BOOM
A very tired, very confused Sasori awoke to the sounds of explosions going on outside along with people shouting, and the sensation that the ground was shaking beneath his feet. The Akasuna had a strong suspicion that he hadn't been asleep for nearly as long as he needed to be, and his eyes refused to focus, heavily blurred from sleep. "Wassat?" he mumbled aloud as his brain tried to make some sense of what was going on.
His answer came when the door to his room burst open and Kisame rushed in, a rucksack slung over one shoulder and a pistol in the other hand. "Sasori, get up!" he bellowed, rushing across the room to yank Sasori out of his bed.
"Wha-?"
"The base is under attack!" Kisame explained as he lightly slapped the redhead's cheek to wake him completely. "We need to get out now, before it gets any worse! Quick, is there anything in here you need?"
"Photo of my family in the rucksack," Sasori answered. After the slapping and Kisame's explanation he was slightly more coherent, and his brain was quickly slipping into field mode despite being completely exhausted.
Kisame seemed to feel that there was no time to go digging for one photo and grabbed Sasori's whole pack, slinging it over his shoulder to rest by the other pack which probably belonged to the shark himself. "Let's go!"
What followed were the most chaotic twenty minutes of Sasori's life. He and Kisame ran down the hall to escape the dorms, just as another bomb obliterated one of the rooms not ten feet from where Sasori had been sleeping. Both men were knocked off their feet, and when Sasori finally righted himself there was a loud ringing in his ears. He could barely hear Kisame order him to keep running, and pressed on thanks to survival instinct. Vaguely he was aware of a pain in his arm, and looked down to see a cut on his bicep, probably from shrapnel. Sasori bunched up the fabric of his sleeve and pressed it to the wound, praying that he'd make it out of the base alive before the adrenaline wore off and he found out just how painful this injury would be.
Sasori and mindlessly followed Kisame as they ran further and further away from the chaos of the dorm, only to wander into something very much like what Sasori pictured hell to be. The redhead watched with horrified fascination as Falks ran about, screaming orders at each other in their native language over the din of explosions and crackling flames. Everything that was flammable in the common area of the base looked to either be on fire or smoldering in ashes, and no one seemed to know how to counter this. On the bright side, he could actually hear words over the ringing in his ears, provided that the speaker was screaming at the top of their lungs.
More explosions went off, and Sasori turned to see that at least one of the huge downed airships that made up the base's storage facility was on fire. The flames must've caught the wooden crates inside, and would gut the storage facility from the inside out. Yet to his shock, numerous Falks could be seen running directly into the flames with seemingly no regard for their own lives. "What the hell?!" he shrieked in shock, unable to comprehend these suicidal actions.
"We're evacuating everyone as soon as some of the more sensitive equipment is destroyed," Kisame yelled out over the cacophony of madness sweeping through the base. "There are some things that we have to destroy, and leaving them to the flames isn't good enough!"
"Then why aren't we helping?!"
"Because Konan wants everyone but her special forces to leave now, so-"
"Wait, where the hell's Deidara?" Sasori suddenly blurted out. It had just now hit his explosion damaged, half-awake mind that Deidara was on the base, and the base was on fire, therefore Deidara was probably in danger.
"Hell if I know! Tobi's with Konan, but Deidara and Hidan-"
"Jashin damnit, PUT ME DOWN!"
Kisame and Sasori both spun around at the sound of Hidan's voice. It took them a few moments to process that Hidan was rapidly moving towards them via being carried over Kakuzu's shoulder, with one of the Falk's arms firmly wrapped around Hidan's waist. "I told you I'm fucking awake now, so fucking put me down!"
"Not gonna ask, just keep running!" Kisame yelled as more explosions went off.
"But Deidara-"
"Has probably been through worse, he'll be fine!" Leaving no room for further argument, Kisame called out to Kakuzu and waved the man down, before the Falk and Jashinist could disappear amidst the mayhem of the attack. Once the large rebel had joined them, the shark and Akasuna took off once more, hopefully in the direction of safety.
Sasori was soon led to a less damaged area on the edge of the base, housing one of the VUM's helicopters that was big enough to carry twenty or so persons at a time. Sasori attempted to break off from the group and find Deidara, but was caught by one of the Falks manning the area and hurriedly shoved in the back along with Kisame, Kakuzu, and Hidan. He noticed a few of the other humans were on board as well, but most of the passengers were Falks; covered in soot and singed by the fire, wearing pajamas, and clutching desperately to whatever bags they'd managed to grab. Sasori felt his stomach twist at the sight, wondering how many times these people had been forced to pack a few precious possessions in the middle of the night and flee, never to return home again.
"Danna!"
The redhead's musings were, as always, interrupted by the immediate and unexpected presence of Deidara, who suddenly glomped the redhead and began babbling a string of thanks in both English and Falk, so that Sasori only had half an idea as to what the blond was saying. "I'm all right, Deidara. Well, aside from the complete exhaustion and the realization that I could've died slowly sinking in."
"Did you get your things, un? I got some of mine; oh I saved the puppets you gave me, un!" Deidara opened a small burlap sack and showed off the two puppets, which were completely undamaged despite the hell their owner had just been through.
Sasori nodded in response. "Kisame got my bag-oh, thank you, Kisame. I'd probably be dead right now if it weren't for you."
"Sorry danna," Deidara apologized, looking miserable even given their current situation. "I had to help everyone in the mess out, and then the war room needed to be torched, so I asked Kisame to-"
"Deidara, it's fine," Sasori assured the distraught Falk. "I'm just glad you and everyone here got out ok."
"I am fucking fine, dumbass!" came a disgruntled shout from behind them.
Sasori and Deidara turned to see that Hidan had finally been set down, but now Kakuzu was examining every inch of the Jashinist, even going as far as bending the zealot's arms and legs to test that they were working properly. "Jashin damnit, let go of me!"
"You'd think Hidan would show a little more gratitude after being rescued, un. Poor Kakuzu; if anything's wrong with Hidan, Konan will kill him, un," Deidara murmured.
"Hidan's not a big fan of being picked up," Sasori explained. "He took bathroom detail for a month instead of practicing a fireman carry back in basic training."
"Well most Falks are like that too, but if you'd carried me out of there, I'd still say thank you, un."
Sasori was about to counter that it was highly unlikely that he could've carried the blond very far at all, never mind out of the base, when suddenly a Falk dressed from head to toe in black leapt into the chopper and pressed a switch to latch the hatch closed. Several things beeped towards the front of the helicopter, and in a few moments Sasori could feel the aircraft lifting off the ground. Wait… "Where's Konan?!" the puppet master demanded.
"Still getting everyone else to safety," Kisame assured him before the redhead could get too worked up. "She may spend a lot of time with us, Sasori, but she is the commander of an entire base. She won't leave until all her men are out of there; we'll just have to wait for her wherever they're taking us."
Sasori accepted this information with a bit of anxiety; Konan had always served as their protective shield, ensuring that if anyone on the base possessed anti-human sentiments (and the Akasuna was fairly certain Falks matching that description made up a large portion of the camp's population), they kept those sentiments to themselves. Without Konan…well, hopefully that wouldn't be an issue for long.
Kakuzu had finally stopped looking over Hidan, and the Jashinist had meandered towards a corner in the back. He had the good sense not to thank Jashin for the mindless destruction he'd just witnessed, and curled up on his rucksack to get some shuteye. Kakuzu took a seat beside the zealot, fingers rubbing the fabric of a small burlap sack in his lap. Sasori couldn't help but marvel at the Falk; Kakuzu had not only been able to rescue Hidan from imminent danger, but had also escaped with their personal possessions in tow. He was practically the definition for keeping cool under pressure; then again, that's probably why Konan had assigned him to look after Hidan.
Seeing Hidan lie down suddenly knocked the wind out of Sasori. He was even more exhausted now then he'd been after spying on Tobi, and with nothing better to do until they arrived at their mystery destination, sleep was a welcomed option. Not to mention that his ears were still ringing a bit and his arm was beginning to hurt like a bitch…hissing, Sasori pulled his hand away to see that the blood had completely soaked through the fabric of his shirt. "What I wouldn't give for some bandages right now," he murmured.
"I have some, un," Deidara immediately responded, all but shoving the medical supplies in the redhead's face.
"Er, thanks Deidara. Do you think you could…?"
"Help treat the wound?" the blond finished. "Yeah, just sit down, un."
Sasori took a seat in the back near Hidan, with Deidara kneeling by his side to dress the gash in his arm. "It's not very deep, so healing should be quick, un," Deidara murmured, trying to clean the wound before doing anything else to it.
"You sound like you've done this before," Sasori noted.
Deidara shrugged and began bandaging Sasori's arm. "Back when I was a slave, sometimes the towns we'd stop in would get bombed in the middle of the night, un. It was awful," the blond whispered, slowing his movements as he spoke. "I picked up treating basic burns and cuts fairly quickly, and that wasn't so bad. Hearing the explosions and screams, seeing the fire and smoke…you never get used to that, though."
"I'm so sorry, Deidara. Is there anything I can do to help?"
The blond shook his head as he finished dressing Sasori's injury. "I just need to sleep this off and give it time, un. It's the only thing that helps."
Sasori had to admit that the blond had a point, and scooted over a bit so Deidara could recline by him. Deidara lay down, curling himself into a ball and, much to Sasori's surprise, putting his head in the puppeteer's lap. "Deidara?"
"I feel safer this way, un," Deidara explained as his eyes slowly closed.
Sasori wanted to say something, namely that this was neither the time nor place for the Falk to commit an innocent action that could easily be misinterpreted as a public display of affection, but by now every fiber of his being was at its limit. His lungs burned from smoke, his muscles ached from overuse without proper rest, the cut was still burning despite being cleaned, his brain refused to process anything anymore, and his eyes just wanted to close and stay shut for a short eternity.
Before drifting off, the redhead took a final look around the ship, and noticed two Falks looking in his direction, specifically at himself and Deidara. They were muttering to each other in hisses and clicks, and their tone sounded far from pleasant. "Wonder what's up?"
"Un?"
"Those two over there. I think they're talking about us," Sasori explained.
Deidara suddenly seemed much more awake, listening to the others' conversation with interest. Sasori wondered what the men were saying; Deidara's expression was completely blank, so Sasori didn't have a clue whether or not the two Falks were speaking kindly or rudely of them.
And suddenly there was an inhuman shriek, and Deidara was out of Sasori's lap and on top of one of the whisperers, clawing at the startled Falk's face with murderous intentions in his eyes.
Kakuzu and two other Falks were on them in an instant, Kakuzu yanking away Deidara and the other two holding back his very angry, very bloody victim. Deidara was kicking and shrieking at the others, who hissed something back in their own language in an equally outraged manner, whilst the other Falks did their best to pretend nothing was happening and the humans looked on in utter confusion. Finally the argument ceased and the others turned and stormed to the other end of the ship to dress their friend's wounds.
Kakuzu, meanwhile, carried Deidara back to Hidan and Sasori, and set the blond down after Deidara clicked several things in a subdued manner to the mute Falk. Once back on the ground, Deidara curled up into a ball with his back to the others, including Sasori. "Dude, what the hell was that?" Hidan demanded, gaping at the blond.
"Nothing, un."
"The fuck it was nothing!"
"He said some things I didn't like, un," Deidara vaguely responded. "So drop it. I was stupid and lost my temper."
"But what-"
"Hidan, let it go," Sasori requested, giving the sliver-haired man a pointed look. Hidan grumbled something about stupid blonds and redheads but stopped pestering Deidara, choosing instead to curl back up and go to sleep. Kakuzu gave the blond a long look, before settling in beside Hidan and falling asleep as well.
Sasori, lastly, settled in to his seat against his rucksack, staring at Deidara's back. The blond had had a long night and was definitely on a short fuse, but he'd never seen Deidara so viciously attack anyone, regardless of their situation or the perceived threat. He'd let the blond sleep for now, but at some point tomorrow he'd need a better explanation for the Falk's recent actions.
With these thoughts in mind, an exhausted and confused Sasori finally sank into the depths of a dreamless slumber.