How long had it been since he laid eyes on the lush green forests of the Earth Country's border? No longer did they bring calming sounds of nature, only the anxiety of what awaited Deidara back in the Stone Village. A green harbinger of death, a lush pathway to a demise as black as coal.

Iron chains clinked as they tugged the trio of prisoners onwards. Kanako was the only one to attempt to resist at first, but a welt that covered half of her face seemed to remind her to not try the same defiant stance twice. Meisa had remained mostly silent, only muttering a prayer from time to time. Deidara had taken note of the occasional statue of a woman - who appeared to be the same woman - in various stages of decay and covered in overgrowth from the forest. It seemed that no one had tended to this forgotten Goddess's idols in a long time, for no one else seemed to spot them.

The occasional chirp of Baelerion kept Deidara attentive to his captors as they made their way down the dirt road. The coroner was a servant of the Tsuchikage, as he put it himself, and made a point to assert his status by taking the main road without detour. Deidara had earned his own welt across his shoulder for rolling his eyes at his pathetic display of power; one of the Stone Shinobi almost went for his face, but the coroner stopped him and instructed them to only hit his legs and arms.

But seven days into the trek back to the Stone Village the shinobi escorts were growing antsy, while the prisoners were tired and their feet bled from the near-constant walking. The coroner was the only one who seemed content with himself, as four of the ten shinobi were tasked with carrying a litter that the weasel of a man rested comfortably inside. The other six, however, grew agitated at being tasked with minding the prisoners 'round the clock without a break, and relished in taking it out on them through their insults.

It wasn't until dusk that the coroner decided it was appropriate to take a break, "as a treat" as he had worded it. A reward for our silence, the bastard Deidara thought. There was barely a second to rest or speak with his maids, though; the ninja promptly chained the prisoners to a tree as wide as Deidara's home had been.

They had given up struggling to break free of their restraints on the third night. On the seventh night when they wearily rested against the trunk of the great pine tree, all any of them wanted was relief from the day filled with little else but walking.

Deidara gave his best attempt at laying down against the tree, but he was never able to lean further than into a stiff sitting position with a half-slouch. Neither Meisa nor Kanako fared any better than he; the prisoners hadn't slept well for days. At this point Kanako had begun to pray to her own Gods for mercy under her breath, and Meisa held back her tears more poorly every night. Deidara kept silent, determined to be the rock for his maids. He needed to represent his own homeland despite the sinking feeling in his chest.

"Meisa…" he breathed. He looked at the sisters as they rested in silence; they wouldn't speak to each other after Kanako had asked about her baby, and when Deidara attempted to intervene she damned him along with her.

Meisa glared at him with bloodshot eyes, her sunken cheekbones and dried lips carved into a scowl. She said nothing.

The night was long and cold, with darkness that shrouded Deidara's field of vision. He couldn't see what was in front of him, but the clicks and cries of his children alerted him of any potential danger. A few nights ago a pack of wolves had descended upon the group, but the Shinobi made short work of them, much to Deidara's disappointment.

Even now, the chains and his bloody, aching feet kept him from sleeping. He was exhausted, but he couldn't show it, at least not in front of anyone here. He always imagined travel to be a far easier affair, nothing like the hell that these bastards gleefully partook in putting him through.

He heard the sound of feet crunching a few meters away from where they were chained. It came from the direction the Shinobi rested, and that could only mean that one of them had grown bored again. He wearily glanced over to where Meisa and Kanako were bound, wondering which one of them would be harrassed tonight.

Red flashed before his eyes; the color of the Stone Shinobi uniform registered in his vision, but he paid no mind to the sleeping girls. He crouched down and gazed at Deidara with an unsettling intensity.

"Our boss has demanded that we bring you to speak with him. Says it's urgent," the man grunted, but still softly enough to not disturb the others.

He swiftly ripped the chains off of Deidara and grabbed him by his boney wrist. He dragged him along despite Deidara's weak legs which stumbled and tripped over each other, and anything on the forest floor. A dim light came into view, one that was just off of the path they had been traversing. It appeared to be a tent, and he was thrown inside without a word from the Shinobi. As he worriedly turned back to ask the man what was going on, he silently placed two fingers on his lips. He couldn't quite place it, but that gesture seemed oddly familiar.

"Welcome, Deidara. I trust you've been comfortable during our long travels?" the coroner said with a chuckle. Deidara's lip quivered; he knew damn well how the conditions had been for him, if his feet were any indication. If he had dared to speak against it, however, he had seen what would become of him.

"What do you need of me, hm?" Deidara asked, his voice low and ragged from thirst.

The stringy man approached Deidara and placed a cold, clammy hand on his cheek. He fought back the urge to retch. As his hand brushed back some of his messy blond hair, he restrained himself from striking him too.

"I received a letter by bird this evening. From the Tsuchikage himself, nonetheless. Do you have any idea what it says?"

Deidara swallowed, but his throat was so dry that he had to choke his own saliva down. "I can't read, sir."

The coroner burst out into a fit of laughter, apparently amused by his response. "Charming! What a dumb little boy you are. Why the Tsuchikage thinks you're a criminal worth pursuing - now that's beyond me."

Deidara's face flushed red. The man's stringy hands had moved to his own, which he held firmly in his grasp. If not for his strength, then surely for Deidara's weakness.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me, hm?" Deidara asked in a flat tone.

The coroner gave him a worrying smile, his eyes reminiscent of one of the wolves that had almost bitten Meisa's leg off. He was already a captive to him, but he knew it was likely that eventually he would become his prey - or someone else's.

"Apparently you were, ahh, how do I put this delicately? You've perished in a fire somewhere in the Northern Sands. This is on the good word of the Tsuchikage's son, Roshi," he said, his lips curled into a smirk.

Roshi said that? Did Han never tell him about what happened? Did he lie to get them to stop pursuing me? thoughts raced through Deidara's mind at a frantic pace, all while the coroner delicately pulled him further into the tent. It wasn't until Deidara snapped out of his train of thought that he realized he was sitting on the coroner's bed with only an inch between them, with a skinny arm wrapped tightly around his waist.

"Do you have any idea what this means, Deidara?" he asked. His face was so close that Deidara could smell the vegetables he had eaten for dinner from his breath.

"Am I free to go?" Deidara asked. He knew it wasn't true, not from the way things looked now, but he figured it didn't hurt to ask.

"Of course!" the coroner said with a laugh. "You can leave any time, any time at all."

Yet he kept that little smirk plastered on his bony face, and that alerted Deidara to what the answer actually was. He felt the man's breath on the top of his head, and shuddered as he gave him a light kiss on his hair.

"Don't fret Deidara. I'm not Han, I'm not a monster that would harm such a pretty little thing," he whispered in his ear. The moist heat warmed that side of Deidara's face, but all he could feel was the urge to vomit.

"Han wasn't a monster…" Deidara muttered. The coroner pulled away, and stared at him without so much as blinking. Before he knew it, Deidara crumpled onto the bed as he was struck on the face.

"Don't lie to me, you brat. I'm here extending my own comforts to you, and you aren't permitted to argue with me!" he hissed.

Deidara felt his cheek; it was sore and raw, but not likely bruised. Meisa and Kanako's faces, however, were almost purple from their beatings. The only reason this man still breathed his hot, nauseating breaths was the fact that he had his children in cages. If not for that, they would have come to defend their parent well before this.

He must have been too obvious about his thoughts when the coroner looked down at his murderous gaze, and was swiftly stricken again with a pillow. The coroner pressed the pillow into his face to the point where Deidara struggled to breathe; his arms and legs kicked and flailed about in desperation, but to no avail.

"Say you'll only agree with me, and I'll permit you to breathe again!" he said, his voice small and angry.

Deidara tried to muffle out a yes, but could only make noises that he hoped sounded like consent. When the coroner yanked the pillow off of him, he pulled him in close once more despite the room that still spun while Deidara regained oxygen in his lungs.

"Good boy. You may be an illiterate, feral moron, but you learn quickly enough. It helps that your beauty eclipses your brains, or your lack thereof."

As the coroner stroked his hair Deidara fantasized about all the ways that he could kill him. All he needed was one opening, and that would be enough. Those cages couldn't hold his children forever, and now that he was unchained he may stand a chance against these men.

"Now, why don't we cut to the chase. We can't make it too different from the first time, no need to startle my fragile, silly husband-to-be," the coroner said, and planted another fleeting kiss on top of his head.

Deidara, who had rested only a moment, shot up at his words. He looked to him in horror, disbelief and utter disgust. There was no way, no way in any of the nine circles of hell that he would ever consent to that.

That was, if his children weren't all caged and helpless. As helpless as his maids, and as helpless as himself. He wordlessly lowered his gaze; he would need to feign obedience until he could reach his children.

"I am not worthy, sir," Deidara said in his best show of submission. He hadn't felt this disgusted with himself since the evening he and Han were wed.

"Oh, I think you're plenty worthy. Despite the fact that they raised such a pig for a second son, your mother and father - especially your mother - they were quite a prestigious family."

Deidara's eyes widened; his heart beat slowed the moment he heard him mention his family. His dead family, killed by the man who employed him for all he knew. His lips parted to say something, but he could only remain in silence while his mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.

"I know that's quite a statement. I assume they didn't tell you for their own reasons, but I'm taking it upon myself to tell you now. Sweet boy, your family was not exactly a peasant bunch that lived in the mountains because of their heritage. Your father was a general for the Stone Village in the Third Great Ninja War, and your mother, well…."

Tears welled up in Deidara's eyes, and his lip quivered as he choked on his words. "What? What about my mother?" he managed to spit out.

"She was Onoki's daughter, and his first child at that. Your brother was the first in line to inherit the Tsuchikage's position, but well, I assume now you know why they disappeared that day," the coroner said as his pale fingers lightly massaged Deidara's back.

"That's not true, why would they lie about that? Why would they never tell me, hm?" Deidara asked no one in particular.

"I'm sorry about your father. He was a good man, from what your mother made it sound like. I despise working on bodies of people I liked. Hopefully your brother and mother got away in time, we know what would happen if they didn't."

"Wait," Deidara began, "you helped them get away? But you're a servant for Ono- the Tsuchikage…."

"Yes, I am. And all of them to come, if I'm lucky. Your brother - if he lived of course - is the next in line, and you would follow him when he dies," the coroner said, his voice rife with excitement.

"Is my brother still alive? Is my mother alive too, hm?" Deidara asked. He could only circle back to the thought of his family still being out there somewhere; were they waiting for him?

The coroner sighed. "Like I told you, I can't say for certain if they lived or died. I do know that I never worked on them, and the bodies I used to stand in for them worked well enough on Onoki."

Deidara must have come across as a petulant child to this man, but he couldn't stop himself from prying. "If I marry you, would you take me to them, hm?"

"Are you agreeing to the match? Those are your terms?" he asked, stroking his chin.

Without hesitation, Deidara nodded furiously. "Yes, I'll do it. Just help me find my family."

The older man grinned. "Very well. I'll see that my men find us a nice inn to conduct the ceremonies, both the wedding and the bedding. I must be blessed to be marrying into the main line of the royal family. What luck, isn't it?"

Deidara held back his nausea still, but finally was able to force a smile. "Yes, that's very fortunate for you."

And the minute you let your guard down, the minute I see my mother and brother again, Baely will unleash unholy fury upon your disgusting face.

-and-and-and-and-and-

Actually, it could have gotten worse.

Unfortunately, when Sasori had dismissed his troubles about letting a child escape him on top of fleeing from one of their targets: the four tailed beast's host, he didn't take into account that he would be punished by the leader himself for his "reckless conduct" as it was so kindly put.

As he stood in the center of the projections of the Akatsuki, he felt the cold stares of each and every member fixate on him. He may have been safe in his Hiruko shell, and the others weren't truly there with him, but that didn't stop his core from throbbing in his chest piece.

Pain stepped forward, and the room fell silent to let their leader speak. "Utter failure. This is unacceptable from a member of Akatsuki, and must be made an example of."

Konan, the woman who faded in and out of her projection beside him, spoke next. "We have discussed this amongst each other before we met here. We believe that since you were unable to capture not only a Jinchuriki, but a child, a punishment must be given out to fit the action."

Sasori's Hiruko tail flicked. "And what might that be? Just get on with it."

Pain's projection stepped back to align with Konan once more. "We will have Itachi and Kisame meet up with you in Earth Country, where you will collect the boy you chose as your partner."

Sasori nearly jumped out of Hiruko in shock, but regained his composure swiftly. "He's not worthy of joining the Akatsuki, I observed his abilities myself. He'll be a detriment to this organization."

"Then you better make sure he becomes worthy. You will both be monitored, and if we detect any issues like before, you both will suffer for it."

Sasori scowled at Konan. The bitch was almost as unbearable as Pain sometimes, but he couldn't dispute it if he didn't want to become another Orochimaru. Resigned to the new reality, he shuffled his Hiruko puppet away from the group.

He cursed his luck and his own ill-planned decisions as the puppet shuffled down the dusty path. The hideout in Wind Country was nothing like the one near his home; this one was meant for meetings, while the River Country location was meant for any form of business. Sasori tried not to dwell on it too long, though. Some of the business conducted there was a hair more tricky than others. It did him no favors to question it.

He was an inquisitive mind, however. When he found a signpost to wait by for Itachi and Kisame, he let his thoughts run wild as he feebly tried to focus on a novel or three. Not a single tale, history book, nor manual could distract him from his own rage over being saddled with such a weak little brat. He supposed he could torture him until he left on his own - no, too suspicious. He could ask him about faking his death, now that could work, assuming the boy was still as unwilling to join as he was before. Or maybe Itachi and Kisame would prove useful in backing up his claim of the young man's uselessness once they got a load of his prowess.

What a pity that the fat man's manor didn't do him the courtesy of getting rid of the boy for him. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing a connection between this boy, the boy from the failed mission in the Stones, and his strange ability to evade death. If only he remembered exactly how he killed that first boy; such follies didn't tend to make for great memories, and it was best that he forgot them as soon as he could.

It was too soon that Sasori heard the soft crunch of sand and grass just meters away from where he rested. The grunts and mutters amongst themselves did small good to hide their identities, but as allies under a common cause there was little need for concern.

"You're surprisingly on time. Maybe we should inquire about a three man squad," Sasori said as he shuffled forward to join the duo.

Itachi didn't care to answer, and Kisame grinned in a performance of camaraderie that rivaled even the best of actors. The piercing silence preluded the awkward trek to the southern border of Earth Country; an easy trek for three men who could lift the world and throw it into the fires of hell, but Sasori found himself slugging along behind the others at a tiresome pace. He simply was lost in the sheer excitement of gathering his new partner, or so he would swear.

But the thought that lingered in his beleaguered mind even after the checkpoint, the booking of an inn, and his when companions settled into their slumber was the image of that boy. Set ablaze, and likely twice. He had never heard of such a Kekkei Genkai before, and began to play with the pieces of this bizarre sequence of events to make them fit together in a way he could make sense of it all.

Sasori leaned back in his Hiruko puppet and gently stroked his core. He needed to rest himself before the others woke and beckoned him to continue, and it wouldn't do to have them find him face-down in the dirt from overexertion. Probably. It may have been a good way to get them to abandon him, but by the time the thought occurred the world had already faded to a hazy cloud of nothing.

-and-and-and-and-and-

No time had been wasted in spiriting Deidara off to the closest inn of passable quality, along with Meisa, Kanako, every Shinobi that worked under the coroner for this unfortunate mission, and each of Deidara's children. The last was meant to serve as a reminder to what would happen if he so much as questioned his husband-to-be, but now that Deidara was able to freely interact with furious little beasts within the confines of their cages he felt small need to aggravate anyone for so much as a cup of water.

As he stroked Baelerion's right sail, he could almost feel the rage and fury that burned within the tiny white dragon. Blue eyes looked up to his parent with a fire behind them, and Deidara could swear they were his own. Red may have his own fury, but Baely - his darling little defender - that was truly where he saw himself.

A kind passerby had lent the traveling group a wagon to carry the prisoners in, though "lent" was a rather inaccurate recount. Not a single soul in the group stepped forward to attempt a burial; each and every one of them was too weary, too tired to care for the body on the side of the road.

Deidara kept huddled in the back with Meisa and Kanako, both of whom still kept their lips tightly sealed around him. He didn't care quite as much any longer now that his children were within his reach, and the beasts were as gleeful as he was. Each one playfully nipped at his fingers and hair, though Onyx was a fair deal more rough than his siblings. Despite having been reprimanded by Deidara countless times, Onyx insisted on turning most interactions into a fight.

It was a clear day, the May breeze still gently stroked Deidara's cheeks with the tender cool airs of spring and the sweet aroma of flowers. It had been May for some time he reckoned. That meant his sixteenth name day had come and gone, and he had been none the wiser. Usually his mother had been the one to remember his birthday, but the thought of her made him grow hot with anger.

I will find them he told himself, but he was suspicious of the coroner's promises. It was such a grandiose tale he wove that even one as daft as Deidara could barely take any of it for the truth. To be the secret grandson of the man who wanted him dead, a prince, someone who mattered. A Tsuchikage. His lips formed a smile at mere thought of something so outlandish.

As he continued to stroke Baelerion to keep his little defender happily clicking away, he tried to push every thought he had of the implications of the possibility of the coroner's story being the truth out of his already-spinning mind. It meant that Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi were his cousins, and that his beloved little cousin stabbed him in the heart - or at least meant to. It meant he was first in line to inherit the position, higher than either of them. Even if his brother was dead, and all of this was true, as long as he lived he was a threat to everything Onoki had worked for. At least that's what the coroner had told him.

Let him have his perfect royal family, and may the Mother take your damned succession rules Deidara thought, desperate to have his fears proven wrong. Why couldn't he just have been asked? He would have said no, so why couldn't he just go home? And Han… after all Han and he had been through, even though he was dead. He felt sick over it, and Roshi too. His Uncle Roshi, his actual uncle by blood….

Deidara was pulled out of his thoughts when Baely nipped his palm. He had squeezed him a bit as his mind flashed thoughts he did not want before his eyes. He softly cooed the beast, and gently stroked his little snout.

"It's alright, my little defender. It's just us here, just us…" Deidara whispered softly to Baelerion, even though he could only see so much through the few drops of tears that welled up in his eyes.

He felt sick, but in a way that hurt rather than ailed him. The minute he saw his mother again, would she let him stay in her arms for a while? Was he ruined to her? Would she scream at his hands, or his chest, or would she recoil at what he was made to do with her brother? Even if he told her it wasn't his fault, to please love him, that he was sorry?

Why was he sorry, and to whom?

Baelerion chirped once more, his neck extended out of the iron bars to lick at Deidara's tears. He quietly and swiftly covered up Baely from sight; he didn't want the fact that they were outgrowing their cages to become known to anyone. If Meisa and Kanako weren't in the wagon with him, he may have tried to sic his dragons on the unsuspecting Shinobi with a blaze of fire. With the daggers the girls shot him at every slight glance, however, he lied awake half the night with the thought of them slitting his throat the minute they got the chance; a thought that kept his arms firmly around his little defender.

"I'm fine, Baely, I'm fine…" he whispered. Red remained curled up in his own cage with his wings and tail wrapped around him, but his brown eyes stayed open and fixated on Deidara. He could sense it; every beast was well-aware of their parent trembling every night as he stifled his mutterings and gasps. Every smirk that stringbean of a man graced Deidara with as he sheepishly pretended to sulk in the back of the wagon tested Deidara's ability to quell his beasts before they unleashed themselves upon the travelers. They were still small, but not so small that he was able to manage all five at once any longer.

Eventually the group of sullen Shinobi, slaves, and one particularly chipper coroner arrived at the inn they had passed roughly three days before, yet the Mother must have smiled down upon the band of weary travelers since it only took a single night to pull up to the quaint little inn on the main road back to the Stone Village.

For an average couple, the venue couldn't have been any more perfect. The cobblestone paths, dim lanterns, and floral shrubbery that decorated the outside as the sun began to set trumped the Temple of Arbor that Deidara was dragged into before when it came to tranquil beauty. If it were a normal couple, a normal wedding, and not an execution gone horribly awry. Yes, then it would be perfect. He wondered what type of flowers His Prince liked; anything was palatable over the moment he lived in, even the thought of a vanishing Prince's favorite flower.

The silence did not last long. Two of the Shinobi grabbed Deidara with little regard for his tender shoulders, which their thumbs and fingers pressed into thoughtlessly. They dragged him along with them as his already-tattered and dirty garb from the dead city became that much more defiled when the cobblestone and gravel nipped at its mangled edges.

Meisa and Kanako were grabbed as well, but Deidara heard the Shinobi whisper amongst each other that Meisa was a better fit to help the "bride" clean up for the wedding ceremony. Kanako, unfortunately, was deemed "too boyish" and her hair too short to deal with the tangled mop of golden locks on Deidara's head. She was dragged into a room far away from where Meisa and Deidara were thrown into without a chance for the sisters to say a thing to each other. As Meisa and Deidara were thrown into a small room with a mirror and several baskets of what appeared to be clothes, a creeping chill crawled up Deidara's spine; her icy glare hadn't faltered since they had been abducted. The idea of being alone with her made his hair stand on end.

Nevertheless, Deidara quietly slid into a chair in front of the mirror and patiently awaited his maid to assist him. Meisa examined several brushes, lip paints, and dresses before she even looked his way. The sunny warmth in her face seemed to have been sucked out on their trip, and all that remained was a bitter, haggard woman with a stare that could cause a child to cry.

"Mesia, hm?" Deidara began to ask his maid what was wrong - what had been wrong, but his words were trapped in the back of his throat.

Meisa barely seemed to notice, as if he hadn't said a thing. To be ignored by those he had been nothing but good to, to have such ungrateful maids feel so righteous in their disappointment and disdain; if he had his clay with him, he may have done something he would regret.

Meisa picked up some pink lip paint and cheek powder, and approached Deidara with a brush held to his nose. "Kanako told me what you are. It had been right before our eyes this entire time, yet I did not care to see it. Yet now I do."

Deidara winced as she gently swirled the brush around his cheek to lightly coat it in a pink hue. With no desire to hear her words, he spoke anyway. "What did your sister say, hm?"

Briefly, Meisa painted his eyes with black liner, and moved on to his lips with a smaller brush. She looked over her work - far from a proper style for a young bride, but she deemed it acceptable to stop at the bare minimum. She gazed into his light blue eyes, her own green ones filled with not kindness, but a cold, biting rage.

"You are a monster. You are no different from Argento, your friend, or a demon from hell who tempts women to abandon their duties to serve you. You enslaved us all the same, yet you claimed we were free. May the Gods curse you until your heart stops beating, and may you find all you deserve in life."

Deidara remained silent, unable to muster his voice to plead his side of things or beg her forgiveness. He wished for nothing more than to beseech her to dismiss Kanako's attempts to poison their relationship, and to accept him as the friend he wanted to be for her. But as she brushed his hair with reckless speed, and roughly pinned it in place with the first hair ornament she saw, only light whimpers and small attempts at words could escape his pale pink lips.

A sloppily-folded white gown was shoved onto his lap. He examined the crumpled dress and turned to thank Meisa, but she had already retreated to the far corner of the room to curl up into a ball to sob silently. The poor girl truly was lost in the world; Deidara had simply hoped that they could have been lost together, if not for one very distrustful sister who got in the way of his attempt at a new family.

Deidara crept behind a curtain to change into his gown she had selected. It was hardly fancy, and one could even call it casual. He could picture the coroner's face twisted into disgust, the sound of being stricken across his painted cheek. He would surely demand him to look better than this, but he still could not find it in himself to speak to Meisa.

He pulled back the curtain and hustled over to the door that locked them in, but before he knocked he turned to Meisa. She still seemed to enjoy pretending that he never existed, so he left her to her little game. Deidara knocked on the door, but before a single Shinobi could come to gather him he turned to Meisa one final time.

"If you want to believe I'm a monster, then that's fine. You can do that, see if I care. I don't need you, once me and that guy are married, I'll have my real family back," Deidara said, his voice shaking from anger and sorrow that tugged at his throat and chest.

After a moment of silence, Meisa chose to say nothing. Even the momentary glance lasted just that. Deidara's heart pounded in his chest, and the giant tongue within him began to stir.

"Maybe my children are hungry, or even bored. I don't care. If you think I'm a monster, then I can become one for you."

A Shinobi came to escort Deidara to his wedding, and before he slammed the door shut he heard the muffled cries of Meisa on the other side of the wall. He felt a pain in his chest that for once was not because of the tongue within him, but an ache that wouldn't go away no matter how calm he tried to remain.

The ballroom of the inn was small, but still a fair bit more fancy than his first venue. As he had predicted, the coroner's nose wrinkled at the sight of his thrown together look. Deidara kept an innocent, happy little smile upon his lips at all times as a Shinobi led him down the isle toward his beanpole of a groom. It was sad, really. It seemed that the coroner had put far more effort into his wedding kimono than Deidara did; a wiser man would have taken that as a warning of something amiss, as the Shinobi that eyed him did. Yet they remained silent.

It seemed that his dear groom had decided to perform the entire ceremony, almost certainly to assure any speculative souls that the marriage was, in fact, legitimate. From the sip of sake to the ribbon, and then eventually the vows that bound them together before all Gods, he took great care to display before all that looked on that Deidara was most certainly his.

As it started, it ended far too late for Deidara's liking. He could see his children outside the window, sound asleep in their cages while he began to look for an opening. The ceremony concluded with Deidara being led away from the altar by his new husband, anxiously egging him to hurry along to their room. He spouted countless vile nothings into the abyss, while Deidara glanced over to the window where he could see his children were still safe.

Deidara waited until they were in the main hall before he hastily stopped in his tracks, much to the coroner's dismay. The older man worriedly looked over his young bride, and pulled at his arm a few times before he understood that Deidara would go no further.

"Come on now, my sweet little husband, the bedding ceremony is now," the coroner said through gritted, skinny, yellow teeth.

Deidara fidgeted a bit, and gazed out towards the window. "I'm… nervous… can I please have a few minutes with my children to calm down, hm? You can have a guard watch me, all I want is a few minutes."

The coroner tapped his chin with a long, bony finger. A Shinobi came to his side, and Deidara almost let a wide smile betray his plan. The Shinobi was the same one who made that odd, yet familiar gesture towards him a night ago. The older man silently placed a single finger to his lips, which told Deidara to remain quiet.

"Ah, I was just about to call for you. Wonderful. Please escort my husband outside to play with his beasts before we put them down, then bring him up to me after five minutes so he can perform his marital duties. Drag him if you must, even if he's still nervous," the coroner said, and waved his hand in a flippant manner as he dismissed the older Shinobi and Deidara.

Deidara was gently guided by the Shinobi to the warm, late spring evening air. He stood in front of him as he kneeled in front of Eros's cage, which concealed his movements to any onlookers from inside.

Deidara quietly opened his little beauty's cage, then swiftly moved to Zephyr, and then Onyx. The latter of the three greeted him with a hard bite on his hand, but he simply shooed him off. He opened Baelerion's cage after that, and finally Red's. His eyes shifted to the Shinobi's feet, then to his children, then over to the windows that emitted a warm light. He supposed it was the right time to ask this man why he's chosen to help him.

"I want to thank you for your assistance, you saved my life tonight. But why? Why did you do it, hm?" Deidara asked as he stroked Eros's head and soft chest.

"I was there when the letter was read. You're Bakusatsu's son. That man saved my life in the battle he retreated from - The Blood of the Stones. That man's no war criminal, he did the right thing for his men. I owe him my life, and since I can't return the favor, I might as well save his son instead," he said, and raised his three fingers to his lips once more.

"Thanks… he really was a good father…. I'm sure he'd be thankful too," Deidara said, and lowered his head in gratitude.

"I like to think so too. Now take your pets and run, and don't stop until you're as far away as your little legs can carry you. Here," the Shinobi handed him something he thought was lost forever - his clay pack, with all of his clay inside.

"I-I don't know what to say, but I won't run. If I don't get rid of him now, he'll keep chasing me forever. Besides, he killed my people. Meisa and Kanako hate me now, and I need to find my family. There's no choice but to kill them all right here, hm," Deidara said, though his nervous tick betrayed his apprehension as he boasted of bravery.

Before the Shinobi could respond, the coroner burst through the main entrance and stormed over to Deidara while his arms flailed with every huff and grunt he exuded from his tiny mouth. He wasted no time in gracing his new husband with a slap across his face, which caused him to topple over onto the cobblestone path.

"How dare you, you insolent little whore! I saw those-those beasts in front of my window, you let them out!" The coroner kicked Deidara in the side as he tried to stand, then turned to the Shinobi. "And you! You allowed him to do so! You betrayed your country, your mission, your Kage! Me! I'm the new heir, so long as this little brat is alive. I'll have your head for this, I'll have you publicly flayed! Your wife, your children! You'll pay for conspiring against the future Tsuchikage!"

As if by magic, the Shinobi suddenly towered over the meek little coroner as if he were a mountain that shaded a wilting tree. His presence overpowered the string bean of a man as he cowered under his subordinate. Even from a slight distance, Deidara felt fearful of a man who looked ready to snap his boss in half.

"You are no Kage," he said, then backed away a few feet to let the coroner drop to the ground in a shaking lump of bones and cold skin. He scurried to his feet, then turned to Deidara with eyes that flickered between rage and fear.

With a shaking finger pointed at him, he said, "I should have never given up the two girls for you, even for your title! I'll gather the remaining guards, and you'll both be executed, but not before you're bedded right here in the dirt where you'll die. I'll have that title as an apology gift from my dear departed husband, who tragically died to bandits on our way home."

The coroner called out for the remaining nine Shinobi that served under him, and Meisa and Kanako followed. Both had a slight smirk across their lips. Deidara's heart sank; he had wanted so badly to win their trust, but they betrayed his own instead. He looked up at the roof of the front of the inn and saw Baelerion perched, teeth bared, and eyes full of fury. His children would eat well tonight.

The Shinobi beside him cleared his throat, and said, "I'd prefer if I died tonight too, if you would be so kind. I can't return to my village, and my family the old crackpot threatened never really happened. Besides, not a lot of Shinobi can say they died to a dragon. When I see your father, I'll tell him about his son, the dragon tamer."

Deidara sighed, he wasn't in much of a mood to take in any new recruits, so that worked just fine for him. He looked to the row of Shinobi, treacherous maids and wretched men before him. With a deep breath, he looked up to Baelerion once more, and then to Red where he perched a few meters away from his brother.

"So, my sweet, silly husband, will you make this nice and easy for me? I promise I'll be gentle, at least until I plunge this dagger through your heart, just like Onoki wanted," the coroner said, and held up a silver dagger that almost looked dual toned.

"Of course," Deidara began, "I promise to make this easy, and I won't fight it."

Deidara raised his left hand, just as he planned to when he knew to bring them the light, as he had spoken of with his maids in what felt like another world; another time when he felt at peace, but now he knew better. He was not one of peace, or mercy, but of destruction and fire. He would make no allies, and plant no flowers, but he would burn a thousand of each for the sake of his own righteous fury. And maybe one day he could simply go back to creating the art he loved in his little mountain valley - maybe even tomorrow - if he felt his children were strong enough after this test.

"That being said, my children made no such promises, and they just witnessed you attack and threaten their parent. You see, I can't really control them, at least not entirely, hm."

With that, Deidara snapped his fingers that made a sound that seemed to echo throughout the night air. A clicking noise came from the darkness, and suddenly, a flash of light followed.

The screams and cries of the row of those that stood before him burst into a blaze of red and orange flames, like humans that became flowers in full bloom in spring. Soon enough the streams stopped, but his children did not. The inn caught ablaze next, and whoever was inside would likely not survive to escape. He would slip away into the night, and he and his children would be safe once more.

As the flames burned hot and high, Deidara took the chance to gather his clay pack that was set down for him before the Shinobi vanished into the fire. He hoped that he died quickly, as adamant as he was to no longer care. Eros chirped and clicked happily as he curled up near his parent, and happily ruffled his feathers. All of his children seemed happy to be free of their cages, as was he.

Not a soul was around to see, so Deidara took the liberty to change out of the horrendous dress and makeup he had been made to don. There was a deep green coat and mesh undershirt, with a pair of commoner's pants loaded in the wagon from the previous owner that Deidara had noticed on the way to the inn. He figured he could honor the man who died for a fool's inevitable failure by wearing what he left behind. Besides, he wouldn't need it anymore where he was now.

Once Deidara felt prepared to head off to find a safe place to hide with his children, he whistled for his dragons and Zephyr to stop flying around and to come to him. Onyx loped over to his feet; now he was the size of a small dog, and still continued to snarl up at his parent. Deidara worried about that one, but he resolved to focus on his freedom for now. He could sort the rest out later.

His dragons perched on his shoulders, while he held Eros in his arms. Zephyr and Onyx trailed behind by air and on foot, but all followed their parent to wherever he wanted to lead them. The only issue was figuring out where to stay, but he did notice a temple not too far back. It appeared to be abandoned, as well. If not, perhaps the keeper of the temple could be reasoned with, or silenced and promptly replaced with a young boy with long golden locks.

It was much closer than he expected, which Deidara was gleeful to find. He had barely traveled a mile in the night before he happened upon the opulent little temple just off the main road. It was empty, as far as he saw, but the interior was sublime. Perhaps he could stay there for the evening, or maybe a week. Not forever, of course, he was never safe in Earth Country as long as he was alive. Yet he doubted that anyone would come looking for him for a while, given the news of his demise. It was only one little stop on the road to his brother and mother, wherever they were.

Deidara removed his jacket to use for his head while he slept, and his children all curled up around him so he stayed warm under their scales, fur and feathers. Before he dozed off into a contented slumber, he saw the new moon in the night sky from out of one of the windows. A new moon, a new him. The game had changed, and now he could make his own rules.

Deidara succumbed to a dreamless sleep, with the warmth of his beasts that surrounded him. Baelerion occasionally chirped or clicked throughout the night, but it was always no more than a crow, or a fish in the pond nearby, or the wind that blew through the trees. As far as Deidara could see, all was well, and he chose to pay it mind no longer.

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