Angel's Wings

Jedi Goat

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. I'm just borrowing them without returning them... XD

Author's Note: Dun dun dun dun dun! I have returned! *crickets chirp* ...Yeah. Anyway. My semester is evil, so future updates may be erratic - my apologies ahead of time!

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Chapter 13

As he regained some sort of control over his racing heart, Sasori slowly sat up and surveyed their surroundings. Beyond the river, they were ever closer to the Akatsuki lair. The trees grew sparser around them, tall grass sprouting at their feet. The sky was clearly visible above, bright blue and with the midday sun directly overhead.

He cast his gaze at his partner, lying in the grass beside him. Deidara's eyes were shut, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. His hands trembled at his sides, his wings splayed wide.

Sasori bent over him. "Brat?"

"Un." Deidara opened a tired eye, lips twitching at a grin. "…I told you, danna…" Sasori, a foot away, had to lean closer to hear him.

Deidara coughed roughly, wincing. He slowly raised a hand, rubbing at the blood trickling from his mouth. He could barely move; He's overused his chakra, Sasori realized immediately.

"…I told you…" Deidara continued, still smiling slightly, "…I could fly."

His body shook with his next raking coughs; Sasori helped him to a sitting position, and he leaned heavily against the puppet master's right shoulder. He held the boy tightly as he continued to cough, hands over his mouth.

"Easy, brat," Sasori murmured as his own heart lurched in pain. Brat, you risked everything…for me.

The blond coughed violently, blood dripping between his fingers. Deidara nearly doubled over, Sasori holding him steady.

"Easy," he repeated, speaking to calm him, though he doubted Deidara could still hear him anyway. "Just breathe, brat, breathe for me."

Deidara took a shaky breath compliantly, and to Sasori's relief lowered his hands from his face. He rubbed his bloodstained palms in the grass, eyes unfocused.

"You should rest," Sasori continued quietly. "You've done more than enough, brat." His fingers closed on his partner's arm gently, a silent thank you.

Deidara, flinching with the effort, gradually pulled his wings back to his body. His right wing hung crooked; not quite closed. When he was finished, Deidara slumped back against his support, head leaning against Sasori's neck. His breath brushed the puppet master's skin lightly.

Sasori used his available hand to push aside his brat's sweaty hair. "Deidara," he began, but found no words to describe what he had seen that morning. The blond had risked everything, everything Sasori had helped him regain, for his danna's safety.

Deidara shifted slightly, burrowing against him. "Danna," he mumbled, voice softly muffled, "I'm sorry."

"What for now?" Sasori's voice betrayed exhaustion.

"That clay I used in the final explosion was yours, un."

Sasori blinked, glancing down at him. Deidara sounded genuinely worried by the matter, as if he'd be angry for such a…fleeting use of his art.

"Mine?" he inquired quietly.

"Un." Deidara nodded faintly. "That bird you made the first night, remember?"

Sasori knew, of course, to what he was referring. When Deidara had first attempted his art with his clawed hands, he had given up in despair. Sasori had taken the clay and reshaped it into a bird of his own – which he had then given back to his partner. Not long afterward, Deidara had feverishly returned to work, the result of which he had seen today.

He chuckled despite himself, gently cradling his partner. "It was well worth it, brat, believe me." Just seeing Deidara act like himself again made him proud, though he would never admit it aloud.

The blond still looked concerned, and he added decisively, "I'll make you another one, brat, if you'd like."

"But, danna, I used up all my clay," he murmured, protesting.

"We can get more at the lair," Sasori assured him. "You have some stashed away somewhere, don't you?"

"Yeah. Un," Deidara smiled weakly. He looked so small, so angelic. "…and danna?"

"Hn?"

"I'll make you something, too," Deidara whispered, closing his eyes.

Sasori gazed down at his sleeping partner, allowing a small smile. "I'll look forward to it."

As Deidara's thin breathing evened out and he slept huddled against his shoulder, Sasori's smile faded.

Brat, you'd better last until then.

*

The afternoon passed as they rested in the sunlit clearing. Sasori leaned against a tree, half hidden in shadow, his protégé sound asleep against him. Sasori wouldn't allow himself that pleasure, not with the ninja assassins so recently in his mind. A kunai glinted in his good hand, his hazel eyes constantly scanning the surroundings. Periodically his gaze would fall to the blond snuggled against his chest, half assuring himself that he was still breathing. His stomach twisted with the strangest feeling of worry, the feeling irritatingly prickling at the edge of his mind. He couldn't abandon his fear of losing his partner, his partner who'd twice saved his life now.

Sasori experimentally rolled his neck with a sigh, wincing at the stiffness in his joints. They had been crouched here a long time; how long, he was not exactly sure. The sun streaked downward in the sky, painting a splashed canvas of orange and red. Deidara would have liked it.

To keep himself awake, Sasori mulled over their situation. In their rush to escape the hunter ninja, they had abandoned their remaining supplies; now all they had to survive on was what he had on his person – he deemed Deidara wasn't carrying anything, since even his clay was gone now. Were they to face more enemies, they would be in trouble.

Sasori determined he had a few days' worth of stamina pills left, several puppets, and some limited medical supplies. As for water, he had three-quarters of a canteen remaining; enough for him alone, but he would have to drink sparingly to share with Deidara. Their journey would be less than a day, normally. Sasori estimated it would take them at least double now, not counting their current recovery time.

All in all, it was a rather bleak venture. Sasori growled faintly under his breath, shifting into a more comfortable position. Deidara stirred in his sleep and Sasori gently placed his head back in the hollow between his shoulder and his neck. He continued to hold his hand at the base of his head, supporting him.

There was still the whole matter of his injuries, which Sasori pondered at length. Deidara's bruises and cuts had nearly healed since his rescue – on the other hand, he had been only getting worse since the run-in with the sound ninja. The wound to his shoulder was deep – Sasori was amazed he had been able to fly at all with his right wing in such a state. Nevertheless, it had cost him, and now he was suffering incredible pain to his chest and lungs.

And yet, Sasori mused, it hadn't started after the fight. Deidara had been coughing ever since they brought him back from Orochimaru. It had only worsened after his wound. Its source was unexplained – the sound scientists hadn't messed with his internal organs, as far as he knew, and it was far too much to be simply caused by stress…

Suddenly it hit him. Only one change proved close enough to his torso to have an effect on such a grand scale, precipitated by his injury in battle. The sound ninja, knowingly or not, had caused his pain in their experiments.

His wings.

Sasori eyed the creamy appendages poking from the back of Deidara's cloak, a strangely bitter taste coming to his mouth. Deidara mourned the loss of his extra mouths, struggled with his new claws and eye, but his wings… He loved his wings.

Denying his conclusion, Sasori went over a mental analysis of anatomy. He guessed his wings had to be attached somehow to the muscle structures in his back and shoulders, to be able to move them so easily. It was possible – and, considering his condition, quite likely – that in installing his wings the sound ninja had endangered his internal organs.

It seemed a likely link; every time Deidara maneuvered his wings, his coughing worsened. To be now coughing up blood quite frequently, there had to be some in his lungs. The wound from the arrowshaft that had pierced through his wing muscles; it was possible its tip had punctured his lung. It made sense; and for the wing joint to be so close to the lung in the first place, the vigorous motion of the muscles could irritate it…

Sasori shifted slightly for a better view of Deidara's back, mentally measuring. Now that he thought of it, it made perfect sense. His pain was caused by the motion of his wings; his injury only worsened matters.

I have to tell him to stop using his wings, he decided, heart pounding. If it's not already too late – He forced that thought aside. No. He wouldn't let that happen. Not to his partner.

Sasori sighed bitterly, regarding his left arm slung at his side. Damn, if it weren't for this injury, they'd probably be back at the lair now, treating Deidara properly. But since he'd been weakened in the battle with the sound ninja, Deidara had deemed it necessary to take the blow for him, and now they were both in this state.

It was terribly ironic. Deidara's wings had saved Sasori twice now, first from the sound ninja and then from the explosion, and yet the very same wings were now killing him.

Sasori cursed his helplessness; without both arms and adequate supplies, there was little he could do to help his partner, except wait and hope.

Deidara, he thought, staring down at his peacefully dozing face. If ever you could, be strong for me now. Your spirit – that boldness I always hated, brat – that's all that can save you now.

He closed his eyes to the world that was shattering around him. Puppets never cried. For the first time in many years, he wished, for the briefest instant, to be human again if only to let out his feelings.

To be continued...

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Forgive my (lack of) medical knowledge...

I never give them a break, do I? *ducks projectile Uchihas* I'm sorry! Please review and don't hurt me?