"Hey, Deidara-senpai? I'm tired, senpai. Can we stop yet? We've been walking for a really long time, Deidara-senpai. Hey, senpai..."
This was the constant babbling that had been going on for something like ten minutes now. Deidara glanced at Tobi, suppressing the urge to reach into the pouch of clay at his side.
As annoying as his partner was, Deidara knew that they had been walking for a long time; even he was starting to get tired. However, just before he was about to tell Tobi that yes, they could rest, if Tobi would just shut up, he realized that the closest person to them was closer than they had thought.
Standing only a few yards away, mostly obscured by the clouds of dust blown by the dry wind, was a human figure. A human figure who was walking toward them.
Deidara shifted his stance slightly, uncertain of the figure's intentions. Soon, the entity was close enough for Deidara to be able to make out some features.
The person approaching them was a man, probably in his early-to-mid thirties. He was pretty tall, and was wearing a heavy-looking cloak despite the hot weather. Chin-length tan hair hung around his face, not quite obscuring his glaring slate-gray eyes, or the scar running from just over his left eye to the bridge of his nose.
The man continued walking forward, stopping only when he was right in front of Deidara. By this time, Deidara had discreetly grabbed a handful of clay from his pouch, just in case the stranger was hostile.
"Well?" questioned Deidara. "What do you want, hm?"
Deidara couldn't understand the man's reply, as it was in an unfamiliar language. He shrugged, starting to walk past. "Sorry, I don't know... whatever that was," he said, pointing at his ear and shaking his head. "Come on, Tobi."
However, before Deidara could get all the way past, the man spun around, grabbing his shoulder and snarling the same question from earlier.
Deidara glared at the apparently irritable stranger. "Hey, in case you have trouble with basic politeness..." he growled, tensing, "Let me go!" He jerked away from the man, spinning to face him and throwing a couple small bombs at him – not strong ones, just enough to scare him off.
The man's eyes widened at the sight of the bombs; even if he didn't know what they were, he could tell they were dangerous. He dodged to the side, using one arm to shield his face from the small blasts. As soon as the smoke cleared, he slowly turned to Deidara, a fury showing in his eyes beyond the previous iciness.
The man – by this time it was clear he was some form of warrior – threw aside one side of his cloak, and drew the heavy sword it had concealed. He looked Deidara straight in the eye, and hissed something that sounded an awful lot like a challenge.
Deidara grinned, reaching into his bag of clay again. "Tobi," he said, without turning to look at his now-somewhat-panicked partner, "Stay out of my way."
Some actual action coming up. Next chapter is quite a bit longer, I promise. So read and review!