omg i'm sorry this isn't going anywhere. im actually thinking of discontinuing because i'm so dissapointed in myself with this story! Dx anyway, the first half of this chapter is just pointless fluff which i pinned on in order to make the chapter longer.
uh.. enjoy?
"Are you sure you're alright, brat?"
As he limped through the camp grounds, his leg burning in pain and foot completely numb, that was the last question Deidara wanted to hear for, what was it, the thousandth time?
And yet, he did feel fine, he was happy, warm, on his feet again, outside and alive.
Deidara had just finished his fourth session of therapy and apparently, it was going well. It still hurt like hell to walk, but he was healing quickly.
Sasori still had to assist him in getting anywhere but it wasn't like either of them minded. They'd gotten quite a bit closer since the incident in town and both secretly liked having to be so close all the time.
"Yes Danna, un, I'm fine," Deidara said, leaning slightly into the other.
It was a nice day today. Another day off, since apparently Pein and Konan had business in Taki, though they all secretly suspected Konan had dragged him off to murder the guys responsible for Deidara's injury. Still, nobody openly questioned it.
Yeah, it was a really nice day today.
The sun was shining up above, there was hardly any wind, not a cloud in the sky and the grounds were surprisingly peaceful. It was weirdly wonderful, though that had been his overall opinion on everything lately. The world suddenly seemed… nicer.
Of course, he doubted he'd feel that way when he had to go back to Iwa in about a month, but until then and for the remainder of the two weeks they had to spend in Taki, he could be happy.
"Where is everybody, un?" he asked. When he'd woken up around two hours ago, the kids were all outside, playing touch-rugby, (I don't know what they call this in other countries) with a dangerous twist, but now it was like a ghost town.
"I don't know, brat. They're probably off watching Hidan get decapitated or something like that, since there's no show tonight."
Right, no show. Well that was going to suck. Not that it would affect him anyway since he hadn't been preforming, but still, he liked to watch.
"So un, what's been happening around here anyway? I feel like I've lost touch."
Sure, he'd only been out of the loop for a week, but that was enough time for a revolution to happen – not that anybody would dare try to overtake Pein – or enough time for someone to die – though he was sure he'd be told straight away if that happened.
Sasori chuckled slightly. It was nice to hear him laugh, because for as long as they'd known each other, Sasori had been a serious guy of little words.
"Doctor says you've gotta stay in bed until you're better, so of course you're losing touch," he said.
Deidara frowned, "Kakuzu isn't even a real doctor, un," he mumbled.
"Well honestly, not a lot has been happening lately; I still work with the same weirdo's and little brats on a daily basis. I thought working at a freak show would be more exciting."
"It'll get worse the day before we leave; most of these kids are from Konaha so they'll all start freaking out in excitement, un."
"Right, Konan mentioned that once or twice. Why are there so many – for lack of a better term – freaks in Konaha anyway? What are they all, inbred or something?"
Deidara couldn't supress a laugh at that. It was almost cute how little Sasori knew of the world. But then, he hadn't been part of the Akatsuki very long, and had only been to two villages that weren't his own, so he couldn't be expected to know everything just yet.
"Un, a lot of the bigger families actually are inbred; they like to keep their blood pure or something dumb like that. Tobi and Itachi are both from one of those families, un."
"Wait, what?" Deidara couldn't help but laugh at the face Sasori made. It was somewhere between shock and disgust, though again, he had no right to be disgusted by anything.
"It's true, un. And plus, Konaha is a big place. You're more likely to have a lot of strange people in a big place like that, than you are in a small place like… Ame."
"And yet there were two of them. There seem to be flaws in your theory, brat."
"Shut up un," Deidara stopped walking for a moment – though he wasn't so much walking as he was hopping with assistance – and stared out at the open space before them. The infirmary and main tent, as well as the circus performers rooms, were to their left, and the small circle of trailers which belonged to Akatsuki, stood in the distance to their right.
Suddenly the world seemed so… big and yet his world was looking so small.
He felt like he was having – what would Konan call it – a relapse into his old way of thinking.
"We should go out and see the world, un," he said absently mindedly.
"No way, brat. Last time you went out to see something, you got shot. If I have it my way, you won't be leaving the camp again while I'm still alive."
Deidara sighed, "Danna cares too much, un," he said.
"Damn right I do," Sasori forced the other to keep walking, albeit slowly, "you don't know what you did to me, acting reckless like that."
"Danna don't play the guilt card! I'm sorry okay, un?" he tried his best not to pout, but he did feel increasingly guilty, whenever somebody brought it up, no matter how many lives he'd saved that day.
Nobody ever tried to guilt Sasori for saving mini Uchiha's life.
"I'm not convinced," Sasori said, his tone suddenly changing.
Deidara looked up curiously to see a mischievous glint in usually dead brown eyes and a smirk twist the features of a usually impassive face.
"What do you mean, un?"
Sasori stopped them moving again, this time they were in the quiet centre of the Akatsuki's trailers. He wondered idly in the back of his mind, where everybody actually was.
"I'm not sure you really mean it," he said lowly, a playful spark in his eyes that looked almost out of place, as he snaked his arm around Deidara's waist, turning the other to face him directly and pulling him close. Sasori had had a lot of time to think this week, and had come to terms with the way he felt. Now it was just a matter of making a move, which, after many hours trying to plan, he decided to simply wing. "But, you could always prove it to me, if you want."
Cheesy? Yes. Sleazy? Probably. Effective? Absolutely.
Deidara had also spent time thinking and was by no means an idiot. He could read the signs as though they were direct instructions printed on the back of microwave popcorn – the easiest food to make – and slowly closed the gap, to give the other a chaste kiss.
"Better, un?" he asked, his heart racing slightly as he slipped on a smirk to cover his nerves.
Sasori hummed slightly in thought, "not quite, brat."
The smirk became genuine and Deidara felt a quick rush of elated giddiness run through his system before kissing Sasori again, becoming a little braver this time and opening his mouth, allowing his tongue to prod at the others still closed mouth and biting lightly at his bottom lip. He threaded a hand through red hair to try and force Sasori closer, moaning at the sudden feeling of a tongue pushing its way into and exploring his mouth and really not wanting any of this to stop.
As first – or second, as the case was – kisses go, it wasn't as bad as he'd expected, but it was over disappointingly quick, when they both heard the familiar sound of children coming their way, presumably playing some game they'd never play when Konan was around, and would get in trouble for when she got back.
Deidara pulled away and Sasori retracted his arms, both of which were the only things keeping the blonde upright. He caught Deidara with those strange blue strings, however, before he could properly fall, and helped him back into a comfortable standing position.
He tuned out the mindless blabber of the children and the polite conversation on Deidara's behalf, in favour of listening to affirming thoughts and embracing happiness.
He'd been looking for one thing and gotten it right then; confirmation.
He didn't know what happened now, but no matter what it was, he was ready for it.
Three days later, he sat near the front of the crowd, having been helped along by Kiba and Naruto, who wouldn't, under any circumstances, allow him to miss their final show in Taki. Konan sat beside him quietly. She'd been having more and more trouble seeing his future as time went on and Deidara spent more time with his redheaded roommate.
It frustrated her to no end, and she was afraid of an outcome she couldn't predict, but she never let it show.
She and Pein had come back the other day with blood on their hands, though both had insisted avidly that nobody had been killed – and it was true – but neither of them was believed. She had come back that night to find the camp in chaos; the kids playing games they knew they shouldn't be, when they knew they should be in bed, the adults in the dining hall drinking and altogether not caring, and Hidan tied to a tree a small while away from the camp, slashed open and screaming bloody murder.
Nothing she hadn't already expected.
But then, when she went to check on Deidara, she saw something strange in his thoughts – or dreams, since he had been asleep at the time. She didn't know exactly what to think right then, but was glad she wouldn't have to deal with both Sasori and Deidara stressing over what they may or may not feel. She had almost gone crazy enough to lock them in a room together, no matter how annoyingly adorable she had first found it.
But this was good, as long as the old future had changed.
As long as Deidara would be alright, then this was good.
They sat together and watched the show. The circus children and adults did well, better than usual but most of them were practising new acts, testing the crowd so they could impress Konaha more than any other village.
It was good. Everything was going fine.
Konan went up first, did her act, read some minds and told a few futures. Nothing had changed in the crowd, which she was glad for, because even if it was bad, she wanted to give an accurate prediction at all times. Sasori being around hadn't interfered with that at all.
Sasori went next, taking Deidara's old place. Every night the crowd had the same reaction to him, but he seemed to have come to terms with what he was. Probably because those people didn't matter and around the camp, with the Akatsuki, he was treated as a human rather than just a freak.
Hidan went next. For some reason, the crowd always got a kick out of seeing his organs ripped out. It was bloody and disgusting and earned many distressed screams as well as a few people who actually fainted, but it was great, nonetheless.
Tobi rushed out onto the stage next, fumbling around with fake clumsiness and making the crowd laugh with his awkwardness. Konan laughed a little louder than everyone else because she was the only one who knew what Tobi actually thought of all these people. She knew he wouldn't have very many fans if they could all read minds but as it was a lot of people in every village only came to these shows to see him.
He was great at what he did and nobody could ever deny that.
He ended his act with a traditional magicians exit, throwing a smoke bomb at the ground, only to still be standing there when the smoke cleared. The crowd found this funny, though it might've been caused by excess nerves from the previous act, and laughed as Tobi pretended to be upset before disappearing into thin air. That only earned a louder laugh.
They had decided to finish strong, allowing Itachi and Kisame to fight as final act.
Itachi had gotten a lot better since they arrived in Taki and Kisame still hadn't won a single fight against him.
Konan watched on with a frown, wishing she knew what was going to happen. Before that incident in Taki, she knew Itachi was going to die in a month in an Iwa emergency room after collapsing in a dango shop. But now since everybody's future was screwed up – or just invisible – she had no idea what would happen.
Deidara watched on, oblivious to the inner turmoil of the woman he sat beside.
This had always, always, always been his favourite act and he watched Itachi do practically nothing and still maintain the upper hand. With all that grace and perfection, he really should've been a wind elemental, or maybe water.
The two had very, very different fighting styles which was clear from the moment they started. Kisame did most of the fighting, always making big, loud moves that never really got him anywhere, he wore a crazy sort of expression, impossibly sharp teeth protruding from his mouth each time he smiled.
Then there was Itachi who seemed impossibly calm, taking small, graceful steps to avoid even the slightest of touches. To an outsider, he would seem normal enough; black hair, china skin, red eyes… until he made his own move and it became apparent why all these people had come to see him fight. After all, who wouldn't want to see a part-shark getting roasted alive by a kid half his size?
Kisame always had a lot more trouble dodging attacks then he did sending them and always ended up getting slightly burned or hurt in some way. To anyone other than members of the circus, it would really look like they were trying to kill each other, though to Deidara, it was clear they weren't.
The fight came to an abrupt stop, however, when a particularly well – shockingly well – aimed kick sent the smaller of the two, tumbling to the ground, skidding across the stage and stopping only just at the edge.
Right then it seemed like nobody knew what to do. They'd never been in this situation before and it was almost like everything froze in place.
Even the crowd became quiet, seeming to realise something was wrong when Itachi didn't get up.
Deidara stared on in shock and turned slightly to ask Konan what was going on, only to find an empty space beside him.
Whatever was happening, she'd chosen to avoid it and that was never a good sign.
right now i'm debating whether or not i should just kill Itachi. thoughts?