Sasori's ghost was a combination of frightening and interesting.

The Fireball Jutsu had, of course, engulfed him completely, causing his death, and right now the spectre itself was sporting shrivelled skin and soot marks here and there. He had lost locks of his hair and now resembled a puppet, very much like the ones he was halfway through transforming into a full and complete puppet. Hidan winced a little at the wounds.

"I knew it," Hidan said, reaching out to see if he could touch the ghost. He couldn't. "You're still around,"

"You saw me, obviously," Sasori deadpanned, sounding kind of morose. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have known. The others don't,"

"So what happened?" Hidan demanded, his previous angst ebbing away as it was replaced by concern and curiosity. "What the fuck did you do to Deidara?"

Sasori's eyes widened freakishly when he heard Deidara's name.

Fuck Hidan thought, biting his lip and balling his fists. He looks…fucking scary…

"I didn't even do jackshit to that brat," Sasori said, literally gliding forward and looking Hidan in the eye. It made Hidan shiver. "He tricked everyone—he tricked Itachi,"

"Please," Hidan laughed weakly, backing off. "Deidara can't trick anyone,"

"Oh, but he did," Sasori said, smiling a little. "He's smarter than all you people think. I know it, as well as having experienced his cunning,"

"Just…fine," Hidan didn't want to argue against a ghost. Especially since it looked like that. "What'd he do?"

Sasori craned his neck, stretching it. He turned back and looked at Hidan.

"Ask him yourself," he said slowly. "Then come back to me,"

***

Deidara's eyes snapped open suddenly. He had no idea what to expect. He sat up and glanced towards his open door. He didn't even know he'd left it open. He slipped out of bed quietly and went over to close the door when he saw something.

Shit he thought.

He watched as Hidan slipped out of Sasori's room discreetly. The Jashinist's eyes met Deidara's for a while. There was something in those eyes that Deidara could not decipher. Then Hidan looked away and walked down the hall.

Deidara cocked his head and glanced in the direction of Sasori's room. He stepped out, shivering a little in the cold and turned into Sasori's room.

The sight shocked him a bit. The black outline of where the Fireball had burned was still obvious, even in the moonlight. He ignored this and followed his gut. He stepped further in, passed the room where all the poisons were stored and where he had taken a vial from, and into the chamber where all the puppets were. Their glass eyes stared back at him eerily. His eyes skipped over them, looking for anything out of place. He found nothing. He was about to leave when he saw a pile of other puppets he'd never seen before in the corner. It appeared that they were ones that were discarded.

He stepped towards it and felt a rising tension inside him. The puppets were motionless and, well, lifeless, but there was a sinister air about them. Deidara was about to reach over and touch them when he felt his eyes flutter. He needed sleep. He could do this later. He stopped, the tips of his fingers a breath away from the wood of the puppets. He straightened and turned around, walking hurriedly away, wanting to collapse into the sheets of his bed.

Little did he know that Sasori's ghost was watching him as he left, his eyes narrowed and unmoving, and his mouth a grim, unsatisfied line.

***

Hidan woke up.

He felt even more screwed, especially after seeing Sasori's ghost yesterday night. Why the fuck is my life so screwed up at the moment?! He yelled inwardly, getting up and not bothering to cover up. He walked out to the dining room without a shirt to find Deidara just sitting there, delicately picking the grains out of the multigrain bread in front of him.

"Only bread left," Deidara explained unnecessarily, flicking a seed onto his plate. Hidan ignored him, his heart beating fast, and tried to hold the question in a little longer. He grabbed his personal milk carton and drained it. He tossed the empty container into the bin and pulled out the chair opposite Deidara.

"Let me ask you something,"

Deidara tensed. He'd already known this was coming, anyway. He shouldn't have been feeling stressed out about it—but he was. Hidan waited for a response and, since he didn't get one, he continued.

"What'd Sasori ever do to you?"

Deidara clenched his teeth. He breathed through his nose.

"Don't wanna answer that, sorry,"

"Why not?" Hidan demanded. "You're too embarrassed to say, or…," he leaned forward. "…did he not even do anything to you?"

"How can you say that?" Deidara stood up abruptly. "He did unmentionable things to me,"

"Unmentionable?" Hidan repeated. Deidara sounded so…serious. Not to mention his face was contorted with genuine outrage and plastered with an expression that was indisputably upset. Just who the fuck is telling the truth?

"Yeah, that's what I just said,"

Hidan felt bad. He stood up and put his hand on Deidara' s shoulder. Deidara shrugged it off and briefly wondered why so many people were touching him nowadays. "Piss off," he said.

"Sorry, okay?" Hidan put up his hands in defeat. "Just…I've been fucking curious ever since…,"

Deidara crossed his arms defensively.

"…why did Sasori die?"

"Because he had to," Deidara breathed. "Because he deserved to. He was scum,"

Hidan was a little taken aback by Deidara's sharp, undisguised words of scorn.

"But if you want to know so badly," Deidara said, looking Hidan in the eye and holding the gaze steadily. "Sasori raped me, yeah? Is that good enough for you?"

Usually, he would've taken ages to let that come out of his mouth. But now that Sasori was dead, it was like…it didn't matter anymore. Kind of.

"Shit," was all Hidan could manage as he tried to imagine the rape scene itself—if it really happened. He didn't know what to believe and what not to at the moment. But when he did re enact the situation in his head, he could kind of see it happening. Sasori got what he wanted, and he didn't, well…

"Now go tell everyone," Deidara said sarcastically. "Tell the world that Deidara was fucking—,"

"Calm the heck down," Hidan interjected. "I'm not going to!"

"Ha!" Deidara laughed. "Hidan, not going to tell anyone something as big as this? My fucking ass,"

"Is that what you think?" Hidan said, a desperation creeping into his voice. Deidara noticed it instantly.

"Um…isn't that what you are?" Deidara managed, stuttering a little. The way Hidan was looking at him…it was kind of unnerving. "A prick?"

Hidan flinched.

"Yeah, I guess, but…," Hidan walked around the table and grabbed Deidara's wrist. He held it tight in a way which Deidara thought was kind of reassuring. "…I'm not going to tell anyone. I just…you know, needed to know for myself,"

Hidan tightened his grip around the Iwa nin's wrist. Whose side am I on? He asked himself.

I don't fucking know…

Deidara stared at Hidan for a while, then yanked his wrist free. It was making him supremely uncomfortable. That, along with Hidan's eyes. They still held some sort of a message. One that Deidara couldn't even begin to interpret.