Oh, Grow Up!
Chapter One: First Impressions
Sasori stared blankly as the boy struggled against his own "art".
"You lose." Itachi said, in a somewhat condescending tone. The battle had ended too quickly for Sasori's liking, and, much to his displeasure, the boy hadn't killed himself.
Itachi turned to Sasori and murmured "He's your responsibility now," before both he and Kisame disappeared, and Sasori could barely hear Kisame's crackling as they left. He sighed and shifted his gaze from where the two Akatsuki had been, to the blond brat, who now looked angrier than ever. Sasori could see the terrorist reaching for the pouch that contained the clay for his ninjutsu.
"You're being foolish," Sasori said, calmly, "I already know your technique, and I could kill you before you even got a chance to use it. You lost your battle with Itachi, and you are now my partner, an initiate for the Akatsuki." The blond smirked, and let his arm fall limply to his side.
"And just what are you gonna do, uhn?" the boy demanded, "You can't guarantee that I'll follow you when you teleport, yeah, and even if I tried, I don't exactly know where we're going, uhn." Sasori nodded and smiled; though the brat wouldn't be able see this.
"Well, I guess that means we'll be walking." Sasori answered. The blond looked vaguely troubled at the remark, and crossed his arms.
"You can't make me," the youth said, defiantly, "I'll be gone the instant you turn your back, yeah." Sasori chuckled a little.
"If I had to, I'd drag you there, child, and seeing as how the destination is a good ways away, I don't think that would be very pleasurable for you," Sasori declared, "We're in the northeastern section of the Land of Earth , no? I'd say from here to our destination would take about a week on foot." The boy let his arms fall, as a scowl appeared on his face.
He asked, with a hint of a growl, "When are we departing, uhn?"
"Right now." And with that, Sasori turned and began shuffling his way out of the enclosure, taking note of the statues that the teen had been admiring before Sasori and the others had come. They were, indeed, magnificent works of art, surely sturdy enough to last a long time into the future; that is, unless they were purposely and cruelly destroyed by the hand of man, as everything inevitably was.
How can this brat even compare his abominations with true art? Sasori wondered, vaguely.
"W-wait, uhn!" the boy called out, "We can't just leave like this." Sasori turned, and gazed at the boy with Hiruko's cold glare.
"And why not?" he questioned. His tone was icy.
"Because! What about food, water, and stuff, yeah?" The boy asked, "We can't just leave without being prepared, uhn!"
"Yes we can, because we are." Sasori said, as a reply, "We can pick supplies up as we go."
"The villages are too far and too few in between," the teen cried, "not to mention the fact that many of the villages in this country generally have poor crop growth! We can't just 'pick supplies up as we go'. We have to get some now, while we still have the chance!" Sasori shook his head.
"I never said we'd be going to the other villages of this wretched country. That would take us even longer," Sasori stated, "Believe it or not, nature holds all the supplies we need. You just need to learn how to utilize them." The youth shook his head, and crossed his arms again.
"Either we pick supplies up in the nearby village, yeah, or I'm not following you anywhere." the teen insisted, frowning. Sasori shook his head slowly, and glared at the boy.
"I'm losing my patience with you. If we stop now, it would take us much longer to reach our destination." Sasori stated coldly, as he got Hiruko's tail ready for attack. The boy was obviously going to become a problem. Sure enough, the teen's hands shot into the clay bag on his right side.
The youth cried, "That's just too bad, uhn!" before throwing two bombs in the shape of birds at Sasori. Reacting quickly, Sasori shot his chakra strings from his fingertips to the birds, and sent them flying back to their creator, who simply leapt out of the way. Unfortunately, the teen happened into the path of Hiruko's tail, which, rather slicing the teen, which would have caused him to be fatally envenomed, cut off the clay bag, largely destroying it and crushing the remnants into the ground. Then, in a sweeping motion, the tail whipped back around, and wrapped around sculptor, restricting movement on his behalf, particularly in the arms. Sasori then brought the teen closer, so that they were face-to-face.
"I told you I'd be willing to drag you," Sasori dictated, his tone flat, "Now, cause any more problems for me, I'll make this trip as unbearable as I possibly can for you. Do understand me?" There was a moment's pause after Sasori finished, and he began to wonder if the youth would reply. Rather than saying anything, however, the brat spit into his- actually Hiruko's- eye. Sasori smiled slightly, and with a flick of his index finger, made Hiruko's tail arc over himself and then slammed the blond, who cried out in pain, into the hard, smooth floor.
"Bastard!" the teen cried, obviously in pain.
"Don't push me," Sasori said, still smiling slightly, but cruelly, "I have a low tolerance for your insubordination and my patience has always been low. Period." Sasori loosened Hiruko's tail a bit and slowly withdrew it, keeping it poised and ready to attack again, should the need arise. The blond slowly picked himself up, and patted some dirt and dust off once he was standing. Again he shot a glare in Sasori's direction, but it was only for a short moment, and Sasori had nearly missed it.
When the tail was out of sight, he approached the teen, and stared him down, and the boy stared back, not that it meant anything. He was staring into lifeless eyes, it didn't matter weather they were Hiruko's, Sasori's, or another puppet's altogether. The blond was not going to get nearly as much out of their little staring contest as Sasori was, and he was most definitely going to be the first to blink, and the loser.
The youth's eyes were slanted upwards, and seemed to be somewhat heavily lashed, making the teen appear yet more feminine. They weren't however, heavily lidded, as Sasori's own eyes appeared to be, but were nearly wide open, and very alert. The boy also had shockingly blue eyes, which Sasori found strange that he could have mistaken that particular hue to be a green.
They also held a fierce gaze, the tell-tale sign that the boy was not only completely capable of holding his own in battle, and, most likely, fought offensively, but that he had a good head on him, and he could be quite resourceful. They also told Sasori that the youth lacked some common sense, and could, and most likely would, become rash, over-confident, and haughty. All together, these traits led to Sasori's final conclusion; the boy was an undoubtedly skilled fighter, but was instable, and needed to be monitored during battle, if Sasori didn't plan on being blown to smithereens.
The teen's gaze began to waver, and Sasori guessed that he was getting bored of simply staring, or was starting to lose his nerve. Either way, when the boy shifted gaze away from Sasori to his own feet, Sasori saw that his frown had deepened slightly, unable to understand how anyone's eyes could be so creepy, blank, and unmoving. He brought himself to gaze at the pathetic and scarce remains of his clay bag, however, and, shooting a hateful glare in the puppeteer's direction, went to gather up what clay was still usable, which barely amounted to a handful of the pallid substance. The youth pocketed it and sighed.
Sasori watched with detached interest and walked over to the boy, again, with the intention of learning more about the blond. It wasn't going to be much, but it was still important information, something Sasori knew he'd need if he ever wanted to get in his new partner's good graces…
"So…?" Sasori asked, "Your name, what is it? The teen looked back up at Sasori with a skeptical look and shook his head.
"You're serious?" the teen questioned, "You guys are forcing me into an organization, and you don't even know my name, uhn!?" He looked somewhat angry, but he also looked as though he was ready to laugh. Sasori sighed, and nodded. This was yet another something that would make getting along with this brat more difficult, for the meantime. The teen stood up and gave Sasori a bit of a sideways glance.
"Deidra, uhn," the blond huffed, crossing his arms, "Your's?" Sasori gazed at the teen a moment before replying.
Deidra, huh? Sasori thought, as he smiled to himself.
"My name is Sasori." he replied, "Mine is a famous name, but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't recognize it, seeing as how you come from such a backwater, rundown, and isolated country, Deidra." Deidra's eyes narrowed. Of course, Sasori was right. Deidra had no idea who this guy was supposed to be.
But, Deidra thought to himself, as his the corners of his mouth turned up into a small grin, seeing as how we're now "partners", I guess I've got plenty of time to find out.
