Chapter 1:

The Outbreak

"Tell me the symptoms you're seeing with this," A red-head demanded as he looked into yet another patient's room from behind a window.

"When they first get it, it seems they just have your average cold. Then it seems to turn into a pitch of small pox. Finally, they die. When they do the autopsy, the brain seems to have exploded in the skull," A doctor replied.

"It's probably some genetically engineered disease. That's all it can be- there's no more naturally occurring smallpox out there that someone could catch. And even if someone did, they wouldn't have cold symptoms and their brain certainly wouldn't explode as you describe."

"So then what exactly is this disease?"

"Seems to be a combination of human rhino virus, some strain nuclear polyhedrosis virus, and Variola major. That's the minimum, without checking DNA."

"How can you tell?"

"First off, the symptoms of the cold and smallpox tell me there's human rhino virus and Variola major. The nuclear polyhedrosis virus is just a theory based on the brain exploding."

"So whoever did this has to be skilled in viruses?"

"Not necessarily. Any idiot could do it, with a manual, of course. But since there's no evidence that has been found yet, I'm assuming this person is skilled in viruses, or at least knows that police look for any and all forms of evidence."

"You know, for a forensic pathologist, you sure do know a lot."

"I've been at it for years."

"Didn't they ever promote you?"

"Would've, but I didn't wanna get promoted."

"Why not?"

"I like shocking people with my knowledge. Besides, I get all the benefits of a promotion without actually being promoted. Of course, they gotta update my I.D."

"You're one strange guy, Dr. Akasuna."

"I get that a lot." Dr. Akasuna focused on the patient in the room, who was now writhing from a seizure.

"Hey, Danna!" A blonde came jogging down the hallway towards Dr. Akasuna and the other doctor.

"You get anything?" Dr. Akasuna asked the blonde.

"Not much yet, but I took some samples un."

"Good enough. We'll set up a mini-lab and check it out."

"Where?"

"An abandoned warehouse or something."

"Alright. Guess that means we'll be working much too late……………un."

"If we aren't up to our necks in work, tomorrow koi." The other doctor made a face as the two talked.

"Come up with any theories Danna?" The blonde asked, changing the subject for the sake of the other doctor.

"Yeah. I think it's a combination of human rhino virus, nuclear polyhedrosis virus, and Variola major."

"Wow, that sounds pretty nasty un."

"It is. If nuclear polyhedrosis virus and Variola major were bad alone, imagine them combined with human rhino virus."

"No wonder the autopsies looked so nasty un."

"You catch any photos of them?"

"I had someone do it for me un. I couldn't get myself to go in there- it smelled horrible un."

"You ate lunch before you went to check out the autopsies."

It was a statement, rather than a question, but Deidara replied anyway, "Yeah. Not gonna make that mistake again un."

"You should've just waited for your lunch to digest- no reason to go ruin your appetite."

"True. Anyways, here's the memory card I got the pictures on." He held up a dark blue SD memory card that held up to 1000 pictures.

"Great. I think we're done with this stuff for today."

"Thank God, I'm not really a fan of hospitals un. No offense though. It just smells like death too much un."

"I get what you're saying Dei-chan. Sometimes the smell overwhelms me too. But that happens more when I've spent lots of time in the morgue."

"Alright, let's get outta here un." The two left Konoha General Hospital and headed back to their hotel.

Dr. Sasori Akasuna, a forensic pathologist hailing from Suna, shared an apartment with Deidara, a Special Agent for the F.B.I. hailing from Iwa. Their apartment was in Ame, the location of C.D.C. and F.B.I. headquarters. Strangely enough, they met at a Starbuck's halfway between the two headquarters. Even though their co-workers told them they could do better and didn't really approve of gay couples, the two started dating. Ever since the first time Sasori took Deidara out to dinner- even though it was intended as a friendly gesture- the two have been inseparable, constantly finding excuses to work together on cases.

The recent outbreak of an unknown disease has given the pair quite the opportunity to work together and has tested their knowledge and teamwork skills. On top of that, it has also tested their relationship, as the intense amount of stress has made both quite irritable- a side neither of them had previously seen in the other. Thanks to Sasori's vast knowledge of diseases and Deidara's research skills, identifying the disease has been quite east for the duo. However, finding evidence to lead them to the culprit- the disease's creator- has been quite difficult since the culprit seems to be skilled at not leaving any traces of DNA or anything that could otherwise identify them as the creator of the disease.