"Are you all right?"
Deidara turned at the sound of Sasori speaking to him. As usual, the puppet master was inside his shell, known as Hiruko. "I'm fine, danna," he answered.
"You're being rather quiet, brat," Sasori remarked.
"Just thinking, un," Deidara said, shrugging his shoulders. He slowed his pace and allowed Sasori to take the lead, once again following behind his partner as they continued down the road. Deidara had, of course, been lying through his teeth. There was something wrong, and it came in the form of a large, oversized puppet.
You see, Deidara hated Hiruko with a passion.
Not only was that thing bulky and hideous, it also constantly obscured his view of Sasori. The puppet master had no problem staying in it all day, because he still had a good view of the blonde, but Deidara was left to suffer. "Wait to play fair danna."
The only way he could make the puppet master suffer as well was to follow behind Sasori, so that the redhead would be forced to turn around if he wanted to catch a glimpse of his precious blonde.
However, that wasn't the only thing on the blonde's mind. Actually, he was concerned about his clay. Or lack thereof. Problems in the form of Tobi doing arts and crafts had stripped him of a substantial amount of his art medium, and he hadn't bothered to tell Sasori. He'd had enough for the duo to complete their actual mission; but if they ran into any trouble on the way back home, he wasn't sure if he could put up a decent fight or not...
The blonde shook his head; he really shouldn't think like that. Suddenly he bumped into Hiruko, nearly tripping in the process. "Oof!"
Sasori turned his puppet, and the sculptor could practically see two chocolate brown eyes boring into him. "Deidara…"
"Yeah, un?"
Hiruko's tail slid towards the blonde, wrapping itself once around his waist before sliding up his body, stopping when the tip of the spade was level with the top of Deidara's head. "Are you sure you're fine?" Sasori asked again, pressing the flat side of the spade against Deidara's cheek.
To anyone else, this position would have meant certain doom, with death either in the form of being crushed by the tail of poisoned by the toxic liquid dripping on the spade. Deidara was the only person who could feel the tenderness behind the gesture.
"I'm fine, Sasori danna," he answered, smiling as he cupped the spade with his hand, as if the cold metal were Sasori's own body. "I promise, un."
Deidara felt the tail tighten around his middle in a gentle sort of hug, before releasing his body completely. The Akasuna turned back around, and they continued on their way.
Deidara and Sasori had been on countless missions where they got home without having encountered a single enemy, and they'd always been armed to the teeth. So, it was only natural that they'd be attacked when Deidara was completely out of his clay.
Sasori was too busy trying to guard himself to notice that anything was wrong with Deidara at first. It wasn't until he'd tossed a dying ninja through the woods did he catch a glimpse of Deidara, fighting hand to hand with a female attacker. If it wasn't shocking enough to see Deidara fighting without bombs, the blonde had also gotten rather cut up, and was favoring his left leg when he moved.
Sasori was able to take down two more men before Deidara jumped down beside him, giving the Akasuna a familiar signal to run. Sasori heard a soft hissing noise, and was able to look up just in time to see twin paper bombs go off, throwing their remaining attackers through the air.
Deidara and Sasori hurried on as quickly as they could, stopping not even half a mile from the battlefield when Deidara's leg finally gave out. "It's funny, brat," Sasori began, glaring at the panting blonde, who was currently leaning back against a tree. "I seem to recall you telling me you were fine."
"I was," Deidara snapped. "And I would have been fine if we hadn't run into those guys, un."
"You could have told me-"
"How would that have helped, un?! This area's really dry, so neither one of us could have gotten any clay until we got back home, un!"
"Deidara-" the puppet master was cut off when they felt chakra signals approaching. "Damn, some of them must have escaped your blast," Sasori muttered.
"I always hated paper bombs, un. They never have enough kick to them, un."
"You're in no shape to fight," Sasori remarked.
"Don't treat me like I'm some weak kid, danna," Deidara ordered, pulling out a knife and wincing. The sculptor heard several familiar clicking noises and suddenly Hiruko's shell split open, revealing Sasori. "Sasori danna, what are you-" The redhead lunged forward and trapped the bomber in a tight embrace.
Deidara realized too late what Sasori was planning as he was picked up and spun around. "Danna, don't you-" Sasori ignored the half-voiced protest and dropped Deidara into Hiruko, closing the puppet immediately afterwards and locking the sculptor within.
The blonde kicked and shouted, but the thick material that Hiruko was made out of muffled all his noises. "Yet another reason to hate this thing, un," he muttered, frowning and curling up in defeat.
It seemed like an eternity passed, and the air inside Hiruko was getting stuffy. He silently cursed Sasori, vowing to blow up this stupid puppet (if not the puppeteer) when they got back home.
Gentle clicks brought him back to reality, and he looked up to see Sasori's face, blood clinging to it. He knew better then to think that any of it could be Sasori's, so he instantly turned all his anger on the Akasuna. "SASORI DANNA, YOU BASTARD, UN!"
WHAM
"OWW!"
Deidara rubbed his head, pouting. "Since when does protecting you make me a bastard?" Sasori asked, frowning.
"Since I didn't need your protection in the first place, un!"
"You were out of clay, bleeding, and couldn't use your right leg. Yeah, you were fine," Sasori growled, crawling into Hiruko beside Deidara.
"I was, un," Deidara pouted, squirming as Sasori picked him up and pulled him into the puppeteer's lap. "Danna, let me go, or-" a death glare from Sasori silenced Deidara, and he remained quiet as the redhead looked over his wounds.
Sasori quickly patched up the blonde, then leaned back against Hiruko and sighed. "I don't suppose you'd have any problems with us making camp right here, right?"
"No, un." Deidara watched as the puppet master raised his hand and attached chakra strings to the puppet they were in. He carefully shut Hiruko partway; closed enough to block the wind, yet open enough to allow fresh air and a view of the stars that had managed to come out while the blonde was being doctored.
Deidara turned to his danna and raised his hand, using his cloak's sleeve to wipe away a little of the blood still clinging to Sasori, before giving him a kiss. "Night Sasori danna."
"Night Dei-chan," the puppet master responded, wrapping his arms lazily around the blonde's waist. As his breathing leveled out, Deidara stared up at the stars and smiled.
Ok, so maybe Hiruko wasn't that bad.