Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

....

"It's alright," I said, no longer doubting him. "Really."

The assurance in my eyes made him unconsciously loosen his grip, and I slowly unwrapped the towel. His eyes widened, and when I finished, he fell over, practically drowning.

"See, I told you that you didn't have to worry!" I said, grinning brightly as I tossed the towel aside. "I'm wearing another towel underneath this one!"

Before I knew it, he pushed me underwater, and the hot rush to my face unpleasantly surprised me. When I resurfaced, his face was red and he looked frustrated.

"You're so… dense, un." he said.

Two weeks passed since I had arrived at the Akatsuki base, and I was already somewhat adjusting to the incredibly strange lifestyle. During that time, I was forced to accept that I was going to stay in this world for a while, so I tried to act as normal as possible—which turned out to be impossible. In addition to special training with Deidara and interrogation sessions with Itachi, I was now, for some ridiculous reason, taking dance classes with Konan and music classes with Pain.

I still hadn't returned Sasori's soul to his body, but that was under Pain's orders; I suspected that he knew what the situation between us was.

Tobi, meanwhile, drew a family tree of the Akatsuki, which Hidan destroyed several times, but was being redrawn again and again. Tobi now called us by our role in the family, and it was driving some of the members insane.

I could count on sharing meals daily with Itachi, Hidan, and Deidara: Itachi, since he was supposed to be "looking after" me, Hidan, because he wanted to "keep track of the enemy's progress", and Deidara, since he was "always hungry when we finished training, anyway".

And now, here I was again, in the baths with Deidara. This time it was the punishment for losing to him in a race, but secretly, I didn't think it was such a punishment. It was actually easy to relax and talk to him about things, and I was wearing only one towel today.

After staying in the bath for a while, we went to change our clothes. When he dried his hair, I caught a glimpse of his left eye through his towel.

"Deidara, where's your scope?" I asked. "Is it not waterproof?"

"It is," he replied. "But it's nice for my eye to feel fresh air, so I take it off sometimes. I catch things that I didn't see before, like whatever's wrapped in that towel you set aside."

Taken aback, I unwrapped the object in the towel, which happened to be Sasori's soul compartment, and turned to Deidara.

"I didn't think you'd notice," I said, taking it in my hand. "Sasori can only feel with this, so I thought… maybe so he could be less cold…." My voice died out; I was too embarrassed to continue.

"You still care about him that much? It's been over a week since you dissembled him." he asked, his voice slightly different.

It was probably time for him to know. We had known each other long enough, and I certainly felt like we were friends for years. "I… think I like him," I answered, staring at Sasori's soul, wondering if he could feel my hands holding him. "Itachi saw his childhood story in my memories, and I don't know if he told you anything, but Sasori isn't completely a bad person."

But when I saw the somber expression on his face, I knew I had said something wrong.

Deidara

"Saya," I said, saying her name for once. "Do you seriously think that we're not bad people? I've been a bomb terrorist ever since I was a kid, and Sasori has killed more people that I have, using their bodies as puppets. In your sense, isn't that evil?" This girl doesn't get it, I thought, thinking about Pain's plan to send her to the Sand. How are we supposed to send her on such a dangerous mission?

"I know what you've done," she said. "And I know that you might do it again, but you can still be forgiven, Deidara. It's never too late to repent. It's your loneliness, your lack of love that drove you to become like this; it's not evil. You are not insane, Deidara. You and Sasori are brilliant, but you're lost when it comes to love. Since you've never had enough love, you've lost the sense of value of a person's life, their dreams and their happiness."

"Stop," I said, turning away. I didn't want to remember my childhood days. "Don't talk about it if you've never been through it. I don't want love and I'm not lonely."

"You do want love," she said, turning my face to her, "You've just been denied love your entire life, so you don't know what it is anymore. Love doesn't always express itself in a romantic way, Deidara. With love, you can make things right with your past mistakes and do good things to be forgiven."

I didn't want to talk about it anymore. Love sounded pretty nice from her perspective, but I didn't believe it was that easy. "It must be nice to be a kid like you," I said, envying her naiveté. "You've never gone through the experience of killing someone. You haven't seen the true ugliness of this world. It's easy for you to say that the world is beautiful and that I have a chance to be good." Gently but firmly, I took her arms and enclosed her against the wall. She needed to realize the vulnerability she was in, especially around me. The steam from the baths surrounded us and started to humidify my clothes. "But, it's too late for me. I'm past the point of forgiveness. Killing is nothing to me anymore; I enjoy it now. Blowing people up genuinely excites me, as making human bodies into puppets excites Sasori. Society would definitely call us insane. You need to understand that some people in this world are evil." Gripping her tighter, I bent my head, not able to look her in the eyes. "Even now, I want so much to show you the evil in this world, to tear your innocence apart. The darkness in my heart wants to corrupt you, and it's taking all of my self-control to stop myself."

"Deidara," she said, and I looked at her, wondering how those dark red-brown eyes could see through me so clearly. "You just proved to me that you're not evil. You are fighting against your inner instinct to protect me. How could I call you evil after hearing that you care about me?"

The rush to my cheeks came involuntarily. Was that it? It's because I care about her? "Saya, you—" But I couldn't finish; something painfully drew into my chest, which was still unclothed. We both looked down, and Sasori's soul had clasped itself to my body; I gasped in pain, but there was no wound. I felt myself losing my conscience, feeling a new one take over….

Saya

"Deidara!" I tried to pull Sasori's soul out, but it wouldn't move. A moment earlier I was simply holding it in my hand, but it had a sudden urge to move into his chest. He collapsed onto me, his head falling onto my shoulder. But before I could put him down, he rose with a different face. His hair was shortened and crimson, and his eyes turned into an autumn gold.

"I owe you for that prank, Saya." He said, smirking. His face looked down at me; his eighteen-year-old self was considerably taller than his fifteen-year-old puppet. "Making me unconscious for so long was the wrong thing to do." He spoke quietly into my ear, "I'm going to make sure you learn your lesson. Let's continue what we started at that time."

Before I could register anything in my mind, before my heart slowed after seeing him so suddenly, his lips dove into the curve of my neck, trailing upwards to my ear.

"Sasori—stop it—" I tried to push him away, but the feel of his lips on my sensitive neck was unbelievably distracting, and when he nipped at my ear, I couldn't hold back embarrassing sounds of surprise.

"What's wrong?" he whispered into my ear. "You're holding back your voice. This is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"No, get off, pervert!" I said, trying not to be distracted by his lips, but he was too strong to push away. Someone help me!

Deidara

No, I said in my head, feeling my lips on her skin though I wasn't initiating it. Sasori no Danna, please stop. I longed to speak, but my body was no longer in my control. Danna couldn't hear me; only I could hear myself being tortured into this state. This isn't right; this is my body!

I was disgusted at myself, feeling my lips against her neck and hearing her sounds of restraint yet not able to do anything about it. But what was the most disgusting was that a dark lust in my heart was emerging. I didn't want to be like this.

Move, damn it!

Saya

"Please get off, Sasori." I said, and his eyes looked so intently into mine that it was overwhelming.

"Your face is red," he remarked.

"It's hot in here!" I tried to make excuses while trying to move away, my clothes moistening from the steam of the baths.

His hand touched my face. "I'm not a romantic man, or even a nice man. But I am a man, so I want this." His lips came close to mine. "But kissing on the lips is something that lovers do, isn't it? So I'll just skip that part. We can still get what we both want without that insignificant act."

Now I was getting heated, doing anything I could to push him away. "You—!"

"She's turned on because she's imagining that I'm the one doing it to her." Madara entered the steaming room, his mask off and his Sharingan gazing at us.

To my surprise, Sasori didn't look surprised to see his true identity at all. "Tobi," he said, slowly turning to him. "I knew you weren't a stupid kid, but to think that you were a member of the Uchiha clan…"

"If you weren't in Deidara's body, I would have greatly punished you for trying to assault my partner." He moved closer, but Sasori didn't let go of me.

"So you're the one Pain is taking orders from?" Sasori said.

"You're sharp," he replied, not stopping as he approached us. "But I can't say any more now. I'll be taking my partner back." And my hand was taken by his as I was led out of the room.

Sasori

I touched my lips with my hands, still feeling her heat on them. How long has it been since I've felt the warmth of another person? The desire was so overwhelming and the opportunity was so perfect, I gave in to my lust by taking over Deidara's body and forcing myself onto Saya. The loneliness from my days as a child was coming back, and it was all because of her. I hated her, but at the same time, I couldn't let her go. If I couldn't have her heart, then I would take her body. I punched the wall, looking at the ground where the blood slowly dripped onto from my knuckles. How else could I satiate this feeling in my chest? How else could I ease the growing pain in my heart, which has felt nothing for so many years?

Though I told Saya that I had been unconscious for the past two weeks, I was awake for the entire time. I remembered Saya's words to Deidara as I rested in her hand: "You do want love. You've just been denied love your entire life, so you don't know what it is anymore." Yes, I finally realized, I'm desperate for her, and I have been tainted enough in my life to do anything to get her. I was such a despicable being.

My pain was so unbearable, I wondered if Deidara, deep inside my conscience, could physically feel it. I wondered if he would ever understand. But there was one thing I needed both of us to hear.

I love her. And as I broke down onto the wall, my eyes felt teary for the first time in twenty years.