Hello again. Due to the good reviews on my last Tobi and Dei fanfiction, I decided to write a sequel ^_^
I hope this one goes over as well as my previous. Enjoy.
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Deidara held up a hand to block his eyes from the sun, an irritated frown on his face.
He was crouching under a tall tree while his partner climbed the branches to get a better view of the land. Unfortunately, the leaves were no help in protecting either one of them from the abnormally warm heat of the summer.
"Tobi!" Deidara called up, tilting his head slightly to see if he could spot Tobi through the branches. A sharp glare of sunlight caught his eye instead and he quickly looked down, cursing.
"Ne, Senpai? Everything alright?" Tobi replied a moment later, his voice sounding distant.
"How much longer are you going to climb this damn tree, un? I'm dying down here, hurry up!" Deidara complained, roughly kicking the ground and watching as clods of dirt flew forward with the motion of his foot.
"Just another minute, Senpai, almost found where we're supposed to meet with the others for the report." Tobi called in return and the sound of a few snapping branches reached Deidara's ears. Apparently, Tobi was moving again.
Since the significant lack of Akatsuki members recently, Deidara and Tobi had been meeting with Hoshigaki Kisame after every mission to report the collective knowledge all three of them had gotten. The missions were fairly small, mostly just observation, so the information shared was put to the collective purpose of planning. So far, Deidara wasn't quite sure WHAT they were planning, only that it had something to do with Konoha and the general ninja population. Kisame and Tobi would sometimes go off to talk alone, which Deidara didn't really mind, but sitting there under the tree, he began to wonder if he was missing something important.
Now, Deidara didn't like being excluded. A slight frown spread across his face as he attempted to look up at Tobi again. He found that by angling his head slightly to the left and leaning down under one of the low hanging leaves, Deidara could just make out Tobi's outline from what he was sure was the very top of the tree.
How did he get that high without the tree bending? Deidara wondered absently. The tree wasn't nearly as thick as Deidara would've liked it to be, and let's face it, Tobi was no feather.
"Senpai! I found it! It's a restaurant!" Tobi called down, an excited tone to his voice.
Deidara immediately frowned. Of course Tobi would think to put a meeting place near food.
"Ah, alright." Deidara sighed. "Come down then, you idiot, and we'll head that way."
There was a series of crunching noises that made Deidara quickly retreat from the tree trunk and within moments, Tobi fell out of the tree with a muffled thud.
There was a moment of silence in which a speechless Deidara stared with a vacant expression at the ninja who appeared to be unconscious. But Tobi was nothing if not durable, and he slowly sat up, shaking his head to clear the dizziness.
"Ugh, that wasn't as smooth as I'd have liked." Tobi lightly rubbed his aching hip and got to his feet.
Deidara smirked.
"Come on, baka, I'm not gonna wait for you anymore. Let's get moving, un." Deidara set off at a decent pace. He'd be all too happy to run off and see how Tobi handled the pursuit with his injuries, but Deidara feared for whatever small animals might be nearby if Tobi was left alone. Tobi had strange habits, and Deidara wouldn't put it past him to come back to his partner with a few animals, wanting them as pets.
Tobi followed fairly well, much to Deidara's relief. He could hear a few faint complaints about his leg ad hip, but Tobi was smart enough to complain to himself and not directly to Deidara.
As they ran, Deidara could see the trees thinning ahead and felt a bit foolish for having Tobi scout the direction when they were so close already. He moved faster as he felt his face heat up with a slight blush. The last thing he wanted was for Tobi to make fun of him for being embarrassed again.
Within a few minutes, they managed to find the path to the small restaurant like building and after a few more minutes, could see a blue figure waiting outside the building itself. Kisame turned as they left the trees and a smirk crossed his lips.
"Thought you'd never get here." He remarked and Deidara scowled.
"Shut up, Kisame, Tobi here nearly killed himself coming out of a tree." Deidara nodded in Tobi's direction and the orange masked ninja laughed lightly and rubbed his hip as an example.
Kisame laughed as well and said, "I'm starving, so now that you're here, let's order something and talk."
"Yay!" Tobi immediately cheered up and Deidara rolled his eyes.
A strange look passed over Kisame's face and Deidara frowned. Kisame hadn't seemed to notice that Deidara was watching him, but he raised an eyebrow at Tobi. Deidara pretended to pull a strand of hair behind his ear while looking out the side of his vision to see Tobi give a shrug and turn to face Deidara. The blonde ninja quickly pretended like he hadn't noticed the transaction and muttered, "Order whatever, Tobi, I'm not hungry."
"Aw, come on, Senpai, you have to eat something. It's a long way back to our camp." Tobi tried to coax Deidara into the building and Kisame joined in, much to Deidara's surprise.
"Yeah, come on, it's no fun if you don't eat with us." Kisame's smirk grew and Deidara began to feel uneasy.
He hadn't had much contact with Hoshigaki Kisame, even when the Akatsuki had first formed. There had been brief meetings but it was usually when Deidara had argued with Itachi and Kisame had just happened to be nearby. The Uchiha bastard and the fish had been partners, after all. But for some reason, Deidara had never felt comfortable around him, more so now than ever. There was something in the way Kisame looked at Deidara that made the blonde man feel as if he was left out of a very important secret and both Tobi and Kisame knew about it.
As the three of them sat down to eat, Deidara tried to avoid eye contact with Kisame, and luckily, Kisame made no motion to speak with Deidara any more than necessary.
It wasn't too long before Kisame had said goodbye after the exchange of information and Deidara was left alone with Tobi. Although he was happy to be rid of the fish, Deidara couldn't tell whose company he hated more. Tobi had been coaxed into drinking a bit by Kisame and was now leaning heavily on Deidara's shoulder. The blonde knew very well that Tobi was nowhere near drunk and had no intention of carrying him home, so he pushed the masked man away and stood up.
"Come on, let's go home, un. I want to get an early start tomorrow." Deidara said.
"Leaving already? But you haven't had a drink with me yet, Senpai." Tobi complained childishly, holding up a bottle of sake. Or at least something similar to it, Deidara hadn't paid any attention to the two drinkers earlier.
"I don't want to drink, now get up." Deidara snapped impatiently.
"Aww. Can we get this to go, sir?" Tobi called to the man who had been serving the food all night. The man gave a smile and a nod; Kisame already paid for the booze.
Tobi got to his feet, bottle in hand and followed Deidara, humming happily to himself.
Deidara was repeating anger management mantras in his head by the time they reached camp. They didn't work.
"Will you shut up?!" Deidara snapped upon reaching the large tent they'd made a few nights earlier.
Tobi had been drinking along the way and as he drank, his tunes had gotten louder. He was now singing full out to some song Deidara had never heard and highly suspected Tobi of making up himself.
"Aw, sing with me, Senpai. You're no fun." Tobi must have been smiling under that mask, his tone was too happy for Deidara's liking.
"You're drunk." Deidara retorted, turning on his heel to enter the tent, but Tobi quickly replied with, "I'm not drunk, not at all! I can hold my alcohol very well, actually."
Deidara noticed that, though singing like an idiot, Tobi was at least steady on his feet and completely upright, so he supposed he wasn't completely drunk.
Deidara sighed and moved over to help Tobi into the tent first.
"Put the bottle down, un, it's time to sleep. Early start? Ringing any bells?" Deidara complained lightly as he climbed into his makeshift bed, pulling the covers back. He slipped out of his Akatsuki robe, which was still issued to wear for the remaining members, scorching though it was in the summer heat. He threw it carelessly in the corner of the tent and as he turned to lie down, a hand caught his arm.
Deidara turned his head to see Tobi holding on to his arm with one hand and putting the half empty bottle of alcohol on the floor with the other.
"Tobi?" Deidara frowned, surprised at the sudden and unprovoked contact. It reminded him of the day he'd woken up in Tobi's room. The unexpected hand to his forehead and the careful brushing of his hair.
Deidara quickly pushed those thoughts from his mind as his face began to heat up at that memory.
Tobi turned to Deidara and tilted his head in what Deidara would assume to be an indication of a smile.
"Night, Senpai!" Tobi touched his mask to Deidara's face and released his arm, moving to his bed on all fours.
Deidara was momentarily stunned by the close proximity of that moment, but snapped out of it quick enough to ask, "What was that, un?"
"A goodnight kiss, Senpai." Tobi replied happily, pulling off his own Akatsuki robe to reveal the completely black uniform underneath.
Deidara almost smirked at the thought of any idiot wearing a completely covered black outfit in the summer, but forced himself to remain on topic.
"A goodnight kiss?" Deidara repeated, a little confused. "All you did was touch your mask to my face."
"What? You want a real kiss, Senpai?" Tobi asked, a small hint of surprise to his voice as he turned back to look at Deidara.
Deidara inwardly cursed Tobi's very existence and his face heated up for the second or third time that night.
"N-no! That's not what I meant! I just-" Deidara was caught off guard as Tobi laughed and moved closer to Deidara, resting one hand on his mask.
"I could give you one, if you want." Tobi's voice was teasing and very amused, only irritating Deidara further.
The blonde ninja felt his eyes widen as Tobi shifted his mask a little to the right, revealing very pale skin underneath. Unable to speak, Deidara could only stare as Tobi leaned in closer, pushing the mask a little more to the right to reveal an amused smile. When Tobi was but an inch from Deidara's face, the blonde ninja closed his eyes, absolutely sure that he was blushing harder than he ever had before.
He felt a very light touch of lips to the corner of his mouth before he heard Tobi laugh and opened one eye to see Tobi retreating and replacing his mask over his entire face.
"Goodnight, Senpai!" Tobi called happily, laying down onto his bed and pulling the covers up to his chin, reaching up shut off the small lantern they'd placed in the tent earlier.
Deidara sat, shocked, at the edge of his own bed, unsure of what to do. Wipe his mouth? Leave it? Yell at Tobi?
Deidara settled for the second option and lay down, covering the majority of himself with his covers and refusing to say anything to Tobi until morning.
As Deidara eventually drifted off the sleep, Tobi gave a small smirk from underneath his mask.
How cute his senpai looked when he blushed...