A/N: OMFG I AM SO SORRY!! I'm soooooo sorry that I took so long with updating this story -- a lot has happened since the last time I wrote anything and published it up here. For starters, I graduated high school, and I just completed my first year of college. It was very hectic, and I had no time to write. I didn't have a lot of motivation/inspiration to write, and when I did want to write, I just didn't have the time. But I finally managed to come up with something for this story. Note to anyone following my OC story (On Wings of Hope): I am going to be rewriting what I have so far. The reason? I feel like my OC is too Mary Sue-ish. It shouldn't take me too long; besides the name change, I'm going to be taking out somethings and possibly putting in other things. So look forward to that. I'll update more on my home page some time before this week is over, definitely. For now enjoy chapter two!
Quick disclaimer: the characters and any kind of reference to the anime Naruto in this story are the property of Masashi Kimimoto.
Sakura towel-dried the last of the remaining dishes that she had washed, placing it on the shelf and then drying her own hands, wrinkled from the continuous submerging into the warm water. She sighed wearily and glanced out the open kitchen window into the calm night. There was a slight breeze that picked up, giving her a chilled feeling. Strangely enough, she had a feeling something bad was going to happen. She shook her head clear of the thought; there was no need to worry about it now. After all, she had friends and family who would help her and support her when she needed it the most.
The stars twinkled brightly in the black velvet sky, and the moon glowed with all of its silvery radiance.
Deidara couldn't see it. He didn't want to, either.
The flicker of a single, lit candle was all that illuminated the dark room. It reflected off of the various puppets that were carefully placed against the walls and on the shelves.
Deidara stroked the smooth wood, relishing in its cool surface. Its shine was dulled; it was time to polish it again. Grabbing the rag and squirting some polish on it, he gently rubbed the surface of the puppet, making sure to go over every inch of its wooden shell at least once…
"You better be careful with shining my body, brat," Sasori said, a little grumpy since Deidara had bugged him into letting the blonde polish him in the first place, "Make sure the polish is even and rubbed in."
Deidara grinned as he continued to carefully go over each limb. "Yea, yea, I know, Sasori-danna, hm."
Sasori smirked as Deidara polished his back. "I'll give you a little treat if you do a good job."
"A treat?"
"You'll see."
Now that he was given a good incentive – after all, Danna's "treats" weren't something he took lightly; he was already feeling chills of anticipation and other delicious things pulsating up and down his limbs – Deidara took his time making sure every inch was polished.
Deidara, in the very beginning, hadn't planned on maintaining Sasori's puppets. When he had first met the puppet-master, he thought the red-head was too arrogant, and so from Day 1, he had promised his Danna that the very moment said Danna would die, the puppets were as good as destroyed – he even went so far as to saying that they would make good test subjects for his bombs. Sasori had scoffed, saying "Of course that's not going to ever happen; I'm never going to die." And, even though he died, Sasori was absolutely right.
There was a knock on his door. Deidara glared up at the offending object, furious that he was interrupted in the middle of his work.
"What is it, yeah?" he called rather impassively.
"Rei-sama wants to see you," the more impassive voice of Itachi answered, "He's waiting for you in his office."
Deidara sighed; why did people have to interrupt him when he was doing something important? He placed the rag and polishing solution down and headed out the door and down the hall towards the leader's office…
"That bed and dresser over there belongs to you, brat," Sasori growled as his huge form shuffled over to where his puppets were, "You are not to touch any of my things, or you'll suffer dearly."
"Like I care, hm," Deidara snapped irately in response, "The faster I can get myself kicked out of this stupid organization the better. It's not like I wanted to be here in the first place, yeah."
"Deal with it," Sasori responded gruffly, "Or you can get yourself killed during our first mission. It's up to you."
Deidara had thrown his things in a corner and flopped onto his bed, pointedly ignoring the puppet master and choosing to silently sulk instead.
Of course, Sasori wasn't one to allow someone to disrespect him. There was a blur and a crash and a shout of surprise, and the next thing Deidara knew, he was pinned up against the wall by his throat and the newcomer, a red-head with dark eyes, wasn't about to relent his grip any.
"You should be aware that I don't appreciate being disrespected," the stranger growled lowly.
"Who… who the hell are you, bastard?!" Deidara managed to splutter out. The stranger shoved him more harshly against the cold stone wall, causing him to choke and gag.
"I'm Sasori," the man's dark eyes narrowed. Deidara's eyes were narrowing as well.
"Don't screw with me! Sasori's over there, yeah!" He snarled in response. With a wordless growl, Sasori shoved him again, lifting up his free hand and connecting his chakra strings to his puppet.
"That," he indicated, "Is my puppet, Hiruko. I control him from inside of his body." And to prove it, he manipulated Hiruko to move over to where they are. Deidara's eyes were wide now, and seeing that the blonde finally understood, Sasori released him; "I will not tolerate any kind of disrespect from the likes of you, brat," he snarled, "Consider yourself lucky that I warned you."
Deidara fought the urge to roll his eyes, settling to scoff instead.
"As you wish, Sasori-danna," he said sarcastically.
While at first the nickname was just to annoy Sasori, eventually it stuck. In the end, neither of them minded.
Deidara stood in front of the leader's desk, just a little wary of what could be coming to him. The room was illuminated with candles scattered about, save for a section of room purposefully kept in the shadows, namely behind the leader's desk.
"You call for me Rei-sama, hm?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, I did, actually," the deep voice of Paine replied, "We have a partner who is going to replace you."
"It's that Tobi kid, isn't it."
"Yes. Please try to refrain from immediately killing him off; he may be of some use to us. Also, since Sasori is no longer with us, you have the responsibility of capturing a Jinchuuriki in his place."
Deidara used the silence to mull this new information over. While it didn't look like it to anyone who would have been staring at him, to Deidara, a huge window of opportunity had just been opened wide for him.
"If that's the case," he replied slowly, "Then I would like to make a request, yeah."
The pair of gray eyes that had been carefully watching him perked up, if only a little bit, in interest at this new and small development. Deidara wasn't one to usually ask questions when given orders, so for said blonde to do so meant it would be something important.
"Oh? Enlighten me, then."
This is my first ever CLIFFHANGER!! I'm so proud of myself! Anyway, I hope you liked it -- if you did, then I'll feel better for disappearing for like, a year. Anyways, leave some comments and stuff, tell me what you think. Until next time!