A/N: AYYEEE. Well this is part 2 of 3 for this world so here I am again! So this is going to be short… er but chapter 7 will probably the longest yet so look out guys!

I was looking at the traffic for this the other day and uhh question: Are you guys ghostly following this story? Like there were wayyyy more views for last chapter than the others, so what does that even mean? I described you guys as sock goblins to my sister, silently creeping and you know they're there, but you just never see them? My sister said it was more like Santa… and I'm not sure I'm convinced.

Anyways, feel free to uh keep doing what you're doing or NOT DOING (more accurate, amiright?) I love it when you guys review so: Shout out to PsychoPyro, who is just totally legit and stuff, srsly dude I am so glad I talk to you and guest (since I couldn't PM you thanks a ton, buddy! It really made me smile from ear to ear :D), guys you're way too awesome and this chapter is totally for you! Oh and let's add Happii Haden to the list for favoriting :D So now that it has been properly dedicated let's get this party started:

Eight years ago:

There were three of us. Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi had to sneak out of their home from their grandfather. My mom just wasn't there that night. Most nights. Correction: she wasn't there most nights, like that night. Why did the poor work so much? Why was she rarely home and yet we rarely had money? It was an injustice. I hated that too.

"Awe, guys it's so cold and it's getting dark! I can't see anything!" Akatsuchi whimpered just as we heard him lose his holding on the shifting rocks and slip down a little ways. There was even more noises as he scrambled back up.

Like always I was in the front, I stood up, letting go of the chilling, wet stones and balanced on the stone pile. I glanced back rolling my eyes as I watched his bumbling silhouette. He could be such a pussy.

Kurotsuchi had the same thoughts, kinder thoughts but the same thoughts, "Man, Aka, grow a pair!" I snickered into the cool, moist air.

"Guys!"

I had started climbing once again but I paused slightly, cuffing a hand to my mouth, ignoring the way it froze my already freezing cheek, "You know what? I think I heard wolf howls, Akatsuchi! They sound close! I think they go for the slow, fat, juicy ones too. You know, they pick off the easy targets, un."

Not only was there one hasty climber, but two. The rocks tumbled down faster than ever as they both tried scrambling and making a dash to the top of the mound. I curled over with my hands clutching at my stomach, laughing loudly. I skidded down a little but unlike them I never lost my balance.

"Deidara!" They both yelled angrily, loudly and out of breathe from the top.

"You two are such babies, un!" I sniggered before beginning to take large steps upwards, clearing the space between us before I crouched next to them at the top on the edge and settled there, "You'd be so dead without me." I brought my hands under my shirt, the warmth from my stomach and the chills of my hands sending electricity across my skin.

"I think we'd actually be safer." Kurotsuchi muttered through the side of her mouth. I glanced over. From the top of the mound, the surrounding trees didn't obscure the lights from town anymore and I could see her flustered and cold blush on her tanned dusty cheeks, her lips turning a glacial pale blue.

I smirked. "All the same in the end really." The action of being safer was like a noose, one I had not been willing to wear.

"No, you know I think there's a big difference actually," Akatsuchi mumbled from behind us. I rolled my eyes. They could be so boring. If only I could meet someone who was just as big of a risk taker, someone who could challenge me, because no one like that existed here.

I looked out and over the edge, we had climbed just above the treetops but that wasn't what I cared for. Who wanted to see the slums when just above us was… the Capital. My eyes raised, hands tightening on either side of me. It hovered above us, large and looming, like mountains in the sky. Lighted, bustling, energetic mountains that pulsated richness beyond any of our imaginations. The poorest person there would provide my mom's salary a hundred times over from just a weekend of work. Did they even work? Did they understand the laborious mining for coal so that in the winter the babes wouldn't freeze to death? Was that an issue up there?

"I'm going to get up there one day, un." I breathed into the frosty air, more to myself than to them.

"Me too!" Akatsuchi giggled, getting a different sense of giddiness from looking at the capital.

I glanced over, snorting in derision, "Yeah right. Whatcha gonna do? Cry your way up there?" There was a smack on my shoulder.

"Hey! Don't be rude, Deidara!" Kurotsuchi scolded.

I looked over at her, sneering just the same, "Oh? What the big pussy can't handle himself, un?"

She stood shakily up and I watched her as she tried to tower over me. I smirked. "Don't make me hurt you. Be nice."

I stood up too, but once again not a single second was I never in control when I stood up. We were about the same size. I was only slightly taller. I raked my eyes over her shadowed form. She was always a tomboy; hair cut shorter than mine, and wore wholly trousers and a dirty white overly large blouse, which was totally not helping her case that she wasn't a boy. "Oh, yeah?" Unlike her I didn't say 'don't make me hurt you'. Unlike her I gave her a slight shove with my fingers that sent her tumbling a little ways down the mound. Unlike her I laughed a lot.

Repeat this every night and this was just how it was to us.

The stalks of grass whistled as they whipped at my shins whilst I sprinted through them. The pain coming from my ribs was irate but easily ignored through the sensations of the run. Every time my body tried slowing I would push through the ground even harder, picking up the speed I knew I was losing.

I couldn't see anything, not really anyways. The fog, which felt like running through a humid rainstorm, had been becoming thicker and thicker as the days passed became even more dense, almost a solid wall. You could see what was immediately in front of you, which allowed for just enough time when I saw a tree to jump to the side and allow for another path, never once stopping in my sprint.

Just as I was able to break through the wild grass and onto the more swampy wetlands something hard and fast hit the back of my head, sending stars through my vision. I fell to the ground, tumbling through the mud, "Gah, ah bloody fucking hell- what the-" There was already a large bump knotting on the back of my throbbing head.

"You're making too much noise, Deidara." Sasori's voice drawled out in boredom. It sounded distant and high up.

I glanced back, even though I knew there wasn't anything to actually see, "Are you in a fucking tree, un?" I called out in exasperation, bringing my hands off my head and using them to push off the ground to stand. Several days had past since Sasori and I talked that night on the river and to be clear: that was the last time we had one of those heart to hearts. It seemed that much like the fog, Sasori became more and more irritated and cold, as the days would tick by. Since then our conversations were becoming more hostile but clearly it wasn't my fault. Not entirely anyways. I wobbled and pressed the muddy clad hand back on my head to stop the headache, trying hard not to wince and pull back, "You're crazy, un! I'm your partner, asshole!" I called out, not sure where he was anymore.

There was a light thump and the mud made squelching noises as someone took steps. I whipped my head in the direction, instantly regretting it as I saw stars once more. Through the mist Sasori's figure was becoming more apparent as he approached, "You could have easily been drawing the attention of the other racers."

"Oh? Is that what you call it?" I asked disparagingly, sliding my hand out of my hair as I regarded him.

"Yes, so-" My fist collided with chin. I shook my hand out because I had not been expecting him to have such a hard face, like it looked like a child's but his bones must've been made of diamonds.

He spat out blood before glaring at me mutinously with his chocolate eyes that seemed to become murky in the foggy light.

I smirked, throwing my hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, we're even now, un."

"We'll never be even, brat." He hissed.

My hands, which were still in the air, began to curl and uncurl as my eyes narrowed. "That's not what you said before. You know, when I saved you from being killed. For the second time, un."

"We wouldn't have been in that situation if it wasn't for you." He retorted.

"Really? And what situation is that, Sasori my man, the situation where I kept us alive? That one? Because clearly you can't be referring to anything else, especially after watching your failing to get us out of that situation, un."

He took a step forward. It was almost like watching a cat, one that had its fur bristling much as he did. "Deidara, I'm warning you." He almost looked twice his size when antagonized. And I was almost scared. Almost is a very definite word though.

I took a step forward too and we were nose to nose, "I might actually have been scared if you weren't such a little bitch, Danna. You know the damsel in distress suits you just fine, un."

There was a flash in his eyes before he had cuffed me, very much snake like in nature. It was a quick jab to my face, my nose taking the brunt of it and before I registered much I had fallen to the ground on my back and he was stalking away, disappearing almost immediately into the fog. "Hey! Where are you going?" I called out.

"To be away from you. I'm done with you, Deidara, we're splitting up." He sounded like he meant it and I realized I didn't care. I allowed for my head to flop back into the mud, only wincing slightly as pressure was applied to my bump. I looked up into the bleak whitish-gray sky. I should go after him. I didn't move. This is all so unreasonable. I agreed so much that soon my thoughts became less bitter and more so that I should find him. How long has it been since he left?

I rolled over and got to my feet and began walking in the general direction that he had been moving, almost completely north but heading towards the river. Had I even allowed for enough time to pass for him to cool down? Strangely enough I can't even pinpoint when he started behaving as such because it certainly didn't happen because I had been running too loudly. I slowed in my steps as I remembered the first fight on this planet, the one right before we found Hidan and Kakuzu. It had the air of a taut bowstring, like he was just getting ready to find something for us to fight about. Something just wasn't… right? Was that the word?

There was a snapping of a branch little ways away and almost subconsciously I slipped behind a nearby tree and watched. A figure started materializing but it never got close enough to become distinguishable, all I could tell from this distance was that it was big and brawny. The figure got close enough to where I could hear slight mumbles; I cocked my head and strained my ears. "Stupid, Kakuzu. That heathen… he's such a… and hitting me… then storming off… good riddance…." He was already disappearing into the fog.

I blinked as I watched him disappear totally and my hand came up to clench at the bark. Team One fought too? Was it just a coincidence or was coincidence never really a thing here in the race? Once again I thought of the white haired man and I glanced down at my Jumper, my teeth digging into my lower lip. In that moment I made up my mind to find Sasori.

Searching when you couldn't call out or even see anything was like looking for something far off, only your eyes were closed and you never took a step. Unsurprisingly Sasori seemed to have just vanished and I ended up by the river without seeing a trace of him once. Wasn't he supposed to leave behind traces? Like dropping his red hair in the mud? No, because he doesn't actually want to be found.

I walked over to the shore of the water, ignoring how my feet began sinking into the thick mud and looked into the edge. The water was gooey looking and its reflection much like a flattened dark disk. I looked a mess and as if I was born from the mud itself. Not a single part of me wasn't caked in a layer of earth, my blond hair now an oily brown with twigs and mud adorning it, and my white suit was torn and a wilting gray, through the tears my closing wounds were visible a paling pink. The only thing the same was my blue eyes. I could recognize the eyes. As a kid, when I imagined myself, I never thought I'd look so much like a dirtied cage animal on my trek to the Capital. Nor had I thought I would be taking such a long route, worlds away.

I jumped into the swampy water trying to wipe away the last image I had of myself.

A/N: Okay so it's literally 4 A.M. Just wanted to finish… uhh review your thoughts! I'll go back and edit properly tomorrow but yeah guys cough cough review, that's be cool or follow and if it's up to your standards then favorite!

But hey, since this isn't as frequently updated and stuff or this stands for any of my stories but on my profile I have a Story Status thing at the bottom and it basically says whether its on hiatus or when it'll be uploaded and if I'm working on it. IDK it's helpful. I highly doubt you guys care cause who knows what's up with you guys, my ghost followers (your guy's new endearing nickname), but yeah next chapter will be longer and hopefully not at 4 A.M. .-.