A/N: Thanks for the reviews
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I feel a bit more encouraged to keep writing. Love you all reviewers, you guys are really my inspiration to keep writing. Thank you all so much! This is my first try, so I'm truly thankful for your encouraging reviews. Well, here's chapter two that I promised. Plot will start actually developing soon. I hope that there are still SasoDei fans out there, they inspired me to write this, after all. : P
SPOILER: written in memory of Sasori and Deidara
LISTENING TO: Misery Business - by Paramore
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto,…No, I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'm sure half the male fan population would be shrinking away...
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Marionette Phase: Curtsy
" It is time, my darling puppet! Your sea of audience awaits you. Untangle your strings and strike and impression, for you are my creation…that I hold most dear."
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Deidara lowered his head onto the comforting surface of his pillows, again, fatigued from the previous training he underwent with his roommate. Although the training was considered quite short, his muscles still ached from where Sasori's puppet stung. However, he could not find any way to sleep. No matter how hard he tried, his consciousness refused to transfer him to the dream world. Sighing with mental discomfort, he buried himself deeper into his little blanket-plus-a-pillow fort, trying to get a quick nap.
He closed his eyes and allowed his breathing to relax, he remembered Kisame and Itachi saying something about sleeping attempts a day ago when a similar situation occurred, only he had trained with Zetsu.
"In order to sleep, you must convince yourself that you're already asleep," the shark-like nin had advised. "It only makes sense."
"No, you must have as many pillows or blankets to provide for your comfort," Itachi had cut in.
"How would you know? I've never seen you sleep before in my life."
"Kisame, I used to bribe Sasuke with my bed sheets to make him go to sleep. It works. My foolish little brother was smothered by six layers of fluffy white goodness. It was slightly disturbing however, he drooled on me."
"Woah, weasel. Six layers?"
"…He stole some from my parents."
"Wow, I never knew that little runt had it in him."
Deidara laughed. The thought of Itachi loaning blankets was kind of cute, although he was looking forward to meeting the Uchiha's younger brother as well. He was rather curious if Itachi's mini-me was just as stoic. 'I should be trying to get sleep, not thinking useless thoughts.' He scolded himself. Besides, he might as well give the sharingan-user's advice a shot. He had tried Kisame's already an hour ago, the shark man's idea did not bode well. His eyes shut close, preparing to re-try Kisame's suggestion anyhow until suddenly—
"GET OUT OF MY ROOM, ASSHOLES!" Sasori shouted, arms protectively wrapped around a puppet he was currently working on. His eyes were glued tightly to the smirking intruders, ash-rose meeting the colors of many. "I'm not counting to five. Leave." He hissed, hugging his puppet tighter. The intruders only seemed encouraged to further annoy both of the rooms inhabitants.
"Puppet-Boyyyyy! " A pieced-together Hidan slurred, edging closer to the protective puppet master. "Damn, I still wanna ask you one thing, fucktard. Why the hell'd you have to hide my limbs in Deidara's underwear closet?"
Deidara froze. His Danna put Hidan's parts where? He pulled his sheet covers off from over his head, azure eyes widening in shock. What Hidan accused Sasori of doing was downright disturbing. And to think if Hidan's…manly…parts…were also resting in the comfort of his closet… he shuddered. He stuffed his sun-kissed blonde hair into his ears, trying to block out whatever else was going to come out of the Jashinist's mouth.
"Look, I knew where it was all along. It's just funnier to watch this body-less asshole try hitchhike with someone and fail." Kakuzu muttered, jabbing a thumb at Hidan at the mention of 'asshole'. "You should have seen him. He was biting on Itachi's cloak like a parasite, hoping to get a ride or something. It was funny."
"Shut up. You're a fucktard too." Hidan seethed, sending a murderous glare in his tentacled partner's direction, only to receive a small chuckle.
"Tobi is a good boy! Tobi helped Hidan-sempai find his limbs! Tobi even went through Zetsu's underwear drawers, but Hidan sempai's limbs weren't in Zetsu's underwear closet, they were in DEI-SEMPAI's closet! Dei sempai has LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of underwear!" Tobi said excitedly, waving his arms up and down further prove his point. The orange-masked ninja stared at the other two in confusion. Hidan and Kakuzu were laughing. Deidara clenched his teeth. The idiot didn't have to say it so goddamn loud. 'Dei sempai has LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of underwear!' echoed in his mind over and over again.
"WOW. PLANT SISSY EVEN HAD A FUCKING UNDERWEAR DRAWER?"
"I never –snicker- knew Zetsu even…haha…wore any."
"Yes he does! Tobi saw it! He had really, really, really, cute underwear too."
"Wait, he wears boxers, right?" (this came from a snickering Kakuzu)
"Urmmm… Tobi did not see boxers." The masked ninja admitted brightly, still as oblivious as before. Sasori and Deidara were now completely ignored, Sasori thankful, Deidara greatly disturbed.
'I'm trying to sleep, assholes! Stop giving me images!' Deidara thought darkly, fingers digging into the softness of his blanket. He plugged his ears with more strands of silky blonde hair.
Hidan and Kakuzu were now in hysterics. Both were clutching their stomachs and and rolling on the puppet-littered floor. Sasori was getting a tad bit annoyed by this point, he placed his limp creation on an unoccupied side of his wall, and turned to face his laughing organization members. His eden-colored eyes flashed dangerously, lip twitching.
"I thought I made my point already, leave." He demanded, an emerald-painted finger directed at the open door. His eyes followed the retreating figures of the religious nin and the latter's partner. He let out a sigh of relief as the door clicked shut. He glanced back at the headless puppet he had been working on. The body was obviously a man's, though it was slightly bridging feminine. His eyes traveled to his wide-awake partner's horror-stricken face.
"I thought you were asleep, brat." He snapped, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back against an unoccupied space on the wall. His eyes still had the murderous look he had meant for Kakuzu and Hidan.
"I was trying to. Until you know, I found out where you hid Hidan's…parts, un."
Sasori sighed, he lowered his arms to his side, and focused his gaze on a random puppet to his right. "What was I supposed to do? Bury them?"
"Un! Or something like that, un. You hid it in my underwear closet, nonetheless, un." Deidara began to blush furiously at the last part of his statement. He smothered his face in a pillow so his partner would not be able to detect the crimson on his cheeks, praying the latter saw none of it already.
"I'm sorry, Deidara. Not all of us are as smart as you." Sasori practically yelled, eyes flashing at his pillow-smothered partner.
Deidara flipped his head over to look his partner hard in the eye, blonde hair falling away from his eyes and ears. "What the hell, Sasori-Danna, un. You could have hid it in ITACHI'S underwear closet. Why mine, un? It makes me uncomfortable accepting that."
It was Sasori's turn to turn crimson, though you would have to actually try to look for the blush in order to spot it on the puppet master's cheeks. He refused to answer, eyes glued to the puppet-littered floor. He honestly did not want to admit that he was curious about what kind of underwear the Iwa nin usually wore. That and he needed to know Deidara's clothing size in order to create his 'replica'.
"You've been kind of weird recently, Danna, un."
Sasori's head snapped back up. "What?"
'Crap, did he figure it out already?' Sasori thought frantically.
"Well, you're always spacing out…and you're leaving your puppets on the floor all the time now, un. You are usually a neat-freak," the blonde explained, sitting up from his once lying down position on his bed. "And you try not to look at me."
Sasori's eyes widened a fraction, especially at Deidara's last statement. "Look, brat, it doesn't mean anything." He declared, lying through clenched teeth.
"Well okay, Danna, un. Just concerned about you is all…" Deidara murmured, head flopping back onto his tattered pillow. His azure eyes did not leave the Suna-nin's figure however. Sasori's arms stayed limply at his side, the redhead seemed to be lost in thought.
"Danna? One question, un."
"…"
"Why'd you hide Hidan's limbs in my underwear closet, un?"
The red on Sasori's face started to become obvious.
"That's none of your business, brat!" the Suna-nin snapped, eyes still avoiding Deidara's questioning stare. He fumbled with the lip of his night-colored organization cloak. He had no intention of revealing the truth to Deidara. The truth was embarrassing, that or Deidara would see him as a stalker-pervert for the rest of his life. Everyone always got him wrong, that's how Sasori-logic worked. It happened when he was young, it happened with his grandmother. He did not want it to happen with Deidara.
"Mmkay Danna, just asking, un."
Both ninjas snapped to attention however when the door flung open, once again.
"Hidan, GO AWAY!" Sasori shouted, instinct creeping in.
A confused Konan stood in the opening of the doorway, a clipboard gripped neatly in her manicured fingers. 'The origami flower that usually lied atop her head was on the opposite side from its usual position. Clearing her throat, Konan freed several papers from the clipboard's fangs, and handed them to wall-leaning Sasori.
"Leader-sama has a new mission for you both." Konan explained, motioning to both the Suna and Iwa nin. Sasori raised a perfect, red brow, whereas Deidara merely blinked a sleep-deprived eye.
"The mission is quite simple," she began, "Please report to leader-sama for briefing. The details are in the paper I was to deliver to you both."
Sasori nodded, memorizing each detail written neatly on the paper he had received. Truth to be told, there was only an image of ramen on the paper, printed in color. Leader-sama usually used black-and-white ink, so this was considered quite rare. He followed Konan out of the room, a disappointed Deidara trailing behind the two. 'First, no sleep. Then, a mission,' the clay artist grumbled to himself.
Konan led the duo into the fire-lit halls of the hideout, stopping every now and then to check up on the other members, and handing them their mission information as well. She now had a parade of S-ranked criminals trailing behind her, consisting of a hungry Zetsu, chatterbox Tobi, impassive Itachi, dango-munching Kisame, cursing Hidan, yawning Deidara, sulking Sasori, and a silent Kakuzu.
"Fuck, I don't get it." Hidan grumbled. "Why can't you people just group us all in one fucking room, brief us, AND give us our information at the same time? For Kami's sake, some of us were trying to get sleep."
Deidara nodded in agreement to the last part. Sasori smirked at them both, knowing what was going to come up any minute. 'Someone's gonna say something smart, and leave you two looking like idiots!' he thought to himself. Truth to be told, Itachi answered.
"You can ask leader-sama," Itachi pointed out, annoyed by the Jashinist's complaint and Deidara's agreeing stare. "Though he probably has a better reason then you ever would."
"Weasel, you damn keep reminding me about how much I hate you."
"I don't care."
"…FUCK YOU."
Konan hushed them both with a finger, and placed her palm on the sealed stone door that lay before them. The shinobi standing beside her seemed to all stiffen. "…Konan reporting, I have distributed the mission information. Briefing can now be applied."
On cue and with ease, the stone door slid open, seal melting away, allowing entrance into its engulfing darkeness. Deidara inched closer to his partner, his shoulder brushing the redhead's own. The atmosphere in Pein's chamber was eerie, and for some reason, the room always felt colder than the other ones of the organization. Konan smiled reassuringly at the organization members trailing behind her.
The silhouette of Pein could be slightly made out from the dimness of the room, Konan motioned the parade to stop sixteen feet away from their leader. As the leader of the Akatsuki, Pein had the highest respect. With respect came power, dominance, and of course, distance.
"Thank you Konan. You may now be excused."
Konan bowed with respect, turning to leave. Her footsteps echoed out of Pein's abode, the leader of the Akatsuki staring after her rather longingly. Many Akatsuki stared also after her retreating figure, each wishing they were in her position otherwise. Naturally, anyone would want escape from Pein's eerie room.
"The mission is quite simple, actually." Pein started, causing all the members to snap their attention back to his silhouetted form. "I only require half of you to go."
Hidan lost it at this point. "What the fuck? Then why call all of us here, dammit?" he snapped, jabbing a thumb at his fellow confused comrades.
Even in the dimness of the room, Pein's frown could easily be identified. "Because, they will be taking a mission similar to this later on. Please do not interrupt, Hidan." Pein answered, rather flustered with the religious nin.
Hidan cursed, curse morphing into a yelp when he felt a hard kick from his partner.
"…Thank you, Kakuzu." Pein said sheepishly. "Now then, if I may continue. The mission requires only half of us, as I have said. I am deploying Kisame, Itachi, Sasori, and Deidara. Your skills are better improvised due to the gravity of the mission. I need you all to be the first team."
The four mentioned shinobi nodded, anxious to hear more details, Deidara was now practically clinging onto Sasori, the latter secretly enjoying the contact.
"The four of you will form a team. Itachi, you are to be the captain." Pein announced, eyes flickering to meet the black ones of the sharingan-user. Itachi nodded in agreement, back straightening further to enhance an impression of responsibility and dominance.
"Understood." The Uchiha replied flatly.
"Wonderful. You four are to head to Konohagakure, there is something special there that I crave…"
Sasori and Kisame nodded, exchanging looks: figuring it was most likely just a sacred scroll, that or a special-priceless-artifact-weapon. They were both proven wrong however at Pein's next statement.
"The thing I require…is a bowl of Ichiraku ramen."
Itachi raised an eyebrow, Sasori doing the same, whereas Deidara and Kisame blinked in unison. Leader-sama had got to be joking. He needed four S-ranked criminals to go all the way to the fire country just to bring back a bowl of ramen? That was…uncanny.
"May I ask why…?" Sasori questioned, obviously sharing the same thought as his partners. His ash-rose eyes were filled with curiosity.
"Yes you may know." Pein chuckled, "I recently received news that they were making a super-rare-ultra-only-once-in-a-lifetime ramen. It is a very special ramen, understand? Ichiraku is only making three bowls of them, and I want to be the one to taste it. They are also quite costly."
Deidara's eyes widened a bit. Pein was still not making so much sense to him. "Um… Leader-sama, why do you need the four of us to retrieve it, then? It shouldn't be a difficult task."
"No it isn't, you are correct. Konan alone already bought me back one bowl." Pein replied rather flatly. "Though she made a mistake of wearing her cloak in the presence of the villagers, so there is no way that she can even enter the village once more. The plan is for Sasori and Deidara to buy the ramen, since they have zero recognition of your faces there. Kisame and Itachi are to be backup, they will not be entering the village however. Once in the gates of the village, Sasori and Deidara are solo."
The four shinobi nodded slowly in unison, still unable to grasp the concept; especially Itachi. Deidara however, was zealous.
"Wow, Konoha, Danna! Have you ever been there, un?" he chirped excitedly, baby-blue eyes brightening, grip tightening on the Suna nin's arm. His face was a mere inch away from his partner's
"Yes, once." The Suna-nin replied dully, turning a light shade of pink at such close contact.
"If Tobi may ask, are Tobi and everyone else getting the third and last bowl of this special ramen?" Tobi finally said. Zetsu and Hidan nodded in agreement from behind him.
Pein seemed to smile. "Yes, Tobi. I'm glad you're getting somewhere where everyone else isn't." Tobi beamed.
"Mind you all, this ramen is quite expensive. Kakuzu?"
The tentacle-ninja stepped forward, bowing. "Yes, leader-sama?"
"Please take out all the earnings for this month."
"E-excuse me, leader-sama?" Kakuzu sputtered, unbelieving.
"The expenses for one bowl of ramen is exactly one half that amount. The other half of our money will go the second bowl."
Kakuzu was resisting the urge to protest. Zetsu and Tobi, however seemed utterly intrigued. Glaring as he did so, Kakuzu distributed the large amounts of yen to Itachi, the latter pocketing the money in a compartment of his cloud-adorned cloak.
"Alright then," Smiling with satisfaction, Pein announced, "The mission will begin tomorrow morning. Dismissed."
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Deidara trudged back to the room he shared with Sasori with a happy feeling in his stomach. He crawled back onto his mattress, eyes fluttering a bit before settling closed. He allowed his silky hair to splay over his face and pillow, lips pressing onto the soft fabric of the pillow. "Mmmmm," he murmured.
Sasori stared at the sleeping figure of his partner. He had debated whether or not to shout, "You're sleeping on my bed, brat!" but decided to let the blonde go. He sat on the edge of his bed, ash-rose eyes lingering on the rising and falling of the crimson covers, coordinating with Deidara's steady breathing. He closed his eyes, and allowed the thoughts to enter his mind once again.
"You've been kind of weird recently, Danna, un."
Deidara was right. He was being a bit unlike himself these days, and that was mostly Deidara's fault. Sasori hated admitting that he actually admired his partner's art, before they exploded that was. Deidara's side of the room was usually decorated with finished or half-finished clay miniatures, animals, people, objects… unlike wood, clay was soft, bendable… Just like he and Deidara.
Deidara would be considered sunshine, a bright cheerful element. An element that showed plenty of emotion depending on the Iwa nin's mood. Sasori, in his opinion, was considered moonlight. A serene, cold element. One that never tried to show emotion, but realized that it was bottled up inside him somewhere. In truth, he feared showing emotion. Showing emotion was showing weakness. Weakness was the common reason for death. Was this not the reason he turned himself into what he was now?
Sasori undid a few buttons of his cloak, he examined his wooden torso, the inhumane features of it all. His eyes trailed to his heart, the only human part of him left. The part, that grandma Chiyo had told him, "allowed him to feel". He hated the heart, yet admired it all at the same time. He hated how it made him feel weak emotions, but at the same while, he was grateful that it allowed him to feel anything at all. Especially towards Deidara. It was recent, he noted. He was slowly becoming…attracted to his idiot roommate, and he could not figure if it was a good or bad feeling. He closed his eyes, recalling an encouraging memory:
"Is love a bad thing, Sasori-nii?" a toddler redhead asked, staring into the eden-colored ones of his superior, settling in his lap and staring out into the massive seas of sand of the desert that lay in the boundaries of Sunagakure.
Sasori smiled lightly and patted Gaara's soft crimson hair that rivaled his own. He hugged the younger boy to his chest, allowing the latter more comfort.
"No, Gaa-chan, love…is a good thing."
"Oh." Gaara seemed to be taking in the information fed to him.
"When people love you, you have a reason to exist, a reason to fight for what you believe in." Sasori said, choosing his words carefully.
"But what if people don't love you? Or you don't love?" Gaara's bright green eyes were practically piercing into the pools of his ash rose ones.
Sasori was taken aback by the young Shukaku-container-to-be's question.
"I…I honestly don't know, Gaa-chan…"
Sasori's eyes opened and flew to the ground. He still didn't know. Was love a good thing? He honestly did not know. As a young boy, he was often pursued by half the female population of his school, but he never felt any feeling towards any of them. However, when his parents died, he had felt a strong emotion that emitted from love…pain. Every time he had tried to love someone, what followed was always pain.
In truth, Sasori only felt a bubble of emotion towards his partner, he was unsure if it was love or not. It might have just been… an unnamed emotion for all he knew. 'Enough with this, I have things to do,' he reminded himself. Settling himself to a nearby chair, he wriggled a sketchbook from a wall shelf that lay above his bed. Pulling out a calligraphy brush, he began to paint.
He observed every rise and fall of Deidara's face, concentrating hard on every small detail. His brush danced over the thin page of his sketchbook, slowly depicting the snoozing face of Deidara. Sasori was satisfied at his work, he continued to add more details and colors into his work. Despite the current work was just a mere sketch that would be used as future reference, he couldn't help but to continue. He was becoming addicted, and he knew it.
"Dammit, Deidara. You have to stop making me feel," he scolded, eyes softening at his partner's sleeping form.
A/N: lolol read and review, kittens?
Thanks again for the reviews from before, they are very encouraging. I will try my best and write as much as I can! I've already written an ending, but I might delay it and write more chapters if I get more reviews…
-Parasol-chan