Here's the second chapter! Thanks a LOT for the reviews guys, they made me feel... -sniff-
all warm and fuzzy inside... -teary-eyed-
Also, uhm, I hope you enjoy the second chapter! I hope it doesn't disappoint you guys.
-sweat- Hehe...
WARNING - Lots of 'OOC' in this chapter.
(DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or it's characters!)
"Daaanaaaaaa. C'mon un."
"No."
"Daaanaaaa un."
"No.
"Daaanaaaaaaaa un."
"NO."
"B-but the fresh air will do you good! Your always inside Hiruko! Sometimes I think you love him more than me..."
A young blonde cross-legged ontop of what looked like a huge rock covered in a patterned cloak, without a metal tail trying to dislodge it's unwelcome intruder in vain and what might have been a face sticking out of it rolled it's eyes.
"Deidara, you are a troublesome brat, and if I have ever given you the idea that I have only ever had feelings for you as a partner, I am deeply sorry. I do not even like you as a partner."
"D-danna..." The younger boy's eyes shined with tears,"H-how... how could you say that. Why don't you reciprocate my feelings un!?" Tears broke free and slid down his cheeks as he began to sob.
Blue lines appeared on Hiruko's head. (OOC: You know when someone does something really stupid or embarassing and a sort of blue cloud and lines appear over people's heads? Yeah, that)
"Deidara... You do know that's not working right?"
The sobbing immediately ceased and Deidara looked up grinning,"Ahhh, no fair danna un!"
He turned and yelled over his shoulder,"Ne, Hidan, Kisame, I couldn't get him out, switch to plan B un!"
"Plan B... Hey what are you guys doing?!"
Hidan and Kisame walked up as Deidara hopped off and walked to the side.
"Wha...? Heyy nooooOOOOHHHHH!!"
Offscreen there was the classic bangs and crashes as Kisame and Hidan dismantled half off Hiruko and dragged Sasori out of his favourite puppet by his hair.
"Deidara-senpai, I think Sasori is broken," Tobi appeared by Deidara's side looking unnerved at Sasori, currently being restrained by Kakuzu's strings but not stopping him from screaming at the top of his lungs and foaming at the mouth as he saw his Hiruko, mostly in separate pieces as he threw a hissy-fit. (OOC: Dude, been so long since I used the phrase 'hissy-fit'. I love it so much. 8D )
"Naw, that's just danna un!"
Hours later, when Sasori had calmed down, he found himself traipsing along a forest track, his partner skipping along in a sugar-induced state of hyperness, and with what was almost all of the other Akatsuki members.
"...Why did you come?" Sasori gave Itachi a sideways look.
"...Amusement," Itachi smirked slightly at the redhead who's forehead popped as a vein made it's appearance.
"...Ne danna you okay un? You're looking kinda sweaty..." Deidara looked at Sasori, oblivious to Itachi who was smirking back (OOC: The 'serious shinobi' equivalent of pulling faces at each other. But of course, serious shinobi such as Itachi and Sasori don't pull faces. They smirk) at him with concern.
Sasori reverted back to his calm deadpanned self instantly,"Of course."
"Good un!" Deidara beamed merrily,"We wouldn't want you to be gloomy on your first day as a human again! We've got fun stuff lined up for you!" Sasori winced at the word 'fun'.
"Tell me, why do I need the whole of the Akatsuki organization with me to have... 'fun," muttered Sasori.
"You don't. We're just a bunch of sadistic bastards," Kisame flashed Sasori a pointy-toothed grin.
"Damn right."
"What was that puppet!?"
"Danna's not a puppet, danna's a real boy un!" Deidara yelled at Kakuzu who was momentarily taken aback (OOC: Not scared, as he assured everyone later, just suprised) at the ex-Iwagakure nin's outburst, and had to elbow Hidan hard in the stomach to stop him from snickering.
"So danna, what do you wanna do first? How about visit your granny un!?" Deidara bounced along in time with Sasori's steps.
Sasori stopped for a moment, looking thoughtful.
There was a knock at the door.
"My oh my, who could that be at this hour?" Chiyo got up from her chair and walked over to the door, opening it.
"Hallo Ba-baa," A human teenage Sasori stood at the door smiling innocently, and behind him towered the other seven Akatsuki members. (OOC: The ones that are with him are Zetsu, Kisame, Itachi, Tobi, Hidan, Kakuzu and Deidara, you see?)
Chiyo stared for a moment, before ever so slowly tilting backwards... and hitting the ground with a thud.
"Ba-baa?" Sasori blinked as he peered down at her.
Ebizu toddled over and asked loudly,"Chiyo? Are you dead?"
"...No, I don't think would be a good idea Deidara," said Sasori, after quiet consideration.
"Aw well. Hey, here we are!"
Before them was a bustling little village. By the time the Akatsuki had reached it, it was quite late, the stars already out, but it was still busy-looking, full of people and well-lit. There seemed to be some sort of festival on; people were selling masks, other stalls set up were offering games and all sorts of food. Delicious scents wafted through the warm air and there were sounds of screams and bangs and laughter and chatter and the general festive sounds of merriment.
"...Great, we came on a festival night," sneered Sasori.
"That's the spirit danna!" Deidara ran through the crowd excitedly.
"Oi! Get back here brat!" Sasori ran after him. He found the blonde handing over money to some man.
"Don't you ever run off like that again brat!" snarled Sasori, about to grab onto Deidara's ponytail to tug it.
"Blah blah, 'don't you ever---'Yowww!! Danna that HURTS un!" Deidara let out a yell and flailed about as Sasori yanked hard on his ponytail.
"Here you go," the old man returned to the counter and handed two sticks to Deidara, both with dango speared on them and gave them other to Deidara before turning to serve a girl with insanely long hair and a very high-pitched voice. (Hint hint)
"Domo arigatou!" Deidara flashed the man an innocent and happy grin before turning to Sasori with a teary face,"Danna un! That hurt! And I even bought dango for you un!" At this point he handed Sasori one of the sticks.
Sasori looked at it silently,"...You, er, bought dango for... me?"
"Hai un, but now I'm regretting doing so!" Deidara turned on his heel without another word and stalked off with his nose in the air.
"Deidara," Sasori hurried after him,"I didn't... mean to tug that hard..." he muttered gruffly, wrinkling his nose slightly as a faint pink flush came to his cheeks, fixing his stare on the ground.
"Awww, danna, are you blushing unnn? Hey, wait, no, don't tug my hair again!!"
"Itachi-san?"
Kisame walked through the crowds seeking his eyesight-challenged partner. How Itachi managed to navigate his way through the throng without walking into things Kisame would not know.
"Itachi-san?"
"Kisame, I'm here." The young Sharingan user appeared suddenly by his side.
"Ne... What do you want to do since we're here?"
Itachi looked about,"...Enjoy ourselves?"
Kisame decided not to point out that he'd failed to coax a smile from the teenager's lips since he had arrived at the Akatsuki, especially one that came from innocent joy, rather than the one he did when putting someone in immense pain.
"...But I don't like anything here."
"I didn't like Orochimaru but I still put up with him---"
"OROCHIMARU!?" A boy who had been sleeping at a ramen bar nearby woke up with a screech, a string of drool still attached from his lips to the counter. His two arms were in a sling. "Where!?"
Sensing that they were drawing attention to themselves by the way everyone had gone quiet and were staring, the boy next to him patted him on the shoulder and soothed him gruffly,"Don't worry Zaku, he's not here..."
Seemingly reassured by the boy who's face was entirely covered in a weird festival mask except from his left eye (OOC: Heehee, he's in the festive spirit too!) the brunette sank back into his deep sleep.
"...Well that was unusual," murmured Itachi, wondering if he should be cautious in saying Orochimaru's name again incase anymore sleeping people nearby bolted upright and screamed his name as everyone began to talk again and soon it was up to it's usual chatter.
"Huh... One day I want people to react that way to my name," Kisame said in wonder,"It would be great to stroll one day into town when you're bored and utter your name to watch various different people sit up and scream."
"I hate this place! It's too bright! And it looks expensive!"
"I thought you liked money?"
A handsome silver-haired man and what looked like a zombie ventured down the streets enjoying the area around them in it's colourful decorations. Nearby some female with a scary helium-voice was screaming at her companion with both arms in a sling. Something about 'I don't care if you can't eat your dango just 'cos both your arms are recovering'. Sitting next to the two was a boy with three-quarters of his face covered by a festival mask and looking like he was the reluctant babysitter, reminding both Akatsuki members of what Leader-Sama was like when Sasori and Deidara started arguing about art.
"Not when it's being put to bad use," Kakuzu gave everything around them a disapproving stare.
"It makes other people happy," Hidan noted that bringing Kakuzu near to a group of children had the entertaining effect of watching the smiles disappear from their little faces, give quiet squeaks of terror then run away looking like they'd quite like to wet themselves, or just staring at the 'zombie-man' in fear.
"Tch."
Deciding to try and get his partner into the mood (OOC: No no, not THAT type of mood you perverts!), Hidan walked over to a stall and ordered some ... festival... stuff.
Meanwhile, Kakuzu was standing there, peeved at his partner for wasting money, even if Hidan was paying with his own money.
He caught sight of a small child staring at him with a lollipop in hand, completely forgotten in the all-consuming terror of the real live zombie infront of them.
"...What? Go away or I'll steal your heart," Kakuzu glared at the kid,"Scram."
On cue the kid dropped their half-eaten lolly and ran away screaming leaving a suprised Kakuzu behind.
"...What did I do?"
"Zetsu-san why are you all the way out here?"
The good boy made his way up a small grassy hill outside the village to where a black-and-white man with what appeared to be a venus flytrap consuming his head was sitting.
"Tobi. Why are you not down there enjoying yourself like the other humans?" asked Zetsu's white side.
"Because Tobi could not find Zetsu-san and was worried!" Tobi sat down next to the plant, noting that the other shinobi did not quite answer his question,"Why are you not down there with the others?"
Zetsu gave a soft sigh. He didn't expect someone as naive as Tobi to understand. "Tobi, you see, I am different from other humans. Humans fear things that are 'different' from them. If I was to go down there the other humans would see and fear me. They would not accept me. And because they cannot accept me, I cannot enjoy myself as you and Sasori and the others can."
After Zetsu had said all this, Tobi didn't say a word for once. Instead he sat there in thoughtful silence. Then without a word, he stood up and walked back down to the warmth and cheer of the festival.
Zetsu watched him. He didn't understand. Zetsu didn't expect him to.
He sat there in silence. Alone. He was always alone. Always the one who sat away from the where even the other members were accepted. He was more of an outsider than any S-rank missing nin. Years of starving for acceptance in civilisation had increased his raging jealousy that had been bottled up. Isolation made his thirsty desire to be accepted all the more unbearable.
No wound hurt as much as this.
As these thoughts ran through his head, he became aware of the scrunching of grass under feet and a presence approaching.
"Hi Zetsu-san! Gomenasai, I just went to get us some ramen!" Tobi sat down beside him with two bowls of steaming ramen and two pairs of chopsticks.
Well, maybe he wasn't as alone as he thought he was...
"Ne danna, danna! Look un! It says there's going to be fireworks tonight!"
"So?" Personally Sasori couldn't care less. Couldn't care less about this stupid festival. Or it's games. Or it's infectable cheeriness. Or it's warmth and happiness. Or it's delicious food. And especially not the way Deidara's face lit up at all the different games and tugged his cloak with "Danna, this way un!" or "Danna, check this un!" or how his eyes sparkled as they watched different shows like people breathing fire ("Itachi could do that better un!") or people performing plays and different stunts. Nope. Not at all.
A hush fell over the village.
"Danna, the fireworks are starting un!" whispered Deidara urgently.
Sasori and Deidara looked up. A pure red light streamed into the air, smoke trailing behind it. It whizzed with a high-pitch before it seemed to fade and...
BANG!!
There was a gasp from the crowd and Sasori found himself joining in involuntarily.
The firework exploded into a dazzling conflagration of gold and red sparks, spreading out across the sky.
Another followed with the same high-pitched 'whiiiiii' before popping loudly, this time with the most glorious types of blue Sasori had ever seen. That, as Sasori saw it, was like a trigger because more fireworks started to follow rapidly, some with little pops, every now and then one that went with a magnificient 'BANG!'
No sound was made from the crowd as the show went on. It was like magic. They were standing transfixed by the performance, not making a peep. Even the children stood like they were enchanted.
But what Sasori decided was the most magical thing of it was, was Deidara. The young boy stood there absolutely entranced, each firework lighting up his face to reveal an expression of awe and delight. He looked like a young child at Christmas. Sasori found himself staring at his partner's face instead of the fireworks. Somehow Sasori decided he liked Deidara better than the fireworks.
"That's art un..." Sasori thought he heard Deidara say breathlessly, barely audible.
As the night continued, Sasori decided that, after all, maybe being human wasn't so bad.
"Ne Itachi-san... Fireworks..." Kisame finished his sentence just as he remembered Itachi's eyesight was failing.
"Hrn?" Itachi looked up as they started. He could hear the bangs, but could barely make out the fireworks from the blur. But although he could barely make outlines, what he could make out was colours. All the fireworks, punctuated with bangs, blurred their colours together in Itachi's vision. The result was spectacular, maybe more spectacular than what it could of been if Itachi's eyesight had not been failing. Emerald, crimson, indigo, silver... They merged together to create a fantastic mixture.
Kisame spared a glance towards his smaller partner, and was astonished to see him giving his full attention to the fireworks.
But he soon forgot about it as together they watched the night sky be decorated with the richest of colours.
BANG.
"Nani?"
"Shhh!"
Hidan and Kakuzu watched as the fireworks began.
"...Hmph, what's so pretty about tha---"
"Shhhh!"
Hidan shushed him again, this time with more urgency, and he was joined in too this time by several other people, including the young child Kakuzu had scared of earlier. He sent this small child a fierce glare which bounced off as the child stared open-mouthed up at the sky.
Scowling, Kakuzu turned to Hidan. The stupid man was also allowing himself to be captured by the fireworks. He looked up at them. He didn't see what was so amazing about them. Well, okay, that was one was sort of pretty... Pretty!? Pfft, if he wasn't careful he'd turn into Hidan. Nevertheless... Kakuzu gazed up at the colourful display.
After a while Hidan turned to Kakuzu and muttered,"I guess we should go now---"
"Shhh!" Kakuzu flapped his arms dismissively at a very offended looking Hidan.
"Zetsu-san look! Fireworks!" exclaimed Tobi excitedly.
Zetsu looked up,"I see them Tobi..."
Minutes passed as the two watched in silence, two empty ramen bowls lying on the grass beside them.
"Zetsu-san?"
"Yes Tobi?"
"Are you... are you not sad anymore?"
No answer. Then...
"Hai Tobi. I am no longer sad."
"Good," This reply sounded like the owner was smiling beneath the mask.
And the both of them watched the rest of the fireworks in silence.
-COUGH COUGH- Yep, just like I said in the first chapter.
-sweat- Okays, sorry, got a little carried away. But I PROMISE in the next chapter that I will torture Sasori. Lots and lots of torturing. I've already got the sake ready.
This chapter was started somewhere around 2AM in the morning. It is now 20 to 4AM. Oh well.
By the way, not that I don't have any ideas or nothing... COUGH No really, I have plenty,
but if you have what you think is a really GOOD idea to do to Sasori, then message me it!
:D
Watch your favourite no-longer-a-puppet suffer. :D
I hope I didn't disappoint any of you guys with this chapter... and I realise there was no plot progress but the next chapter there will be! And Sasori torturing to! -evil-
Okay, g'night. (;
P.S. the red sands uchiha - Oh my. I hope not. What a thought. O.O