2.2

It's been raining for like two hours or something, yeah. We've had to sort of edge to the back of the cave to keep from the stuff splashing in on us, cause it's pretty damn torrential. At this rate we're not gonna be able to leave the way we came, if the floodwater gets any deeper. Sasori says that's stupid, it's not going to get deeper by enough to cut off any of our escape routes or anything, but you never know, yeah?

"If it does, can I ride on your back?"

He doesn't reply, but I can feel the "that is a stupid question and I am not going to dignify it with a response" hanging in the air along with the burning smell of the rain.

It's this sorta thing I hate about jobs with him. Sometimes he just doesn't say anything for ages. I hate silence, especially when there's just this white noise rain droning around everywhere, but I think he likes it or something. I wonder what he does. I mean, near as I can see he's just staring into space, but his eyes've got that screensaver look to them like he's off doing something else, yeah, with his thoughts all zipping along wires and things. He's showing up on my contact list as online but you kind of expect him to be idle. He looks idle, yeah. And I'm bored.

"Hey ..."

He doesn't look at me, but you can tell his attention's snapped back to the outside world. I wonder how much time he spends there when he's on his own. I don't even know where he goes to be alone, yeah. It's hard to imagine something like him having a flat somewhere or something.

"How long d'you think the rain's gonna last?"

Sasori heaves a scrapy metal sigh, still staring out at the rain. "I don't know. It's too heavy for the forecast signals to reach us here, especially with the mountains in the way."

I huff, kicking at a loose rock. "I hate this."

He doesn't reply.

"Hey – at least this way no-one's gonna come after us, yeah."

"What?"

"From the lab."

He snorts. "There won't be anyone left alive in there."

"Well, you never know, yeah, the explosion might've missed someone," I say, but I'm grinning, cause he never says anything positive like that about my blasts. He's never impressed. Makes a change – he should be.

"Yes," he says, not looking round. "It probably did. But I gassed them all beforehand."

"... Oh." I deflate a little, frowning at the metal back of him. "Well ... well that might've missed someone, yeah."

"No."

"It might've."

"Unlike some people, Deidara, I am very thorough. I actually thought about the fact that removing the possibility of pursuit would make our escape easier rather than just babbling for weeks about how pretty the burning would look."

"... It was only two weeks."

"That's still weeks plural."

"Anyway it wasn't pretty, it was beautiful, yeah. Didn't you see it? It was one of the –"

"– Best you've ever done, stunning, amazing, blah blah I couldn't care less. Honestly, Deidara, one explosion is very much like the next, especially since you say this every single time –"

"Hey, not my fault I get better all the time, yeah."

I think he might be rolling his eyes. He doesn't look back, still, so I can't tell. Don't really blame him, yeah – his head's pretty small on all that metal, and once he's set down still I bet he's a bastard to shift. Whatever, he's not saying anything, so I wander over and lean on him. He's like just the right height, and it's not like he can feel it for it to be uncomfortable so I don't see as he'd need to have any problem with it. I know he's going to anyway, yeah, but I don't care, just grin as he fiiinally turns his head round to look at me, all glaring and pissy.

I'm all, "What?", but I think he can tell I'm just doing it for something to do cause he just huffs, "Brat", and looks back at the rain. Still raining hard. Not stopping any time soon.

I tch at him and turn away to scuff my boots against the rocks. This is gonna be a long rainfall.

-

-

It lets up like six hours later or something. It feels like forever. I spend some of it asleep against Sasori – I hate the hum he makes the whole time but he's warmer than the rocks, yeah. I think he laughs at me, but I'm too tired to care. When I wake up it's 'cause he's moved away and let me flop over on the floor. So I'm awake kinda quickly.

"– Ow! What the hell, yeah, you coulda broken my head –"

"And a great mind would have been lost to the world, I'm sure," he mutters.

I sit up, rubbing my head more than it feels bad even though I know it's not gonna make him care.

"It's stopped raining."

"I know," I say, but I don't notice the hiss of it has gone until after he says it. There's no clear sky to see, though, 'cause it's dark by now – twenty-one seventeen. Sasori's tiny lights are all clear against the darkness where he's standing at the mouth of the cave, yeah, this little spray of delicate that doesn't belong with the hulking metal mass of the rest of him. I dunno what they're for. Sometimes I've seen them different colours – they're yellow now – but they're never off.

"Come on, get up," he snaps, and he snakes his tail out towards me. I'm up before it gets to me, and he snorts and pulls it back, already leaving the cave into the dark. I follow him, pushing my hair out of my face so my other eye can make with the night vision. I can't remember the way we came, but I figure Sasori will know. He seems in a hurry – more than usual, I mean. I guess it's cause we spent so long waiting out the rain, yeah. He hates wasting time.

He doesn't even hurry me, just goes, quickly. And I follow.

He doesn't say a word to me the whole time. I try to start up conversation once or twice but it's like talking to an angry wall. He doesn't say anything or slow down or even look at me. So I'm relieved as hell when we finally hit the tunnels and I get on the train up to Swannereich.

I don't know where Sasori's going. I guess to base, to hand that thing over to the Leader, whatever it was? Him especially's gotta go there all weirdways, I guess, cause otherwise he'll draw attention or whatever. I dunno how he gets around without people noticing him all bulky and freaklooking. And I got no idea where he goes ever, like I said. I guess he's gotta live somewhere, yeah? I mean even if he doesn't sleep, cause I seriously don't reckon he sleeps ... but I guess he's got to recharge or something. But, like, he has to have somewhere to put his machinery together.

I just can't imagine anywhere being lived in by something like him.