The First Wound

"Hey! You are..."

Before him stood a mannequin-like figure, mainly male in structure, however lacking the particular features that would identify one's own identity. Even as its grey body was pale in colour, its face held no difference, lacking in any particular facial features except for a normal pair of eyes, though they held no pupils.

A familiar gurgling emitted from it, its jaw moving as if it were trying to speak. In unison with these movements, words popped into Zetsu's mind, unwelcome ones at that considering how no one but the other 'Zetsu' could do such a thing. This one seemed unfriendly.

'I will test myself'

In a blur, it disappeared, appearing in front of the Akatsuki with surprising speed. The figure threw his arm at Zetsu, failing at the attack as his opponent easily caught the blow. The white one frowned, looking disdainfully at the other, now face to face.

"I thought you disappeared. Showing up again like this? Years afterwards?"

The figure's cheek muscles rose, as if grinning yet with no mouth to show for it. 'You threw me away, I never disappeared'

As if on cue, its arm suddenly dispersed into a liquid, spilling over top of Zetsu's cloak and shoulder. The Akatsuki backed away, taking a look at himself before realizing quickly that the sticky substance had begun to move, burning away at the bits of synthetic flesh it could touch. In attempt to escape, the plant man sunk into the ground quickly, shedding the substance off of himself onto the rocky floor.

Emerging from the ground shoulder up only, Zetsu watched as the substance reformed, rising from the floor into the mannequin human. No doubt about it, that was synthetic flesh, though far weaker than the kind that Zetsu was made of. He glanced down at his wrist, darkened flesh burning with smoke casting into the wind, a crackling and sizzling noise emitted. He rested his gaze back on the other.

'I will surpass you, however weak I am'

The white one smirked. "Really? Last I saw you, you were crawling on the floor like a baby. We saw you to have no use anymore. Didn't Madara kill you?"

Zetsu spoke nonchalantly, easily sparking an anger within the other. The white one grinned, amused to see this expression of what would and should be a face incapable of expression. Creases at the bottom of the figure's cheeks indicated a frown or scowl.

"Accept it, we no longer need boundaries. Upon further development, an individual gains identity and a greater sense of self awareness, this leads to growth and eventually breaking the boundaries. We've matured, the placenta has been removed years ago. You're just a rotting piece of what we used to be. An organ of afterbirth."

The mannequins face twisted further. 'Boundary? I am not a boundary. I am infinity. Mugen.'

"Mugen? What's that? You've made a name for yourself?" Zetsu cackled.

'I am Mugen. I am not that which shall restrict, but I will be beyond growth. Endless, infinite, boundless. However, a name is not enough! I need more than that! I need a face, and to do that, I need to kill you'

Zetsu grinned. "Isn't a child with no mother supposed to stay nameless? With no name and no face, you have no place here."

Papers lifted into the air, gently placing itself on the wound with care. Following it, more papers stuck to the wound, blank white becoming stained in a damp red, indicating that it had begun to stop the bleeding. In obvious response, Deidara irked at the feeling, wincing slightly. His torn and broken arm was cast behind his back, covered over in a thick covering of papers that held his bones and flesh together. Now, his hip had to be dealt with somehow, or he'd die from blood loss.

Konan worked carefully, a stack of papers falling from her cheek. She occasionally glanced upwards, looking towards Deidara's partner who sat in the corner of the space, staring intently at the wounds. His gaze seemed thoughtless, not focused on the wounds themselves as he was simply lost in a daze.

There was a silence in the cavern, broken only by the occasional pained grunts and whines that the blond would make. Nothing else could be seen at the entrance but the vast desert, empty of life.

This silence had begun to grow weary, as Konan found herself unable to bear seeing the look on Sasori's face. It was unusual, so unlike his usual face. He almost seemed sullen, guilty to see such injuries inflicted upon his partner, who just so happened to get caught in the crossfire of the puppeteer's encounter. Uncharacteristic of the normally cool and quiet Akatsuki member, who cared for non other than himself.

"He's lost a lot of blood...and his arm will cost expensive surgery to even attempt to fix."

Sasori's had lowered, gazing down at the floor. Deidara barely noticed, more concerned with himself. Considering the severity of the wounds, it didn't look like he was going to be using this arm ever again. As an artist, the blond definitely wouldn't want that. Deidara's head whipped around to stare agape at Konan, shock imminent in his eyes to hear it.

"However, we'll manage. We can try the surgery once before having Deidara's arm amputated and replaced."

This caused no reaction in Sasori, who simply seemed to be daydreaming. In contrast to him, the younger Akatsuki was quick to react, immediate dread coming over his face. His eyes moved down to his arm, head following the motion.

"No way...am I...gonna lose my arm?" Deidara spoke inwardly.

Konan noticed the lack of the bomber's trademark 'un'. Very rarely did the clay artist leave the sound out of his speech, and yet at the very idea that he would lose the very tools he needed to create his art, he would be an artist no more.

She finally decided to speak with him. "It shouldn't be a problem. You can simply perform the kinjutsu all over again to get your mouth back right?"

"Uh...yeah but..." Deidara gazed down, voice coming down to the tone of a child. By now, the woman could sense and easily guess the bomber's source of dread.

"We'll put you to sleep before the procedure of course, be it the amputation process or simply putting your arm back together."

"What are the chances that the first procedure will be successful?"

Both looked towards Sasori, who continued to put up a steely expression. He wouldn't waver or avert his gaze, at least he had that left.

"Danna?" The blond raised a brow.

Konan looked back to the wound, finishing off the final layer of the cast. Her expression mirrored that of the puppeteer's, pausing briefly after the last sheet had placed itself.

"Well..."

"They were attacked as well..."

Itachi suppressed the urge to comment. Surprised, amused and frustrated expressions seemed to pass over the static silhouettes at the news. He gazed past the tiny shrine, into the dark and empty gap between Kakuzu and Zetsu, large enough for two to fill in, and yet it would stay empty for the rest of the meeting.

News of the mission's outcome had come as a surprise to the organization, since every member had always managed to successfully execute their assignment one way or another, even if it meant to sacrifice half of the team in cold blood. Of all the members to potentially attempt to preserve their partner's life in any major way, Sasori would never have come to mind. Deidara's injury had left him in the intensive care unit of the Amegakure medical wing. Members rarely stayed in Amegakure, since they either didn't need it or simply didn't want to shame their image. Regardless, it was acceptable to request to stay at Amegakure for certain reasons, but Sasori? He never stayed in the village for longer than a day or two.

"Deidara was still clearly capable of speech, so he was able to provide us with a good description of the creature. In general, it appeared to be a transformation stage of a Jinchuriki."

"A Jinchuriki? Which one?" Kisame enquired.

Pein ignored the question. "There's more. During the assignment, the two had apparently stumbled upon the crime scene. There wasn't enough physical evidence to suggest that an entire squad had been massacred, but inspection of one of the dismembered corpses had yielded a definite demon chakra signature. It wasn't long after that the two headed towards a ruins of some kind before being attacked. In the end, we know it had one tail, but neither could conclude that they knew which one it was. Sasori claimed that the one-tails looks different from all other jinchuriki during transformation."

Hidan laughed. "Ha! The more I think about it, the more it sounds like the guy just decided to use the kid as a meat shield!"

"If he did that, wouldn't Sasori be here?" Kakuzu retorted.

"...Eh?" The Jashinist blinked, not quite understanding his partner's point.

The miser groaned exasperatedly, deciding that it wasn't worth explaining to his rather dim-witted companion. If Sasori really had done such a thing, than he would have definitely gone about things as usual within the Akatsuki and attended the meeting. Even his own puppets didn't seem to compare to the importance of punctuality, of which he often mentioned grudgingly holding off projects because a meeting was called. Considering how Sasori had apparently opted to stay with Deidara at the intensive care unit, Kakuzu would rather not think of any mushy reasons why.

Itachi lowered his gaze, then looking over to the leader to ask, "Did Sasori give any reasons as to why he would be staying there?"

"We've agreed to keep that confidential." Konan replied. "Regardless, there's an interest in the ruins that they had supposedly seen. The monsters came from that direction in a particularly close vicinity, so we will with time send another team."

"That's suicide isn't it?" Kisame asked, Itachi agreeing with a nod. "Sasori's one of our oldest members not to mention originating from that very country, how could we beat that?"

Pein chose to answer. "Remember that it was Deidara who suffered the injury, Sasori came off with just a broken puppet. Deidara is new, so we cannot expect the same of him as with other more experienced members. I won't send for him again."

"So when is the next team gonna be sent? By now, I'm sure Sunagakure would have noticed one of their squad's had gone missing." Zetsu pointed out.

"They'll likely avoid sending another investigation group. The next team will be chosen within the next month, for now, we'll have a resting period for this assignment. Dismissed."

"Woah...that looks pretty bad..." Tobi cringed, pulling up the cloth currently covering the blond's arm and side.

Deidara turned his head on the pillow a morbid curiosity. He hadn't been given the chance to see it yet in the state it was left after Konan had attempted to gather it up with her paper. If it had the idiot talking like that, it must have been something. "Does it, un?"

The masked man tilted his head, finally letting the cloth fall as he stood up by the wooden chair. The room was overall empty, stone walls lined with some pipes that looked significantly cleaner than the ones that littered Amegakure ran along the corners and edges of the ceiling. By the white bed was an IV stand, attached to the terrorists intact limb.

Putting a hand on his hip, Tobi scratched his head. "Look, I don't know a lot about the capabilities of medical ninjutsu but...it doesn't look like something anything can fix. Sorry to break the truth to ya, but it looks like you'll probably get that arm amputated."

Deidara smirked, laughing at the statement heartily. The laughter died as he stared at the ceiling, eyes lidded in a sickening expression. "Heh...I was afraid of that."

"...un?" Tobi teased, earning a spiteful look from the blond.

The door creaked open, revealing a familiar redhead standing out in the hallway. He paused, staring at the two before looking to the floor, muttering an apology before closing the door, leaving the two in silence.

"That was...Sasori wasn't it?" Tobi turned back to the bed-ridden patient.

"Yeah, he's been acting weird, un."

"You know, if I didn't know Sasori better, than I would have said he was worried about you. Doesn't that sound right?" The masked man proposed.

Deidara scoffed. "Not really. Then again though I'm not really concerned with him." His visible eye lowered to his torn arm. "I just want to recover and get things back to normal."

"...And?"

The clay artist rolled his eyes. "Un."

Sasori lowered his gaze from the door, standing in the silence of the hallway. He had heard the two talk, the door couldn't block everything out.

He stared at the floor, refusing to move from his spot. He had originally planned to come and apologize to his partner about the incident. The redhead knew perfectly well, it wasn't really his fault of course since neither could do anything to avoid the creature. Chakra strings didn't effect Tailed beasts as well as it did on normal organisms. Sasori couldn't have done anything to stop the attack, and yet, he felt ashamed knowing that as the usual lead of his team, he had failed Deidara somehow.

Hiruko was still in a state of disrepair, and Tobi was currently whiling away the time in the room. Sasori waited by the wall, hoping that nobody would notice him standing there. The medical wing was basically the hospital of Amegakure, though they had reserved a special area for patients who had direct relations to their god.

"There you are."

Zetsu stepped out of the wall, smirking at the very sight of the other Akatsuki. Sasori's head didn't budge, no sign of acknowledgement showing. In attempt to start some conversation, the plant man turned to the door. "Is that Deidara's room?"

Sasori nodded.

"Well? Aren't you going to go in there or something?"

Brown eyes regarded him. The puppeteer turned back to the door and confessed. "I was going to apologize."

"Apologize? For what?" Zetsu chuckled.

The door swung open to Sasori's surprise. Tobi walked out, pausing at the door to look at both of the Akatsuki members. He waved a hand.

"Oh! You're still there! Me and Deidara were talking about you, kinda." The masked man stood by the door, holding it wide open for the puppeteer, earning a puzzled look from the redhead. "Go on! Didn't you say you wanted to apologize for something?"

What the? Sasori blinked, shooting a vigilant glare at the subordinate. "How did you know?"

"Haha, well, I could still hear you. If I couldn't know I wouldn't be a ninja now would I?"

The puppet master still refused to move. Mildly frustrated, Tobi sighed and immediately ushered the reluctant redhead inside despite multiple complaints and threats. By the time Sasori was finally in the room, Tobi had been covered in cuts and bruises, even his mask was cracked. The subordinate hid behind the door, shrinking under the puppeteer's glare.

"I-I'll leave you two alone now!"

SLAM

Sasori seethed, glare burning a hole through the door. A silence settled, only the sound of IV dripping liquid could be heard.

"You wanted to say something to me, un?"

All anger faded, turning into anxiousness. The puppeteer turned to face the blond, still slightly shocked to see the clay artist. Deidara's body was laid out on the bed underneath a white blanket. A light blue cloth covered over his partner's left side and arm, bumps underneath the fabric indicated that it was mess, though arranged in such a way that it somewhat resembled a limb.

Deidara seemed to glower at him, slightly suspicious of what the puppeteer was so hesitant to talk about. Few things passed between the two after all. In his position, he couldn't see his partner very well, only able to see the very top hairs on head. It wasn't like he couldn't move, but he was instructed to strictly remain in one position. If he moved, his arm would get more messed up than it was already.

"I..." Sasori said, pausing in right after. He seemed to weigh his words before deciding to speak. "I wanted to apologize about what happened."

SLAM

"Eek..." Tobi whined, crouching by the door.

Zetsu looked down. "A good boy closes the door to give people privacy."

The masked man sprang up, holding a hand at his hip as he gave a salute to the Akatsuki. "And a good boy I am!"

The hallway light turned off, signalling that visiting hours were ending soon. Tobi relaxed his pose, joining his lacky down the hall. There was no need to hurry, visiting hours only applied to those who were not directly involved with the Akatsuki. As it was, anyone who was part of or worked under the organization could theoretically remain at the wing as long as they wanted and come at any time.

Tobi stuck to the right of the hall, letting nurses and doctors pass. At the sight of his companion, they bowed in respect before continuing on their way.

The masked man pulled out an umbrella, shielding himself from the rain. Metallic towers dwarfed him, reaching out towards the dark and cloudy sky. The streets were filled as usual, since this area was a residence of some kind to the people here.

"So, who is this Mugen again?" Tobi's voice lowered into a more deep tone.

"You wouldn't know it. It left long before you were taken in with us." Zetsu sunk into the floor, letting only the shoulders and up be visible. "In order for our kind to be created, we needed it as a vessel for the very start of our evolution. Once we could stand on our two feet our empty shells gathered and created its being. It was never supposed to have a conscience."

He stepped in a puddle, resulting in a slightly wetter shoe than he'd prefer. He held the umbrella over his head to hide his masked face. The citizens of the village didn't give him a second glance, unable to recognize his importance.

"How powerful is it?"

"Weak. When it came to challenge us, he could only afford to keep his physical form when no pressure was applied to its body. But it can burn synthetic flesh like acid."

Tobi brought his own gloved hand up to view, flexing it. "Would you say it's something the Akatsuki has to fear?"

"That depends. We have no idea how much it has grown since. It's possible that it could be a threat. He could mess with our communication system. Not to mention we don't know what abilities it ultimately inherits from our kind."

"Who was Mugen? As in, what was Mugen like?"

"It used to crawl on the ground because it couldn't keep its body whole. It's simply a mass of whatever was left over from each of the beginning vessels. Mugen could not speak, and does not appear that he can now. Madara kept him around for a short time. We planned to dispose of him but he disappeared."

A slug slunk across the floor, forcibly destroyed as the masked-man's foot squished it into the concrete. It's organs strewn into the puddle, a mass of bubbles gathering around the corpse.

"He told us something strange after we nearly defeated him. Some blabber about gaining a face. I'm thinking it may imply that he's inherited the ability to copy chakra signatures, the best transformation technique."

The arrived at a tall tower that dwarfed all other others with a large statue built into the higher floors. The statue watched over the village, rusty pipes worked their way throughout the entire building. Tobi entered the building beneath an overhanging ceiling, shadows engulfing him as he went. He collapsed the umbrella and placed it in a basket nearby.

"I'll see what I can do. However, first we must deal with the killer of those spies. Mugen can come later. If he is weakened, we can count on him taking up some time to recover without interfering with my plans."

Sasori pulled up a wooden chair to the hospital bed, avoiding the others gaze. Deidara rested is head on the pillow, taking a moment to breath. The puppeteer awaited his response, sitting slouched in his seat.

"So that's it, un." Deidara breathed, staring up at the ceiling with a glazed over eye. "You wanted to apologize huh? I guess Tobi was right on the money with you, you're acting real strange danna, un."

The puppeteer didn't move, face nearly unreadable. "You were up in the sky, there was no reason that you had to get hurt...not at that distance."

The blond scoffed at the statement, opting to avoid any kind of intimacies. "I was the one who called out. That thing may have not been supposed to get me but it did, so it only means that my injuries were my own fault, un." His eye moved from the ceiling to the redhead, who had remained still as a statue. "Of course, I normally wouldn't mind the blame being on someone else, so I guess it could be your fault if we're gonna get cheesy."

Deidara waited eagerly for the redhead's next sentence. The room fell into silence, a low hum in the background of machines at work blotted out some of the other sounds in the hall. By then, it became clear the blond that his partner had nothing to say, and that didn't sit well with him. Deidara snorted and whipped his head away from Sasori, scowling. "I don't get what's with you. I'm a rookie here, and I've heard you killed quite a few previous partners, though it's arguable considering Kakuzu's record, un. You're acting all quiet and guilty, it's disgusting, that's not the partner that had that ridiculous morbid art, un!"

His eyes softened, slight anger still imminent. "The partner I knew was nothing like that."

Sasori opened his mouth to reply but no words escaped, something held him back. Deidara continued to stare at the opposite wall, waiting patiently for a response. The squeak of a chair pulled his head back to his partner, who stood up and promptly turned to make his way to the door.

"Oi! Hey! Where are you going, un?" The blonde barked.

Sasori paused, shoulders slightly slouched. A few seconds passed before he finally placed his hand on the doorknob. "Visiting hours are over."

Click

The patient remained speechless, having just watched the once fearless puppet master back down and let himself out. A silent hum filled the empty room once again, accompanied by the drip-drop of the IV. Deidara frowned.

"Visiting hours ended a while ago...un."

Deidara's currently out of commission so that currently leaves one person left. Itachi sauntered around a corner, occasionally looking over the rusty pipes that lined the corridors. There must have been a pretty big leak here, since a wrapping was applied to the middle of the tube.

He had only just arrived to Amegakure along with Kisame. On orders, they were to come here and speak directly with the higher-ups. The idea seemed pointless, the trip here was by no means easy due to the many storms and the boggy land of this nation. If anything, they could have simply called a private meeting between leader and them alone, but alas, they were here.

Apparently, the reason why was due to Itachi's next mission. Kisame was simply a tag-along. Orders were as stated: Itachi would venture back into the Land of Wind to pick up where Deidara and Sasori had left off. Of course, it was obvious that it would be a bad choice to repeat the scenario, there would be a better chance at success if one of them had actual experience. Now that Sasori knew of this new threat, Pein had suggested that Itachi go and try to convince Sasori to be a temporary partner for the mission. Though the thought that their Leader could not have simply had the other meet him at his arrival to the village had crossed his mind, he questioned why he needed to do the extra leg-work.

The first place to look was obviously his workshop, which had always been relatively quiet. Itachi had never stayed at the tower for long, so the puppeteer's regular activities were a definite mystery. The very fact itself made it even more difficult to locate him. By then, Sasori had apparently gone out for the day, made evident by a note on his door claiming that he was not in the room. That very same note had also stated that the puppeteer did not wish to be bothered either, but orders were orders, and as it seemed, Sasori's day would have be interrupted.

A casual walk down the drenched street made Itachi question what kind of day the Akatsuki member was having, standing out near the Amegakure hospital. The cloak was damp all over. With the previous rain a few hours ago, one could guess that the puppeteer had been here for a while, staring at the double doors.

"Sasori."

...

Itachi blinked and cautiously made his way closer, eyeing the puppet. It was common knowledge among the regular members that Hiruko was simply a shell. As far as the Uchiha knew, no one but Deidara, Tobi, Pein, Konan, Orochimaru, and presumably Zetsu knew what he truly looked like. Even then, Deidara never spoke of his true form, though definitely claiming to have seen it more than once. It was times like these that Itachi sometimes wondered about who sat cozy inside that puppet.

"Sasori." He raised his voice slightly.

Hiruko visibly jolted for a second, then slowly swung its head in Itachi's direction. The Uchiha stood under his umbrella, shielding himself from the light drizzle.

"I went to your room and you weren't there, so I came to find you." Itachi explained briefly.

An odd silence came over the puppet, who then turned back to staring at the hospital doors. No one seemed to notice the two Akatsuki there, going about their day as if it were any other. Normally, due to their relations to their leader, the members would receive curt bows and respect from the citizens, but if Sasori had been a regular at the area, some of that respect would turn into normal courtesy. Hiruko remained silent, then grumbled, "There was a note, did you read it?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes, I did. Though, I had to find you on orders of Leader. We're supposed to-"

"No."

The raven blinked.

Sasori caught on the puzzled look and continued without making eye-contact. "No need to waste your breath, my answer is no. I know about the mission, I'm not going. Leader's already tried to convince me."

Did he threaten you? The Uchiha was at a loss for words, having planned what he was going to say to the puppeteer in advance as he walked about Amegakure and now it was all without result. Now what? What would he tell leader? Itachi stood for a moment, then gazed around the block. "Why won't you go?"

No voice emitted from the shell of a puppet, the seconds drawn on in silence long enough to stand as an answer. Itachi made a small sigh. "How long...have you been here?"

"...Four hours."

"Just standing here?"

Hiruko nodded.

Itachi pressed his lips together into a thin line. "What about-"

"I wrote that I did not want to be bothered and that's exactly what I want. Go away, or I'll make you." Sasori's tone grew harsh, a clinking sound emitted from his puppet. "Tell leader that there's absolutely no way I'm going on that mission before Deidara's recovered. He won't blame you."