HI!

I'll ask this while I still have your attention; how many of you would be strongly opposed or in favor of me writing a lemon or possibly two or something somewhere in this story? Because I've had several people ask me about it and if you don't want it at all, I don't have to post it. :P

Sorry for being this late with the update; I had a really long weekend and we got hit by a storm last night so I couldn't update. DD:

And thanks for reviewing, you~ I promised AkumaNoDanna to mention how I'd worship her because she got all of the Card Marks in ch. 20 down after some MSNing and such~

Other than that, THANKIES. I love you all who are reading this. Hurrr I really do. You're the umbrella to my rainy days~

Words: 2,239
Disclaimer: Here's breaking news: I don't own anything but the plot~!
Warnings: Confusing timeline. Ask me if it's too confusing.

Here goes, ch. 35; 'ZERO'. Capitalized for a reason. Find its companion chapter, get cookies!

Sasori planted his face into the kitchen table, groaning at the blonde's words. He hated the way the other man was making him feel, what with the way he was smiling at Sasori like it was nothing – like it didn't matter that the redhead couldn't say anything that would've been even remotely nice back to him, let alone a love confession such as that -, and with the way he would just calmly proclaim his affection as if he really did love Sasori. Which he couldn't, not in reality. It was just impossible to even consider that.

"I don't expect anything from you, you know," Deidara then murmured, still smiling with his eyes from what Sasori could make from his tone, "I just wanted to let you know. There's no need for you to do anything, un."

"I'm not worth it," the redhead replied simply, mumbling with his cheek still rested against the tabletop.

"I'm not saying that you are," he responded, "But I still love you, un."

"Can you stop that?" Sasori hissed, raising his head to glare at the blonde.

Deidara was still smiling as he tugged the redhead closer to him. "I'm only telling you the truth," he whispered before lowering his lips to the redhead's.

Surprisingly enough, Deidara let everything stay the same for a long while. He really did seem content with just being there and letting Sasori know every once in a while by telling him in a soft, adoring voice or pressing a soft, tentative kiss to the other man's lips.

Everything stayed so unchanging that it was honestly making Sasori feel slightly insecure. How was he honestly expected to believe that things could stay this way when the ANBU was after them at all times. It just couldn't work. Not when the situation was like it was.

Deidara wasn't as suspicious, however. He certainly seemed to be taking everything he could out of living, as if he wasn't worried about the ANBU in the slightest. This sort of annoyed Sasori on its own, since the blonde was in one hell of a trouble, especially if their none too clever hiding place were to be discovered... If that happened, they would both be as good as dead.

Pain had recently left to the meeting of the Kages. Why he was even invited in the first place was a mystery to Sasori, but he supposed that they wouldn't dare leave a leader of a powerful country uninvited in fear of what he could do meanwhile.

And of course, when the redhead was gone, Konan had followed him. It wasn't like she would let him go alone; she had said it herself that if he got hurt - killed, more likely than anything - she would die with him.

After they left, Sasori and Deidara soon had to face the inevitable; they could only live for so long without anyone there to get them new supplies, food or mostly water.

When Sasori brought it up, Deidara shrugged. "It was to be expected all along. When we have to, one of us is going to go out there, un. More than likely it's going to be me; I can cast an illusion when I do. Nothing else to it, un." Apparently, in his little world, that fixed everything.

One morning when Sasori woke up, Deidara wasn't sleeping at his feet and hadn't toppled on the floor like he sometimes did.

No; the blonde was sitting by the kitchen table, looking sort of dazed and more tired than not.

"It was storming last night," he muttered disinterestedly when he noticed Sasori's questioning stare, "I hadn't really known that it could storm that much in the spring but apparently, it's possible, un."

"Huh," Sasori responded blankly, drawing himself up into a sitting position. "I didn't even notice."

"Yeah, you slept like a baby; drooling and snoring. I was awake, though. All night long, un."

"You could've woken me up."

Deidara smiled lightly at the offer. "I know, I know. I figured that if it got any worse, I would wake you up, un. Besides, I couldn't sleep even though I tried - it's not like I stayed up all night because I wanted to watch over your sleep, un."

"Good. No sense in sitting up all night worrying about it," Sasori agreed, though he could see that that most definitely hadn't been all that was bothering the blonde. No; there had to be something else behind all this.

"Go ahead; 'fess up," the redhead told him, trying to resist the urge to roll his eyes, "I know that's not all there is to it."

Deidara looked away from him distantly, letting the words hang in the air eerily before finally responding with a shrug and quiet words, "All the snow is gone, un."

And that was true; the lasts of the snow had melted the week before, and no matter how much Sasori kept insisting, it hadn't snowed since.

"So that's what you've been thinking about all along?"

"Uh-huh," Deidara offered him as an answer, "I was thinking about going tomorrow, but I figured I'd give you a heads up before doing it so that you wouldn't blame-"

"Hold on." Oh right, Sasori had never given the talk he had been planning, about how the blonde would most definitely not leave his house as soon as all the snow melted. It had just slipped from his mind, apparently. "I'll make this clear right here and now; you're going no where. I thought you already understood that much before. I may not love you, but I do tolerate enough to prefer that you're within my line of vision at all times."

"Really, un?" Deidara asked with wide-ish eyes. It was sort of frustrating, really, that he couldn't understand it, no matter how many times Sasori had tried to make it clear to him.

"Really really. If you really love me like you claim to, it's pretty insane that you keep trying to get rid of me all the time."

The blonde shrugged lightly, smiling. "I guess I just don't want to be a bother, un... I mean, you're an Ace, yet you're stuck here with me when you could have the world... It makes me feel bad, un."

"You're only a bother when you keep trying to leave all the time," Sasori informed him, "I'm getting sick of thinking up ways to make you stay."

"Well..." Deidara drawled slowly, "Okay then. But you have to tell me if you get second thoughts and want to get rid of me after all, un."

"Yeah, I will."

The blonde stood up, appearing to want to initiate another tender kiss, but cut off by a knock on the door.

The two of them exchanged glances - who could it be? - and Sasori held up a finger, wanting the blonde to stay quiet for a while, at least until they found out who it was. The redhead then made for the door, quietly, carefully, and opened it.

"Sasori Akasuna, correct?"

Shit shit shit shit shit...

The man in question spared a glance behind himself before responding with a curt nod. "I am. What would be enough to warrant me with this many ANBU corps at my door?" he asked, stressing the part about the ANBU in hopes of giving Deidara the sign.

"You'll be sentenced with death for associating yourself with a Joker," the man responded emotionlessly. "To make this as painless as possible, I suggest that you come with us without a fight. And if you were to turn in the Joker in question... Let's just say that it might change the current decision concerning your own fate."

Sasori whirled around, scrambling back a few steps before his gaze fell upon Deidara's shoes near the doorway. The blade!

He took it in his hand, turning around again. He then raised it and held it pointed towards the ANBU. "Not a chance," he hissed angrily.

There was a loud crash behind him, and Sasori quickly gave up the excuse he had in mind (it's my cat, he must've broken something again), tugged the door closed (smashing it against the ANBU as he did) and ran for it.

He reasoned that since Deidara was nowhere to be seen and there had been that crash just a while ago, the blonde must have broken something and escaped. And since nothing looked too broken, it was probably the window of the puppet room.

Sasori couldn't really focus on anything but running away, so saving any prized possessions didn't exactly cross his mind at that moment, and he only tugged something from the table before making his escape.

When he got to the room filled with puppets, some of which were hanging off the ceiling, he saw that he was indeed right. A chair had been thrown through the window, causing it to break nearly completely. The redhead then tugged one of the puppets to the floor, hoping to slow the yelling ANBU corps at least a little.

He got outside through the window - for once thankful for his small size - and ran mindlessly in some completely random direction until some grabbed his wrist.

Sasori immediately raised the knife, looking at the person to determine where he should stab them to cause as much damage as he could.

"Sasori!" he hissed, tugging his red hair from his face to meet the Ace's eyes. Damn it all, he hated illusions. "You can stab me later, but please, please, please, let's make a run for it first, un?"

The man addressed huffed, nodding slowly and tugging the other into a run.

He wasn't sure how long it had been, but his lungs were burning and his feet felt like they would give out at any moment and he had absolutely no idea where they were.

"The graveyard," Deidara supplied helpfully, sitting down on one of the rocks. "Or the area on the other side of it to be exact. I slept here a night or two. It's sort of comfortable but more creepy than not, un."

"Are you suggesting that we should stay here?" Sasori asked him, appalled by the idea.

"For the time being," Deidara murmured in agreement, "Since there aren't really too many places we can go to without the ANBU finding us, un. This may not even be the most secure place there is, but they shouldn't find us here all too soon, so…"

Sasori nodded with a sigh, sitting down himself. "If you think it's safe, then I guess you're right…"

Deidara snapped his fingers at that, getting rid of the illusion and returning to being himself again. "Trust me on this," he responded, nodding himself.

"Did you throw that chair through the window?" Sasori asked after a while. It was unnerving how quiet Deidara was being, what with how cheery and talkative he usually was. And because of this, the redhead was pretty sure that just like earlier that morning (had it only been that morning?), something was bothering the blonde.

"Who else?"

"That was a smart move."

"Panicked."

"…what are we going to do?"

"Dunno."

Sasori sighed. He would just have to try again a little later, probably.

"…how did you stand this kind of life for so long?"

"There was a time when I didn't know of better, un."

That was when the redhead got tired of waiting for Deidara to snap out of it. He really had a short temper with these things, admittedly.

"…tell me what's wrong. I'm sick and tired of making a conversation," he all but pleaded the blonde, "Tell me and we'll fix it, okay?"

Deidara looked up from his fingernails, which he had been picking at for the better part of the hour. "You can't fix it, un."

"I can try if you tell me."

"….you know that they'll burn your house down, right? Mostly because they don't want to let us go back there, but also out of fear of us having some black sorcery or something there, un… All your puppets will be burnt down too…"

Sasori bit his lip as he nodded. He had suspected something like that, after all. He might have done something like that if it was up to him, and he did have someknowledge of how the ANBU operated.

"I'm so, so, so sorry," Deidara whimpered, his voice breaking as he curled up to himself. Sasori could even see some tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, and that hurt him. "I'm causing nothing but grief to you… I'm starting to believe what people say about Jokers, un."

"Don't say that," the redhead hissed, "You've done nothing wrong; it's not your fault they want you dead. I know you never wanted to be a Joker or anything, so don't blame yourself for it."

"But-"

Sasori pressed his lips to the blonde's momentarily, telling himself it was only because he wanted him to shut upbut knowing that wasn't all. "It's just a house and they're just puppets. I'm just glad we're both in one piece and alright."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, the man he used to be was hissing at him for ever saying something like that, but the grateful, albeit sad smile that lit up Deidara's face was more than enough to silence it.

"I am too, un."

Drown in the saddish fluffish substance that is this chapter.

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