sou_chan
Author: sou_chan
Title: Untitled.
Category: AU
Song title, artist: N/A
Author's Notes: I'd like to thank Luki for her BETA job. Thanks much! Also, I am aware that my characters may be a little OOC, but that's why it's in AU, isn't it?
Story Text:
The river rushed by at an astounding pace, the water foaming so much that the pure water was a white, bubbling mass. Nothing moved along the banks of the mighty river, even though a forest lay thickly on both sides. Then a form of a person abruptly emerged among the branches of the trees. The figure wore a black robe with red clouds sewn into the lower half of it, and his blonde hair glistened in the partial sunlight, raising the question as to how it had been so difficult to see him in the first place. He dropped from the branches to the ground, always keeping an alert eye on his surroundings. Seeing no one, he crept to a part of the riverbank and knelt, using a tool to dig up some of the soil and examining it. A grin lit up his face.
“The clay is good today! Un!” Deidara sang happily, and scooped up more of the clay and placed it in a pack on his belt. Later, in his workshop at Akatsuki headquarters, he would add a certain powder mixture to make the clay have a higher explosive potential. Then he could use the clay to perform his… art, so to speak.
Deidara suddenly paused in his collecting, his head jerking up to survey the forest. He felt someone coming, someone with a large amount of chakra. He cursed softly under his breath. He had not brought a lot of good clay. He wasn’t prepared to fight, though it looked like he wasn’t being given much of a choice. Deidara leapt back up into the trees, wanting the advantage of an ambush if the person got too close for comfort.
After a moment of stillness, the person Deidara had sensed emerged from the underbrush to the right of his tree. From Deidara’s angle, all he could see was that the person also wore the Akatsuki garb and had brown hair. Though the person’s face was not visible, he seemed oddly familiar, but Deidara wasn’t about to take any chances; it could always be someone posing as an Akatsuki member in order to infiltrate the organization.
The silence deepened in intensity as the observer waited for the right time to attack the observed. Then the person looked in the general direction of Deidara’s hiding spot and said in a low voice, “You can come out; I know you’re over there.”
Deidara recognized the voice and jumped down from the tree. “Sasori no danna?”
Now that he was on the same level as the person, he saw it was Sasori. His immortalized face was unmistakable anywhere, for both its loveliness and its perpetual blankness. At the moment he was directing his unemotional gaze at Deidara.
“Why do you call me that?” he asked blandly.
Deidara shrugged. “I just want to. Un.”
Deidara had joined Akatsuki several months ago. He had received Sasori as a partner almost instantly after that, since his partner had left some time before. They had gotten off on a slightly wrong foot, since they had such contrasting personalities and views. Though they argued constantly, Deidara always felt that he had a sort of bond with Sasori. He had started calling the older nin “danna” a few weeks ago on pure impulse. Since Sasori had never protested against the use of the new name, Deidara had gotten into a habit of calling him that.
“What are you doing here? Un?” Deidara asked to fill the awkward silence. “Did you finish whatever you left to do?”
Sasori nodded. “I just got back. It was a rather difficult mission.”
“Oh.” Deidara suddenly noticed something that was wrong. “Where’s Hiruko? Didn’t you take him with you?”
“He’s waiting in our workshop for repairs.”
“So… why aren’t you repairing him? Un?”
Sasori lifted up his left arm and pulled away his sleeve, revealing a stump with sharp and ragged edges above the area where the elbow should’ve started. It almost looked like the arm had been blown apart instead of being cleanly cut off.
“I need some repairment myself,” he admitted softly.
Deidara knelt slightly and looked over the damaged puppet arm carefully. “It shouldn’t be that hard to repair. It just needs to be replaced. At least, if that’s the only damage. Un.”
Sasori shook his head. “The girl also cracked my abdomen in a few places. As I said, she was a difficult adversary.”
Deidara made a noncommittal noise as he straightened and looked towards Akatsuki headquarters. “We’ll have to go to our workshop. All of your tools are over there.”
Sasori merely nodded in agreement, and they started their way back to headquarters.
~*~*~*~*~*
Back in their workshop, Deidara saw that Sasori hadn’t been kidding when he said that Hiruko needed repairs. Half of the puppet’s large, scorpion-like tail had been shorn off, and the main body of the puppet contained several jagged holes, which was probably the reason why Sasori had had to leave the protection of the puppet in order to continue fighting.
Deidara rested a hand lightly on Hiruko. “Was it worth it?”
“Yes. She will be a great addition to my collection.”
“Do you want me to fix him, too? I could, you know.”
“No.” Sasori said firmly. “Only I can repair him perfectly. However, I will need both hands.”
He got the hint. After placing his pack of freshly collected clay on a table, he grabbed Sasori’s large box of tools that was used solely for his personal body repairs, however rare they may be. Deidara first delicately used glue to repair the hairline cracks on one side of Sasori’s side, then switched to the longer task of replacing the shattered arm. He worked in silence, except when Sasori quietly ordered Deidara to slightly alter what he was doing in order to get the repairs perfect. Finally, the new arm was in place. Deidara switched to completing the delicate adjustments needed in the joints.
“Y’know, I hate it when you damage yourself. Un,” Deidara commented softly, not looking up from what he was doing.
“Why? Because I force you to fix me?”
“No… It’s because -- never mind.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Un.”
“Tell me. Now.”
“It’s because… I worry about you.” Deidara felt a blush rising in his cheeks, and therefore refused to look up into that lovely face.
“Hm. Really?”
“Yes.”
Silence followed this, and Deidara continued to make adjustments on Sasori’s arm, embarrassed that he had admitted that he actually cared about he partner. It was something he could not help. He had felt that way almost since the first time he had laid eyes on the older nin.
Unable to take the silence any longer, Deidara looked up. He was startled to see that Sasori was looking directly at him with what looked like a ghost of thoughtfulness in his eyes. He lightly placed his good hand on the side of Deidara’s neck, making his pulse race. After a moment of staying in that position, Sasori leaned in and softly brushed his lips against Deidara’s. The young nin was too stunned to move, and Sasori simply went back to staring blankly at nothing. Deidara shook himself out of his shock and shakily went back to working on the repairs. They didn’t talk after that, though Sasori left his good hand resting on Deidara’s shoulder until the repairs were completed.
~*~*~ Years Later ~*~*~
Deidara jumped off his large clay bird before it fully landed. He ran desperately towards that still figure standing limply several feet away. He saw with horror that it was who he feared it was going to be. Sasori just stood there, another puppet’s katana driven directly through his “heart”. He was standing only because of the other puppet’s support. Without it, he would have been on the ground long ago.
“Danna!” Deidara yelled, nearly colliding with his partner. He clung weakly to the body, tears forming in his eyes. Sasori was dead. He couldn’t believe it. He had never thought someone as great as his partner could ever die. Yet here was proof right before his nose.
“Danna…” The tears came now, hot and fast, Deidara shook with effort as he held in the sobs that wanted to tear from his throat. Then he felt a touch, lighter than a feather, on the top of his head. Looking up, he could see Sasori’s face through the blur of tears. His eyes were open and fixed on the blonde nin.
“Brat…” The voice was as light as the touch, barely audible. Deidara’s hope came back instantly.
“Danna! I… I thought you were --”
“I don’t have much time…”
“Don’t worry about that! I’ll get you to the workshop and I’ll fix you up, good as new! I’ve done it a million times, and this time won’t be any different!” Deidara’s voice was edging near hysteria now; he was willing to do anything, as long as it kept Sasori alive.
Sasori caressed the side of Deidara’s upturned face weakly, his slender puppet fingers tracing from temple to chin. “It’s… too late for me…” The words were even fainter now, forcing themselves out on each of the puppeteer’s final breaths.
“No!” Deidara shook his head, refusing what was obviously coming. “No, danna, you can’t leave me…”
“I’m… sorry… Deidara…”
Sasori’s head limply rolled on his neck so that his now unseeing eyes could stare at the sky. Deidara moaned in grief, clutching the body as the tears came once more. Memories of them together flashed through his mind’s eye: the first surprising kiss in the workshop, the lingering gazes and touches between them, the nights of love and warmth. All dashed away, all gone.
Deidara cried for a moment longer, but then his grief turned to sudden anger. Brushing away the tears, Deidara stood and kissed Sasori’s upturned face for the last time. He then turned and walked away resolutely, mounting his clay bird and taking off into the cold azure sky.
I’ll get the ones who did this to you, danna, Deidara thought angrily. I’ll hunt them down and kill them. For you.
Always for you.
Title: Untitled.
Category: AU
Song title, artist: N/A
Author's Notes: I'd like to thank Luki for her BETA job. Thanks much! Also, I am aware that my characters may be a little OOC, but that's why it's in AU, isn't it?
Story Text:
The river rushed by at an astounding pace, the water foaming so much that the pure water was a white, bubbling mass. Nothing moved along the banks of the mighty river, even though a forest lay thickly on both sides. Then a form of a person abruptly emerged among the branches of the trees. The figure wore a black robe with red clouds sewn into the lower half of it, and his blonde hair glistened in the partial sunlight, raising the question as to how it had been so difficult to see him in the first place. He dropped from the branches to the ground, always keeping an alert eye on his surroundings. Seeing no one, he crept to a part of the riverbank and knelt, using a tool to dig up some of the soil and examining it. A grin lit up his face.
“The clay is good today! Un!” Deidara sang happily, and scooped up more of the clay and placed it in a pack on his belt. Later, in his workshop at Akatsuki headquarters, he would add a certain powder mixture to make the clay have a higher explosive potential. Then he could use the clay to perform his… art, so to speak.
Deidara suddenly paused in his collecting, his head jerking up to survey the forest. He felt someone coming, someone with a large amount of chakra. He cursed softly under his breath. He had not brought a lot of good clay. He wasn’t prepared to fight, though it looked like he wasn’t being given much of a choice. Deidara leapt back up into the trees, wanting the advantage of an ambush if the person got too close for comfort.
After a moment of stillness, the person Deidara had sensed emerged from the underbrush to the right of his tree. From Deidara’s angle, all he could see was that the person also wore the Akatsuki garb and had brown hair. Though the person’s face was not visible, he seemed oddly familiar, but Deidara wasn’t about to take any chances; it could always be someone posing as an Akatsuki member in order to infiltrate the organization.
The silence deepened in intensity as the observer waited for the right time to attack the observed. Then the person looked in the general direction of Deidara’s hiding spot and said in a low voice, “You can come out; I know you’re over there.”
Deidara recognized the voice and jumped down from the tree. “Sasori no danna?”
Now that he was on the same level as the person, he saw it was Sasori. His immortalized face was unmistakable anywhere, for both its loveliness and its perpetual blankness. At the moment he was directing his unemotional gaze at Deidara.
“Why do you call me that?” he asked blandly.
Deidara shrugged. “I just want to. Un.”
Deidara had joined Akatsuki several months ago. He had received Sasori as a partner almost instantly after that, since his partner had left some time before. They had gotten off on a slightly wrong foot, since they had such contrasting personalities and views. Though they argued constantly, Deidara always felt that he had a sort of bond with Sasori. He had started calling the older nin “danna” a few weeks ago on pure impulse. Since Sasori had never protested against the use of the new name, Deidara had gotten into a habit of calling him that.
“What are you doing here? Un?” Deidara asked to fill the awkward silence. “Did you finish whatever you left to do?”
Sasori nodded. “I just got back. It was a rather difficult mission.”
“Oh.” Deidara suddenly noticed something that was wrong. “Where’s Hiruko? Didn’t you take him with you?”
“He’s waiting in our workshop for repairs.”
“So… why aren’t you repairing him? Un?”
Sasori lifted up his left arm and pulled away his sleeve, revealing a stump with sharp and ragged edges above the area where the elbow should’ve started. It almost looked like the arm had been blown apart instead of being cleanly cut off.
“I need some repairment myself,” he admitted softly.
Deidara knelt slightly and looked over the damaged puppet arm carefully. “It shouldn’t be that hard to repair. It just needs to be replaced. At least, if that’s the only damage. Un.”
Sasori shook his head. “The girl also cracked my abdomen in a few places. As I said, she was a difficult adversary.”
Deidara made a noncommittal noise as he straightened and looked towards Akatsuki headquarters. “We’ll have to go to our workshop. All of your tools are over there.”
Sasori merely nodded in agreement, and they started their way back to headquarters.
~*~*~*~*~*
Back in their workshop, Deidara saw that Sasori hadn’t been kidding when he said that Hiruko needed repairs. Half of the puppet’s large, scorpion-like tail had been shorn off, and the main body of the puppet contained several jagged holes, which was probably the reason why Sasori had had to leave the protection of the puppet in order to continue fighting.
Deidara rested a hand lightly on Hiruko. “Was it worth it?”
“Yes. She will be a great addition to my collection.”
“Do you want me to fix him, too? I could, you know.”
“No.” Sasori said firmly. “Only I can repair him perfectly. However, I will need both hands.”
He got the hint. After placing his pack of freshly collected clay on a table, he grabbed Sasori’s large box of tools that was used solely for his personal body repairs, however rare they may be. Deidara first delicately used glue to repair the hairline cracks on one side of Sasori’s side, then switched to the longer task of replacing the shattered arm. He worked in silence, except when Sasori quietly ordered Deidara to slightly alter what he was doing in order to get the repairs perfect. Finally, the new arm was in place. Deidara switched to completing the delicate adjustments needed in the joints.
“Y’know, I hate it when you damage yourself. Un,” Deidara commented softly, not looking up from what he was doing.
“Why? Because I force you to fix me?”
“No… It’s because -- never mind.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Un.”
“Tell me. Now.”
“It’s because… I worry about you.” Deidara felt a blush rising in his cheeks, and therefore refused to look up into that lovely face.
“Hm. Really?”
“Yes.”
Silence followed this, and Deidara continued to make adjustments on Sasori’s arm, embarrassed that he had admitted that he actually cared about he partner. It was something he could not help. He had felt that way almost since the first time he had laid eyes on the older nin.
Unable to take the silence any longer, Deidara looked up. He was startled to see that Sasori was looking directly at him with what looked like a ghost of thoughtfulness in his eyes. He lightly placed his good hand on the side of Deidara’s neck, making his pulse race. After a moment of staying in that position, Sasori leaned in and softly brushed his lips against Deidara’s. The young nin was too stunned to move, and Sasori simply went back to staring blankly at nothing. Deidara shook himself out of his shock and shakily went back to working on the repairs. They didn’t talk after that, though Sasori left his good hand resting on Deidara’s shoulder until the repairs were completed.
~*~*~ Years Later ~*~*~
Deidara jumped off his large clay bird before it fully landed. He ran desperately towards that still figure standing limply several feet away. He saw with horror that it was who he feared it was going to be. Sasori just stood there, another puppet’s katana driven directly through his “heart”. He was standing only because of the other puppet’s support. Without it, he would have been on the ground long ago.
“Danna!” Deidara yelled, nearly colliding with his partner. He clung weakly to the body, tears forming in his eyes. Sasori was dead. He couldn’t believe it. He had never thought someone as great as his partner could ever die. Yet here was proof right before his nose.
“Danna…” The tears came now, hot and fast, Deidara shook with effort as he held in the sobs that wanted to tear from his throat. Then he felt a touch, lighter than a feather, on the top of his head. Looking up, he could see Sasori’s face through the blur of tears. His eyes were open and fixed on the blonde nin.
“Brat…” The voice was as light as the touch, barely audible. Deidara’s hope came back instantly.
“Danna! I… I thought you were --”
“I don’t have much time…”
“Don’t worry about that! I’ll get you to the workshop and I’ll fix you up, good as new! I’ve done it a million times, and this time won’t be any different!” Deidara’s voice was edging near hysteria now; he was willing to do anything, as long as it kept Sasori alive.
Sasori caressed the side of Deidara’s upturned face weakly, his slender puppet fingers tracing from temple to chin. “It’s… too late for me…” The words were even fainter now, forcing themselves out on each of the puppeteer’s final breaths.
“No!” Deidara shook his head, refusing what was obviously coming. “No, danna, you can’t leave me…”
“I’m… sorry… Deidara…”
Sasori’s head limply rolled on his neck so that his now unseeing eyes could stare at the sky. Deidara moaned in grief, clutching the body as the tears came once more. Memories of them together flashed through his mind’s eye: the first surprising kiss in the workshop, the lingering gazes and touches between them, the nights of love and warmth. All dashed away, all gone.
Deidara cried for a moment longer, but then his grief turned to sudden anger. Brushing away the tears, Deidara stood and kissed Sasori’s upturned face for the last time. He then turned and walked away resolutely, mounting his clay bird and taking off into the cold azure sky.
I’ll get the ones who did this to you, danna, Deidara thought angrily. I’ll hunt them down and kill them. For you.
Always for you.
