"Never knew you were a professor here, un," Deidara said, approaching Chiyo as the rest of the students filed out of the lecture theatre to the bliss of the weekends. Well, maybe not so blissful because Chiyo had just set them a five thousand word essay which was due on the following Tuesday, but still.

"And here I was, thinking that you enrolled here because of me," Chiyo replied pleasantly before beaming widely. "I see you've met my grandson."

"Your grandson?" Deidara repeated, before turning around to be face to face with Sasori who nodded curtly. "Ah, figures."

"Figures?" Chiyo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The stubbornness, un," Deidara replied simply as Chiyo laughed while Sasori just continued looking stoic, though the flash of annoyance in his eyes was not missed by Deidara.

"How's your mother?" Chiyo asked suddenly as she turned around and started gathering the papers on the desk.

Deidara stiffened slightly, something which was not gone unnoticed by Sasori but he let it pass. He was not about to probe into something which was none of his business.

"She's fine. Thanks for asking, un," Deidara said before adding quickly, "right, I just remembered that I have to meet a friend to pass him a book. See you around, Chiyo-sensei, un."

"I have to pass a book to Kakuzu as well," Sasori said immediately. "See you later, Chiyo-baasan."

"Well, college is really busy I guess," Chiyo said as she waved them off, not even bothering to turn as she started on the arrangement of the files. "Now run along. I have work to do too."

The two nodded before they left the lecture theatre. They kept silent all the way until they were out and well away from the place.

"Where are you meeting Kakuzu?" Deidara asked once they stopped outside the school campus.

"Lie. Where are you meeting your friend?" Sasori asked in return, though he had a pretty good idea what Deidara's answer would be.

"Lie, un."

At that moment, Sasori was expecting Deidara to ask, to pry and ask why he wanted to get away from his grandmother, but the younger medical student just remained silent. Well, Deidara probably didn't want him to invade his privacy either, so Sasori just left it at that. They weren't all that close anyway.

"So where are you headed, un?" Deidara asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets and kicking at some pebbles.

"I have nowhere to be," Sasori replied and Deidara rolled his eyes.

"You couldn't be more direct than that, un," Deidara said with a final kick to the pebbles before he walked off. "I'm going to the town, un. If you're that bored, I don't mind you tagging along."

"Only because I have nothing better to do," Sasori said, easily catching up with the blonde so that they were walking side by side.

"You just want to be my company, Danna, un," Deidara said, laughing when he saw the slight frown on Sasori's face.

"You're the one who invited me, Brat."

"You accepted."

"Fair enough."

The walk to the subway station was silent, but it was far from uncomfortable. Usually, when Deidara had to walk with someone whom he wasn't familiar with, he would always feel the need to say something, because the silence was just so awkward that it made his skin tingle all over. But it was just different with Sasori. Maybe it was because it was so obvious that the redhead relished silence, or that they had nothing to talk about and they both knew that very well, but the silence was far from awkward. Not that it was the happy kind of comfortable either. It just felt right and normal to not be talking.

The subway ride was silent as well, not that they would be able to hear each other over the noise generated. While the train was mostly quiet on weekday mornings, it was the exact opposite on weekend afternoons. High school students talked like they owned the freaking train and Deidara would be glad to tell them to shut the hell up (Hidan would no doubt), but that would not do anyone any good so he kept his own mouth closed. A glance to his companion told him that Sasori wasn't all that happy with the situation either, if the look of irritation on his face was anything to go by.

When the train came to the halt at the station Deidara wanted to alight at, he was more than shocked when Sasori just exited it before he even told him anything. In fact, he was so stunned that he almost forgot to exit the train, and then he almost lost sight of the redhead. He had to run to catch up with Sasori who just smirked at him. Deidara almost punched him.

"How the hell did you know that I wanted to come here, un?" Deidara asked once they were out of the subway station. It was way too crowded to get a word down there.

"I felt like getting off at this station," Sasori replied, not even looking at Deidara as he continued walking. "I didn't know that you wanted to come here."

"Sweet as usual, Danna, un," Deidara deadpanned, rolling his eyes and trying to keep up with Sasori who was walking really quickly. "Where are you going anyway?"

"I don't know. I'm just walking."

Deidara actually had somewhere he wanted to go, but he knew that he wouldn't, couldn't go there. It was not like that place was illegal or anything of that sort. It was a proper establishment and in fact, it was his paradise. But that paradise was so hard to keep, and he had given up on it a long time ago anyway. Paradise was distracting. It distracted him from what he really needed to do. Med school. He really needed to do med school.

"I feel like going somewhere, un," Deidara told Sasori eventually anyway.

"Where?"

"If you stop in front of that shop, we'll go in, un," Deidara replied, rather smugly. The district was humongous and it practically hosted a hundred shops. In other words, it was unlikely that Sasori would choose the right shop. But if the redhead, by some weird twist of fate, did manage to end up at the right shop, Deidara decided that he would just go in. Well, he could blame it on fate. Or Sasori.

"Here," Sasori said, stopping suddenly, which caused Deidara to almost bump into him. His survival instinct prevented him from actually doing so. Who knew what Sasori would do? The man could hardly stand people touching him.

Deidara looked up at the store which Sasori had stopped in front of and the smile from his face was immediately wiped off his face. Really, the probability was definitely less than 1%, but Sasori actually managed to choose the one shop that he both longed for and dreaded to enter at the same time. Fate was screwing with him or something. Without saying anything else, he walked up to the door and pushed it open, entering a shop which he had painstakingly avoided for the past few years.

"An art store?" Sasori questioned but Deidara didn't hear him. He was somewhere between wonderment and pure amazement. It had been so long since he had entered an art store that he thought that he would have forgotten the exhilaration of actually being in one. But he was so wrong. The excitement and happiness which filled him as it always did in the past still appeared and nearly choked him. It was all he could do to not laugh out loud like a psychopath.

It was much quieter in the art store than it had been outside, with all the people chattering and laughing. Besides the cashier (who was busy reading a magazine), there was only one visible customer who was admiring some handicrafts on display. Deidara figured that there were probably more customers deeper in the shop, but he didn't really bother. His legs moved on their own accord and before he knew it, he was standing in front of the clay section.

He stared. Intently. That was all he could do really. If he touched any of them (which he really wanted to), it was all over. He would immediately cave and give in to his desires. But he couldn't do that now, not when he had worked so hard for med school. He was content to just look. For now.

He didn't know how long he stood there, just staring at the clay, but he finally tore his gaze away when he realised that he had forgotten all about Sasori. He turned to his left, where the entrance was, thinking that Sasori would be around there, checking out the displays or something while waiting for him. Then he remembered that Sasori hated waiting and decided that the older one had probably already left and was probably really annoyed at the blonde, which Deidara honestly didn't give a crap about at that moment. A look to his right, however, proved him totally wrong.

Sasori was there. But he wasn't waiting for Deidara (obviously). He was at the next section, the wood section. He was standing in front of a shelf of wood and he was staring at them, staring but not touching. Like Deidara had been with the clay, and the blonde picked up on that immediately.

"Danna?" Deidara tried.

"What, brat?" Sasori asked, turning away from the wood to look at the blonde.

It was frightening to look into Sasori's eyes when they looked the same as his. He immediately looked away, back to the clay.

"I think we should go, un," Deidara suggested.

Sasori didn't say anything, but the blonde knew that he agreed. Despite that, they both still stood there, staring at the clay and wood respectively for about a minute before Sasori finally wrenched his eyes away and started down the aisle. Deidara released a sigh and followed close behind.

"I'm leaving," Sasori announced once they were outside. Without another word, he walked away, merging into the crowd. Deidara took off in the other direction. Sasori didn't want to see him, and it was understandable, because he didn't want to see the redhead either.

It was ironic. Because he was always so miserably lonely, Deidara always thought that he would be over the moon if he could find someone with the same passion as him. So that they could actually be truly bonded over something, which was art in this case. But now that he has found that someone who was in the exactly same situation as him as well (as it would seem), he realised that he felt nothing more than despair.

It was not that he was depressed to find someone who liked, possibly love, art like he did. It was just plain depressing to finally find someone who shares that same interest only to have to completely reject that person because he had already given up on art. More than that though, it was horrible, horrible to know that someone was in the exact same position as he was, because honestly it was the worst thing that could happen to him. He hated that anyone actually felt the same. Maybe Sasori didn't feel like it was the worst thing in the world, but the look in Sasori's eyes told Deidara that he did indeed feel that way. He felt as pained as Deidara did, and that was simply unbearable.

"I really hate this, un."

Sasori didn't know where he was going. All he knew was that he wanted and needed to get away from the art store as soon as possible. And he needed to get away from the blonde as well, because the blonde currently reminded him of the art store. It was pathetic how easily his resolve crumbled.

He should have walked away when Deidara had entered the art store, but instead he had followed suit, because he himself had wanted to do so. He was blaming the blonde. He had passed by the art store many times and had always managed to convince himself to just move away from it. Heck, he didn't even spare it a glance, treated it like any other store. But now he had actually entered it. If Deidara hadn't entered the art store, he wouldn't have either. Yes, he was totally blaming Deidara.

Despite that, he couldn't deny that he felt more alive than he had felt in years. Sure, the burning desire to just buy some wood and rush home to start creating his puppets again was harsh and difficult to crush, but the joy at actually being able to see some wood again was worth it. At least until he had to deal with the constant thought of his art invading his mind and distracting him from studying.

"Sasori?"

The redhead was shook out of his musings and he found himself facing none other than his grandmother. Joy. A look around told him that he had somehow manage to walk into his grandmother's neighbourhood and right next to the supermarket where she did her groceries. Sometimes, he really hated the fact that he could walk so quickly.

"Chiyo-baasan," Sasori greeted instead, trying to sound calm as he walked over to her. "Are you doing your grocery shopping now?"

Sasori prayed that she would say no so that he could leave, but of course she just had to give an affirmative response. Sasori would really much rather just come up with an excuse to leave, but he felt that he had to help his grandmother.

"Didn't you have to meet Kakuzu though?" Chiyo asked, watching as Sasori take a basket.

"He couldn't make it," Sasori replied. "I'll pass the book to him tomorrow or on Monday."

"Ah, I see."

They walked into the supermarket and headed to the fruit section first. Chiyo loved fruits. It was the first thing she bought every time. She was absent-mindedly picking some apples and placing them into the basket when she suddenly mentioned Deidara.

"I was really happy to see Deidara you know."

Sasori nodded, rather annoyed at himself when he realised that he was actually interested. Though in his defence, Chiyo was his grandmother so that kind of made Deidara's relationship with her his business.

"I've never mentioned him to you before, have I?" Chiyo asked, looking through some pears now.

"No."

"He's a genius, that boy is," Chiyo said gleefully. "But of course you are too, dear."

Sasori knew that he shouldn't even be remotely annoyed, but he did. Sure, Deidara was a genius and was smart, and he knew that. He, of all people, would know that, but he just didn't like it that Chiyo was being all proud about Deidara. After all, he wasn't her grandson. Sasori was.

"He would make such a fine neurosurgeon," Chiyo continued rambling. "When he was just ten years old, I already knew that he would make it."

"You knew him when he was ten?" Sasori asked incredulously despite himself. Luckily, Chiyo didn't seem to notice. She was too lost in her own thoughts.

"Yes, he was always in the hospital because his mother has a heart condition and his father was always at work and couldn't take care of him," Chiyo answered. "You know, in fact, I have actually coached him on a few procedures myself."

Sasori suddenly felt sick.

"Chiyo-baasan," he interjected. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now. Kakuzu just sent me a message saying that he could meet me now."

"Right, go on then," Chiyo said, smiling widely. "Don't let me hold you back." She then sighed happily. "Oh, I just have such high expectations for that boy!"

"See you," Sasori said, forcing a smile before walking away.

Iwa Deidara… who the hell are you?