Chapter 2

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Okay, so here is chapter 2! You'll find out what is going on in this chapter. And yes, like in the last chapter Dei will probably continue to talk to his hand mouths… XD

Also, I've noticed that in a lot of my other stories the characters are sometimes OOC, so please tell me if they are that way in this one and I'll fix it.

And thank you to Asheza, Long Live Yugioh 5ds, and WinterSpirit13 for reviewing the first chapter, I really appreciate it! ^_^

Finally, Thanksgiving break is finally here so now I have some free time to write! It gave me a chance finish this and at least get a little work done on some of my other stories too.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter! :)

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Deidara was annoyed there still hadn't been any areas to get clay from. He was sure he had seen some on the way to that village but now on the way back to the base he couldn't seem to find any. And not only that, but his bird kept getting harder and harder to fly, and he didn't want to have to land. The blonde found it so boring to just silently walk next to his emotionless partner. Lifting his hand up again, Deidara sighed.

"You don't mind using the clay a little longer, right un?" he asked it. The mouth just snarled at him.

"Tch, fine, be that way un, I'll just talk to lefty instead," the blond muttered, dropping his right hand and raising the left one in front of his face. His hands couldn't exactly talk back when he spoke to them, but they did seem to understand what he was saying and would make some kind of sound in response. He usually never talked to them in the presence of others because they'd think him crazy- crazier than they already knew he was.

"What about you un? You don't mind using this clay a little longer, right?" he asked. His left hand only frowned at him in response.

"Well whatever you two, there isn't really much of a choice un," he said, dropping his left hand back down to his side. So far he still hadn't seen anywhere to stop and find more clay and had a feeling that it would be a while before he did. But that was definitely becoming a problem as he realized his bird becoming almost impossible to fly. He tried to hold it together but eventually it seemed as though it was about to just drop out of the sky so he had to land it.

"Why did you land, I thought you like flying around on that contraption?" Sasori asked as he began to walk next to him.

"That stupid clay was making it almost impossible to fly un," Deidara muttered.

"You've been complaining about that clay ever since you got it and you're really beginning to get on my nerves. It can't be that bad," Sasori said, scowling at his blonde partner.

"You wouldn't know! You're not the one who has to deal with it un!" he retorted angrily.

"Watch your mouth brat," Sasori growled, giving his younger partner a warning glare. Deidara glared back at him but kept his mouth shut.

Funny how almost all of our conversations seem to turn into arguments… he thought, staring off into space. He just wanted to leave this bleak and barren landscape behind and be done with this mission.

"Hey danna, when will we reach the base un?" he asked.

"In about five days," he answered. At that Deidara groaned silently. He was hoping to get there sooner because of the rivers that he knew were nearby, but no he'd have to deal with this horrible clay for a whole five more days. He began to grumble under his breath out of frustration until he heard a strange sound. It sounded almost like coughing but at the same time very different.

Sasori looked over at him in irritation, thinking that it was him making the noise.

"Not me un," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Well then what is it brat, there aren't any other chakra presences in the vicinity," Sasori said.

"I don't know un," Deidara answered. But in truth he did know what it was, he was just sincerely hoping that he was wrong. He glanced down at the mouth on his hand and almost groaned out loud in aggravation when he saw that it was the thing making the noise. He clenched his fist, effectively muffling the sound.

"Hey danna, I'm going to look around the area and see if I can find out what that sound was un," he said, taking out the bird from earlier and enlarging it.

"I thought you said it couldn't fly properly," the puppet master answered skeptically.

"I can control it for at least the time it will take me to do this un," the blonde answered before jumping onto the bird and taking off into the sky.

Once he was up high enough to where Sasori wouldn't be able to see him he sighed and sat down. He reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a roll of bandages. He had always wondered why he kept them considering he almost never used them but was grateful he had them at the moment. Deidara wrapped both of his hands in the bandages up to his wrists before putting them away and standing up. As he flew his bird down to land next to Sasori he silently hoped for him not to notice that he covered up his hands.

"Did you see anything brat?" Sasori asked, briefly glancing over at him.

"No un," he answered, after shrinking his bird and putting it back into his pocket. After running to catch up to Sasori the two walked on through the snow in silence, with only the sound of nature in the background.

Deidara was angry that his hand mouths had managed to get sick, especially since he knew it had something to do with this horrible clay. But the frozen lake probably had something to do with this whole ordeal as well. He just hoped he would be able to keep Sasori from finding out before they healed. Because not only would it be embarrassing, but he really didn't want to have to explain how his hands got sick in the first place.

It had only happened once before, but that was back before he joined Akatsuki. Back when he didn't have to answer to anyone, when he was free…

-Flashback-

Deidara leaned against a tree, panting heavily and glancing behind him. Hearing people shouting, he pushed away from the tree and continued to run like he had been for the past two hours. It had only been a few months since he had left his village and they had already found him again.

He glared down at his bandaged hands as he sped through the trees. The blonde didn't know how, but his palm mouths had gotten sick. Whenever he would try to feed them clay they would just spit it back as a goopy liquid. Then when he actually did manage to get them to mold the clay correctly none of his creations would come to life or explode.

He stopped briefly to set up some explosive tags on the nearby trees before running off again. Once far enough away, he made the hand seal to detonate the tags. He waited, sensing for chakra signature, sighing in relief when there were none. Finally, he had almost gotten captured that time….

-flashback end-

He remembered that back then it had taken almost a month for his hands to heal completely. But right now he couldn't afford to wait that long; he would need to find a way to cure them quicker. And while a part of his brain told him to just ask Sasori for help, his pride wouldn't let him so he began to think about possible solutions on his own.

Deidara didn't really have much medical experience so he wasn't sure what would work for a normal illness, let alone the one his hands seemed to have contracted. He sighed silently in frustration and brought his left hand up in front of his face and halfway took off the bandages to try and examine it. The blonde briefly glanced up at Sasori to make sure he wasn't paying attention before slowing his pace so he was further behind him.

The only way he could think to see what was wrong with his hand was to ask it, even if it couldn't say words. But he didn't want his danna hearing.

"So, are you in pain un?" he whispered to it. In response it gave him a small frown. That was one thing he had learned about how his palm mouths communicated. Usually a frown indicated a 'no' and a smile meant 'yes'.

"Well do you feel nauseous un?" he asked quietly. This time it smiled slightly.

"Please don't tell me you're gonna puke all over me un," he muttered quietly.

"Brat, who're you talking to?" Sasori asked, turning to look at him.

"Nothing un!" he answered, quickly dropping his hand to his side.

"Okay…" Sasori said, giving the blonde a strange look before turning back around. That's just great, now danna thinks I'm crazy- well, crazier than usual… I guess I should be more careful when talking to my hands, Deidara thought to himself. Sighing, he quickly wrapped up his hand again and ran to catch up with his danna.

"Why are your hands bandaged up brat?" Sasori asked him. Deidara was mentally cursing as he tried to come up with a believable excuse.

"Uhhh… No reason un," he answered.

"Are you sure?" Sasori asked, obviously not believing the blonde.

"Yes," Deidara answered back.

"If you say so brat," Sasori said.

Even though he had dropped it for now, Deidara knew that Sasori would probably ask him about it later, and continue to question him until he found out what Deidara was hiding. So Deidara took advantage of the silence as they walked along to try and think of a more believable excuse to tell Sasori later. He briefly wondered if it would just be easier to tell Sasori what was really going on but decided against it. If anything, Deidara felt that Sasori would just think he was being a brat again for letting this happen to himself. And he knew that the puppet master probably wouldn't listen if he reminded him that it was him who had caused this issue in the first place. Otherwise the blonde wouldn't have gotten clay from a lake that was frozen over by ice because he already had known that the clay there wouldn't be very good.

Oh well, I guess I'll think of something… he mused.

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So, like? Love? Hate? Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter.

Thanks for reading! ^_^