Cry
Microfic by Sarehptar
"It's raining, un." The cold had seeped under the shouji(1) sometime during the night; the floorboards felt like patterned black ice under his bare feet. Somewhere in the steel blue gloom, his partner growled. The sound was half groan, half muffled noise of discontent. Undoubtedly, the sand ninja was voicing his complaints from under a considerably large pile of blankets.
"You care, because?" The shocking, gravelly voice of his partner came into focus as a pair of mahogany eyes and soft scarlet hair burrowed free of the heap of scratchy wool.
"The cold won't help your... cold, un." He finished weakly, lacking a better word to describe the red tip of his partner's pale nose, the dark shadows plaguing those already shadowed eyes, and the stifled snuffling the Scorpion was trying to hide. The blond turned his eyes outside again, watching the quick and steady drip of crystalline liquid from the roof eves to the half dirt, half mud ground. The wooden tub perched precariously on the sleek, wet outer walk collected the drops, without effort. All things are effortless for inanimate objects. The surfaces rang out in a dancing, plucky symphony of drumming drops. "It's pretty un, but it doesn't help." Sasori only grunted in answer to that observation, and snuffed unhappily into the shapeless mound of covers. The artist tried to his hardest not to laugh, but he failed miserably. The laughter sounded like a sour note in the watery score, and he stopped quickly. "Did you ever hear that old story, un... That rain is God's tears?"
A flat and sickly cinnamon eye ran over him in a cursory glance, but its owner said nothing.
"God's tears..." He shook his head slowly, shivering at the sudden exposure of pale skin on the back of his neck. "Stupid, un? What's He got to cry about?" Sasori only sniffled again, scowling at his own weak noises. Soft blue eyes struggled in vain to watch a raindrop descend from sky to earth. Huffing slightly to himself, the artist slid the shouji open further and reached out a pale, manicured hand. His fingertips closed over the pliable and swollen lip of the drenched wooden bowl, and he was surprised when his wrist shook with the weight. It must have been raining longer than he'd realized.
The dark water spilled over into his palms, and he ignored the sudden warmth of tongues in his hands licking the icy droplets off two pairs of lips. God's tears... The liquid swirled garnet as he moved it, finally picking up the stains that the artist had meant to wash out in the morning.
Sasori blamed him for it, of course. It had been his bomb, after all. The artist blamed Sasori. If he'd stood a little farther back, they wouldn't have had to worry about flesh and blood shrapnel! Thankfully, the standard hats had kept their hair clean, but their cloaks had suffered the brunt of the sanguine backlash. Sasori said the stains would never come out. He'd complained for so long he'd worked himself into an illness. Or at least, that was how blue eyes saw it. More than likely, the illness had simply been a by-product of the blood shower and many holes Sasori had leading into his interior. The Scorpion forced back a sick little whimper, disguising it carefully as a grunt of disinterest.
It would have worked on someone else, but the artist saw through it immediately. Spending constant, mind-numbingly long stretches of time with someone can have remarkable effects. The blond didn't point out the failed attempt; quite unlike his normal self. Instead, he watched his pale fingers independently stir God's tears and the ill-gotten blood into a diluted whirlpool of heavy wet cloth and red jumping droplets.
"It's damn hot in here." The Scorpion complained, hating the sound of his voice coming out far too weak. Even as he griped, his blanket heaped form shivered starkly.
"But Sasori-danna, you're shaking. That's a fever, un." The artist's thick lashed eyes took in the red that spread from the Suna ninja's nose to his normally alabaster cheeks."I knew God's tears wouldn't help you, un." He felt the gentle swirling push of the red rain and black cloth around his fingertips, and blinked slowly in realization.
The sick Sand-nin jerked instinctively at the cold and shocking feeling of wet cloth across his forehead, and his hand was halfway to his partner's throat before the situation settled clearly in his less than clear mind. Defeated, his hand slumped back onto the colorless mound of wool and he held in a sigh of relief. He was Akasunano Sasori, he should not be bothered by a little illness. But the cold rain water felt so nice on his forehead... The blond knew it too, he could tell by the soft little smile that drifted in the somewhat blurry world on the other side of the soothing black cloth.
The artist watched icy, pale red water run in tiny rivulets down his partner's face, almost blending in with the pink stain across his ivory cheeks, finding purchase in the curve of his lips. The red rain dripped gently into the groove that separated human skin from puppet flesh, and settled there, like a diluted liquid necklace; their victim's blood mixed gently with the fallen tears of God...
"Tears of God, un..." He murmured almost thoughtlessly as he watched the blood dance down his partner's face. "What's He got to cry about?"
Author's Notes: Hmm yeah, I lied. I promised something happy, and I failed again. Okay, that's not true... I actually wrote something happy, and something good as far as Deidara's character went... Just... Itachi decided to be a bit OOC, and so, I decided not to post it. Hm, yes. If you'd still like to read it, this link should take you to the original, unedited version: h t t p / tinyurl . com / 75cjv. No spaces, okay? Anyway, this was another of those psychological shorts that make a lot of sense to me but maybe not to other people... Yeah. Whatever. I felt like writing a Sasori and Deidara scene again.
Notes:
(1) Shouji - Rice paper doors and walls used in almost all traditional Japanese homes and inns.
To Betty: Ah, the eternal question! No, Deidara is guy... It's basically confirmed now, as he has been referred to several times as a "he". He also uses "ore", a very male form of "I", in Japanese. Also, in the anime, the small cave clip had him speaking... In a very masculine voice.
To Rikou Suiyou: I'm really glad you liked it. I did promise a genki chapter, but ha, here's this one instead. Ah, I feel like crap. Last day at the beach before I officially am not a California girl anymore... And I got a rip roarin' sunburn!
To Smallpox Plum: Hiya:) I'm glad you're liking these, but PLEASE, PLEASE don't be intimidated! These shorts aren't anything special, and any writing about Deidara is writing that must be written (and shared), because, like you said, there's just not enough of him! Anyway, I'm sooo happy that you like my drabbles, and I hope I didn't disappoint you with this gloominess... I'm just not good at genkidara.
The-MarmaladeCat1: Hey hey, New Reviewer! (Doing a little dance) I'm so glad you like my mini stories... And I'm so glad you asked about Danna! (I've been dying for a chance to rant about it since forever).
Danna is a Japanese name suffix, just like -chan, or -sama. Much like -sama, -danna is translated to something along the lines of "master". However, it differs from -sama a lot in its tone. Sama is used toward people who are higher in rank than you and who you do not have a serious relationship with. Example: Jaken uses "Sesshoumaru-sama" in Inuyasha, because he is not considered someone truly "close" to Sesshoumaru. Note, by "close", I don't mean romantically or even in a friendship sense. You would use -sama with your higher ups at work (if you're seriously humble), or a lord or the emperor withwhom it would be rude to presume you have a relationship. "Danna" is used by people who have a relationship: personal servants, servants ofa family, someone you have known for quite a while, someone you trust. Hachi, the raccoon dog in Inuyasha, refers to Miroku as "Miroku-danna". He has been with Miroku a long time, calling him "Miroku-sama" would be simply too sterile for their (grudging) relationship. Note: danna is used most commonly by wives refering to their husbands, which is why Inane wrote "Of course Husband Sasori" instead of "Of course Master Sasori" in that one chapter a while back. So that's basically it. Danna is like -sama, but a bit more personal, and it conveys a sense of partnership despite the fact that one is a servant and one is a master. :) Wow, that was really long... And barely understandable. Sorry. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!