Finally out of Suna, Deidara approaches his doom at a steady peace. While they walk, he finds solace in an orange i-pod that he listens in on, and overhears an interesting conversation between…

Okay, go read the First chapter, if you haven't done so already!

To those who want a copy of the old story, I change the date to receive it to the fifth chapter, where I will stop accepting requests for it, there will be no after.

Disclaimer

The Naruto Cast does not belong to me, they belong to Kishimoto Mashashi.

Anything that does not belong in Naruto belongs to me, unless said otherwise.

Key

"Word" Talking

'Thought' Thinking

"Fox" Kyuubi speaking


He was bored out of his mind. He could talk to the guards, but they would either ignore him or glare at him; but damnit they never spoke! Even Sasori was better than this, and he had barely spoken while taking Gaara to the base. He rarely ever spoke.

And it had only been two hours. Deidara was having a mental temper tantrum, and he would have actually physically thrown a fit except he might end up being killed two seconds into it.

He hated silence. IT was nice from time to time, but the tension was killing the artist. He would probably be dead before he ever saw the end of this accursed sand. It was bad enough the first time, he didn't need to see it again, and he sure as hell didn't want to know.

Deidara sorely wished something would happen, anything. If it meant killing him, hey, he was all for it.

As if on cue, the jinchuuriki brought forth from his pocket an orange i-pod and plugged the ear phones into his ear.

And the music was loud. Not loud as in people who were a foot away could hear him, but loud as in everyone within a half mile radius could hear him.

And it was in this music Deidara found solace, because it was a song that Deidara particularly enjoyed. He liked listening t the next song as well, and the one after that.

It didn't matter that it came from the person he hated the most in this world at the moment, it was music. Next to his bombs, Deidara enjoyed music immensely, and he often listened to bands like Red, or Three Days Grace while molding or coming up with new ideas for sculptures.

"Naruto, turn that down!" Sakura scolded, but he either ignored her or didn't hear her, because he made no move to lower the volume.

Giving a frustrated sigh, she yanked the i-pod out of his pocket and turned down the volume so that Deidara could make out the lyrics and music fairly well, but if you were any farther than the escort group, you most likely wouldn't hear anything.

"Sakura!" Naruto whined.

"Naruto, it's already damaging your ears enough, you don't need to make it worse." Sakura scolded.

"It doesn't matter how much I damage them because of…" The rest of Naruto's sentence was mumbled incoherently, and the jinchuuriki looked away.

"Hmm…" Sakura sighed and looked back at Deidara. He responded by glaring at her. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head muttering something about men being to prideful. He chose to ignore this comment.


A day passed, and they were leaving the desert behind them. It was nice to be in the forest, and the air was much cooler.

Deidara had figured that the jinchuuriki's i-pod would have died, but the kid had some kind of chakra charger. Deidara knew those cost a ton of money, and he wondered how long the jinchuuriki had to save for it.

But he wasn't complaining. The music was welcome company in a tense surrounding, such as the one he was in now. Oh how he wanted to talk, just not to them.

In fact, last night he had resorted talking to a small sparrow. The escorts had given him strange looks, but he didn't care. Why the hell should he? He was going to die as it was.

Although, he had to dig his feet in when Kankuro attempted to put a cat collar around his neck and then lead him around like a dog on a leash saying 'Come on crazy person, let's go.'

He may not have his arms attached to his body anymore, but he'd be damned if he let someone pull him along on a leash. He still had his pride left, what little of it there was anyways.

It hadn't helped much when most of the escort had laughed, even Kakashi, who had remained stony-faced and solemn.

Surprisingly, the only one who didn't laugh was the kitsune boy, who, despite having his eyes trained in on the scene, only grimaced and looked away.

He hadn't been pitying Deidara, but more like comparing him to…someone. It was no concern of the artist's.

Even now the second evening approached at a steady rate, and soon after the stars had appeared in the night sky, they set camp. Deidara was bound and tied to a tree, but not gagged so he could eat what was fed to him, which was not much.

It wasn't until past midnight that something interesting truly happened.


Deidara sat, watching the fire with dull eyes. He was nodding off, and it was only sheer will that he was still awake. Hell, even the Kazekage's sister had nodded off, and she was supposed to be on watch duty.

He sighed; he was bored yet again. The jinchuuriki's i-pod was turned off, and his only solace was the dying embers of the fire. Dying, dying…until they were finally gone, the cold air relinquished both heat and light.

Deidara shivered. With the fire gone, he was cold. A blanket would be nice but the ropes wound tightly around him would have to do, since everyone was asleep.

It was then a faint whimper escaped the Jinchuuriki.

Deidara whipped his head around, eyes zeroing in on the young blonde.

There was another whimper, than a snarl, more fierce and dark than anything Deidara had ever heard. Chills ran up and down the artist's spine in both fear and anticipation.

And then…

"But…I don't…Nngh…"

"Just shut up and kill him. He's sitting there; helpless. You want revenge don't you?" The voice terrified Deidara, even more so that it was coming out of Naruto's mouth, someone who he had conceived to be innocent and naïve, unwilling to kill unless provoked.

It was a voice whose owner had killed thousands and did not regret it, instead, lavishing itself in the blood until people were afraid to even think it's name…the Kyuubi. There was no doubt about it.

"He's…mumble…why don't you…I'll…" While the Kyuubi's voice was heard fully, Naruto's was only half said out loud, leaving Deidara hanging onto a mainly one-sided conversation.

"Fine. But if you don't keep to your word…you'll know what'll happen."

There was a fearful whimpered, and Naruto curled into the fetal position inside his sleeping bag.

Deidara's eye was wide and fearful. He sat trembling, contemplating what could have just happened right there, and he suddenly realized that if any one of the guard could kill him at any given time.

He was helpless, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Just like the sleeping boy in front of him was trapped inside his own mind, unable to free himself of the bindings that held him down.

They were both caged.

The following morning was unusually silent, as Naruto had disappeared sometime after Deidara had fallen asleep.

There was a note, and Deidara knew there was no way in hell he was going to be able to read it.

Deidara sighed. No annoying Jinchuuriki, no wonderful music to listen to. Damn.

He felt a sudden weight drop in his Akatsuki cloak pocket, and felt something shoved in his ears.

Deidara's head whipped around, only to find Naruto's i-pod in his pocket, listening to the jinchuuriki's music at a quiet volume.

He was delighted. Naruto must have left it in the wake of his leave. Oh well, his loss. The artist smirked, and contented to listen to the music.

Like hell if he cared that it belonged to someone he hated, or that he would lost the privilege of using it himself when Naruto came back.

Deidara lived in the moment, enjoying it (or hating it) to the fullest.

Too bad others couldn't do the same.


Torusku Aigoshki walked along the dirt road leading to the farm where he lived, whistling his happy.

Today was the greatest day of his life.

He had proposed to the girl of his dreams, and was her new fiancé. He had a new baby brother, and he was soon going to come into possession of the farm itself, as his father was getting old and starting to think of retirement.

Yes, the happiest day of his life indeed.

He never registered the rustling of leaves, the faint tinkle of a bell, or the pain as his neck was crunched through by strong jaws. It was swift and painless.

There was insane laughter, as the beast frolicked among the blood of the newly fallen, until white fur was stained red.

It would be many hours later, however, that the same animal would cry in sorrow for the lost one.

It was alone, utterly alone with only itself for company, unable to resist the urge to kill those innocent, full of life.

And it hated itself for it.


Another day passed, and Naruto did not reappear. As for his I-pod…it was on its last legs of energy. The songs kept flickering on and off, annoying Deidara. However, there was something of more importance that consumed his mind.

The gates were in sight, and Deidara could feel the excitement in the ninja around him.

Most were relieved and were starting to relax. Deidara was the opposite, eyes darting nervously side to side as his breath came a little faster.

'It's odd. I spent all this time telling me that it's inevitable, but I can't help but wish that it wasn't happening.' Deidara reflected idly. 'I'd rather be anywhere else, even if I had to put up with that annoying brat, Tobi.'

His wishes went unheard, of course.

There was a faint movement, and Naruto suddenly appeared, walking by Kakashi.

The two exchanged glances, arousing Deidara's curiosity. Naruto was strangely quiet, his cerulean eyes had a distracted look in them.

'What was that all about?' Deidara wondered. 'Hmm…Something to do with the Kyuubi? …Most likely.'

As they entered Konoha, two ANBU appeared and walked side by side with Deidara, silent and unnerving. They said nothing, not to him, not to the others. Their presence was simply to be accepted and ignored.

And then Naruto's I-pod finally ran out of energy.

Oh damn. And he hadn't even reached the front of the Hokage Tower.


Deidara occupied himself by staring at the carpet of the fifth Hokage's office. It was stained with sake stains, he noted, and it had more than it's fair share of wear and tear.

He was a lot like this carpet.

No. Fuck no. He was absolutely not going to compare himself to a carpet!

Both had been through hard times, he and this carpet.

Deidara sighed and glanced up. If only he had some clay to mold, or more preferably, if only he was able to blow someone up, like…Kakashi. That would help him relieve the amount of stress he was under.

"Summon Ibiki." Tsunadae ordered her assistant, Shizune. The woman nodded and headed out the door, giving Deidara a wide berth.

'This is it/ Might as well go impale myself on something. I'd never give away information about the Akatsuki…No, wait…' Deidara chewed the bottom of his lip for a moment. 'Except Itachi, yea…Hehehe…'

He smirked, satisfied to himself. "That'll work…"

Everyone froze and looked at him.

"What?" Deidara asked, annoyed. "Go stare at someone else, un."

Stare. Stare. Stare.

Well, so much for that.

"You have a speech impediment." Tsunadae said.

Deidara growled. "For the last fucking time, it's not an impediment! It's a habit." He pointedly looked away. "God…"

"Yes, because it's so common to encounter someone who says 'un' at the end of every other sentence." Neji said in a monotone voice. "It's an impediment."

"Habit."

"Impediment."

"Habit."

"Impediment."

"It's a fucking habit, so shut the hell up and don't talk about it, un!" Deidara said vehemently.

Kakashi and Gai threw Neji a warning glance, who shrugged. Very quietly he muttered. "…Still say it's an impediment."

"GAH!"

Deidara made to kick the (retarded) Hyuuga, but the ANBU were swift to react, one grabbing his leg while the other snatched a chair. Moments later, Deidara found himself chained to a wooden furniture item, feet and all.

Naruto glanced at him. "…What's the point of chaining his legs to the chair?"

"What do you mean?" ANBU #1 asked.

"If he's stuck to the chair, his position indicates that if he kicks out at anyone, he won't be able to make contact, unless they were foolish enough to come into close range with him, in which case, it's totally their fault." Naruto explained.

"He could scoot the chair towards someone." ANBU #2 said.

"Well, get behind him and move him back."

"…"

"…Heh." Naruto smirked and resumed looking out the window.

Deidara sighed. It was silent again.

"Oh, that reminds me…" Kakashi suddenly spoke up, jerking everyone's head to look in his general direction. "Where's Jiraiya-sama?"

"Knowing him…ogling at women." Tsunadae sighed.

"Wrong." Naruto said. "With the recent upturn of gay men, Jiraiya has started interviewing them for a possible new series called…Umm…Well, I can't tell you."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Naruto, what is the series called?" Tsunadae asked in a dangerously low tone.

"Er…Can't…Yea." Naruto looked away. "Not now."

The hokage picked up on his mood and said nothing more. Deidara growled in frustration. IT sucked being an S-ranked criminal in captivity, because than there were so many secret going on around you and you would never find out.

There was a quiet whoosh and the door behind them opened, revealing Ibiki, interrogations expert.

If he hadn't been in trouble before, Deidara sure as hell was now.


"And so they've captured Deidara?" A shadowy figure asked.

"That's right…we found traces of battle, but no body parts, 'cept maybe hair. It's to be expected of course, we always said he wasn't going to last long."

"They captured Deidara-chan? Whoa!" A magneta eyed man spoke. "Deidara-chan usually manages to slip out of trouble. Ha…sucks shit for him, doesn't it?"

"Hidan, shut up." Kakuzu said irritably.

"Do you know if he's still alive?" Pein asked.

"No. But we suspect that he's been taken to Konoha for interrogation." Zetsu replied tiredly.

"That could be dangerous…we'll need to retrieve him…" Pein sighed, briefly closing his eyes. "But that'll take time…Zetsu, I want you to check the security of Konoha's top prison."

"Right. We understand."

"Leader-sama?" Kisame asked. "What will you do if Deidara decides to spill stuff about us?"

"…Kill him, and burn down the village."


Hmm, I'm weirding myself with the style of writing used for these two chapters. But I promise the next chapter should return to it's normal writing style.

Whoa, this story is in eleven C2's….Sweetness. ;) Thanks guys!

Tropi