Dark, sapphire eyes scanned over the calm-looking, sandy dunes of Sunakagure

Dark, sapphire eyes scanned over the calm-looking, sandy dunes of Sunakagure. The setting sun cast its dim orange glow across the terrain, the sky in a tie-dye of blues, purples, and pinks. It was a magnificent sight, one of nature's beauties.

It sickened Deidara to the core.

"Deidara-Sempai, you've been crabbier than usual, lately. What's wrong?"

Fucking Tobi. You're the problem, Deidara bitterly thought. He was, of course, partially lying. Karma came back at Deidara's lie with the biting pain of healing nerves. It had been three weeks since Kakuzu expertly had fixed the bloody, pathetic excuse for Deidara's arms, yet the pain persisted to torment the terrorist.

Why were the two in this forgotten land, anyways? Leader had ordered them to catch Three-Tails, one of the nine Biiju the Akatsuki needed to take the reins and ultimately control the world, and they were just passing through.

Another stab of pain in the Sculptor's arms. Damn it that hurt! Deidara's former partner would have lectured him on clumsiness, or something about how being a puppet was more effective. Then the conversation would quickly lead into an argument on which art is right; everlasting beauty or a quick burst of energy. Deidara believed that he was superior to his "Master," that true art was fleeting.

In the end Deidara's arguments succeeded, with the death of his former partner. A bittersweet success. Now he had a clumsy fool, not even worthy of the respect of a worm.

A shiver went down Deidara's spine as a small sand cloud whisked by the two figures in the barren landscape.

"Sempai?" Tobi asked, wondering why Deidara didn't even bother to glance at him, let alone bark, "Shut up, un," or growl out, "Don't ask stupid questions."

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, the raven-haired nin twitched. "Answer me," he sternly commanded.

"What?" A tone of angry inquiry laced around that word like a silk ribbon. Deidara was pissed. Oh boy was Deidara pissed.

It took all of Tobi's courage and the disposal of most of his common sense to answer the blonde. "I said, 'Answer me. What's wrong?'."

It wasn't what he said that angered Deidara. It was how he said it. That tone reminded him of someone.

"Sasori-no-Danna."