Sasori took a moment to set his flashlight on the ground, pointing it upwards so that the light would bounce off his low ceiling and provide the room with some illumination, albeit rather poor. Deidara sat cross-legged on the room's single bed, practically bouncing up and down in his seat, while the Akasuna sat on the floor, seated near the flashlight in case the ship's movements caused it to tip over. "As a child, I lived with my grandmother in a sort of oasis, out in the middle of the desert-"

"Danna, what does oasis mean?" Deidara inquired.

"An oasis is...well, it's sort of like a patch of life and water out in the middle of a barren wasteland." Deidara nodded, indicating that Sasori could continue. "My parents died when I was little, but I'm not exactly aware of the precise details. By the time I was old enough to remember anything, they weren't around to be remembered." Sasori cast a look up at the blonde. "Understand so far?"

"Mostly, un," Deidara admitted with a laugh.

Sasori frowned to himself; he'd have to do something about this language barrier later. "I stayed with my grandma until I was grown-"

"Grandmother's the same as grandma, then?"

"...Yes. I stayed there until I was an adult, and then I left to see the rest of the world. I eventually joined the military and became a pilot. As it turns out, I can fly aircrafts rather well. Soon after I finished my training, I was transported to this ship. Not too long after I arrived, you showed up. I followed you to the planet we're currently orbiting, brought you back here, and now we're here."

Deidara stretched his arms above his head and yawned before flopping down on the bed, legs halfway curled up to his chest as he used one arm for a pillow. "Boring, un."

"What do you mean, 'boring'?"

"You humans are supposed to be creative and amazing, un. But that's one of the most uninteresting stories I've ever heard, un. Sasori danna, you're living a Falkian lifestyle inside a human body."

Wondering why he hadn't bothered to shoot the blonde earlier when the chance was presented to him, the redhead crawled across the room to the foot of his cot, where his duffle bag of baggage sat. He undid the drawstring on the luggage and began rifling through its contents, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Not moving from his spot, Deidara looked down towards his danna. "Sasori danna, what are you doing, un?"

Suddenly, a triumphant grin lit up the Akasuna's face. He returned to his previous spot, but this time with a mysterious bundle in his arms. Once he was certain that he had Deidara's attention, Sasori removed the dark fabric that his newly-gained item was wrapped in, and allowed the material to fall to the floor. Now laid bare for all to see, Sasori held up the object for Deidara's eyes to inspect.

Bright blue eyes looked over the small doll. It appeared to be a young girl, her brown hair pulled loosely back into pigtails. Her body was adorned by a chocolate colored dress, and her hands and feet were bare. As best Deidara could tell, the doll was made not from stuffed fabric, but from some harder substance, perhaps plastic or wood.

The Akasuna grinned as he saw the look on Deidara's face. The alien was definitely not bored now. "What is that, un?"

Sasori held the doll's head with one hand while the other moved to its back. The digits appeared to be fiddling with something for a moment, before moving away from the torso, strings now attached to each fingertip. "It's a puppet," he explained before releasing the female's head to be supported only by the strings.

Deidara watched with childlike awe as his danna made the toy walk, dance, and even curtsy to the blonde. "Did you make this, un?" he asked quietly as he watched the puppet pirouette.

"Of course," Sasori replied, not quite able to keep all the pride out of his tone. "I enjoy making puppets in my spare time, Deidara. It's my art."

"Art, un..." Deidara hmmphed and frowned. "I wish Verden had more art, un. It would make our lives so much better."

"What kind of art do you mean?"

"I remember watching TV one time. These things...what were they...they shot up in the air and exploded into different colors, un."

"You mean fireworks?"

"Yes, those." The blonde sighed longingly as a dreamy look crossed his face. "Those explosions were so beautiful, un. I'd give anything to make them myself."

"How about I just take you to see a fireworks display sometime?" the redhead suggested. Letting the blonde try to make homemade explosives did not seem like a good idea by any stretch of the imagination, so perhaps he could negotiate with something equally pleasing to the blonde.

"Really? You'd do that for me, danna?" the alien inquired hopefully.

Sasori realized too late what he'd just agreed to do, but realized that now there was no way of backing out of his promise. "Yes, but only if you agree not to make any bombs before we get to Earth. Understand?"

"Yes danna," Deidara promised.

"Good." Sasori was about to rise and return the puppet to its resting place inside his bag, when the blonde suddenly leaned forward and snatched the doll up off the ground and clutched it to his chest as though it were a teddy bear. "Deidara, give it back."

"No, un. I want it."

"Brat, it's not yours."

"You owe me a house-warming gift since I just moved in, un," the blonde argued. "This counts."

"Why do I owe you anything?"

"It's part of taking responsibility for me, un," the alien declared with a smile.

Sasori didn't feel like arguing, and he could always retrieve the puppet after Deidara fell asleep, so he decided to let the matter drop for the time being. Grumbling to himself, the redhead shut off the flashlight before he shoved the blonde to the other side of his mattress and climbed into bed, halfway hoping that when he woke up in the morning, this would all be nothing but a very sick dream.

The 'dream' only got worse when Deidara decided to snuggle into Sasori's side.

Instantly Sasori jerked aware from the contact. Unfortunately the military-issued cots were rather narrow, being built to only hold one person at a time, and as a result the human was sent tumbling to the ground, landing with a rather audible "MMPH!"

"Danna, why are you on the ground, un?" Deidara asked, curiously peering over the edge of the bed to look down through the darkness at the irate redhead.

"Why were you snuggling?"

"Snuggling, un? What's that mean?"

Sasori could feel a raging migraine on the horizon. "It's where you cuddle up against someone and sleep so that you're hugging them!"

"Ooooh. 'Cause I wanted to, un."

"Well don't do it again, " Sasori ordered as he rose from the ground and brushed himself off.

"Why, un?"

"Because...because you should only snuggle with someone you're really close to, I guess. Emotionally close, I mean."

"But you're my danna, un. Doesn't that count?"

"No-well yes-but, Deidara-grr, just sleep on your half of the bed, brat."

The blonde nodded and returned to his half of the mattress, smiling as he pulled the covers up to his chin and snuggled into Sasori's lone pillow.

Not long after, Sasori himself was also laying down on the cot, staring up at the dark ceiling as a hundred different thoughts ran through his head. One, however, stuck out more than the rest. He suddenly jerked his head to look at Deidara and said, "Hey, you said you'd tell me your story if I told mine."

"…"

"Brat?"

"…"

"Brat, say some-"

WHAM

Sasori's eye involuntarily twitched as Deidara retracted the hand that had oh-so-rudely smacked the redhead's face. "Go t'sleep," the alien mumbled in a drowsy tone.

The Akasuna grumbled to himself about the stupid blonde long after Deidara had drifted off into dreamland. This blonde was proving to be more troublesome than the Akasuna had originally supposed.