Rashelly, you can stop encouraging, kickingmeintheass, to post this now. As a note, I wrote this for one of my bestest friends, Rashelly, and as such she is a character in it. My character; because she said I should have one too; is 'Kira'. Oh, and I don't own any respective anime or manga except San Bun, but that's completely retarded and is something I did in fifth grade. Storyline is slightly AU


Lean close and listen well

For I have got a tale to tell

But first my dear

Listen here

Tell me, have you heard the tale

Of she-robin and she-nightingale?

Or the men who took them home?

Kept locked up, yet free to roam?

Apparently you have not

And a gold-spun tale I've got

With open ears and hearts abound

Grab a seat and gather round

This tale is spun with pure-gold thread

Remember it when you rest your head

So hush now, let my voice be heard

And I will tell the tale of The Keeping Of The Birds

Flower of the Desert


"You ready, un?" Deidara of Akatsuki asked his partner Sasori. Sasori nodded and looked away.

I swear, a brick wall has more personality than this guy. I would have better luck getting an answer from a brick wall as well. Deidara thought, observing Sasori.

"Kira?" Sasori asked, looking at a small yellow card with the name 'Kira' scrawled across the front. Deidara looked at him surprised.

"I thought you said-" Deidara began.

"I was merely asking you if you were going to get that girl. I am obtaining Rashelly." Sasori said without blinking. That's the most I've said in a long time. He noted, crouching down.

"Whatever, un." Deidara said, slightly annoyed at his partner's cold façade. At least, he thought, putting clay into his palm-mouths, Kira will be more fun.

Soon. Thought Sasori, shifting his weight to his left foot, I will have a living puppet. This brought a rare smile to Sasori's lips as he prepped himself for obtaining the girl.

The Akatsuki's leader had, for a reason unknown to them, wanted to bring two new members into their ranks. Two women for that matter! Unheard of! But none-the-less Sasori and Deidara 'volunteered' to obtain the two young women and show them the ropes of being S-class criminals.

However, for Sasori the word 'volunteered' didn't quite express what had gotten him into his current position on top of a building in his least favorite place, Sunnakagure.

And he had promised himself he'd never come back. Oh well, to late for that now. And the fact that a pink haired fifteen year old almost killed him (He only looked dead, he's a puppet after all) the last time he was here didn't make him fancy the place any more than he already did.

Getting your ass kicked by a fifteen year old girl and your grandmother does that to a person, no matter how little of them is still human. He liked finally being hugged by his parents though.

Sure. The lure of having a living puppet added to his arsenal made him object a tiny bit less, but Deidara was the one who had readily jumped at retrieving the women.

Could he even call them women? They were only eighteen. Now, even for a hardened S-class criminal, breaking into a female teenager's house made him feel like a pedophile. But only slightly. He wasn't Akasuna no Sasori for nothing.

"What are you waiting for?" Sasori asked his partner irritably. He wanted to get his living puppet soon. Deidara glared at Sasori.

"You, un." Deidara snapped. It wasn't his fault that Sasori disliked flying so much that he had to have a separate bird to fly on. One that could be controlled with chakra strings no less. As Deidara finished sculpting the second bird he began to wish he hadn't pushed Tobi into Zetsu upon Tobi volunteering to go with him. But only slightly. That so called "good boy" was really starting to piss him off.

And he was running out of causes of death.

"There, un." Deidara said, making the birds flight ready sized. Sasori grunted in approval, attaching chakra strings to his bird and sitting on its back.

Deidara climbed onto his and wordlessly took off toward the most well-kept looking house in that district of Sunna, and flew straight by it.

No, the home that both Deidara and Sasori were looking for was not the most well-kept, nor the most run down. This home housed the two young women they were looking for, and this is where our story truly begins.


Kira clambered out of her bed, yawning, and threw open her window. It was not uncommon for her to sleep only a few hours of the night, only to wake up in the middle of it. Rashelly, Kira's niece, was not likewise afflicted. In fact, Rashelly often cast a sleeping genjutsu on herself so that Kira couldn't wake her up in the middle of the night, purely to wach her drift back into sleep.

The wind outside her window shifted almost imperceptibly, and Kira adjusted the straps of her white sports bra nervously. She could feel on the wind that something was coming. Kira contemplated waking Rashelly, but that would probably result on the latter getting inconceivably pissed, resulting in Kira's immediate discomfort.

Kira observed the stars for a moment, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. She had always liked Sunnakagure's nighttime scene. Pulling a small wooden stool to the window sill she sat and looked out at the calmly sleeping village.


On the other side of the house on certain Akasuna no Sasori had found his prize. He calmly opened the window without so much as a click and looked at the slumbering raven haired girl. He shook off the feeling of another presence in the room and picked up the teen, Rashelly, bridal style and carried her out of the window.

He wondered for an instant, why one of the two girls currently being sought after by the Akatsuki would sleep through being captured and taken from her place of residence. He physically shrugged, a new thing for him, and flew the bird to the top of the home he had just exited.

This was his favorite part of a kidnap. The part where he wasn't rushed, and could observe his hostage while Deidara got his. Of course, he could assist Deidara in getting his hostage, Kira, but what fun would that be. Yes, Sasori also wanted to get the hell off of the bird and back to the Akatsuki hideout, but he wanted to find out some things about this girl before he handed her over to the Leader.


Deidara "stealthily" made his way to the window, if you call breaking several clay pots with a giant clay bird stealthy. He got level with the window, meaning that his feet were at the proper height to walk through the window, had the window been taller. He heard a muffled squeak and bent down to look through the window.

He was soon nose to nose with a blonde haired girl, who was covering her mouth with one hand. Deidara's eyes gleamed. This was Kira, and it was the perfect situation.

In a flash, Kira was on the bird with Deidara, his hand now covering her mouth. Deidara was seated, Kira between his knees to prevent her escape.

"I want you to be very quiet now, un." Deidara said, teasingly close to the shell of the eighteen year olds ear. Kira shivered, his breath was warm on her ear in the cool night.

Deidara chuckled, having achieved the desired effect on the girl, who, for the record, was his age. He chuckled again as a surprised squeak came from his charge. She had figured out who he was.


Sasori suppressed a groan, a very new thing for him. He had just spotted Deidara on the other bird flying toward him with Kira in between his legs. He was tempted to fly out to meet him, purely for the joy of berating him to Kingdom Come, wherever that was. But he resisted that temptation. He could berate and pester Deidara in his own manner all the way back to the Hideout.

And he was ok with that.

Sasori was slightly startled when his charge, Rashelly, woke up. But he had expected that she would wake. It was the manner in which she did so that startled him.

"Hello." Rashelly said, opening her eyes to the man looking down at her. A fleeting look of amusement mixed with mild surprise danced on his face as he looked at her.

"Akasuna no Sasori I presume?" She asked, sticking out a hand. Sasori shook it uncertainly. "I also presume that my aunt and I are being kidnapped and taken to the Akatsuki Hideout?" She asked her kidnapper, unfazed that she was speaking to an S-class criminal that could snap her neck in an instant.

"You're bright." Sasori said with a nod. Clouded amusement filled her eyes.

"Would I be correct in saying that you know very little about my bloodline, let alone my aunt's?" she asked, mischief behind each syllable she uttered. Sasori was temporarily stunned.

"Maybe too bright for your own good." Sasori said, regaining his composure as Deidara flew next to the bird Rashelly and Sasori shared and welding them together with a wave of his hand.

"Auntie!" Rashelly exclaimed, leaping to her aunt's side. They exchanged a knowing glance before Kira looked over to the redhead.

"Hi." She said, sticking out her hand. Sasori eyed it but did not extend his hand.

Kira was immediately struck with the notion that he was immensely similar to a brick wall. Just to be sure he wasn't, she stood up and walked in front of him. She appeared to study him for a moment.

Sasori was blissfully ignorant to what was going on, having decided to tune out Kira just like he did Deidara. So when she suddenly poked him hard in the chest he was taken completely off guard.

To Kira's amusement, Deidara's shock, and Rashelly's boredom (she wasn't really paying attention) Sasori stumbled backwards slightly.

"Oomph." Sasori uttered in surprise, loosing his footing and backing up a few paces. Kira laughed, much to his annoyance, and soon found chakra strings encircling her neck.

"Sasori-danna!" Deidara exclaimed, severing the strings with the ease of someone who had been caught up in them himself. Sasori looked at the clay user with blank eyes, the same expression that so irked him daily.

"Tell your charge," Sasori uttered slowly, choosing his words as if his life depended on it "That should she attempt something like that again, she will find an excruciating recovery process ahead of her."

Rashelly smiled. Time to explain their bloodline.


Weeeell, didn't turn out the crappy way I half expected it to, so I'm happy. Review please.