Thank you soo much to FoxLover440, my first reviewer ever.

EVER!

Huge thanks go to AkumaNoDanna, for letting me bounce ideas off her, and generally being awesome.

I was so excited when I read the reviews that I could actually breathe! And that is surprising because the cold I had yesterday is now bronchitis. Yay. (Hear the sarcasm)

Warnings: Hidan language, though he isn't in here yet , hints of bad things that aren't exactly clear yet, and grammar mistakes. Damn it.

So.

On with the story!

Neji: . . . You forgot something, idiot.

Me: Wait, where the FUCK did you come from, Neji? Aren't you off 'playing' with Gaara in another fic of mine? And I do not forget things, stupid Hyuuga. I merely chose not to mention them.

Neji: Do you even know what you forgot?

Me: Of course! *proud face* The disclaimer ALWAYS goes on the bottom for me, though.

Neji: *sigh* Put some pants on, will you?

Me: wait . . . WUT?

Dei's pov

". . . so does anyone have any objections?"

Deidara yawned. Briefings were always boring, but he could put up with them. It was part of his job, after all. He really wished that somehow this whole 'organising the production' part of the show could be skipped, though. He didn't do long and boring. Oh, way no. He was fundamentally opposed to the idea. Everything about him reflected that, from his eclectic clothing, always bright, favouring neon blues and reds, to his job.

Deidara was an acrobat. A really good acrobat. A really good acrobat, who was the only one in the Iwa circus to directly incorporate pyrotechnics into his performances. Nothing about him was boring, and, if he had his way, nothing about him ever would be.

"Okay, that will be all," The younger generation all scrambled up, rubbing stiff necks and stretching arms in ways that they were never meant to be stretched. This was a circus after all, and an awful lot of people were double jointed. The scramble for the door happened about two seconds after the third person had slipped out of it. Deidara tried to slip through the crowds of people, but he was blocked by clumps of people, all excitedly chatting about the part they were to play in the next performance.

"Except for those in the ANBU, come back here in half an hour, we have more to discuss."

The chatter didn't cease, but the looks on the faces of the performers were no longer truly happy. They knew what went on in the ANBU.

Most of them just forgot about the announcement, pushing it to the back of their minds and thanking god that it hadn't been them who had been born with these abominations, that it was not them who were not fully human.

But some did not. Could not. Because they had been born as an abomination. They were freaks of nature that did not deserve to exist. That was the commonly held view. But there were people out there who would pay dearly to see them. To have them, for just one night.

And that was what the Iwa circus was famous for. All the freaks of the country of Iwa and some surrounding areas as well, had been gathered up and taught to perform. They formed the ANBU, and they would do anything, for a price. Not that they minded. They had no human emotions, didn't feel pain and they didn't care what anyone did to them. That was the commonly held view.

The reality, however, was somewhat different.

Half an hour? Deidara thought Only half an hour? Fucking tight asses.

Deidara's joy at the thought of his upcoming performance had disappeared in the face of what was to come.

You'd think that they could give us more than half an hour's break to get our shit together, what with all the things we do for them.

Deidara did not want to think of what was to come in the next half an hour.

Sasori was bored.

Not I'm-going-to-kill-myself-if-I-don't-do-anything-interesting bored, but more like that sense of boredom that wells up in the back of your mind and tickles all of your senses, the feeling that you can't quite identify, but you know that if you do something, it will go away. In some ways, that was the worst type of boredom, because by the time you realise that you ARE bored, it's far too late, and your whole day has been ruined.

Sasori blamed Itachi for his boredom, grumpiness, antisocial feelings and everything else, including the death of his mother (who died before Itachi was born), right at that moment.

Who wants to go to a circus when it isn't actually on? Uchiha Sasuke, that little shit, it seemed. Why, oh WHY did Itachi have to be so mad about his brother? What had Sasori done to deserve this torture? He missed his small, dark room, illuminated by one small lamp and two candles. He missed his big, comfy chair, and, most of all, he missed his puppets.

Fuck you, weasel he thought viciously. He didn't like circuses at the best of times, and that was when the performers were soaring high above his head, beautiful dresses swirling and the smell of cotton candy and popcorn clung to everything. He couldn't find anything artistic about it at all.

The circus was an illusion, that crawled into your mind one night, making you see and feel things that weren't real. Sasori just didn't like that kind of thing. If it wasn't eternal, it could go get fucked. That was Sasori's philosophy. Itachi agreed with it in many ways (he wasn't too fond of circuses himself) but here he was, the traitor, dragging him along just because SasGAY wanted to go see his best friend, who just happened to be part of the circus. How the moody Uchiha brat had ever managed to make a friend, let alone one that was constantly moving around escaped Sasori. Uchihas' weren't exactly known for the rainbows and butterflies that liked to follow them around.

Sasori was sure that the only reason that the elder Uchiha had agreed to come along and meet Sasuke's friend was that he didn't want said friend to be anything more to Sasuke. He most likely chose Sasori as the person to accompany him (Sasuke had said that Itachi could not come unless he brought a friend) to help him with intimidation tactics. Sasori knew this. That was one of the reasons he had agreed to the stupid arrangement. Just because he didn't like circuses didn't mean that he didn't get a kick out of bullying random people. And if it made Sasuke mad, then all the better. Let's just say that a friend of Sasuke's once did something very bad to his favourite puppet, and Sasuke had laughed. So had Itachi, of course, but that was only to be expected.

Itachi and Sasori had known each other since primary school. Sasori had been in eight and a half, and clever for his age. The teachers had requested that he move up a year, but his parents had politely declined. They knew that if they tried to push Sasori further than they wanted to go, it would most likely turn around and bite them on the ass. Itachi had been six, and VERY clever for his age. So clever, that he had been moved up two classes in half a year.

*flashback*

"Good morning, children," the teacher at the front of the room said in a kind voice, with a smile that looked strained to Sasori's young eyes.

"Good morning, Jiraiya." The greeting seemed to have come from one being, not the many seated small desks, ordered in rows around the classroom. It seemed informal to call their teacher by just his name, but the days of '' had long since passed, and the teacher did not mourn them. He had found that connecting with children had been hard with that constant reminder of the difference between them there.

"We have a new student today," Jiraiya informed his class. He pitied the poor boy that was being moved here, as this was the worst class that he had taught in his fifteen year long teaching career. Sasori pitied him as well. This class was ell, unless you knew the right people. Or if you were Sasori. The only person that wasn't bullied and gossiped about in the whole year level was him. Probably because he had bashed up the last person to spread rumours about him.

"His name is Uchiha Itachi, and he just moved here from little valley primary school." Little valey was one of the well known private schools in the area, so why this Itachi person had moved was a mystery to Sasori. Especially if this was the Uchiha Itachi he thought it was.

"Come on in, Itachi." Jiraiya had told the boy.

The orange door into the classroom had opened, and Sasori immediately took an interest in the figure that stepped in. dressed all in black, with black hair and eyes, but skin as pale as untouched snow, Itachi was an intimidating figure. Almost as intimidating as the red headed Sasoi.

"Itachi, will you introduce yourself?" Jiraiya had asked. A single nod had answered his question.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, and I am six years old. I love my baby brother and hate everyone else." This abrupt statement had been made without one expression crossing his face.

"Can I sit down now?" this last question had been directed at the white haired teacher.

"Ahh," Jiraiya clearly didn't know how to handle this boy "If there aren't any questions…"

Sasori's hand waved lazily through the air.

"Yes, Sasori?" Jiraiya didn't know how to deal with him either. Sasori ignored him, staring into the new boys onyx eyes.

"Are you the son of Mikoto and Fugaku?" Sasori asked, curiosity showing on his small face. He folded his hands together and rested his cheek against his cold fingers. "The Uchiha prodigy?"

A nod met his statement. They stared at each other for a moment longer, silently judging each other. It looked very odd to the rest of the class, like something incredibly important was happening, but they couldn't seem to understand what.

Suddenly, the red head smirked.

"My name is Akasuna no Sasori. Come sit by me, Uchiha."

*end flashback*

That was how they had become friends, snap first judgements and a mutual enjoyment of freaking people out. They weren't the type to sacrifice things for each other, and they weren't dependant on each other. Sasori had half a mind to turn around and go home, because it had already been half an hour, and Sasuke's friend had not shown up when he heard something.

"ART IS A BANG, YEAH!"

Oh, no, they did not just say that.

Sasori turned around, to come face to face with a blond that seemed to be running away from something.

"What did you just say?" he growled out, fists clenching. Only art could get him this worked up, this quickly.

"I said that art is a bang, yeah." the blond repeated in a slightly quieter voice. Sasori winced. Slightly quieter was still very loud.

"No it's not." Sasori informed him. "Art is eternal beauty, unreachable and untouchable. Art is what everyone strives to be, but never quite reaches." The blond looked at him weirdly.

"What are you talking about? Art is fleeting, a moment of transient beauty, there for only one moment yet, remembered forever."

"I dare you to say that again."

"Alright, asshole; Art is fleeting, a moment of transient beauty…"

The blond stopped talking as a fist found its way to his cheek.

Glares were exchanged between bright blue eyes and earthy brown ones.

This is war.

Sooo . . . what do ya think?

Not quite as good as the first chapter, I must admit, but I couldn't just leave it there.

It was incredibly hard to start up again, because the ending was so good, and not open ended at all. completely forgot where I was going with it.

It is longer, though, nearly 2000 words. Hehehe, at the moment, that's probably the best you'll get from me.

Disclaimer: If I owned naruto, Sasuke would be dead,

If I owned naruto, Sasori would be in my bed.

If I owned naruto, he wouldn't be so fail

And if I owned naruto, I'd probably commit suicide because looking at the orange monstrosity I had made into the main character would depress me that much.

Thanks for reading, reviewing (virtual teddies from me to anyone that did drop me a line) and umm…. Sorry, forgot what I was going to say.

I Know it has something to do with purple platypuses from Pluto, but what they've got to do with what I'm talking about is questionable.

I would also like to thank Neji for reminding me about my pants, and would like to tell him that he can talk :P

Anyways, see ya (I refuse to say 'ja ne' as I think it sounds stupid coming from me.)

Hope you enjoyed.

Nychta is OUT.

Nighty-night.