Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto, however all creative liberties belong to me. The fiction story line is purely mine, and views on what characters look like (such as hair or eye) is also mine.
Authors Note: This is male/male, if you're not into that kind of thing do not read this fiction. Possibly some spoilers if you've not read past Sasori and Sakura's fight.

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The sun always seemed to be shining on the worst possible days, as if taunting Deidara in his depression. The brilliant rays beamed down upon his head, making the scalp hot and his shoulders burn in the middle of the summer heat. Licking his lips he glanced up at the sky, hand over his brow to shield his eyes from the yellow glare, and shook his head. It was far too hot out to do anything, he noted. Clay would dry up in an instant and all energy would be sucked up in moments if a battle were to break out. Even the shade was not a place to be hiding in, it only several degrees cooler. It made no difference. And indoors it was even hotter, air conditioners not existing in this era of time. Only fans, which must be waved by the hand, were any possible relief. All there was to do was wait until nightfall and hope the heat left with the sun.

The blond turned his head away from the blinding light, the scope in his left eye absorbing the rays and giving him a headache. It was as if he'd stared straight into the sun, even if his eyes had been shaded over. Shaking out his blurry vision and some of the headache, Deidara slowly got to his bare feet and started toward the various trees. Their shade did look inviting, but the grass was anything but green as it hadn't rained in days. A drought, they said, the worst in a good handful of years. Things were dying, art work cracking once it grew too dry. Deidara had continuously added water to his creations, but they didn't last, and the first to go had been his most favorite explosive type. Sighing, his blue eye looked down at the dry earth turned to dust. Rivers were getting more and more shallow as the days went on, the oceans giving into evaporation, and all the world seeming to relinquish their hold on life and pass on.

"Deidara." Called a voice, small from a long distance away. Deidara hardly heard, his mind too far gone into the thoughts of "the end".

"Deidara." The voice called again, louder and impatient, also closer. The blond raised his head, eyes scanning for the body but saw nothing. Letting his head fall back down his eye closed, arms hanging by his side. The summer heat always made him tired, and he felt drained of all power as if he himself were drying up. In essence he was, his body filled with clay. There was a fear in the back of his mind that clawed at him from time to time on days such as this. Would he die, he wondered, if it became so hot all the clay within him hardened? Would he no longer be able to move when he couldn't control the substance within him? The thought was scary, he tried not to think of it but on the occasion it consumed him like a blackness.

"Deidara! What are you doing sitting out here?" Sasori asked in that deep mechanical voice from within Hiruko. How did he stay cool in there, in that massive shell of a puppet? Deidara didn't understand that either, Sasori hardly left the shell during the days, but one would think he would during a heat wave. Wasn't it burning in there?

"I'm sitting. What does it look like, hmm?" Deidara retorted as he sat up stiffly, hands pushing himself off the ground as his head rose again. Sasori shook his head, the creature shifting on his hind feet. Deidara realized then he hardly knew anything about the real Sasori, or anything of his puppet. Sure, he had helped build parts of it with his own clay, and he had fought against Sasori numerous times in boredom or training, but he didn't really know about either of his partners. The real, or the mask.

"It looks like you're being a lazy ass wasting your time." Sasori replied as the beast as he sat, black and red jacket touching the ground. He looked like a round dome with a head and tail rather than a puppet being used from the inside. But that was the point, Deidara supposed.

"Maybe I am. What else is there to do, hmm? Even our leader refuses to work on a day like this, yeah!"

"That isn't the point." Sasori stated. "You should be preparing for the end of the heat wave. You're never prepared and one of these days you'll get your ass kicked in."

"If you haven't noticed, I can't 'prepare' because I'm dried up, yeah." Deidara said as he held out his palm right side up. The mouths looked chapped from being so dry, and when they moved and attempted to spit up clay there was nothing but small hardened chunks and dust. "See what I mean, yeah?"

"Well why don't you take a cold bath?" Offered Sasori with what might have been a shrug. "That'll get your clay wet, won't it? I always added water when I was making puppets, before I used humans."

There was a before? Deidara smirked though as he thought it over, then nodded and slowly got to his feet. Hiruko rose as well and walked alongside Deidara when making their way back to the home given to them by their leader. Itachi and Kisame also shared the home, it being rather large and comfortable to live in. However, it was mostly empty. Rarely were the four of them there at once, if at all for days at a time, when on their various missions.

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Upon arriving back at the house Deidara and Sasori came across a most peculiar sight. Both Kisame and Itachi were sitting outside, just sitting, not doing anything at all. They appeared to be relaxing in the quiet company of ne another and enjoying it. Kisame was sitting there with his eyes closed, hands behind his head as he lay back on the dying grass. Itachi on the other hand was sitting up, leaning back against Kisame's blade Samehada, with his eyes half open and appearing rather glazed. Even the most ruthless of the organization was taking it easy on a day like todays.

"Are my eyes deceiving me?" Sasori asked with a somewhat amused tone as he looked on at the two. Kisame was clearly asleep, the blond noticed, as they approached further. His chest was covered in a large white shirt and rose or fell in that smooth motion that one did when they slept. Deidara shook his head.

"I didn't know he slept, yeah."

"I wasn't aware he could." Replied Sasori as they came to a stop at Itachi's feet. Itachi looked up with his usual passively angry face before letting his head fall again in rest. Deidara crossed his arms with a grimace.

"Hello to you to, hmm." He hissed coldly and went into the home. Sasori glanced at Deidara before rounding the side of the building and ignoring the two further more. On the side of the home in the shade was an over hang hidden behind a door similar to that of a garage. Hiruko couldn't fit through the main entrance, and he would not come out of his puppet unless behind closed doors.

Kisame tilted up his head, the right beady eye opening as he checked to be sure Sasori was gone. Shaking his head he smirked and then looked to Itachi.

"I don't sleep." He told his partner. Itachi nodded solemnly and muttered an "I know" in the process. The two then continued to sit, silence falling over them once more as the heat beat down in an almost rhythmic warmth while a light breeze passed through. If you just sat long enough, you would learn to understand the way the world worked.

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Deidara sighed, content, as he settled into the icy cold tub in the large bathroom. Kisame was like a fish, so the tub was more of a tank than anything. Moron couldn't just take a shower, Deidara always said rudely. But now he was glad they had such a large space, it grand enough to sit in by small enough that he didn't feel like he was drowning. Leaning his head back on the rear wall and arms floating by his side, the mouths on his palms gurgled and sputtered with their tongues lashing out and making stranger sounds. The strange blond could already feel himself being replenished, and he vaguely wondered why he hadn't come up with the idea of a simple bath in the first place.

Knock, knock.

Lifting his head up he looked at the door, the tails of his hair wet and clinging to his neck and shoulders. His arm moved and sat on the tubs edge, holding himself up as he leaned over and lay upon the ledge.

"What do you want, hmm?" he asked, sounded as if they were bothering him. They were.

"It's me." Deidara defiantly was confused.

"What do you want?" the blond asked again, slightly softer but obviously irked. Why would Sasori have any reason to bother him while he was in the washroom? If it was about wasting time again Sasori was going to get a slap across his recreated face.

"I need to come in. Open up."

"Hm? I think you're crazy, yeah. You're going to have to wait!" There was a click at the door from the knob, turning, and with a tiny squeak it opened. Sasori stuck his head in, red hair falling over his eyes. He was a mess! Dirt was smudged all over his face making him look as if he had tanned and then mud -or clay- up in his beautiful red hair. Deidara raised a brow as Sasori shut the door quickly behind him.

"Use the sink, yeah." Commanded the bomber as he sank back into the water with an annoyed sigh and closing eyes. Sasori locked the door behind him before heading forward toward the bath. Deidara didn't even notice, Sasori's feet so light and quiet on the plush rug.

"Deidara, can I come in?"

Deidara looked up at Sasori shocked, startled. His mouth attempted to form words, but couldn't at first.

"What? No. You're thirty-two, grow up. Yeah." Shot Deidara finally as he sat up to close the curtain. He wasn't in the mood for this, it was too hot even in the water, however, perhaps he might be persuaded otherwise…

"But Deidara, I'm dirty." Sasori stated, feeling very childish. His tone and attitude matched his appearance, having not aged a day since then. He sat on the tub edge, fingertips dipping into the water near Deidara's knee. It rippled and the pale skinned blond felt the water move around his torso, the only part of him above the water.

"I said use the sink, yeah." Deidara pointed, trying very hard to resist the temptation flicking over his body. Pulling at his senses and begging him to give in.

"But-"

"No."

They stared at each other in suspense, Deidara longing to give up and Sasori staring him down with a violent lust. It was too much to handle, the force pushing down upon Deidara with a heavy weight until he felt like he was suffocating. Reaching up he grabbed Sasori by the neck and yanked him down until their lips met. Sasori's hands scrapped across the bottom of the bath, slipping without finding grip. Their lips had then only been touching for a moment before he slid completely into the tub, arms wrapping around Deidara's chest in panic as he lay there over his naked partner. Deidara hardly moved, only helping hold up the redhead as he felt the small lips suckle at his collar.

"Sasori…" the blond whispered once he steadied his friend as they lay in the waters. His wet fingers ran up into the short rare colored hair, Sasori's arms snaking around the body and holding tight. The clear liquid splashed, turning a pale haze from the caked on dirt covering the puppeteers body. A sigh into skin, the release and then a fall into pure ecstasy. A darkness consumed the two, enveloping them in their passion as there was nothing else but one and the other. Deidara's eyes closed and the dim light from behind his lids blinded him with such a blackness. Sasori felt blind, eyes open or closed, as his encased heart beat wildly in his fake chest. It was a hollow feeling, they both knew, as they panted their way through the feelings they expressed.

Finally, time seemed to stop and Sasori slowly stood up and got out of the tub. His soaking wet black pants had been discarded half an hour ago and hung over the side of the sink. His hair was damp, hanging over his face and Deidara moved it quickly before he was alone. Along again in the tub, then alone in the bathroom after Sasori left. Slowly another kind of shadowy feeling fell over him as he realized he wanted Sasori back, but the time had come and gone, and loneliness was all that was left for the blond.