Precious, a naruto fanfic

SMACK

"Ow! Sasori-danna, you don't have to be so harsh, un!" Deidara rubbed his cheek, red from where Sasori had hit him.

"And you don't have to be so stupid, brat. Now hurry up." They were trying to reach a village before dark, and Deidara had asked for a short break. Sasori didn't exhaust nearly as easily as his partner did, and saw the suggestion as a stupid waste of time.

"That's still not a good excuse for smacking me, un," Deidara grumbled.

Sasori felt a small pang of guilt. "I'm sorry. Happy now?" Deidara didn't answer. Sasori sighed, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

When they finally reached the town, Deidara proceeded to check them in. "Here are your keys, miss," the clerk said cheerfully.

Deidara cheeks turned red, and he reached for a knife. Sasori was at his side in a moment, a death grip on his wrist. "Miss, my partner is a guy." Still keeping a firm hold of Deidara's wrist, he grabbed the keys and walked to their room.

Upon arrival, Deidara flopped down onto his bed, pouting. "I'm sick of being called a girl, un."

Sasori sighed. They'd only been partners for a month, but already he was used to this. "Deidara, maybe if you didn't wear your hair that long, (and pulled up in a ponytail like that), people would quite calling you a girl."

"But I like my hair long, danna!" Sasori sighed. This was getting nowhere. And when the hell had he given permission for Deidara to call him danna? "Danna, I think it looks better like this, un."

"Well, if you want to keep it that way, quit complaining when people say you look like a school girl."

"….."

"What?"

"Danna, no one ever said I looked like a school girl, un." Sasori stiffened as his cheeks turned red. "Crap!"

"Whoa, danna, I didn't know you were such a perv, un!" Deidara giggled.

"Shut up, brat."

But Deidara wasn't listening. "I better you'd like to see me in a skirt too, un!" he teased.

"Listen, brat, you've got three seconds to drop it before I hollow you out and turn you into a puppet."

"Fine, un." Deidara crawled into his bed and shut off the light. "G'night, danna."

"Night, brat."

When they arrived back at the base, Sasori quickly went to his room and unpacked his things. He wanted to work on his puppets, but he needed to make sure Deidara unpacked his things. If someone didn't tell him too, he'd leave everything in his bag until the next mission (something the Akasuna had found out the hard way). He walked down the hall to Deidara's room, and noticed the door was ajar. He quietly opened it the rest of the way and stepped inside.

Sure enough, Deidara's bag was on his bed, still packed. The blonde was on the floor, working with his clay. His face was screwed up in concentration, and his eyes shone brightly, doing what he loved the most. Sasori watched him quietly; he wished Deidara didn't have those bangs and that scope; he wanted to see both of those eyes when they lit up like this…

"What's up, danna?" Deidara had finally noticed him, but still refused to look up. Sasori frowned. "You need to unpack your things, Deidara. Put that trash aside for a moment, and put your stuff up."

"It's not trash, it's art, un!"

Sasori smirked. "Please. There's absolutely nothing artistic about something so brief. Art is eternal. You'll have to accept that one day." He turned to go. "Now hurry up and unpack, brat." A moment later, he was gone.

Deidara sighed and grabbed his bag. Suddenly, he started. "Did Sasori just……call me Deidara??"

Their next mission involved negotiating with a foreign lord. It took them a weak to get there, and when they arrived, they were informed that the lord would only speak to one of them. They'd heard he was shy, and this news came as no surprise. Sasori decided to talk to him, and Deidara went ahead to their room in the mansion to unpack. After a while, he got bored, and decided to wander around.

Eventually, he came to a large door with the word 'Library' above it. "Might as well read," he thought, opening the door. He stepped in, then immediately halted. Sasori and the lord were in here. "Oh, shit."

Sasori jumped up and grabbed hold of Deidara, apologizing profusely for his partner's stupidity. He quickly dragged the blonde out of the library and back to their room, shutting the door behind him. "Danna, I-"

SLAP

Deidara stumbled back from the force. Sasori glowered at him. "You idiotic brat! Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?! Stay here and don't even think about coming out again until I'm done!" and without another word Sasori stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Deidara sat on the bed, tears of pain coming to his eyes. He didn't mean to do anything wrong; why did his partner have to be so cruel?....

The mission was completed successfully, and the two artists soon began their trip home. An uncomfortable silence filled the air; neither of them were sure of what to say. "Danna, I'm sorry, un," Deidara whispered.

Sasori remained silent. He wanted to accept the apology, he wanted to say he was sorry for overreacting and hitting Deidara. But his damnable pride was keeping his mouth shut. "Just don't let it happen again, brat."

"Yes, un." Sasori's heart sank. Deidara looked really hurt. Wait, why did he even care? He should be happy that he was putting distance between the two; it never paid to get attached to people. So why did this hurt so much?

Deidara walked into his room silently and began unpacking. Dammit, why did Sasori have to be so heartless? Did the red head realize how much he was hurting the blonde? Did he even care? Deidara's pain turned to anger, and he grabbed some of his clay, punching it to relieve his pain and get the air bubbles out of it.

Sasori, meanwhile, had just finished unpacking and was walking down the hall toward Deidara's room. He had to swallow his pride and apologize, or else jeopardize their partnership. He gently rapped on the door, before turning the knob and walking in. There was Deidara, sitting on the bed and molding clay. "I see you're still working on your so-called art." The words slipped out before he could stop himself.

Deidara stiffened for a moment before going back to his clay. "Dana, get out of here," he muttered darkly.

Sasori wasn't about to leave though. "I didn't come here to fight, brat, I want-"

"Don't call me brat!"

"If you're going to act like a brat, I may as well call you brat. Now shut up so-" Deidara threw the clay at Sasori.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM

"I told you not to call me brat!" Deidara angrily rose to his feet, unable to see his partner through the smoke. His body stiffened suddenly, and he was unable to move. Chakra strings. Damn.

When the smoke cleared, Deidara saw Sasori, a look of rage on his face. "Where the hell do you get off, attacking me like that?!"

Deidara smirked. "What's wrong, un? Can't a weakling like you handle that, un?"

Sasori's anger rose. Deidara did NOT just call him a weakling. "How dare you call me weak!" He moved his fingers and forced Deidara to reach into his own bag and pull out a knife. Another flick of his fingers brought the knife to Deidara's throat. "You shouldn't call the person who's holding your life in their hands weak." He made Deidara press the knife against his throat, and a thin line of blood trickled down.

"But you ARE weak, un." The brat was still at it?! "You always hide in Hiruko, and instead of taking risks in a fight, you always hang back and play it safe, un. You've probably never killed up close; that's why you're using your strings, because you can't kill me with your own two hands, un. You're pathetic, un. Pa. The. Tic."

Sasori was seeing red. "Shut up!" Involuntarily he jerked his hand down, slamming Deidara into a wall. He released his strings and the blonde fell limp to the ground.

"Shit! Deidara!" he ran forward. He hadn't meant to actually hurt the sculptor, just scare him.

Deidara was on his knees, staring at the ground. "Sasori. Get. Out." He said it flatly, refusing to look up.

"Deidara, don't be stupid. You need help-"

"GET OUT RIGHT NOW!" Deidara screamed at the top of his lungs, body shaking. Sasori hesitated, then turned and walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Deidara collapsed, silently crying. He knew the puppeteer must hate him. He'd hoped it would be different this time, but no; new place, new people, same pain. Slowly, Deidara rose to his feet.

Sasori walked quietly back to his room, locking the door when he got in. He walked over to his closet and pulled out a small marionette. It was a miniature version of Deidara. Except for the eyes. No matter how hard Sasori tried, he couldn't seem to get the eyes the right shade of blue. He gently attached a few strings, but released them immediately. That brought back memories of the recent incident.

Sasori let out a bitter grin. So, he was going to call it an 'incident'? Why not just say the truth; he'd almost killed his partner. He clutched the puppet tightly to his chest. He wanted to go back to his partner's room and apologize, but that would only make things worse right now. He' d go there tomorrow morning.

"I should have known this would happen," the blonde thought. "No matter where I go, or what I do, I'm always hated."

It was true. In his village, the other children had been scared of his handmouths, and his parents feared his idea of 'art'. He had no problem killing them and running away. But then, he always had enemies following him around, which led to more killing, and more intense hatred of him. That's why he had joined the Akatsuki in the first place; to escape the pain.

But even here he was hated. He had hoped it would be different with Sasori; he actually respected the guy, and had hoped for friendship. But all his efforts were met with pain and hate. What else was new?

Deidara shoved to last bit of clay into his bag. "Let's see….clothes, clay, hairbrush…that's everything." The blonde locked the door to his room from the inside; he didn't want anyone coming in, and the other members would probably assume he was just pouting in his room.

He quickly pulled off his cloak and folded it neatly, before placing it on the bed. Was he forgetting anything? Oh, right, the note. Deidara grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. Thinking carefully, he wrote down his message. He read it once, then twice, and finally was satisfied. Grabbing a piece of clay, he formed a small bird. Tossing it out the window, he formed the hand sign to make it larger. Not once looking back, Deidara jumped out the window and flew off in the direction the wind was blowing.

Deidara was running away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2 days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasori was nervously standing in front of Deidara's door. Two days had passed since their fight, and the blonde hadn't been seen in all that time. Sasori couldn't stand it anymore; he had to talk to the sculptor.

"Deidara?" he nervously knocked on the door. No answer. He expected that. He knocked again. "Deidara, I want to talk." Still no answer. Sasori had at least expected a 'go away, danna' or something like that. He tried the doorknob. It was locked. Sasori raised an eyebrow. Since when did the blonde lock anything? He pulled out one of his lock picks and soon had the door open. "Deidara…" he walked in.

The room was deserted. All the things that normally lay around were gone. The bed was neatly made, with an Akatsuki cloak folded at the foot of it. Sasori quickly stepped in further, looking around. There was nothing left- wait, a note! Sasori quickly reached for the slip of paper, his eyes widening as he read it.

Danna, I'm leaving. I hate you, and you hate me. I hope you have better luck with your next partner. Deidara.

Sasori's heart sank, and he shook his head. "No…" He'd gone too far. He'd pushed away his partner, his friend. His mind was racing. Where would Deidara have gone?! Let's see, he loved flying, and he'd try to fly with the wind, instead of against it…he was going west!

Sasori jumped out the window, not bothering to grab one of his puppets. There wasn't any time to spare. "I'm coming for you, Deidara…"

Meanwhile, Deidara was exhausted. He hadn't stopped to rest at all, and it was raining. The weather was murder on his clay figures, so he had to stop flying last night and start running. He wanted to get as far away as he could. But, his body was protesting this harsh treatment. He finally stopped under a tree to rest, chest heaving. Suddenly, he sensed some chakra behind him. Some very familiar chakra….

Oh god no.

He slowly turned around, and stared into the red eyes of his former partner. "Hello, Sasori, un."

Sasori flinched at the loss of his title. "Whatever happened to danna?"

"What the hell do you want, un?" Deidara asked, deflecting the question.

"I came to get you. We're going home."

"Let me guess, Leader told you to come get me, right?"

"No. As far as he knows, you're still pouting in your room. I came to get you myself." Sasori began walking toward the blonde. "Now come on. We need to get home."

Deidara backed away. "That place isn't my home anymore, un. I left it behind, just like when I left my village, un. So leave me alone, Sasori, un."

"I told you, I came to get you, and I'm not leaving without you."

"Fine then. It's your funeral, un!" Deidara threw a small clay spider at the red head. Sasori barely had time to dodge the attack before it exploded. Deidara took off running, handmouths quickly chewing more clay to prepare for future attacks.

Sasori ran after the blonde, unable to attach his chakra strings due to the constant movement. "Deidara, please listen to me! I'm sorry for hurting you, I just couldn't control myself!"

"It's a little late for that, Sasori, un!" Deidara called over his shoulder, hurling more exploding bugs at the puppeteer. "Just go back home and find a new partner already, un!"

Sasori was barely able to avoid the attacks, and Deidara was getting further and further away. He wished he had brought along a puppet. Too late now. "Please Deidara, don't do this! I don't want a new partner….dammit, I need you!"

"What?!" Those three words caught Deidara off-guard, and he tripped, falling into the mud. Sasori was finally able to catch up to him. Deidara rose to his feet and spun around to face his enemy, prepared to rip him apart….when Sasori wrapped him in a bear hug.

"What?! Sasori, let go of me, un!" Deidara squirmed desperately.

"No." Sasori answered, burying his face in Deidara's neck.

"Dammit, Sasori, let me go! I hate you, I never want to see you again, I want to get as far away from you as possible, un! Leave me alone, un!"

Each word was a stab to Sasori's heart, but he refused to loosen his grip. "I'm not letting go."

"Sasori, get it through your head that I-"

"I'm not gonna lose you, Dei-chan!"

"What the-What did you just call me?!" Deidara stared at his partner in complete disbelief.

"I lost my mom and dad a long time ago." Sasori wasn't about to stop, because he knew he'd never be able to say this again. "I hated everyone, and soon the feeling was mutual. I ran away, and I killed anyone who got in my way. I didn't care about anyone. I was glad to be alone." He began to shake. "But then I met you. Someone who loved art as much as I did, who always smiled, who was just so…amazing." Deidara's eyes widened. "But I always screw up around you. I can't ever do the right thing, or say what I want to. And then…I actually hurt you. I wanted to kill myself for doing that. And when I walked into your room, and saw you were gone, I just ran out there to find you. I don't want to lose you; I want to have you in my arms, by my side….Deidara, I want you. That's why I'll never let you go."

Deidara looked at the puppeteer like he seeing him for the first time. It wasn't possible; Sasori couldn't mean it. But he looked so sad, and sounded so honest. Deidara's knees gave out, pulling Sasori down with him. "Deidara?!" Was it really possible…for someone to want HIM?

"Danna," he whispered, exhaustion overtaking him. "Hold me….a little longer…"

Deidara woke up a few hours later in a hotel room. His body was sore, and he winced as he sat up. "You're finally awake." Deidara snapped his head to the side. Sasori was sitting beside the bed. "I thought you'd be asleep all night." Deidara looked into his eyes and found genuine concern. The sculptor sighed and shut his eyes. "Sasori-danna, I need to ask you a few things, un."

"What is it?"

"What would you do if I ran away again, un?"

"I'd chase after you again."

"Uh-huh. And what if I asked Leader to give me someone else for a partner?"

"…"

"Danna?"

"I'd beg him not to switch you."

"And if I asked if I could move into your room?"

Sasori stared Deidara, who was grinning widely. Slowly, the red head smiled back. "I'd say I need to clean out some of my drawers for you."

Deidara eyes widened. "Really, un?!" A small nod, and Deidara let out a squeal of delight. "Thank you, danna!" He cried, grabbing the red head and pulling him down onto the bed.

"Easy, Dei-chan!" Sasori laughed.

"Dei-chan….I like that." Deidara's eyes flashed with happiness.

Sasori brushed his bangs aside, and stared at his eyes. "You've got beautiful eyes, you know that?" Deidara blushed, and Sasori chuckled.

"Danna…"

"Yes?"

"Will you play with my hair?"

"Sure, Dei." Sasori gently ran his fingers through Deidara's hair, relaxing the blonde as he fell asleep. "I'll need to move my puppets, and clean out my closet," he thought, already planning for when they got home. Deidara scooted closer to the puppet master, and Sasori slid his other arm down to the sculptor's waist.

"Good night, my precious Deidara."