So...I haven't updated in forever, but I redid this chapter around five times until I liked it. v.v; And I apologize a thousand times and a thousand times over again that I completely suck at life. However, I think I'll be able to update more regularly crosses fingers. So I finally got this chapter relatively okay while I was in my Nickelback binge...I was listening to the song...Slow Motion, and I was like, wow, this is great. So, if you don't know it, check it out. :

Don't own anything...except for a cold.

Itachi was pacing wildly in his quarters, waiting for Kisame to return from the errand he'd sent him on. HE felt a pang of nervousness, and his stomach twisted uncomfortably; what if it didn't work and he made a fool of himself? Uchihas do not make fools out themselves; that is, Uchihas also don't get nervous, nor do they fall in love with fickle blonds.

Itachi nearly lost his balance as his momentum nearly caused him to collide with the wall. "I-I'm not in love." He grumbled to himself, as he sat gracelessly on his bed. The brunette sighed and took a deep breath, trying to calm the pounding in his chest. He shook his head, trying to clear, hair falling into obsidian eyes, "I'm not."

The sharingan wielder clenched his fists in his sheets, "And even if I was, I would not admit it."

Kisame looked at his partner from his place in the doorway, a frown on his face. "Itachi-san..."

The brunette looked up hesitantly, and the shark-nin held out a takeout box and a small bag.

Itachi cleared his visage of any and all emotion, "Thank you, Kisame, but you didn't have to get me dinner…"

Kisame gave the sulky brunette a wry smile and muttered, "It was no problem. I'll see you later, there's something I need to do." The shark nin left the bags on the shelf near the door and excused himself.

Itachi massaged his temple tiredly before crossing the room and claiming the food and shopping bag. Why did he have such a headache? He pinched the bridge of his nose thoughtfully and opened the takeout box.

"Dango? He spoils me…" Itachi muttered as he munched on his treat.

--

Sasori twisted his wrist back in place and quickly rose from his spot on the ground when he heard heavy footsteps approaching him. The puppeteer rearranged his features into their usual perpetually bored expression and leaned against the wall in what he hoped was a casual demeanor. He looked up from pretending to study the joints of his fingers to see Kisame looking at him with an odd expression.

It looked to Sasori that Kisame was sizing him up, but what would the shark-nin want to fight him for? He certainly hadn't done anything to upset the usually carefree man. In the silent moment that passed between them, they stiffened as though positive the other was going to attack. When still neither moved, they relaxed a bit, but didn't say anything.

Sasori was unnerved, he could feel the other nin's yellow eyes boring into him, and he couldn't do anything about it. He had no idea what the other man wanted, but if Kisame didn't express his purpose soon Sasori was going to lose his temper. He opened his mouth to relay this information to the shark-nin but closed it again when something else broke the silence.

"Fuckin' A, Kakuzu!" Hidan's head had just flown down the hall, whizzing between the silent party. The swearing head landed on its face and cursed loudly. "I swear to Jashin when I get the fuckwit leader to make you put my fucking head back on, I'm going to fucking kill you, you bastard!"

Sasori and Kisame remained silent, merely staring at the cursing head on the floor struggling to roll off of its face. When Hidan finally righted himself he glanced at the two silent ninjas. "Well what the fuck are you doing just standing there, help me!" Neither moved. "Did you two shit-for-brains forget how to function? Quit having your silent staring contest and help me, ya assholes!"

Kisame raised an eyebrow and tilted his head upward. "If you want help, you shouldn't be so rude."

Hidan glared and snarled back at Kisame, "You fuckwit, I don't have time for this, now pick up my head and make that bastard Kakuzu put it back on my neck!"

Kisame frowned and muttered, "I don't have time for this either." Kisame walked over to where Hidan's head was lying and picked him up by his silver hair.

"OW, DAMMIT!" Hidan yelped, "Not the hair!"

Kisame smirked maliciously and tossed Hidan's head in the direction of Sasori. The startled red head barely managed to catch the cussing head and looked confusedly at the shark nin.

"You're a clever boy, figure something out." Kisame called over his shoulder as he passed the red head.

Sasori narrowed his eyes in displeasure. "I'm not a boy…" he mumbled as he looked at the head in his hands distastefully.

Hidan rolled his eyes, "I don't care what you are, just get your ass in gear and help me."

Sasori frowned, "I don't have time for this."

"Well, what a great thing we all have in common!" The immortal growled sarcastically.

The red head sneered at Hidan's head, "Shut up, will you?" Sasori began to walk back to his room.

"Where are you going? Kakuzu's that way you dumbass!" Hidan yelled and bit into Sasori's wooden hand.

Sasori didn't even glance down at the yelling head in his hands, "I don't care."

When the red head reached the door to his quarters he jerked it open, pried Hidan's teeth out of his hand, and threw him into the room at a sullen and, for a fraction of a second, hopeful Deidara.

The blond opened his mouth to say something to Sasori, but was met with another door slammed on his words. "I'm sorry…"

Sasori grumbled to himself as he stalked down the halls and out of the compound. This was really becoming a habit of his. He wandered out among the trees and perched himself on a rock.

'Why does it always end this way?' Sasori felt pathetic even thinking it, but it was really a question he wanted answered. 'Am I just meant to be unloved; is it karma catching up with me? Even when I was a child I had no one to love me. I just had my puppets, as always. And why of all things does my chest hurt? I don't have nerves or anything on my body that can actually feel. How is it that I dofeel?'

Sasori inspected his hand where Hidan had bitten into the wood. He had made slight indentations, but it hadn't hurt Sasori in the least. If the red head had not seen the immortal's teeth biting him he never would have known it had happened until he inspected his hand.

--

Deidara called after Sasori desperately, hoping against hope he would come back and they would work it out like nothing had happened, like there had never been a misunderstanding.

Deidara cursed his stupidity as he began to throw his possessions across the room at the door. He just needed to break things; break like he'd done to Sasori's hope, break like his intentions were for Itachi, and break like his own sanity.

When the blond had finished hurling most of his smaller possessions across the room, he threw himself across his bed and cursed himself some more.

"Why is that I always fuck everything up, yeah?" The artist asked aloud, but received no answer. Deidara let a growl rumble in his throat as he thought about what he was going to do to try to fix everything.

Once again, Deidara let his mind wander to a certain red head bursting through the door and asking him if they could talk. Deidara sighed and rolled onto his side so he could see the door. It swung open.

Deidara sat up, looking hopefully at the crack of fluorescent light leaking in from the hallway. Sasori was framed in the doorway looking irritated and sulky. Before Deidara could call out to the red head, Sasori threw something at him and slammed the door.

"I'm sorry…" He spoke to another closed door. Deidara looked around, looking for whatever it was Sasori had tossed at him. It didn't take him long to locate it, because it was swearing loudly.

"Ano, Hidan-san, yeah?" Deidara frowned at the red-faced immortal's livid head.

Hidan, in his rage let out a growl before he began to yell even louder than he was before, "WILL SOMEBODY GET THAT BASTARD KAKUZU TO PUT MY FUCKING HEAD BACK ON MY FUCKING NECK, I'M SICK OF ALL OF YOUR SHIT AND I SWEAR IF I HADN'T SWORN NOT TO KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU PATHETIC FUCKS, JASHIN-SAMA WOULD BE SWIMMING IN YOUR BLOOD!"

Deidara blinked. "If you stop yelling I'll help you, yeah." Deidara replied, wincing as Hidan began to yell again.

"IT'S ABOUT FUCKIN' TIME!" Hidan shouted, "GETA MOVE ON DEIDARA-CHAN!"

Deidara narrowed his eyes at the immortal, "Don't call me that, yeah."

"Fine, fine, just help me, will ya?" Hidan growled exasperatedly. "This has been a pain in the ass, you know. First that bastard Kakuzu rips off my head with his god-forsaken tentacles and then that asshole Kisame manhandles me and fuckin' Sasori throws me across the room—"

"Wait, Kisame and Sasori, yeah?" Deidara interrupted Hidan in the middle of his rant.

Hidan tried to look up at the blond who was now carrying him down the hall toward his and Kakuzu's room. "Yeah, the shitheads were in the hallway Kakuzu threw me down, why do you ask Deidara-chan?"

"J-just curious, yeah. They don't really like each other, yeah, so it's odd that they'd be together." Deidara replied, his voice on edge.

Hidan looked like he was going to question the blond, but they had reached their destination and Deidara thrust Hidan's head at a tetchy Kakuzu and was on his way.

Deidara, for lack of a better thing to do, retired to his room and hoped that he and Sasori would be able to work things out. The blond drifted in and out of consciousness over the next couple hours; mind on the two things that were driving him crazy. Deidara was waking up from one of his short and restless spells of sleep when he heard the door creak open.

The blond blinked in the light from the hallway and squinted. "Sasori-danna, yeah?"

The red head stiffened and watched the blond out of the corner of his eyes. Sasori said nothing, and Deidara continued.

"Danna, yeah, I-I didn't mean—"

Sasori turned and looked at the other artist coldly. "What does it matter, I'm just another line in your tasteless joke."

Deidara flinched, "That's not true, yeah, if you would just—"

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say." Sasori threw at the blond maliciously.

Deidara bit his lip, "I'm sorry, yeah."

Sasori's face contorted, "You're a fucking little liar, and everyone here believes you're a liar."

The blond set his jaw, but didn't say anything. "None of your little bullshit apology matters, it's what, five minutes till your glory? Your little triumph over Uchiha? What are you going to do? Lie to him some more, fuck him, and then leave him in pieces on the floor?"

Deidara let Sasori keep yelling at him; he deserved it, and he knew it. Everything around him was falling apart so quickly, he wished it would slow down. If it would slow down, if it were in slow motion so he could at least reach out and catch the pieces before they hit the ground. Wasn't that how bad things happened, in slow motion? Deidara let his teeth sink into his lip, keeping himself from saying anything that would screw him over more, or worse, crying.

The puppeteer glared at the blond, bitterness set in every carved feature of his face. "But guess what? For me, it's not broken, just swollen…with hate."

Deidara bit his lip harder, piercing the tender flesh. A stream of blood leaked out over his teeth and down his chin, but he still didn't let the tears fall. He refused to cry in front of Sasori.

Sasori's lip curled as he watched Deidara fight with his own willpower. "How does it feel to be the manipulative bastard that gets fucked over?"

The blond swallowed painfully, "Stop it."

"No." The red head looked away from the shaking blond, "Go on, tell me; I bet you don't know. I bet you don't care."

Deidara's brow furrowed as he choked on his words. "Th-that's not true, yeah…"

Sasori had turned away from the blond, but was now looking at him over his shoulder, "So says the liar."

"Danna, yeah…" Deidara whispered, "I…love you…"

"I—" The red head was caught off guard. "—don't care about you." Sasori growled, glaring daggers at the wall, hating Deidara, and hating himself even more.

Review, pretty please with sugar, deixsas, and ramen on top?