"You must be Sasori," Deidara's mother said the moment Sasori stepped into the hospital room, Deidara a few steps behind. "You can call me Iwa-san."

"Iwa-san," Sasori greeted coolly, not bothering with smiles or niceties. Iwa-san didn't seem very happy to see him either, and he definitely did not like the way she looked at him as if she was trying to pick out some faults.

The more important thing, though, was that she didn't look a bit like Deidara. Looking at her afar would give the impression that she looked like Deidara but he didn't see how anyone (and so far everyone it would seem) who had seen the two before would say that they were identical. As far as physical appearance went, they were indeed similar, but Iwa-san had a certain air of fierce countenance which Deidara lacked. While Iwa-san was more on the offensive, Deidara was more on the guarded side. These two things made them look very different already.

The most telling factor was the eyes. Again, they were similar in the aspect that they had the same eye colour – cerulean blue, but Iwa-san's eyes held a stern gaze whereas Deidara's ones held more life. Honestly, Sasori would have never thought that they looked the same had he seen her face to face from the start.

"So how's your grandmother?" Iwa-san asked, her intense gaze fixed completely on Sasori. The redhead was certainly most uncomfortable with her penetrating stare but he didn't show it.

"You would know since she made this arrangement for you, un," Deidara interjected before Sasori could say anything. The blonde made his way further into the room and fell onto the couch in an ungraceful heap.

"When I'm speaking to him, you shouldn't interrupt," Iwa-san replied, eyes flickering to Deidara for a whole second before sweeping back to Sasori.

Sasori didn't say anything but they all knew that he agreed. He was just obvious like that, at least in this sense. He expected Deidara to glare at him or something but no such thing happened. Deidara obviously knew him well enough.

"So, how is your grandmother?" Iwa-san repeated with a terse smile. Apparently she just about hated waiting as much as Sasori did. It was slightly depressing that Sasori could find himself sympathetic to her.

"She's fine, thank you for asking," Sasori replied. A model answer.

"Tell me more."

"She's teaching at the university again," Sasori said. It was a pathetic answer really but he didn't really know much about what else his grandmother was up to.

"And?"

"She's thinking of writing a new book."

Sasori really hoped that she would stop asking him to elaborate more. That was really all he knew about Chiyo as of that moment. He didn't talk to her much, and all he ever talked to her abut was school work, and recently the internship.

"Anything about her personal life?"

"Sorry, we're not very close," Sasori decided to say eventually and had to resist the urge to lash out at the woman when she gave him a knowing stare and sardonic smile.

So he wasn't close to Chiyo, so what? Her relationship with her own son wasn't very good either… but Sasori wasn't about to say that of course. He was spiteful, not stupid.

"So how are your results in school then?"

"As expected of me."

"Can't do better than that?"

Sasori did all he could not to shoot her an annoyed look but his level of vexation was seriously increasing with each second. This woman really did know how to get on his nerves… much like Deidara in that aspect but at least the latter was more tolerable.

He offered a silent apology to Deidara for comparing him to his mother but he couldn't help it. He just had to make sure that the younger medical student never found out or there would be hell to face. Deidara raging was never something to look forward; it was something to be avoided if anything. And he was talking about the serious raging, not the childish ones about his arguments on art.

"Anyway," she said, obviously realising the tense silence that was starting to build up. "What are you interested in? Medical wise of course."

"Neuro."

"Oh, like dear Chiyo I see," Iwa-san said with a wider smile. "Was that your own choice or was that her choice?"

"My own choice."

"Influenced by her?"

Sasori was about to deny that (despite how true it was but he could definitely persuade Iwa-san otherwise) when Deidara decided that now was a good time to annoy his mother further and interrupt.

"Why the fuck are you interrogating him on his life, un?" Deidara asked and it was clear how he felt about his mother's firing questions.

Somewhere, along the course of the conversation, Deidara had moved from the couch and was standing at the window, with his back towards the occupants of the room.

"Like I said before, stay silent when I'm talking to someone else," Iwa-san said with an edge in her voice. It must be something she really hated, Sasori supposed. Deidara didn't even turn around or give a reply. He just stood there as if she hadn't said a thing. It was quite obvious that Iwa-san expected a reply – an apology – but it was also clear that she wouldn't get one.

They were as obstinate as each other.

Sasori really had to stop finding their similarities and focus on their differences instead but it was quite hard to do. Still, despite all these similar traits, he found that he still liked Deidara better. His mother was simply unbearable.

Nonetheless, he was actually kind of glad for that interruption. He was pretty sure that he was about to strangle the woman. But there were better ways to get back at her.

"Why wouldn't you do the operation?" he asked and her eyes shifted to him so quickly he that he was almost shocked. He could just see the smirk on Deidara's face.

"How is that your concern?" she asked, significantly more agitated than before. Well, payback was a bitch.

"Do tell him why you wouldn't do it, un," Deidara commented leisurely but Iwa-san ignored him.

"It isn't," Sasori replied casually with a meaningful look.

Iwa-san got what he was talking about of course. She wasn't stupid. She simply gave him the terse smile that she had been giving him the whole time he was there. To him, it was the most intolerable part of her. It felt as if she thought she was superior and it was quite obvious that she was judging him with everything he said. Sasori wondered how Deidara ever grew up under her care, if it could be called that.

"I wouldn't have pegged you down to be the type of people that befriends my son," she pointed out. An innocent observation, nothing else, but it was obvious that she was trying to get at something.

"Many people would feel the same," Sasori said. After all, he himself had thought the exact same thing and chances were that Chiyo did too.

"How did you two become friends?" she asked, a suspicious tone in her voice coupled with a knowing look.

Sasori knew danger when he saw it and this was such a situation. Of course she wanted a confirmation that they were both not being "led astray" by fantasies of art and are instead being solely focused on what really mattered - medicine. If she was that close a friend of Chiyo's, she would have probably heard about how interested he had been in art when he was a child from her. She had probably been trying to drill an answer out of Deidara the day before.

"You two are so different after all," Iwa-san continued. The eagerness in her voice was quite scary and Sasori wondered what she could actually want to do with that information but found that he wasn't really all that interested.

"We both treat medicine very seriously."

"You do?" she asked sceptically, a raised eyebrow emphasising it.

"Yes, medicine is very important to us," Sasori assured her, holding her eyes as she looked for any signs of insincerity. He was a good liar.

She finally tore her gaze away with a small laugh.

"It seems that you really have been working hard on medicine I see," she told Deidara who smiled a little too sweetly back at her.

"I should rest now," she said, giving the two a pointed look.

"Of course, un," Deidara said and left without a second glance. He even made sure to close the door behind him.

Deidara was laughing, laughing crazily and if he didn't stop soon, the doctors seated in the cafeteria were going to send him to the psych floor. Honestly Sasori wouldn't have been all that against that. He had been thinking that Deidara needed to see a psychiatrist for a long time now. There was also the fact that it would be utterly hilarious to see Deidara trying to explain his way out of that, especially since he does seem to sound mentally unstable, well, all the time.

"'We both treat medicine very seriously'," he repeated amidst giggles. "Oh that is so brilliant, Danna. Sheer brilliance, un."

"Would you stop laughing?" Sasori asked, but he didn't feel half as annoyed as he sounded. Iwa-san had probably just made his tolerance level really high. If he could manage a conversation without lashing out at her, there was no one he couldn't tolerate.

"But that was genius, Danna, un," Deidara replied, his laughter finally subsiding after ten minutes.

"I am."

"Yes, yes, never pass up a chance to accept a praise, un," Deidara said with a snort. "What a narcissist."

"I actually can afford to be one," Sasori replied to which Deidara rolled his eyes too.

"Sure, Danna, sure, un," he replied.

"She's not like you," Sasori said and Deidara stopped smiling and turned to look at him. It was the most serious Sasori had ever seen him. This was another thing about Deidara that he had somehow gotten used to. The blonde would be all giggly and happy one moment and serious and stern the next. The pattern sometimes varied to being gloomy and depressing. The usual style would be him showing a bunch of positive emotions one moment and then the (kind of) negative ones the next.

"Please don't say that for the sake of saying that, un," Deidara said and Sasori could tell that a white lie wouldn't work, not when Deidara actually held this issue so close to his heart.

"There are some parts of your similar to her, but you're definitely more tolerable than her," Sasori said eventually.

Deidara smiled.

"Thanks, Danna, un. Thanks."

Finally, it was the weekends. Konan had been waiting for this particular weekend for weeks already. It was a month after the internship started and Sasori and Deidara finally had enough time to meet up with the rest of them. She had wanted to meet up with them sooner but she didn't want them to fork out time they didn't have. Basically, she was just glad that they had settled down into their new environment. Still, they could only meet in the afternoon since someone was busy one way or another in the morning.

Despite Itachi advocating the usefulness of an agenda, and Kisame naturally backing him out, there was no one who was willing to do so and besides their opinions and tastes were all different anyway. It would be impossible to decide on a fixed place to go, but they decided to meet at a park near the school campus first anyway.

Ironically, Konan was the one who arrived the latest. Sure she was the one who suggested the whole thing but late-coming was an illness that couldn't be cured.

"You hypocrite!" Kakuzu complained. "You're always early for school."

"That's a different matter altogether," she replied sweetly and Kakuzu rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath which he took care not to let her overhear.

"Let's go to the nursery," Zetsu said immediately and he was certainly bouncier than ever. He was clutching a plant encyclopaedia in his arms and a page was bookmarked with a cactus maker.

"We don't care fucking about a bloody new plant that you freaking fell in love with for the disgusting millionth time, you agonising bitch," Hidan retorted with a scoff as Zetsu attempted to make holes in Hidan's head with his eyes. Hidan was too much of a thick headed skull for that to work though.

"Oh my gosh," Deidara said and the affection was as clear as day in his voice. "I missed that so much, un. Do you know how fucking annoying doctors are, un? Cursing is taboo. The fuck, un."

"You're fucking missing out, Blondie, you're fucking missing out," Hidan said in what he probably thought was a sympathetic tone. It sounded more mocking than anything though.

"I hope you come to the hospital one day, Hidan, un," Deidara suggested with a mischievous glint in his eyes which Sasori did not quite like.

"As a bloody patient?"

"Yeah, literally, un."

Hidan seemed to like that idea a lot and it was apparent that he was seriously contemplating it. Sasori would definitely not allow for it though.

"Don't you dare come," Sasori said, making his stand very clear.

Tough and mighty as Hidan liked to act, he did have an irrational fear for Sasori. That man was scary. Deidara was probably the only one dense enough to not have realised that. Thus, even though Hidan did find the idea to be very appealing and interesting, he decided that he wouldn't risk the wrath of the Akasuna.

"Fine, fuck you! I have better damn things to do, you ass," Hidan snapped. Fear did not mean that he would stop cursing. It was like telling him to give up Jashinism. Which equated to him giving up his life. No wait, Jashin was way more important than his life. He offered up a silent apology to his god for even thinking that and promised ten more rituals that week as penance.

Sasori simply ignored him while the rest laughed their heads off. Hidan was really adorable in the way he tried to act so badass when he was really a big marshmallow inside. Okay, that was an exaggeration but the man really is not as fierce or scary as he pretends to be.

"Let's go to the aquarium," Kisame suggested once the hoo-ha died down and looks, meaningful looks, were shot his way.

"Fine."

And of course Itachi wanted to go to the library ("You fucking retard! We're not all Jashin-damned crazy like you, you bastard!"), Tobi wanted to go to the amusement park ("Why is the kid even here, un?"), Kakuzu wanted to go to the bank ("Get a life already."), Pein wanted to the titanic exhibition ("No way."), Konan wanted to go shopping ("The shit?" "Really Konan?" "Please no."), Hidan wanted to go to the seaside to conduct a ritual ("Really?" "Hidan." "Seriously."), Sasori wanted to go to a science museum ("Go jump off a bridge.") and Deidara wanted nothing more than to kill them all.

"Just decide on a place already, un," he complained.

"You say something then!"

"I don't really care where we go, un," Deidara replied with a smirk. "Meaning according to democracy, we'll listen to the person who I agree with, un."

"Then let's go to the nursery!"

"Oh I forgot to mention that I'm sorely against that, un. That, and the library."

Actually he didn't mind the library; he just didn't want to agree with Itachi. The thought was disturbing and disgusting.

"Best fucking friend."

"Let's go to the beach, un."

There were groans and protests all around and weird excuses started popping out like how Itachi really wasn't dressed for the beach. But Hidan managed to pull at least two more people over to his side because "Fuck, you can fucking swim in the sea, you disgusting mutated fish" and "Plants bloody exist at the seaside too, you damned plant".

So they went to the beach.

"Fuck," was the first thing Hidan said upon arrival because he realised that his scythe and thus couldn't commit his ritual. People were starting to shoot him death glares already but all that was forgotten in the face of the exceptionally good weather that they were provided with that day. It was cooling and the sun was hiding behind a stack of clouds. It was definitely going to rain but to them, it was a good day to be at the beach, especially since none of them liked the sun particularly much.

Kisame took to the sea immediately and Itachi followed him, but he didn't swim. He just sat at the shore and started spacing out. He was probably thinking about some really complicated and complex philosophical theories though.

Pein and Konan decided to take a stroll alone with coos of "aww how sweet!" following their backs which they ignored. They stopped soon enough though because Pein and Konan might decide to turn back and murder them, or find a weapon on their walk which could be used to murder them. Either ways, it did not bode well.

Zetsu went off in search of plants and dragged Tobi along with him. Tobi had initially wanted to spend his time with his sempai but Deidara managed to bribe Zetsu by offering to buy him some expensive plant that he wanted.

"I'm richer than I look, un," he assured the plant lover.

Hidan felt a spiritual calling and dragged a very reluctant Kakuzu off with him. The latter kept complaining about how a waste of time this was and how that converted into a waste of money. They were all good at tuning him out by now.

"I thought the point of this was so that we could all hang out together, un," Deidara complained to Sasori when he realised that they were the two left behind.

Sasori shrugged and started walking off. Not knowing what else to do, Deidara followed him. After about ten minutes, Sasori sat down on the shore.

There were not much people at the beach to begin with due to the weather which was only perceived to be good by the bunch of them, but this area that they arrived at was secluded. But it had a nice, calming effect about it. The tranquillity the isolation brought coupled with the cooling atmosphere created by the weather made the entire situation really comfortable.

"To think we ended together again, un," Deidara said with a small laugh. He didn't mind really but he was bitter that Hidan chose to drag Kakuzu off instead of him. He thought that absence was supposed to make the heart grow fonder or something along those lines.

"I'm not that happy either," Sasori replied.

"I didn't say I wasn't happy, un!" Deidara defended and started pouting. "You're mean, Danna, un!"

"Established fact, Brat."

"Aren't Hidan and Kakuzu getting really close recently, un?" Deidara mused, trying to make light of the situation though the bitterness was apparent in his voice.

"Upset?"

Deidara turned to look at Sasori and was about to deny it when he noticed, for once, how intense Sasori's eyes were. The way he was staring out at the horizon was almost frightening. There was a thirst in his eyes but for what Deidara did not know. He wanted to ask about it but Sasori repeated the same word and he was reminded that they were still talking about him.

"Kind of, un. Hidan's my best friend, un."

"I think Hidan felt like that a while back, didn't he?" Sasori asked.

Deidara nodded even though he knew that Sasori wouldn't see it. With the way Sasori was concentrating so hard on the horizon, Deidara wondered if he was even really paying attention to the conversation. He had never felt more curious about the redhead than he did then.

"Still."

"Bad experience?" Sasori questioned. It was a sensitive question and he was almost prying into Deidara's past so he wasn't exactly expecting a reply. He didn't even know why he asked that in the first place. There was something about this place which was emboldening him.

"Yeah, bad experience, un."

Sasori certainly hadn't been expecting that. Even if Deidara was going to answer, he had assumed that the blonde would give a simple 'no' and let the subject end there. Maybe something about the place was urging Deidara to be more honest too.

Nonetheless, that was about as much as Sasori was going to pry. He was not going to ask the blonde to elaborate. If Deidara wanted to tell him more, he would. He wasn't the type that needed people to ask him for him to tell. He did what he wanted to because of what he felt like. He was a free spirit.

"I had a best friend when I was younger, not much younger though, un," Deidara said before laughing. "Actually we only stopped being so about last year? Or the year before. Somewhere around then, un. I can't really remember, un."

"Because you don't want to?"

"I think it's my coping mechanism, un."

Sasori nodded. Everyone's coping mechanism was different. He, for one, never forgot. It was kind of scary how much he could remember sometimes.

"It was weird, un. She was the first person I could truly connect to I guess, but somewhere along the line things happened and we faded, un," Deidara said.

He had thought that he would feel depressed or something akin to that if he ever told about this to someone but all he felt was apathy. He didn't know why he was telling this to someone either. He had planned to let it remain a relic of his past. It was Sasori. Something about the man always made him spill his past and thoughts. It was quite unfair actually. Sometimes he thought that the older man knew more about him than he did about him.

"Did she like art?" Sasori asked and Deidara laughed.

Sasori still didn't turn to him though. He was starting to feel really curious but the conversation was still about him and he did want to tell Sasori more about this ex-best friend of his for some strange reason.

"No. We hardly had anything in common, un."

"Kind of like you and me."

"Art is all we need, un, despite our more than differing opinions," Deidara said. Sasori chuckled at that but still not pull his eyes away.

"Do you want to meet her again?" Sasori asked.

"Would you want to meet her again if you were me, un?"

"I'm not you."

"Hypothetically, un."

Sasori did not reply for such a long time that Deidara seriously thought that he was ignoring him. But he didn't push for an answer. If Sasori was going to ignore him then fine.

"I would want to actually."

"Why, un?" Deidara questioned, feeling a bit stupid that he actually thought that Sasori was ignoring him. If he thought about it, Sasori never ignored him when it came to serious matters. Honestly, he was glad that he could have someone like Sasori to talk to. He would almost call it a blessing.

"I don't know exactly why you two stopped being friends, but I think that if it were me, I would want to see how her life has changed and compare it to mine, to see if separation had been the right thing for the both of us."

"You're so nice, Danna, un," Deidara said wistfully as he laid back down on the sand. The sand was probably going to stick in his hair later but he never gave much consideration to such stuff. He only regretted when the damage had been done.

"Not really," Sasori said. His tone had been the same clam one throughout the entire conversation that it was starting to get on Deidara's nerves but there was still something comforting about the atmosphere and even this conversation that made him somewhat at ease. "If the separation had been good for me but not her I would care less. If the opposite happened, I would just try and make my life better without her in it."

"So you're determined not to let her back in your life again, un?"

"You have Hidan already."

"True that, un."

"What about you?"

"For me, I would only meet her if I'm sure that my life is better than hers for sure and that I have new friends who are worthier of my friendship, un," Deidara said with a small laugh.

"So it's more of revenge than anything."

"Yes, it is, un," Deidara agreed. "I'm not a very nice person, un."

"No one is. She probably feels the same."

"I don't like thinking from another person's perspective, un. It eats into my own," Deidara said. "I want to be who I am how I am with no influence from anyone, un. But that's already turning into a dream, un."

"Make it reality again."

"Danna," Deidara said in a tone which finally made Sasori turn away from the horizon to look at him. "It's not that easy, un."

"I understand."

And Sasori turned his head back.

It was at moments like these that Deidara was really glad for Sasori. Their current situations were so pathetically similar that he didn't even have to explain why he felt the way he did. If it were someone else, he could explain for a whole week and still the other person wouldn't understand, at least not the way Sasori would. He supposed that this kind of things could only be understood if someone had been through it.

Sometimes if Hidan would have been able to understand. With a pang, he realised that he knew more about Sasori than he did about Hidan. And Sasori probably knew more about him that Hidan did. He had always been idealistic. To him, a best friend was for life and he needed such a person for him to feel at ease with the world. That person didn't have to be physically with him but he needed to know that such a person was there. He knew why he was like this.

He was displacing the security that he needed from his parents onto his "best friend". What he didn't receive from his parents he needed to have elsewhere from another person. A best friend was the ideal person. He had thought that she had understood him but maybe he was too demanding. Still, nothing could change the fact that he knew that he was a selfish person for doing so.

Yet people were innately selfish. He didn't have to bear the brunt of any punishment for a quality so natural to human beings, so he didn't blame himself. And he didn't change his mind-set.

He was about to ask Sasori what the other man thought about selfishness when he noticed that Sasori was completely focused on the sea again.

"What's wrong, Danna, un? You've been staring so intensely at the horizon ever since we sat down, un," Deidara said, hoping that Sasori wouldn't lash out at him and tell him to mind his own business.

Sasori knew that he was being obvious with how much attention he was giving to the sea but he didn't feel like covering anything up. He had a feeling that Deidara was going to ask him what was wrong because he would have done the same had the blonde been the one acting so weirdly. A part of him didn't want to tell Deidara what was going on but he felt that he was obliged to after hearing a small yet significant part of the blonde's life.

"I want freedom so bad," he confessed. "And something about the horizon reminds me of that. Maybe because it's so endless and there's also the fact that it'll always be there."

"Your concept of eternity coming into play here, un?" Deidara asked, finding it funny yet understanding how Sasori felt.

He could apply his concept of transient anyway in his life if he wanted to. Even his notion of a best friend. True, he did think that a best friend was for life but he thought that a function of a best friend was transient. He only needed his best friend to be there when he needed him for that short period of time. Afterwards his best friend could disappear until he needed them again.

But he didn't feel that way about Hidan. There was just something about Hidan and this new group of friends which stopped him from thinking that way. Maybe it was because they made him feel happier than he had ever felt in years or maybe they just had some innate bond which connected them. Whatever the case, he knew that these friends were precious and that he needed now that he knew what it was like to have them.

"Eternity can be applied to everything," Sasori said simply.

Deidara didn't know why but he felt that Sasori wasn't telling him the full picture. He, unlike Sasori, never had the policy not to pry though and so went ahead.

"Is there something else you're not telling me, un?"

"There is actually but I don't feel like talking about it now."

Deidara might not be as considerate and thoughtful as Sasori was but even he knew when to stop probing. After all, he was obliged to do so, especially if it was Sasori. The older man had always allowed him his privacy and never overstepped any boundaries. He ought to do the same.

"Okay, un."

At that moment, his cell phone started vibrating in his pocket and he picked it up.

"We're meeting back at where we came from and we're going for dinner," Konan informed him even before he had the chance to say hi. "Is Sasori with you? I couldn't reach him."

"Yeah he is, un. We'll be there soon, un."

Deidara then told Sasori the plan.

"I don't feel like going," Sasori said, his eyes still focused on the horizon as ever. "Tell them Chiyo suddenly set me an assignment."

"Does she usually do that, un?" Deidara asked, thinking that Chiyo was a bitch more than ever but keeping that to himself.

"Yes."

"Okay, un. Bye."

Sasori didn't reply and Deidara wasn't even quite sure that the older man had heard him. The dark clouds were starting to gather already (probably why the others decided to leave) and Deidara wondered whether Sasori would stay there. The redhead didn't seem stupid enough to do so and risk catching pneumonia. Still, people do stupid things when engrossed in something. Deidara would know.

When Deidara met up with the others, he conveyed Sasori's message and agreed with the others how much of a bitch Chiyo was for constantly doing this. Konan was mostly annoyed that she had to pick this particular day to do so. Deidara felt a little bad that Chiyo was being cursed so badly for something she didn't even do but figured that she deserved it one way or another.

By the time Deidara got home it was already one in the morning. They had more to talk about than he thought and relating the things that happened at the hospital was surprisingly fun. He couldn't really remember what they talked about in detail but he knew they were all doing well and that was really enough. He had fun.

Still, there was a constant nagging at the back of his head. He couldn't stop thinking about Sasori. He wondered if the older man was alright. At times like those, he would actually want some company because he really hated the feeling of being alone but Sasori seemed to prefer the loneliness more.

So Deidara switched his phone off in case his hands moved faster than his brain and he ended up sending a message to Sasori. The redhead did make it kind of clear that he wanted to be left alone and he said what he felt which was a far cry from Deidara.

Sasori was strong, Deidara decided. He kind of envied him for it but he was kind of glad. At least one of them could make it out of better than the other, even if it was Sasori and not him.

It was funny what these new friends were doing to him. He was actually becoming increasingly selfless (he supposed) and it felt better than he thought it would. He fell asleep that night and slept better than he had in years.

Yay I updated "earlier"! XD You see, I totally forgot that this Friday was this week and not next week. Don't ask me how I managed to do that; I don't quite know either. OTL

And yes it is a long chapter like I promised! ^^ It's the longest ever in this story. XD I hope that you guys enjoy it! Reviews are loved! 3

Oh right a heads up! Because this year is an important academic year for me, I might not update as often as the year goes by so I hope that you guys will be patient with me! ^^ I think the chapters will be longer but the updates won't be as often? I'm not quite sure yet. :x Anyway, thanks for all the support so far! They mean a lot to me. :D