Deidara's Story: Clay Hearts Molded

Chapter 16: The Rage Of Lord Setama

For the third time that day, Meechi was surprised and, in lack of better words, shocked. For one thing, he had misjudged his subordinates. LaoFang and Lang had proven themselves capable cohorts, but even they had their limits. Meechi knew that Lang now rested under a pile of broken slag and boulders the size of ten men, so she was out of the picture. As for LaoFang, he had been left in charge of the men on the surface, and if the blond shinobi from Iwa had been able to bypass them, then Meechi was sure that LaoFang, along with most if not all of his men, were dead or routed on the surface. The Red Hand leader made no assumptions about his group. They were mostly comprised of second and third-hand shinobi. Give a man a reason to fight, fill his belly with food, give him a woman or two, and he will gladly fight for any cause. But a cut-rate fighter is still just that…cut-rate. You can't expect miracles from them, but Meechi was still in shock that Lang and LaoFang could have lost that easily. They were the best fighters he had under his wing, and to see them both incapacitated was a blow.

Second, the blond shinobi from Iwa; a mystery, that one was turning out to be. More than ninety-nine percent of his chakra was depleted, enough to have killed a normal person. What was it that continued the blonde's existence? Was it the love of the brunette that was somewhere in this cavernous hell? Or was the shinobi from Iwa…this Deidara, just a stubborn mule of a man who refused to face facts and die?

Third, and most obnoxiously, Lord Setama; where did he obtain all of this incredible chakra? The man was rampaging down the tunnels, which Meechi had taken flight in. Even now, behind him, Setama screamed into the empty vastness of his own escape tunnels, attempting to find a master of camouflage and skilled artist in deception himself. Meechi hadn't rose through the ranks in his own village, or been able to wrest control of the Red Hand from out of the grasp of the original leader, without having a few tricks up his sleeve. Even now, Setama ran below him, searching the dark corners of the cavern whilst Meechi used chakra to cling to the ceiling, nursing his broken rib and aching side with a tender hand. Meechi had no training in the healing arts, so when he got hurt, he was in pain, and he could do nothing about it. He could kill ten men in an instant with his chakra threads, but he couldn't even take away the annoyance from a bruise. Pathetic, he chastised himself.

As Setama thundered into another room, Meechi allowed his mind to wander. Back to the days of the Grass Village. Back…to her...

"Oy! You coming or what?" Laofang glared intently at his two cohorts, who giggled to each other. It had been three years. Three, miserable, blood-soaked years. In that time, Meechi had nearly killed himself twice, thinking that his life was nothing but a mere blip on the universal radar. Each time, his new leader, this young girl, had saved him. Once, he had slit his wrists, lying on the bathroom floor and letting his lifeblood flow from his body. He closed his eyes, and a slight buzzing began in his ears. He would have heard her approach if he hadn't been intent on listening to the sweet, sickly buzzing in his head. In a thrice, a fist flashed into his face, and the next instant, he awoke in the hospital, in a bed, his wrists bandaged. Because of a recent war that the Grass had fought with the neighboring Wasp village, the blood supply had been extremely limited. Meechi awoke to Saekio sitting in a chair next to his bed, her arm out, a needle stuck in a vein. The same needle led to a tube, which ran to a needle in his own vein, pumping life-giving blood back into his body. Apparently, the two were a match for blood type.

Meechi gurgled something incoherent, and Saekio looked up, smiled, and proceeded to slap the ever loving shit out of him. After her assault was over, his face swollen and bruised, she grabbed him in a hug, pulling him close and laying her head on his shoulder. "If you ever try that again," she said, her hot tears flowing down to his shoulder, "I will personally cut both your testicles off and shove them down your throat, then cut them out of your throat and stick them up your ass. Do you understand me?!" Another couple slaps and she was gone. A nurse came in after, grabbing a bandage and wrapping the needle wound as tight as possible. Blood lay on the floor where Saekio's needle had fallen out, and Meechi gave it a stare, wondering at how brilliantly red it was.

The second time was after a particularly dangerous mission. His team and one other were on recon duty, patrolling just outside the village. A rogue element from the Hidden Rice descended on them, and in but a few minutes, all the Rice shinobi were dead. His team was without a scratch, mostly because of Saekio and LaoFang. The big man was like an unstoppable mountain, exploding with the destructive force of the Earth and using his massive chakra reserves to literally pummel the enemy into the ground. Saekio wasn't as brutal. Her chakra threads merely reduced the other shinobi's to small, quivering masses of bloody pulp. As for Meechi, he took out one shinobi who almost got away. It was after he eviscerated his opponent that his life suddenly took on no meaning. He wasn't special. He wasn't even normal. What he had done to that man. It wasn't human. It was no way to live. Fortunately, Saekio was there; once again, to cut the rope around his neck and to beat the crap out of him, though this time, Meechi could tell it was with less enthusiasm.

That was the first two years. In the third year, Saekio turned eighteen, and to celebrate, the Kage of the Hidden Grass allowed the three to lead a raid into the Hidden Mist. Twenty-one shinobi slipped into the Hidden Mist's outer defensive wall, taking out guards as they went and using the heavy mist of the area as their own visual shield. During the raid, Meechi found himself in the same room as Saekio, looting the treasure of a rich noble who resided in the village. Suddenly, Meechi found himself thrust onto the bed, and a mouth suddenly found his. She was so young, so vital. His body forgot who he was, and for nearly the entire time of the raid, Meechi and Saekio held each other, exploring each other's bodies and making love upon the bed of the enemy.

"OY! I said you coming?" LaoFang repeated, rolling his eyes at the two lovers as they strolled to the top of the hill, hand in hand.

"Yeah," Meechi said, sighing as Saekio gave his hand an extra squeeze.

"Let's get this over with," Saekio said, letting go of Meechi to extract a long, wicked looking blade from the holster on her back. The jagged, black edge of the katana gleamed in the low light, and she smiled as she thrust it into the air. "The sooner we get on with it, the sooner we get back." She winked at Meechi, who felt himself blush.

"Oh brother…" LaoFang sighed, grimacing as he turned away. "Let's just do this fast."

"Yeah," Saekio replied, catching LaoFang's stride. "Are the others in position?"

LaoFang grit his teeth, nodding. "Hn. Waiting on your word…Kage-sama."

Saekio smiled wickedly, swishing her blade in the air as she replaced it back into the sheath. "Good. I like the sound of that." She turned to him, and smiled. "You ready, love?"

Meechi just smiled back. "Yeah. Let's go make you Kage, Saekio-san."

"Yes," Saekio said, her smile turning feral. "Let's…"

"FOUND YOU!" With a guttural roar, Lord Setama shook Meechi from his daydream, his fist pounding the wall of the cavern. The stone rent and split like tissue paper being ripped apart, and Meechi's dubious chakra hold on the ceiling lost complexity. A curse tore itself from his lips as he fell. Spinning in mid-air, with the reflexes born to those shinobi who trained for a lifetime of war and violence, Meechi spun, taking three kunai from his pouch and driving them down into Lord Setama's shoulder as fell. But the man didn't even blink. The kunai entered, and a massive hand wrapped itself around Meechi's arm. The Red Hand soldier felt himself airborne once again, smashing into the side of the cavern with an earth-shattering thud.

Setama took the advantage, running at his much smaller opponent like a bull. His fists struck, and Meechi coughed violently as blood surged into his throat. Lord Setama pummeled his adversary viciously, and though Meechi was able to dodge quite a few of the attacks, he was unable to withstand them all. In moments, Setama kicked the man sideways, his bloody body skidding along the ground until it stopped shy of Deidara's blonde form.

"No way out…" Setama groaned, taking mincing steps towards the cloaked figure that lay coughing and hacking on the ground. "You dead. You so dead…" His speech began to deteriorate as his form became more physical. The light from the immense chakra source shone through the cavern, an ominous blue adding its glow to the darkness of the tunnel. Meechi groaned, gritting his teeth as he got up on one elbow.

He turned for a moment, eying Deidara lying on the ground but a few feet away, the blonde's blue eye focused intensely on him. He coughed once more, spitting up bile and blood as he got shakily to his feet.

Setama roared, taking huge strides at his opponent who once again stood to defy him. This time however, as Setama closed the distance, Meechi's hand flicked open, a string of chakra threads lashing out. Setama shrugged them off, a few clinging to him as he thundered closer. At the last second, Meechi dove for the side, allowing his much larger and clumsier adversary to roar by. Seeing that he had a few moments before the behemoth returned to the fight, Meechi glowered over at Deidara's form.

"You and I have a common goal, it seems. Killing this man." A chakra thread wound itself around Deidara's arm, and the blond moaned as it inserted itself into his bicep. Slowly, he could feel it work itself inside, heading deeper. "This is a direct link to me. I have a direct link to him. I will siphon off some of the chakra I am stealing…and give it to you." A blueish light shone from the small thread, and Deidara immediately felt a sense of relief from the pain. "Do not misunderstand my actions, shinobi. We are not of a like mind. We both want this arrogant prick dead for different reasons. After he is dead, it changes nothing. I will STILL kill you. But you will be able to die with the knowledge that you helped bring this man down. That will be your solace." Meechi stood straight, willing the pain from his injuries down. "This technique will only work if I am in the vicinity. If I have to run too far to get away, the chakra thread will exit your body." The sound in the distant corridor returned Meechi's attention to the fight at hand. "Pray I do not stray far, shinobi."

The silent evening waned on as three men sprinted against the black darkness of the forest. Their footfalls were light and even, and though the ground was littered with small twigs and dead leaves, nary a sound was heard as they continued forward. They stopped suddenly, the lead man bending down to study a couple of twigs that were broken just so, before they started again, continuing to run up the road. Kunai hung from their belts, and each carried a long, wicked looking katana on their backs. Each man wore a black cloak, black pants and black padded shirts. Their faces covered by masks resembling an odd assortment of birds, they hopped into the trees, bouncing from branch to branch. Hunter shinobi from the Iwa, trained in the art of deception and quiet. An entire village could be slaughtered in a night, and not a trace of the attackers would be found, nor would any alarm be given. They were among the elite of the village, and any who crossed their path would find themselves buried six feet deep before they even knew they were in a fight.

This night, they were on a very specific mission, and they were following a trail. They had traveled far, but distance never made a difference. They would go all the way to the Land of Snow to get to their target, and if they had to fight to the last man, so be it. Fanatical in the way they handled their missions, any fight with them was always a fight to the death, and they asked for, and gave, no quarter.

At a signal, the three stopped. The lead shinobi turned his masked face to a small barn and farmhouse on the side of the road, and together, the three approached the front like wraiths.

Standing at the front door, the two waited as the shinobi in the front raised a hand, turning it into a fist and pounding the door three times. Then, they waited, calm but watchful.

The door opened slowly, and an old man poked his head out. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Yes," the shinobi said. "Can I ask if a man came through here recently?"

The farmer's eyebrow rose, and he grunted. "A man? A man you say? Yes, a man did come through this part. Many men do…"

"This man has yellow hair. He is a shinobi of Iwagakure…"

"Hm…sounds familiar." The farmer smiled, his eyes laughing. "Said his name is Deekara…or Deekorah…something."

"Deidara…" the shinobi corrected.

The farmer nodded sagely, his hand resting lightly on his chin. "Yeah, that sounds right. Deidara…"

The three looked at each other for a moment before the leader once again addressed the old man. "Do you know where he was headed?"

"Of course I do!" the farmer stated, opening the door wider. "He was heading to Lord Setama's manor. He was gonna show that so-and-so something, I tell you what." He smiled, thinking of his encounter with the blond shinobi from Iwa.

The three turned, walking back down the path. "Thank you, sir. You've been most helpful."

"Why?" The farmer asked. "Are you going to help him?" But he didn't receive an answer. He suddenly found himself speaking to nothing but the wind and the empty night. As suddenly as they had come, the three shinobi vanished. "That was odd…" the old man thought as he turned around and headed back in. For some reason, he couldn't shake the odd feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach. A sinking feeling of despair that was as deep as the ocean.

Outside in the tree line, the three hunter-nin continued their trek. The manor rose above the tree line in the distance, and the three were making good time. "Just like the file said. The manor was the final stop. Deidara-san shouldn't still be there."

The shinobi directly behind him took another branch, spring-boarding off to land lightly on the next tree. "Perhaps he ran into trouble?"

The lead shinobi huffed, taking another leap. "Probably. He always is…"

Another huge fist pounded into the head of the smaller Red Hand shinobi, causing him to tilt crazily to the right before flying off into another corner of the cavern. By now, Meechi was nothing short of a cacophony of bruises and cuts. His face bled from dozens of places, as did the rest of him. The only thing keeping him on his feet was his few lifelines of chakra coming from his immense opponent.

Lord Setama had taken the third pill by this time. His body had morphed into something akin to a demon from hell. He stood at nearly ten feet tall, skin a sickly green. Long slashes adorned his skin, and in the dim light of the caverns, the slashes glowed a brilliant blue. Three horns rose and twisted from his head, his glittering red eyes shining in the darkness as they searched out the Red Hand. As Meechi stifled a cough which would give away his position, he cursed whatever fortune had brought him to this miserable side of the world. It had never been this way before the attack. Life had been good…easy almost. He had a beautiful girl, all the money he had ever needed. But her ambition…

It was the cause of all this…and he hated her for it.

Silently, from all around the Hidden Grass Village, shinobi stalked. They were of the Grass, but they had all defected, taking an oath of loyalty to their new Kage. Saekio had promised them fortune, positions of power within the village, even within the hierarchy of power…even to create daimyo's out of them. Many rubbed their hands in anticipation. They would be the ones calling the shots, and answering to only one master. Saekio grinned as the assembled shinobi gave a cheer, calling her name and raising fists into the air. "Good," she said, hearing the chant and looking over at Meechi, who stood by her side. "They are ready. They are ready to bloody their hands and get to work."

"Most of them will be dead by morning," Meechi said, looking out over the assembled mass of men and women as they continued to cheer and shout.

Saekio merely grunted. "That's why they are underlings. Their lives are meant to be spent. Their worth is only measured in the souls that they reap, not in the fact that they are alive." The woman took a breath of air, savoring it. It was a warm summer night, a perfect night for slaughter. In the morning, she would be the new Kage, and nothing would stand in her way.

As her shinobi dispersed, she grabbed Meechi and gave him a hug, ending it with a passionate kiss. He returned her passion, leaning into her and running a hand through her silken hair. It was the happiest he had ever been, but in the pit of his stomach, he knew it was wrong. He tried to quell the feeling rising in his gut…but something felt off.

Someone would die this night, he thought. My hands will be stained red…

"WHERE ARE YOU!" Lord Setama howled throughout the cavern. He had taken to smashing pillars and structural supports, causing the roof to being to sway and crack. Meechi had had to hop out of the way of a few large boulders, and each movement caused him racking pain throughout his body. It had been too long since an opponent had challenged him and been a match. He was weak, and he knew it. Out of practice; out of shape. He was in no condition for this fight to begin with. If Setama had been a normal shinobi, it would have been over in a thrice. But as he was, the monster he had become…Meechi didn't know if anything or anyone could stop him.

He jerked the chakra thread that connected him to Deidara. He could feel the blond beginning to stir, the chakra pumped directly from Setama into Deidara by way of himself as a conduit for the energy. It was good, but Meechi didn't think it would be enough. He couldn't imagine a scenario where the blond shinobi from Iwa could defeat this creature without clay, without weapons, and without more than a paltry amount of chakra to pull from. It was an impossible task, and Meechi knew it. Still, if he could get the blond up and going, maybe his hatred for Setama would distract the beast long enough for Meechi to beat a hasty retreat. He could perhaps find some exploding notes to bring back, and while Setama strolled about in the darkness, Meechi could simply seal up the tunnel with a few explosions and be done with it all.

Suddenly, there was a quiet anger that built up within the cavern. Ominous and deadly, it surged and pulsed. Around a corner of rock, where Meechi's line-of-sight failed, the Red Hand shinobi could feel the killing intent pouring from Setama's bulk. It was horrific. Meechi felt his head swim with the amount of emotion pouring into him. His stomach turned, and he barely kept himself from retching as the power flooded over him.

A voice from the darkness suddenly echoed out. "Shinobi scum…I know you are here." Meechi held his breath, creeping further into the darkness. He pulled his cloak tighter about himself, as if to warn off the evil. "I know you lurk in the shadows. I know that you are a coward. You would attack a man at his wedding, and yet, sulk away from a fight. You have no honor…"

Meechi almost laughed out loud at the last line. Honor? Marrying a woman who wanted less than nothing to do with you? Forcing her to go through with a marriage that she didn't want? Killing her guards to keep a secret, and putting into motion plans that would end with all-out war against the East? This man was insane, if not a bit eccentric. Perhaps the chakra he was in control of was waxing heavy against his senses?

"Come out, shinobi! Come out…or I swear, I will bring this cavern down around us as we stand! We will both be buried alive under tons of rock, dirt, and earth! I have the power and strength to survive, to claw my way to the surface! Do you, shinobi? Better a death faced like a man, than an execution ran from like a coward!" Setama yelled into the darkness. To make good his word, he slammed a leaden fist into the rock on his right, causing it to shatter. A portion of the roof collapsed, the largest piece breaking against Setama's back like water. The Lord didn't even flinch. "I will destroy this cavern, shinobi! Unless you come out this instant! I will bury you for all eternity! None will find you, you will be forgotten! Alone and abandoned! To suffocate from lack of air, or be crushed by my own palace! Your choice, shinobi! You choose now!"

Meechi listened and sighed at the end. Setama was right. By all purposes, Meechi was a spent force. He could continue to leech chakra off of Setama, but it didn't seem to matter. Setama had more than enough for a hundred Meechi's to siphon from for a thousand lifetimes. Another heavy sigh, and then Meechi stood from his kneeling position on the ground. "If it is my time…it is my time," Meechi whispered to himself. His eyes adjusting to the dim light of the cave, Meechi hobbled out to where Setama was, standing in an aura of hate and light that overwhelmed Meechi's senses. "I'm here, you bastard. Geez…"

"Ah!" Setama grinned, turning to where the shinobi stood, small and pathetic against his might. "You thought you could kill me, did you not? You thought that all of my retainers and I would be ground to dust, that you would take from me my manor, my bride, my power!? All that I own? Who is the one about to be ground down now, shinobi? WHO!?" Setama roared, his voice reverberating against the cavern.

Meechi groaned inwardly as the mere sound penetrated his senses and his body, wracked by pain. Even through the agony, Meechi grinned. "I've known men and women like you, Setama. You reach out with frail hands, grasping everything you can in a bid for power. But you will fail…like all those I've known before."

Setama blinked at him in the darkness. The next moment he was immersed in laughter, the echoes bouncing around the cavern. "Empty threats, fool. Empty and hollow. I will take what I want, when I want. I am all powerful!" The laughter stopped, and Meechi heard a footfall. "First, though. You will die! Now!" The Lord rumbled, his feet striking the rock and creating a sound like thunder. Meechi could still barely see his doom looming closer, and knowing that his time was up, he closed his eyes, spreading his arms out wide. His mind began to wander, cutting off the outside world as Setama closed the gap, ready to finish his opponent with one more, bone-crushing blow. But in Meechi's mind, he went back to that time before. When his life was at the apex…right before he fell into oblivion.

"Alpha team, come in!" Meechi whispered urgently. A dead shinobi at his feet, he waited for the response. Nothing.

Saekio sighed, lowering her own radio. "Nothing on my end either. Maybe they all got to their rendezvous points."

"No," Meechi sighed, glaring up at the Kage tower rising above the other buildings in the Main Sector of the Hidden Grass. "No, they are probably all dead. But, even so, they have created the opportunity we need. That you need…" Saekio suddenly grabbed him, tilting his head down to passionately kiss him. As quickly as it happened, it was over, an Saekio's face suddenly took an ominous turn.

"Then let's go. I've got a village to run, and this old fool that lives on the top of this tower has been in power for far too long. It's time to end this." Her katana blade held at the ready, she took off, hopping onto the tower and running up the wall with all the speed of a gazelle and the deadly efficiency of a panther.

"Wait for us!" Meechi groaned, looking at LaoFang. The big man grimaced, nodding his affirmative as the two took off, hopping onto the tower and running up its length. They weren't far from Saekio, but damn, Meechi wished she wasn't so headstrong.

As she got to the top, Saekio didn't wait. Taking out a note, she threw it at the window in front of her, the window exploding out and shattering glass below. Meechi held a hand to his face to ward off the glass, a few bits getting through. He could feel the sickly blood flowing from two cuts to his cheeks. Nothing major, and he had stopped it from entering his eyes, so that was a relief. When he removed his hand, he looked up. Saekio had entered the building. Meechi cursed to himself, willing his feet to move faster. LaoFang held back, allowing Meechi to take the lead.

He reached the window, and Meechi entered, hopping lightly to the right and rolling into a defensive stance. His feet had no longer hit the ground when he heard the words that would forever change him as a man.

"Doton: Ketatamashii ishichuuseki!" Meechi's eyes rose, and in the few moments he had before the words were uttered, his eyes locked with that of Saekio's. Her hands and feet were bound, trapped to the ground by vines that had miraculously grown out of the solid stone of the room. Her eyes betrayed a fear that he had never seen her exhibit, and as the sound of the words flowed through the room, she mouthed a single word. REVENGE.

In front of her, a medium-built man wearing Kage robes had his hands projected in front of him. Two both sides stood stone pillars, part of the room that the Kage had had made especially for himself. One of these pillars moved like snake, elongating. It rose into the air, twisting and squirming like a viper for a half second, like a living thing gone mad, when it suddenly stretched itself. The thing thrust out, the tip of the pillar transforming into a vicious point. Without further ado, it slammed head-on into Saekio's lithe form, bursting from her back in an explosion of crimson. Her eyes opened wide, her mouth forming a silent scream. As quickly as it started, it was over. A scream burst from Meechi's mouth as LaoFang entered the room, noticing the predictament within and grunting. The pillar retracted, the vines released her, and Saekio fell to the ground, eyes still open in surprise and pain, her mouth still screaming though no voice echoed forth.

The man in the center of the room began to laugh, his voice trailing Saekio into the afterlife as her final breath left her body. "Such a young fool. Did she honestly think that I wouldn't have eyes and ears all over MY village!?" His hands began to form more hand-signs as he continued. "It's amazing to me. She was such a good shinobi. But she became lustful for power. Too bad. I could have used her…in more ways than one."

"You lowly piece of shit!" Meechi couldn't help himself. He turned angrily to where the Kage of the Hidden Grass stood, his hands finished with his signs. "She wanted to kill you! I thought that she was just wanting your power…but it was more than that now, I see. You are lower than shit…lower than that, even. You…you…"

"Words. Words and empty promises. That is all she gave you. But do not worry. I will give you respite from the pain. Doton…"

The Kage didn't finish. In a thrice, LaoFang scooped up both Meechi and Saekio's body, flinging them both over his shoulder. The big man turned, jumping from the window and flinging himself into space. Meechi, tears In his eyes, looked over at Saekio's limp form, her eyes now closed, her mouth still open. As LaoFang hit the ground, Meechi felt the impact, the jarring pain from his bones rattling. Without even stopping to regain his posture, LaoFang sprang through the streets. Missiles assaulted him as shinobi began to pop from nowhere, attacking with senbon, kunai, and the occasional jutsu. LaoFang shrugged it all off. He had no time to put up a shield, but he could take more damage than the ordinary man. Using his enormous endurance, LaoFang managed to make the wall, jumping onto the bulwark with an incredible hop, and then continuing over.

There was nothing for them now in the Hidden Grass. Every shinobi that had taken part in the coup was now probably dead, or being interrogated. The leader of the coup was dead, and the second was a sniveling mass. LaoFang grunted. What the hell had he signed up for?

On his shoulder, Meechi took his free hand, grabbing Saekio's limp arm and holding it. "I promise, Saekio-san," he said, a whisper in the night. "I will go back some day. I will destroy that place." His eyes suddenly closed into slits, his hand tightening down. "I will kill him, Saekio. I will kill Fasui-sama. I will kill him and become the Kage. Or will die trying."

"DIE!" Setama's hand drew back, his fist the size of a boulder. Meechi's eyes opened slightly as his daydream was cut short. This is it, he thought. This is how I die…

"KATSU!" From behind Setama, a strange light emanated. Suddenly, the air burst apart, an explosion rocking the ground. It didn't even phase Setama, who stopped short of Meechi's form an turned his head. Behind him, a blond form stood, heaving slightly as his hand reached into his bag.

Setama growled low in this throat, lowering his arm. "How…"

"I found an underground stream off to the side of the cavern, un." Deidara grinned, his hand lapping noisily at the clay in his pouch. It was inferior, with rocks and twigs that had fallen into the stream and been washed up underneath the surface of the earth. But with enough coaxing, Deidara could use it. "Thanks for the loan, you moron. I was feeling a bit peckish."

Meechi chuckled, standing fully erect now. His finger twitched, and a chakra line disappeared. He didn't need it anymore. "You're welcome, shinobi from Iwa. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave…"

He didn't get far. Two steps, and his chakra and luck failed. At the same instant that Meechi turned to run, Setama's fist crashed into his back. He felt bones pop under the pressure, and a lightning pain fled up and down his spine. Sending the Red Hand spinning end over end to crash into the wall, Setama huffed, turning back to the blond. "So, you're standing? Good. I will make much sport of you."

"Yeah," Deidara said, his hand beginning to mold the lump of clay into something useful. "I was gonna say the same thing." Taking a couple steps left, he looked at the wall where Meechi lay crumpled. "You alright?"

"Hn." Meechi was far from alright. His body burned in agony, and his chakra was nearly spent to the last ounce. It was all he could do to stay awake. "I'll…live…"

"You fool. You will both die here!" Setama growled, still staring at Deidara. "But first, the blond one. You have interfered for far too long."

"Correction, stupid. I haven't interfered long enough!" Deidara's hand opened, three small clay spiders sitting within. "But don't worry, I got chakra now, and clay. So…let's play, ugly, un?"

Meechi sighed. His plan to get away was foiled. He couldn't even create a chakra thread to wrap around Setama to leech anything from him. He had never been this low on chakra before, and this fight was now beyond him. "Kill him, shinobi," he whispered to himself. His eyes closed, and he allowed himself to fall into a blissful sleep, to dream of a face that he hadn't seen for years.

The end of the fight wouldn't matter to him. Either way, Meechi was sure he'd die.

He just hoped his two opponents would kill each other first.

Next Time: Deidara's chakra isn't fully restored, but neither is his bag of tricks. Setama is on an all-out rampage, and Deidara can feel the clock ticking. Can Deidara out-fight and out-think his opponent? Or does Setama have too much chakra, too much power, to counter with mere techniques alone? Deidara may have to make the ultimate sacrifice to beat his enemy, but will it be too late?

Next Chapter: One Step Ahead, Three Steps Behind!

Jutsu's Used: Doton: Ketatamashii ishichuuseki - Literally translated to Earth Release: Piercing Stone Pillar

Author's Note: Man, I am really not a good author. I should really try to keep my schedule straight so I can get some of these stories done. Again, I'm sorry that these updates take so long. But, if it's any consolation, I had to wait a whole year for The Hobbit's last installment…and it wasn't any good in my opinion. But that's my opinion. So, I'm gonna buckle down, and get these chapters out. Hopefully, the second chapter of Deidara's Story will be done by April or May, but again, don't count on it. I got at least 5 chapters more to go, so it may be a bit longer. But I hope you enjoy the ride, as long as it takes. Thank you all! Uzuki-kun.