Sasori held Deidara's hand in his as the grass crunched beneath their feet. He rubbed the bandage on Deidara's hand with his thumb, caressing it lightly. "Why are you still wearing bandages?" Sasori asked him.
"Trust me, you don't want to see what's under those right now," Deidara said. Deidara tugged on Sasori's hand a little harder, leading him deeper into the woods.
"Why are we taking a hike through this dark and desolate forest?" Sasori asked him for about the hundredth time. This was what Deidara had chosen to do for the weekend, go on a hike in the woods with a bottle of wine. He thought it would be a blast to get drunk among the nature.
Deidara pushed through another thicket of branches, "I want to see the area of forest that was burned down, it'll be interesting. I'm curious," Deidara said. Sasori raised an eyebrow, not sure what to make of this. Why was he so interested in the remains of the fire?
They trudged through the forest for another thirty minutes before they reached the area that Deidara was looking for. The trees, bushes, plants and all signs of life were wiped out before them, stretching a vast mile or so ahead. The ground was charred and black, a ghastly and disturbing sight. The earth looked cold and desolate. An ashy smell still clung to the air, making Sasori's nostrils tingle unpleasantly. He breathed in deeply, which was a mistake. He coughed immediately afterwards, exhaling the violent fumes of smoke that reached his lungs.
"This is nasty," Sasori said, covering his mouth, "let's get out of here."
Deidara didn't respond, he was looking at the once beautiful forest with pure loathing in his eyes. Sasori had not seen his blue eyes look so dark before now. They were tinted with abhorrence, and his fists were shaking. "Dammit!" he cried out. "It's definitely him!"
Sasori was about to place a hand on Deidara's back in comfort, looking for the words to soothe his anger, when he heard the crinkling of the grass behind him. "Deidara" a low voice called. Sasori and Deidara whipped their heads around in unison towards the source of that voice.
Sasori's mouth was agape as he stared at the strangest man he'd ever seen. He was tall, with long, billowing black robes adorned with a pattern of red clouds. His face was tinted blue, and he had slits along his cheeks and beady, fish-like eyes. He wore a headband on his forehead similar to the one Deidara wore when he first walked into the art shop. A massive sword hung on his back, wrapped up in white cloth. When he grinned, Sasori could swear that he saw a row of daggers for teeth. This was impossible though…Sasori couldn't believe what he was seeing. It had to be a costume and make-up. No human being looked like that. He looked like a shark.
"Kisame," Deidara hissed in reply, "why are you here?"
"Come home Deidara, this mission of yours is foolish. The akatsuki need you," Kisame implored.
"I'm here to clear my name," Deidara said, "nothing could be more important."
"The chances of finding that worm and convincing him to come home are slim," Kisame replied.
"I have to locate him, and keep him alive…that's all. Naruto will take care of the rest. And he promised to clear my name," Deidara replied. Sasori's head was swimming with questions. What did all of this mean? Who exactly was Deidara?
Kisame seemed to finally notice Sasori's presence, "He doesn't even know, does he?" he asked, pointing a blue finger at the redhead.
"Keep him out of this," Deidara said, "this is between you and me. And my answer to you is that I am not coming back. Not until the mission is complete."
"I had a feeling you would say that," Kisame sighed, "I'll have to fight you then. I have to admit though, I've been looking forward to fighting with you for a long time. This should be interesting."
Deidara's lip curled up, "Yes, indeed. Are you really sure this is necessary though, hm?" As he spoke, he handed the wine bottle to Sasori, who took it with confusion. A fight? What was going on? Sasori was baffled, and couldn't hold his tongue any longer.
"Is anyone going to explain to me what's happening?" he nearly yelled the question. He was trying to keep his cool though, trying not to look like a befuddled buffoon in front of this newcomer.
Deidara turned to look at Sasori, with a sad smile. "I wish you didn't have to find out like this," he said, then sighed, "remember that ninja book you were reading in the library? The reason I found it so amusing is because I'm a ninja. Kisame and I are part of an organization called the akatsuki, we come from a country far from here where ninja live. The rest of the world chose to hide us away in one land and erase us from history. But ninja still exist."
"Ninja are real?!" Sasori stammered. His parents had always told him that there was an age where ninja lived amongst the world. He believed them until his 1st grade teacher told him otherwise and laughed at him. How did his parents know that ninja were existent?
Deidara was beginning to pull off the white bandage from his hand, "how did you find me?" he asked Kisame without looking up.
"I sensed chakra," Kisame said, pointing to his sword.
"Hm, I thought these bandages were supposed to suppress my chakra," Deidara said, grunting. "I laced them with a special chakra that is designed to conceal my chakra to others, even the best sensory ninjas." The bandages were finally undone, and Sasori looked upon Deidara's hands with horror. A mouth laid upon each palm, with wet, red tongues sticking out hungrily. Deidara shoved his hands into the bags on his hips, and Sasori could hear the mouths munching on something. He felt a shiver run up his spine.
"It wasn't your chakra I sensed," Kisame said, eyeing Sasori. Sasori flinched from his look. Sasori knew what chakra was, it was all explained in the many ninja books he had read as a child. His parents had also explained to him the ways of the shinobi, so he was quite familiar with the various nature types of chakra as well. The power of the shinobi had always been an interest to him as a child.
Sasori felt his hands shaking as Deidara and Kisame began to circle each other slowly in the clearing among the ashes. Was Kisame suggesting that Sasori had chakra? Sasori did not know what to think, his world seemed shattered. Everything he knew about his life seemed like a lie. How could history have erased the truth about the ninjas? He slumped down against a charred tree, and watched as Deidara and Kisame threw various insults at each other. He was about to witness an actual ninja fight.
Deidara pulled out his hands from his bags, and his left mouth spit out a small clay bug, which grew larger in his hand until it was roughly the size of his face.
"Oh, one of your explosives I see," Kisame said.
"You're at a disadvantage here my friend," Deidara said. "Prepare to be blown away by my art hm!" The clay bug jumped forward from Deidara's hand towards Kisame. Once it landed on Kisame's shoulder, it exploded loudly. Sasori cried out loud with shock.
But the fight had only just begun. What Deidara had thought was Kisame was actually just a water clone. His figure dissolved into a puddle on the earth, and the real Kisame flew in from behind Deidara, with his foot outstretched for a kick. Deidara grabbed Kisame's leg with both hands and threw him on the ground. Kisame somersaulted back and flipped up onto his feet again. Deidara had put his hands into his pockets of clay and fell back a few feet. Sasori could see that he was a long distance fighter.
Kisame backed up a few feet too, his hands moving fast with hand signs. Then Kisame opened his mouth and spat out water. A massive amount of water flew forth like a tidal wave, covering the ground with astounding speed. Sasori was swept up by the waves and pushed up against a tree. He quickly grabbed onto a tree branch and climbed up the tree, looking down upon the tiny ocean that had emanated forth from this shark man. Sasori panted, looking everywhere for Deidara.
Finally, the blonde's head emerged from the water. Kisame was riding atop a wave, and smirking. "It's over Deidara," Kisame said.
Deidara's figure began to melt, and Sasori cried with shock. Then he realized that it was only a clay clone. But, where was the real Deidara?
Sasori looked up to the sky as he heard a swift rustle in the wind. A massive white bird flew past him, and Deidara was situated on the nape of the bird's neck. Deidara threw down a smaller white clay bird, targeted towards Kisame's face.
Kisame dodged the bird easily, swimming away and hiding beneath the water. Deidara smiled and said, "watch this Sasori, I got him now."
The pool of water rose up into the sky as an explosion was set off from below the water. Sasori had no idea how Deidara had set up an explosive within the water, but somehow, he had. Kisame was definitely caught up in the detonation this time, his form flew into the sky along with the water, and Deidara flew right for it. Deidara reached an arm forward and grabbed the handle of Kisame's sword before Kisame could react. Deidara then flew up higher into the sky, holding out the blade, careful only to touch the handle and nothing else.
Kisame fell back onto the ground with a loud, hard crack. The water had dissipated, it seemed that Kisame's chakra had taken a blow after the explosion. The water sunk into the earth, and Sasori thought it would be okay to climb back down from his tree.
Deidara kept his position on his bird high in the sky, "Now it's over hm!" he cried triumphantly, holding out Kisame's sword like a prized possession. "If you want this back, then leave me alone!"
Kisame grunted but then smiled. Pulling his fingers up to his mouth, he blew a loud whistle. The sword in Deidara's hand kicked itself up, shaking madly until Deidara was forced to let it go. The sword fell towards the ground and Kisame caught it in his hand, "No one can handle Samehada except for myself, your threat is empty."
Deidara gritted his teeth, "Well then, I'll just have to set off anoth-"
"Wait," Kisame lifted a hand up, "Don't set off another water bomb. I realize now that your first bug must have had micro-bugs attached to it, am I right? When my water clone dissipated, those micro-bugs entered my chakra water."
"That's right," Deidara said.
"Smart move. Now, I can't use my normal water release because your bugs could still be hiding within my water…I still have a lot of chakra though." Kisame said with a smirk.
Deidara's hands were in his pockets again, eating up more clay. "Let's see how you handle this!" he threw down two more clay birds, but these swooped down faster and more precisely than the last. Instead of targeting Kisame, they were headed for his sword.
Sasori thought this would be the end of the fight, but Kisame's sword shook again, tearing off the wrapping. A giant spike-scaled sword with razor sharp teeth emerged. The teeth bit viciously in the air at the birds, and then swallowed the birds whole. Deidara set off the bomb, but it did not have the effect on Samehada that he would have liked. Dark smoke furled out of Samehada's mouth, but it was unscathed.
"That was delicious," Kisame said, "Samehada eats chakra, remember? It can even suck out the explosive chakra from your silly little clay."
Sasori noticed that the sword looked more swollen now after devouring the chakra from Deidara's birds. "Enough of this foolishness Deidara, you are no match for me. Come back to the akatsuki," Kisame implored.
"No!" Deidara cried, swooping down lower. He had created a caterpillar with his clay, and he sent it down towards Kisame, aimed at his shoulder. Samehada caught the clay in his mouth, devouring the chakra and growing larger again.
"Pretty soon, I will use up all your chakra," Kisame said, shaking his head.
Sasori couldn't just stand there and let this shark man take Deidara away. He was thinking fast, trying to come up with some sort of plan. There had to be a way to help Deidara.
Sasori was struck with an idea that he hoped would work. As Deidara and Kisame exchanged more words and blows, Sasori put his plan into effect. He snuck over to get closer to Kisame, and then dug out some rope from his backpack. Since they were out on a hike, he had actually prepared for the wilderness, unlike Deidara. He tied a small hook to the rope and then crouched down by a bush ready for his opportunity. It seemed that neither Deidara nor Kisame had noticed his movements, they were completely absorbed in their own battle.
When Kisame stepped back a few inches, preparing his next attack, Sasori flung out his man-made fishing lure, catching the hook on Samehada. Of course, Samehada was huge, so Sasori had to use all his might to budge him out of Kisame's hand. When he did, Kisame turned and glared at Sasori, holding back his sword. "You insolent little bastard!" Kisame screeched, "how dare you try to step in!?"
It was the distraction that Deidara needed. Before Kisame could swivel around to face his true opponent, clay spider arms gripped his backside. Boom! The explosion emanated throughout the forest, knocking Kisame back several feet, and Samehada flying in another direction. Sasori fell back from the explosion, tumbling over in the grass.
Sasori got up to see the damage, wondering if Deidara had killed Kisame. Before he could take a peek, he was grabbed roughly by the collar of his shirt. "Ah!" he yelled. He was then swung up and seated on Deidara's bird, flying full speed ahead.
"Hold on tight," Deidara instructed. Sasori grabbed his waist tightly, looking down upon the blurred ground. He gulped and closed his eyes.
"What just happened?" Sasori asked, nearly out of breath.
"Kisame was knocked out, but he'll be back up in no time. We need to get back to our place before he does and hide ourselves. Here, wrap this around your hand." He handed the white bandage to Sasori, the one that was filled with the chakra suppressant he had spoke of earlier. Sasori wrapped it around his hand, noticing that Deidara had already done the same on both of his palms.
Once they were a safe distance away from the burnt wasteland, Deidara flew them down to the ground so they could walk the rest of the distance to their apartment. Deidara held Sasori's hand and walked briskly. "I know you have a ton of questions, but wait until we get back inside, hm." Deidara said. Sasori nodded.
Once they finally made it back home, Deidara closed the door behind them and sighed heavily. Then, before Sasori could open his mouth, Deidara pushed him up against the wall and kissed him roughly, pressing his lips up on Sasori's with vigor. He pulled away from the kiss, still holding Sasori against the wall, and said, "That was stupid Danna, but thank you. You provided a distraction, and I was able to finally knock him out."
Sasori blinked, feeling thoroughly overwhelmed from everything he had just witnessed. His heartbeat was fast from adrenaline as well as a hint of lust from Deidara's forceful kiss against the wall. But, there would be time for kissing later. Sasori needed to get to the bottom of all the questions he had. "Who are you?" was all Sasori could think to ask at that moment. His head was buzzing madly with inquiries.