Kurotsuchi awoke to the crashing of waves. When her eyes opened, her vision was a blur and she became aware of a searing headache. It was clear that she had a small concussion. She counted herself fortunate that she woke up at all. When she tried to get to her feet, she noticed that the ground was far more moist and soft than she expected. Her vision returned to her as she realized she was lying on top of Deidara. She let out a cry of embarrassment as she stumbled off of the unconscious man. Once her mind cleared and her heart stopped trying to burst from her chest, Kurotsuchi noticed that he was no longer encased in her Quicklime.
"It must have broken in the fall..." Kurotsuchi whispered to herself. Alarm overtook her as she realized that Deidara's breaths were strained. She placed her hand on his chest to learn he had several broken ribs. Wait, why do I care? Kurotsuchi thought to herself. He's a rogue ninja. Letting him die would be better for everyone. Even as she thought this, however, she was undoing his coat and pulling out bandages from her hip pouch. She felt herself get warmer when she began to patch up her former brother, but shook it off and focused on her task. After a few minutes, her job was completed. She went to go move him, but became incredibly dizzy and fell back, not yet recovered from her head injury.
"It's probably best if you don't move." Sasori calmly approached the girl. Kurotsuchi tried to ready herself, but found no strength and fell down again. Sasori stepped out of Hiruko and extended the cable in his stomach to wrap around Kurotsuchi. He cut the cord after she was tightly bound. "It's best to keep you bound for now." He walked over to Deidara and proceeded to kick his side.
"What're you doing?!" asked Kurotsuchi. "He's injured!"
"I don't like waiting." replied Sasori as he stomped on Deidara's chest. Deidara let out a cry of pain and snapped awake.
"What the hell was that for, Sasori?!" shouted Deidara. "Are you trying to kill me?! Hmm?!"
"You know I hate waiting. Now get up. We have a long ways to go." Sasori returned to Hiruko once again.
"Alright, alright." Deidara got to his feet with great difficulty, but was soon moving well enough. "What about her?" he asked, pointing to Kurotsuchi.
"We take her with us. She's leverage against the Stone." Deidara nods to his partner and summons a bird. The bird grabs Kurotsuchi in it's talons as Deidara hopped onto it's back, obviously in too much pain to walk.
"Put me down!" called Kurotsuchi. "Let me go, nii-san!"
"Sorry, but I can't." replied Deidara, with no remorse.
"Do you know her?" asked Sasori as they began traveling.
"She's an old friend from before." Kurotsuchi looked up to see Deidara's face lose his signature smirk, replacing it with a look of anger. She felt scared to be the captive of someone who must've hated her for so long.
Night fell quickly as the pair continued their journey. The two set up camp in a clearing surrounded by trees.
"You take first watch," replied Sasori. "I need to report what's happened to the rest."
"Leave it to me, hmm." replied Deidara. Sasori quickly took to a meditative state that meant he was currently conversing with the rest of the Akatsuki through a holographic projection. Minutes became hours as Sasori remained in the meditative trance. Deidara began poking at the camp fire out of boredom. Kurotsuchi's voice broke the silence.
"Why did you leave, nii-san?" the question surprised Deidara a little. He didn't expect her to ask.
"None of you bastards accepted me. You forced me out!" Deidara found himself shouting, although he didn't mean to. For the first time, he truly felt how angry he was at his former village. He despised them all. The very man he trained under kicked him out of his home as soon as he could. His own friends hadn't defended him. "I tried to help people, I tried to save you, and all I get is the boot, hmm!"
"Then why didn't you try to talk to us?! Why didn't you try and clear your name?!" Kurotsuchi was shouting back. But in contrast to Deidara's rage, he sensed some other emotion within her words. Were they concern? That can't be, he thought. Stone village hates me... they wouldn't be concerned about me, hmm!
"Like that would've made any difference! You know as well as I do that Onoki would have just threw me in prison!" shouted Deidara. Kurotsuchi knew that there was no point in trying to defend her grandfather. She knew full well that he would've done it. She felt sorrow well up inside her again. It hurt to think that he blamed her for his expulsion from the village, but supposed it was justified. Maybe she could've tried harder to help him.
"Have I answered all you questions yet?" asked Deidara, venom dripping from his voice.
"Y-yes..." muttered Kurotsuchi, crushed.
"Finally, hmm!" Kurotsuchi tried as hard as she could to keep her sobs silent. I'm sorry, nii-san... she mentally apologized, but it was more of a silent plea. A plea that he'd stop hating her so. I'm so very sorry...
Sasori's eyes finally opened after what seemed like ages. Deidara silently thanked god(if there is one, cause he's sure as hell not supporting Hidan's warped religion) that he could finally get some sleep.
"Finally. For a guy who hates making people wait, you sure took your time."
"Hidan and Kakuzu captured the Two-Tails. We had to seal it." Deidara was a little shocked that the most defective partnership in the entire Akatsuki had actually managed to catch a Jinchuriki.
"You should've told me. I could've helped."
"There was no need. Zetsu found a new recruit." Another shocking development.
"A new member? Who?"
"He wore a mask. He called himself Tobi. He seems no smarter than Hidan, unfortunately."
"Damn. What a shame. Well, I'm heading to sleep. Watch Kurotsuchi, will ya?"
"Got it. Like I need to sleep?" Deidara lied on his back and observed the stars. The sky isn't too different from back then, is it? he thought to himself. He couldn't help but think back to the times when he'd watch the stars with his team. How he and Kurotsuchi would see who could find the most constellations first. "There's the big dipper!" it'd always start. Deidara could hear Kurotsuchi sleeping softly in the darkness. He wondered if he should apologize, but quickly dismissed the idea as foolish. He's part of the Akatsuki now. That part of his life was behind him, right?
The partners continued their long trek with their prisoner in tow once the sun rose. As the journey continued, news of Orochimaru's death reached their ears from their Akatsuki associates. The lack of concern throughout the organization amused Deidara to no end. After a couple days, the group happened upon a small town on their way.
"Put your coat in the scroll." commanded Sasori as he put Hiruko and his cloak into a scroll of summoning. "We don't want to draw attention while I gather supplies."
"Gonna be kinda hard to do with your puppet body." Deidara smirked. "How are you gonna avoid suspicion like that, hmm?" Sasori actually seemed to be at a loss for once. He looked around, and his eyes finally settle on Kurotsuchi.
"Give me your shirt." he commanded, pointing a finger at her. Deidara barely contained his laughter, letting a snicker escape here and there. Kurotsuchi simply stood there, mouth agape in confusion.
"Wh-why would I give you my shirt?!"
"As you can obviously see," Sasori began, gesturing to himself. "I am a puppet. It would clearly draw suspicion if they saw me like this, as would it if I approached in Hiruko or my cloak. Your shirt should fit fine, so give it to me." Kurotsuchi rapidly shook her head, now died crimson from embarrassment.
"I-I can't!" cries Kurotsuchi. Sasori let out a sigh and began to remove her vest and shirt manually. "H-hey! No! S-stop it, pervert!" Kurotsuchi's desperate cries did nothing to help her, and she was eventually left covering her chest with her arms as Sasori puts on her shirt.
"You could stand to wear more than just nets under this." commented Sasori.
"My, how you've grown Kurotsuchi." mused Deidara. A crimson-faced Kurotsuchi only growled at them as she quickly put her vest back on. "And, as much as I want to see this little excursion fail," Deidara remarked, observing Sasori's one bare mannequin-like arm where Kurotsuchi's shirt lacked a sleeve, "I think I'll scout ahead."
"Fine." sighed Sasori. "Then I'll take the girl." Sasori re-binded Kurotsuchi's arms and proceeded into the town with her in tow. Deidara molded an eagle out of clay and flew off in the direction of their next destination. As he flew, however, a lone figure piqued his interest. Upon closer observation, Deidara recognized him instantly as Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha's brother, Orochimaru's murderer, and a rogue from Konoha. He wore a thick black cloak over a white samurai-esque shirt, a dark purple waist wrap held up by a lighter purple rope-belt, black pants, and sandals. He was a wielder of the Sharingan, a powerful eye that could mimic any opponent's jutsu as long as it was within the user's physical capabilities. What Deidara truly hated about it, however, was it's genjutsu. The eye amplified the user's genjutsu prowess, and Itachi Uchiha had used it to humiliate Deidara when he was recruited. Oh, how he longed to rid the world of it!
Deidara charged the boy with his clay bird. He quickly leapt off and detonated it with a "Ha!" Deidara stood triumphant until the smoke cleared, revealing the Sasuke had guarded against the explosion by summoning a snake. The serpent quickly disintegrated around him as Sasuke shot Deidara a look that simply asked Really? The boy, upon seeing the design on Deidara's cloak, was the first to speak. "Where's Itachi Uchiha?"
"Huh?" asked Deidara in bafflement. The haste and bluntness of his question caught Deidara by surprise. He didn't even ask Deidara's name. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his crimson Sharingan glared at Deidara.
"Tell me, and I'll let you go." The arrogance in his declaration infuriated Deidara. How could he think he was the superior one here?!
"Heh, you really are Itachi's brother." replied Deidara. "Your glare is the same as his." Sasuke's stare produced even more hostility than before. "You're both nothing but fools blessed with good genes, hmm!" Deidara made no attempt to mask the malice in his stare as he quickly shoved his hands into his pouches, absorbing clay into the mouths on his palms. First, thought Deidara, I'll observe his movements with C1. His hands quickly modeled several small clay spiders. He quickly leapt into a nearby tree and threw them at Sasuke. With a flourish, the Uchiha cloaked his hand in electricity, the legendary jutsu Chidori, and fired several small needles at the spiders, blowing them away and pinning them to the ground and trees. Deidara attempted to detonate them, but they never exploded. What the hell?!
In his moment of confusion, Sasuke managed to get behind him, slashing with his sword. Deidara quickly molded another spider and tossed it back at him. "Ha!" shouts Deidara as the spider detonates. Deidara leapt from the blast range at the last second, as did Sasuke. Deidara's foe glared back at him, unfazed. Good thing I managed to avoid him... thought Deidara. He quickly absorbed a large quantity of clay from his pouches. Then let's see if he like this! From his hands erupts a large stream of clay, from which formed two large humanoid(but only barely) structures. "I'll play with you a bit more, hmm!" Deidara called out. The two blobs raced forward towards the Uchiha.
"So you send child's play my way?" asked the boy. He raised his sword and slashed at one of the structure's legs. "So foolish." Deidara smiled as his sword caught in the dense clay. Caught by surprise, Sasuke was forced into the defensive, dodging the clumsy attacks and countering with his own taijutsu. He quickly charged a chidori in his left hand and pierced through an attacking sculpture, supposedly killing it. Deidara manipulated the fallen form into two smaller forms and attacked Sasuke once again.
"Haha!" laughed Deidara, "It's not over yet!" Sasuke quickly charged another chidori and grabbed his sword, sending the electric current through the steel implement and cut through the attacking golem. No matter how many times he cut through them, however, two more forms would emerge from the fallen blobs and attack him. The sight before Deidara resembled a violent dance. "I guess it's about time..." Deidara quickly weaved his hand signs, and detonated one of the clay bodies. Sasuke avoided the explosion and retreated into the forest.
"You're not getting away!" shouted Deidara as he sent more of the bodies at him. They each exploded with wild abandon, shattering the trees they fell near, but still missing Sasuke. Eventually, the sheer numbers overwhelmed Sasuke's skill at running away and the remaining sculptures latched onto his body. Once Sasuke was completely enveloped in clay, Deidara detonated them. The blast sent a large shockwave throughout the valley.
"How's that?!" asked Deidara in a triumphant tone. A log flies out of the smoke, charred from the explosion. Substitution jutsu, eh? thought Deidara, surprised at Sasuke's quick thinking. Sasuke lands a few feet behind the log moments after. I suppose this calls for C2. Deidara quickly begins to mold his large reptilian creation. With a poof, Deidara's C2 dragon came to life. He quickly leapt onto the beast's head, confident as he looked at Sasuke's expression. Even he had to marvel at Deidara's artwork. Sasuke's face did in fact flinch, the first sign of emotion Deidara had observed all fight. He took it as a victory.
"You think your Pop Art will stop me?" asked the black-haired boy as he raced towards his opponent.
"Pop is dead!" replied Deidara. "My art is Superflat!" the dragon absorbed part of it's tail and launched a dragon at the charging Uchiha. Sasuke side-stepped to avoid the assault, but the dragon swerved around and followed him. Its pace allowed it to swiftly catch up with the boy as it detonated. Sasuke barely braced himself from the impact in time. The C2 dragon took to the air as Sasuke was distracted. The Uchiha races after it, charging a chidori in his left hand. From the current emerges a large spike of electricity. The "chidori spear," however, stops short of the dragon's foot. "Looks like I'm out of your range!" called out Deidara.
Deidara forces the C2 to absorb two parts of it's tail. A larger dragon than before blasts from C2's jaws. As Sasuke evades the initial strike, a smaller dragon emerges from the projectile's body and seems to impact Sasuke with it's explosion. Did I get him? inquired Deidara, mentally.
From the smoking crater emerged something that was no longer human. The abomination had gray, snake-like skin and long, pale blue hair. Large wings in the shape of hands extended from his back. Sasuke Uchiha's form had changed, and he looked rather uninjured.