Chapter 10

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

He almost fell asleep in the train back home. He was so exhausted. And after the adrenaline rush came a crash. Cleaning all those blood stains had proven to be more difficult than he had thought, too. But it was done. Suigetsu's dad never had to know anything bad happened in his gym.

Sasuke just hoped Ino was okay. He hoped Temari wasn't going to make her do anything. He would have to speak to Deidara about this, to ask him if it was possible to undo the connection between a necromancer and her, um, victim. Sasuke refused to use the word minion. Come on.

Of course, Sasuke had asked him before, for Suigetsu. And Deidara had said it wasn't possible unfortunately. But what if they killed Temari? What then? Sasuke was going to ask him. And if that could free Ino and all those other people, then they would kill her. She left them no choice.

As soon as he was home, Sasuke locked himself up in his bedroom and shrugged off his jacket. He grabbed his cell and dialed Naruto before throwing himself on his bed, the lights still off. As the phone rang he just relaxed, letting himself listen to the sounds of the occasional cars driving by. He always let the window slightly open when it wasn't too cold. He liked having fresh air in the room, and he liked the way it rustled the curtains softly.

Just as Sasuke thought it would go to voicemail, Naruto picked up.

"Hey, you."

He sounded so tired. Sasuke felt worried.

"How are you?"

"I'm okay."

"Naruto it's me. Be honest."

"I'm exhausted," he admitted. "I was up all night last night. Couldn't sleep even though I wanted to. Don't know why. I kept thinking about… stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Just… I don't know. I wrote songs for my band."

"That's great. I'd like to see you guys play some time."

"That might… be a problem. They sort of kicked me out."

"What?" Sasuke frowned. "Why?"

Naruto laughed dryly. "They said I skipped practice too often and when I showed I was too tired anyway."

"You should quit one of your jobs, or something. At least for the end of the school year."

"Yeah I'm gonna quit the coffee shop as soon as my boss gets back from his trip. I just don't want to do it while he's gone, you know? That's not really respectful. He was nice enough to hire me and everything. I just took the extra job because… You know, I thought I might have to pay for Itachi's rent. Cause he was sick."

The worst thing was that Sasuke was kind of getting used to the guilt by now. Why did everything always seem to be his fault? Or at least partly his fault.

"But he got better so fast," Naruto added in a brighter tone. "And now he's just willingly overworking himself as he always has."

"So what are you doing right now?"

"I should be doing homework."

Sasuke smiled. "I didn't ask what you should be doing, did I?"

"Mm no I guess you didn't. I was actually trying to get some sleep…"

"Oh, shit, I woke you up didn't I? I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd be sleeping already."

"Hey, it's fine. I don't care. I wanted to talk to you, too. To know if you were okay."

Sasuke wanted to tell him all about his evening. About Temari and Kankuro, about what they did. About his plan to conspire against her with Deidara. But fifty people… He was just so anxious whenever he thought about it. He felt like he needed to talk to someone about this. And Naruto had seemed like the right person.

But now… he just didn't want to worry him. He sounded so tired already. And he had school in the morning.

"I'm okay. I just wanted to make sure you were still alive."

"I think so! Not in my best condition, but nothing that can't be fixed."

"What do you mean?"

He hesitated. "Nothing. I didn't mean anything by it. Just the tired part."

Great. They had known each other two weeks and they were hiding stuff from each other already.

"Naruto… you know you can tell me anything, right? And if you ever need me, I'll get a cab, I don't care. I can be there in ten minutes—if there's no traffic, I guess," he added, and Naruto laughed. "And hey, I could even teleport. It would be even faster."

He sat up as he realized something. Shit. Why hadn't he thought of this before? The teleporting thing. It seemed like a much faster means of transportation. Sure it used up some energy, but taking the subway did that too. Maybe he could've saved himself the thirty minutes ride just now. And shit. Couldn't he have just teleported to the other dimension when he was stuck in the air at the stupid climbing gym? Why on Earth hadn't he thought of that?

Temari must be laughing her ass off.

"Sasuke?" Naruto was saying in the phone. "You there?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, my phone was being weird." He cleared his throat. "What were you saying?"

"Just that I know I can be honest with you. And I want you to be honest with me, too. Actually, there's something I wanted to tell you. I've been practicing something. After healing Kiba, I started reading a bunch of stuff in my mother's journal again. There's some stuff I've always wanted to try out, so I thought why not now?"

"What kind of stuff?"

"I don't really want to tell you, because… I'd rather show you. Next time I see you I'll show you, okay? It's just this little trick. It's kind of silly. But I think it could become powerful, if I keep practicing."

"Okay, but whatever it is, don't overwork yourself, Naruto. You passed out after healing Kiba…"

"I know," he said defensively, "I'm being careful."

"Sorry," Sasuke sighed, "I didn't mean for it to sound like a lecture. I just… I hope I can see you again soon. I'm not much of a phone person. I guess I'm old school; I like talking to people in person."

"Yeah me too. I'll answer my texts—when I feel like it—but I never usually pick up the phone."

"I feel honored."

"You should!"

"Go back to sleep okay?" Sasuke smiled.

"You sure there wasn't anything else you wanted to tell me? You sound… weird."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "It's fine, don't worry about it. Tell you what, we'll talk more when we see each other. Like you said."

"Okay. I'm curious, but I'll try to be patient. You should go to sleep, too. You sound really tired."

They hung up. Sasuke felt depressed. That phone conversation was such a tease. It didn't even come close to the real thing. Well, it was the next best thing, he supposed. At least he got to hear his voice.

So Naruto was writing songs, huh… Sasuke looked to the side at his pile of notes on the desk, next to that book he'd gotten: Screenwriting for Dummies. He'd had fun with that stuff for a while. He liked creating characters and then living different lives through them as he wrote all those scenes and those dialogues. Especially the dialogues. He could make his characters say things he would be too afraid to say in real life. Make them express feelings in a different way. And sometimes it felt liberating. Other times it felt frustrating. When he wasn't inspired.

He wasn't very inspired lately, unfortunately.

Still, whatever. He had other things to worry about. Hobbies could wait.

In fact, right now, everything could wait. He felt so completely drained that he couldn't even bring himself to move off the bed to take off his clothes. So he just closed his eyes, and passed out, too tired to fight it.

…

In his dreams Sasuke found himself on top of a mountain. The view was breath taking; all snowy mountain peaks, dark blue skies and clouds that seemed to spread forever, shrouding the world in white. Everything seemed so vast and infinitely beautiful from up here. He wasn't afraid. It felt peaceful. He thought he was alone.

But then he heard steps creeping up behind him and he turned around.

At first he thought—

"Naruto?"

This person looked so much like him. But upon taking a better look Sasuke realized it wasn't. He had tawny hair and his eyes were amber instead of blue. But the resemblance was eerie… Everything else was the same. Even the little details, like how Naruto's canine teeth were just a bit longer than normal, that exact same pale gold skin color.

He stepped closer toward him on the rocky ground, the wind blowing in his hair.

"I'm not Naruto, but I know who he is and I know we look alike."

"Is this real? Or am I just dreaming something really weird again?"

"It's real."

"Where are we?"

"One of my favorites." He made a little smile. "The top of the Kilimanjaro. I thought you might like it."

"If this is real… Why can't I feel the wind? I should be cold, or at least have trouble breathing." At this height…

"You're only here in spirit. Your body's back in your bedroom, safe."

Right.

"And why am I here?" he asked, intrigued. "Who are you? What are you?"

"You're here because I want to speak with you. You can call me Kurama. I'm a fox spirit."

Well at least he was efficient in answering his questions. It was kind of refreshing. Unlike certain other people—ahem, Deidara.

"Are you Naruto's long lost twin, or something?"

Kurama tilted his head. "No, but… I'm his ancestor."

His ancestor? Kurama looked really young. Oh, Sasuke suddenly understood, he was probably dead. Just like Deidara, Nagato, Temari… They all looked young but who knew how long they had been dead?

Sasuke couldn't help but notice how good-looking he was. Well, of course he was; he looked like Naruto. But it wasn't only that. There was a glow about him, something warm and bright and… colorful. He clashed with their surroundings, where everything was white, blue and gray.

"Are you a reaper, or a dark angel? Or that other thing?"

"A Higher Demon? No. I'm none of those things. I've never even been in Hell."

"Oh."

Come to think of it, Kurama wasn't wearing those typical black reaper clothes. Instead he wore tight, comfortable looking clothes in shades of dark golden brown and beige and white. With a massive intricate black belt hugging his thin hips. The whole outfit looked like it was from another era. The shirt was open at the neck, showing his collarbone. Now that Sasuke looked more properly, Kurama looked skinnier and somewhat more delicate than Naruto—well maybe he just wasn't as much of an athlete. Not too strong on working out in the afterlife, were they?

"I wanted to speak to you about Naruto. I'm worried about him."

"I'm listening."

Kurama looked at him with a funny expression on his face. "I knew you would."

Suddenly Sasuke felt suspicious. "Why? What do you know about me? How do you even know about me? Where are you from, anyway? If you're not from Hell."

Now Kurama looked amused. He lowered himself and folded his legs. All his movements were very graceful.

Sasuke sat down as well, so that they were face to face. If he was going to be stuck here on top of the Kilimanjaro with some Naruto look-alike—he could do worst, really, this wasn't so bad—might as well sit back and enjoy the view.

"I am…Naruto's spirit guide, in a way. I've been looking after him his entire life. So of course I know about you. I know about everything."

Sasuke felt a bit shy and exposed all of a sudden. Just, the way he said that… Could he blush in his spirit form? He hoped not.

"Naruto's always been strong enough to overcome every obstacle by himself so far. But lately… I'm worried that he has too many foes all at once. He might need you, more than you know. But to answer your other questions, no, I'm not from Hell. I told you, I've never been there. I'm not lying."

"Then what? My reaper friend mentioned another place. Purgatory, I think?"

"I'm not from there, either. Well, I've been there, a very long time ago. But not anymore."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Then… No way."

"It sounds more impressive than it is," Kurama said modestly.

"You're from Heaven. What's it like there?"

"I can't tell you that," he smiled.

"Oh, come on. Tell me at least one thing."

"I'm not allowed to."

"If I help Naruto will you tell me?"

There was a glint in Kurama's amber eyes, like he was very amused by all this. "Really, Sasuke? You think I don't know you'll help him anyway?"

"Fair enough. But you should tell me. I promise to keep it secret. Besides, it's not like I'll ever go there anyway. I'm just curious. I mean, I'm half-demon, so I hardly think—"

"You never know. You might still go someday."

"Really?"

Kurama just smiled. "I don't know."

"Okay, I get it. You won't tell me anything. Tell me about Naruto's… foes, or whatever. But," he said, "if you're his spirit guide why don't you visit his dreams and tell him?"

"He won't let me," he said, and Sasuke detected a trace of annoyance in his voice.

That was one more difference; his voice. Naruto's voice was somewhat raspy but still melodious. Kurama's voice was sleek and smooth and quiet, but still he sounded irritated.

"What do you mean he won't let you?"

"…You'd have to ask him."

"So he knows about you?"

Kurama considered this, looking past Sasuke at the snowy mountain tops.

"I suppose he does."

"Could you be more unclear?" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I probably could."

"Very funny. Anyway, never mind. Just tell me what I need to know."

"There's a man—a thief—who's hurt Naruto before. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again." Kurama traced some kind of pattern with his finger on the dusty rock as he spoke. Sasuke couldn't make out what it was.

"A thief?"

Kurama looked up. "You don't know about them? They're pretty rare. We call them thieves in the supernatural world because that's exactly what they steal; supernatural strength and powers. As you must be aware of by now, those powers are transferable, to a compatible person at least."

Sasuke thought about Itachi.

"I know what you're thinking," Kurama said softly, "but your brother isn't a thief. He's just very strong-willed, from what I've observed. He was able to keep the powers without using them. He was compatible with you—because of his love for you, because of the blood you share." He tilted his head, thinking. "Sometimes it's not easy to explain. Naruto's father is another example of compatibility; he shared Kushina's powers. But in their case, it was more of a spiritual connection. I think she kept a detailed journal which explains the phenomenon quite well, among other things."

He would have to read that bloody journal one day.

Kurama's eyes darkened as he went on. "Thieves are different. They take supernatural powers from their owners forcefully. They don't possess any themselves, except for the odd ability to detect them in other people. And as a result they crave it."

"You're saying someone like that stole some of Naruto's powers? Who?"

"This young man," Kurama said, "died recently. So I thought I wouldn't have to intervene after all, and that the power would return to Naruto on its own—as it should. But that's not what happened." He looked up and their eyes met. "A reaper and his necromancer—I think you're familiar with them—planned the whole thing. They killed him so they could absorb the powers he had stolen over the years."

"Sasori and Temari?" Those two again. Sasuke hated them so much. "They can do that?"

"A skilled reaper can… This particular reaper seems quite… resourceful."

"So they have Naruto's powers now," Sasuke said resentfully.

Kurama looked to the side. His hair was pure copper and gold in the fading light. "If only that was our main problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Well they didn't just kill him to steal his—already stolen, might I add—powers. They also brought him back."

"Of course they would."

"He still has his abilities. But they left him with nothing. So now he craves it more than ever. And I'm afraid Naruto's first on his list. He's been stalking him recently. So I want you to protect him, do you understand?"

The world around them seemed to fade. Even Kurama… The colors, the sky, everything was fading.

"Hey, wait, no…"

No way. He had so many questions. How was he supposed to help Naruto if—

But of course he woke up in his bedroom, alone. The pale morning light slipped through the curtains. His house plants seemed to stare at him mockingly.

Okay, he was definitely still tired.

But how could he possibly fall back to sleep after that? Stupid fox spirits.

…

About an hour later, Sasuke was in Central Park. He just needed the fresh air. It was still so early and there weren't too many people out—just some joggers, and some people walking their dogs, that kind of thing. And mostly lots of squirrels all over the place. It wasn't so bad today; for once it wasn't too cold. He just wore a thin sweater under his jacket and he was comfortable. He could tell that the sun would be warm and nice in the afternoon.

He ended up sitting in the grass, looking down at the pond. The water was so still and quiet.

'Deidara?'

He ought to get the reaper a cell phone or something. He felt incredibly silly just thinking his name like that.

'Deidara. I need to talk to you.'

Sasuke watched as an athletic girl with a bouncing ponytail ran past him. The music in her earphones was so loud that he could hear it from where he sat.

'Deidara? Hello? Do I have to say it out loud for it to work? I don't remember. I'm not very clear on the whole telepathy thing. In fact, I have a lot of questions to ask you so if you could—'

"Hey, fruitcake, up here."

He looked up and saw Deidara as he swung himself off a high tree branch. He leaped down to a lower one, and then to the ground in a graceful crouch. And then he sat casually next to Sasuke.

"Well somebody likes to make an entrance."

"What's up?" Deidara said.

Something was off. He was averting his gaze. As Sasuke saw his profile, he saw that he had a scrape on his cheek, and a bruise on his neck like someone had attempted to strangle him. He wore the usual black clothes and boots, but they looked worn out and sort of crumpled. His long hair was all tangled, too. And… the front of his shirt was torn.

Sasuke grabbed Deidara's thin shoulder and forced him to turn around and face him. Then he opened up the shirt where it was ripped. Deidara winced.

"Shit. What happened to you?"

There was a big, nasty red gash in his chest. It wasn't bleeding, but it was still pretty raw, and the skin around it was swelling up.

"You should see the other guy."

"And who was the other guy?"

"Who do you think?" Deidara stared. His pale blue eyes lacked their usual brightness.

"Sasori. You two fought? Why?"

"He tried to sneak up on Nagato when he was asleep." Deidara was royally pissed off, Sasuke could tell. "Nagato told me to stay away. But I didn't listen. Bloody good thing I didn't, too. I caught Sasori just in time. He wanted to try and kill Nagato with his own favorite blade. But he never got to."

"That white dagger with the green stone?"

Deidara frowned. "How did you know that?"

"I saw it at the party. Lucky guess."

"Yeah, well, it's a higher demon weapon." Deidara started tearing at the grass angrily. "Much better than this useless thing." He grabbed the sheathed sword and ripped it off his back along with the leather strap, tossing the whole thing aside.

But, Sasuke thought, if a reaper blade had almost killed Kiba, then how much damage would a higher demon blade do?

"Dei, did Sasori slash you with that white dagger?" He tried to reach out to look inside Deidara's shirt again, but he turned to the side, blocking his view.

"I'll be fine. Don't look it's embarrassing."

Sasuke sighed. Deidara might not be the manliest guy, but he still had his pride, apparently. He shrugged off his jacket, and gave it to him. Deidara was shivering, so…

"Here, take it."

"You sure?"

"I'm not cold."

Well, he was a little, but the sun warmed his skin so it was all right.

Deidara put on the slim leather jacket silently.

"So what happened then? You're still alive—well, you know what I mean—so does that mean you won?"

"I wish. I suppose I won the fight, but it's far from over."

"What happened?" Sasuke insisted. He wanted to know.

"We fought for a while before he broke through my defense and slashed me. But I kept fighting back, and I think he was surprised I could still move. He underestimated me. I used that surprise against him, and I stabbed him in the chest—I missed the heart, but still. And then I slashed his wing." Deidara grinned like a kid who'd done something he knew was very bad—some evil prank or something—but totally worth it.

"I didn't even know he had wings."

"Yeah he got his stupid promotion," Deidara said darkly. He zipped up the jacket, shivering. The wind blew in his long hair softly. Sasuke got this weird urge to brush it.

"Sasori said something about someone coming back."

A shadow crossed Deidara's eyes.

"Some asshole named Louis. French guy. He was kicked out of Hell a long time ago, but of course it was too good to be true. The bastard came back."

"Kicked out… by my father?"

Deidara glanced at him. "You caught everything Sasori said, didn't you? Good. Keep paying attention like that. I'm not good at explaining stuff."

"No, you're not."

He ignored that. "Your father never much liked Louis. Well, your father never much liked anyone. But let's not get into that now. We have other problems."

A woman walking her dog looked at him weird. Once she was a bit further, Sasuke leaned closer to Deidara.

"Can other people see you right now, or is it just me?"

"Just you," he said tiredly, "I don't have the energy…"

"That's okay. But warn me next time." Sasuke took out his phone so he could pretend to be talking into it if someone walked by again.

"So, you cut Sasori's wing, and then…?"

"We were both pretty beat up. He let me have that fight. Like I said, it's not over. But some other friends of Nagato's showed up then. Jun was there I think you've met her. And Sasori ran the hell away. He was not too happy about his brand new wings being damaged." Deidara smiled. But it was gone pretty quickly. "Well, he probably just ran to mommy and got it all fixed up already."

"When you say ran to mommy…?"

"Louis. Keep up, Sasuke."

"I'm trying. So that guy is bad news?"

"Very bad news." Deidara closed his eyes. "Louis hates the higher demons—I suppose he's jealous. He does a lot of passionate speeches. Less power to the HDs, more power to the people. And of course he wants to represent the people. So that means more power to him. Ironically I heard now he got himself promoted to higher demon. So he's become what he used to hate." Deidara shook his head in disbelief, and let out a humorless laugh. "Skipped DA. Just straight to higher demon—I don't know what the higher ups are thinking, honestly."

"DA?"

"Dark angel."

"Oh. Well I can't say I'm familiar with 'Hell' politics..."

"Word is he wants to declutter."

Sasuke shifted uneasily. He was starting to find the uneven ground uncomfortable.

"Declutter?"

"He thinks there are way too many of us. He wants fewer reapers and dark angels."

"Starting with his BFF Sasori's enemy."

"Little old me, yes. You're keeping up. Brilliant." Said Deidara sarcastically. "Anyway, how do I explain this…? Lucifer, Satan, or whatever you want to call it, that's not a real thing. More an idea. A concept. But we haven't had a leader in a long time. Just a bunch of higher demons looking after their assigned areas. Like Nagato looks after most of the East Coast, I think. I'm not even sure these days. He won't talk to me anymore."

"Why not?"

"He's angry." He made a face. "I don't know. He's nervous. We all are, I suppose. But the reason he doesn't want me around…" Deidara sighed. There was a circle of ripped grass all around him. "All right, so like I said, we haven't had a leader in a while. And I think things were going great. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks that way. They want a leader again. And a bunch of people think it should be Louis. He's offering more power, and those daft idiots are all buying it. Of course, he's saying this now! To everybody. He just wants their votes. Once he's on top he can do whatever he wants. It'll be like last time. He went around doing his speeches and everybody loved him but that's only because he secretly had his men kill anyone that disagreed with him. Honestly," Deidara finished, "even though he did it for his own selfish reasons, your father did us all a favor when he destroyed him."

"Okay… um, well, I hope he doesn't get… elected, or whatever you people call it."

"Well there are some other candidates… Of course loads of people are voting for Nagato, including myself obviously. That's why he wants me to stay away though. Says our relationship is bad for his campaign. For his reputation."

"Homophobia in Hell. Imagine that."

"Mm…"

"So Louis came back? Came back from where?" Sasuke was so confused. "What happens when demons are killed, Deidara?"

"It's complicated. Sometimes we never see them again. Sometimes they go to purgatory… Sometimes they come back."

Sasuke's curiosity wasn't exactly satisfied, but Deidara looked so exhausted that he decided not to push it, for now.

"You said Nagato was sleeping?" he asked instead. "So you guys sleep?"

"Sure we do. In fact, I think I need some sleep right now." He let himself fall to the side, until his head rested on Sasuke's lap. And he curled up against Sasuke like a cat—a really big cat.

"Um…"

"I don't actually want to sleep, silly. I just want to stay like this for a little while." He closed his eyes. "It's nice being with you. I can tell you care about me, even if just a little—it's more than I can say about anyone else these days."

"Nagato cares. He has to. You saved his life, didn't you?"

"He doesn't even know—slept through the whole thing. I think Sasori found a way to poison him—maybe he had an ally among Nagato's friends, or something—and that's why he couldn't wake up. He'll be fine, though. He's with people I trust right now. I wanted to come here and be with you instead. I'm not even wanted there… Who cares about him anyway, right? He can have his reputation."

Well, if no one tells Nagato that you risked your life to save his sleeping ass, then I will. And he'd better be grateful.

"You didn't have to come here…"

Without really realizing what he was doing, his fingers inched closer to Deidara's hair, and then he started stroking it softly. It felt really smooth even though it was tangled.

"I come when you call," Deidara said quietly. "That's the whole point."

"What if you call me? Will I hear you?"

"Of course."

"Then why didn't you call me when you were fighting Sasori?"

"Well you can't really fight yet, can you? I have to give you proper training, and get you a blade."

"Where do you even get the weapons? And the clothes and… everything?" Sasuke was trying to detangle Deidara's hair, combing his fingers through it. "There's like… nothing in Hell. Just… ashes, and… I don't know. A night club. Trees…"

Deidara laughed. "Oh, but you haven't seen anything yet, Sasuke. Of course there's more. There are cities. It's a whole world. It's all there once you're ready to discover it. When people get over their fears… Sometimes they can find their place in a city, or just keep wandering around by themselves or… Whatever they want to do."

The more Sasuke found out, the more he realized he had yet so much to discover.

"I need to ask you so many questions, but first I've got something important to tell you."

Sasuke told him about what Temari had done to Ino. Deidara's reaction was pretty similar to Sasuke's.

"That bitch."

Then he told him about Kurama. The whole Temari being a horrible person thing hadn't surprised him much. But Deidara looked really shocked when he found out about the fox spirit visiting Sasuke's dreams.

He sat up and looked at him. Sasuke noticed again how pale and ill Deidara looked—it seemed he was in a lot of pain, and was trying to hide it—but there wasn't much he could do about it now. Maybe they could go see Naruto later so he could try to heal his wound like he had done for Kiba.

"Well, well, Sasuke. I'm impressed. Talk about friends in high places. An angel of heaven, no less."

"He said he was a spirit guide. Naruto's spirit guide."

Deidara smiled. "I'm not completely certain of their nomenclature, but I'm pretty sure spirit guides are angels. He wasn't the bragging type, I take it?"

"I guess not."

"But about Naruto," Deidara said more seriously, "I thought that was a possibility. That someone took some of his powers, I mean. He got weak really fast when he healed Kiba. There was something off. He's… he's supposed to be more powerful than that. I can tell."

"It's just so frustrating. Kurama didn't tell me much. I don't know how to protect Naruto. I don't even know who that supernatural thief guy is. I mean, Kurama didn't even give me a name."

Deidara considered this. "I think we should just focus on defending ourselves against Temari, for now. That thief is with her now anyways, whoever he is. Hopefully we can find a way to defeat them."

"How do we do that?"

Deidara studied him for a moment. "You won't like it, but… I want you to bring someone else back. It'll make you stronger, and—"

"No," he shook his head firmly, "I'm not doing that. We have to find another way. It's enough of a mess with Suigetsu. Listen, about Suigetsu, I wanted to ask you something. Are you absolutely sure the side effects will fade? Because… he was about ready to tell me that he was in love with me. So I had to stop him, and…" Sasuke nodded when he saw that Deidara was laughing. He clutched his chest with his hand, and looked like he was in pain, but he still kept laughing. "Okay, at least I make you laugh. Anyway, I had to tell him the truth. I had no choice. And he believed me, actually. But still, he's getting really weird. And I'm not even talking about the fact that he acts like I might accidentally die at any moment, or the fact that he texts me all the time for no reason, which is honestly, so annoying. He's stealing stuff, Deidara. He used to do that when he was younger. I know some people think kleptomania is bullshit, but it's not. He had it. He would get nervous, and get these urges… Then he went to therapy and it was fixed. And now it's starting again. Some stuff was missing from my bedroom this morning, so I went in his room and found it, along with some other pile of random stuff that I'm pretty sure isn't his. Like, there were a lot of pocket knives, which is kind of freaking me out. Either lots of people are missing their pocket knives, or he just stole them from a store—because I know he doesn't have much money, so he wouldn't spend… Oh and packs of gum and pens, which I guess is less freaky, but still weird that he would—"

"Sasuke. Slow down. Calm down. Breathe." Deidara breathed in and out slowly, and motioned for Sasuke to do it with him.

But Sasuke didn't feel like breathing slowly right now.

"Seriously, Deidara, help me out here. What do I do?"

"Nothing. Give it some time. He'll be fine, trust me."

"What about Temari's… army? Will they be fine?"

"If we kill her, yes. They'll be free."

Sasuke nodded.

"All right, so please hear me out. I have the perfect person in mind. It'll make you stronger." Deidara reached out to touch his arm. He insisted, "Please, Sasuke, we have to do this. He's a good fighter, too. He's already agreed to it and everything. He wants to help us."

"Your hand is really cold," Sasuke said.

Deidara pulled his hand back swiftly. "Sorry."

"No, I meant… Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He didn't look fine. He was really pale.

"I'm texting Naruto." He was already typing on his phone. "We can meet up with him and he can try to heal you."

But Deidara stopped him. "Naruto can't heal this. Don't worry about me, okay?"

Sasuke stopped texting, but he narrowed his eyes. "But you'll heal, right?"

"Of course." Was he lying? Sasuke couldn't be sure. He didn't know him that well yet.

"You sure you don't want Naruto to try? He healed Kiba the other night."

"That was different. Trust me, he can't heal this. Anyway," he made a little smile, "it's good that you remember Kiba. He's the one I'm talking about. I want you to bring him back. What do you say?"