Warning: The following microfic has an extremely mild warning for shounen-ai. Tch, I don't think it could be called even that--it's closer to a partner bonding thing... Eh, whatever. :) Sasori is beautiful.
Midnight: Part 1
A microfic by Sarehptar
It was cold. God it was cold. The pale Stone ninja shivered, fingering the thin material of his black and scarlet cloak. So much for insulation. Stupid thing kept flapping when he walked, catching the cold air right off the snow and funneling it all up his front. His hands were not happy--it was so cold he wouldn't be surprised if the mouths iced over... Damn, that wouldn't be fun to fix. Who'd ever heard of snow in the desert? This was S-A-N-D country. What part of "suna" spelled "yuki"? He knew he was being ridiculous now, and he didn't really care.
The young blond ninja stomped a little too hard, succeeding in burying one of his sandaled feet in a snowdrift.
"DAMN IT!" Wet, freezing, and unprepared for the elements (once again), the blue-eyed missing-nin crossed his arms, tossed his straw-colored ponytail and huffed in frustration. Iwagakure was a beautiful place in winter. There was snow of course, but it never stuck--it was always enough to make the sky shimmer and dance for young couples in the street, but never thick enough to last an hour on the ground. The Stone nation was relatively arid; exactly the weather one would expect to find in a treeless desert like Suna no Sato. So where the hell had this artic chill come from?
The pale clay-user stopped short -snowy sandal raised in mid-stride- at the sudden warmth of a hand on his back.
"Sasori-danna." He didn't need to turn to know his partner was behind the touch. After all, how many other people would come within ten feet of him?
"Hurry up brat." The gravelly scorpion hissed, turning the light touch into an exasperated push.
"For what?" The younger ninja muttered, fully aware of the whine that was slipping into his voice. "There's nothing but ice-coated snow for miles, un. It's gonna take weeks to reach River Country." Warm bed... Hot water... So far away.
"Maybe if you-" But the puppet-user let his insult die half born. Deidara's laughter rippled over the blank landscape, brightening the mood with a startling change in tone. "What?" The Sand ninja glared at the crimson cloud splashed between his taller partner's shoulder blades.
"Even without turning around un, I know exactly what your face looks like!" Cheekily the younger man rearranged his grin into a narrow-eyed scowl. "Grr, I'm Sasori-danna un, and the bad weather makes me grouchy, un! 'Cause I can't play with my puppets without their joints freezing up, grrr!"
Akasunano Sasori, assassin of nearly 300 kills, glared pointedly before letting the dark expression slide away entirely. Now was not the time for an arguement, and Deidara knew that too. An enormous outcropping of rock loomed in front of them, and muttering about moisture making the clay unless, the pale Iwa-nin gathered Chakra in his feet and started to walk up its face.
"Tch." Below him, Sasori stopped and leaned against the almost warm, blessedly snow-free rockside. "We stop here." Deidara halted his ascent, blinking owlishly down at his crimson-haired partner.
"Here? We're in the middle of nowhere, un!"
"In half an hour, when you start complaining about being tired, we'd still be in the middle of nowhere. You can sleep on the snow, idiot, or you can sleep here." True enough, the large clump of rocks had created a sort of snow-less hollow. Deidara laughed sheepishly, flipped off the sand-etched surface, and landed beside his surly companion.
The clarity of Sasori's eyes had always unsettled him; the shade was remarkable--not quite brown, or red... A strong, dark mix of the two. But his partner had always been unsettling--Sasori was years older but still looked like a fragile teenaged boy. Sometimes, the Iwa-nin wondered if that had been a concious choice or not. Sighing in mock defeat, he crumpled against the rock face, gratful for the respite from the icy wind.
Continued as Midnight: Part 2