Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters affiliated therewith. Neither do I own Riku who I am using with the permission of AzNcHiBi. I only own Katsuki.
"We'll be back later tonight. Stay in our room until then. Understand, yeah?" Katsuki nodded as Riku mumbled an "Okay" while carefully sanding a piece of wood that Sasori would use for another puppet. As the redhead donned his beloved Hiruko, Deidara gave Katsuki a quick embrace.
"…Wh-What was that for, Master Deidara…?" she asked him as he pressed a small bag of non-explosive clay into her hands.
"For being such a good girl, yeah. Make something nice while I'm gone. And keep out of trouble. Itachi-san should come in to check on you sometime while we're gone." Deidara gave the brunette a wide smile that she returned with her own, albeit a little timidly.
"Riku, don't sand too much. And don't touch any of those carving tools except for what I told you you could," came Sasori's gruff Hiruko-voice. Both women turned to the men and gave them a small bow.
"We will be awaiting your return," Riku murmured, giving Sasori a small smile. The Suna ninja saw her smile at him from within Hiruko and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
"…She's a captive…Of the Akatsuki no less. Even though her memory is erased… Why does she still smile at me…?" Sasori decided to ignore it for the time being. As the two men turned toward the sliding rock that served as a door, they couldn't help but feel some liking for the women. But it couldn't be; that was forbidden… Wasn't it?
Some hours later:
"Itachi… Are you checking up on the two captives?" A tall green, Venus flytrap walked up behind the Uchiha as he softly glided over the wooden floor of the stone hallway.
"…Zetsu… shouldn't you be on a mission?" the Sharingan-eyed man asked quietly.
"Leader sent Kakuzu and Hidan to do it instead." The Venus flytrap opened to reveal a pair of gleaming yellow eyes set into a skull that was pale white on one side and jet black on the other. Itachi didn't reply, but stopped in front of a lightly etched portion of the wall. He brushed it with the tips of his fingers and it slid open, revealing Katsuki and Riku working and talking quietly. The kunoichi looked up as the newcomers stepped into the room.
"I'm sorry, Masters Deidara and Sasori are out at the moment…" Katsuki began, bowing to the two Akatsuki. Zetsu chuckled as he looked the brunette up and down.
"…She looks good enough to eat. Maybe I'd be doing Deidara and Sasori a favor…?" Zetsu started toward a now wide-eyed Katsuki, but Itachi flung out an arm halting the flytrap's advance.
"…Remember what Leader told us. They could possibly hold the key to capturing the remaining jinchuuriki," he said in a voice that made Riku shudder inwardly. Zetsu looked disappointed as he moved back toward the door. Itachi, meanwhile, looked over Riku's shoulder to the piece of wood that now faintly resembled a woman's arm. For a fleeting second, he was tempted to pick it up and run his fingers over it; it looked that smooth. But he knew better. Riku's eyes widened as the Uchiha bent down to her eye level. She closed her eyes in fear, but he merely whispered in her ear,
"You are very lucky that Sasori allows you to assist him." He drew back and turned to Katsuki, who had taken the time to back up against the wall on Deidara's bed, trying to get as far away from the Uchiha and make herself as small as possible at the same time. Had he been the innocent Itachi of long ago, he would have smiled at the woman's futile attempt to sculpt a bird; the many various lumps of clay scattered on the bed proved that.
"I've never seen Deidara let another person use his clay. Have you, Itachi-san?" the right half of Zetsu asked from where he stood. Itachi made no response, but turned around and walked toward the door.
"Going already?" the left half grinned carnivorously at Katsuki, who had her eyes shut tight. The stone slab slid open as the Uchiha touched it, and slid shut again after Zetsu reluctantly followed him out. As soon as the two men were gone, the kunoichi were able to breathe again.
"Why do I get the feeling, that guy was going to eat me Riku?" Katsuki asked, her hands trembling as she gently pinched and prodded the ball of clay in her hands. The raven-haired woman wiped a bead of sweat out of her slate-colored eyes before she replied, her voice shaking,
"He looked it. I had an impulse to get up and…" Riku trailed off as she was thwarted in her attempt to grasp the memory of her condiment fight with Deidara.
"… You get it too, don't you?"
"Get what?" Riku asked impatiently, almost nicking her index finger on one of Sasori's carving blades.
"…Those… memory blanks… I'll just draw a blank when I'm trying to remember something. Sometimes, I'll almost remember something, but then an image of Master Deidara comes into my head and I forget…" Katsuki slowly gathered up the soft, still malleable pieces of clay strewn across the bed and rolled them all into a ball as big as her fist. She gently placed it back in the bag Deidara had given her when the door slid open again, this time revealing a tall, blue man with unruly navy-blue hair and what looked like gills across his cheekbones. An enormous sword rested against his back, apparently sheathed and wrapped in clean white bandages.
"M-May we help y-you?" Katsuki asked as the blue man surveyed the room with his tiny eyes. As his gaze fell on Riku, Katsuki saw her shudder and a highly awkward silence erupted.
"My name's Kisame. What's yours, pretty girl…?" the fish man asked Riku, standing a disturbingly close distance to said young woman.
"R-Riku… Wh-What do you w-want?" Riku asked as she moved back toward the wall opposite Sasori's workbench.
"Oh, nothing. Just a little bit of fun…" Katsuki saw the ogre of a man making Riku uncomfortable and she went to stand by the door.
"N-No…" Riku said, trying in vain to push Kisame's heavy body away from her.
"Aww, come on. It won't hurt…"
"N-No... No. NO! NO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Suddenly, Riku was screaming at the top of her lungs and Katsuki was pounding on the door, crying for help.
"HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP US! MASTER ITACHI! MASTER ZETSU! ANYONE! HELP U-" Suddenly the stone slab slid open, revealing a long sweep of blonde hair and an icy blue eye peering down at the brunette in concern. Deidara looked up at Kisame quickly and his eye went wide.
"GET OFF OF RIKU, YOU BLUE PERVERT, YEAH!" Deidara yelled at him, rushing to grapple with the fish man. Sasori entered the room after the blonde in Hiruko. It took a split second for him to register what Kisame was trying to do to Riku, his charge, assistant, admirer-
"Master Sasori! Please help Riku!" Katsuki shouted, prostrating herself on the floor before him. Suddenly, the redhead threw off the puppet and growled in a low tone,
"Let her go, Kisame." The blue man turned around. His small eyes had a sly look in them when he replied,
"Ooh, getting touchy,eh, Sasori? Fond of your new doll already?" Nonetheless, he released Riku, who ran to Katsuki's side. Sasori felt an unwanted stab of annoyance at the fact she went to her friend rather than him.
"Get. Out." Still sneering, Kisame backed out the doorway and let the stone slide back into place.
"Are you alright, Riku-san?" Deidara asked the raven-haired woman. She nodded, sniffling in Katsuki's arms.
"Did he… do anything to you?" came Sasori's slow inquiry. Riku shook her head, looking at the redhead with tears in her eyes. Out of the blue, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder. Sasori felt a sudden impulse to return her embrace, whisper sweet nothings in her ear, maybe even kiss her…
"Master Sasori…? Are you all right?" The redhead was startled out of his fantasizing by Riku's shaky concerned voice. He looked at Deidara and Katsuki who were sitting on the blonde's bed, hugging and talking quietly. Then, the redhead looked down at the raven-haired girl and nodded.
"It's late, danna, yeah. Why don't we go to sleep now?" Deidara asked, his arms around Katsuki's waist. Sasori merely nodded and Riku drew away, muttering an apology. This the redhead waved off as he gently placed Hiruko on his workbench, inspecting the puppet for scratches.
"You go ahead and sleep. Hiruko needs some repair work," the Suna ninja muttered, hanging up his cloak in the closet. He noticed Riku's flushed face as he sat back at his workbench, for he had no shirt on and now exposed only his wooden body. Within minutes, he heard Deidara's snoring. Turning around, he saw that Katsuki was curled up beside the blond under the comforter. Sasori's eyes narrowed down to slits in irritation; his partner was taking this "looking-after-a-captive" mission too far and becoming attached to the girl. Sasori nearly gave a start as he felt… something hesitantly touch his wooden limbs. Well, rather felt the weight of something, seeing as his body was wooden and he had no senses whatsoever.
"…Why is your body made of wood, Master Sasori…?" came Riku's soft voice from behind the redhead's ear. Sasori wasn't sure, but something about her voice, her close proximity to him, didn't allow him to move his arms to grab a kunai and kill the woman. Nobody dared touch the Suna man, nor his puppets. Yet Riku was a first.
"… I changed it…" came his reluctant reply. The raven-haired woman breathed a soft "Oh," before her fingers began to lightly trace Sasori's human-like body.
"She's so much like a child now…" The redhead grew annoyed with her, yet he also found something satisfying about the woman's curiosity; the way she touched his shoulder, then drew her fingers down to his palm…
"M-Master Sasori???" The puppet master didn't realize it, but he'd turned around in his seat and grabbed Riku in a fierce embrace. The woman's eyes held fear and confusion, and her arms were now pinned to her sides by his solid ones. His red eyes connected with her brown ones briefly, before he lowered his face to hers and gave her a bruising kiss. At first the kunoichi didn't respond, too shocked to do anything. Finally, she just let Sasori kiss her.
"Why am I doing this?" the Suna ninja asked himself.
"Because you like her."Sasori tried to ignore his inner self, but knew what it had said was right.
"Why is Master Sasori doing this?" Riku asked herself. Abruptly, an image of a male brunette with a Konohagakure headband appeared in her head. He had a senbon in his mouth and he smiled at her.
"Hey, there. I'm Shiranui Genma. What's your name?"
"Kiyotake Riku. Are you also a Jonin here?"
"Mmhmm. I just became one five months ago." He smiled at her and Riku had smiled back.
"Gen…ma…" Sasori looked questioningly at the woman as she pulled away, her eyes closed and her pink lips parted slightly. He'd thought he heard her say 'Genma'… As Riku's eyes opened again, she saw the redhead's hand moving toward her neck.
"You should go to sleep. You had a trying day." With that said, Sasori pinched the pressure point at the base of her neck, making the raven-haired woman slump down in his arms. For a fleeting second, Sasori hesitated as he picked her up and laid her on his futon.
"It was just a fluke. Nothing more," he thought as he turned back to Hiruko.
Nothing more…