Sasori's strangely hard fingers dug into Deidara's flesh as he dragged him out of the kitchen.
"Un, can you let go? You're holding too tight, un," he murmured, half-expecting the red head to turn around and yell at him.
Instead, Sasori released his grip and said quietly, "Hn."
Deidara decided that that was his version of a 'sorry,' so he smiled and replied happily, "That's okay, un!" It was probably a good idea to hide the red marks made by his partner's fingers as he said it, though. "So," he began, stopping when they were out of the other room, "what are we doing, un?"
Sasori finally turned back to face him and Deidara noticed the shadows under the half-lidded eyes. "I don't want you asking me where things are later, so I'm showing you where everything is now."
"Okay, that sounds fun! But," the blonde cocked his head in question, "can I ask questions today, un? And," he added as an afterthought, "will you answer them in more than one word?"
"Yes." Sasori made a sound in the back of his throat before adding with a look of mild irritation, "I will."
Grinning, Deidara followed a disgruntled Sasori around the Akatsuki Headquarters.
"Living room. There's a television and enough places for all of us to sit. Kakuzu doesn't allow food in this room because he just bought our carpet, but Hidan finds the look on his face amusing so he encourages us to eat out here anyway," Sasori explained, slightly lifting a hand in gesture when he mentioned things.
The thick carpet was a rich black and Deidara could feel his feet sink in each time he took a step. The walls, because they were basically living in a fully furnished cave, were the same drab stone that was congruent with everything else he had seen. In the left hand corner of the room was a huge television with a number of different remotes sitting atop it. Placed sporadically but tastefully around the TV were two sofas, three comfortable-looking reclining chairs, and a rosewood coffee table. All five couches and chairs were suede, either scarlet or black, and looked extremely soft and squashy. In its entirety, the room was relatively clean save for a few things strewed about one or two of the seats. Two more black doors were at the far right hand side of the area and Sasori led the way to the one furthest away from them, Deidara following close behind.
Opening the door, he motioned towards the darkness. "The basement. Everything that wouldn't be in a closet or a pantry goes here. Watch for rats when you go down."
Deidara made a face. "How can you get rats in a rock, un?"
Sasori grunted his displeasure at having to explain something. "Tobi lost his pet rats a year ago then for Easter thought it would be tremendously fun to hide eggs in the basement and have the rest of us search for them. We all thought it was a ridiculous idea and didn't bother. In any case, Tobi couldn't find them again and obviously the rats did," he replied in a monotone. Apparently the story had gotten quite old to him.
"Oh, un."
Sasori closed the door and moved to the one directly beside it. It opened into a hallway with three more doors on either side and straight ahead. "That one," the red head said through a bored sigh, pointing lazily to the left, "leads to the laundry room. If you've washed your clothes before, it wont be hard to figure out. That," his hand moved lazily forwards to gesture at the door at the end of the hall, "is the bathroom for the first floor. Either that or you have run up the four flights of stairs."
He moved to the closed door on the right and opened it, flicking on the light. It was another hallway, but this one was furnished with Akatsuki cloaks, winter coats, shoes, or any other spare article of clothing. The closet portion ended halfway down the stretch of hall, where the walls were instead decorated with shelves that were lined with large assortment of dry goods, canned foods, and a various number of other victuals. Another door ended the corridor and Sasori approached it without a word. Apparently this passage was self-explanatory.
Deidara looked around curiously. He had heard so many stories about the dangerous Akatsuki and how evil they were, but this was an ordinary home. Albeit a bit strange to be built in a rock face, but everything seemed so…commonplace. The people were rather strange, however. He especially didn't like Tobi – too irritating.
This was far better than being with the others, though. Even if Sasori didn't give him much attention, at least he didn't feel so lost when it was just the two of them.
The red head, however, resented any time away from his room. There was work to be done and here he was giving this irritating blonde a grand tour.
He opened the door in front of him and stepped through into the kitchen next to the refrigerator. "The pantry goes through to the kitchen," he glanced at the table where the others had been eating earlier. The entire room was completely empty. Good, he thought. As much as he hated being a tour guide, he would resent it even more so if anyone saw him reduce himself to such levels.
"That's it, your home." Sasori turned and walked toward the stairs up to where the rooms were. Hopefully this setup wouldn't be permanent. Of all the replacements…his features twitched at the thought. If nothing else, perhaps he could get some work done. If the brat was smart enough, he would go outside and train a little, leaving Sasori to himself.
The blonde was taken aback at the sudden dismissal he received. As his partner retreated to their room once more, Deidara decided to follow him – after all, his partner hadn't actually told him to leave.
Sasori made no move to acknowledge his presence until they reached their door. Rounding on his partner, he gave the slightest hint of a frown and said in an unnaturally calm voice, "What do you want now?"
"You said I could ask questions, un," came the reply, his face lit up in a cheery smile.
Completely disarmed by the bright innocence of the kid, Sasori muttered, "Hn," and entered the room, sat at his desk, and began tinkering with the wood pieces lying on it.
"Ne, Sasori-san," Deidara bounded over to his bed and barely stopped himself from collapsing on it, "what happened with Hidan's head?"
"Hidan is immortal and Kakuzu can reattach his limbs, so Kakuzu gets a free shot at him when he gets angry." Back turned, the red head never ceased working on the block he had in his hands.
"Oh, un. So where did that other door in that big cave lead?" He settled to lying down on the flooring by Sasori's bed (where there wasn't too much dust).
"Sir Leader's chambers," was the short response.
Deidara was really starting to enjoy himself. Completely oblivious to Sasori's obvious displeasure at having to answer such stupid questions, he turned over onto his stomach and began drawing pictures in the dust next to him. He'd get to cleaning up sometime later. "Sooo…Zetsu – did I meet him? And what does he eat then if he doesn't like the food in the kitchen?"
"No and people."
"Nani!?" His hand slipped over his dust picture of a bird, marring the face, as he looked up.
Sasori continued whittling away at the piece of wood, not taking any notice of the startled blonde. He truly missed the silence his old partner used to give him and the silence left after-
"Wait, what!? He eats people!?" Deidara broke into his thoughts, apparently seeking confirmation.
Sasori chose to ignore him. The stupid request didn't apply to questions he had already answered as far as he was concerned.
Realizing he wasn't going to get any further reply from the red head and deciding that whoever Zetsu was, he would avoid him, the blonde returned to the floor sketch, trying to cover up the line through the bird's head. Quickly giving it up as a lost cause, he rose, dusting off his hands and another question came to mind. "So why is only half the room so dirty, Sasori-san?"
The red head stopped his ministrations and stared straight ahead at the blank stone wall for a moment. "Get out, brat," he murmured quietly.
"But-"
"Now," his voice rose ever so slightly, but Deidara took it as a signal to shut up and he slipped out as quickly and quietly as possible.
Now alone, Sasori glared at the wood in front of him. However innocently it was meant, the topic had been raised. He had no urge to speak about it with other members, so why would he bother with discussing it with this kid. No longer interested in working on his art, he turned in his chair and stared at the untouched side of the room absently.
A/N: Nyah!! Sumimasen! Its so short, but Ive been so busy all week!! Plus I know what I plan on doing in the next chapter and I couldnt think of what else to put in here because I was too excited lolz. Enjoy!! And yesh SasoDei fans, yaoi will come later, but fluffyness gives stories depth so bear with me 3