In The Loving Memory

That faint past I remember

That moment of enlightenment

When I held you

It was that fateful day I realized

I never wanted this to end

(Naruto Shippuden OST 1 Track 17- Setting sun)

"Aren't you overworking him a little?" Tobi tilted his head slightly, pinching his chin in thought with his arms crossed. In the middle of the clearing, a low-ranking puppet was duking it out with the Akatsuki's newest addition. Taijutsu training with Deidara though the masked man would have thought sparring with a real partner would have benefited the child better.

"This is how it always goes where I'm from. Young puppeteers like me would spar with puppets and puppets only." Sasori explained briefly, a single hand raised and poised. Barely visible blue strings glided over the scene, directing the puppet to made a swinging motion with its arm before whirling around for a fairly strong kick. The boy ducked underneath the first attack but was quickly swept off his feet by the kick, sent tumbling to the floor.

"Well, Deidara's not a puppeteer nor a puppet." Tobi cocked his head slightly, though the other didn't really acknowledge his remark. Sasori simply kept his eyes on the field, some form of emotion in them, though even with Tobi's sharp eyes, he couldn't read them.

In plainer sight, one could easily see the bruises visible on Deidara's body, darker spots and some even appearing bluish. They'd been training since dawn and all of yesterday. Tobi thought that the summer was a time to relax but as it seemed, summer was the peak of lessons from the hardened sand ninja. The boy lifted an arm and tried to haul his torso off the ground, but the moment he could raise his head he ducked again as a wooden hand struck the tree behind him.

Deidara stared at the old dent. Only he could recognize the impacted spot on that tree. At first he remembered being appalled at how familiar Sasori's training methods seemed to be in difficulty to the ones he received in Iwagakure. He was tough and strict, always pushing him harder. Even though the blond could easily see past his gaze, the flashes of regret that plagued the puppeteer every time a new bruise formed, a new cut made.

The eleven-year old's eyes lidded slightly at the memory, counting the days since then. Sasori had changed behaviour quite a bit. Now the puppeteer didn't drive him nearly as harshly as he used to, simply edging him along and encouraging the boy to train on his own time while he finished up remodelling puppets in his studio. Times had changed, and the puppet Sasori was crafting at the time had just been created. Deidara used to hate that puppet, thinking it was the cause of all of his pain back then.

Well, no matter. Kakuzu was waiting and Deidara had no intention of getting on his bad side. The blond turned away from the old tree and kept a steady gaze on the old man's cloak. He wouldn't dare look Kakuzu in the eye. The two official Akatsuki members stepped back from the wall and allowed the boy to pass, the miser's stare specifically felt the worst.

Standing just a foot from the wall, Deidara ignored the gazes on his back and selected a sealing tag from his selection. Number 5 would do it. He slipped the tag out of the collection and pressed it to the wall, then backed away as the scent of smoke and ash filled his nostrils.

"It's supposed to open up after the puppets are defeated or the trap is broken." Deidara explained briefly. "But I guess it doesn't work anymore."

"So...under the ground is a bunch of puppets?"

"That's right!" Tobi clapped, hopping on a single leg. "Sasori was nice enough to set up a security system just in case any intruders come. All for our own safety!"

Deidara blinked slowly and looked at the grass beneath his feet for a few seconds. That sounded nice, but why would he do that? Surely the puppeteer was confident enough that he could defend them all on his own, they wouldn't need some fancy sealing jutsu to do it for him. He looked at his babysitter blankly and turned for the entrance of the hideout, more interested in his danna.

Beneath the odd numbered seal, another seal faded into sight, its corners already blackened and charred as the fire ate away slowly at the seal. The edges peeled up and curled, then broke into nothing but a fine ash. A wisp of smoke arose as the last bits crumbled away, revealing a large rounded cave entrance. Within it, a damp darkness could be seen along with a small five step staircase.

"There, it's do-" Deidara was cut off when he felt a harsh shove. He stumbled off to the side and snapped his head over his shoulder, viewing Kakuzu already start down the steps.

Hidan was immediately displeased with the behaviour of his partner and glared. "Hey!-"

"Don't!" He elbowed he teenager harshly. Hidan attempted to ignore the blond and opened his mouth to protest further but nothing came out. He was silenced upon meeting a dark glare from the younger, which cautioned him to say nothing or face dire consequences. A tense aura surrounded him, almost choking.

Deidara mouthed a threat and turned to the entrance of his old summer getaway, following after the miser silently. Hidan watched from behind as a bead of sweat glistened over his temple. He never thought the little child could be...scary. On their trip back, he remembered him getting furious but never before was the imprudent zealot ever met with that look.

Inside the hideout, one could make out a round room in the low light. A work desk off to the side a shelf on the other side of the room. Deidara reached the bottom of the steps and instantly froze. He lifted his leg to view it, noting a puddle leaking down the steps on the floor. Curiously, he gazed over the old room, a stirring in his chest at the very sight of the sparse, dreary room.

"Danna? What's that?" The child just barely peered over the top of the desk, observing his danna work diligently on a large diagram. His eyes were wide with wonder. This project was so much bigger looking than the other ones he'd seen. The other usually were regular sized papers, but this one almost seemed to span half a meter with each side.

Sasori halted his pencil and looked up. "I'm working on a masterpiece." He smiled briefly and returned to his work, ignoring the look of dissatisfaction on the boy's face. The child pouted and hopped to get a glimpse at the new piece. He hopped again to see the arm and once more for the torso. As he grew more and more curious he got, the more he jumped, eventually trying to haul himself onto the desk to look at it more detail.

Noticing this, the puppeteer raised a brow, the younger arms were straight on the desk, holding the rest of his body over the desk with legs dangling on the off. The redhead posed his question in a resigned voice. "What are you doing?"

Deidara blinked. "I'm looking."

The puppeteer frowned and shook his head. "Get down kid."

Deidara copied his expression and swung himself off the desk. Just then, Tobi entered the room and looked at the two. He walked over to the child and leaned down, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, let's go outside. Sasori is busy."

"Why?" The blond whined but his question was soon answered. Tobi nodded towards the puppeteer, gesturing for the child to follow his gaze.

"It's a very important project. He will need every second he can get this summer. That's why we came all the way out here." Tobi whispered, hoping to sway the boy.

Deidara wasn't so easily convinced, jutting out his lower lip in a pout and glared mildly at the puppeteer. "What's so special about it?"

"Well, he's been planning for it before you came." The masked man kept his voice low as not to disturb the redhead. He paused for a moment, considering if he should continue or not. "He doesn't want to miss the chance to finish it. You see, Sasori will be going on a trip for a little while."

The child's face lit up with excitement and he jumped slightly."Are we going someplace cool!?"

"Ah, only Sasori." Tobi lifted a finger hesitantly, indicating the trip was for one person and one person only. "Meanwhile, we'll be staying here, and we can play together without the old grouch on our backs!"

Their summer getaway. Back then, Sasori had told Deidara that they would be leaving the Ame tower for his own place in the Land of Rivers. He thought fondly upon those days, when him and the puppeteer had gotten a little closer. He wasn't sure why, but he thought it was because the redhead realized something, what it was however would remain in the dark for the coming couple of years.

Just standing here at the entrance, gazing over what used to look so spacious to him, Deidara had grown and the room seemed smaller. Instead of cleaned floors, they were a bit muddy and pooled in water from the fall rain. Drops of water echoed throughout the empty room. Even as Kakuzu searched it for the items the puppeteer asked for originally, Deidara felt as if he'd just come back to the past.

The boy felt as if the room had aged as much as he did, just not for the better. Even as Kakuzu was rummaging through Sasori's drawers and digging through his leftover supplies without any respect for his tools, Deidara felt nothing. This place held no significance to him anymore. Maybe at some point it did, but now, even as the room was practically destroyed, he almost thought it was joy he felt that the former beauty of it in his memories hadn't faded in the slightest. This hideout had crumbled under the forces of nature, but the boy didn't mind. No doubt since Sasori predicted that the trap would malfunction, he also knew this place might suffer the same treatment. They would not be coming here anymore.


"What's up with him?" Hidan grumbled and paced circles in the field. He kicked over a puppet torso in boredom, not too interested with going inside.

That kid. Acting all nervous and hostile all of sudden, it wasn't as if he hadn't acted that way before but this was serious. From what he could glean, it was because of Kakuzu, and Hidan didn't understand that. So what? The miser was a bit scary, but the guy wasn't anything to be feared to that extent. Perhaps it was because the boy was mortal. After some thought, he had remembered that the old crouched man had acted the same, stiff.

He expected so much more from these guys. Yet he was, disappointed. As it seemed, no matter where he went, people were scared to get a little dirty. Avoiding conflict, choosing to flee instead of fight, cowardice seemed to be a widespread disease. Fear, so much, fear, it made Hidan sick. It was even worse that Kakuzu held him back so much. He only had a week to go before his time was up and he'd be back to his old vulnerable self.

Hidan held up his pendant to view, a fogged over decorated in water beads, the mist seemed to dampen its shine. Jashin was still watching over him, waiting for him to fulfill his trial of blood. Hidan didn't care for numbers, he didn't memorize how much he needed to kill in order to retain his immortality. The sacrifice of his comrades was necessary. Hidan wasn't fond of killing priests but in order to carry out his holy deed, the Jashinists who followed behind him handed over their lives in order to give Hidan this temporary invincibility. Now he needed to kill, to kill and often as possible. If he were to make his immortality permanent, he'd need to sacrifice as many as possible.

The teenager pressed his mouth in a thin line and quickly made his way over to the entrance, peering down the steps to see the other two, their backs turned. Hidan felt a rush of adrenaline, the sudden urge to bolt as quickly as possibly. Now was his chance, he could get out of this weird group and complete his task.

He took a few silent steps back, careful not to overturn any more puppet parts and gazed over the trees. First order of business, getting his scythe back. Hidan swallowed his breath and crept over to the trees, then slipped away as quickly as he could.

Up above, Tobi watched with arms crossed, allowing the zealot dart beneath his feet in the shrubbery below. He barely reacted to the Akatsuki's newest member making a break for it, simply standing as if everything was already in place. A spot on the next tree trunk seemed to move, a bump wriggling out before it formed into two sides of a fly trap. Zetsu separated his two halves and stretched his amused grin. "He's a feisty one. Hehehe."


Hsss...

So this was what the outside was like? Certainly much damper than its former home, filled with smells, fresh smells, not the strange chemical scent that flooded its tongue in that small dark box. It was so cold here too, so wet. The snake felt as if its body would go numb any minute now, but it could stop. It needed to get to somewhere safe, somewhere warm.

The mountains here were so thin and tall, each one seemingly metallic in texture but rusty. They dwarfed it in size by the thousands, perhaps millions. Even as the flocks of pigeons flew overhead, the tiny snake felt as if it had left the warm room for a much colder world. It looked up at the sky, then flickered its tongue. No use, just water. Perhaps if it went far enough, it would find the end to this cold harsh land. These strange tower-ish mountains, the scent of rust, metal, and water. It was raining terribly too, making the puddles so deep, the snake was forced to swim, something it hadn't practiced since it hatched out of the egg.

Suddenly, it heard another hiss from the side. It looked over at the strange creature, then noticed as it slithered out that was another snake but off a large size, a dark green one covered in black splotches. The snake hissed aggressively and before it could do anything, the stranger dove in, fangs raised.

In response, it bore its own teeth but was no match for the sheer size and strength of the older snake. The two tussled for a few seconds before the snake was finally pinned, its neck bitten harshly by the other snake, holding it down painfully.

"What do we have here?" Sudden, a cold hand reached down and pulled the snake from the grasps of the other strange serpent. The striped snake curled and whipped out, fighting the human from handling it.

A pale man with long dark hair stared at it through disturbingly familiar eyes. The snake flickered its tongue, noting that it had smelled this scent before, it knew this man. The human made a throaty laugh and mused at the sight of this one. This snake was not of his own. "Ah yes, I do remember that Sasori owned a few. Of course, I thought he got rid of them all. I guess he kept one..."

Orochimaru smirked and lifted the snake in the air to take a good look at it. He ignored the serpent's wriggling, its fruitless attempts to bite him and inject poison into his wrist. Even as the puncture wounds from its fangs sent a drop of blood trickling down his arm, he did not shiver in fear. "This one will have valuable information."


"I-is everything okay?" Itachi gulped, noting to himself how just a few moments ago, the puppeteer seemed so flustered over the idea that art could fleeting, only to return to his normal composure.

"Yeah." Sasori answered in a resigned tone. He walked over to the door and switched off the light, bringing the shadows back into the room as opposed to the brighter mood. He visibly relaxed with the darkness, gazing about the studio before heading over to the desk. Items were slightly moved, changed in a different spots since they had to clean up but he could deal with it. He leaned over the desk and propped up both arms on it. He peered over his shoulder at Itachi, noting that the boy had saw his project, but no significant reaction came.

Sasori's eye narrowed slightly, a certain wariness in them. He turned back to his work. "I will talk to Deidara about this later."

Itachi hopped off the chair and took a few hurried steps forward. "Why? What's wrong with what he said?"

"Everything, everything about it!" Sasori snarled and whirled around, causing the boy to recoil in shock. Immediately, the puppeteer rid of his angered expression and lifted a hand over the right of his face to calm down. He almost appeared to sigh slightly in the low-light of the lamp, eyes closed and returning to his lidded gaze.

The boy didn't dare blink, an arm raised slightly, ready to defend himself in the case that the redhead would attack. His heart hammered against his chest, glistening sweat trickling down his temple. Itachi had never seen nor felt Sasori like this before, this weird tenseness in the air. Before, the puppeteer seemed like such a mentor like figure, calm, restrained, forgiving. Now he was snappy, easily pissed off, and certainly not one to take opposition lightly. This didn't look like the Sasori he knew, not the one that he remembered scolding Deidara every now and then for showing rudeness when it wasn't appropriate. This man was completely cold.

Itachi could barely read Sasori anymore. His stone-face and marble orbs didn't reflect that of a human-being, but a statue, a moving one. This stranger, who was this stranger standing right in front of him? Itachi felt a slight panic rise. Had he angered the puppeteer somehow?

"Damn." Sasori let his hand hand fall slightly, his other eye peering between his fingers. An almost scary keenness showing in them, a gleam that the Uchiha couldn't figure out. "Everything." He paused.

Itachi blinked in recognition. Taking the small action as an answer, the puppeteer continued. "You're a very polite boy, don't mistake me. I think you're skilled, competent, clever, all the traits that would make a full member of the Akatsuki, skills Deidara don't always demonstrate. I have nothing against you, but I don't consider you an artist."

He frowned slightly. "Therefore, since you are not an artist, there's nothing I can explain to you. Everything is wrong with that statement, but it isn't something you could possibly comprehend."

His voice seemed strained as he spoke, almost as if he were trying to hold something back. He calmed again and took a moment of silence. "I'm sorry, can you continue with how the brat's doing?" Sasori's gaze fell to the floor. "I'm...scared for him."


"Don't leave! No!"

"Deidara, let go of his robe." Tobi pleaded, pulling mildly at the boy's shoulders but the child ignored him, continuing to cling to the puppeteer's leg like a lifeline.

Sasori stared downwards, knitting his eyebrows in confusion. His subordinate was wrapped around his leg, holding on tightly as the younger buried his face into the back of his cloak, tears streaming. Even as the masked man continuously tried to pry the boy from him, it seemed to be a lost cause. Deidara wasn't going anywhere, and while he wasn't, Sasori couldn't either. He was dead set on making sure the boy stayed here while he was out. Just because he picked up a little student on his missions didn't mean that he would stop working on his projects. They were always priority number one.

"Danna! I wanna go with you! Let me come!" Deidara cried in his cloak, unable to cope with the idea that for the first time in a few months, he would be separated from the puppeteer.

Perhaps he didn't get it. Yeah, that was probably it. Sasori seemed to sigh and knelt down, causing Tobi to back up slightly and allow the other some space. The redhead gently pried the child off his leg and rested both hands on his shoulders, looking at the red-faced blond in the eye. "Deidara, I'm only going to be leaving for two weeks. If I'm lucky, I'll even be back in one week. I'm not leaving you, I would never leave you."

"Yes you are!"

Sasori's eyes widened as the child lunged forward and wrapped his arms around his neck, sniffling into his chest due to his short stature. "Every time you leave, someone scary comes. I don't wanna be alone!"

He looked at the child's back, then gazed up at Tobi only to receive a shrug in reply. The puppeteer was slightly astonished, listening more than he'd like to as the boy spilled all of his lonely worries onto him. "No, I'm not. I'm strong, I can make it back. Nothing's going to happen to you and nothing's going to happen to me."

The bag was slung over the miser's shoulder. Kakuzu checked over a paper list of the items he was told to bring and slid the last drawer of the desk closed. Straightening his position, he slipped the list into his pocket and fished out a pocket-watch, determining the time. Kakuzu furrowed his eyebrows and huffed as he put it away, glaring off past the child at the entrance by the corner of his eye. It's already sunset.

"You." Kakuzu called, jolting the blond to attention.

Fear sprang up in the child's expression, momentarily flinching as Deidara almost trembled to look up at the old man. "Y-yes?"

Kakuzu scoffed at the boy's reaction. Typical of this generation, scared of every single thing and couldn't bare to look any man in the eye. This generation, they were either as rude and entitled as Hidan or as sheepish and hesitant as Deidara. That Uchiha boy could be either one, but the child had mastered the look of neutrality to hide his true face.

The man turned to the child and approached the exit. The blond sidestepped him and allowed the miser to start up the stairs. "I'm going. Stick around or go home, I don't care. Just don't get in my way." Kakuzu paused and turned just enough for the boy catch a glimpse of the dangerous glint in his eyes. "Don't think that just because Sasori said anything about you being protected means I can't find other ways."

Deidara pressed his lips together and gulped, giving a slight nod. Kakuzu broke away his gaze and headed out, little child in toe as the two emerged outside from the hideout.

The first thing that the eleven-year old heard once he came out was the strange mix of grumbling and humming that the Akatsuki member was capable of. Green eyes darted over the clearing, then turned to spy out the nearby trees even as the darkness began to settle, the sky turning a colour of what was supposed to be a calming hue of orange.

"Where's Hidan?"


A/N: Sooo, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been trying to get windows 10 to upgrade on my PC but it's proven to be a bit...destructive. I've spent quite a few weeks with my dad to try and fix all the problems it caused and the problems that occur after those problems were fixed. It should have worked smoothly but my computer is a bit problematic compared to the other ones. I haven't been able to write in the meanwhile.

Anyway! Thank you for reading! I've been working on this arc for a bit and we're going to finally get going here! From here, we'll finally be able to be on our way to be wrapping up part 2 of this fanfiction and make way for the short and final part 3. I've got the ending all planned out, so I'll just write my way there.

Nice to meet ya! Review if you'd like!