"So that's it, un?" Deidara inquired. The blond was standing in the office of the Akatsuki base, about to set out on his next assignment as he went over the details of his mission.
Pein narrowed his eyes at the question. "Don't make it sound so simple, Deidara. This urn is guarded by a miniature army in one of the most secure and secluded castles in the entire country. Not to mention that if anything happens to the powder in that urn, I doubt we'll be able to complete the procedure."
Deidara wanted to snap at Pein, but thought better of it. Of course he understood this was going to be one of the most difficult missions he'd received in recent times; in fact, the bomber had been sorely tempted to ask why Pein hadn't assigned another member to go with him. Moreover, he knew that the powder in the well-defended urn was the final ingredient that was necessary to be gathered before they could put Sasori back into an adult body. Honestly, Deidara was blond, but he wasn't stupid.
What he'd actually been meaning when he'd voiced his question, was to ask if that was really all that remained for Sasori and his friendship (if a relationship involving a five-year-old abusing and manipulating a grown adult could be called friendship). Once he brought the urn home, the ceremony could begin. Then it would be farewell to bratty but cute chibi Sasori, and hello grouchy, hateful Sasori danna. Oh well; it was nice while it lasted. "When should I leave, un?"
"Tomorrow morning. There will be a group of zealots on the way to the northern mountains for a harvest festival; you should be able to travel in their midst for most of the journey without arousing too much suspicion." Nodding, Deidara rerolled the scroll containing his assignment and left the office.
- days later-
The retrieval mission, thankfully, had gone according to plan so far. Deidara had been able to befriend a few of the travelers thanks to a well-thought out and rehearsed story about his pilgrimage to the north, and was soon welcomed into their midst as a kindred spirit. Once he was only a few days out from his intended destination, he faked an illness brought on by fatigue and persuaded the others to go along without him. Once he was reasonably sure no one that recognized him was within a few days distance, the blond backtracked a few miles and began searching out his target.
Pein hadn't been bluffing when he warned the bomber as to how secure his target would be. The castle was built into the side of a mountain, so the only way to approach was either head on, or flank to the right. While a forward approach is usually the one most quickly dismissed, the castle's right side happened to be juxtaposed to a deceptively deep and swift river, which a normal person would find nearly impossible to cross. Even a ninja as skilled as Deidara would have some level of difficulty sneaking across, as the guards stationed on the wall above the river would surely hear him if he tried to run over the river. And even if he made it over the water, the nearest windows were a good thirty feet up and locked from the insides, making it impossible to break in without shattering the glass and alerting any and all persons within hearing range of his intrusion. "This is going to be fun, un," Deidara grumbled.
Once he'd found a fairly safe hiding place in the woods, Deidara extracted the map provided for the mission by Pein, and began to look over it to see if he could find any flaws in the enemy's defense. Luck was on his side for once; the sewage line for the castle flowed directly into the nearby stream. If he could locate the entrance, he could sneak in through that passage with minimal disturbance.
Deidara made a quick estimate of where he believed the entrance to be, and began walking downriver. After a time, he removed his cloak and shoes, packed them in his bag, and dove under the water to look for the entrance. He only had to swim for a few meters before he came across a large metal grate, which seemed to be blocking the entrance. He resurfaced for a breath of air, dove back under, and used a small amount of explosive clay to remove the obstruction. Another breath of air, another dive, and he was swimming up the passage into the castle.
The journey wasn't long, and for that Deidara was grateful. It only took him a little while before he was able to surface in the main sewer passage, and was fortunate enough to find a stone walkway on the left side. There was a certain risk in climbing out of the water and leave a trail of moisture behind him, but if he stayed in the water much longer, its foul stench would soak into his clothes and the guards would have no trouble finding him by smell alone.
Deidara quickly redressed himself, hoping the cloak would keep most of the stink trapped against him, and checked the map again. The sewer map wasn't too terribly detailed; he'd just have to make a general guess as to the direction of the castle and hope he came across a ladder going up. This proved to be a simple enough task; the sewer was unguarded for the most part, and within half an hour Deidara had made his way from the sewer into the basement.
At this point in time, things seemed to go much easier for the blond. Deidara was able to carefully navigate the hallways, stairs, and rooms of the castle as easily as if he were walking through a park. At last he came to the room where he would find the targeted urn. He glanced around quickly to make sure the coast was clear before ducking inside to locate his target.
On the bright side, it only took him a moment to spot the urn on the other side of the room and retrieve it. On the down side, as soon as he picked it up, the lights flicked on to reveal a dozen men surrounding him, armed to the teeth and looking particularly mean. "Well well," one of them, a brunette male with an eye patch chuckled, "this is a surprise. I was informed that someone might be breaking into my home soon, but I had no idea it would be someone as infamous as an Akatsuki member." Deidara ground his teeth; he knew Pein should have sent him with back-up! "Now be a good sport and put your hands up, before I'm forced to kill you immediately." Deciding to play along with the apparent owner of the castle, Deidara set the urn down and put his arms up in a gesture of surrender. The bomber was briefly aware of movement behind him before something collided with the back of his skull, and the world went black.
-mm-
"You shouldn't have hit him so hard. I believe he's become comatose."
"Forgive me, Lord Iburu. It was my mistake."
Why did that name sound familiar, Deidara wondered. Oh right, that was the name of the man who owned the castle…
Slowly, Deidara opened his eyes and looked up. Something on the back of his neck resisted the movement and cracked; probably dried blood leftover from his earlier bludgeoning. His arms were sore, and he quickly deduced this was caused by them being bound above his head in iron chains. The world gradually came into focus around him, and he noticed three men before him; eye patch guy, and two others dressed in basic ninja attire. The trio quickly took notice of Deidara's regained consciousness, and the one with the patch, whom Deidara presumed to be Iburu, stepped forward and spoke to him. "Good, you're awake. I had a few questions I wanted to ask you."
"What about, un?" Deidara knew that some noble declaration about not giving the enemy any information would be a foolish move. This Iburu guy was proud and haughty, from what he could tell. Those kinds of people were the most likely ones to gloat, and thereby let slip valuable information about things that should really be kept secret.
"About the Akatsuki, what else?" Iburu replied, as though it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. "Why did you come here? Why that urn? I have many other valuables in the castle; what makes that one so special?"
"I don't know," Deidara lied. "I was told to fetch it, so I did, un."
"Somehow I doubt that's all there is to it," Iburu murmured. "In fact, I know otherwise. How exactly do you think the Akatsuki found out I had possession of that item, hm? Here's the answer; I let the secret out myself."
"Why?" Deidara asked before he could stop himself.
"I recently began courting a young noblewoman by the name of Akiko. Perhaps you've heard of her?" Inwardly Deidara felt rising panic, but shook his head with nothing more than an annoyed frown on his face. "Well let me tell you about her. She was the sweetest, smartest, most wonderful woman I'd ever known. She was friendly towards the Akatsuki; that's actually how I was able to form ties to your infamous organization. And then, for no apparent reason, you people burned her estate to the ground and murdered her in cold blood!"
When Deidara didn't respond to this accusation, the nobleman sighed and went on. "I've tried to play nice with you Akatsuki fellows, you know. I turn a blind eye to the crimes you commit in my region. I supply your allies with whatever they need, no matter how outrageous the demand. She did likewise; and this is the thanks we get?"
"You don't play nice with Akatsuki, un; you become our plaything." Deidara's assertion was met by a sharp slap to the face, and a moment later he felt his mouth fill with blood. Rather than be humbled by the action, Deidara spit the blood onto Iburu's shirt and glared defiantly at the man. "You're going to have to do better than that, un."
"Much as I'd like to," the castle lord ground out, "I haven't the time. These two, however, do." Turning to leave, Iburu looked to one of the men. "Squeeze every drop of information out of him you can. I don't care how painful it is." The duo saluted, and he was off.
Deidara was not one to be easily intimidated, and glared down his two captors. Living with Sasori had given him a high tolerance for pain; they wouldn't break him easily.
-three days later-
Deidara sighed in relief as he captors exited the room together. They'd been unable to get even a single word out of him, unless it was an expletive telling them exactly where they could go. They were getting tired of making absolutely no progress, and had taken a break to regroup and formulate a new idea.
Deidara, meanwhile, was trying to focus on anything other than the pain coming from his chest. There were several ribs that he was sure had been bruised, and at least one had to be broken. Still, his legs were relatively intact, and so were his handmouths. Those would be all he needed to make his escape.
Deidara perpetually had clay hidden in the mouths on his palms, half out of habit, half out of desire to always be able to defend himself. Upon being taken captive, he'd had his clay pouch confiscated and hidden Kami knows where, but at the same time had had tiny amounts of clay safely tucked away in the handmouths. Unfortunately, such small lumps wouldn't pack very much of a punch, and thus were almost useless to him. So, Deidara had spent the last few days pumping all his chakra into the remaining clay, little by little, packing it denser and denser until it would be useful. Now, all he had to do was get down from his shackles…
Patiently, the bomber waited for his captors to return. Gradually, one made his way back into the chamber; the other one was nowhere to be seen, possibly on break. He made his way towards a table laden with instruments of torture, and reached for a pair of pliers. "I keep telling you, just talk and this'll all be over," he muttered while approaching the blond.
It should be noted at this point that while Deidara's hands were held in place, his feet were not. This would prove to be a tragic mistake.
Deidara managed to get his toes around the key ring on his captor's belt, and yanked with all his might. The belt loop holding the ring quickly gave out under the exerted force, and a moment later the blond had tossed the key upwards into his mouth. Confused, the man holding him prisoner was unable to regain his senses before the blond had harshly and shamelessly kicked him between the legs. He proceeded to make a small noise of pain and fainted.
Deidara hefted himself up and grabbed onto a higher portion of the chain, maneuvering his mouth to the lock and carefully working the key into place. He nearly dropped it twice, but at last he heard the sweet sound of the lock coming undone, and then his hand was freed. Using his newly liberated limb, the bomber quickly undid the other cuff and dropped down to the floor, rubbing his raw wrists in an effort to restore blood flow.
Deidara quickly hefted his former captor off the ground and locked him in the shackles, before hurrying out of the room to make his escape. A quick look around confirmed his suspicions that his most recent place of residence had been a dungeon; there was nothing but stone walls and iron doors around him as far as the eye could see. Ignoring the pain signals that every part of his body was now sending to his brain, the blond pressed forward and began searching the rooms nearby. It only took him a few minutes to locate his belongings through the window in one of the storage rooms. "Right, here's bomb number one, un," he murmured, pressing a shapeless blob of clay against the lock. Once it was set, he hurried out of the way, made a few quick hand signs, and blew the door clean off its hinges.
"What the hell was that?" the other captor demanded, hurrying towards the source of the explosive noise.
"Katsu!" Deidara exclaimed, throwing the second bomb at the man's head. Needless to say, the threat to Deidara's escape was quickly neutralized.
Deidara hurried into the room and retrieved his cloak and bag, and seconds later began chakra infusing what little of his clay was still moist. "I'm going to get that urn," he decided. "And then I'm going to murder Iburu's face off and burn this place to the ground, un."
-mm-
Unfortunately for the blond, his explosions had not gone unnoticed, despite their taking place in the basement of the castle. Deidara barely had time to make it to the top of the dungeon steps before a horde of guards were assaulting him, death being their intention. But skilled thugs these were not, and Deidara was able to take them down without even using his clay. As he searched the bodies for any usable materials to aide his escape, he came across a dozen explosive tags hidden away in one of his victim's weapons' pouch. They would certainly make his escape more interesting.
At this point, Deidara began an insane/aggressive search of the castle to find the urn and/or Iburu. He began checking rooms one by one, and after clearing the area of any inhabitants, should the rooms be occupied when he came across them, the bomber would rig an explosive tag in the center of the chamber and flee, only for the area to go up in flames moments later. No one would ever accuse Deidara of not being a vengeful creature, that was certain.
Finally, with nearly half the establishment ablaze and the other half about to catch fire from the out of control flames, Deidara came across both his targets in what appeared to be the grand hall of the castle. Iburu was seated on a throne of sorts, the urn resting at his feet. How cliché. "I'm afraid this is as far as you're going to go, Akatsuki thief," he stated with no hint of fear in his voice. "Unless you want me to crush your precious urn," he added, moving his foot to rest on top of the ceramic target.
Deidara's mind quickly tried to process the situation. He was injured from both the torture he'd endured over the past few days, the cuts and bruises he'd received from fighting his way through the castle, and his lungs and eyes stung from the smoke that was encroaching on them faster and faster each minute. His adversary, on the other hand, looked perfectly fine and healthy, was farther out of harm's way than himself, and was in possession of Deidara's target. He could either try to persuade the man to surrender peacefully, or coax Iburu away from the urn long enough to snatch it.
Unfortunately while Deidara had been thinking, Iburu's fingers had curled under the throne's armrest and pushed a hidden button. It was only at the last minute that Deidara realized a very large, very heavy-looking something had swung out of a hidden compartment in the wall and was now heading right towards him. He barely had time to relax his muscles before it collided with his already bruised ribs, sending him flying across the room as stars danced in his field of vision. If he hadn't broken a rib before now, they were definitely cracked after that.
Iburu laughed at the sight of Deidara sprawled on the ground in pain, even daring to rise from his seat and cross the room to stand in front of the fallen ninja. "If I had known it would be this easy to get rid of the Akatsuki, I would've done this years ago."
"Your castle's on fire, your men are dead, and I'm going to break your neck, un," Deidara countered, hoisting himself into a sitting position and reaching down for a knife, only to realize that his pouch of stolen weapons was empty. Shit.
"Castles can be rebuilt, and men will always work for the right price," Iburu countered. "You, however, are never going to leave this castle alive. Let's see, that'll be two Akatsuki members I've taken care of. Who knows? Maybe the hidden villages will give me a nice, juicy contract to finish off the rest of you."
"Two?" Deidara inquired, trying to think of who he could be referring to. Hidan perhaps, but even with his head chopped off the zealot couldn't keep quiet. Orochimaru was still alive, as far as he knew-
"Yes two," Iburu replied, smug in tone and expression. "Do you people really not keep up with each other to know when a member dies? It was some odd months ago; one of my patrols caught a pair of them trying to cross into Fire country…"
The man continued his bragging, but Deidara had stopped listening. Fire country…the ambush…it was him. Iburu's men had been the ones to assault Sasori and himself. He was the one who had placed dangerous ninjas with explosives in their path. He was the one who'd caused Sasori to be blown up and shoved into a child's body. He was the one who made Deidara confront his feelings for Sasori and tear himself to pieces over the emotional agony of it all. All these thoughts and more began whirling in the blond's head as a burning anger began to grow in his heart, finally culminating in an outburst of, "You're the reason I've been making crustless PB&J sandwiches, un?"
"What?" But Iburu would never get an explanation for the outcry. Deidara had lunged for his throat and wrestled the man to the ground. The blond was younger and more agile, to be sure, but Iburu was uninjured and larger. The doors to the chamber soon caught fire from the flames in the hall, and the roof caught next as the duo tussled on the ground. At last Deidara had beaten the noble into submission, snapping his knees to make sure he couldn't flee anywhere. "I'll be taking this, un," he stated as he walked to the throne and scooped up the urn.
"Bastard," Iburu groaned from the floor.
Deidara's response was to take a small bit of his remaining clay and form a spider, which he sent to creep across the floor towards Iburu. The man's eyes widened at the sight, and he tried to scramble backwards, but with two broken legs it proved to be a futile effort. "By the way, when you get to hell, say hi to Akiko for me, un. I'd love to see her face when she hears I got both of you, un." Deidara would be a liar if he said he didn't enjoy the look of shock and horror on Iburu's face just before he was blown to smithereens.
At this point, the rafters began to groan, alerting the blond that this building was not going to be standing for much longer. Mustering the last of his strength, Deidara formed a small clay owl and leapt out one of the windows that had already shattered from the fire's heat. In seconds he was flying through cool, fresh air as the castle disintegrated behind him. Mission accomplished.
-mm-
Deidara was aware that he probably didn't look too terribly good after this assignment. Still, walking in to Pein's office only for the leader to spring out of his chair yelling, "What the unholy hell," was probably a bit unnecessary. "Here's your urn, un," he stated, shoving the item into Pein's hands. "I'm going to take a shower and some pain pills now, un. Maybe pass out for a few days after that, un."
"Right. Wait, before that-"
"Pein, I swear to all your and Hidan's gods, if you give me another assignment-"
"You need to tell Sasori to come to my office," the leader interjected. 'He'll be suspicious if Konan and I just retrieve him immediately after your return."
"You're doing the procedure tonight?" Deidara inquired, fairly shocked.
"Well yes. There's no point in putting it off, since we have all the necessary components. Why?"
"I was kinda hoping you could let me rest up for a few days so I could at least put up a decent fight when Sasori gets his memories back and tries to kill me, un."
"That won't be a problem," Pein assured him. "I'll simply suppress the memories of Sasori's days as a child here; as long as you don't bring them up, it will be as if this episode never happened. He will of course have the choice to keep those memories, but I highly doubt his pride would allow for such a thing."
"The others-"
"Have already had their memories modified, with the exception of Itachi." Pein didn't need to explain the Uchiha's omission; no one was foolhardy enough to go poking around in Itachi's mind. "Konan and I will remain unaltered, in case this procedure should ever need to be done again. And I feel that it would be best to leave your memories intact as well; otherwise it would be rather difficult to explain why you've suddenly gained an aversion to crusts on your sandwiches or are so much better at avoiding chakra strings than you used to be."
"Oh."
"Glad you understand. Please send Sasori here immediately." Nodding, Deidara exited the office and slowly began the trek towards his room, sluggish speed not entirely caused by physical pain.
Actually, the physical portion of it probably played a bigger role than Deidara initially wanted to credit; as soon as he stepped inside his room, his legs gave out from under him, and he was barely able to make it out of the doorway and shut the door. "Holy crap!"
Deidara's field of vision was suddenly full of red as small, familiar arms wrapped themselves around his neck. Come on, he didn't look that bad, did he? "Stupid, you're all bloody and bruised," Sasori whimpered, squeezing the blond tightly.
Deidara slung one arm around the boy's shoulder in a weak hug, putting far too much of his weight on Sasori. Hey, the Akasuna was going to forget all this in a few minutes, so why worry about it now? "Sasori, I was on a mission, un. Injuries are a common side effect of that."
"Didn't someone go with you?" Sasori demanded, tiny body trying to stay upright under Deidara's weight.
"No, I was alone. Sasori, Pein needs-"
"Why? Why did you go alone? How could you be so stupid, stupid!"
"Because that was the assignment Pein gave, now listen, you really need to go-"
"I'll beat him up!" Sasori screamed, crying against Deidara now. "You're all hurt, and you could've died, and he was stupid for not sending you with someone!"
"I promise, that's not going to be an issue very soon, un," Deidara attempted to reassure. "You see, my special someone is going to be coming back within a couple of days, and after that we'll work together, un."
"I'll beat them up too!" Sasori declared. "You're injured because they left, aren't you?"
"You're too weak to beat them up," Deidara laughed. Dear Kami, what was wrong with him? Probably the blood loss or smoke inhalation.
"Then I'll get stronger!" Sasori shot back, fire in his eyes. "I'll get so strong that no one can hurt me, and then I'll hurt Pein and that jerk for letting this happen to you, and then I'll protect you forever!"
"…Do you really mean that, Sasori?"
"Uh-huh," the redhead promised, hugging the blond again. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Deidara."
Deidara embraced Sasori tightly and let out a content sigh, a smile on his face for the first time in days. Even if the redhead didn't know entirely what he was saying, to hear such a kind, honest answer from Sasori was enough. "Sasori?"
"Yeah?"
"Pein needs you to go to his office. But there's something I need to tell you before you go, un."
"What is it?"
"Pein's going to perform a ritual that'll turn you into one of the strongest, smartest people here, un," Deidara explained, watching passively as Sasori's eyes lit up in amazement. "But there's one thing you need to do at the end, ok?"
"What is it?"
"Pein is going to ask you a question: remember, or forget. I need you to tell him forget, un."
"Why?" Sasori inquired. As far as he knew, forgetting things was both dangerous and annoying, so why would 'forget' ever be the right answer to anything?
"You see how badly I'm hurt, un?" Sasori nodded at this. "Well if you don't pick forget, I'm going to be hurt ten times worse than this, un." The Akasuna's eyes widened to the size of saucers, horrified at the thought of Deidara being injured any further. He quickly agreed to the promise, gave Deidara a hug goodbye, and walked out of the room, completely oblivious to the fate that was about to befall him.
Deidara remained on the floor for a long time, staring at the carpet with unseeing eyes and a blank expression on his face. That was it then. Chibi Sasori was gone, and within the next day, Sasori danna would be back in their room. He wouldn't remember the sandwiches Deidara had made him, the missions they'd done together, or the promise borne out of innocent, childish love that he'd just made to Deidara. Asking Sasori to forget had been selfish on Deidara's part; a portion of his mind and heart reasoned that Sasori being cruel when he couldn't remember his earlier kindness was far better than Sasori remembering and still treating the blond with disdain. At least now Deidara could cling to the false hope that there was a small part of Sasori that cared for the bomber.
It was with great effort that Deidara finally rose from his seat and made his way into the bathroom to scrub the soot and grime from his body. And as the blond turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat, he looked in the bathroom mirror and realized that he really did look that bad. At least, the part of his reflection he could see through his tears.