Deidara's Story: Clay Hearts Molded

Chapter 14: LaoFang's Revenge

Eesama stood on the edge of a battle between two titans, LaoFang of the Red Hand, a rock of a man and a more formidable foe she never would have conceived. The man stood at least a head and a half taller than herself, and used every bit of his bulk and muscle to slam home his attacks.

On the other hand, Hiran was no small contender. Built nearly as large, Hiran was trading blow for blow, kick for punch, with the Red Hand juggernaut. Together, the two savaged the courtyard, chunks of dirt and rock ripped from the very ground. With every blow, Eesama could feel the energy. Early on in the fight, she had tried to come to her teammate's aid, unleashing a barrage of kunai and senbon at LaoFang in a desperate bid to find some sort of weakness. However, the weapons merely bounced off like they were made of cheap rubber, and only one of the kunai even went so far as to scratch the man's surface.

"His skin must be made of iron…" she thought out loud to herself, preparing an explosive note to wrap onto a kunai.

Hiran's face betrayed a lust for combat that, up to this point, she had never truly seen. Each blow, whether given or received, just rejuvenated his fighting spirit. It took Eesama a moment to realize why the man was in such high spirits. Up to this point, he had never actually fought anyone worthy of his mettle. No single combatant, or multiple combatants, had ever come close to this. Their power was evenly matched, and, at least to Hiran, his opponent felt none of the damage that Hiran was sure he was inflicting, which of course made the combat that much more satisfying.

LaoFang wasn't incredibly fast, but what he lacked in speed, he made up for in sheer, brute power. As LaoFang's fist crashed into his face for the umpteenth time, Hiran smiled, giving him his own right hook and taking a momentary lull to spit out a tooth.

With that tooth came something that he had never felt. Pain. Hiran suddenly felt a dull ache. Pain. The sensation was slow in coming, but in his lower jaw, he could feel it. Pain.

Hiran loved it!

With a laugh and a howl, the big man slammed his shoulder into the Red Hand, driving him back four full paces. LaoFang's arms suddenly slammed down, once…twice…thrice! Each time elicited a grunt, but Hiran held steady, driving his opponent back as far as he could before LaoFang's knee crashed into his stomach. Two hands as large as dinner plates wrapped through his arms, grasping him about the middle. With a sudden twist, Hiran felt himself airborne, sailing up and over LaoFang's head, landing in a compulsory pile in the ground, his feet sticking up like two pistons growing from the earth.

"This is the most fun I've had in a while, little man!" LaoFang yelled, attempting to be heard through the four feet of terra firma that he had just shoved his foe through.

Suddenly, a voice answered him, directly behind. "I was gonna say the same thing!" LaoFang's eyebrow went up as he turned. Two fists met his face, and taken unawares, he was suddenly catapulted through the air to land on the far side of the courtyard. For a moment, he was nonplussed, though only for a moment. LaoFang flipped, back to his feet, to stare across the expanse of land to see what his opponent had just pulled.

Growing from the roughed up earth like a perverse earthworm doing an insane jig, Hiran's head floated in front of him, dancing to and fro upon his neck. Both of his arms flailed at his side, like a snake charmer and its two snake cohorts. The scene in front of him must have been incredibly odd, for LaoFang broke out into hearty guffaws.

"Well…I'd never," he howled, slapping his sides. "How in the hell are you doing that?"

"Let me tell you…it hurts!" Slowly, Hiran's form slowly slithered from the earth, his arms retracting under the ground. First his shoulders appeared, serpentine and almost fluidly. Next, his torso, and his arms. His legs oozed into the ground from the original hole that he had ploughed with his own body. Upon the earth he slowly stood, cracking his neck and shoulders.

Eesama smiled. That was one of Hiran's special abilities. Because of his immense fortitude against pain, he was able to stretch himself into strange positions. Not just himself, but each cell of his body. He could contort each thread, each fiber of his own being. He was also able to pull his cells into themselves, making skin and body as tough as a brick of marble. To a normal person, this would be impossible without the help of some sort of jutsu. But, she thought smugly to herself, Hiran isn't normal is he?

The attack renewed, Hiran closing the gap between the two and thrusting his fist into LaoFangs face. The two began another struggle for supremacy, pushing and pulling against each other. In the meantime, Eesama began to create another exploding note, attaching it gingerly to yet another kunai. If Hiran could give her enough time, she could help him.

She only hoped he could last that long.

Deidara took another right down a corridor of seemingly endless lefts and rights. His patience wearing as thin as his chakra, he stopped, placing his hand on the wall of the corridor as he attempted to regain his strength and breath.

"You know, for a castle, there is more underground crap here than above ground, un." He glared about him in the dark. His torch long having gone out, he could only trust his instincts at when new paths appeared in the corridor. So far, he was wondering if his instincts were leading him to a dead end. From where he had left the Red Hand assassin Lang buried under tons of rubble, he had traveled nearly a full two miles underground (at least as he could tell) and he had no idea of how far from the mansion he actually was. The place was a labyrinth. He could be a mile under the ground, or two feet. He had no way to tell.

The blond huffed, smacking the cold stone with a fist. "This place sucks…" he growled under his breath. At the rate he was going, he would probably die from dehydration before he ever found his target. "If I don't find Shizune-hime soon, I won't be in any shape to do anything for her," he reasoned to himself. Urging his body onward, he began a slow trot into the darkness, sensing around him for tiny changes in atmosphere or wind currents. Hopefully, he would find something soon.

Otherwise, this would be the longest grave he had ever seen…or been the occupant of.

Clearly, LaoFang was taking his time pulling Hiran apart. As their battle had continued, LaoFang continually accepted hit after pulverizing hit. It was as though Hiran's fists connected with diamond. Nothing could chip away at LaoFang's hide.

In his own attacks, LaoFang had done considerably more damage to Hiran than Eesama had ever seen. The man was bleeding from multiple cuts and lacerations. His skin was a motley assortment of bruises ranging from deep red to vibrant purples and greens. To her count, he had lost six of his teeth, and at one point, an astoundingly destructive right punch from LaoFang had caused Hiran's left eye to pop from its socket. Jokingly, the Red Hand soldier waited for Hiran to pop the offending eye bac k in and turn it about a few times before renewing the battle.

To her own effort, Eesama had stopped to fight three Red Hand soldiers who had tried to stop the fight and help LaoFang defeat Hiran. However, two were stopped dead by a thrown shuriken and a kunai through the neck. The third member was cut short by LaoFang himself, who punched the man so hard his hand went through the hapless Red Hand's face, emerging in a gore of blood and offal from the back of the man's skull and sending his lifeless body to the other side of the manor.

Her last explosive note attached, Eesama turned back to the titanic duel, gripping a kunai with a white-knuckled grip and gritting her teeth. "Here we go, girl. Let's do it!" Her feet took off at a sudden run, and her lithe form dodged closer to the ground. LaoFang was a huge man, and through her constant scrutiny of the match, she came up with the simplest of observations. Being large, and nearly overpowering, LaoFang was, indeed, slow and clumsy, at least compared to a smaller, more agile opponent. LaoFang would be able to tire and defeat any opponent through sheer power alone. But against an opponent that was nearly as powerful as he, and another opponent that could hit and run at any time, LaoFang would slowly crumble. It would take all the chakra that she and Hiran had, combined, but it was possible.

They could win!

LaoFang's fist crashed for the umpteenth time into Hiran's shattered ribs, and the man grunted as he wrapped a massive limb about LaoFang's neck for support as he thrust his fists into the man's sternum. The air exploded from his lungs as two hands in the form of one giant fist crashed into his back, and he lost his hold, folding under and lying on his stomach on the ground.

LaoFang sighed, shaking his head and standing over his opponent. "You know, I was hopin' that you'd be a better fight." Hiran felt his shoulder gripped in a titan hold, and lifted up to LaoFang's height. By now, his ability to shrug off pain was stretched to its very limit. He could feel every muscle screaming. The pain was more than just crisp and fresh. It was more than just a new sensation that he could relish.

Pain was now an unrelenting enemy of itself, and the mere fact that he was still conscious was an outstanding feat.

LaoFang's face sneered at him. True, Hiran had caused him some damage, but it wasn't anything that a healer and a couple days of rest couldn't fix. Slowly, his right hand moved, his arm coming back behind him. A green glow began to permeate his skin, until his whole hand was aglow with deadly power. "This is the end, I'm afraid. I gots things to do, places to go…money to make!"

Like in slow motion, the man's arm came back for the killing swing, and closing his eyes, Hiran waited for the blow to come.

"Take this!" A sudden exclamation in the otherwise silent atmosphere caused his eyes to open. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a reddish blur catapult into the air. LaoFang had no time to physically react as the kunai in Eesama's hand pierced his back. He screamed, dropping Hiran onto the ground and turning to swat the pest away. But Eesama's speed was second to none, and like the feline that she could transform into, she rolled away, stopping a few feet away and turning to watch her work. Her hand's came to her chest, and she raised her index and pointer finger to the sky. "KATSU!"

From his back, LaoFang felt the heat from an exploding note. He screamed as the explosion ripped the air, and in but a moment, the ground was blasted away as the exploding note did it's work. Eesama felt her feet lose ground, but she held herself as strong as possible, warding the debris away from her face. "I…I think I got him!"

The air slowly settled, bits and pieces of rock and ground floating to the ground lazily. Breathing easier and standing, Eesama made her way forward to where Hiran still lay on the ground. Bending, she moved the hair from his face as she sighed. "Hey, big man. You ok?"

Hiran grunted, pushing himself up onto one hand. "Yeah yeah. Gonna take more than a severe ass-kickin' to beat me. You?"

Eesama smiled. The man couldn't possibly think that she was in worse condition. "I'll live." Grunting with the effort, she slowly helped the man up, keeping him supported with her petite frame against his massive one. She took another deep breath, looking around the ruined courtyard. "We have to find Deko-san. He's around here somewhere."

From behind the two, a deep, foreboding chuckle emanated. Eesama winced, turning the two of them around to stare behind, where a shadow loomed in the debris cloud.

"You did well, girl," LaoFang said. Slowly, he stepped from the cloud, his bulk defying her ability to comprehend. The Red Hand thug shifted, twitching each limb. "I'm sorry, I didn't even really introduce myself." His hands came to his front, clapping together. Slowly, they parted, revealing a thin, bluish membrane having grown between them. The membrane rippled and shimmered, transforming before her eyes into a living thing before turning back into a jiggling mass of almost pure chakra. "I'm the third strongest member of the Red Hand. My name is LaoFang, master of shield jutsu's. My shield's are impenetrable, and have never been defeated."

Eesama slowly let Hiran take his own weight. As he did, she slid another exploding note tipped kunai from her pouch, staring levelly at LaoFang. "You're the third strongest, but you've never been defeated. So why are you only the third strongest?"

The larger man smiled, than began to break out into his dark chuckle. "Because, girl Lang-san was always a favorite of Meechi-sama's, so she was always second."

"So why not defeat this Meechi?" she asked. In her heart, Eesama knew she was just trying to buy time. In reality, she wasn't sure that even that would help. She was running out of options, and running out of time.

LaoFang chuckled again. "Why not defeat Meechi-sama? I have never even challenged him."

"Why?" Her hand gripped her kunai tighter, and Eesama made ready to attack.

LaoFang's hands suddenly spread wide, and the blue shield he created spread over his body, consuming his skin like an amoeba, forming an impenetrable barrier around him. "Because…I've never wanted to die. Challenging Meechi-sama is like inviting death to your front door. You don't last long in either situation." Without warning, the man shot forward, fist raised, eyes beckoning to the two as he closed the gap and began his assault anew.

Another turn down another corridor. The whole idea of actually getting anywhere was starting to elude the blond. Deidara was starting to run out of patience. If he couldn't find anything in just a few more minutes, he was sure that he was just going to pop, start throwing bombs every which way and blow himself back to the surface.

Suddenly, the lights came back on. Turning left into a large room, Deidara stopped. The chamber was spacious, well-lit with plenty of torches on the wall. The light danced merrily against the off-set stone walls, casting shadows into the corners that seemed as ghosts upon the somber atmosphere. "At least the torches are a nice touch. Must be getting close, un?" Deidara quipped to himself.

A chuckle suddenly permeated the air, gradually increasing in volume to drown out the stillness. A shadow dropped from the ceiling, landing on the stone without as much as a sound. Slowly, the figure stood, and if Deidara had had any energy left for mirth, he may have chuckled. The man in front of him was five-foot nothing, with a plump frame and dark, hooded eyes that peered from behind a black cloak that almost blended in with the surrounding darkness.

"Let me ask, shinobi," the man said, his voice grating, as though the man had smoked since he was but five and continued with a pack a day since. "I don't care who you are, because you will soon be dead. I don't care what you are here for, for dead men don't need for much, and I don't care if you don't want to fight, because whether you fight or not is irrelevant. You will still die."

Deidara grinned, his hand already stuffed in his clay pouch, which was getting extremely low. "None of what you just said is a question, un."

The dark shinobi smiled, nodding slightly. "True. My question, then. Did you ever think that you would defeat the Red Hand?"

Deidara scoffed. "Hmph. Of course I did. You're nothing more than a bunch of rabble, un. Outlaws and renegades. None of you, except a few, have any real skill, un. It's like fighting a bunch of toddlers."

The Red Hand simply continued to smile. His hands played with the seam of his coat, and he chuckled again. "When you have an organization like mine, you need pawns who can do the heavy work. You know…rape, pillage. Steal from the innocent and kill the young. Those kind of things."

"Well," Deidara said, his hand molding another clay creation, "you do that very well then, un?"

The black hooded man nodded. "Aye, that we do."

Without another word, Deidara's hand finished creating, a small clay pigeon that flapped expectantly against his hand. The blond jumped to the right, flinging out his hand.

As the clay creature homed in on his target. The man in black didn't even move. His hands made an imperceptible flicking motion, and as suddenly as the attack had begun, it was over. Crumbling into useless ash in the air, the clay fell without a sound. Deidara grimaced as the man stood to his full height, which wasn't much more than he was at to begin with. Cracking his neck, the Red Hand smiled widely, throwing his hands out and bowing.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Meechi…the leader of the Red Hand. Thank you for making it this far, my friend." His smile suddenly vanished into a tight grimace, his eyes suddenly cold and calculated. "I've been waiting for an opponent who could challenge me. We shall see if you are that opponent…and then I shall watch you bleed."

Deidara sighed, sticking his hand into his pocket again. Things just continued getting better and better.

Eesama sucked in gulps of air greedily. Her lungs burned with a fire that she had never felt. Together, her and Hiran spent each second defending and attacking in unison, trying to find some way to penetrate the impossibly dense shield that LaoFang had created around himself. Each time she punched or kicked, she felt each blow jar through her body. As though punching through solid sheets of steel that were meters thick. As Hiran attempted a small offensive, she slowly popped three fingers, nodding at the pain that her broken index finger created up her arm. "Well…that's another to join my broken bones," she mused. She knew that nearly every bone in Hiran's body was either broken or bruised, and he was now nothing but a patchwork of bruises…a bruised hunk of meat that relentlessly denied going down.

A right from LaoFang sent Hiran spiraling out of control, smashing him through the outer ring of the wall and into the forest outside. Turning his attention away from Hiran, LaoFang smiled, eying Eesama with the look of a hawk that had just seen a rabbit. "Well well…just you and me, pretty girl."

Eesama smiled, gripping a kunai and ignoring the pain from her broken digits. "Well…aren't we lucky, handsome?"

The man spit a wad of blood on the ground, stretching his muscles and sighing. "You know, I'm getting tired of this. You've tried everything you can to stop me. You haven't touched me, you haven't even breathed on me hard yet. So…I have a proposition."

Eesama's eyes narrowed, and she only gripped the kunai harder. "Oh? Sounds intriguing. What do you propose then?"

LaoFang's eyes slit together, and his smile became menacing. "I've been with the Red Hand for 'bout a year now, girl. It's been a long while since I've had me a woman."

Eesama's mouth smirked, and she stood, relaxing slightly. "Oh? I cannot possibly imagine why? A strong guy like you? Should be swarming with girls…"

"I know, you'd think, huh?" LaoFang said, grinning to himself. "So, here's what I'm thinking. You come with me. Be my woman. Keep my bed warm at night. Submit to my needs…the whole bit."

"Sounds romantic…" Eesama said sarcastically, "And what, pray tell, shall I gain from this?"

The man chuckled, shrugging. "Well, I don't want to fuck a corpse…so I guess I'll let you live."

Eesama sighed. "Wow…what a guy."

"I suppose," he started again, almost as if the suggestion pained him physically, "I suppose I could let your friend live too."

"Naturally."

He smiled. "Well? Pretty good deal, huh?"

Eesama sighed. At this point, she had no alternatives. She would die soon. Her chakra level was near to 0. She had one explosive note on one kunai, and that made up the rest of her arsenal. She could change into her feline form and escape easy enough, but Hiran would never make it a mile before he was cut down. To save herself…to save her team member… "Alright…alright…"

LaoFang smiled. His guard went down, but his shield never dissipated. It still pulsed with a faint blue tint, turning his skin the color of a drowning man's. "Good to hear you're smart enough to know when to quit."

"But!" She stated, holding her hand out. "You don't get any of this," and she motioned to her body, "until my friend walks away, and I find our other member and see him away as well."

LaoFang snorted in bemused acceptance. "Yeah yeah. Whatever. Go ahead." He waved her off dismissively.

She gave a flourished bow, every bit of anger and frustration at taking this road showing through, and turned, heading to the hole in the wall. Suddenly, she felt giant hands on her arms, pushing her down to the ground. "On second thought…I think I'll just take what I want!" She suddenly panicked, squirming and writhing as powerful hands held her down and began to rip off her meager clothing. She felt her shirt give way to overpowering strength, and she felt a tear go down her face as she realized that she was powerless to do anything against this man.

"NO!" A fist crashed above her, and even with the man's shield intact, the force of the blow carried through to the man, sending LaoFang head over tail across the courtyard and landing him in an impromptu pile on the grass. Above her, Hiran grit his teeth, cracking his knuckles and glaring across the yard. "Eesama…are…you ok?"

She felt extremely naked at the moment, even though the two had both seen the other completely nude. In different situations, they were teammates, and she had no pride in her own body when it came to her teammates. But here, she felt violated, and any man seeing her like this was a slap in the face.

"Yes…yes, thank you Hiran." She took another breath, and lifted herself onto a knee. Staring at Hiran, she gasped. Where LaoFang's hand had struck, his chest was compressed. Almost as if someone had crumpled him like a can, LaoFangs strike had cratered almost all of Hiran's ribs in. He coughed, apologizing as blood spattered. "Oh…oh Hiran."

"Hey…we have one chance here. Don't…don't blow it." Hiran said, trying his best to smile. His arm supporting his body, he levered himself back to his feet, gasping at the pain in his chest. "Ready? I won't last long. We either hit him now, or…or not at all." Another wheezing breath, another sharp intake of pain.

Eesama cried unchecked now, but her face didn't betray the sadness cascading down her face. Her look was one of detached determination. She nodded, gripping her kunai. "Ok…ok Hiran. Let's do this. Together…"

From the other side of the field, their opponent was slowly stomping towards them, fury and indignation on his face. "You know, I was actually thinking about letting you live!" He yelled. He clenched both fists, cracking his knuckles. "I guess I'll just change my way of thinking!" With a shout, LaoFang pressed chakra into his feet and legs, thrusting him forward, his hands up, ready to deal the finishing blow.

Next to her, Eesama could feel Hiran begin to gather his last amount of chakra, and turning to her, he smiled. "Come on partner. Let's…let's do this!" Slowly, he began to run, until his forward momentum carried him faster and faster.

His right hand moved back, precisely. He closed his eyes, forcing his crushed and battered body to do as he wanted. It was responding, if haggardly. He smiled, opening his eyes. He wanted to witness this firsthand.

LaoFang was a mere few meters ahead. Now less. Now less. Suddenly so close. The man's smile was predacious, and his fist raised back. "Goodbye, little man!"

"Ketatamashii itsumademodageki!" In his training to be a top-notch shinobi of the Stone Country and Iwagakure, Hiran had gone through extensive study of the chakra channels. To see where they were without actually seeing where they were. It was something that almost all elite-nin were able to do. Those with the Byakugan, like those of Konohagakure and the Hyuuga clan, could physically see the lines of chakra. For Hiran, he could only guess.

But his training allowed him to guess well!

Hiran's hand glowed with the remainder of his chakra. During his run forward, he had been slowly compressing the cells of his hand. He was incorporating everything into this. His bones, his joints. His entire hand became one entity, one solid entity of chakra laced steel. His jutsu worked on this, shaping his hand into a point and hardening that point into a blade that was as lethal as any sword or kunai. The entire process shaped his body and molded his cells. Normally, it would be little more than a nuisance. But, with his natural ability of pain resistance completely squelched, the pain from the transformation was literally like feeling someone rip his whole arm apart.

The damage he had sustained wouldn't allow him to walk away from this battlefield. He knew this. He just had to give Eesama any opening at all that he could. Even if it cost him everything.

LaoFangs own hand glowed an ominous green, and the two titans clashed together. Hiran's arm shot forward, and for a moment, pierced through the larger man's shield. If but for a moment. He felt his arm enter into LaoFang's chest, about 2 inches in. Not far enough for a killing shot.

LaoFang's fist, however, hit its target squarely, burying itself through Hiran's chest up to his elbow. LaoFang smiled, raising the struggling Hiran off the ground as Hiran's lifeblood pumped out onto his arm. "Well…I'm impressed, little man. You succeeded in penetrating my shield! I must say, that is something no one else has done. So, as your reward, you die now!"

His other arm went back, his left fist beginning to glow the killing green. As though he wished to refute the evidence, or even tell his own joke, Hiran smiled, blood pouring between the remainder of the teeth in his face. He even chuckled. LaoFang grimaced, shaking him slightly. "What! What's so funny!?"

Hiran chuckled harder, and coughed slightly. His body sagged in his opponents' grip, and he sighed. "You…never even…saw it…saw it coming…"

LaoFang's fury suddenly came boiling to the surface. He lowered his opponent, glaring at him. "Saw what coming!?"

"This!" A small voice at their feet turned LaoFang's attention downward. Below, Eesama had snuck in, unnoticed in her feline form. As LaoFang lowered Hiran's bulk, she had turned back to her original body, and as he looked down, he had moved Hiran's body slightly. With a slight suction sound, Hiran pulled his arm out, and as he did, Eesama shot upwards, burying the kunai up to the hilt in the hole that Hiran had started. The explosive note she used was special, having wrapped the paper around the cutting blade instead of the handle.

With a jerk and a twist, Eesama snapped the handle off, pushing off from LaoFang's chest and taking Hiran with her. As LaoFang gasped at the sudden intrusion of his body, she stood up, the fading sunlight reflecting off of her satin skin as she sneered.

LaoFang grunted, going to a knee. "You…fucking…bitch…"

"Make a shield around that, fucker." She smiled, pulling her broken hand to her body. It was then that LaoFang figured out their play. With his last attack, Hiran had only stabbed down a short way. But he wasn't aiming for his vitals. He was aiming for the small chakra hub that was located near the center of the chest. Every person had this hub, but it was almost always different for each person. There was no way to hit it precisely without knowing where it was or having the ability to see it.

Hiran had made the luckiest strike imaginable, and by hitting the hub, he had shut down LaoFang's shield subtlety, at least in that one spot.

Gritting his teeth, LaoFang glanced back to his small opponent, a smug look on her face. "I hope you enjoy burying your friend, bitch, because…"

"You talk too much," she replied. Her hand was already in proper position. She had placed all of her remaining chakra into the note, and she screamed with every fiber of her being. All of her rage, hate, anger, frustration. Sadness for her friend. Worry about her lost love. Hope of seeing Deidara again. All of her emotions boiled down and poured into one, last attack that echoed from the walls and the surrounding scenery. "KATSU!"

The air was silent, and all that was was suddenly serene. The scenery collapsed in. She suffocated in the vacuum of space as the air threatened to consume her. Then, the air exploded out, her note creating a crater where once a man had stood. She had nothing left in her to withstand the blast, and almost willingly allowed her body to fly backwards. She flopped upon the ground like a rag doll, buffeted this way and that in the shockwave.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. The violence was suddenly over. She breathed a sigh of relief through teeth stained red with blood. Across the courtyard, the shattered and splintered remains of LaoFang lay on the grass, the blood soaking the soil. She had no ability to stand, nor could she move her head. She could feel the pain radiate from her back. She silently read herself. She may have suffered a fractured spine, maybe 2, possibly 3 vertebrae cracked. Multiple ribs broken. Lacerations on her stomach and back from catapulting across open ground. Her left foot and right hand were completely mangled, broken in more places than she cared to think about. Her right leg was out of joint, and she had no strength to pop it back in.

"Well…this is shitty," she said to herself, barely a whisper. At least the immediate danger was gone. "Hiran! Hiran…you ok?" No answer. She consigned herself to the fact that he was gone. The wound he had sustained, combined with his multiple injuries, would have killed a hundred men, much less one Hiran. Another tear slowly crept down her face. "Goodbye…Hiran."

Across the courtyard, she saw a handful of soldiers regrouping, trotting out to where she was. She was relieved…up until they pointed their weapons at her. The five soldiers grimaced as they glanced at each other, nodding.

"Hey…w-w-we're the good guys," she stammered. None of the men cared. Their weapons lifted, and she shut her eyes tight. To be killed, lying almost naked on the ground, no chance to fight back, was not her ideal situation, and she had rather not see it.

Instead of weapons slashing and cutting at her, she got a chorus of grunts, groans, and screams. Warm, sickly blood splashed on her, and in her wonder, she opened her eyes to watch all five men go down in a flurry of weapons flashing and blazing. Their screams were cut short by all manner of objects flying through to rip them apart, and just as it had begun, it was over. Her breathing short and rasping, she stared, awed, at the figure that stood in front of her.

Blood seeping from a gaping wound in his chest, Deko stared with a dead-eyed gaze at Eesama's bruised and battered form. Slowly, he took a knee, then two, kneeling in front of her. His breath rasped from the wound, and blood gurgled with each gasp. Slowly, painfully, he moved a hand to his pocket, taking a small box out and holding it in front of her. "Eesama-chan…please…will you…will…will…"

"Oh gods, Deko-san! Yes! Yes!" She screamed, her scream just more than a whisper. He smiled, coughing slightly as he went to take her hand. Slowly, as though in a movie, he went to grasp her hand, taking three attempts to grab it as he gingerly placed the ring from the box onto her broken and twisted ring finger, the pain almost completely forgotten in an instant.

Through teeth stained red, Deko smiled at her. Slowly, he sank to the ground, his eyes never leaving hers. She forced her body to respond, to move her arm over to his, to grab onto his forearm with her hand. Her tears continued to fall, though with hope, longing, or sadness she couldn't rightly tell. Together they embraced, even when Eesama's eyes closed and she slipped into blissful, peaceful unconsciousness…or when Deko's gaze remained to the falling night, his eyes glazing over as he crossed into the next world, holding the one he loved at the end.

Next Chapter: Running out of chakra, time, energy, and patience, Deidara makes a desperate final bid against Meechi, who wishes to wrap the blond shinobi in a deadly embrace to suck the life from him. Can Deidara emerge victorious? Find out next time!

Chapter : Red Storm! Red Hand Rising!

A Note From Uzuki: Hey guys! I'm glad you stuck with me after all this time…unless you haven't. I'm sorry that I haven't updated pretty much anything. Lots going on, plus writers block. I know where I want to go with this story, I just didn't know how to get there. I think I got it figured out pretty well, at least for the end of this Arc. I'm almost certain that I am wrapping this arc up in about 6 months. At least another 5 chapters to come. Again, if you stuck with me, I am forever thankful! You guys are awesome!

Jutsu List:

Ketatamashii itsumademodageki: Piercing Forever Strike!