been doing it, who knows how long he had been hurting Deidara?
"I am sorry" was all he could say, in a mono tone, hoping for once with all his heart that a puppet could put all that feeling into those three short words. Sasori looked up, his face scrunched up, as he tried to look annoyed so as to hide his insecurity. "Yeah…I know it's only three short words, but three words can have a lot of meaning to them…I just, don't get much practice with this apologizing stuff…" he said, looking away, embarrassed, though the blush refused to show on his wooden cheeks, somethiing he'd have to thank kami for later.
The blonde looked at Sasori from the corner of his eyes, before a crooked half smile worked it's way to his lips. "Naw. It was ok, un".
The two stood there for a long time, silence between them, just resting within the moment before Deidara broke the silence. "You know what, un? I know another three words that have a lot of meaning to it, un".
"What?" Sasori asked, glancing at Deidara with curiosity, trying to figure out what the blonde could be thinking.
Deidara smiled mischievously.
"I love you".
Alright, there you go! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it for you!(I love playing Sasori and Deidara. Hope they were in character! lol) Once again, Merry Christmas, Tattoo! XD. Oh, and have a cookie, I'm sure you were able to figure it out.
-Suzu
