Welcome to Chapter Twenty-Four! I am extremely sorry for the late update; I got distracted reading fanfiction yesterday, lolz. I'm also writing an original novel, so that's taking up my time as well. (So is my stupid AP Gov homework; I hate homework over winter break, grr).

This chapter will actually get the plot of this arc started, and the antagonists will be revealed. (Pein is not one of them, lolz).

This chapter will also timeskip a month, so Deidara will be acting more like his normal self. He is not completely healed, but he'll be less jumpy. It will focus on Aoi, Sasori, Deidara, and our mystery antagonist.

…On a random note, I took the 'Universal Mary-Sue Test' to see if Aoi was one. She scored a 15 on the test, meaning that she is not a Mary-Sue. I was so happy, and relieved; I worked really hard on making her character unique and enjoyable to read about.

Anywho, a big thank-you goes to everyone who reviewed and/or added this to their favorites/alerts lists! You are all awesome!

*Warning: This chapter contains language*

Nope, I don't own Naruto (I do however, own keychains of Deidara and Tobi).

Without further ado, Chapter Twenty-Four…

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-Chapter Twenty-Four: Vengeance-

Aoi awoke slowly, arching her back and rubbing her eyes. A tiny smile appeared on her face as she blinked both eyes. Hidan had kept his promise and somehow convinced Kakuzu to prepare a surgery for her. Later that week, she had gotten the mechanical eye removed and replaced with a real eye the Taki-nin had in his collection of limbs and organs. It was surprisingly the right color, and it matched her original eye perfectly. Thank you, Stitchy, she thought, using Hidan's nickname for the medic. She hadn't realized how much she took the simple gesture of blinking her eyes for granted until Orochimaru gave her the artificial eye.

At the thought of the sannin, Aoi shuddered. Throughout the last month, Deidara was healing, but the brunette knew that he wouldn't fully recover from what the snake had done to him. The bomber's healthy skin tone returned, as well as the sparkle in his eyes, but the fear of people getting close to him never really went away. He was still hesitant to be around Pein, but the pierced man generally ignored him. To Aoi, the month passed by quickly, with various members going on an assortment of small missions.

Aoi was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Deidara getting out of bed.

"Hey, Aoi-san, un," he called sleepily, yawning afterwards. He walked over to her cot and sat down on it.

"You know, I consider you to be my closest friend, so you can drop the honorific when talking to me." Aoi didn't know why she said that; it just came out.

The Iwa-nin looked surprised, but after a moment, he smiled. "Okay, Aoi." He paused. "That sounds so weird! I've never called anyone by just their name before, un."

"That's how people address each other in my country," explained Aoi.

Deidara nodded, looking intrigued. "How do you show respect to someone, then, un?"

Aoi knew how to answer this one. "Well, normally, you just call someone by their name. But if the person is significantly older than you, like say…a teacher, you add Mr., Ms., Miss, or Mrs. to their last name. Mr. is for men, Mrs. is for married women, Ms. is for unmarried women, and Miss is for young women. For example, in my world, you'd call Itachi 'Mr. Uchiha'. I'd be called 'Miss Coulter'."

At the mention of Itachi's name, Deidara wrinkled his nose. Aoi guessed that he was insulting the raven-haired man in his mind. I know they're supposed to be rivals, she thought, but this is ridiculous. Itachi seems to act civilized around him. She had also noticed that the Uchiha was acting…friendlier…than a normal person would be. What's up with that? She wasn't a big yaoi fan, but the image of Itachi and Deidara kissing made her blush.

"Thinking about Sasori-danna, un?" inquired Deidara, noticing her face changed color.

"Y-yeah," stuttered Aoi. She would never admit to the blonde what she was really thinking. Shaking the thoughts of Deidara and Itachi from her head, she laid back down on her cot. When did I get to be such a perv?

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost missed what Deidara said. "Do you love Danna, un?"

The brunette pondered this for a moment. She had never had a boyfriend before, and she had never been attracted to anyone besides the redhead. She knew that she would give her life to save him, and always wanted him to be happy. "Yes," she answered hesitantly. "I think I do. It's just that…this is the first relationship I've ever been in. Yeah." She looked down, embarrassed.

"Really? Well, that makes sense, I suppose, un."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aoi narrowed her eyes.

"I didn't mean it as an insult!" The blonde shook his head. "It's just…you seemed to be really awkward around people when I first met you, un."

"Ah," Aoi's gaze softened. "You're right. I don't know why I'm like that; I just am. At least Sasori-san had a reason for why he turned himself into a puppet." She paused, unsure whether she should continue. She trusted Deidara, so she decided to keep talking. "When I first heard that he did that, I was…envious. Sounds grotesque, I know, but I was. I rarely showed emotions anyways; that was just my personality. I thought that feelings were worthless, and I wanted to get rid of them altogether. I was sick of keeping all my sadness locked inside of me, wondering what taunts the people at school would throw at me each day. I wished there was a way to make me unfeeling, but since there wasn't, I kept my face as expressionless as possible, wearing a mask of indifference at school and one of happiness at home."

Deidara looked at her. "That sounds completely miserable, to be honest. But I know how you felt, un." He held up his hands, letting her look at the mouths on his palms. "Because of these, my village hated me. I remember all my classmates said that they wanted me to die a painful death at least once, un."

Aoi's eyes started to water, and she rubbed at them quickly; she didn't want to cry in front of Deidara. Aoi! Do not cry! That is weak, she mentally shouted to herself.

"Don't hold back. That's not healthy, un," said the Iwa-nin, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder.

Suddenly, she didn't care about hiding her tears anymore. She buried her face in Deidara's shirt and sobbed. She cried for being shunned at school, being a disappointment to her parents, leading Orochimaru to Deidara, and everything else that ever went wrong in her life. She hadn't truly cried—besides after the incident with Madara—in years. It felt good just to let all her sadness out.

After awhile—she wasn't sure how long—she pulled away from Deidara's shirt. Her eyes felt puffy and sore from crying so much, and her head was pounding. "I'm going to go back to bed," she muttered, holding her head. "Wake me up when breakfast is ready." She flopped down onto her cot and closed her eyes. She felt the cot shift as Deidara got up, presumably to go back to his own bed. She tried to slow her breathing, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

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Sasori had heard everything, from how Aoi said she loved him to how she used to wish she could be a living puppet. He decided to talk to Deidara about this. "I heard everything," he said, sitting up and looking at the blonde.

Deidara looked at him, startled. "Then you heard that she…"

"Yes. I had no idea that her time in her world was so bad. From what Itachi-san told me, and from how she acted here, I thought that she was just ignored. I didn't know people taunted her. I still can't believe that she'd want to turn into…this." He gestured to himself.

"Are you regretting that, Sasori no danna, un?"

"No!" This was said sharper than he intended. "Why would I regret this? I'm perfect! This body will never age, and it can't physically feel pain. I am art!"

"Don't kid yourself, Danna. Aren't you worried what will happen if Aoi wants to, um…take the relationship to the next level, un?" Deidara blushed furiously.

"What about it? I am anatomically correct. It is possible, brat."

The blonde turned away and blushed even more, if that was possible. "Forget I asked," he mumbled.

Of course, Sasori had wondered about it, though. He wasn't a pervert by nature, and he wouldn't force Aoi to do anything she didn't want to do. Though he wasn't patient, he would wait. He was more interested in her intelligence and her mind than her body. Not that there's anything wrong with it. He wasn't a shallow person either; he wasn't in the relationship for only sex. He wanted the companionship, the thought of knowing that someone cared about him enough to want to be in a relationship with him. He was happy with how he and Aoi were currently, but he wouldn't object if she wanted to take it further.

He sighed as he thought about what he heard the brunette say. She sounded…sad, truly sad. He was ashamed that he didn't realize how horrible she was feeling until now. He felt a twinge of jealousy that she told everything to Deidara, but it passed. He knew that he didn't show that he was awake, and that his partner was right there.

"Earth to Danna, un!" Deidara called, waving his hands in front of his face, extra mouths getting dangerously close to his own.

"What do you want, brat?" he asked, half annoyed, half disgusted.

"You've been staring into space without blinking for awhile. It was unnerving, un!"

"I'm a puppet; what did you expect," Sasori answered annoyed.

Deidara looked shocked. "Did you just make a joke, un?

"I wasn't joking." But the redhead let a small smile appear on his face.

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Danna smiled? That's so creepy, thought Deidara. He dismissed the thought, and was about to continue talking when his stomach growled. Rather loudly. Shit! That's embarrassing! "Um, I'm going to get some food, un. I'll bring some back for Aoi."

He noticed Sasori looking at him strangely and realized he said her name without an honorific. "Oh, Aoi said that since we're friends, I didn't have to use an honorific, un."

The puppet master nodded slowly. "We're just friends, Sasori no danna." Deidara rolled his eyes. "No need to get possessive, un."

"Who said I'm getting possessive, brat?"

"The look on your face said it all, un. You really need to control your emotions better," explained Deidara. "Though it's expected that you'd be a control freak, considering you're a puppet master, un."

He was only joking around, but the look on Sasori's face showed that he must have struck a nerve.

"I'm going to go get breakfast now, un." He left the room, not wanting to get his partner even angrier.

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Sasori was angry. Why does everyone think that? Sure, he liked being the one pulling the strings, no pun intended, but was he really that bad? He remembered when Deidara was first assigned as his partner. He humiliated the blonde endlessly by making him do all the chores in the base, as part of his initiation. Being the stubborn seventeen-year-old he was, the blonde refused, and Sasori had stuck his chakra strings to him and forced him to finish all of them. At the time, it seemed funny, but now, with his newfound emotions, it just seemed cruel. Damn it! He was right. It was hard for Sasori to admit this, even in his thoughts. He really didn't like to be wrong. He sighed. Everything's gotten so complicated. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel anymore. On one hand, he somewhat liked being able to feel emotions again; he liked the way Aoi made him feel. On the other hand, there was a voice in the back of his head telling him that he was getting too soft.

He laid back down on his bed, hands weaving through his hair. Things are complicated indeed…

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It was dark in Orochimaru's base. The figure that sat in the sannin's office was furious. About a month before, he found out that the Akatsuki member known as Iwa no Deidara had killed Orochimaru. He also found out that he reason for this was that the golden-eyed man had raped the bomber, but the figure didn't care about that. No, he was only concerned with the fact that Orochimaru was dead, and that he couldn't absorb his power because one of those Akatsuki idiots burned the body. Bastards! Life at the base became even more annoying to him since Kabuto took over. Idiot! He thinks he's more powerful than me! He thinks he can control me? He better watch out; I hate people like him! He's trying to be someone he's not! He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He had more important matters to think about. Like Deidara. Since the blonde had killed the figure's future source of extra power, he wanted revenge. And he was a very vengeful person. He knew that Pein, being the "smart" leader he thought he was, was going to send a group of Akatsuki members to destroy the rest of the base. He guessed that Deidara and the girl that he had tried to interrogate would be part of that party since they knew the base. The redhead will probably go too, he thought. Sasori was the only one he was worried about; the other two were weak in his eyes. He closed his eyes, and when he finally opened them, they were the eerie red of the Sharingan. Deidara will pay for this. That stupid girl will too. I have plans for the both of them…

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And that's the end of Chapter Twenty-Four!

I really didn't feel like writing another surgery, so I timeskipped a month, lolz.

…Yeah, awkward moments with Deidara and Sasori. When I reread this particular part (I bet all of you know which scene I'm talking about, lolz), I just laugh.

…Sasori, you know you're a control freak.

I bet all of you can guess who the mystery villain is. Don't hate me, lolz. It was either him or Kabuto, and I thought that Mr. I Want Revenge was more powerful than the Orochimaru wannabe (sorry, Kabuto).

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I know this wasn't my best, but I was working on AP Gov homework while I was typing this, lolz.