Hello, you~ Yes, another Sunday is (finally) here~ And that means I stayed up late last night with a can of Coke (one that I still haven't finished, for the record) and two amazing people to chat with to finish (read: write) this chapter. ^^

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Words: 2,425
Warnings: Even though I am trying to cut down my swearing, the same does not apply to my characters.
Disclaimer:I don't own anything but the plot. I'm pretty happy about that, though...

There's a reason why this chapter is titled 'Frightening' instead of 'Frightened', you know. If you can see what it is, say the word... I'm starting to think that my chapter-naming is too irrational...

Sasori moved through his morning in a slight daze because he wasn't sure, even now, if he should really go meet up with the clown and then pretty much cheat their way into the circus, for the lack of a better term. He wasn't sure if the blonde was trust-worthy in this, but then again, he was a stray (unless he had lied about that as well). And strays had to be good when it came down to getting inside places, so sense had it... that he shouldn't worry if he was accompanied by said stray on his journey. Right?

Besides, it was just a trip to the circus. What's the worst that could happen? They could be caught getting in without paying and then thrown out. So what? It wasn't like he even wanted to go in the first place, but Deidara did, and that left him with no options because... Because he had promised, had he not? He had had a weak moment of some sort and so he had gone and promised the blonde to go and have fun with him.

Hooray.

Lazily, he looked around his house for a change of remotely normal-looking clothes, even knowing that when he was with Deidara, who had that worn-out, patched-up clown-attire, all of his efforts of normality were completely in vain; he would never seem normal with the strange blonde by his side.

In the end, he went with a dark-brown jacket over a t-shirt and another shirt and matching, slightly lighter brown pants. He knew how cold it was out there, after all; he had certainly found out about that yesterday.

Momentarily, he wondered what kind of canvas the blonde's clothes were made of. They certainly didn't seem to do a very good job when it came down to keeping him warm; even his stomach or feet weren't fully covered.

Not like it mattered - the blonde had to have the decency to find another choice of dress for the circus either way; he didn't need to show off or attract attention today, anyways.

With those reassuring words echoing his mind, he headed out the door and probably for the first time since first meeting him, acknowledged the fact that he was looking for that blonde.

There weren't too many people out and about just yet; it was still early, and most people were just waking up either way. The only people out as Sasori passed by the market were salesmen setting up their stalls for the day and some people who were going to work somewhere a little farther from their homes and thus needed to wake up early to get there in time.

In the end he found the blonde he had wanted to find sitting on that peg of his, and it actually took Sasori a moment to recognize him.

Because like he had originally suspected, Deidara had actually got himself another choice of dress; a simple, dirty and only sort of white t-shirt and black pants. And instead of tying his hair in place with the ribbon on his shirt, this time he had done so with a piece of string tied around his neck and catching his hair in a tight knot on the front.

The only things he had left from his usual clothing were his shoes and his light gloves.

This being strange because along with his usual attire, he had also ditched his ponytail, leaving his blonde hair open, flowing down his neck more freely than how it usually was.

"Danna, un~" he murmured upon noticing the red head from the corner of his eye, hopping down and walking a few quick steps up to the other man.

"Deidara-" Sasori only barely managed to keep his voice from rising in pitch in apparent question by cutting himself off almost as quickly as he had started speaking in the first place.

A roll of a blue eye greeted him for saying this. "Way to state the obvious, un. Ready to go yet?"

Sasori promptly ignored the question, instead muttering, "I guess I never really realized just how girlish you truly were..."

"Yeah, sure, you too, now can we go?" Deidara muttered anxiously, even going as far as tapping his right foot on the ground tiles in obvious displeasure towards the slowly moving situation currently in hand.

Sasori raised a red eyebrow of his, but didn't really find the right words to voice the questions of 'what the hell are you going on at?', 'are you really that desperate to go?' and 'are you saying I look like a woman?', and ended up glaring at the blonde half-heartedly as he nodded in a yes.

"You know the way, un?" Deidara asked him, grinning, seemingly oblivious of the glare that was currently being thrown his way.

Sasori knew he probably should've expected this; of course the airhead of a blonde would have absolutely no idea where his 'fun' would be held in the first place, but as it was, Sasori didn't know this, either. He hadn't even noticed the posters for the circus before Deidara had none-too-discretely pointed one out to him the night before. And in the darkness, he hadn't really seen all of the details.

He shrugged dismissedly, looking away from the blonde's intent eyes. "We'll have to check the location first, but of course I can guide you there after we do that."
Deidara grinned like he had just been given told that he could set on a grand adventure with the love of his life instead of going to a petty circus with a more or less reluctant red head. "Sure thing~" He then paused thoughtfully before continuing, "I really thought you were going to back on your word, un..."

"I promised," Sasori said simply, "Besides, if I were to go back on my word, I wouldn't have shown up here in the first place, would I now?"

"I thought you were just going to... Add to the insult by showing up and then saying you wouldn't want to go with me after all. You know, un?" Deidara tilted his head, smiling and continuing again before Sasori could respond to him, "Actually, never mind, un. It doesn't matter; you're here, un. Let's go."

Sasori felt a small smile tug at his lips; the blonde was certainly something else.

"Sure. I'll lead the way, then."

Deidara agreed, moving in a circle to try and at least look in the right direction before they set off. He ended up staring in the exact opposite of where they were headed, and Sasori sighed at how hopeless he could be at times.

He promptly turned the blonde around by his wrists, walking half a circle around him until Deidara's nose pointed in the general direction of the café. "Sorry, but you're incorrect, the café is in the other direction; try again."

The blonde frowned slightly. "I wasn't even looking for it, un," he protested childishly.

"Sure you weren't," Sasori muttered with a roll of his eyes as he started walking.

"No really, I wasn't!" Deidara insisted, throwing his arms up to try and bring out his point. "I wasn't, un!"

Sasori decided to utterly ignore this, knowing he would have a headache within half an hour an hour at most in the blonde's company if he paid too much attention to his company.

Not to mention that he would most likely have to spend the whole day with him, meaning that he could not get a headache so early in the day.

"Hey, you can't ignore me, un!" the now annoyed blonde complained, rushing to his side.

"Watch me," Sasori snapped back irritably, "I can still go back on my word, you know?"

That shut the blonde up rather quickly, and he even dropped his pace to trail somewhere behind Sasori somewhat regrettably.

It was quiet for a while, but honestly speaking, Sasori wasn't all too happy with that (seemed like he wasn't happy with anything that day, really). If he didn't hear the blonde constantly talking and if he was so far behind that his footsteps (even when equipped with those stupid, volume-increasing wooden bands) were far too quiet for Sasori to listen to, how was he supposed to know the other was even there.

"Don't be such a drama queen," he finally commented as they approached the café. It was his version of saying something to convey the message of 'Sorry if I said something wrong. Seems like I tend to do that pretty often, especially when it comes to you.'

There was no response as he turned to look at the blonde, other than an absent smile on his face and a slight movement of his head that could really be taken as a tilt, a nod or a shake; basically Sasori could've taken it as whatever he wanted it to be, but an answer wasn't really what he was looking for, but rather a sign that the other was still alive and there.

"It's on the field on the east side of the town... Huh, weird," Sasori commented after reading the poster - in full daylight this time - in hopes of gaining something other than a smile and a weird movement of the blonde's head in response. "I would've set it somewhere else, personally... Do they even have Neji's permission to be doing this?"

"They have to," Deidara suddenly replied, curiously looking at the poster like he understood more than the picture, which, Sasori now realized, was someone's attempt to draw a circus tent rather than a donkey. "It's not just some tiny little circus, I think, so they just have to have their permissions before they even think about dumping their things somewhere, un."

Sasori gave a weird look to the blonde, who suddenly seemed to have snapped back to being himself, and then nodded, "I suppose you're right."

"There's no need to suppose anything; I'm always right, un," the other murmured smugly, chuckling proudly.

Sasori raised a questioning eyebrow at his statement despite himself. "Says the retard who thinks that art is fleeting."

"Oh, so you still remember something so minor about me, un?"

"Art isn't minor."

"Okay, it's not, un. That much I'll agree on. But it's definitely not eternal, either. Sense has it, un... Nothing else is eternal, so why would art be, un?"

"Because it's art. Sense has it. Besides, Card Marks are eternal, aren't they?"

He seemed to have snapped a nerve (again), because his companion down-right snarled at him for bringing that up (again). "No, they aren't. You have your Card Mark and then you die, end of story, un."

"People will know your Card Mark even after you've died," Sasori reasoned for him, starting to walk east because he knew that if he didn't, they would never get there.

"They won't if they don't care. Or know, for that matter, un."

"Referring to a certain blonde with an obsession to stubbornly believing that art is fleeting?" Sasori asked, raising an eyebrow. He knew Deidara's Card Mark was somewhat of a taboo when they spoke; something better left unmentioned.

But how was he supposed to trust him if he didn't know? The blonde companion of his could be a filthy, low-ranked Diamond or he could be something else that would be better off if it didn't even exist in the first place.

"If I am, un? Do you have something against that, un?" Deidara snapped, rather clearly on defensive now.

"Yes," Sasori hissed in response. He wanted to tug the blonde into some abandoned alley – now that it was a little later, there were actually people around, and those people were staring -, but then the blonde might protest and maybe even scream, and that would attract that much more rather unwanted attention on them than simple arguing ever could. "Now that you mention it, I do. You've known my Card Mark before I even had the chance to politely tell you about it. It would be only fair if you returned the favor."

"Not a chance," Deidara disagreed, "Besides, it's really not my fault if I happen to know things, un."

"Why not? Don't you want to trust me with such an everyday thing?" Sasori asked him tiredly. Why was it such a sore spot to Deidara, anyways? Who was he?

"It's not that simple, Danna," Deidara murmured with such a pleading tone that it almost hurt, "You wouldn't understand, un. Please don't say I don't trust you…"

"Well, it's pretty obvious that you don't…" Sasori guilt-tripped him.

"I trust you more than I've trusted anyone in a long, long time, Sasori no Danna…" Deidara murmured, whimpering, "But… No, un. I can't tell you that… Sorry."

Losing his incredibly short temper, Sasori pinned Deidara against the wall, gaining rather few gasps from the people around them, and he happened to know why.

Deidara, who had a fucking close to a perfect, girlish hourglass-body shape, at least from afar, and blonde hair he just so wore open that day, looked just like a good young girl for anyone who didn't know him like Sasori apparently knew him.

And Sasori, who, no matter what Deidara had said before, damn well looked like a guy, was holding his chin, forcing the blonde's eye(s) to meet his watching gaze, and probably seemed like he was going to just about take advantage of the 'poor girl'.

But now that it was already done, what could he do anymore? So instead of drawing away and apologizing (like he should have), he hissed at the blonde, "Tell me."

Deidara's eyes were wide in obvious panic and near terror, and Sasori, for pretty much for the first time in his life, felt like a total bastard for doing that to the blonde he sort of liked being around and talking to.

A second, two, three passed, and then Deidara hesitantly opened his mouth. Sasori, excepting an answer, let his hold on him slacken a little.

And then the blonde was screaming clearly on the top of his voice.

"RAPE!"

In the two, three seconds it took Sasori to think 'What the fuck?', Deidara had already ducked underneath his arms and run away in some totally random direction.

And had they not been doing so before, people really were staring now. Along with glaring and whispering and seeming pretty much utterly disgusted at the left-alone red head.

It didn't even take the usual three seconds before the next thought entered Sasori's head.

Shit.

Deidara hates me. He messed up the plot again. I don't even know how many times that has happened now.

But hey, at least the plot is thickening for a change. And I promise that sooner or later, the circus will happen. I want to write it too.

Probably won't even have to mention how much reviews and stuff inspires me. *happy sort of sigh* I won't make you review (duh), but you'll know how much I'd appreciate if you did.

Until next time, see ya~