Memories of Pain
All was silent in the building directly in the center of Amegakure. The villagers were confused. Around this time of day, they usually heard explosions and loud cursing issuing forth from the God's Skyscraper/Home. But the place seemed empty, almost like it was abandoned. As per usual, it was raining heavily.
Hours passed, yet the Rain God didn't come out to address the people that day, as he did every day. The villagers started to wonder if something bad had happened to the man who liked to dress in black cloaks with red clouds on them. But… it couldn't be. The storm didn't recede one bit.
Suddenly a man with orange hair, wearing a familiar cloak to the people of the Rain Village appeared, coming from the place loud explosions had been coming from earlier. The villagers calmed down. Their God was still fit to walk through the city. Then there sense of unease got stronger. When the god took a walk through the city in the past, he had always been accompanied by the blue-haired angel. She was missing. The second clue to something being wrong, was that his cloak was partially shredded, and a red substance was dripping down his face. It looked almost as if his piercings had been forcibly ripped out, because the familiar silver glint was gone.
The Head of the Rain Ninja rushed up to him. "My lord! Are you all right? Where's your Lady?"
The orange-haired man ignored him. He just kept walking towards the building. He was limping badly. He steadily opened the door with his left arm, though his right was closer to the door. The head ninja started to go after him again, but the rain started to pour hard enough to drill through someone's head around the building. No one would be following the orange-haired god.
It was completely silent in the building. The man looked around through his remaining eye. Is this Akatsuki Headquarters? Is this my home? It's so… cold and uninviting. It wasn't usually this dark, or this silent.
The man raised his head to the ceiling. "Tobi. Hidan. Deidara. Itachi. Kisame. Sasori. Kakuzu. Orochimaru, even you. Zetsu.." He looked to his feet. "Konan. Some of you were here longer than others, but… I still remember you all, as if we were always together." He looked to the stairs. Whose room had been the newest? He ascended the stairs, going up only one floor. There was only one door. It was marked "Sasori and Deidara" It was burned from what appeared to be many explosions. He looked to the left and right, as if assuring himself no one was there, then walked in.
You could tell which half had been Sasori's. It was covered from head to toe with puppets, puppet parts, there was even what appeared to be his favorite puppet, Hiruko's, head mounted on the wall. The man took it down, and gazed at it. Oh how it brought back memories. He remembered the day so well.
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The red-haired boy was running through the desert. He looked for all the world as if a shinigami was after him. He ran all day, and he ran all night, as if he would never get tired. He crossed borders, and saw something unfamiliar to him. He saw trees.
No matter where he turned, he saw trees as far as the eye could see. He couldn't tell which way was North, South, East, or West. He was lost.
"How am I supposed to get to the Lightning Country now? I need to get as far away from Suna as possible! I hope Grandma doesn't find me."
An orange-haired man and a blue-haired woman watched from a nearby tree. The woman turned to the man. "Leader-sama. Will he do?"
"I don't know, Konan. He's awfully young."
"So? We were once too. Need I remind you how powerful we were, even as children?"
"Fine. But we have to test him first."
The red-haired boy spun around. "Who's there? I can hear you! Come out!"
The man and woman froze. He had heard them. The man smiled. "Well, Konan, there's nothing for it but to show ourselves." He jumped down from their tree. Konan quickly followed.
The boy was confused. He had never seen such strange garb as what these two were wearing. They wore cloaks, emblazoned with crimson clouds. "Who are you."
The man grinned. "We are Akatsuki."
The boy's face spread in alarm. The Akatsuki? The mysterious group who were kidnapping, stealing, and spreading fear throughout the Land of Shinobi? He had to do something. But what…! His scroll! He reached for the scroll upon his back, and spread it open. These people would never get past this!
The man's eyes spread in curiosity as a hundred puppets burst into being. Most prominent of these was a scorpion-like thing. It seemed to be the boys favorite, for he had climbed up on it's back.
The Leader of Akatsuki didn't so much as blink. But when the boy did, a horrifying sight met his eyes. His puppets had been demolished.
Konan looked to the Leader. "Did he pass?"
"Indeed he did. Hey! Little boy. What are you running for?"
"I r-ran away from home."
"May I ask why?"
"Because I had turned the Sandaime Kazekage into a puppet!" The boy beamed with pride.
"Is that so? You beat who was said to be the strongest Kage Suna ever knew?"
"He wasn't so tough. My father could have creamed him!"
"And your father was…?"
"He was…!" The boy's face fell. "I don't really remember."
"May I ask your name?"
"I am Akasuna no Sasori. Sasori of the Red Sand."
"Well, Sasori, how would you like to be under the protection of the Akatsuki. As the newest member."
Sasori gasped. "Become a member of the Akatsuki! I thought only S-ranked criminals could join!"
The Leader;s brow furrowed. "You aren't S-ranked? I thought you killed the Third Kazekage?"
Sasori shuffled his feet. "Well… no one exactly knows who killed him. Does this mean I can't join?"
The Leader laughed. "Oh no. You can still join. We are still small in number, and we need ten. Now Sasori, let's head to our hideout to get you your cloak, ring, and partner."
The leader lifted his cloak, wrapped Sasori in it, and disappeared.
Konan smiled. It would be like having a son. She then vanished too.
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The Leader set the puppet head down. He turned to the other half of the room. Like Sasori's, you could tell exactly who had lived there. It had a workbench covered in clay, and the bed was covered in ashes. He ignored these, instead going to the closet. He opened it, and saw the artist's greatest creation. It was a sculpture of three people. He smiled as he remembered the day he had first seen the clay used to make it.
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An artist, hard at work at his workbench, let loose a stream of cursing. "No matter how hard I try, I just can't make what I want! Maybe I should blow up another house…"
"Do you really need to do that, Deidara?"
The blond-haired artist spun around. "How did you get into my workshop?!"
A tall man with orange hair and piercings, and a shorter man that had odd-colored skin, both wearing red cloaks, stood in the doorway. "It would take more than a few explosives to keep us out."
"But I put a C4 in that hallway! How did I not hear it?"
The short man snorted. "You wouldn't have heard a dragon swooping down on your house! Do you have any idea how loud that explosion was! I'm still temporarily deaf!"
The orange-haired man sighed. "As my friend Sasori here said, we're amazed you didn't know we were here."
"Well… what do you want?! I'm busy!"
"We want you to join a little group of ours. You may have heard of it. We are Akatsuki."
"Hmm…not interested."
The man smiled. "Oh yes. You see, that wasn't an offer."
"Wh-what?" Deidara blinked, and knew no more.
"Sasori, gather up his clay. We can't let an artist go without his tools, can we?" The Leader grabbed Deidara's hand. He immediately wished he hadn't.
"Did… did he just lick me?" Sure enough, there were mouth's on the artist's hands. "Well, that just makes this guy more interesting. "Let's go Sasori." He picked up the artist, and walked out the door.
Sasori soon followed. "Leader-sama, you'd better not make this idiot my partner."
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The sculpture was of three people. One was a long-haired artist. Another was a short-haired boy. The third had an odd mask with a spiral on it. The sculpture was labeled, Friends. Leader smiled. He picked up a note next to it. It read:
Dear Leader-sama,
If you have this letter, it is most likely that I have died. I know it will happen one day, and I know that I'll go out with a bang. Me and Sasori have talked about what we want done with our stuff when we're both gone. As this note is likely still right next to the sculpture, unless Tobi moved it, you can tell what we want done.
The Greatest Artist Ever Known,
Deidara
Last Will and Testament
P.S. Art is a bang!
The Leader smiled. He remembered when Deidara had first started that sculpture.
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It was 1 o'clock in the morning. There shouldn't have been anyone yelling loudly that early in the morning. That didn't stop Sasori and Deidara.
"I say art should be fleeting, like an explosion!"
"And I say it should be eternal, like a puppet!"
This was followed by several loud blasts.
The Leader groaned. How could Konan sleep through this? He looked to his right and saw her, sleeping peacefully. He sighed. He may as well listen to their argument. He wouldn't be sleeping now.
"Deidara, why do we argue like this? You'd think we'd wake the entire rain country with our shouts!"
The Leader shook his head. Not the rain country, but this man certainly was!
"I'm not really sure. Maybe I'm just mad because you were one of the ones who kidnapped me."
"You don't yell at the leader."
"Would you yell at him?"
Sasori chuckled. "Too true. Too true. You know Deidara, all these years we've been partners, and all we do is argue over art."
"And I've never actually seen your face. What? Did you think it wasn't obvious that that was puppet? Sasori, normal humans don't have scorpion tails."
"Normal humans don't have mouths on their hands."
"I know, I'm aware of that. But I kind of want to see you. I mean, what do you hide? Are you ugly or something?"
"If you want to know that badly, I'll show you."
The Leader blinked. Was Sasori actually about to come out of his puppet? To Deidara of all people?
Deidara gasped. "You! You're a Bishie!"
"Was it that unbelievable?"
"Wait right there Sasori. I need to get my clay. I need to remember this!"
"You know something Deidara?"
"Yes Sasori?"
"You're my best friend here."
"As are you mine, Sasori."
"And Deidara?"
"Yes?"
"This conversation never happened."
The Leader smiled. It happened alright.
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He gazed at the statue, made by a true artist. He knew what Sasori and Deidara wanted him to do. He retreated from the closet, and lay the clay sculpture in the middle of the room. He took some of Sasori's puppet parts, and lit them on fire. He thought of the death of Sasori.
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"My grandson, how long has it been since you felt your parent's embrace?"
Sasori stood motionless, shocked at seeing his parent's puppet remains. They held swords in their hands. They moved forward, and hugged him, while stabbing him in the heart.
"… My friend, I think I see what you were talking about. I was my masterpiece, yet even I didn't last forever. Goodbye Deidara. You were the true artist." His eyes stopped moving, stuck in an emotionless stare.
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The Leader lowered the burning arm he was holding to the sculpture. It caught fire. He turned and quickly left the room. And then Deidara. Living just as his art. Beautiful, deadly, and fleeting.
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Deidara stood glaring at the raven-haired boy in front of him. "Uchiha Sasuke. You killed Orochimaru. My friend's old partner. He had wanted to kill him by himself, and since he died, it was passed to me. As both his student and his killer, you are what I must avenge for Sasori."
"So what? Who needs friends?"
Deidara laughed. "You have seen my art already. But you haven't seen my second-greatest work!" He ripped off what remained of his shirt.
Sasuke looked in disgust.
Deidara had a mouth on his chest. It was sewn shut. Deidara pulled some clay out of his bag, while tearing the thread out of his mouth. "I'm sorry Tobi. But you're good at running away. Maybe you're far enough." He stuffed the clay into the mouth. "My most destructive bomb! In will take out everything in a ten-mile radius!"
Sasuke's eyes got bigger.
Deidara's flesh began to bulge. It got bigger, and bigger. Deidara laughed. "Art is a bang!" The explosion ended his life. He went out with a bang.
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The Leader closed the door. Sasori and Deidara. The artists of Akatsuki.All traces of their existence disappeared in a flash of light.
Please Read and Review, I worked hard on this chapter.