Ah, here's chappie 12! And, as promised, it is most definitely longer than number 11! Yes, it is cause for rejoicing; although it isn't quite the length I'm beginning to aim for. Nothing to be done...as of now. Of course I'm keeping it as Dei/Saso, but we've got some Ita/Dei in there for flavor and motivation. It's getting exciting, as I've almost reached 100 reviews, something I totally wasn't expecting when I began this story. I'd really love to thank everyone who's been reviewing, because it's really wonderful and I appreciate it very much!
However...I still don't own this...and, Enjoy!
After night had fallen, Sasori picked himself up off of the wet earth and began a steady trek back to his room. He was still muddled in his own thoughts, Tobi's words, and Zetsu's blunt statement. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice two shadows slip past him in the darkness of the entrance.
He stalked through the halls of the inner building, not bothering to keep quiet the thudding of his heavy footfalls. He turned down the short hallway that led to his room and paused before opening the door. He shook his head, as if to clear it, and sighed as he reached for the handle.
He pulled the door open and trudged inside. He was met with a calm, cheery greeting, "Evening Sasori-danna, yeah." Deidara's voice came from his right.
He looked to see the blond lethargically pulling a mesh tank over his tan shoulders. Deidara didn't seem to notice the way Sasori helplessly let his eyes travel over the rippling muscles of the blond's stomach. Sasori almost made a longing sigh, but he caught himself in time.
'What am I, a girl?' Sasori thought embarrassedly, though he wasn't sure how he had become so flustered. "Not even five minutes with him and I'm acting like a fucking woman…" Sasori grumbled under his breath.
Deidara looked at his partner curiously, "What was that, danna?"
"Nothing," Sasori replied, "Just thinking out loud." Sasori strode across the room to sit on his bed.
"Ah, I see."
"So, you're back?" Sasori tried not to sound pathetically happy.
"Yeah, 'Totchi-kun and Kisa-san are on a mission right now, yeah. I'm surprised you didn't see them leave."
Deidara tilted his blond head in contemplation, his hear sweeping gracefully over his shoulders. It was then that Sasori realized that the blond's hair was down out of its customary ponytail.
"Your hair." Sasori grunted awkwardly.
"Yeah, I took it down because it's been such a long day."
"I…er, like it." Deidara's visible eye lit up as Sasori said this.
Deidara smiled as he replied, genuinely pleased at Sasori's comment, "Thanks, Sasori-danna!"
Sasori was at a loss for words and they fell into an uncomfortable silence. Sasori watched Deidara in what he believed to be a discreet manner, as the other nin flitted around the room tidying up his side of the space.
"You know danna, yeah, you don't have to watch me." Deidara looked over at the caught red-handed puppeteer and smirked.
"I wasn't watching you, idiot." Sasori tried to cover up his embarrassment as he denied the blond's playful reproach.
Deidara cocked his eyebrow in a disbelieving manner but said nothing further about it. He continued to pick up bits of his possessions and place them neatly on the shelves adjacent to his bed.
Sasori shifted uncomfortably on his own bed. He was much too intrigued by the way Deidara's body moved, and he was inexplicably fascinated by the muscles under the blond's tanned flesh. He'd never actually found anything about the human body that he thought didn't need altering, but now he was rethinking his previous opinion.
"Danna, yeah, you didn't do anything that would have upset Kisame-san, did you?" Deidara paused in his work, looking at the dazed red-head.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, yeah, but he seemed awfully glad to be going on a mission rather than lazing about here…" Deidara picked up the book that lay at the foot of his bed. "Danna, this book is yours, yeah."
Sasori lifted his arm to take the book, but Deidara had opened it and had begun flipping through its numerous and dog-eared pages.
The clay artist looked through Sasori's book with a wry smile on his face. "I had no idea that there were so many poisonous animals." Sasori remained silent as the blond leafed through more pages. "How do you get the venom out of the animal, yeah?"
"Carefully." Deidara chuckled at Sasori's reply and continued to read, enjoyment spreading over his face.
"This is all very clever." Deidara looked up at Sasori as he handed him his book back. This time, when Deidara returned to his side of the room and lay down on his bed, a comfortable silence filled the room. "Sasori-danna, yeah, why are you acting differently?"
Sasori didn't look at the blond as he said, "Differently how?"
"I suppose I mean that you are being…tolerant of me, yeah." Deidara sat up thoughtfully. "Usually when I start cleaning like that, you get annoyed and yell at me, yeah."
Sasori still did not meet Deidara's questioning gaze as he muttered something unintelligible under his breath.
"What was that, danna, yeah?" The clay artist flopped lazily onto his back, his gaze trained on Sasori.
"I-ehm…I guess I missed having you around…to annoy me." Sasori turned away from the blond, and added the last bit as an afterthought. His statement sounded less feminine that way.
Deidara didn't say anything for several minutes, and finally Sasori worked up the courage to face him. When he looked at the blond's bed, he found that the artist had fallen asleep. Sasori noted, before he began his meditation, that Deidara had fallen asleep with a small smile on his face.
--
Sasori didn't remember anything that he had thought about in his subconscious state, but as he came out of it he felt a presence hovering over him.
Sasori slowly opened one eye, and then the other, his vision was filled with a blond; a dripping wet, blond to be exact. Sasori sat up slowly as he took in the magnificent sight of his partner. Deidara had the regulation black pants on, and he was pulling yet another mesh shirt over his tan body. He watched as rivers of water ran down the blond's perfectly sculpted back. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' Sasori banged his head against the wall, in a desperate attempt to clear it.
The thud startled Deidara and he turned around, blond hair whipping around in an arc of golden light. It landed wetly against his right shoulder, and his scope was visible for a few seconds before he shook his sodden bangs into place.
Sasori continued to pound his head into the concrete wall as Deidara looked at him bemusedly. "Danna, yeah, what are you doing?"
"Punishment." Sasori paused in his pounding long enough to utter the three syllables and then resumed his pounding.
"Punishment for what, yeah?" Deidara was watching him carefully as he tied up his blond hair in its usual ponytail style.
"Does it matter?"
"Not really, no." Deidara, having finished putting his hair up was sliding into his cloak. "Danna, yeah?" Deidara waited for Sasori to stop his pounding, but the puppeteer kept up the rhythm. "Uhm, do you want to come down and watch me eat breakfast, yeah?"
Sasori rested his head against the wall and he grumbled, "Not particularly, no." Deidara sighed and he moved toward the door. "…But, I'll come anyway."
Deidara concealed a smile as he retorted, "Well you had better hurry or I'm going to leave without you, danna."
"Oh, shut up." Sasori lifted himself nimbly to his feet and slipped into his cloak. He moved toward the door, where Deidara stood, unmoving.
"Are you coming?" Sasori growled irritably.
"Yeah, yeah…" Deidara's face remained blank, and Sasori turned his back on the artist.
"Let's go, you're going to be late."
"Coming, danna, yeah." Deidara muttered as he followed Sasori out of their room, and out of the complex.
Review! I'm contemplating a reward of some sort for the 100th reviewer...but as it's so close now...ah, we shall see, ne?
