Note: Thanks so much to RANDOMNATIONS, sasodei-iz-awesome, SasoDeiLover7, Shikirou, petite-neko, Amynta, Tenshi Youkai no Yugure, Dark Kisuna, Love Psycho, DemonFromHell, kally77, and 1Ivanessence1 for the comments! To Tenshi Youkai no Yugure, this chapter should answer your questions about the foreshadowing. :P And, to address the concerns of a few of you, this story still has quite a ways to go. After all, Deidara still has to clue Sasori in to the fact that Sasori obviously wants Deidara, even if he's too emotionally retarded to realize it. ;)

Flesh and Blood
by Kantayra

Chapter Ten – The Secret Vision of the Artist

"Art arises when the secret vision of the artist and the manifestation of nature agree to find new shapes." – Kahlil Gibran

--

Present day…

The sun rose a deep, brilliant red over the stern of the Tsubone. It was a small trading vessel that really would have been more accurately dubbed a pirate ship at most times. At the moment, however, the shipping lanes were quite prosperous, and most sailors would take an honest job if it paid well enough. The crew was rough around the edges and fancied themselves dangerous, but even they would have been horrified if they'd known why this sunrise was so exceptionally vivid.

Two of the passengers who had bartered their way on board stood at the stern, arms folded on the guardrail in nearly identical casual positions. The two men weren't mirroring each other on purpose, of course; they'd just worked together so long that keeping time with each other, even in such minute detail, had become second nature.

"How can you say it's not a work of art?" the young, blond man asked.

"Tch. We already agreed that a sunset wasn't art, brat. A sunrise is no different," the old hunchback retorted, sounding both amused and irritated at the same time.

"A sunrise on its own isn't art, but this sunrise is different. This sunrise has been made more vivid by my art, and therefore it's also an expression of my artwork."

"You can't take credit for a beautiful sunrise. Even if I did concede that point, I still wouldn't call your little parting gift 'art.'"

"But look at what it's created! The sun wouldn't be this red this morning without me. I was inspired, envisioned my creation, and now thousands can see it, if only for this fleeting moment."

"I know you're trying to bait me with that last comment. It's not going to work."

"But you at least agree that it's a beautiful sunrise, right, Master?"

"Tch. It's fine."

"And I helped create it?"

"I suppose you did."

"Well, then, whether you call it art or not, that's good enough for me."

"Tch, brat," the elder said fondly.

They drifted off into a companionable silence, while, far behind them, Hisoka burned to the ground, obliterating any trace of the two S-Class criminals it had concealed for the past months.

--

Sasori had never been fond of the sea. In the Wind Country, water had always been a precious commodity, where wells were carefully guarded and meticulously maintained. Vast tracts of water seemed uncomfortable and alien to Sasori. It didn't help that this water was undrinkable; that was just like adding insult to injury.

Deidara seemed to like it, though. Of course, Sasori could count on one hand the number of things Deidara didn't like. Deidara had always been remarkably versatile; it was a good characteristic to have in a partner, since Sasori usually wasn't willing to compromise on anything.

Sasori spent most of his time below deck, tinkering with Jirou's joints from inside his new carapace. On the one hand, it was a relief to finally be safe within a puppet once more; Sasori hadn't even realized how on edge he'd been from being out in the open for so long. On the other hand, Jirou was a bit cramped inside, and Sasori didn't have the opportunity to ever leave his compartment because the room they slept in housed all the passengers on the ship, and Sasori could never guarantee that he'd be alone. That problem would be fixed, of course, when his own body became a puppet once more. No more muscles meant no more cramps. Sasori could hardly wait.

Deidara stayed above deck for the most part, gazing out over the ocean and chatting with absolutely everybody he could find. Sasori didn't see him much over those first couple of days, which suited him just fine because he was cranky from there being so many people around all the time. Sasori wished that they could have just traveled on foot, but the trip west would have taken them along the southern edge of the Fire Country, the River Country, and then the Wind Country: coincidentally, the three countries where they were most wanted at the moment. An ocean voyage really had been the only viable option.

So Sasori worked as best he could in the darkness of Jirou's carapace, with occasional reports from Deidara as to their progress. When Deidara came in that evening, however, the news was different.

"The captain says we're about to pass the border between River and Wind." Deidara sat on his cot and pulled off his boots. He kept his socks on, though, rather than risk anyone seeing the mouths in his ankles.

"Hmm," Sasori said disinterestedly, but the words struck a chord in him. It was a strange realization, that this might be the last time he ever saw his home country.

That was why, early the next morning while Deidara and the rest of the passengers slept, Sasori crept from his cot. It was difficult because he'd taken the spot at the far back of the cabin where he was as far away from the rest of the passengers as possible. Deidara had the cot right in front of his, and Sasori crept around Deidara's sleeping form. Jirou may have been faster than Hiruko, but he was still rather large, and this kind of delicate work was difficult.

Deidara snorted lightly in his sleep, curled up on his side, but didn't stir. Once Sasori got past him, the route to the door was quite clear, and he made it up to the deck easily.

The Tsubone's route hugged the coast but sailed far enough out that the land still looked distant. Sasori could just make out, ahead and to their right, the tall cliffs that made up the Wind Country's ocean border. He couldn't see the desert here, he was disappointed to realize. That was the only thing he'd ever missed after he left Suna.

The sun was just brightening the horizon, but the land still had a bluish, shadowy cast to it. Sasori remembered sunrise in the desert with fondness. Out in the vast wasteland, everything seemed so permanent, unchangeable. He was alone, but it wasn't the waiting sort of alone that he'd experienced as a child in Suna.

Sasori continued to watch the sunrise as the world he'd known so long slipped away for the last time.

--

"Are you all right, Master?" Deidara asked softly while the Tsubone was pulled into port at the south of the Wind Country. "You've been quiet lately."

"Tch," Sasori complained, "I'm always quiet."

"But this is a different kind of quiet," Deidara insisted.

It made very little sense to Sasori. "I'm just anxious for us to get on our way again," he snapped.

"Hmm, yeah," Deidara agreed. "It's a bother. But this should be the last time we'll have to hide out."

Sasori nodded at that. In truth, now that he looked like Jirou, there was virtually no danger he'd be spotted if he stepped briefly ashore during this quick layover. Deidara had to watch himself, however; the man who had killed the Kazekage right under Suna's nose could be recognized even with his hair short.

"You could go ashore, if you wanted," Deidara said casually, as if reading Sasori's thoughts. "Say goodbye. I wouldn't mind."

Sasori glared at him through Jirou's eyes. "I have no use for sentimentality, brat."

Deidara shrugged. "It was just a suggestion."

"It was a bad one."

Sasori closed himself off in his work for the rest of the afternoon and refused to acknowledge Deidara's existence. That night, however, when Sasori snuck out to watch the shore pass slowly by, he suddenly found himself with company.

A gloved hand gripped the rail right beside Jirou's, and Sasori glanced at it with a huff of annoyance.

"Here," Deidara said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his scope.

Sasori darted a look around with Jirou's eyes, but none of the crew were paying any attention to them. He took Deidara's scope and lifted it to his eye. Jirou didn't have the proper fastening mechanisms, of course, but he could still use it like a telescope.

It took him a minute to figure out how to zoom in. He could've asked Deidara, but he didn't feel like talking. He finally pushed his chakra into the eye scope in just the right way, and suddenly the shore appeared twice as close.

He could see the desert now, rolling into the distance in an endless series of dunes the way it had since before Sasori's most distant ancestors had even dreamed of such a sight. There was something very calming about it all.

"You can keep it for the trip," Deidara said. "I won't be able to wear it, anyway." He paused a moment for a response, and when he got none, he left Sasori alone to his thoughts.

There were some times, Sasori concluded, that Deidara wasn't half bad company.

--

"Do you ever miss it?" Sasori finally asked the third day sailing along the coast of the Wind Country. If the weather stayed in their favor, it should be the last day he saw his country of birth.

Deidara, who had just finished chatting with one of their fellow passengers about seabirds and other inane topics, moved to stand beside Sasori and watch the shore. "The Earth Country?" Deidara cocked his head to one side. "Well, sometimes I miss the desert…"

Sasori nodded.

"For the most part, there was never anything there for me," Deidara concluded. "I had to go out and find my real home, yeah?"

"Tch," Sasori scoffed. "You don't have to sound so trite about it."

"Whatever, Master," Deidara sighed. He glanced at Sasori and then further than Sasori along the starboard side of the deck. "I think that passenger we picked up in the Wind Country is looking at me funny," he said under his breath.

Sasori rolled Jirou's eyes. "He's checking you out. Big deal. Half the crew is doing the same."

Deidara let out an offended little noise and headed back below deck.

The Wind Country traveler watched Deidara go.

Sasori just frowned and turned back to watching what little he could see of the desert in the distance, wishing it was past nightfall so he could pull out Deidara's scope.

--

That night, one of the passengers on the Tsubone was lost overboard. Everyone was puzzled by how it had happened. The man was a Suna merchant, who had only boarded two days prior. Several passengers testified to seeing him fall asleep on his cot just after suppertime. The old hunchback who spent his nights watching the coast insisted that he hadn't seen the merchant come up on deck. The man was clearly missing, however, and after the ship was searched from bow to stern, the only conclusion that the captain could draw was that somehow he'd gotten up on deck when no one was looking and fallen overboard.

The crew was happy enough with this resolution and divvied up the man's property with all due haste.

"He was probably just checking me out," Deidara conceded sheepishly as he and Sasori watched the desert slowly come to an end up ahead.

"Probably," Sasori agreed. Likewise, Kaori and the other guards and Deidara's employer at the pottery shop back in Hisoka probably wouldn't have been able to identify them as Akasuna no Sasori and Nijuuni Deidara in the unlikely event that some day, someone tried to track them. Sasori didn't like leaving loose ends, though, so he'd made sure they all received a prick of poison to their throats before Deidara set the town on fire. Such precautions were necessary.

Deidara grinned over at him. "Thanks anyway, Master."

"Hn. Brat." The odd thing was that the merchant's death felt even more satisfying to Sasori, if he imagined the man as a harmless traveler who just wanted Deidara's body. It was a point he didn't let himself dwell upon.

--

The night after Sasori had marched the merchant out of his cot and over the edge of the deck on chakra strings, a tiny bird approached him under the cloak of darkness. Sasori held out one of Jirou's palms, and the bird alighted on it, chirping twice before going still.

Sasori pulled the bird inside Jirou's robe and slipped it inside the carapace through a small emergency side-hatch he'd created. That was one area were Hiruko had been more efficient; Jirou's arms weren't retractable because the space needed to retract his limbs was taken up by the additional leg sockets.

Once Sasori had the bird in hand, he recovered the chakra he'd pushed into the tiny puppet before returning the bird to his scroll.

He couldn't see the desert anymore, anyway, even with Deidara's scope set to its highest magnification. It seemed he'd left the world he'd been born into behind; it was a bittersweet departure.

He returned below deck with the report the bird had brought him. The note was from one of his spies in the Rain Country, and Sasori wanted to be able to devote his full attention to the information inside, without worrying about moving Jirou at the same time.

He settled Jirou's bulk on his cot, jostling Deidara in the next cot over as he did so. Deidara continued to sleep like the dead. It made Sasori wonder why he'd bothered to be so careful that first night he snuck out.

When he'd received the message, he knew what the contents had to be. There was only one circumstance in which his spy was supposed to initiate contact like this. He read the message carefully, anyway, absorbing all the details in the report. He reread the missive, pondered for a moment, and then kicked Deidara in the back.

Deidara let out an incredible squawk as he fell out of his cot onto the wooden floor. Sasori stood over him and dropped the note on his head.

"Here."

Deidara scowled at him and snatched it up.

Sasori didn't wait for him and returned to the deck. Only the pilot and two night watchmen were out at this hour, and they paid Sasori no mind. He did get curious looks, however, when a few seconds later Deidara dashed out of the passenger cabin after him.

"Is this a joke?" Deidara demanded, clutching the letter in one hand.

"No joke," Sasori said simply, tilting Jirou's head up to gaze at the stars.

Deidara bit his lip. "Your sleeper agent wasn't compromised?" he asked cautiously, his voice barely above a whisper.

"No. I built in a self-destruct mechanism for that scenario. The message is real."

"Then…" Deidara breathed out slowly. "Akatsuki is gone?"

"Don't sound so surprised, brat. Half the members were taken out before you even left."

"Hmm, true. But… It's still hard to believe, yeah?"

Sasori shrugged Jirou's shoulders.

"We timed it just right," Deidara said thoughtfully. "We're free." He looked down at the paper, reading it fully through for the first time.

Sasori suddenly heard a sound not unlike steam escaping from a kettle.

"Tobi was what?" Deidara finally exclaimed, outraged. "And to think I actually felt sorry for abandoning him, even for an instant!"

"Quiet!" Sasori hissed, but he was grinning to himself inside Jirou's carapace.

--

The next day, the Tsubone pulled into port along the docks in the Forest Country. Forest and Wind were allies in a very loose sense, but Sasori concluded it was safe for them to disembark. He worried that knowledge of Akatsuki's defeat was making him reckless, but they made it through the town without incident.

"Where are we going, Master?" Deidara complained when they looped back around outside the village and arrived at the coast a couple of miles away.

"Fly," Sasori commanded instead.

"I hate it when you get like this," Deidara grumbled, but he pulled a clay hawk from his pouch and, with a burst of chakra, it expanded to larger-than-life proportions. Deidara hopped on its back.

Sasori, a bit less confidently, followed him a second later, fitting his arms firmly around Deidara's waist as they took off. "Over the ocean," Sasori said into Deidara's ear before Deidara could ask.

They flew in silence for some time as endless waves passed beneath them. Every so often Sasori would check behind them to see how far away the coast was. Every so often Deidara would also point below them when he saw a shadow of some creature in the depths of the water.

Finally, when Sasori couldn't even see a line of darkness in the distance, he was satisfied. "We're here," he announced.

Deidara slowed the hawk's pace, and they looped around in the air a few times. "Now what?"

Sasori produced a short sword from within Jirou's robe. "Take off your shirt," he demanded.

Deidara groaned. "Not this again!" He did as Sasori requested, though.

Sasori watched toned chest and stomach muscles ripple for a moment, with cool detachment. Then, he pressed the flat of the blade against the left side of Deidara's chest, right over his heart. "We're going to do this one stitch at a time," he announced.

"If we blow ourselves up now, it'll all be a waste, yeah?" Deidara laughed nervously.

"I'm not going to die out in the middle of the ocean with only a brat like you for company," Sasori insisted with conviction. He brought the sword forward and carefully severed the stitch on the far right of the mouth in Deidara's chest.

Nothing happened for a moment, and then the lips twitched, rubbing together for a moment before stretching as far as they could. It wasn't far.

A rumble of chakra shook the air with a shockwave as the mouth opened just a little bit. Deidara reached instinctively to close it, but Sasori caught his hand, stopping him.

"Just a little bit of clay," Sasori instructed. He took the smallest pinch from Deidara pouch, and fed it to the mouth.

The mouth chewed, and the chakra continued to leak from Deidara's chest. It swirled together to form a tight little ball of energy around the clay. The ball pulsed once, twice…

"Fly!" Sasori commanded.

The hawk took off just as Deidara spit the dollop of clay out, leaving the swirling ball of explosive chakra behind them. It went off with a ear-splitting 'boom' with enough force that Deidara, Sasori, and the hawk all went careening into a freefall for a moment before Deidara commanded the hawk to loop back around and catch them in mid-air.

"Ugh," Sasori clutched at his stomach. "This is why I hate flying."

In front of him, Deidara's shoulders shook. "Actually, Master, that was kind of fun, yeah?"

Sasori realized with annoyance that the shaking was laughter. He swatted Deidara with Jirou's scorpion tail for good measure. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said stiffly while Deidara rubbed his head, "because we're going to do it again."

Deidara's eyes widened. "I know I said you're taking the living forever thing too seriously, but I didn't mean for you to go suicidal on me."

"Tch." Sasori rolled Jirou's eyes. "This time, brat, you're going to control it."

Deidara looked at him like he was crazy.

Sasori reached out with Jirou's right hand and tapped Deidara's chest pointedly. The stitch was still torn out, but the mouth wasn't doing anything but panting from exertion.

Deidara looked down at his chest in surprise to see that Sasori was right. "Huh. It's never done that before…"

"It's been building up chakra pulses for years with no way to expel them," Sasori decided. "It's natural that there would be a bit of a backfire before you can use it properly."

Deidara looked down at his chest like he'd never seen it before.

"They were afraid of you," Sasori said almost kindly. "They were afraid of your power, so they bound it and made sure you were afraid of it, too."

Deidara looked, for the first time, like he might actually believe what Sasori was saying. "All right, let's try it. Just a little bit, yeah?"

Deidara accidentally infused the clay with enough chakra to blow up Hisoka again, ten times over. Thankfully, he'd also had a better feel for how much chakra he was releasing, and they ran away a lot faster this time.

Deidara managed eight attempts before they had to return to shore. He wasn't improving his control in the slightest, although at least they both knew now that he was proficient enough at escaping his own chakra explosions that he probably wouldn't get them killed.

"We'll try again next time we stop," Sasori said as he sewed the stitch closed again on the flight back.

Deidara grimaced in response.

--

"Have you ever heard of the Storm Country?" Sasori asked the day they finally sailed past the Forest Country into the Mountain Country. Misty blue peaks rose up into the clouds to their right, as far as the eye could see.

"Vaguely," Deidara shrugged. "It's far, I know. A few of the traders who would come in to port in the Earth Country would mention they had exotic goods from there sometimes."

"It's quite far," Sasori agreed. "Across the sea, maybe a week's travel."

"Why do you ask?"

"Because that's where we're going."

Deidara blinked at him in surprise. "Why there, yeah?" he finally asked.

"I was there once," Sasori said, watching the cloud-shrouded mountains, "long ago. As a genin, I had a mission there."

Deidara propped his hand up on one elbow to look at Sasori when he spoke.

"The area near the coast is fertile, but then further inland the terrain turns to desert scrub and there are rocky wadis and cliffs… It makes the desert of the Wind Country look like a child's sandbox."

"It sounds beautiful," Deidara sighed.

"I was young when I traveled there, but I knew then that I had to come back some day. There was something about the desert there… It called to me." Sasori turned to look at Deidara to see that his partner was gazing at him in an unnerving way. "What?" he demanded crossly.

Deidara smiled to himself. "Nothing. I just don't think I've ever seen you quite like this before."

Sasori shrugged off the comment. "The important thing," he concluded, "is that there's no centralized authority in the Storm Country. Villages run semi-autonomously, and the ninja clans either fight amongst themselves or stay out of each other's way. There's space there for us, and endless inspiration…"

"Are we there yet?" Deidara teased.

"In two weeks' time."

Whew! A bit of a transitional chapter to set up for the second half of this story, but it was a tough one to write. Thanks to everyone who's still reading, and if you dropped me a review to let me know, it would seriously make my day. :D