It didn't take long for Sasori's feet to carry him straight to Kisame's office. The soldier had a calm, indifferent exterior at the moment, but on the inside he was nothing but a bundle of nerves. He couldn't think of very many reasons for the General to want to speak with him; he was new on the job, hadn't broken any rules aboard the ship, and hadn't made any requests to speak to his superior. The only other reason Kisame could have for wanting to speak with him would involve Deidara, and if that was the case, Sasori may as well tie on a blindfold and prepare for the firing squad.

The Akasuna still held out a shred of hope that he was safe; no need to jump to rash conclusions, after all. It was this ounce of optimism that gave him the courage to knock on the General's door, and step inside when he heard the shark tell him to enter.

The blue-skinned commander was sitting at his desk, looking over what appeared to be a mission report with a frown on his face. Sasori felt his pulse increase at the sight; this did not bode well for him. "You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked with a salute

The shark looked up from the file and nodded at Sasori. "Come in," he beckoned with his hand. "And at ease, soldier. You're not on trial or anything."

"Yet," Sasori mentally added as he took a seat across from the elder male. The puppet master currently felt like a child that's been sent to the principal's office and was trying to figure out what they'd done wrong before they were accused. He crossed his legs and sat back in the seat, trying to look relaxed and attentive at the same time. "Yes?"

"I was reading the report filed on the crash by your superiors," Kisame began, his eyes focused on the paperwork once more. "It says here that the ship in distress crashed, and the wreckage is beyond salvation. The guys hauled it up here for examination, of course."

"Of course," the redhead agreed.

"But the problem is they couldn't locate the pilot's body." Sasori's heart skipped a beat. "We thought that maybe some Falks had put the ship on autopilot or were remote controlling it, but the control panel wasn't tampered with in the slightest." At this, the shark looked up to Sasori. "You're the one that investigated the crash first. Any ideas about what happened to the pilot?"

The Akasuna's mind scrambled for a plausible explanation. If he waited too long or gave a poor excuse, his superior would grow suspicious, shattering any chances the redhead had of getting himself and Deidara safely out of this mess. "Sir, all I can tell you is that when I arrived at the crash scene, I couldn't find one of our fellow soldiers, injured or otherwise," the Akasuna admitted with a shrug. "I'm sorry for the trouble it's caused, but I couldn't exactly bring back a corpse that wasn't there in the first place."

Kisame looked at the redhead for a minute before nodding his head. "I guess that means some wild animal got hold of the guy and dragged him off. If he wasn't dead on sight, he certainly is now." The shark shook his head and sighed. "Great. Now I have to figure out who last flew that plane and write to the family."

"I don't envy you in the slightest," Sasori muttered quietly.

The General chuckled softly at the remark. "Most people don't," he stated. With another sigh, he closed the file on his desk and set it atop a stack of manila folders to his right. "That takes care of that. Sorry to bother you, private."

"It was no trouble at all," the puppeteer answered with a stand and a salute. Kisame returned the salute, and then calmly dismissed Sasori.

As the redhead was about to exit the room, he stopped in his tracks. There was a question he wanted to ask his commander. No, want wasn't a strong enough word; he needed to inquire. "Sir?"

"Hm?"

Sasori turned around to look back at the shark, who was already back to doing his paperwork. "I realize that they are the enemy, sir, but deep down…what is your take on the Falks?"

The shark cocked his head slightly at the question, his mouth drawn out into a thin line. "You starting to sympathize with the enemy?"

"No! I'm just curious as to what you think should be done with them when the war's over," Sasori hurriedly reasoned.

The shark looked down at his paperwork once again. The pencil held in his hand was being gripped tightly, and it took him a long while before he could respond. "Sasori, let me tell you a story."

"All right…"

"A long time ago, back when this war was still young, our Army tried to form an alliance with some of the Falks who either had close ties to the higher-ups or were prominent figures to the common man. You know, try and form dissenters on the inside."

"Unpopular wars don't last long after their fall from favor," Sasori agreed.

"Exactly. There was this one Falk that led the others; he went by the name of Itachi. He was quiet and calculating like most Falks are, but at the same time he had a sense of humor and could be very kind. We became fast friends and worked towards our mutual goal of peace."

"But something happened," Sasori guessed.

The shark nodded as his face grew dark. "Yeah. One day, we were shipping arms and supplies to an Army outpost near Verden. It was almost there-and then, a horde of Falks intercepted it. They took the whole lot, crew and all, aboard their ship before flying off.

The Army investigated, of course. The Falks shouldn't have been able to get that close; our radars would have picked up on their approach long before they came close enough to attack. We finally ruled that someone had shut off the defenses before the ship even left its dock."

"Sabotage?"

"Precisely. And Sasori, all the people aboard the ship were Falks."

"So, what you're saying is…"

"Someone sold us out to make a quick buck off their own people. And the only person who would have had the knowledge to do that was the one man I entrusted with the defense codes. Itachi." Sasori's heart sped up at the words, but he still managed to nod for the shark to go on. "I made the mistake of trusting a Falk once, Sasori, and it's an error I'll never make again. Take my advice, and don't make that mistake even once."

Sasori nodded his head at the words. "I understand, sir."

"Good. Dismissed then."

A few minutes later, Sasori was walking down the hall towards his room as a million thoughts ran through his mind. Kisame's statement seemed to agree with most of what Sasori had heard about Falks; that they were manipulative and cunning, using logic above all else yet were able to feign emotions perfectly when the time called for it. But that could mean…

Sasori paused outside his door as a truly upsetting thought sank in. What if it was all a hoax? If the blond was only using Sasori for the Falks' gain? Could Deidara just be part of a bigger plot, and was trying to worm his way into Sasori's confidence before moving in for the kill?

Somehow, the concept didn't seem right to Sasori. From the way he saw it, Itachi had been colder and more distant than his Falk, as if trying to keep himself away from the enemy. Deidara, in contrast, had all but thrown himself at the Akasuna's mercy, and trusted Sasori to take care of him and keep the two of them safe. Plus, the blond seemed to be rather childish, whereas Itachi had been professional enough to be used as a military aid.

Still trying to reassure himself about the blonde's loyalty, Sasori entered his room. "Deidara?"

The name had barely left his lips before the blond had glomped the poor soldier. "Danna!"

The Akasuna was barely able to stay on his feet long enough to carry Deidara to their bed and set the blond down on the semi-comfortable mattress. "Why do you insist on tackling me every time I walk through that door?"

The alien stared up at Sasori with wide eyes, a confused look on his face. "Don't you like it, un?"

"Of course! It just…Deidara, humans don't normally glomp each other on sight-"

"Glomp?"

"Like a tackle hug."

"Un."

"Anyway," Sasori continued, "I have something for you!"

"What is it?"

The Akasuna proceeded to extract the dictionary from his bag. "It's a translation dictionary. To help with the language barrier we have."

"Un?"

"Look it up," the redhead ordered as he tossed the volume to Deidara. "And once you're done with that…" Sasori smiled at the younger male and let the sentence trail off.

"What is it? Tell me!" Deidara begged as he bounced up and down on the bed.

With a quiet laugh, the Akasuna retrieved his other book for the Falk and handed it to the surprised male. "It's a fairy tale, called 1001 Arabian Nights. Once your English is good enough, you can read it."

"What's it about?" Deidara asked as he flipped through a few pages and frowned at the unreadable text.

"You have to read to find out, Deidara," the Akasuna calmly informed him.

"Awww! Danna, that's not fun, un!" The blond shoved the book into Sasori's face with a pleading look on his countenance. "At least read one chapter for me? Please?"

"That defeats the whole purpose of me…getting…" Sasori was unable to finish his lecture, due to the puppy eyes he was getting from Deidara. Darn that adorable Falk!

"All right," he conceded, making the blond let out a cheer. "But only the first chapter," he warned before seating himself near the blonde. "You can read the rest on your own."

"Of course, danna," the alien agreed as he snuggled into Sasori's side. Slender fingers opened the book to the first page and pointed to the top line. "Now read to me, un!"

And as Sasori began to read the tale to the curious little alien, he was beginning to think that those textbook descriptions of Falks being sly and whatnot weren't too far off the mark.