Prologue

It was dark in the cave. Rain could be heard faintly outside, hitting the exterior of the location quickly and steadily. A large plant rose up from the ground, opening its large carnivorous jaws to a man smiling inside of it. He had dull green hair with a face and body split perfectly in half with starkly contrasting colors: black and white. "Sasori is dead." Silence. Then, continuing: "Hidan and Kakuzu are currently capturing the Nibi."

Another man shifted slightly deeper inside the cave, his head lifting up. Through the darkness, only his purple rippled eyes—the Rinnegan—was visible. "Alright. We are doing well so far. Tell Deidara to begin hunting the Sanbi."

The Plant Man tilted his head, the black side of him speaking gruffly, "What about Sasori's replacement?"

"That has already been taken care of. Now leave quickly, Zetsu."

"Yes, Leader-sama." The Plant Man, Zetsu, smiled wider as he slowly sunk back into the ground.

Listening to the pitter patter of the rain, the Rinnegan user sat in his throne in thought. Then: "Konan."

A person behind him, hidden in the shadows, stepped forward, the sound resounding in the cave. A woman, fitted with graceful beauty stood beside him. Her hair looked almost black in the low lighting, but under closer inspection, was a damp purple. "Pein-sama." Her lips barely moved as she spoke, her face stoic.

"You will be Deidara's new partner." The man, Nagato, uttered as he stared ahead with unfeeling firmness.

Konan paused and then replied in the same stony fashion, "Yes, Pein-sama."


Chapter 1

"So I'm assigned to Sanbi with Konan?" Deidara's brows furrowed at the thought of having another partner. Why did Sasori no Danna have to die? He wanted to show the stupid redhead whose art was superior. Deidara held in a scoff. And there you went and got yourself killed off…"I thought Konan was with Leader-sama."

Zetsu chuckled as he sunk back into the ground. "You'll see."

Deidara had no idea how this Konan character looked like. He recalled a dark figure, face obscured by the low lighting, and always standing behind Leader-sama. Other than that, his entire identity remained a mystery to Deidara and his fellow Akatsuki members even now. Deidara sneered. Zetsu probably knew how Konan looked like from the way he had acted.

xxxxxx

"Hello," a purple-haired woman nodded once at him. "I am Konan. I will be your new partner from now on."

Deidara's jaw dropped. Zetsu never mentioned Konon being a woman! A sexy one at that! She had porcelain smooth skin with delicate features that matched perfectly together. She wore a paper flower in her hair, which gave her a slightly younger—still drop dead sexy—image of beauty. And the, oh, she had a piercing right below her lips! The baggy Akatsuki cloak completely covered her figure though, he noted in slight disappointment. Her dark purple eyes bore into him with a small flicker of emotion he couldn't decipher.

Finally remembering to snap his mouth shut, he blinked and let out a smirk. "Nice to meet you. I'm Deidara."

She nodded in reply.

"So you know what we're doing, right?" Deidara asked.

She nodded again.

"Catching the Sanbi, yeah. It was last spotted at Mist."

She once again, nodded.

"So, uh, let's go!" Deidara took a step forward, giving a sideways glance at her, slightly put out by her lack of response. It was like he was having a conversation with himself. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, letting his little mouths on his hands build a bird large enough that could carry both of them.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was quiet but cut through the silence like a swift sword.

He glanced at her once more before he replied, "I'm making art!"

There was a pregnant pause between them. "If you are thinking of flying to the Land of Mist, don't." Deidara stared at her authoritative tone. She continued with that sharp yet quiet voice, "We have a long journey. We best save our chakra to capture the Sanbi."

Deidara was tempted to let out a childish grumble. Why am I always stuck with the bossy and condescending ones?

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say." His tone was bored.

They currently were somewhere in between the southwest of Amegakure and the northeast of the Land of Wind. They needed to literally cross the entire map from west to east. Deidara sighed and looked up at the deep blue sky. There was not a single cloud in sight. This was going to be a long journey.

They traveled along the outskirts of the Land of Wind for a while—in absolute silence of course—until the sky turned dark pink. The sun was quarter way down into the horizon of the desert. It was just Konan and himself. The desert was vast, welcoming the resting sun in open arms. It looked beautiful. Not that Deidara would have ever said so.

Both of them stood in there, watching the sun set, their cloaks flapping against the wind in unison.

"Let's set up camp." Konan.

Deidara said nothing. He sat down on the gravel, still not breaking the sense of calm he felt from the sunset. He used a simple katon jutsu to build a fire and then proceeded to take out a ration bar from his bag. Chewing the bland substance, he stared into the flickering fire. Noticing movement from across the fire, he looked up to see Konan sitting, her face illuminated by the flame as she seemed to be focused on something in her hands. For a fleeting second, he couldn't help but stare at the serene beauty she portrayed. He shook his head, snapping out of the strange trance.

"What are you doing?" Deidara questioned after he swallowed the last bit of the nasty bar.

Unsurprisingly, she did not answer.

Standing up, he shifted himself around the fire until he could see what Konan was fiddling with.

He blinked in slight surprise. It was a crane. She was folding a paper crane.

Deidara almost smiled. It was an endearing sight. This quiet emotionless brick wall did have emotions, after all. Enough to do something that children normally did. He did not comment on it, but turned back to the fire, his elbows resting on his knees.

His blue eyes flickered along with the dancing fire before him. Deidara broke the silence as he said, "So what are your abilities?"

Konan looked up from the second crane she had begun to fold. "I fight with paper ninjutsu. Unfortunately both of us are long distance fighters."

Deidara let out a bark of laughter. "Paper ninjutsu?" Konan shot him a subtle glare. "Sounds interesting." Her eyes widened a fraction before she turned away.

"We have a disadvantage, however. Both of us are long distance fighters." Her voice was quiet.

"That's fine. We can just overpower them all before they can even get close. Sasori no Danna was a long distance fighter too."

Konan locked eyes with Deidara briefly, as if she was saying, look where that got him.

"Well, we were outnumbered four to one." Deidara felt the urge to defend his ex-partner. "Hatake Kakashi was one of them." His arms ached every time he recalled the wretched shinobi transporting his arms to god who knows where with the—the cursed Sharingan. And then damned Kakuzu demanded a fee after stitching them back to his body, which had hurt. His face morphed into a dark scowl. Fuck Konoha and every single little trash ninja that lived there.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he concluded the conversation. "Whatever. We either fight and win and live or we fight and lose and die. I'm going to sleep." He lay on the sand and shut his eyes.

"Nighttime in the desert is cold. Very cold." Konan stated plainly. "And windy."

A gust of wind blew through them, dashing the fire away, as though it were trying to prove Konan's point.

Deidara, eyes still closed, clenched his teeth in irritation and cursed under his breath. There was a pause.

"Okay, okay, I'll pitch the tent!"

xxxxxx

The next day or two, they tread across the Land of Rivers, an in-between country of the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire. They had stopped at a small town in a dingy inn. Konan had insisted upon having two rooms, even if it meant more money. He vehemently argued with her otherwise. He wasn't going to do anything to her, he had promised. They could spare some money for future necessities.

He had lost the argument.

Deidara had awoken early morning to be greeted by half a cockroach. Most disturbingly, the inside of his mouth had tasted slightly bittersweet. He could only hope the other half wasn't in his stomach.

Currently, they were quickly moving through the Land of Fire's plentiful trees, running down south along the border of the country and trying to be discreet as possible. Konoha shinobi were crawling all over the place near the border. The sooner they got out of the country, the less likely someone would spot them and report to the Hokage of their movements. That was an unlikely scenario, however. Deidara would bomb their insides to little pieces before they could even think of doing that. Of course, they were not spotted by a single ninja so far.

Konan was silent as ever, which Deidara had gotten used to. He enjoyed it, in fact.

They weren't silent because they didn't have anything to say. They were silent because they chose to. Although even if he tried to get a conversation going from Konan, he probably wouldn't be successful. Either way, the days he spent with the woman were okay.

He hadn't seen her fight yet. That was something he was looking forward to seeing. Deidara had been tempted to purposely catch a few shinobis' attention that they had passed by just to see her fight them.

Konan was running in front of him while Deidara trailed behind her, both keeping the same pace. At one point, she slowed down enough to fall next to him. "East of here is a town called Tanzaku." They continued leaping from tree branch to branch. "Let us rest there."

Deidara looked at her and nodded. Konan leapt ahead once again, heading east.

Around five hours later, the town was visible from where they were. It was a larger town than he had thought it would be. Frowning, he suggested, "Let's henge. There definitely will be shinobi there. If anyone asks, we are a newlywed couple going on a honeymoon."

Konan said nothing as she put her hands together, her fingers forming a hand seal, henging herself into a black haired lady wearing civilian clothes. Deidara followed suit, transforming himself to a plain, mousy haired civilian.

When they got closer to the vicinity of Tanzaku, they jumped down from the trees and entered the city by feet. Despite the late hours, the town was still bustling with vigor, shopkeepers shouting jingles, people, people, people everywhere, walking this way and that. Every single one—living in the same place, yet leading their own separate lives.

Konan walked beside him as they pushed through a particularly rowdy crowd who were probably completely wasted. She spoke to him quietly—almost to quiet that Deidara didn't catch it. "You suggested the married honeymoon couple so you could room with me didn't you."

Deidara's mouth almost fell open at the bizarrely placed false claim. He sputtered with indignation, "I didn't even bother thinking that far ahead! It was the best approach! It would be suspicious for too perfectly young and healthy man and woman to not share a room!"

Konan shot him a sardonic look. There was a silent, keep on going. You're just digging yourself a deeper hole.

"I mean it's weird for a guy and a woman to travel together…alone. As mere friends." Deidara almost had a desperate gleam in his eyes as he looked towards Konan, still trying to justify his actions.

Konan said nothing. Although both of them knew there was no "friends" or "lovers" when in Akatsuki. Especially if both were in Akatsuki. But again, this was just their cover story. There was no need to think too deep into this.

They found a decent enough inn and settled with a simple room with two beds. It was cheaper than two single rooms. The inn keeper handed them a key that was labeled "Room 103." They climbed up the creaking stairs of the inn and opened the room door that had the corresponding room number on it.

Immediately, Deidara slammed the door closed. "Wrong room!" He stated loudly. Konan stared at him in silence. He pointed at the room. "There was only one bed in there."

Deidara looked at his key and then back at the door. This most definitely was Room 103. They had most definitely requested two beds…the inn keeper had mistakenly given them the wrong room. He glanced at Konan, gauging her reaction. Which she had none, of course. However, he knew her well enough to know she was internally debating with herself right now.

After a stagnant moment of heavy stillness until: "Give me the key." Her authoritative tone rung out in the narrow hall.

Deidara sighed and handed it over. He really wouldn't touch a strand of her hair if she didn't want him to. Why couldn't she understand that? He started resignedly, "Okay, I'll go talk to the inn keeper—"

"What are you talking about? C'mon." Konan had opened the room door and already begun putting down her supply bags.

Deidara walked in the small room with a flicker of surprise reflecting his eyes. So she wasn't as prudish as she made herself to be. He was learning new things about her everyday. He closed the door behind him and released the henge. Konan did the same.

He noticed there was another door that led to a bathroom on the right. The bathroom was tiny, skillfully managing to stuff both a tiny cubicle of a shower and a toilet. There was a sink was less than two feet in front of the toilet. Pumping his fist in the air, he said, "Yes, there's a shower! Finally! I can't even remember the last time I've had a good wash!" He turned to his partner with barely contained excitement. "I'm going to go shower now. Can you bring some food back while I'm at it?"

Before he could get an answer from Konan, he went to the bathroom and locked it shut. Entering the shower, he turned on the faucet. He almost jumped in shock at the ice cold water that hit his back. Still, a shower was a shower.

He hummed quietly in satisfaction as he felt the water warming up. He ran his hands through his blonde tresses and closed his eyes, enjoying the now hot water hitting down on him.

Eventually, he forced himself out and put his large Akatsuki cloak on, too lazy to put on anything else. Deidara stepped out of the bathroom, turning his head to Konan, who was sitting on the bed, folding a paper turtle.

She set down her creation and stood. "I thought women were the ones who like showering and take forever." There was amusement in her voice. Deidara raised his eyebrows at her, as if saying, so?

Konan shook her head as she walked past him with quiet grace. Right before she shut the bathroom door, she said, "I bought dango. It's on the table."

Deidara's brows furrowed in confusion. There was no table. He looked around the room and visibly brightened when he spotted a plate of dango placed upon…"That's a fucking stool, not a table!"

After unsuccessfully educating Konan that what she had called a table was a stool (Konan: "No, it's just a table that's shorter than usual. And smaller.") they settled themselves in the bed, both of them facing the other direction in opposite ends of the bed.

He closed his eyes and immediately felt a wave of exhaustion hit him. It had been quite a day…

"Hey." It was Konan.

Deidara frowned. He was about to fall asleep. "What." He snapped brusquely.

Ignoring his tone, she said, "Are you wearing anything under that cloak? I saw that you…left your clothes in the bathroom."

His closed his eyes, this time not in fatigue, but in exasperation. "No, I am not wearing anything under this. And your point being?"

"…Nothing."

"Good." Deidara paused. He shifted, turning around to Konan's back. "Are you a virgin? You act like one."

Konan's shoulders stiffened. "What are you implying?"

Deidara smirked, although Konan couldn't see it. "Nothing." It was said in a tone that meant anything but nothing.

"It's none of your business."

Deidara's smirk turned into a smile. "Ah, so you are one."

Konan suddenly turned around. Her face, Deidara knew, was inches from his. His eyes widened in surprise. The room was pitch black, so he could not see her expression, but he heard and felt her take a sharp breath in.

He smiled again and breathed out in a whisper, "Well, this is…rather unexpected." He made no move to turn away from her. Nor did she.

Konan let out a breath. She sounded shaky. "What is?"

"This." Both of them knew exactly what Deidara was referring to. "And that you haven't had sex yet."

The trance was broken from his last words. She turned away without another word.

Not even bothering to salvage the conversation, he, too, turned around and closed his eyes, allowing himself to enter dreamland.

xxxxxx

The next morning when Deidara woke up, the other side of the bed was empty. He yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth. He placed a hand on Konan's side of the blankets. It was cold.

He stretched, not unlike a cat as he did so. His blonde locks fell messily on his back. Finally deciding he should start getting ready to leave, he stood. If he recalled correctly, he had placed his hair band on the stool last night. Still not completely awake, he walked across the room, which really wasn't very far at all considering how tiny it was, and looked down at the stool. It wasn't there.

He looked around in the bathroom. It wasn't there.

He grunted as he dropped to his knees, searching the carpet for it. It wasn't there either. "Whaaat?" He drawled out the word lethargically. Where the hell was his hair band?

Deidara sighed and crawled towards the bed. That was the only place he hadn't checked. He lowered himself against the floor and shifted himself deeper under the bed, his lower half still sticking out of the bed.

That was how Konan found Deidara when she reentered the room.

"What are you doing?"

Deidara jolted in surprise, knocking his head on the underside of the bed loudly. "Ow! Fuck!" He hastily popped his head out of the bed, rubbing the back of it with a deep scowl on his face.

Konan repeated her question. "What are you doing?"

He glared at her as he pat his hair down. It had gotten ruffled from diving under the bed. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm looking for my hair band."

She raised her eyebrows at him. I couldn't tell, she seemed to say.

"You're acting like a girl."

Deidara growled out without thinking, "Maybe I am one!"

Silence.

"…I'm not a girl!"

Ignoring him easily, Konan said, "Hurry. The sooner we leave the better."

Grumbling, he shouted in a petulant fashion, "I need my hair band!"

"Put on some clothes first."

He looked down. His cloak had unzipped somewhere in the middle of everything. His chest and abdominal area was completely exposed. The left side of the cloak had slipped off his shoulder, riding down his arm. Deidara looked back up at Konan. She had turned away. For the first time that morning, he made a semblance of a smile. It still wasn't even near one, though.

Fact: Deidara was not a morning person.

xxxxxx

A/N: That was entertaining to write. *sips tea calmly*

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