"Sasori, explain yourself!" Pein was furious. His face was an expression of malevolence and intolerance for his subordinate's behavior. Konan was standing next to him, sporting the same look of disgrace as she observed the perimeter. Trees were blown away and there was a massive crater in the ground from the explosion. She glared amber eyes at brown waiting for the red head's answer.
Sasori could only stare back at them blankly, looking for a theory of explanation in his mind. And with Pein here, there was going to be no point attempting to beat around the bush, but... he balled his fist. If he told him the truth then... He frowned slightly. If only Deidara had listened.
"Well?" Pein questioned, taking a single step forward to show his thinning patience.
Sasori sighed. "It seems Deidara has managed to slip from my grasp. A woman by the name of Tayuya attempted to retrieve him only to to damage to our hideout."
Konan frowned. "So Deidara is responsible?"
"Not entirely..." He seemed to give a half-response, as if hiding some other intel. Konan immediately caught on to this.
"Why are you so intent on saving him? What is your reasoning behind that?!" She bellowed. "I've been watching you. And you seem to know something about that assassin that we don't. Spill it."
"Because-" Sasori had to pause for a moment. Would it really be worth telling Pein the truth? He continued his sentence, already regretting the words that were going to come out. "Because Deidara has invulnerability."
"Hmm?" Pein quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Explain what you mean."
"From gathering the results of Orochimaru's work and doing research of my own, I have learned that his body is able to withstand any and all ailments due to an experiment. He can even recover from serious injuries and his bones are able to heal themselves."
"Wait a minute..." Konan said, "If he is invulnerable, then what about when he was poisoned? Weren't you the one who had saved him?"
"No." Sasori continued to explain. "He had simply fallen deeply unconscious while his body eliminated the poison from his system on its own. This was probably unknown to him if he had never been poisoned before."
"So he can even cheat death..." Konan whispered as she put a finger on her lips in thought.
"Then he is the perfect vessel!" Pein grinned.
"But I'm not 100% sure. There could still be-"
"It doesn't matter!" Konan yelled. "Pein needs a new body now!" Konan tried not to sound too frantic, but the thought of Pein being able to stay alive that much longer filled her with hope and glee.
Pein nodded in agreement. "His body is all that I require. With elements like that, I'll never need a new vessel again!"
"Yes but-"
Pein frowned and smacked the back of his hand across Sasori's face. "You do not talk back to me. Bring me back Deidara, now!"
Sasori nodded. "As you wish."
Pein smiled maliciously. The thought of having a body that could dodge physical ailments and heal on its own... it made him shudder with excitement. He would be the most powerful, unstoppable being in existence. He smirked. 'This world will know pain.' He laughed as he returned to the hideout with Konan following behind him.
"Nnn..." She brought a hand to her forehead, and put the other around her waist. She had a sudden nauseous feeling.
Pein stopped and looked at her. "Are you alright?"
She shook it off. "Yes, I am fine."
When they were down the flight of stairs, Konan spoke her thoughts. "I don't trust him. I think he will betray us."
"Hmm?" Pein paused. "He will regret it if he does. For now, just keep an eye on him."
"Yes." Konan nodded and a paper butterfly flew from the sleeve of her robe. 'Track him and report anything suspicious.' The delicate creation seemed to understand her request and fluttered outside.
Sasori was unaware of the little spy. His thoughts were focused on Deidara. He looked up to the sky above. Large, gray clouds were drifting in from the east, creating a gloomy atmosphere. It was almost as if the oncoming storm symbolized his worries for the blonde. Somehow, some way, he needed to turn this situation around without Pein getting involved. He sighed. 'Okay, brat. Where are you?'
~:::~
Far away from where the Akatsuki base was, Deidara slowly walked down a worn down, dirt path. He assumed it would lead him to a village up ahead. He started to feel water lightly sprinkling on his face and groaned. He really didn't feel like getting wet right now and increased his pace. Eventually, the path ended and the deteriorating gates to a ramshackle village appeared. As he walked through the neighborhood, he could obviously tell that it was quite poverty stricken. Merchants were sitting outside on rugs attempting to sell what little produce they had for a high price. Men in raggedy clothes walked like zombies begging for change and crumbs while some of them lied in between the alleys of buildings.
It was a pitiful sight, and with Deidara's unusual choice of clothing, he certainly drew some attention to himself. Actually, why was he still even wearing the dastardly robe? He frowned and took it off, tossing it to the ground. 'I'm not in that stupid gang anymore!' The breeze to his abs and stomach felt nice as he was back in his usual black assassin clothes without the extra coverup. As the wind blew harder, the discarded garment dusted away on the breeze of the ground into the darkness of one of the alleyways. Not that he cared.
Still though, he wasn't liking the fact that people kept staring at him. Each time he turned around, someone quickly hid behind a building or families inside would lock their doors or close their windows. 'The fuck's up with this place?' He noticed a group of people eying him and finally his nerves couldn't take it anymore.
"The hell are you looking at?"
One of the men in the group frowned. "Get out of here!" He picked up a rock and threw it at him. "You're not welcome here! Monster!"
"Yeah, monster!" Other people in the group followed the man's actions.
Before they could even bat an eye, Deidara darted at one of the men, pinning him against the building behind him with his hand wrapped around his throat. "Listen, fucker," he snarled, "I'm in a rather bad mood today. If I were you, I'd take your little buddies and get lost!" The other men were too frightened of the blonde to do anything or stop him, so they just took off.
The man's eyes widened and he frantically shook his head. "L-let me go!"
Deidara threw the villager to the ground. He got up and quickly ran off, shouting "Monster! Its all your fault!" As he did so.
"Tch." Deidara had no clue what he was talking about. Nothing of this town looked remotely familiar to him, although the people could simply be afraid of him because of the Akatsuki robe he was wearing beforehand.
The light rain started to pick up in pace, indicating that it would begin pouring soon. He really needed to get out of this weather and find some shelter somewhere. He began to wonder how far away from Orochimaru's hideout he was. Shouldn't be more than a day or so, right? Well, whatever. First he needed to rest. It'd make no sense going out now with his energy depleted, plus he had used the majority of his clay to get away from Sasori. Faintly, he wondered why he didn't do that in the first place. Then he remembered: because Sasori would often confiscate it. He grinned. 'You shouldn't have started trusting me so soon.'
As he started to walk again, he faintly saw the image of a shadow approaching him in the distance in front of him. Looked to be a person. He assumed them to be another villager and ignored it, but a melody started to play. It was soft and entrancing and for some reason his eyelids became heavy. Whatever the music was, it seemed to be lulling him to sleep. He tried to fight it, but it was no use as the mysterious person in front of him continued to play on what looked like to be a flute. It was dark due to the dreary clouds overhead, so he couldn't quite make out their face. In an instant, he dropped to the ground and slowly began to fade from the real world. The melody continued until the person in question stopped near him. Right before he fell unconscious, he heard an eerie, feminine laugh. Wait, he recognized that voice...
"Time to wake up, Deidara!"
'Huh? Wh-what happened...' Deidara's eyelids were still heavy. It was obvious he had fallen asleep, but by what and who? When he didn't fully respond, he felt a crack of pain whip across his chest. Gasping in surprise, his eyes opened wide as looked for where the source of pain came from. It took a minute, but his vision focused enough for him too see just who he didn't want to see! "Y-you!?"
"Hahahaha!" Tayuya let out a crazed, wicked laugh. Her eyes were filled with insanity and some other disturbing emotion. It was enough to give Deidara a chill. He noticed that there was a whip in her hand and thats when he realized. He attempted to get away, only to find out that his back was up against the wall of whatever room they were in with his hands tied above his head; his feet about a foot or so off the floor. Immediately, he began to struggle and frown.
"Tayuya! What the fuck's the meaning of this?!"
She didn't answer and cracked the whip again against Deidara's flesh. The blonde screamed in pain. "Looks like I've got you right where I want you! It'd be a waste to just kill you now like I previously planned."
"What are you talking about?!" He demanded, still trying to get free, but the tight rope only cut into his wrists more.
"I'm talking about you!" This time she landed more than one whip to his chest; the flimsy torture device cut into his skin like a knife through butter. "I'm going to make you go through all the pain you put me through!" Again she cracked the whip. "I'm gonna make you suffer! Especially since you decided to show your face here of all places!"
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Deidara was near breathless from screaming.
"You don't remember this village, Deidara?"
"I obviously don't! So fill me in!" Honestly he could give two shits about this place. He just wanted out!
Tayuya's frown deepened. "This is my hometown. The one you destroyed!"
Deidara tilted his head. "What?"
She swung the whip at him again, this time with more force. He screamed, blood poured from the wicked assault. "Do you even know why I became an assassin? Because of you! This village was my home, before you came along and took everything away, including my comrades!" Angry tears poured from her eyes, remembering a past she'd rather forget. But now with the main source of her sorrow right in the palm of her hand, her confliction would come to an end.
Deidara shifted uncomfortably on the wall. "Crazy bitch!" he yelled. "Let me go! I don't know what the fuck you're talking about! And weren't you supposed to be taking me back to Orochimaru?"
"No!" She cracked the whip across his face this time, ensuing a nice, thin line of blood to drip down his forehead. "I don't know what the hell is so special about you, or why he needs you or trusts you more than me, but I wont allow it!" She growled. It was clear that she was serious and intent on having things her own way. "This village used to be my home, before you came along and destroyed it all for some fucking money!"
"Hmm?" Deidara quirked an eyebrow. "Now that you mention it, this place was on my hit list wasn't it?"
"How dare you!" She struck him again and again, until his voice filled the entire room and echoed outside. It'd be loud enough for anyone within range to hear, but she didn't care. "And after that, I swore to get revenge on you! You caused this town to look like this! After I became an assassin, Orochimaru took me in and trusted me to do his dirty work, not some washed up blonde motherfucker who can't even do his job right!"
"Hey! Who are you calling a-"
"Shutup, shutup, shutup!"
Tayuya went crazy, mercilessly beating Deidara almost to death with the object in her hand. Fuck killing him off; this was far more fun. She was going to enjoy making him go through endless pain! Once satisfied, she smiled and dropped the whip. Deidara's body was covered in red streaks, cuts and tears across his body. His clothes were tattered to the point where it looked like they would shed off any minute. He panted hard, holding back tears that threatened to come out. He felt blood seeping from every wound.
"Hmph." Tayuya grinned and blew out the lantern. "Try not to die on me too soon!" She walked out the door to the shoddy room. The glare of moonlight outside lasted a second as it disappeared from her shutting it off.
His breathing was ragged and vision painted red. After a few seconds, he noticed that he had stopped bleeding altogether and panicked. Did his body run out of blood? Was he about to die? No, he calmed down. While it was true he had never taken this much damage before, he couldn't help but to notice that something just felt weird. Like he was still in pain, but something else was going on inside him. It couldn't be that Tayuya injected him with something or her whip was poisoned? She did say that she wanted him to suffer before dying. Maybe this is what she meant? Still, he couldn't stop the sudden drowsiness that tempted him to close his eyes.
He didn't know whether or not it would be better if he did just went ahead and die. For whatever reason, his mind ventured back to when Sasori would appear at the last second to save him. He knew in this situation since the red head had no clue where he was, the chances of him appearing were slim. But he still couldn't stop clinging on to the possible hope, even if he absolutely despised the redhead. He groaned as the pain continued stinging his body and darkness sank into the room. 'Dammit, Sasori...' He began to lose consciousness. 'Where are you?'