Chapter 36

My eyes widened out of shock from my sister's words.

"What are you saying…?" I asked, still not fully believing what she said was true.

"Deidara's dead… he blew himself up… right in front of me…" Kikuhana answered with her voice shaking.

"Oh my gosh…!" I threw my hands over my mouth. I turned around and hugged Sasori as I began to cry. "No! No he can't be dead!" I wept. Sasori gently placed his arms around me for comfort.

"I knew he was the type to get himself killed when he was young…" Sasori said to himself.

"Itachi didn't want me to come here! He didn't want me to get hurt but I said I could do it! I told him I could save them both but I couldn't!" I yelled as I wept on Sasori's shoulder. Kikuhana's head hung low and her hair fell infront of her face. She kept quiet, but tears fell to the grass beneath her.

"Kiku," Sasori called to her with a soft voice. She didn't answer. "Kikuhana," he called again; still no reply. "You don't have to try to be strong right now." He told her. As close as my sister and I were, there was one thing she would never ever do in front of me, and that was cry. She hated it when people saw her cry, and it was very rare whenever she did allow it. Right now there was nowhere for her to run. She couldn't hide her emotions if they were obvious. With her gaze still on the floor and without a word Kikuhana ran to Sasori and hugged him; burying her face in his other shoulder. Sasori had one arm around us each and did his best to comfort us without saying anything. There were many times where we've joked with Deidara, but I never actually wanted him to die. It was hard enough seeing our friends from three years ago and having to fight against them. Looking at their faces and being unable to help but remember the fun times. But no, that wasn't enough. We lost a comrade today. As obnoxious as he was, his sudden death took a strong impact on me. I would always remember Deidara.

Suddenly, a voice broke the silence of the moment.

"Who died, hmmm?" My eyes shot open. I pulled away from Sasori and all of us looked in the direction of the voice. Deidara was standing a few feet away from us, alive and in one piece.

"Deidara!" My voice cracked as I ran to him and hugged him tightly. "You're alive! You're alive!" I shouted as I was now crying tears of relief.

"Well of course I'm alive. Do you really think I'd be killed so easily, hmm?" Deidara said while looking down at me. Kikuhana walked up to Deidara and stared at him with a tear-stained face. He stared back at her and the staring continued until Kikuhana smacked Deidara on the shoulder and hugged him.

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again." She warned, but in a calm, relived voice.

"If it worried you guys that much I won't." Deidara said, smiling a little. Sasori was the last one to make his way over to the group. He too just stared at Deidara.

"What? I don't get a tearful hug from you, hmmm?" Deidara asked sarcastically.

"Look," Sasori said, ignoring his question. "I could care less if you lived or died. But they do care, so don't put those girls through anything like that again." Sasori said a slightly protective voice.

"Alright, alright. You guys thought I was dead five minutes ago and now I'm getting nothing but warnings, hmm." Deidara said. I pulled away from him.

"But you're not dead and we can go back now." I said as I reached for his arm, but I only grabbed a handful of his sleeve. I froze and then reached up a bit higher but I still couldn't feel his arm. "Deidara…" I called. "Where is your arm?" I asked with a slight gulp.

"Oh, that Copy Ninja, Kakashi, used some kind of ninjutsu which opened this vortex. It tried to suck me in, but it caught my arm all the way to my elbow before it closed, hmmm." Deidara explained. My face went pale.

"You mean that your…"

"Arm is gone from the elbow down?" Deidara finished my sentence. "Yep, it is. And I was looking for it when I heard you guys crying; more specifically, when I heard Hatone crying. She was louder, hmm." Deidara said in a strangely calm manner. My head felt very fuzzy, which was probably nausea.

"Ok, we'll have to find your arm then." I said to try to keep calm. I reached for his other arm but let go when I heard him say "ow".

"That one's broken, hmm." Deidara told me.

"What! How!" I exclaimed in shock.

"When I was fighting Gaara, the Kazekage. He crushed my arm up to my shoulder." Deidara briefly explained.

"One arm is broken while the other is gone?" Kiku asked for clarification.

"Yep," Deidara confirmed.

"Reckless fool," Sasori sighed.

"Hey, Sasori," Deidara spoke. "What happened to you face?" He asked while looking at the large crack on Sasori's cheek.

"That pink-haired girl punched me in the face." Sasori said with his usual board expression. This caused Deidara to laugh and I shot a small look at him. "This isn't even my body. I switched bodies with another puppet in the middle of the fight." Sasori pointed out.

"You did?" Kikuhana asked with confusion in her tone. Sasori's physical features were the same so I couldn't tell that he had a different body. I also assumed that he didn't have another puppet that looked exactly like him.

"Well do you wanna go back to the hideout to get your body back?" I asked him. "So you won't walk around with a big crumbling hole on your face." I added.

"Yeah, most likely." He replied.

"I know you've probably forgotten about this already, but I need to find my arm, hmm." Deidara reminded everyone. I thought for a moment.

"Ok, how about this. I'll go with Sasori back to the Akatsuki to retrieve his body, and Kiku can go with you to help find your arm." I said.

"Why do I have to be stuck with him?" Kikuhana asked while pointing to Deidara.

"Because you're the medical ninja and you're gonna have to heal his arms anyway." I reasoned.

"Alright fine," Kiku gave up on arguing.

"Should we meet up back here?" Sasori asked.

"I don't see why not, hmmm." Deidara said. I smiled a bit.

"Ok, it's settled then." Sasori and I turned around and started heading back to the almost completely destroyed Akatsuki hideout while Kikuhana helped Deidara continue to look for his arm. I felt so much relief now, to know that both of them were safe and alive.