"Does anyone besides me find it weird that Sasori and Deidara aren't here?" Konan asked the abnormally silent group. They were mostly quiet when they were studying (obviously) but there was just something about the absence of the two that echoed the silence further. It was rather unnerving in her opinion.

"Yeah, I totally miss their art arguments," Kakuzu replied without lifting his eyes off the book he was reading though Konan could see the forming of a slight smirk on his face. It was echoed on the faces of the others as well and she found herself agreeing with them.

"I wonder if they're killing each other…" Kisame pondered out loud, causing several sighs to go around the group.

"I hope blondie wins," was all Hidan said which earned him a smack from Kakuzu.

"They're not going to kill each other!" Konan exclaimed and rolled her eyes when patronising grunts were given as a response.

They were really not killing each other.

They were in the gallery of Operating Room 3 watching a surgery take place while making notes. The operation had been going on for about two hours already but a complication occurred just when the surgeons were closing up the body and they were forced to go in again. There was a patient who was potentially going to die down there but honestly the two found it interesting.

Sure they would choose art over medicine any time but this was an entirely new experience and it wasn't as if medicine was all that boring. They had the skill and they had the talent and as much as they liked to believe and say that they hate medicine, there was not a single doubt that they did enjoy it to a certain extent, mostly the practical part which they of course have not had an opportunity to experience yet, except maybe in the case of Deidara. Still, it was something they both expected to enjoy. It was kind of like art except that it was a more morbid form of it. Art had no limits after all.

"I thought the operation was never going to end, un," Deidara complained, stretching slightly as they walked out of the gallery. The surgery eventually ended after five gruelling hours but at least the patient was saved and stable.

"Shut up," Sasori replied cordially because the interns were shooting Deidara, and indirectly him (which was what matters actually), looks.

The blonde could at least have the presence of mind to be less vocal about what he thought was the most important part of the procedure. And there was the fact that their school's reputation was somewhat resting on their shoulders and Sasori would be damned if a negative remark about him ever reached his grandmother's ear, which in retrospect would make Deidara's horrible attitude welcomed since he would be painted in a much nicer light in comparison. Still, Deidara wasn't that stupid.

At least, Sasori was thankful that Deidara didn't show up that day looking like a hobo, what with his usually messy hair with more fringe than necessary covering the side of his face. He had his hair put up in a high ponytail, much like the one that he had on at Sasori's house except that this one was definitely neater with all loose strands properly tied up.

"This is going to be an interesting day," Deidara finally concluded, the sarcasm in his voice clear as day. Sasori ignored him.

Currently Sasori didn't mind that Deidara was on the internship with him but he was bordering on the edge of regretting. If the blonde did something stupid, like for example decide to do an operation on his own without informing anybody (and he could actually pull that off), Sasori would personally murder him and turn him into one of his puppet just to mock his idea of art, and in turn life, being transient. Deidara would never rest in peace.

Though they were on an internship, there wasn't any specific surgeon they had to shadow or a fixed schedule which they had to adhere to. They could choose any operations they wanted to observe since they obviously haven't declared a specialty yet, and they could follow the interns on their rounds if they wanted to. Basically, they could do anything they wanted besides slacking off. They had to hand in a report weekly after all and even though they were both certain they could smoke their way through it, that really wasn't an ideal situation since Chiyo was the one who would be reading them.

"It's twelve reports, un," Deidara groaned as he buried his head in his arms which were rested on the table before them. Sasori was glad that he (finally) had enough sense to keep his voice down. There weren't many people in the cafeteria now which meant that Deidara would be audible to every occupant in the room if he so much as went beyond a hushed tone.

"You could always skip a few weeks," Sasori replied casually as he sipped on his coffee. He watched on nonchalantly as the younger medical student lifted his head off the table and glared at him vehemently.

"And risk getting kicked out of this internship? In your dreams, Danna, in your dreams, un," Deidara said, enunciating the last three words especially clearly.

"Your choice," Sasori simply said and Deidara dropped his head back down onto his arms.

"You're mean, un. I don't know how I'm going to survive three months in a freaking hospital with you."

"You don't have to."

"In your dreams, un," Deidara repeated.

Deidara knew that Sasori didn't mean anything by those words but he was still bothered by them. Blame him for being cynical but there was some part of him that thought Sasori actually meant it, that he actually wanted him to be kicked out of the programme.

If he really did, Deidara didn't fault him. Heck, if he were in the same situation as Sasori he would have probably showed the other person just how annoyed he was. Honestly, he thought that Sasori was pretty much like him in that area so it really wasn't his fault if he thought that Sasori was out to kill him.

Despite how guilty he felt and how he would completely understand if Sasori wanted him out, he wasn't planning on going anywhere. If Chiyo had allowed him to reject the offer (which she technically did, nonverbally), he wouldn't have done so, and Sasori obviously knew that because hey look who was sitting with him in Tokyo Hospital's cafeteria. Call him a hypocrite but he simply wasn't a good enough person to turn down such a good opportunity even if it meant risking his friendship with Sasori.

"I'm going over to neuro now," Sasori announced, picking up his empty paper cup and throwing it into the bin on his way out. Deidara followed suit, though he had to gulp down the last of his hot tea. Damn, his throat felt like it was on fire. He shot Sasori a reproachful glare.

"You could have told me earlier, un," Deidara complained. "So that I could at least finish my tea sooner. I wouldn't dare to keep you waiting after all, un."

"It was not stipulated anywhere that we had to be together all the time during the period of this internship," Sasori replied, raising an eyebrow. "You're free to take a look at cardio. I won't stop you."

"Aww, come on, Danna," Deidara said with a wink. "You know you wanna be around me, un."

Sasori pulled a face and said nothing in response. He just simply continued walking towards the neurology section. He managed to hold back a sigh when he realised that Deidara was still following him but didn't tell the blonde to go away. If the brat wanted to have a look at neuro, that was fine with him. He wasn't going to be all tyrannical and demand that Deidara head over to cardio now or else.

Sasori had initially planned to make rounds with a neuro attending that morning but Deidara had found an interesting surgery which he subsequently forced Sasori to go watch with him and the redhead never managed to do what he had wanted to. Nonetheless, he still wanted to spend some time at neuro that day.

He would much rather have a patient's file to himself so that he could have a discussion with an attending about their condition but it was the first day so he supposed that it wouldn't be too much if he decided to be lazy and watch a surgery instead. Besides, Deidara had decided to tag along and even if he now knew how hardworking and serious the blonde could be when he wanted to be, he still wasn't too tempted to try that out with him around.

Sasori saw the look on Deidara's face when it was apparent that he was going to watch a surgery instead of doing anything hands-on and swore that he could almost hear a groan. A smirk made its way onto his face; Deidara was the one who wanted to follow him. Half of him hoped that Deidara might decide to leave because he still very much preferred alone time over communicating with another human being but there was no such luck.

Of course Sasori also failed to mention that this was a long, seven hours, surgery and that the probability of it taking a longer time was so high that it was almost confirmed. Deidara managed the first three hours fairly well. By the fourth, he was very much bored. By the fourth and a half hour, he was restless and kept shifting about but that was the only thing he did. Apparently he had more self-control than Sasori gave him credit for.

The surgery was a complicated one and it was certainly ten times more fascinating than the one they had watched this morning (which Deidara had claimed was interesting by the way) but it seemed that Deidara didn't enjoy it as much, not that he even enjoyed the previous one. Sasori deduced that Deidara really had zero interest in medicine or had a really serious case of ADHD. He wondered if he should be worried since he was betting more on the second option. He was the opposite of ADHD.

By the fifth hour, Deidara stood up and left. Sasori didn't know if he should laugh since he totally expected the blonde to do that or if he should be disappointed that Deidara couldn't even last watching a seven hours surgery. But he felt neither. In fact, he felt a slightly annoyed. If Deidara couldn't even watch a surgery seriously, he didn't deserve to do an operation.

Sasori didn't know where that thought came from and he wasn't entirely sure that he was justified in thinking that but that was how he honestly felt and he didn't think it was wrong. Maybe a part of him was still jealous that Chiyo hadn't taught him a thing and yet taught it to someone who was seemingly so unworthy. All in all, he realised that he couldn't accept Deidara if the blonde didn't start taking this internship more seriously, whether he (they) liked it or not.

The operation did end later than forecasted. It took two hours longer and by the time Sasori came out of the gallery the afternoon had already faded away and it was well into the night. A slight discomfort in his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten at all for the whole day but hunger was really something trivial. He would get something to eat on the way home later. Right now, he wanted to look for the blonde.

It wasn't hard. Deidara was sitting on one of the chairs in the corridors in front of the vending machine with a can of coffee. Sasori immediately knew that something was wrong. He didn't know why he thought that; it was just a feeling. Still, he felt a little guilty for thinking the way he did back in the gallery. Maybe Deidara was taking this seriously; he just wasn't showing it.

He walked towards the blonde and with each step he took he realised that there really was something off with Deidara. Deidara could never sit still for long unless he was seriously engrossed in something and the way he held the can with it practically dangling from his fingertips it was apparent that he had been sitting there for some time already. And the way he was staring blankly into space was simply eerie.

"What's wrong?" Sasori asked when he was within earshot of the other.

"Nothing," Deidara replied, flashing Sasori a wide beam as if he wasn't just staring at nothing. It was his normal smile, the smile that he always greeted everyone with. Sasori couldn't believe that it took him so long to realise how fake that smile was.

He wanted to probe, ask what was wrong, but he didn't. Reverse the situation and he would plummet the person who kept pestering him. Instead, he just returned a small smile and went over to the vending machine to get a drink. Deidara would tell him when he wanted to.

He wondered why that thought came from. Why would Deidara tell him anything of consequence? Sure they were close but they weren't that close. He knew that from the very beginning but for reason it was so easy to forget. Maybe it was because fate tossed them into such similar situations that it was hard to believe that they couldn't confide everything in each other but Sasori kept forgetting that they only knew each other for a couple of months.

Deidara's past was a blank to him basically. Besides the reason for being in med school, Sasori knew next to nothing about the other man. His life was simple. It really was just med school and art. He had never been a particularly friendly person nor had he ever wanted to make friends forever and he certainly did not believe in that 'best friends forever' crap which was prevalent in schools so he had never been hurt in any of those areas. Besides, he was too busy topping tests and exams to be bothered by other people.

Things eventually worked out in the end for him though. He had friends like Itachi and Kisame and they were good friends even if it seemed like he didn't appreciate them sometimes. And now, though he didn't like to admit it, he had Deidara and Hidan. They were good friends but nothing could change the fact that he knew next to nothing about them.

Deidara seemed to be the exact opposite of Sasori. He seemed to be the type of person who believed in the 'best friends forever' crap but got so deeply hurt by it that he never recovered. Sasori didn't know. Those were all mere deductions on his part from observing the blonde.

"Want to go to cardio?" Sasori asked.

"It's fine," Deidara said and he sounded like he never wanted to go to cardio.

Sasori was more than perplexed. Wasn't Deidara's purpose for going to med school to be a cardio surgeon? But once again he didn't probe.

"Okay."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Danna."

Before Sasori could reply, Deidara had turned the corner and was out of his sight. It took Sasori a while to realise that Deidara hadn't end any of his sentences with his trademark 'un'. Deidara was just getting more mysterious every day.

YAY fast update! XD At least I think it was this time round. XD

Thanks for all the reviews for the previous chapters dearies! Reallly appreciated them. And there were new followers too. \ O /

So what do you guys think of this chapter? ^^