SasoDei Fanfic 10

Morning came all too soon.  Sasori, surprisingly enough, was able to get up on his own before the first light of dawn started streaming through the treetops outside.  Granted, it took him a little longer to wake up in the bathroom than usual, but after about a half hour of splashing cold water on his face, he finally made his way into the room.

Damn brat, still lying there comfortably, he thought irritably.  One issue with missions was the early hour most of them required one to wake.  And since the red head didn’t particularly trust Deidara as of yet, he thought he ought to be the responsible party and prepare everything.  The blonde probably wouldn’t be much help anyway – he would most likely just get in the way.

So the puppeteer resolved to let Deidara sleep in for a while longer as he got everything packed for their journey.  As he left the room, he could swear he heard the blonde call out his name.  Upon looking back, he saw Deidara was still fast asleep, facing the wall with the covers pulled over his mouth.  I guess not, he shrugged and let it go as his generally inactive imagination.

First of all, food.  It might be rather useful for the sculptor to have some food on a mission that could use up chakra and would use up energy.  Sasori made his silent way down the staircase, skipping the creaky steps, into the kitchen where he rummaged through the cabinets thoughtfully.  What tasted good again?  It had been a long time since he had actually had to think about something like that.  Well, based on what he occasionally saw the other members eating from time to time (aside from Zetsu as he wasn’t exactly that great a model for this type of thing), he decided to choose out a few various food items that other people tended to like and wouldn’t perish.  It wasn’t as if this was the most important.  After all, the way to Land of Lightning was certain to have places for food.  The main concern was getting to the allocated location before their targets passed by.  Therefore, it was necessary to travel light.

It would take, what, four days to get there and up to five back?  That was if it was to be necessary to travel all the way to Kaminari no Kuni – but better to be safe than sorry.  The money he acquired from Kakuzu the night before for the mission should cover the costs of rooming for all the nights if necessary and food for one for about two days, or vice versa.  So, he would only pack enough food to cover the difference.  After all, if they fell short, kipping on the dirt was an option instead of staying at inn.

Finally finished debating what to pack, he trudged up the deserted stairs and opened their door soundlessly.  Hmm…as soon as Deidara was permanently here, he would have to write his name on the door, too.  Sasori stopped, horrified at his train of thought.  I mean if he becomes permanent.  What a horrible thought.

He scowled and went for his cloak.  No need to take Hiruko if they planned on making a quick journey.  Brushing off the dust from yesterday, he fixed the compact bags of food on the fastenings he had personally put on the inner lining of the coat.  That way neither of them would be carrying around irksome extra baggage on a mission.

Alright, time to rouse the kid.  How should he do it?  He didn’t particularly want to touch him or actually interact with him at all, but, eh, they were partners.  Some things were simply unavoidable.

As he stepped towards the occupied bed, he was hit with a sudden, aching nostalgia.  How many times had he walked this same path towards the opposite bed?  Why was he going over here after so long?  Wasn’t this the reason he hadn’t kept this side tidy?  His stomach twisted painfully as his thoughts threw him into the past.  When he peered over the covers, he partly expected the sleeping form to have raven black hair.  He loathed that figure in his mind with everything he had.  Didn’t the person understand what it had done to him?  The pain in his stomach intensified as he got closer to the bed.

However, when he got there, he saw Deidara's hair was as golden as it had been the day before.  It didn’t matter, the past couldn’t be changed.  He sighed and reached his hand towards the blonde’s exposed shoulder and shook it lightly.

He was greeted with a soft moan of one still clinging to the last shreds of a dream.  Quickly losing patience, he shook the blonde harder.

With a start, Deidara woke from his dream.  Sleepily looking around, he caught sight of Sasori bent over him and blushed.

What had his dream been about?  He couldn’t remember it at all, but for some reason, he felt ridiculously embarrassed.

The puppet master didn’t catch the pink tinge to the other’s cheeks in the gloom.  Instead, he was getting steadily fed up with being so close to the source of his hated memories, so he walked away towards the closet, saying as he went, “Pack what you absolutely need for the mission and eat this.”  With that, tossed a bagel at Deidara, who barely caught it before it smacked him in the face.  And hurry up, we’ll leave when you're done.”  He disappeared in the storage room.

Deidara sniffed.  After three days, he ought to have been used to the stiff greeting he received from his partner, but it still offended him.  Sulkily, he ate his bagel and nosed through his belongings, making sure he didn’t need anything other than his ready made clay.

When he finished both actions, he looked towards the red head who had just emerged from the room with nothing on hand.

“Ready?”  Sasori inquired, his half-lidded gaze passing uninterestedly over his partner.

“Un.  But what about-”

“Worry about yourself.”  Sasori waved a hand dismissingly at the blonde as he turned to leave.

“Oh, un.”  The sculptor’s spirits fell.  Even when he tried to be helpful, he was always shot down.  He felt so useless.  What a horrible partner.  Why couldn’t he have been paired up with Kisame, who was actually nice to him?  Or even Tobi?  No wait, not Tobi.

About to go out the door, the soft voice of the puppeteer drifted back up the stairs, “Don’t forget your coat.”

Damn!  Stupid cloak!  What a sucky day this was going to be!  He didn’t even like bagels – they were flavorless and gross.

By the time the two of them had passed through the arched entryway of the Akatsuki headquarters, the sun was finally beginning to rise, dancing sparklingly across their faces.  Deidara had calmed down somewhat and was instead looking, enraptured, at their surroundings in the early morning.  Sasori could care less what things looked like at different times of day – after all, they weren’t permanent.  In fact, he didn’t really care that he was interrupting the blonde when he spoke up.

“Come on, brat, we have to hurry.”  Without another word, he sprang forward, up into the trees to leap from branch to branch.

Deidara quickly followed suit and the two sped off in the direction from whence they had come the day of his arrival.  Somehow this urgency confused him and it took the blonde a few minutes of silence to realize this was because he didn’t even know what they had been assigned to do.

Feeling rather stupid, the sculptor called up to his partner, “Ne, Sasori no danna, what exactly is the mission anyway, un?”

The red head rolled his brown eyes.  Honestly, baka.  “We are to capture or kill a traitor and his accomplice.  The two are headed towards the Land of Lightning and we need to get to them before they get there.”  Even more a baka to ask him details of a secret mission while the two were running in wilderness.  With the wind whipping through their ears, both would have to talk louder and anyone could be listening.  He was not going to fail a mission because his partner was an idiot.  When they got to a village in Hi no Kuni, he would probably enlighten Deidara on more of the details.

“Erm, can you tell me a little more?”  Deidara pressed.  There was no way this was going to work if he didn’t even understand.  Sasori should know that, so why was he being difficult about this, too?

“Later!”  The puppet master said sharply.

His feelings ultimately hurt, he fell back into silence and continued to follow the smaller, standoffish figure through the trees.


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“Azuma-san, you're late, what the hell took you so long!”  Came an angry whisper in the dark.

“They almost found me.  We cant travel by day anymore, its too risky.”

“But it'll take twice as long to-”

“Do you want to get caught!?”  The second shinobi, Azuma, snapped.  Without awaiting an answer, he peered down out of the bough of the tree the two were sitting in.  No one in sight, good.

“No!  I want those bastards to pay!  Just because I wasn’t born in the main family doesn’t mean I should be a slave!”  The first ninja pouted.

Azuma was glad his annoyed look couldn’t be seen in the dark.  He couldn’t care less what sort of injustices Ikkaku suffered.  In fact, he really couldn’t stand this idiot and would have left him a long time ago had it not been for orders from the higher ups in his own village.

His scowl didn’t leave his face as he untied his headband and shook out the brown hair that had fallen out of place in his hurry.  This pompous fool just kept prattling on about how mistreated he was.  Personally, Azuma understood why people mistreated him if he had such an incessant mouth all the time.  He was far too overdramatic and was searching for sympathy in the wrong person.

“So I don’t care if the family secrets get out.  Anyone who wants to curse me like they did deserves at least that,” the white haired Ikkaku finished.

Azuma made a sound in his throat that Ikkaku couldn’t fail to notice.

“Well, you wouldn’t understand.  There aren’t any special clans in the Lightning Country.”

The Cloud nin chose to ignore that comment and instead suggested they settle down for the rest of the day here and move on later that evening.  The day after tomorrow should get them to his brother’s house in the Land of Rice Fields for a place to rest.  Wait, its called the Land of Sound, now, isn’t it?  Honestly, why do new leaders change the names of the countries so often?  He thought distastefully.


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It was evening when Sasori and Deidara finally slowed down for another break.  If he had been on his own, the puppet master may have continued on, but with a look at the exhausted, but thankfully uncomplaining blonde, he decided to at least allow for a more prolonged resting period.  In any case, they, according to his calculations the previous evening, had made good time so far.

If he was correct in the direction he had taken, they shouldn’t be far from their first stop,  Chuuhi, a village on the border of the Land of Fire and Waterfall.  His goal had been to avoid all major villages and roads on the way to the Sound Country so as to circumvent any possible slow-downs.

“Danna,” he heard Deidara gasp from much further behind him than he had imagined, “I…I cant go any further.”

The red head turned just in time to see his partner collapse.  Hmm, that wasn’t really surprising now that he thought about it.  They had been running almost nonstop since they left the headquarters and had covered a great distance since then.  He wondered curiously if the blonde had died.  Well, he'd have to explain that when he got back, but it might give him some good data on how long it took to effectively wear people to death, though he had no idea when he would actually use that information.

Upon closer inspection, it was evident the sculptor was not dead.  In fact, he was still awake, but it looked as if his limbs weren’t in proper working order for the time being.  Sasori steered his gaze expertly away from the blonde’s pitiful eyes and picked him up with considerable ease, hoisting the kid onto his back.  Chakra strings would have been easier, but more noticeable – something he thought was better to avoid.

He personally hadn’t used any chakra, so he wasn’t really tired at all, but he held the tiniest bit of sympathy for Deidara.  Of course, that also had to do with how close the village was, otherwise he would have been rather exasperated.

Deidara felt, aside from tired out of his mind, rather useless being carried around.  Honestly, what kind of person was his partner if he could run all day and then pick someone bigger than him up and carry him around effortlessly?  He had never considered himself weak before, but there was no way he could do it, as he had just demonstrated.  If only he could rest for a bit with a large plate of food in front of him…

His weary mind was aware of a strange poking at his stomach.  It felt like two rods were being pressed lengthwise into him.  So hard was he fighting falling asleep, he found it hard to concentration or wonder what they could be.  The only things he could discern was that they were between him and Sasori and the puppeteer must have been really toned to have such hard shoulders and chest.

Both men were rather pleased to see the tiny village hidden amongst the trees.  It didn’t take them long to locate the only inn and check in.  The woman at the front desk gave them a skeptical look upon seeing an apparently uninjured Deidara carried on an equally unharmed Sasori’s back.  When the red head requested one room and some food made ready at a table for the two of them, her eyes widened as she looked from one to the other.  Suddenly, something seemed to have clicked in her mind and she smiled knowingly before leading them upstairs.

When they got there, she apologized, “I'm sorry, but right now, our only vacant room has two beds.  I hope this doesn’t inconvenience the two of you in any way.”

Sasori knew exactly what was probably going through her mind but both didn’t care and didn’t have any inclination to lower himself to clear the air with her.  He merely shook his head.  Deidara had his blue eyes closed in what looked like genuine slumber, so he didn’t notice anything.

Dinner worked wonders to get the blonde back on his feet.  At the table he ate so much that he didn’t notice how little, if any, he left his partner.  The food effectively restored lost energy and raised his spirits.  In fact, he had completely forgotten Sasori's rudeness at the start of their journey and inquired again as to the nature of their mission.

This time, the red head decided to let the sculptor in on the whole story – or as much as was necessary.

“Sir Leader received a message from a Konoha shinobi loyal to us that asked for our assistance in catching a rogue from his clan and the Kumo nin that helped him escape.  Apparently he has little faith in his clan members and requires additional help.”  He paused to let it sink in and he drank from his coffee cup.  Deidara remained silent for once – mainly because he had a strong feeling if he interrupted, Sasori would no longer have any desire to continue.  That, and he was still chowing down on the rest of the onigiri.

“With some quick digging, Zetsu was able to give us the identity of the shinobi from Kumogakure.  It was also discovered he has a brother who lives directly en route to the Land of Lightning who he often relies upon to visit.  Our goal is to meet them there tomorrow evening and either capture or kill them both.”  Pausing, he took another sip of coffee and gave the blonde a look as if to ask if he had any questions.

At Deidara's silence and apparent interest in the mochi he was attempting to dislodge from his throat, Sasori continued as an afterthought, “I might add that the rogue is of the Hyuuga clan and therefore possesses, to at least some extent, the Byakugan eyes.”  A sudden cough seemed to have cleared up the matter with the obstinate rice cake.  The look of comprehension and uneasiness on the blonde’s face told the puppet master quite plainly that he had no need to further explain.  He found himself unwilling to caution his partner.  Either he already knew or he was an idiot – and if the kid was an idiot, Sasori had no need of his companionship on missions.

“Erm,” Deidara broke the silence after a few minutes, “how far is the Kumo nin’s brother’s house, un?”  Though he asked as calmly as possible, he could feel himself tense up.  He had no desire to repeat today’s events, but if his assigned partner was going to be this ridiculous about travel schedules, he may as well kill himself now.

The puppeteer knew exactly what was going through the blonde’s mind and stifled a smirk and the urge to tell him it was twice the distance.  Instead he replied in his emotionless voice, “Half as far as we went today, so our pace can be slowed.”

Well, that was definitely a relief.  Deidara didn't think there existed anyone crazy enough to expect anyone to keep up that insane pace for more than a day – if that.  “Where is it then?”

“On the border of the Land of Rice Fields.”  Came the blunt reply.

Not taking the hint, Deidara cocked his head and looked at the red head with a puzzled look in his eyes.  “I thought it was known as the Land of Sound since that Orichimaru guy took over?”

Sasori's brown eyes flashed in fury.  “It doesn’t matter!”  he snapped.

However, the blonde was too tired to be offended.  With a yawn,  he realized he was suddenly losing all the energy he had just regained to keep himself from falling asleep.  “Oh, okay, un.  Well, can we go to bed then, un?”

Sasori steered his thoughts elsewhere and looked quizzically back at him.  Mentally making a note to himself about the stamina of his partner (permanent or not) to refer to in the future when he planned daily travel in another mission, he rose and put down the necessary coin.  Not giving the other another glance, he strode off back to their assigned room.  The sculptor followed slowly, giving the receptionist girl a wan smile as he passed, making her instantly wonder if his partner were too rough with him.

When the two entered the room, Deidara immediately claimed the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth and his hair and get changed.  Sasori waited by readying his bed then brushed his teeth and splashed warm water on his face when the blonde was finished.  As he removed his cloak and looked in the mirror at his bare chest, he wondered vaguely if he ought to have brought his sweatshirt.  After a moments thought on the subject, he shrugged it off and folded the garment neatly to put on his bedside table.

Once out of the bathroom, it was clear his pondering had been a waste of time.  The blonde was already fast asleep.  And it would be he who would wake first the next morning.

With a stretch that earned him several pops and cracks in his joints, he set down his coat and slipped under the covers of his rather small bed.  He found he wasn’t tired enough to drift off to sleep yet, so he allowed his mind to wander for a while, touching on the plans for the mission tomorrow, the recently unearthed memories, and that annoying kid that was fast asleep in the bed across from him.  He finally lost himself to sleep in order to escape from the dam of thoughts he had broken open.