Chapter One
Deidara now had a vague idea of how Tobi sometimes felt. For a split second he almost felt bad for always ignoring the idiot when he so desperately wanted his attention. Now Deidara wasn't what you would actually call desperate… well, if you wanted to keep all of your limbs intact you wouldn't even think of calling him that, no sir. He was rather irritated, or maybe we can up that to frustrated. Yeah… frustrated.
"Tch. Is he never gonna say anything?" Of course, he was a certain brat that thought becoming a member of a fraternity was all fun and games (okay, let's be honest here it is actually all about fun and games with a dash of mortal peril with every twist and turn).
Deidara refused to meet the calculating stare Sasori sent him and grit his teeth as he was yet again ignored. Him, yes. The guy who usually did the ignoring was now being ignored. The irony!
"I think it's in their blood." The redhead answered still not taking his gaze off of the blonde. "You don't hear Itachi say more than a dozen words a day. Maybe they have a certain quota."
"You just don't spend enough time with the guy." Kisame said, stretching from where he'd been lounging for the past hour and a half. "Itachi can be as talkative as Tobi given the chance. He just likes to act cool in front of his baby brother."
Cue smack on the back of the head.
"He can also become very violent." Kisame added grumbling, rubbing the back of his sore head asItachi sat down beside him and pulled the open notebook he had been writing on towards him. The Uchiha obviously felt neither regret or guilty about the head smacking.
'Seriously, they should just get married already.'
Deidara looked away from the older students just so that he could pretend he hadn't seen the way Kisame's face softened even more as Itachi relaxed against him as they both returned to whatever it was that had been written in the notebook. For someone who was involved in a said to be 'violent gang' (Please, that sounds so plebeian. They were a group of people that was the pride of their Academy and without them everything would go boom) most of the Akatsuki members were quite goal-obsessed and studios. Goes to show that not every misfit was actually a misfit.
Which brought him back to the silent nuisance by the window.
For as much as Deidara actually respected Itachi with how he managed everything as well as with the man's initial projects always somehow besting his own beautiful works of art, Deidara hated him. He purely loathed him. The Uchiha family were renowned for being the stereotypical geniuses and damn if Deidara couldn't admit that they actually lived up to such a reputation.
And it seemed to not only apply to Itachi but to the brat as well.
"If you're going to stew about him you might as well use his name." Sasori commented idly, not looking up from where he was tinkering with what seemed to be a puppet-Hidan.
Deidara actually felt a shudder run through his body at the sight. In Sasori-speak, that was the redhead declaring his undying love. Sasori loved making puppets, it wasn't a hobby but more of a part of his routine. Not making a puppet was like not sculpting clay or declaring that his art was amazing. It would probably make the whole world go boom-katsu.
That's why it was an amazing honor to be one of Sasori's projects. Which begged the question why the redhead was creating a puppet that was most definitely based on Hidan, now that Deidara could make out the red eyes.
"What are you talking about, hmm?" Deidara shot back, not really wanting to get caught thinking about the brat. After all, he had better things to think about other than the fact that the kid hadn't said a single thing since he and Itachi arrived.
It was starting to irk him. The only other person he associated himself with who could go silent for that long was Sasori's cousin. But that kid was a psychopath all on his own. Deidara didn't need any narration when it came to Gaara and his messed up sand sculptures. Clay was much better than sand. Sand broke if it became too brittle so no one liked to use it. Maybe that's why no one liked Gaara.
"Red is such a lovely color." Sasori mumbled as he stroked the Hidan-puppet almost reverently. Deidara frowned and wondered maybe it was just because everyone in Sasori and Gaara's family had a masochistic streak. Rumor had it Gaara was actually seeing someone. Boom.
Deidara pursed his lips. "Sasori, is Gaara seeing anyone?"
"Yes." The redhead paused from his puppet making and glared at it. If Hidan-puppet were alive it would have been scurrying away from Sasori who had it in a crushing grip. "Blonde, loud, and evidently has a death wish."
"Anyone hitting on your cousin has a death wish." Kisame scoffed. "You make sure of it."
"Gaara is special." Sasori replied loosening his grip on Hidan-puppet.
Deidara inwardly chuckled at that. "Yeah… he's very special, hmm. Who is the kid seeing though? Get a name yet?"
"Yes." Sasori nodded. "Fishcake."
"Excuse me?" Deidara's eyes widened. "Gaara is dating a kid named Fishcake?"
"He means Naruto." Itachi deadpanned shaking his head. He didn't look away from the notebook, his right hand simply flying across the page.
Deidara fumed even more than he did with Itachi figuring out what Sasori had meant when the Uchiha refused to look up at him even though he was sure Itachi could feel his glare. He was half tempted to push the bang covering his eye just so that Itachi could feel it full force. Stupid Itachi. One day he was going to make the man go boom and he was gonna love every second of it.
Oh Deidara could already imagine it. A red faced Itachi who was not making any sense after being so incredibly angry he could barely mutter a coherent sentence. Oh ho, that day would come and when it did (Which it would you know. Any day now. Just be patient) Deidara was never going to let Itachi live it down. It was almost becoming a life goal now… to see the great Uchiha lose his cool.
"Aniki, I'm leaving." Deidara felt himself literally being ripped away from his flustered Itachi fantasy to find a rather good Itachi-look-alike standing not two feet away from him. The startling realization had been enough to stump the fact that the brat was talking.
Itachi turned to his little brother and raised a hand rather quietly. The smaller Uchiha reached for the car keys just as silently and his eyebrows narrowed when the older man pulled the pre-offered car keys away.
"What are the rules?" Itachi asked.
"No going over the speed limit and don't let the idiot sit in the front seat." The kid replied almost as if undergoing a routine. Deidara could see the beginnings of a rather shifty glare that would scare the shit out of anyone else, but since it was Itachi and the glare was coming from his little brother, said man just nodded obviously appeased before the keys were handed over and the brat was walking out of the room.
"He doesn't speak much." Sasori murmured as he went about trying to get Hidan-puppet to walk. It succeeded with a few faulty steps before it's legs gave out and it stumbled face first onto the table top.
"Just like you, hmm?" Deidara smirked.
"You could say that." Itachi shrugged and returned to his notebook (Deidara twitched, what the hell was in that thing?!). "Sasuke keeps mostly to himself."
Sasuke.
Well that just did it. The kid was an almost exact copy of Itachi from the way they carried their bodies to the way they spoke. It was just so stiff, so… practiced. As if they didn't have freedom, as if they were a pile of popsicle sticks arranged just perfectly so that they created a perfect replica of Mount Fuji. Controlled.
And it would be oh so delicious to take such a person with such control and make him snap. No… not just snap. Explode.
Deidara stood up and stretched for a second and Itachi glanced up at him with a suspicious look. He could feel his gaze burning his back as he moved outside but he couldn't be bothered. He had bigger fish to fry.
Big because apparently he was now dealing with the warrior.
Katsu.
Sasuke leaned against the door after he'd shut it behind him. On the way home he had been bothered. The tension he had expected to find in the room hadn't been there. And that was what had been wrong. There had to be some tension. He couldn't believe that his brother, who was a member of the much rumored Akatsuki actually spent his days lounging around in the secluded room specifically built for them as Itachi insisted. After everything he'd heard about them (like the torture stories Naruto often told him about) he'd expected something more.
Needless to say he was tense. Normally, a person would be disappointed since for some reason rumors are a lot more interesting than the truth but he was tense. A lounging Itachi was never good. it meant that he had done everything he could have possibly have to do.
And that just wasn't right.
Itachi was never not busy. He was studying to become the next CEO for Uchiha Corporations which involved a fine line of products involving everything and anything that included cameras and the likes. Their mother, Mikoto had opened up a new line involving contact lenses which was still somewhat related to cameras since they both incorporated a type of lense.
The entrepreneurial skills that were developed within the Uchiha family was disturbingly great. Itachi was set on inheriting the company now that he was finally about the graduate and Fugaku was more than ready to retire.
Sasuke was more than happy to hand the company over to his brother. Frankly, he didn't really know what do with himself. He could work for the company. He didn't mind that at all. He wouldn't mind not working for it either.
… He may have been a bit undecided.
"Hey you!" Sasuke prepared himself, bracing his feet against the ground as Naruto rammed into him, nearly bowling him over despite his precautionary measures. "You took too long Sasuke! I was supposed to meet up with Gaara half an hour ago!"
Sasuke twitched and glared at the blonde. "You were the one who wanted the car."
"Mine's at the shop." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "And hey, I owe you. I already told you that."
"Mhm." Sasuke nodded before dangling the keys in front of Naruto's outstretched hand. He let them fall watching as the blonde's face lit up when they smacked against his palm. He then proceeded to follow Naruto into the rather modest size garage found on the Uchiha Estate grounds.
"Which one is it?" Naruto asked excitedly as he looked at the long row of cars. He pressed a series of buttons that Sasuke had taught him ever since they got their license and whooped in delight when the lights of an Aston Martin Vanquish lit up. "I so definitely owe you."
Sasuke rolled his eyes as the blonde continued to fawn over the vehicle. He couldn't understand why Naruto continued to do this when he had a Porsche (two actually, one being in the shop and the other God only knows where) of his own.
Namikaze Minato was a very generous man, especially when it came to his son. Naruto wasn't spoiled though, more like very privileged. What a man would do to try and make up for not being able to provide a mother's love. It was a miracle just how down to earth Naruto was but maybe Gaara was partly responsible for it.
'Now that's a match made in heaven.' Sasuke thought as Naruto turned back to him, a stupid grin still on his face. The redhead was very solitary in nature even though Naruto swore Gaara wasn't that way before. They'd been friends since they were kids, and back then Gaara had been just as loud and friendly as Naruto had been but after his parents divorced, Gaara and his siblings moved away and Naruto said that the redhead had just changed.
"I can make him become like he once was again." Naruto had told him one day, his fists clenched and his jaw tight. "I hate seeing him like this. So closed off. It's not the Gaara I know. I'll get him back to being how he used to be. I know I can, I believe I can."
And with Naruto, believing was enough.
"I really owe you for this Sasuke." Naruto hummed as he turned the engine on. "Just listen to her purr!"
Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow. "Her?"
"She's my baby." Naruto nodded in that way where he broke no argument.
"Hn." Sasuke sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Weren't you late for something?"
"What?" Naruto looked up from where he'd been admiring the Vanquish' dashboard before cerulean blue eyes widened. "Oh God, Gaara!"
"Yes." Sasuke nodded as Naruto then scrambled to get his seatbelt on and the car door closed at the same time. For some reason, he was actually able to do it and the front window rolled down. Sasuke took a moment to look at the blonde behind the wheel and nodded again. "Eyes on the road and no funny business in the car."
"What about on top of the car?" Naruto grinned cheekily before he shook his head, seemingly completely amused by the glare Sasuke was giving him. "Honestly, you need to get laid."
"And you need to stop hanging out with Kiba."
"Tried that, and it didn't work." Naruto pushed the car into drive and waved a hand. "I'll have her back by morning. Itachi actually gave you permission to lend her to me this time?"
Sasuke remained silent.
"I'll take that as a no." Naruto watched as the garage doors opened and he pressed forward and out of the garage. "See ya Sasuke!"
The Uchiha watched until he could no longer see the Vanquish before turning around and walking back to the staircase that would let him into the house. The garage doors would close by themselves.
The company he kept, he sometimes didn't understand himself.
Deidara watched as what could only be Itachi's Aston Martin rode out of the parking lot. He stared quite blankly for a moment because there was no way Itachi could have been the one driving that because he'd left said man with Kisame back at the Academy.
That meant that Itachi had sent a driver to bring the car to him (which couldn't be the reason because Itachi was with Kisame and Kisame had a Harley Davidson which meant there was no need for a car no matter how scandalous it would be to find an Uchiha sitting on the back of a motorcycle. But what were helmets for?) or Sasuke was off to somewhere.
The latter would not do, Deidara frowned, no it wouldn't do at all.
"Is something going on?" Deidara flinched and nearly jumped a feet of the ground as Tobi's face appeared not five inches away from his. Why Deidara allowed the idiot to come he still did not know. Maybe it was the guilt he felt for ignoring Tobi so much now that he knew how it actually felt. "Well come on senpai, let's go in. It's Tuesday today and Aunt Mikoto likes making dangos on Tuesdays."
Oh yeah, Tobi was an Uchiha and would provide a good excuse for an unexpected visit.
"Heya! Auntie Miko? Anyone here?" Tobi thanked the maid who had taken their coats off and lead on towards the kitchen where Deidara assumed they'd find Itachi's mother.
He'd met Uchiha Mikoto plenty of times now, and he liked her a lot. She was one of the reasons that made Deidara wonder just why Itachi turned out to be as closed off and silent as he presently was. Mikoto was lively and always smiling whereas it seemed both her children were glaring prodigies that had a supposed quota of words per day.
"Well what do we have here?" Mikoto smiled as they entered the kitchen. The cook that served the Uchiha family took over from where she'd been preparing sticky balls took over her work as she dusted her hands on the apron over her front and reaching towards Tobi for a hug.
"Just wanted to visit Aunty Miko!" Tobi returned the hug before pulling away and hoping onto one of the island counters' bar stools. "And Deidara-senpai here said he wanted to have a talk with Sasuke."
"Sasuke?" Mikoto echoed looking at the blonde. Deidara smiled as politely as he could and nodded.
"I've been asked to create a sculpture of someone I found interesting." He said, a lie he had made on the way over. "Sasuke visited Itachi at the Academy earlier today and we talked a bit."
"You did?" Mikoto noted happily.
"You did?" Tobi gaped. "Where was I?"
"Sleeping." Deidara answered without missing a beat. "And yes, Mikoto-san doesn't that sound great? Hopefully I can do a good enough sculpture it would be shown in the exhibit."
"Oh please Deidara-kun." Mikoto batted a hand as she returned to making her sticky balls. "You make nothing less than perfect art. Everyone knows that."
"And that's what I love about you Mikoto-san!" Deidara cheered, and oh how he meant it. It was nice to know his art was appreciated.
"Hn." Mikoto hummed as she smacked Tobi's hand from sneaking an uncooked sticky ball. "Patience Tobi."
"But I'm hungry!" The younger Uchiha whined. He then began to moan pitifully. "Feed Tobi, feed me."
"In a minute." Mikoto promised before she turned to Deidara. "Sasuke should be in his room. You know where that is right?"
"Yes." Deidara readily agreed before he backtracked. "Actually, no."
A soft flush reached his cheeks as Mikoto chuckled and called for one of the maids to lead him to Sasuke's bedroom. Of course, it was all right that he needed a guide. The Uchiha house was not actually a house but more of an old Manor. Getting lost was just not worth it.
"The young master's room is here." The maid offered a short bow before making her way back to wherever she had originally come from and Deidara was more than pleased.
The less witnesses the better.
He wanted to savor breaking Sasuke.
It would make the explosion that much sweeter.
Katsu.
AN: So uh... Hi! This is my first published Naruto fanfic, mind I have tons more hidden away as files. This was written for my best friend (whose username I have forgotten but will get out of her when I see her in school tomorrow). She requested for a SasuDei fic that was originally supposed to be a one-shot but developed itself rather quickly in my head.
The main idea of Deidara wanting to break Sasuke and making him go boom by making him lose control is all based on the fact that Deidara insists that the members of Akatsuki should always remain cool and calm. Add the fact that Deidara has nothing but grudging respect for Itachi and bada-bing bada-boom we have our plot!
So uh, thoughts?
Nique