It took another day to get back to Kirigakure. By then, at least, Hitomi had made some small progress with the water-walking technique. She could stand if the water was very calm, and if she didn't move at all. At any rate, she was learning, but it still meant that the boys had to take turns carrying her over the water.

Kirigakure had then been put out; whether by nature or living people, it was difficult to tell. Not a lot of the damage was cleaned up, though, so the children were forced to assume it was the former. They trekked through the village with varying degrees of excitement back to their home.

Ryo was the first one in the still-open doorway. Hitomi followed him loyally, while Seishirou reluctantly brought up the rear. He still didn't think his parents knew the Akatsuki, even if all signs were pointing to his being wrong. He just didn't like the idea. It was too…bizarre. But maybe…maybe it would explain my hair and eyes, he couldn't help but think.

"Mother's room is upstairs," Hitomi said, leading the way. Seishirou chose to stay in the darkened living room, sitting in one of the chairs. It seemed rather eerie, though, to stay downstairs alone, so he hastily followed Ryo up the stairs. It felt odd, passing his own room in favor of his parents', but he could shrug that off. It'd be the least odd thing he would do this week, probably.

Ryo was already lifting the mattress, searching for any pictures. Hitomi studied the pictures on the dresser and nightstand, then lifted one. Seishirou recognized it as the one his mother had called 'a younger her and her two best friends'. None of them were wearing Akatsuki uniforms, though.

"Does your mother have a safe or something she kept valuables in?" Ryo asked, setting the mattress back down.

"No."

"She always said that with three shinobi in the house, there was no need," Seishirou explained. He was slowly opening drawers, riffling through the contents. Now, back in his house, in his parents' room…he wondered where they were.

Immediately the grey-eyed genin felt guilty for not worrying about this earlier. Somehow, he just kept putting it off. But now he faced it head-on: his parents were either missing or dead. After all, they hadn't seen anyone else alive yet, not even from the safe house--the safe house! Seishirou's head snapped up. "Guys, we never went back to the safe house!"

"Hm?" Hitomi looked up from going through their father's shirts.

"What if--What if our parents are all there? What if that's where everyone is, and they're just waiting for-for something?" he asked excitedly, pathetically hopeful. But there had to be some people there; not everyone had come to the village's 'defense' like they had. There was no way they could have been the only survivors.

"Let's just find those pictures," Ryo said dismissively. He bent down and looked under the bed. "Jackpot!" The Kiri genin crawled under the bed, coming back out on the other side with a large, dusty box.

The safe house was lost in the excitement of potentially finding something. Hitomi and Seishirou abandoned their searches and sat on the bed with Ryo, crowded around the box. With a flourish, he pulled the lid off, and they stared.

-.-.-

What the hell was Kakuzu doing with that woman?! Sasori's thoughts lately had been continually straying back to his supposed ally. Kakuzu had attacked him, though, and that woman had been wearing his uniform. It didn't take a genius to know something was going on. It was thanks to his genius that Sasori formed a good theory.

First, he knew that Hidan had somehow been separated from Kakuzu after 'fighting some bitch'. And there had long since been rumors of a very strong kunoichi haunting the eastern coast, picking off any stray ninja or civilians. So obviously, somehow this was that woman, and she had gotten Kakuzu's loyalty. Somehow. Possibly bribing him…but he wouldn't ditch Hidan that easily, would he? And Hidan had said that they had fought her…

It's some sort of mind control, Sasori surmised. Perfectly logical, especially considering he did the same thing to his subordinates. But it would have to have been one hell of a mental leash if she could get Kakuzu, of all people. He was one of the strongest-willed ninja the Suna-nin knew.

But that would have to wait for another time; that fight had thrown him off course, and also meeting with Hitomi and Seishirou again. Now he only had five days left to catch up with the Nibi, who undoubtedly pulled ahead of him quite a bit.

At least the kids had survived. Too bad their parents probably wouldn't.

-.-.-

"This is…a mask?" Ryo pulled the white mask out of the box, holding it up against the light. "ANBU mask… A rabbit. Old, too. Your father had a rabbit ANBU mask?" He couldn't resist a snort of laughter.

"I'm pretty sure it would have been my mother's. Dad said he never joined ANBU." Seishirou pulled out the next thing, a white, sword-like object. He tried to bend it, but while it seemed brittle and the edges were cracked, as if broken off, it didn't give in the least. "What is this?"

"Some kind of sword?" Ryo suggested, setting the mask down. "Is it sharp?"

Seishirou ran his finger along both edges. Both of them were sharp. Not sharp like a sword, but sharp enough to draw blood. "Yeah," he replied around his fingers, sucking on them to stop the bleeding.

"Idiot," Ryo said under his breath, digging into the box and withdrawing a hitai-ate. It wasn't a Kiri one, either. It had what appeared to be a leaf on it… "Is this the Konoha symbol? I thought your parents were from Ame…"

"The Byakugan originally came from Konohagakure," Hitomi recited. "Perhaps it is one of our grandparents'…?"

"There's another one in here, though." Unlike the first, which had navy fabric, this one had black fabric, and a score across the symbol. "…One for each of your parents?"

Seishirou rolled his eyes, taking his fingers out of his mouth. The taste of blood was starting to annoy him. "Maybe. Only maybe. It's not like it has a nametag on it. This stuff could belong to anyone."

Hitomi dipped into the box, coming back out with another hitai-ate. This one had four vertical lines on it, and no line across. "…Ame symbol."

"Only one?"

Ryo looked in the box, shaking his head. "Only one. So we have two Konoha headbands, and one Ame one. And no Kiri ones…"

"Dad wears his. Mother doesn't have one, though; she said she retired from being a kunoichi when Hitomi was born." Seishirou sighed, rubbing at his eyes. As he leaned over to look at the box's contents once more, he found what they had been searching for. Thick, dusty books. Two photo albums. Hitomi reached in and took one of them out, dusting it off with her kimono sleeve (and then she frowned at the dust as it wouldn't come off, and Seishirou had to physically stop her from stripping to try to remove it).

The first picture was the same one on the nightstand. Three kids, all of them grinning. It was their mother in the middle, much younger and blushing like mad. There was a blonde, rather flat-chested girl to her right, and a boy with silver hair and glasses to her left. The picture had been taken slightly crooked, but it only made it look better.

All three of them were wearing different headbands.

"Iwa, Konoha…what is this one?" Seishirou tapped the picture, right on the silver-haired ninja's head. A music note?

"Oto," Ryo replied seriously. "It was destroyed by an Akatsuki member before any of the others. And it was owned by an ex-Akatsuki member. And this would explain one of the Konoha headbands… So the other must belong to your father."

Hitomi nodded as Seishirou scowled. She flipped the page, lightly running her fingers over the next picture. It was the blonde girl, again--or rather, blonde boy. Obviously he was a he, as he didn't have a shirt on. Seishirou squinted as he looked over her shoulder; that guy looked familiar, too. The blonde was posing, sticking his tongue and chest out, his long hair messed up and wearing nothing but his pants. The sleeping bag by his feet gave away the fact that he'd just woken up. "Who is this?" Hitomi asked.

"I… His name is Deidara."

"That name sounds familiar," Ryo mused.

The next picture was their mother again, younger and this time missing her Konoha headband. Instead, she had tied up her hair like her blonde friend and had apparently even gone as far as to borrow his scratched Iwa hitai-ate. She was smiling and rather red in the face, probably pressed into dressing like that for the picture.

"These are all just silly pictures she took of her friends. Obviously she just didn't want us to know that she had out-of-village friends," Seishirou scoffed, crossing his arms, though he couldn't help the uneasiness that was pooling in his stomach. That blonde, his stupid grin, it was too familiar.

The following photograph put even his doubts away.

It was of the blonde guy again. His hair was up and brushed this time, and he had his own headband back. And he had a serious expression on his face. He was posing, though, leaning against a tree, the dappled light on his body only highlighting what he was wearing.

An Akatsuki uniform.

"…Your mom's friend was an Akatsuki member. Deidara was an Akatsuki member," Ryo said breathlessly.

Hitomi silently turned the page, her white eyes staring blankly at the photos. Seishirou could only swallow, at a loss for words. What did you say when you found out your mother--possibly father, too--had connections to the group who brought about the end of the shinobi villages?

The next picture, again, had people wearing the uniform. This one, though, they immediately recognized a character from. Hoshigaki Kisame, the only Kiri-nin in the group. He was leaning on a shorter, black-haired ninja with a scratched Konoha headband, who was glaring evilly up at him.

They just kept flipping through pictures. Now that the Akatsuki connection was cemented, it was as if the kids couldn't get enough of this mysterious past. Here was a picture with that black-haired Konoha-nin again, looking like he'd been caught off guard by the camera. Then the blonde yet again, grinning broadly and holding up a white crane. The albino man, Hidan, covered in blood from head to foot and cackling. A photograph of their father, with his brown hair cut amazingly short, in full formal wear. He was wearing a scored Konoha headband.

"Your parents…came from Konoha. And lived in Ame. Now they're in Kiri. Why did they keep moving?" Ryo asked quietly, looking up at the two opposite him.

"Maybe they were refugees. Amegakure was supposedly a magnet for people fleeing their country," Hitomi said, eyes still on the photos under her fingers. She flipped the page, taking in the silver-haired boy again, looking much older and much more serious. Beside him, a redheaded Akatsuki member was scowling into the camera. Her breath hitched. "This is…This is Sasori. He has not aged a day…"

Seishirou hastily flipped the page. He was trying to ignore the fuzzy, half-formed memories that were suddenly coming back: A blonde with long hair that he accused of being girly, playing outside in the mud with a redhead, who had asked him if he was an artist…

There was a photograph of his mother, looking terrified, and the black-haired Konoha-nin glaring daggers at her. Behind him was the blonde Iwa-nin, ready to pounce on his unwary prey.

A pretty brunette girl with dark green eyes, smiling broadly. There was a black-haired boy standing beside her with his arms around her shoulders, winking at the camera. He had sharpened teeth: a Kiri-nin as well.

A picture of the blonde guy again, leaning down to plant a kiss on their mother's cheek. She was a brilliant shade of red in response to this.

A tired-looking woman with blue hair, a white flower in it for decoration. She, too, was wearing an Akatsuki uniform, but it seemed to be baggy on her.

"There aren't any of your mom wearing a uniform…?" Ryo said helpfully, digging in the box for the other photo album. Maybe that would have more recent pictures. Neither Seishirou or Hitomi replied to him. He sighed, but couldn't help feeling a bit awkward. He knew this was a lot to digest, but they didn't have to look so shell-shocked about it. "She must have been one of those 'other ninja' that hung around the Akatsuki…"

Sasori again, with Deidara. They were glaring daggers at each other, the blonde's mouth open in some sort of shout or snarl. Following that, a photograph of the two again, yet again in poses of dislike. And after that--the most bizarre picture yet: Obviously Deidara and Sasori, but they were both in dresses. Deidara's hair was even up in pigtails.

Hitomi laughed.

Seishirou blinked in surprise; Hitomi didn't just laugh. But she couldn't stop. Ryo, too, then started laughing, and Seishirou felt himself join in the laughter just to avoid the stress. The three kids collapsed on each other on a pile on top of the memories, laughing hysterically at what a crazy life that must have been.

The photo albums and the sword both fell onto the floor with thumps, the books falling open. The kids ignored it, still cackling like mad. None of them noticed the photographs that were pinned open by the fallen sword. One, a photo of the black-haired Konoha-nin holding Kisho. The other was of the blunette woman again, smiling vapidly, standing next to a ginger-haired man with many piercings and ringed, grey eyes.

Seishirou happened to flop over to the edge of the bed, kicking his legs in the air for how hard he was laughing. There wasn't even anything to laugh at, which somehow made it funnier. Hitomi fell on top of his stomach, giggling shrilly and for the moment, not caring if her kimono got rumpled or if her hair came out from behind her barrettes.

Just before he reopened his eyes, his arm, hanging limply over the edge, swept the photo albums under the bed.

The laughter subsided, slowly. None of the children spoke. Instead, they just breathed, trying to catch their breaths and digest some of the information they'd just gathered.

So mom has Akatsuki friends…? Seishirou thought wonderingly, staring up at the ceiling. Hitomi was heavy on his stomach. He remembered vague things from their previous home. Deidara and Sasori had visited them; that much was certain. But how could his mother have kept something like this from both her children? It seemed like such a big deal, and now they couldn't even ask her…

Seishirou stood up, rolling Hitomi off his lap. She huffed and hurriedly sat up, straightening her hair and kimono. There were too many questions still unanswered, and there was only one person who they could find. "We need to find Sasori."

"He is an Akatsuki-nin and has a day on us right now. It'd take us another day to reach the mainland again, and then he has two days on us. We don't even know where they're going," Ryo complained, but he stood up as well. Seishirou knew his teammate would stand by him in this decision, even if he needed to work out the details first.

"He is following the Nibi. We merely need to follow it, too." Hitomi combed through her black hair with her fingers, sticking her tongue out in concentration. Then, picking up her stuffed chicken, she leaned over the edge of the bed to retrieve the discarded photo albums and odd, white sword. She grabbed the white thing's handle and used it to fish the two books out, closing them in the process.

"He still has a lead on us…" Ryo said warningly.

"He'll reach his destination eventually. Or get caught up fighting the Nibi. We'll catch up eventually." Seishirou would have no excuses for not following him. He would be their only lead, their only source of answers, unless they could figure out where their parents were.

Seishirou picked one of the photo albums up from his sister's hands. Flipping it open, he noted that this was the older one. He pulled a few of the pictures out, tossing them on a bed. "Come on, we might need some of these later…" For identification, or, perhaps, even to help prove that they needed this information.

Ryo grabbed the other book as Hitomi slid off of the bed, readjusting her kimono. He, likewise, pulled out a few important-looking pictures, tossing them into the pile. He didn't look at too many of the pages, just selecting those from the very beginning and ending. "Are we going to take that sword-thing?"

"Sure, why not?" Seishirou replied without looking up.

Once they were done ransacking their mother's memories, the children dumped the rest in the box and placed it back under the bed, just in case (of what, they had no clue). Hitomi had taken her old traveling bag from her room and, as it was the least full of the three, stored the photographs carefully in one of the pockets. Her stuffed chicken went in next. "…Shall we go, Seishirou?"

Seishirou grinned and took her hand. "Yeah."

Ryo cleared his throat, shouldering his backpack. "This Sasori-san still has a lead on us. Can we go now?"

-.-.-

Hitomi couldn't help but notice the tense air in which they traveled in now. Once he got an idea into his head, Seishirou would pursue it, mind and body. He was probably obsessing over these Akatsuki connections, but what could she do to help him? Sasori was the only one who could at this point. Ryo wasn't sure what to say, either, about this newfound knowledge, so he usually kept to himself, and Hitomi wasn't going to start a conversation.

So she threw herself into her training. She'd noticed Ryo doing a few exercises or warm-ups during their breaks and before they went to sleep at night, and somehow had gathered the courage to ask him to help her with the same things. Most of it was basic, like stretches or push-ups, and she didn't quite like those. But they did help her chakra control, too. And halfway to the mainland, she finally picked up how to use the water-walking technique.

Granted, she was wobbly at first and fell into the sea quite a few times, but by the time they reached the coast, she was running on the waves, just like they were. It helped the stress levels, but only a little.

They came in on a section of beach much farther south than before, so they noticed something rather obvious that they hadn't earlier.

There was a wide swath of land, burned and blackened. A distinguished set of paw prints were darker than the rest of the trail. This was where the Nibi had come.

Hitomi tried to straighten her salt-stiff kimono as they traveled, but that was difficult. Even more so when they got to the forests and traveled through the trees. That was difficult, too. Though it took awhile, she did get the hang of it without falling. Actually using the techniques taught her much faster than learning about them in books, that was for sure.

They didn't see anyone. No mysterious purple-haired woman, and no Akatsuki members. That was probably a good thing, though. Hitomi didn't feel the need for more complications. She already had to deal with her messy hair and messy clothes, and her backpack was heavy, too. She couldn't fight, and Seishirou and Ryo were only genin. The wilderness, they could probably face. But not Akatsuki members.

Then, on the second day of their land-based journey, they came across someone.

-.-.-

Sasori had forgotten one key detail in his plan: the Sanbi.

And, just because the Nibi had wanted to keep an eye on the three-tailed demon and the foul-mouthed immortal in its jaws, they had traveled together. The great turtle made their progress painfully slow.

So Sasori caught up with them much sooner than he would have otherwise imagined. He had pretty much given up hope, actually, of catching the Bijuu. They had a head start and were probably faster. So he was very surprised when, as he came out of the forest that had been amazingly dense since the edge of the eastern coast, he saw two hulking masses in the distance. One of them was radiating heat, creating a shimmer around them. And the trail they were leaving was still smoldering.

He hadn't expected to actually do anything, and now he had the chance. But what chance did a lone Akatsuki member have against two demons? Although… It's not just myself. If I can free Deidara, or Hidan, or even Hinata, they will help, he told himself.

He waited until dusk to sneak up on them. It actually wasn't that hard to do so. The Nibi had a constant hiss of fire around its body, and both demons seemed to be conversing lowly as they settled down for the night. Sasori had to admit he was a bit surprised by this; he hadn't expected them to stop so soon.

He already had two puppets out, following him: The Sandaime and the Copy-nin. Electricity had proved itself to be useful against the Sanbi, at least, and he could only hope that the iron sand would do something about the Nibi's flames. He wasn't exactly thinking at his clearest right then, due to the gravity and stress of the situation, otherwise Sasori probably would have spent at least an hour planning out some elaborate fool-proof strategy.

But Sasori wasn't thinking too rationally. He could only concentrate on saving Deidara. The scariest thing was that he realized he was rushing into this with a half-assed plan, and didn't do a thing about it.

Maybe that was why things turned out so horribly.

He never even made it to the demons. The Sanbi caught him a hundred meters out with a scaly tail, throwing him back the way he came. Then the Nibi pounced on him--even from that distance--soared through the air with tails of flame and landed squarely on him. "We know you can't seal someone inside your body," the cat hissed, its teeth close enough to scrape against his jaw. The Nibi pushed downward, digging him into the solid rock below. "So we'll just dispose of you now."

-.-.-

Sasori awoke to bright sun. Which was quickly covered as someone with large, white eyes leaned over him, their face inches from his. He groaned, closing his eyes again. "Hime, go bug Deidara…" Sasori whined, rolling over.

"Deidara has been kidnapped, has he not?"

That sure woke Sasori up.

This wasn't what he had been expecting--or rather, hoping for. Instead, he was tied up (somewhat sloppily) and was seated against a tree, with three children standing around him, looking down at him with varying degrees of anger. He could have gotten out of the ropes in a heartbeat (if his heart even beat anymore), but Sasori was a bit too surprised to care. That was generally what happened when the Rinnegan was staring at you with the intent of wishing you a violent death.

Sasori hadn't seen the kid for years. Almost a decade. Aside from saving his ass in Kirigakure, but that had been a coincidence, and he had only stopped both him and his evil-looking teammate because he had happened to be traveling in the same direction and thought he'd lighten his karmic load a bit. So he hadn't really seen Seishirou for a long time. Or interacted with him to any degree.

"You almost got killed, you idiot! What were we supposed to do then?!" the ginger-haired kid--who looked a bit too much like Pein for Sasori to be completely comfortable with this situation--demanded harshly.

"How should I know?" Sasori snapped in reply, scowling. "You're the idiots who think they can keep me tied up--"

"You should be lucky you're not dead, Sasori-san," the evil-looking, black-haired one said. The redhead chuckled at the irony of that. "Now, if you don't mind, we have a few questions we'd like to ask you…"

"About our parents," Hitomi added.

"Hinata-hime? She was just caught by the Bijuu. I have no idea where your father would be."

"…For her Akatsuki connections? Was she taken because of that?" Seishirou was suddenly in his face, kneeling down and peering at him intently.

Yeah, right. He wasn't going to get into that now. Who knew what can of worms that would open?

Instead of answering, Sasori stood up, and leapt up into the tree above him, arms still bound. "Stay away from me," he growled, and darted off. He knew that a couple of genin couldn't catch him, especially if he was trying to get away. He didn't bother thanking them for saving his life and dragging him back several kilometers the way he'd just come. Sasori just wanted to find the Nibi again.

-.-.-

Ryo had moved to follow Sasori, but Seishirou held him back. "No…we can't catch him now. It's enough that he knows we're in the vicinity. We'll catch up to him eventually, right?"

"If you say so…" the black-haired boy replied grudgingly. He sighed, and then reached back to tighten the knot of his hitai-ate. "He definitely didn't seem to grateful that we found him out there, did he?"

"Most certainly not," Hitomi said firmly, shaking her head. "He seemed rather cranky to me. …But he called mother 'princess'…"

"Think she read him fairytales, too?" Seishirou asked with a snort. She giggled in response.

"So…now what?" Ryo interrupted the happy scene, planting his fists on his hips. "We have an old trail and now an Akatsuki member who probably will kill us if we try to follow him. Not to mention the two Bijuu."

"…They have our parents," she said quietly, interlocking her fingers with Seishirou's. "I miss them."

"Let's follow Sasori-san. He'll fight the Bijuu for us, and afterward we can see if we can get some answers." He started walking, pulling Hitomi along behind him. Ryo sighed again, and just folded his hands behind his head, following them.

The days passed excruciatingly slowly. The children were all unaware of the time limit Sasori had set on their parents' (and Deidara's) lives, so they took their time, traveling slowly westward, following the scorched trail left by the Nibi.

-.-.-

"Don't humans have to eat?" Nekomata asked, casually. She had been wondering that for some time. Even the Bijuu had to eat occasionally, but meals were usually just a human or two. Maybe large animals. She didn't know how often humans had to eat before they died.

"They'll probably die of dehydration before that becomes a problem," Isonade replied simply. The Nibi blanched, ears pinned against her skull. That was not good! She couldn't have two of the bodies she captured just die on her!

"Well then, what are you waiting for! Hydrate them, you overgrown tortoise!" she screeched, instantly dropping the two humans held in her tails. They weren't exactly quick to get back up, but she supposed that they were tired and hurt. She made a note to get someone to heal them or something before the sealing took place.

"And I'm just supposed to cough up a lake? We're in the desert!" the Sanbi snorted. She merely replied by giving him a look that said quite clearly what she thought he should do. He sighed, and obediently dropped the immortal by the other two humans, and then proceeded to cough up a lake in the middle of the desert.

Nekomata batted the three humans into the shallow water, careful to keep her paws dry. She watched in amusement as they floundered for a few moments, and then gratefully set about to drinking. Who said she was a bad kitty? However, the Nibi kept careful watch on all three of them, just in case they were stupid enough to attempt to escape. Weakened they might've been, they were all ninja, and high-level at that. She wouldn't let three nice bodies get away from her now. These three were invaluable right now. They would gain her favor with Youko--and even better, maybe she could manage to give one of them to Shukaku! The feline's tails quivered with pleasure at the mere thought.

"What are you going to feed them?" Isonade jarred her out of her thoughts, sitting down beside her. Oh yeah, he was still there, too. She had promised him the immortal, hadn't she? Maybe he'd settle for the blonde one…or maybe Shukaku wouldn't mind that one.

"I don't know. Humans, what do you want to eat?" she asked politely, rotating her ears forward to hear their answer. It was always somewhat difficult to hear little humans' voices…

"…" None of them replied immediately. The three looked at one another, unsure of what to make of the question.

She sighed, rolling her eyes. Figures. She tried to be nice to the bodies and they just stared at her. "Never mind. Isonade, just watch them. If they escape, it'll be on your head. I'm gonna go find something for them to eat…"

"Do you even know what they eat?"

"I don't know. But there's not a lot to pick from in a desert, so maybe just a bird or cactus or something. …We could always let them forage."

"Are you going to get leashes for them as well?" the Sanbi inquired with a smirk.

The three shinobi suddenly scattered, predictably heading in different directions. One of them, the Sanbi immediately caught in a tail, but the other two, the Nibi had to hunt down. She knew that they couldn't possibly hope to properly outrun them, especially with no cover. So their only choice was to hide. And she took even that away--the sparse sand dunes--by bathing the area in fire.

She found the immortal half encased in glass, trying to chip his way out with a kunai. Nekomata graciously freed him with a sweep of her claws. "Isonade," she whined, picking the immortal body up with a tail, "I don't think these humans are pleased that we're letting them have food. Maybe we shouldn't give them any."

"Sounds acceptable. If they have this much energy, they obviously don't need any more."

A shadow flew overhead. Both Bijuu looked up furiously at the departing clay bird. And then both Bijuu promptly tore after him, not willing to give up their ticket to Youko's good books.

-.-.-

Sasori was working on wiggling out of his bindings when a shadow passed overhead. He instinctively looked up; he knew that shadow. But the puppeteer still couldn't believe it when he saw the disappearing clay bird.

Freedom forgotten, he hastily scrambled back to his feet, jumping into the nearest tree. He knew he could keep up with Deidara on foot, but the problem was trying to catch his attention.

If he was flying that quickly, and apparently alone, Sasori knew he had to have somehow escaped from the Bijuu. And was fleeing from them now. He didn't know how far behind the demons were, but it couldn't be that far.

Eventually, they'd run out of forest, heading in this direction. Then Deidara would see him. But the problem was whether or not the demons would catch up before that happened. In the distance behind him, he heard a yowl. It wasn't nearly far enough behind for Sasori to be comfortable with it.

I hope those stupid kids get out of here before they're all killed. But surely even they wouldn't be stupid enough to take on the demons, right? …Right?

However, Sasori had a lucky break. With his wooden body, he wouldn't run out of breath. He could continue running at top speed, following his partner just half a kilometer behind. Whereas even the great tailed beasts would slow as their lungs struggled to keep up with their bodies.

Then he saw the bird start to descend.

The Bijuu were catching up.

Sasori mentally tried to calculate who would reach Deidara first. Most likely him. Thank the gods.

The bird finally dropped under the cover of the treetops, and Sasori jumped down onto the ground to continue his pursuit. Behind him, he could hear the Bijuu growling and snarling at each other. Then--there! The redhead saw the mass of off-white.

Sasori skidded into the small clearing, the crow turning to fix a hollow-eyed stare on him. There was no passenger.

Sasori gaped at the animated clay for a full minute. Of course, of course, why had he expected Deidara to be so stupid? The bird was merely a distraction. Deidara had used this technique before, and against Sasori! He cursed himself for being so desperate as to chase a master-less bird. He couldn't help but laugh, though.

So the two Bijuu, Hinata and Hidan wrapped in their tails, caught up with him to find nothing but a hysterical redhead and a clay bird.

-.-.-

Deidara took a deep breath, peering up over the dune of glass. So the trick had worked. Awesome. Even the Bijuu can be deceived, then we might stand a chance after all, he thought gleefully. However, this was only one phase of his grand escape plan. He still needed to save his princess, didn't he? It might be a good idea to spring Hidan, too. The Bijuu didn't need an immortal Jinchuuriki to play with.

He got to his feet, dusting himself off; not that there was anything to dust off, but he needed something to do with his hands. That bird had been the last of his clay, and already the mouths on his palms were hungry for more. They'd just have to suck it up, though, until he could find a suitable river.

"…I'll catch up with you guys later. I'll come back, Bya-chan, yeah," Deidara muttered to no one in particular, looking around him to get his bearings. Nothing but sand. And the Sanbi-created pond and glass everywhere. But still mostly sand. Looks like he'd have to try to walk back the way they came and hope the Bijuu didn't double back by that exact route.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: The kids find Sasori once more, and this time, they aren't so quick to let him get away. Sasori finds he's much more attached to his old group than he formerly thought, and as a result, it means he has three children following him! Meanwhile, the Bijuu reach their destination, with Deidara hot on their heels. Where is this destination of theirs? Why does it have Hidan so riled up?