Genre: Friendship / Comfort
Rated: K+
Naruto © Kishimoto
Story © Happii Haden
Falling © Crankdat
Art © that bitch on the couch across from me ( /whimeyeno on tumblr)
Glistening crystals fell from the sky softly as the sun began to set in the horizon. A long shadow had already stretched toward the two figures shuffling in the knee deep tundra. The hunched figure had trudged much further ahead than the taller. This was surprising as the taller figure was usually much faster and energetic. The short figure stopped with a huff.
"Deidara, get your ass moving. I do not want to get caught up in the snowstorm," the man growled with irritation laced in his voice.
The aforementioned figure groaned in distress. "Seriously, Sasori, hn?" He raised his flushed hands to give his partner the finger. "It's fucking freezing out here and we've been travelling for two hours now!" He shivered, returning the digits to his sleeves. "Just because you can't feel the cold, doesn't mean I can't."
"You're fine," the shorter male huffed. "Keep circulating your chakra. We've got another two hours until we reach the destination. I'd rather not prolong this any further."
Deidara frowned, "C'mon, Master. Couldn't we just take a break right now?"
"Pray tell, just where would we take a break?" Sasori asked sardonically.
The blond let out a breath of hot air against the chilly wind. He knew it was a losing battle. They were in the middle of nowhere with mountains just out of reach. Their best shot was just to keep walking. Which Sasori had already decided to keep doing. Deidara clenched his burning fingers and tried to channel his chakra throughout his body like his partner had suggested. If only he had done so at the beginning of the trek maybe he wouldn't be so bad off. Regaining some feeling back in his fingers and toes, he marched through the snow in an attempt to keep up with his partner.
Sasori almost felt bad for the guy. He looked like he was genuinely going to freeze like an icicle. He had some faith in his partner - he was a S-Rank ninja. Surely he could handle a little cold. It wasn't too bad though. Deidara was usually much more chatty and annoying. Thanks to the cold, he was reduced down to soft chattering of teeth and puffs of short breath. The silence was very welcomed. Sasori glanced up at the sky, watching the sun fall faster with each passing snowflake that hit the ground. They really needed to hurry. Once night fell, the Land of Snow's storm would leave everything out in its wake frozen to death - quite literally. He listened for the blond's angry mutterings and shivers.
"Stupid Sasori… stupid snow, hn…"
Just a little longer, brat.
They had walked for about another hour and a half, the snow falling harder than it had before. By now it had piled up to Deidara's hips. If the blond wasn't on the brink of going insane from the terrible weather conditions, he would have laughed at his partner's predicament. His poor master's face was almost completely buried by the snow. He wasn't quite sure how Sasori was managing to push through. No matter how bulky Hiruko was, he couldn't trudge through the snow forever. Giving a short laugh, that nearly sounded like a cough, Deidara felt a sharp pain course his body. "Fuck…" he whimpered.
Sasori was pissed to say the least. He could barely see, but he'd be damned if they stopped now. They were almost there. Hiruko was going to need a severe drying and cleaning after this mission. Perhaps once they reached the inn he could set him up by the fire and begin the grueling process. A couple of minutes had passed before Sasori decided to check on his partner. He had been quiet for far too long. He was pleasantly surprised that Deidara hadn't nagged him the rest of the way.
"Brat, you still alive back there?" he called out, not bothering to turn around.
No response.
Sasori sighed and rolled his eyes. "C'mon, it's not that-" His words trailed off as he was faced with the empty land and no annoying tall idiot. Perhaps Hiruko's vision was just obstructed from the blizzard. A soft pop echoed across as the latch of his shell opened. He scurried out of his precious puppet, trying to avoid wetting the cavity. "Brat?" he called out again.
The wind howled harshly.
He ignored the icy wind as it beat against his unfeeling skin. "Where the hell did you go?" he muttered to himself. A slight panic formed in the pit of his core, though he'd never admit it. A light jog became a brisk run as Sasori navigated his prior path. He let out an audible sigh of relief once he caught sight of that stupid little blond pony tail that his partner wore. "Nice to know your hair is bright enough to be a beacon," the man jeered.
He frowned at the lack of banter he was accustomed to.
Crouching down, Sasori dusted the freshly fallen snow off of Deidara's face. It seemed that he had passed out due to the cold. He could feel his chakra, though it was low. "Dumbass," he muttered gently. The blond had looked worse for wear, but Sasori was educated enough on chilly climates to know that purple lips was a bad sign. He lifted the blond effortlessly, carrying him back toward Hiruko - who resembled a mere igloo by now. "Guess we'll take that break after all," he sighed, practically tossing the blond boy inside his puppet. Seating himself on top of Hiruko, Sasori concentrated his chakra on both moving and warming the shell. Even though there was a slight concern for his partner, he was glad that Deidara couldn't see him now. He'd definitely mock him for this stunt. Riding his puppet like a goddamned horse. Absolutely undignifying. "You owe me, brat."
The last thing Deidara remembered was falling face first onto the frosty ground, so when he awoke he was alarmed to find himself by a blazing fire. His cloak had been stripped off of him, leaving him in his thin crop top and pants. He shot up, knocking heads with something hard. "Ow! What the hell, hn?!" he cried out with a pout.
"I should be asking you that, brat," his partner scoffed.
Deidara's eyes widened as he reeled his head back to see what, rather who, he had headbutted. The familiar red hair and unchanging expression. Chocolate eyes that bore into his very core. "Felt like I hit a damned tree," he grinned playfully. "Say, Master, what kind of wood did you use to make yourself, hn?"
Sasori rolled his eyes and gently smacked the boy on the back of his already sore head. "Seems like you're okey, after all."
The blond pouted and rubbed the sore spot. "Hey! That wasn't necessary…" He looked around. This wasn't the inn, meaning they were late to their destination. Sasori was surely pissed. "Where are we?" he asked with a shiver. Despite being next to a fire, he still felt chilled.
"An abandoned camp."
"Looks more like a cave."
"Call it what you will," Sasori rolled his eyes. "There were remnants of a fire and tracks. Put two and two together and you just might get four."
Deidara chuckled, "Always have to be smartass, don't you?"
"Better than being a dumbass."
The blond glared.
"Don't give me that look. I told you to circulate your chakra long before we left for the Snow. You just never listen."
Deidara crossed his arms and turned away from the redhead. "Well neither do you! I had asked earlier to take a break, hn! If we had just taken a fifteen minute break I could've warmed up and we would have already been there!" He looked at his exposed toes, red and angry from the frosty temperatures. "Fuck… I hope I don't get frostbite. Who decided that ninjas should universally wear sandals anyways, hn…" Extending his fingers, Deidara let out a groan of pain. "It's still so cold…"
Sasori sat adjacent to him, working snow out of Hiruko's joints. "You'll live. I made sure that you wouldn't be affected."
The blond nodded. Even though Sasori was an asshole, he was a trustworthy partner. The redhead had prevented his early death many times before. "Still…" he rubbed his bare arms, "I need another layer. Is my cloak still wet?"
The redhead didn't bother to lift his head, but only an eyebrow. "What do you think?"
Deidara pouted, "Ugh… well what about your cloak?"
"What about it?"
The blond stared at him. "Can't I wear it?"
"No."
"How come?" Deidara puffed. "It's not like you really need it, hn!"
Sasori glared, "No way, brat."
"Is it because you're afraid it'd be too short on me?" the blond grinned sadistically. He leapt out of the way as Hiruko's tail attempted to strike him. It pierced the ground where Deidara originally lay, leaving a sizable chunk crumbled as it retracted.
"You should be thankful I even came back for you, Deidara," Sasori snarled.
The blond smirked, moving closer to Sasori's side of the fire. "Not like Leader would let you dispose of me so easily, hn."
Sasori chose to ignore his partner.
Deidara sighed once he realized that the redhead wouldn't play along with him. He must've really pissed him off. He rubbed his eyes, yawning loudly. Man, this mission really sucked.
At some point, the blond had tried to fall asleep. He propped himself up against Hiruko, arms across his chest in an attempt to hold his heat. This had to have been the most uncomfortable he had ever slept, and Deidara had slept in some pretty awful places before.
"Brat, could you stop? You're vibrating Hiruko with your unnecessary shivering."
Deidara shivered harshly on purpose. "Perhaps if someone lent me their cloak, my body wouldn't be forced to try and make its own heat."
Sasori stopped tweaking with the puppet's arm. "You're not going to give up on this are you?"
"Nope!" Deidara grinned.
With a defeated sigh, Sasori gave up on working on his art. He got to his feet with a stretch. Maneuvering around Hiruko, he stopped in front of the blond. A look of annoyance and… embarrassment? distorted his features. The redhead yanked the blond to his feet, pulling him close to his chest.
"Master, what-" Deidara's eyes widened once he felt it. Warmth. Softness. The rhythmic thumping of one's vital organ. "You…"
"Shut up," Sasori snapped. He stepped into Hiruko, carefully pulling Deidara in with him. Typically only one person could fit in Hiruko at a time, but so long as the hatch was up both of them could fit. The blond was nearly in his lap. Ignoring Deidara's astonished look, he grabbed the blond's odd hands into his own. "Here," Sasori muttered.
His hands were warm as he wrapped them around Deidara's. He could barely fathom what was even happening. This was very much out of character for the redhead's typical distant behavior. "You're not going to poison me, are you?" Deidara asked outright.
"Does it look like I can in this body, brat? It's just as fleshy as you."
The blond's cheeks flushed. "Is this why you didn't want to give me your cloak, hn?"
Sasori clicked his tongue. "Of course not."
Deidara's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Then why-"
"Brat, just shut up and take the moment. I'm trying to be nice for being an asshole earlier," Sasori spat, annoyed. His face too was red, though Deidara was too distracted by the situation entirely to notice the minor detail.
"A-Alright…" the blond agreed. He tried to make himself comfortable, cautious to avoid angering Sasori. Last thing he wanted was to be kicked out to the cold again. However, it seemed that his slow and small movements only irritated the redhead more. A gasp left his lips as he was pulled into the redhead chest, the cloak Sasori once sported now covering them.
Sasori's words were harsh, but Deidara knew better. He was serious, sure, but he wasn't mad.
"You'll tell no one and tomorrow we'll act like this never happened."
Deidara smiled and snuggled closer to his temporary human partner. "Of course, Master. Thank you, hn."
Sasori huffed, "Yeah, yeah." The redhead looked down at the blond's dozing off form. "You're welcome." He gave a small smirk, "Brat."