Akane flinched when Deidara suddenly opened the door and bursted inside. For a second he exchanged looks with Sasori, and by the look in his face, knew that his partner had come to the same conclusion as he did.

"Akane-chan…" Deidara frowned, with three long strides he bend over and hugged her tight. Akane, whose eyes were still red, looking confused and embarassed, "Ishiko-chan, what happened…?" she chuckled from behind Deidara's shoulder. Sasori looked away.

Deidara finally let the girl go. Still grabbing her shoulder, he told her. "Akane-chan, I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly being truthful to you…"

Akane looked at Ishiko with a questioning look, and turned to Hiruko, but the red-haired girl just staring at her back with an unreadable expression.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

-,-,-

Kakuzu and Hidan appeared in front of of Mori Kinomoto, the Kinomoto heir on his way back from jounin tryout. The man looked young, probably the same age as Akane. He wasn't exactly in a peak condition, from a brief observation he probably only sprained a few muscles, sustaining a few kunai stabs and a cracked ribs. But still, he could be much worse than that, judging that he was just trying out as a jounin.

"Mori Kinomoto?" Kakuzu stopped him.

The addressed man automatically on guard. "Who's asking?"

"My name is… Kotaro Ishigoro, I'm a messenger from Ame." Kakuzu answered quietly, not wanting to cause a ruckus and risk suspicion to Leaf shinobi. The young man suddenly looked tense. The next split second he threw out some kunai and jumped high, ready to slice this Kotaro Ishigoro with his katana in two pieces.

However, the next thing he knew, his wrists were tied by wires and his body was yanked to the ground.

"We need to talk. I must ask your cooperation, or my bodyguard here," Kakuzu motioned to Hidan who was now grinning maniacally next to him, "Will have to resort to violence."

-,-,-

Three days afterwards, Team Kakuzu, consisted of Kakuzu himself, Hidan, Sasori and Deidara was assembled in Pein's office for a debriefing. It was another rainy day at Ame, and it surely didn't help enlighting their mood.

"You failed the mission."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement. A statement which very well felt like a bitch-slap to their faces—so much worse than a sword stab to the limbs.

"Somebody care… to explain to me? Why did you fail such a B-rank, chuunin level mission?" Pein's voice was getting lower and dangerous.

Deidara shifted uncomfortable.

Their Leader stared at them with much disappointment and frustration. "How, would you explain the death of the girl you supposed to bring back?" Pein shouted and slammed his desk, looking furious and in rage.

Deidara gulped.

"A-Akane…" he stuttered, "burnt herself to death as soon as we let her out from our sight." he answered, unable to look Pein on the eyes. Unable to face his memory of the unfortunate girl. He made a mistake, he knew. He and Sasori both made the fatal mistake, but mostly him. Or maybe it was Hidan and Kakuzu's fault too. Or maybe it was Pein's fault for giving them such a tragic mission. Or maybe fate just decided to play with them, play with their conscience, play with the supposedly cruel, S-rank Akatsuki ninja. Who ironically, ended up failing miserably on a B-rank chuunin mission.

As Deidara hid his face, Sasori recalled back the events from his memory…

-,-,-

Akane didn't seem like she could comprehend it all too well when Deidara told her that she was originally from Kinomoto family, the very same family as her beloved Mori Kinomoto. Sasori told her that it wasn't a coincidence that they were drawn to each other. It was no coincidence that they born in the same day, in the same year, and it was no coincidence that everytime the sat together in silence, they knew what each other was thinking.

Because they were twins.

Sasori told her that it was the reason her father got furious when Mori Kinomoto proposed to him, because he knew the truth. He knew that both Akane and Mori were twins, born in the same day in the Kinomoto residence. Deidara said, Amasaka family took her by force and raised her as their own, but in the same time, her twin brother also being raised as Kinomoto family heir. And one unfortunate day, Mori Kinomoto decided to visit Ame when he was 13 years old, met a girl and fell in love. Mori then decided to go try out as a chuunin in Ame, and later as a jounin. He became a permanent Ame resident in order to stay close to the girl he loved.

Akane didn't seem like she could comprehend it all too well when Sasori told her that Daidoji-sama, the bar's owner was a distant cousin of Kinomoto family… and that he was the one who told the Amasaka family their daughter's location after seeing the striking resemblance they bore each other. Sasori told her, that probably Daidoji had his own suspicion.

The girl looked like she was in denial when she ran through the narrow alleyways and streets to where her beloved Mori-kun was. And there he was, looking like a ghost. His eyes were blank and his face paled. He couldn't even stand straight as he had to lean on the wall since his legs could no longer support his weight.

When their gazes locked, something must have clicked in her. Something must have told her that everything Sasori and Deidara just told her were the truth. As horror dawning on her, she pulled her hair with both her hands and screamed. She screamed and screamed and ran back to the bar. Of course, Deidara and Sasori chased after her and tried to calm her, but it's not easy trying to restrain someone who was in the brink of losing her mind.

That night, Deidara mainly doing the talking, and Akane merely doing the listening. After a while, she agreed to go back to Ame. Relieved, Deidara and Sasori started to move on with their things. Sasori went ahead to inform Kakuzu and Hidan so they can meet them at the gate, Deidara was holding Akane's hand as he quietly guided her through the stairs and through the front bar. Akane told him that she wanted to go to the bathroom, so Deidara nodded and followed her. She told him that their bathroom in their room was too far, there was one near the kitchen. Deidara nodded again, and waited outside the bathroom door when Akane slipped through the back door, pouring kerosene from the storage just outside of the kitchen and light herself.

Deidara realized something was wrong when he smelled the kerosene, but it was too late. She was already burning by the time he reached her. She couldn't hear him screaming her name, she couldn't hear Meisa, Mari and Aya-chan's siren cries over her. She couldn't hear the panic state she caused the bar's visitors who were running around in panic over something burnt in the building. She didn't see when Sasori grabbed Deidara's hand and ordered him to leave the city.

Because it was too late.

She was burning brightly, as bright as her love for Mori Kinomoto, her twin brother and her lover. Forbidden to marriage, bound by blood.

-,-,-

Deidara and Sasori were back in Sasori's room. They had just gone through the most depressing debriefing they had ever experienced.

Both shinobi kept in silence. Sasori was sitting on his desk, and Deidara was lying on the bed. For a few hours, none of them had spoken.

Until Deidara suddenly sat up. "What happened to the other twin?" the look on his face was slightly alarmed.

The Suna-nin tilted his head as if musing about something. "After finding out Akane's death? I don't know. Kill himself too, probably?"

Deidara scoffed. "You're cruel, Danna." Sasori just smirked to that remark.

"Who decide what is allowed and what's not in this world, yeah…?" Deidara asked curiously.

Sasori shrugged. "Society, I suppose."

His blond partner thought for a long while, and was heard mumbling to himself. "Marriage between siblings is unheard of, I know… yeah."

Deidara was half-hoping to get a certain response from the Suna-nin, but he got none.

"I won't listen to society, yeah… If one day I do find someone who I can safely say I love, I'll go after them with all my heart, I don't care what people say, yeah." He rolled around and resting his cheek on his hand, "What about you, Danna?"

Sasori raised one eyebrow, throwing a glance at his partner. "I'd worry more about what kind of punishment Leader-sama will come up with, rather than worrying about a love-life." The Suna-nin looked up to Deidara. "If I were the type of person who cared of what society would think, I wouldn't have turned myself into a puppet, Dei-chan. As you know, it's not a very orthodox thing to do." he let out a small chuckle.

Deidara felt a pang on his heart when he saw the smile on that angelic face and quicky looked away.

"… …"

"Something you wanna say to me, Deidara?"

"I think you're cruel, yeah, Sasori-danna."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"… I don't know. I think you just are."

=,=,=,=