Chapter 5:

"This is the fraternity house, un?" Deidara asked, not really believing the sight that was in front of him. About an hour before, he and Sasori had gone back to their room, packing up their things so they could go on to the house. For Deidara, he was glad to have left.

He wouldn't be able to stand another night of hearing Sasuke and Naruto fuck each other senseless for hours on end, keeping him awake until even his dreams were clouded in rough sex.

He shuddered at the thought; he was just glad to be moving out.

However, now staring at the Akat Suki Sigma house, he was really beginning to rethink his previous decisions.

The house was located far behind all the other fraternities, a small, dimly lit gravel path leading to a paved trail going off into the dense woods on the outskirts of the campus. At the end of the paved trail, nestled in a massive clearing, was the Akat Suki Sigma home.

It didn't look like a home.

It looked more of like a huge mansion.

A row of brown steps led up to the four massive white columns spaced evenly out in front of the two French double doors, both of which were shut. On either side of the very front of the house stood two other attachments, both of which were covered with windows, and the Akat Suki Sigma's lettering was stamped clear across the main side roof of the house, claiming that the building the clay artist and puppeteer were looking at was theirs.

"It's obviously their house, brat," Sasori grumbled, "or else their symbol wouldn't be on it."

"Now who's the one being the smartass?"

"Shut the hell up, you little insect!" the redhead screamed, turning his amber hate-gaze to the blonde. "I have every right to be angry at you for destroying my puppet! That took me months to make! It isn't like one of your stupid clay sculptures that explode and get used up so pointlessly and-"

"Talk about my art like that one more time, pipsqueak, I dare you, un," Deidara grabbed hold of the collar of Sasori's cloak, bringing the puppeteer's face within inches of his own.

"Hm, Deidara, a little sensitive when someone makes fun of your child's play?" his roommate cocked an amused eyebrow, waiting for a reaction. The artist widened his blue orbs, anger filling his body, starting from his toes and working its way up through his abdomen, into his chest, and finally encasing his closed right fist, which collided roughly into the redhead's left cheek.

Sasori's face was thrown harshly to the right by the blow, his teeth smashing together and causing a ragged pain to travel through his head. Deidara released the collar of his cloak, and watched as the puppeteer wiped away a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth with his hand, slightly smirking. "Guess I know what ticks you off, huh?"

"I'm going on in, bastard. Take your sweet ass time moping about your puppet alone, un," the blonde growled, swirling around on the heel of his boot and stomping up the stairs and over to the door, pounding on the wood loudly with his fist.

He couldn't wait to have a room all his own.

"Well, since you two are freshmen, and most of the other rooms are used for things like parties and meetings, you two will have to share," Itachi explained, opening the door to their room. Deidara sighed, his head slumping in defeat.

Looks like he wasn't getting rid of Sasori anytime soon.

"So that's your side of the room," Deidara murmured, pointing over to the bed near the far wall next to the window, "and over here is my side."

"That doesn't leave much room for me."

"I know."

Silence enveloped the boys as they unpacked their belongings, neither one saying anything to the other. Deidara was pissed beyond control. He had thought that he was going to get his own room, a place where he could perfect his art in silence, be alone, which was just how he liked it.

But no…now, he was stuck with the damn puppeteer again, which he knew without a doubt would cause trouble in the long run.

He placed his clay bag on the night stand next to his bed, blue irises surveying the room. It was painted black with black carpeting, going with the theme of the dark cloaks the fraternity brothers wear, with a bathroom and walk-in closet over to the left of the bedroom door. The headboard of Deidara's bed was shoved against the wall opposite to Sasori's, and the wall near their beds wasn't even necessarily a wall.

It was a window.

The wall was literally a window, reaching from all the way to floor to all the way to the ceiling, letting in the sunlight that was beaming down from above. The blonde wondered if the window was tinted, but decided to keep the thought to himself, lest he wanted to hear a snide remark from his roommate yet again.

Deidara had to admit, though, his side of the room contained the most furniture, with both of the red-leathered loveseats on the left side of his bed, a coffee-table in between them, a giant dark cherry wood desk with matching chair, and the nightstand where his clay bag sat, zipped up.

He plopped onto the fluffy black silk duvet with an audible sigh, resting his head on the red pillow underneath him, feeling his muscles relax as he got comfortable. He closed his eyes, listening to the shuffling as Sasori continued to unpack, surprisingly silent.

Deidara suddenly wondered what goes on through the redhead's mind. His face was always pretty much expressionless and devoid of emotion unless it was to give an annoying smirk at the clay artist.

Then Deidara suddenly had another thought.

Why did he let that bastard get to him so much? All his life, he had been made fun of for his love of explosive art, but he had never let that faze him from continuing his passion. Why was it, now, that he suddenly felt that he had to prove himself to someone that his art was perfection?

And why, of all people, did it have to be someone who thought that art was eternal? Art couldn't be eternal. It was like life; fleeting, yet beautiful in that one single moment of pure explosion.

Deidara willed his palm mouths to clamp shut as they were starting to become too lively for their good. Whatever was going to happen at the party tonight, he would have wait and see.

Until then, he rolled over onto his side and fell asleep, completely unaware that Sasori had disappeared from the room.