Without further ado (Though there was none), I present...
Bonds of Friendship, Part Five:
A True Artist, a True Friend
Deidara stirred awake, recovering from unconsciousness for the second time in two days. Except now there were many more bandages circling his form, and he couldn't move without inciting a wave of fiery pain. He became aware that he was lying on a soft blanket, with hard rock underneath, above him a rock ceiling. 'I'm in a cave?' He wondered. Rain drummed on ground somewhere outside. Gritting his teeth, he braced his palm against the ground and sat up. His bad arm was bound once again.
The flickering light of a small fire gave a little light to the cave's darkness. Sai was sitting nearby, an orange glow upon his face as he stared into the flames. His knees were drawn up against his chest, the once-severe burns present on his skin now well on their way to healing. He turned his head as he heard Deidara get up.
"Oh." Sai said simply. His face was expressionless. "You're awake."
Deidara bit his lip nervously, unsure of how to respond. Thunder boomed, somewhere in the distance. He had always loved thunder. So explosive. So artistic. Yet now he hardly paid it a thought.
"You lost quite a lot of blood." Sai was saying tonelessly. "I stopped it bleeding, at least. While flying away you lost consciousness and I had to free myself and take control of the bird. As far as I know we weren't pursued."
Deidara's fist clenched and unclenched, over and over. He worked his jaw, but did not form words to speak with. Lightning flashed, making the cave look like some carefree artist had thrown white paint over everything for a moment, then everything was dim again. The thunder boomed once more, closer this time.
"What I'm only worried about is your broken arm, seeing as both your arms were reattached by Kakuzu using a different person's elbow area for a filler. I set it as best as I could, and by now it should be fine, but please watch it for a while." He didn't sound worried at all. In fact, he didn't sound like anything. Yet what really ticked Deidara off was the little, entirely fake smile that Sai gave when he was talking.
"So you really meant for him to kill you, mm." The man said quietly.
Sai didn't answer. He looked down at his hands.
"You know, Sai... you had me fooled for a while, there. I admit it." Deidara kept talking, his voice low and dangerous. "Despite everything you still went and asked for the Jinchuuriki to kill you. I suppose... I should have expected it, mm. It's not like you ever wanted to be part of us, after all, right? And yet I still tried to save you from the fury of the village!" He paused for breath. "After all, that's what friends do for each other! Perhaps I wasn't ever your friend. But for a short while, Sai... I considered you to be mine. Now I can see it was an act, mm." His voice became angry again. "Your act was so fucking real I completely fell for it!"
Sai was speechless. "Deidara..."
"Don't say anything." The man growled. "If you really want to die, then go ahead and do it, mm. Somewhere far away from me, far away and out of my sight. I don't want to see... I don't want to..." His voice wavered, and ashamed he bowed his head. "I don't want to see a friend die again!"
"Wouldn't you die for the sake of your comrades?" Sai asked quietly.
A bitter smile appeared on Deidara's face and he looked up, meeting Sai's eyes. "Aren't I your comrade?"
Sai stared at him for a long while, face unreadable. Finally the mask broke, and his eyes dulled. To all appearances, he looked defeated.
"You are." He whispered. "And you're right. Deidara, I'll stay. I'm going to stay here as your partner, as your friend-" Sai reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "And live."
"Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto's voice trailed off. He had already delivered the news, after Sakura had gotten to work healing him. "There's something I just remembered."
His sensei looked up from where he had been sitting against a tree, head down and wet hair dangling in front of his face as he thought.
"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked. His single eye's gaze was piercing and probing at the same time.
"Sai said something weird... he said that there was a spy in the village. A spy for the Akatsuki. They way he said it, I think they're just like him- unable to get free of control. Is there anyone that acts kinda strange?"
Kakashi frowned, though he knew that Naruto could not see it through his mask. "No... not that I know of..." He lapsed into a thoughtful silence. This was indeed worrying. No wonder that the Akatsuki knew some things they shouldn't have. Depending upon this spy's rank, a great deal of precious information could be lost.
A large bird's shadow glided across the desolate lands, growing larger and larger as the bird got lower and lower. For a moment its great white and black shape was outlined against the sun, highlighting what appeared to be two people riding on its back. Then it was once more in the open blue skies. The bird tilted its wings, soaring to the right. The beady, inky-black eyes were fixed upon a small plateau. It didn't look any different from the rest of the scenery apart from maybe being a nice flat area to land.
The two riders' hair streamed backwards in the wind, blonde and black. One of them was standing comfortably upon neatly drawn feathers, the other one was crouching with a hint of doubt in their eyes. As the hawk got lower, Deidara got shakily to his feet. The footing on this bird was different than on his clay creations- this avian was much more realistic, still too solid and hard for a normal bird but soft enough that his feet sank slightly and there were occasional feathers to tickle his ankles. Sai dropped down beside him, taking hold of some feathers.
"Hang on!" He shouted. Deidara immediately dropped down as well and took a handful of ink bird. One of Sai's hands let go and grabbed his sleeve to make doubly sure. The bird swooped down dangerously fast, doing an exhilarating few loops in the air before alighting on the plateau.
Sai let out a chuckle at Deidara's expression. He helped his partner down. Once they were both off, the bird dissapated into a bubble of ink that flew in a gleaming stream through the air, vanishing into its container.
"Did you enjoy the ride?" He asked.
"Eh..." Deidara shook his head, trying to stop his world from spinning. "I guess we should start getting used to each other's birds more- ouch!" He winced, as he took too deep of a breath. His ribs were still complaining about the harsh treatment they had recieved earlier.
"Flying like that so soon was probably a bad idea." Sai realized. "I'm sorry, Deidara. Does it hurt really badly?"
"No, not badly at all!" Deidara lied. He wanted to keep this Sai, this laughing, cheerful one for as long as possible. "I gotta say, your bird is much more of a softer ride than mine, mm. But my art's still ten times better!"
"Of course." Sai was happy again. "Thank you, Deidara."
The blonde looked at him oddly. "For what?"
"For making me feel like life's worth living again." Sai replied. Deidara laughed.
"You say it so matter-of factly! You and I need to get to work on getting you to show emotion more often." Deidara's gaze fell to the ground. "Now, where was that blasted trapdoor?"
"All you need to do is this." Sai shrugged, and formed a few strange-looking hand seals. His Akatsuki ring glowed briefly then faded, and about three feet to their right the hidden trapdoor opened. Two small orange rocks perching on it rolled off, sending dust into the air. "Let's go inside. It's getting hotter now that the sun's higher. Do you need help getting down?"
"No, it's a nice ramp, not a ladder here." Deidara answered. "Thanks, mm."
"No problem." Sai followed him down into the dimly lit passage. The trapdoor closed off behind them with barely a sound. "Do you think anyone's using this hideout?"
"Nah. This one's rather small. The main one's a little further north. Hey, we could head over there if you want to." Deidara offered. "I think I can make it for another flight."
"Actually, I'd prefer that you just take a short rest in this one before we head back." Sai declined to give his real reason for procrastinating; Raidan was sure to be in the main Akatsuki's hideout. Going back there would mean he'd have to be on his guard again, perpetually fending off nasty comments and occasional strikes. He looked at Deidara's smiling face, listened to his casual chatter, and knew there was no way he could tell his friend about what was going on. Pein was powerful indeed, but he couldn't control what Raidan did to his puppets.
'I tell Deidara, Deidara tells Pein-sama... no. Deidara's not the kind of person who would run to someone more powerful than him like a dog to its master. He wouldn't be able to put aside his pride for that long, if at all. He'd fight Raidan, probably- no, definitely win. Raidan would work on revenge. They'd keep fighting. Things would heat up between them. Raidan might really hurt Deidara... he might even try to take over him. No. I can't allow that. I cannot allow a... a friend to be as unfortunate as I.'
They turned into a small apartment-like room, leaving the door hanging ajar.
Deidara fairly collapsed onto the bed, not even bothering to pull up the sheets. Sai sat down on a stool next to his bed, watching his face intently. After a few minutes, Deidara's face scrunched up in pain, grimacing in his sleep. He had to be feeling the fight now. Sai's eyes flicked to the blankets. After another minute he reached out and drew the blankets up to cover Deidara better. He wondered who the healer in Akatsuki was. There probably were extremely few, if any times where one of the S-Class criminals needed medical attention.
Come to think of it, he had learned some medical ninjutsu during his childhood years in Root. The mission always came first, but not always could a mission be completed with injured comrades, or by just one shinobi.
Sai rolled down the blankets again and tapped Deidara on the shoulder. The heavily made-up blue eyes opened, looking at him blearily.
"Wha?" Deidara mumbled.
"Can you sit up for a moment, please? I'm going to try and heal you as best as I can." Sai stated, reaching forward.
Deidara shrank back and eyed him distrustfully, one hand on his bandaged ribs. Sai noted with quiet dismay that from the simple motion of sitting up the white cloth was already becoming red again.
"Er... can you even heal?" The Akatsuki member asked, curiosity evident. "Since when were you a medical nin, mm? I thought you were an artist!"
"A true artist is proficient in many things." Sai replied. Deidara's eyes widened slightly, and then he looked away. The hand slowly dropped down to his side. Sai regarded the new expression. He wasn't so good at reading people yet, but he could have sworn on his life that Deidara looked ashamed. "Deidara? Is something the matter?"
"Ah... no, it's nothing." He muttered. "Just get on with it."
"Alright." Sai took ahold of the neat white tie on Deidara's shoulder and undid it, slowly unrapping the bandages. Deidara let out a hiss of pain as the last layer was taken away, exposing his wounds to the cool underground air. This done, he lay back down, gripping the edges of the bed with his palms, the mouths on them nervously chewing the edges of the mattress. Sai took a deep breath and exhaled, then put his hands palm-out on his chest. A soft green glow appeared around his hands, making a little swirling cloud of sea-green chakra. Deidara strained his neck to try and see what was going on, but a glance from Sai made him sheepishly put his head back down. Still, he could feel what was going on. It didn't hurt, exactly. His flesh was slowly being repaired, knitted back together... it was a soothing feeling, like many little hands were stroking the torn muscle instead of pulling it. Even the scratches of his face began receding.
Deidara was so focused on his healing body, so elated, that he failed to notice the toll it took on the one casting the jutsu. The green cloud faded. Deidara sat up, still feeling incredibly sore. The clawmarks were still present, but they had stopped bleeding, and looked a good deal less serious. He turned with a wide smile to Sai.
"Hey, Sai-" He broke off in the middle of his sentence, and then spoke again, much quieter now. "Sai?"
Sai looked up and gave him a smile. "Ah... I couldn't seem to heal everything..." His breath came in gasps, and sweat still beaded his face from the sheer effort of what he had just done. "Sorry, Deidara... I'm not very good at medical n- ninjutsu just yet, 'n it looks like... wounds given by a Jinchuuriki are slow to heal."
Deidara shook his head vehemently. "I don't care. This is great, Sai, my man. Don't try to apologize, 'cause you're a true artist, mm." Abruptly his mood dropped and he fell back down onto the soft and springy mattress, pulling the blankets up around him. He shut his eyes, more to avoid seeing Sai's face than to get any rest. "I'm going to sleep, mm." He announced sourly.
For a long couple of minutes there was silence, then a barely audible chuckle. Deidara caught it and rolled over, glaring at Sai.
"What, mm?" He demanded.
"Nothing." Sai answered innocently. "It's just amusing seeing you worry yourself so, over something so st- so foolish."
"Worry myself?" Deidara sounded indignant. "Us Akatsuki never worry. We're always cool and collected, yeah."
"Maybe so." Sai got up to leave. "Then again, Deidara, you were the one who taught me how to stop being so 'cool and collected'. At least, working with you I'm able loosen up for a while. In a few months you undid the knots that Lord Danzo had spent years creating. If you put your mind to it, you could teach a fish to fly. That's a far more valuable skill than anything I have, or ever will. I'll leave you to think on it. But there's only one real artist in this room right now, and that isn't me." Moving silent as a shadow, Sai slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Deidara stared up at the ceiling.
He brought his good hand to his face. The palm stuck its tongue out at him, but for once he didn't mind the rude gesture.
"Am I really?" He whispered to himself. "Sai, you bastard... how come you always make me lose my cool? Lose my cool, in exchange for actually being happy. What a joke, mm. I was prepared to die right then, for you and your stupid beliefs, your stupid friend. Well, they might be stupid, but those are the same idiotic beliefs that saved my sorry ass once now. Guess I'll just go along with the ride... see where they take me..." He let loose a loud yawn and snuggled deeper into his blankets, content with life just as it was.
Sai's black eyes were fixed on the flickering flame of the small candle in his own room. He took up residence across from Deidara, wanting some peace and quiet.
So many troubles plagued him. Raidan. The Akatsuki. Naruto. Konoha. Betrayal. And Deidara, always Deidara. It felt wrong admitting that the blonde bomber was one of his problems, but in fact he was, and one of the biggest. It wouldn't be so difficult right now to snatch a kunai and slit his throat, but because of Deidara, it was. Sai had no idea where shinobi went after they died, but he knew that wherever he went Deidara would eventually catch up to him. No matter what he'd have to face off against his own friend. There had to be another way.
No. There was none. Sai sighed, and with the miniscule release of air the dying candle was finally snuffed out.
That did it. Sai grabbed his pillow and blanket, then headed cautiously across to Deidara's room in the pitch-black darkness of a true underground lair. He didn't want to be alone that night. Setting his pillow at the foot of Deidara's bed, he lay down on the cave floor and threw the blanket over himself. A hand dangled above his face. Exasperated, Sai moved one metre to the left into safety and closed his eyes.
Faint memories cropped up in his mind of camping on missions with Shin. Often, the Root members would sleep in trees to be better camoflauged. Shin always took fiendish delight in leaving one hand hanging above his younger comrade's face back then. Deidara took after him even when he was sleeping and totally unaware that Sai was in the same room.
Sai turned onto his side. Sleep came to him that night easier than any night before.
Thanks to all of your dedicated reviewings, they really brighten one's day!
A side note ~ You might have noticed, might have not, noticed the new chapter 'title'. Seeing as I can only fit so much in the chapter title that fanfiction gives, I wanted to make this a little fancier and give each induvidual chapter a title that fits it best. The 'Part One, Twos, Threes, etc.' seemed very impersonal. I've gone back and given 'titles' to every previous chapter, written at the top of the page in bold.
Heehee, I love putting in these little hints that will pop up much later in the story and wondering if anyone will read that far-in-the-future chapter, think hard, then realize that it was first mentioned in an earlier chapter. Just the thought of where these two will go later on makes me so eager to just keep writing, despite the late hour. Sai was on the right track in telling Deidara what he was really good at. I just can't wait.
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as- or even more than- I did writing it!