Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto Shippuuden or any characters in it.
A/n: Thank you so much to Kyra213 for BETA-ing the fic! Thanks! And also special thanks to Oroby for the awesome video tribute to this fanfic! You can find it on youtube titled Magic City - SasoDei (a Tribute To Kyuuka's Fanfic) [PREVIEW & dancing intro]
Italics are thoughts or flashbacks.
Chapter 9
Akasuna Sasori was truly impressed by the way the Iwagakurians built their temples. They had transformed the cave into the main temple and the huge boulders surrounding the area were carved and shaped into small shrines. The craftsmanship of the people here were truly mesmerizing and the whole place spelled 'A-R-T'. Some parts of the place were still under construction, as Sasori could still see some of the craftsmen working with their tools.
The redhead had to admit that Sakura's idea of visiting this temple was the most brilliant idea the pink-haired lady had ever came up with. And she was so right that Sasori was going to love this place. He turned slightly to see Sakura beaming at him, questioning if he liked the place, while Kakashi—Sakura's bodyguard—was reading Icha-Icha Paradise as he stood next to the lady.
Sasori replied honestly that he loved the place which made the pink-haired lady smile even more. She began chatting away about how much she knew him and that he could find no one who knew him as much as she did. Sasori wasn't listening to her. The three of them then made their way into the main temple.
The atmosphere of the cave-temple was cooling and it was a nice change from the hot weather. Chants could be heard coming from the monks. The statue of some deity unknown to Sasori stood magnificently on the altar, as smoke from the burning incense reached the redheaded businessman's nose. They smelled really different from normal incenses.
"They were made from the National Flower of Iwa: the Tsukihana." Said a voice from behind.
Sasori, Sakura and Kakashi turned to find a man with a strange orange mask behind them. Judging from the distance, Sasori had assumed that it was the man who had spoken to him.
"Oh," Sasori replied, pondering whether he had spoken his question out loud.
"You must be tourists here!" Exclaimed the masked man in his bubbly tone. He flung his hands in mid-air, "We don't have many tourists in this season. Welcome!" Pointing towards the burning incenses, he continued, "Many tourists seem to be fascinated by the unique smell of the incenses."
"Well, they do smell lovely." Sakura nodded.
Sasori eyed the man suspiciously, wondering if he wanted to ask for donations or something, like most religion institutions did. The orange-masked man turned towards the redhead, "The name's Tobi, by the way." He waved, "Feel free to look around." Saying this, the bubbly man turned on his heels and disappeared into the many tunnels that were present in the cave.
"What a strange man." The pink-haired lady blinked and Sasori merely shrugged. Kakashi did not even look up as he continued reading his beloved porn book.
CRASH! The noise of something falling echoed throughout the place. Then a loud 'Ouch,' could be heard. The sound itself was loud enough to alert everyone in the area as they all turned towards the source of the noise. The noise seemed to be coming from one of the many tunnels that the orange-masked man had disappeared into.
"TOBI!!! How many times have I told you not to touch those paints?!!!" Suddenly, a loud voice boomed.
The redhead by the name of Sasori raised a brow at the voice. It was extremely familiar. 'Deidara' was the first name that popped into the redhead's mind. Then his logical self got the better of him, 'No, no, no. Why would he even be here?'
Inner-Sasori stated, 'Well, who knows? This might be what they call 'fate''
Sasori's logical self quickly argued, 'I refuse to believe in such stupid things as fate and destiny. It is simply not possible for him to be everywhere I am at.'
"Ah! Sorry, Deidara-sempai, Tobi is a good boy. Tobi didn't see sempai's paints there."
Sasori almost dropped his jaws as the blond magician appeared from one of the tunnels, fuming. He did not see the redhead who was looking right at him. The only thing that occupied Deidara's mind was the orange-masked man who had just spilled his paint all over the floor.
"Freaking Tobi, un!" He scolded over his shoulders. Tobi continued to apologize, although it did not seem to ease the magician's anger. Turning back, Deidara finally caught sight of the redhead. His eyes widened and a smile immediately replaced the frown he had on earlier, "Danna, un!" He waved.
Sakura who was standing next to Sasori turned at looked at the redhead, "Who is that?" she asked.
"Just a friend." The words left Sasori's mouth before he could think. It did not sound right, yet Sasori did not know what to say. He was somehow grateful that Deidara could not hear him from that distance.
Deidara approached the trio leaving Tobi behind. The orange-masked man kept apologizing but his sempai ignored him. The magician took a glance at the pink-haired lady standing next to the redhead, and then he turned his attention towards Sasori. 'No, Deidara, you should not kiss him right now, un.' Deidara's inner-self reminded. 'Just settle for a hug right now.'
Before Sasori could react, the blond magician had already wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a hug. "It's nice to see you, danna, un," said Deidara. Sasori felt slightly uncomfortable as he struggled slightly to free himself.
At last, Deidara let him go. With his usual Cheshire grin, he patted Sasori on the head. Sasori frowned as Sakura tilted her head sideways. "Um…" She turned her attention towards Deidara, "Hi." She smiled. "I'm Sasori's fiancée – Haruno Sakura." She introduced herself as she held out a hand.
"Ex-fiancée." Sasori quickly corrected her.
'Fiancée?' Deidara's mind went blank for a moment, yet his smile did not falter. He took Sakura's hand and shook it. "Hi, the name's Deidara, un." His stare fall upon Sasori, "Say, your fiancée's a real beauty, isn't she?"
"I just said, she's my ex!" Sasori almost screamed.
Deidara merely made a hand gesture, "Right, whatever, un."
Sasori somehow felt uneasy inside, even when the blond was all smiley like usual. The redhead could sense something was not right. 'Great, Sasori, now what are you, a psychic!?' Inner-Sasori snorted.
Then, Sasori's logic-self took control, 'Meh, why do you even care?' The redhead took a glance at the magician. The fact remained was that he did care about Deidara's feelings. 'Is he jealous of Haruno-san?'
Before Sasori's mind could continue to analyze the situation, Deidara had already spoken, "So, care to join me for lunch?" He turned towards the pink-haired lady and smiled. "There's a cafeteria just around here, un."
Sakura blushed slightly at the sight of Deidara's mesmerizing smile, she immediately turned towards Sasori, "Sasori-kun, we should have lunch with him. I'm getting slightly hungry anyway." She tugged on the redhead's suit. "Ne?"
The redheaded businessman stared straight at Deidara. After moments of silence, the redhead shrugged and said, "Whatever…"
After 5 long hours, the plane departing from Yukigakure had finally landed in the land of Iwa. Two Uchiha brothers got off the plane and proceeded in taking their luggage. The younger Uchiha seemed to be in a bad mood. The elder brother could only sigh and shake his head when the younger one shot him glares every time he asked him a question.
'Well, Sasuke's always in a bad mood when he wakes up,' thought Itachi. "Sasuke, are you sure you're not gonna eat?" questioned the elder Uchiha, as the two of them walked towards the exit.
Sasuke laid down his luggage bag the moment they reached the front porch, and shot Itachi a glare. "For the umpteenth time, I said NO!" He stifled a yawn, "Let's just get to the hotel…" Sasuke's eyelids were heavy as he strived hard to remain standing. "When is Yakushi-san going to be here?"
Itachi looked at his watch. "Hmm…he's late." Just then, his cell phone rang. 'Chiyo Obasama' flashed across the screen. Itachi narrowed his eyes. 'This can't be good.' He thought as he answered the call. "Yes?"
"Oh, Itachi." The old woman's voice was hoarse. "Sorry to tell you that Sasori's busy at the moment and he needs the chauffeur." The sound coming from the TV could be heard from the end of the phone; clearly the old lady must be watching some soap operas because she seemed distracted as she talk, as if she wanted to end the conversation quickly.
"I understand." Itachi made a response. "We will take a cab to the hotel then. Thank you for informing us." There was a 'click' at the end of the line when Chiyo hung up. Itachi hung up as well, before turning his attention towards his younger brother. "Wait here, I'll go get us a cab." Saying this, the elder Uchiha disappeared into the crowds.
Sasuke plopped a chewing gum into his mouth, trying to keep himself as awake as he could. He could always get coffee but he disliked the taste of it. Gradually, he let his eyes stray. They landed on a poster stuck to one of the many poles of the building. After further inspection, he realized all the poles were glued with the same poster.
The younger Uchiha raised a brow as he immediately recognized the person in the poster. 'Huh? Naruto?' A smirk appeared on the raven's face as he crossed his hands.
"KYUUBI LIVE IN IWA ON THE 23rd!" Read the poster. Three men were seen striking poses for it. Sasuke recognized the blond man who stood in the middle of the poster but he did not know who the other two were.
'It seems you've become a rock-star now, huh, Usuratonkachi?' Sasuke thought to himself as he recalled his childhood friend – and also ex-boyfriend. The blond must have hated Sasuke now for disappearing like that. Well, who wouldn't? Sasuke had merely left a note saying 'Let's break up' and then left Konoha without a word.
'Sasuke, you really are a jerk,' thought inner-Sasuke. The raven, of course—being the stuck-up prick he was—would never admit it to anyone.
"Sasuke!" The younger raven turned to find Itachi waving for him to come. He had gotten a taxi. Dragging his luggage along, the raven approached his elder brother and after helping to get the bags into the trunk, the taxi sped off along with its passengers.
The cafeteria wasn't really crowded because it was not yet the holiday season. Sasori sat on one of the rock-made stools as he stared across the room at Deidara and Sakura who stood in line with their trays. They seemed to be chatting happily and for some reason, Sasori felt his stomach churn at the sight.
Kakashi, of course, could not care less as his mind was focused on one thing: Icha Icha Paradise Volume 13. The strange orange masked man, Tobi, had also tagged along and was seated across the table from Sasori. Tobi was dozing off and loud snores could be heard in the silent surrounding.
The redheaded businessman pondered whether he should walk over to the merrily chatting people and offer to help out with carrying the food or something; anything that would stop Deidara and Sakura from being overly friendly towards each other. Inner-Sasori seemed to laugh, 'Oooh, someone's getting J-E-A-L-O-U-S here.' Annoyed by that thought, Sasori quickly brushed it off with a 'No, I'm not!'
Sasori immediately snapped out of his thoughts when a loud shriek could be heard, following the noise of trays and plates falling to the ground. His attention immediately turned towards the source of noise. The sight in front of him made Sasori's heart clench.
It seemed that Sakura had almost slipped but had been thankfully saved by Deidara, who was quick enough to catch hold of the lady by her arm. The food, though was unfortunately unsalvageable as it lay alongside the broken plates and bowls. Tobi had already rushed towards Deidara's side, taking the tray Deidara was having a hard time balancing, due to having to hold the pink haired woman up at the same time.
Sasori got to his feet as he hurried towards the incident's scene. Kakashi was already there to help the lady, who had apparently strained her ankle when she slipped. So in the end, the redhead was not able to help out with anything.
"Hey, you alright?" Tobi questioned the lady. Sakura wore a pained expression as she clenched her fists. "It hurts!" Kakashi had already taken off the lady's shoe and examined the strained ankle.
"I think we should send you to the hospital," said the personal bodyguard to the pink-haired lady. Without taking a look at Sasori, he then said, "Akasuna-san, could you please contact Kabuto?" His then pressed on the injured ankle which made Sakura screamed in pain. "Please bear with it." He told the lady.
While Sasori was giving his chauffeur a call, Deidara had already gotten an icepack from the kitchen. The blond magician handed the icepack to Kakashi. The older man then used it to treat Sakura's sprain.
"Kabuto said he's going to be here in a minute," declared the redheaded businessman.
"Eh?" The icepack made Sakura's pained expression subsided. "I don't think that's necessary, Sasori-kun." She forced a smile, "I feel better already."
"No, we need to get your sprain checked by the doctors," Kakashi insisted.
Just then, Tobi spoke, "Tobi knows! We can get Haruno-san to Nagato-sensei! He could help Haruno-san!" The orange-masked man made a gesture, "Tobi could take you guys to him! Nagato-sensei lives in the shrine!" Tobi spoke in his usual bubbly manner.
Kakashi seemed hesitant. The pink-haired lady gave a sigh, then turned towards Sasori, "Sasori-kun, I think we should go with Tobi-san here. It's really troublesome to go to the doctor anyway."
"Yes, yes! The hospital is very far away!" Tobi nodded in agreement, "Rest assured. Nagato-sensei specializes in treating sprains and the likes!"
Sasori took a glance at Deidara, who seemed unbelievably quiet. It just did not seem like the blond to be so quiet. "Deidara?" The redhead questioned, but the magician didn't seem to even spare him a glance.
"Ah, let's go. We don't want Haruno-san's wound to worsen, do we, un?" Deidara strolled towards the cafeteria's exit. The others trailed behind. Sasori stood on the spot, shocked by Deidara's cold attitude towards him.
'What the…?!' The redhead felt his stomach churn and his rage begin to boil. 'How dare he?!' The words kept repeating themselves as Sasori struggled hard to calm down. The moment his rage begin to subside, fear took over…The fear of being ignored by Deidara made Sasori's mind a mess. The redhead bit on his lips hard, a mixture of emotions overwhelming him.
'Gosh…what is this feeling?' He had never experienced this before. He had never felt fear for trivial things like this. The redhead stared ahead as Deidara, Sakura, Tobi and Kakashi began to disappear through the exit, before pacing up to follow the four.
TBC…
A/n: …un? Gomen for the late update and please R&R, thank you.