Clay and Puppets - Chapter 2
Chapter 2, and going strong!
Title: Clay and Puppets
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Sasori/Deidara
Rating: PG for this chapter, eventual NC-17.
Summary: In which, Sasori gains, through a string of seemingly unfortunate incidents, a new partner named Deidara. Though the puppet master is reluctant to form any kind of friendship with the young Iwa missing-nin, Deidara seeks to get to know Sasori, while adjusting to his new life in the 'evil' organisation of Akatsuki.
Disclaimer: This product is meant for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Use only as directed.
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Chapter 2: Akatsuki Place of Residence
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It was eight hours of continuous travel and absolute silence between the missing-nin which brought them finally to the outskirts of the mountainous uncharted land which housed the Akatsuki hideout. With the kind of quiet precision suited only to international criminals, they leapt through the trees from branch to branch without rest, and most of them were relieved when at last they began to recognise the telltale signs of home territory.
With all four of the travellers already tired, hungry and drained of chakra from the previous battle, forging the journey home through the night and into early morning had left them all the more sorely-tempered. Sasori could think of nothing else but sleep and a good meal, internally cursing how weak his body had grown over his time stagnant at the hideout while the others had been out on missions, when usually he could travel for days without feeling this exhausted.
Grumbling under his breath, Sasori glanced a look at the kid who now travelled at his side, long blonde hair and high ponytail whipping behind him with every leap they took and revealing one bright, frightened blue eye. It was painfully obvious that he was making every effort to keep quiet and avoid looking at any of them. Sasori mused that, for all his apparent lack of sanity, the boy was somewhat fascinating.
Deidara, he said his name was.
"Finally!" A voice called suddenly from below, bringing the travellers to an immediate halt and drawing their attention to the grassy plains beneath the foliage of the trees.
Descending soundlessly to the ground below, Deidara following behind obediently, they came upon another man in a heavy black cloak adorned with red clouds, and the blonde captive recognised him instantly as the only Hidden Grass Village missing-nin in the bingo book.
"Took you long enough." Groused the black half of Zetsu, glaring one-sidedly out of the bulbous plant growth that encompassed his head and shoulders. "We’ve been waiting since last night!" The white side added, in a markedly worried tone of voice.
Kisame sighed, rubbing one large hand over his face. "Everything did not go to plan." He told Zetsu, and flinched when the plant-man turned to him sharply.
In unison, both of Zetsu’s voices asked; "What do you mean?"
Itachi closed his eyes, but otherwise gave no indication of his exhaustion, as he answered calmly; "We didn't get the scroll."
Zetsu rounded on them, furious expression mirrored on both halves of his face. "What the hell do you mean you didn't get the scroll?" His black side shouted, while the white was deathly silent.
Sasori glared at the plant-man, unappreciative of his scolding when he already knew, they all knew, the consequences they would have to face for this failure.
"We mean," the puppeteer growled back at him angrily, "that we only had enough time to escape the hundred or so Iwagakure shinobi and prevent ourselves from becoming roasted meat!"
"You forgot about the scroll!" Zetsu countered heatedly, face contorted with anger. "You know how important this mission was for Akatsuki!"
"Yes, we know! We couldn't do anything about it! The scroll is gone, destroyed!"
Sasori met Zetsu’s glare with his own, thoughts already straying to the inevitable fury of Sir Leader and just how long it would be before he was given the opportunity to leave the hideout again.
"Actually..." Deidara interrupted meekly from behind the group, and the criminals looked at him as though they had only just realised he was there. Slowly, deliberately, the blonde held up his right hand - having pulled it from an inside pocket of the guard’s jacket that he wore - and with it, the sacred Keiden scroll of Iwagakure.
They all stared at him in shock, until finally, it was Itachi who gracefully snatched the artefact from the boy's hands, examining it with his Sharingan blazing over the ornate gold, Kisame watching over his shoulder.
"It's the scroll." He confirmed, satisfied, and handed it to Zetsu.
Zetsu, who had only just noticed Deidara for the first time, stared wide-eyed at the boy. The blonde was noticeably uncomfortable, a pink tinge staining his cheeks at the scrutiny he was gaining from both the plant-nin and Sasori.
After a long moment in which the group at large seemed to be sizing up the blonde, Sasori spoke. "You stole the scroll?" He asked Deidara, tone straightforward.
Deidara was hit very distinctly with the impression that any lie on his part would be immediately detected, and so when he dared raise his head to meet the puppet master’s gaze, he nodded enthusiastically.
"Un!” The boy confirmed, perhaps a little too loudly, and his face coloured further. “I-I knew that was what you had come for, so I grabbed it as we were running away!"
Sasori stared at him in surprise, before turning to Zetsu, whose eyes were trained on Deidara.
"Who the hell is this?" His black side asked finally, addressing Sasori, and pointing to the blonde.
The Suna-nin shrugged. "An Iwagakure brat who was guarding the repository for the scroll," he told him plainly, "said he wanted to come with us."
"And you let him?" The white side asked incredulously.
"Well," Kisame answered, hands casually stuffed into his pockets, "he did threaten to blow us up, somewhere along the way."
Zetsu turned to eye Deidara again, this time with a grudging level of apprehension in his gaze, while the boy stared at his feet sheepishly - looking every bit the child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"What are we going to do with him?" Itachi asked mildly, a bored curiosity in his tone.
Zetsu snorted. "We don't know," he answered, voice double-toned, before both sides of his face seemed to light up with a thought. "Can we eat him?"
Deidara couldn’t help the squeak of fear that escaped his throat as he turned wide-eyed to Sasori, eyes silently pleading.
The puppet master frowned. "No one is eating him.” He told Zetsu firmly, and tried to ignore just how disappointed the plant-man looked. “We will let Sir Leader decide what to do with him."
Zetsu huffed, his white side sighing; "fine...." while the black muttered darkly, "…no meat on him anyway."
Sasori took a step away from the group, and turning to face them as a whole, he gave the order. "We will return to the hideout, and the boy will come with us." Everyone, sans Deidara, nodded. "And should Sir Leader decide it, Zetsu..." He continued, looking into the blonde’s frightened eyes, "... then you may eat him."
Zetsu seemed perfectly pleased with this, as an even grin spread across both halves of his face, and nodded his agreement as they set off further into the forest.
Itachi smirked with amusement, and Kisame gave a chuckle as they too walked on.
Deidara, however, paled noticeably, though with one look around at the ominously bowed trees and sharp arm-like branches that surrounded him, he quickly made to catch up with the others.
Making their way through the maze of the forest, they soon reached a wide open field away from the heavy canopy of the trees, and found themselves abruptly at the bottom of a very high cliff face. From the bottom, the cliff seemed to stretch into the sky forever, and as Deidara turned his face upwards, he wondered what it would be like to fall from such a distance.
"Home at last." Kisame sighed, strolling forward towards the cliff face as though it would open to swallow him whole.
Deidara looked on in confusion, as the rest of the Akatsuki members began to walk towards the cliff. For all that he could see it was only a large expanse of rock, which no doubt went on for miles in every direction, a dead end.
Lagging behind apprehensively, the blonde hesitated to follow the darkly-cloaked Akatsuki as they made towards the rock, an instinctive caution rising within him. Turning as he felt the other stop, Sasori halted, and saw the fear that welled within the boy.
Rolling his eyes, the puppet master reached back and grabbed his arm, not too roughly, and tried very hard not to seem threatening as he murmured; "come on."
Deidara, to Sasori's surprise, immediately latched onto the puppeteer’s arm, squeezing tightly. Sasori looked down at the blonde in surprise, as the young boy leaned into him, evidently reassured by man’s presence.
The puppet master was confused by the child’s behaviour, but was too exhausted to ponder it further, as they too began to walk towards the cliff face - Sasori begrudgingly allowing Deidara to cling to him if it meant getting the kid into the hideout so he could go to sleep.
Once they reached the wide surface of the stone, Deidara watched from his place huddled behind Sasori as the Akatsuki members gathered, facing the rock wall.
Itachi glanced from the puppet master to the blonde, met Sasori's eyes, and briefly raised an eyebrow in amusement. Sasori, in embarrassment, glared at the Uchiha scathingly, before averting his gaze firmly from both Itachi and the teenager hanging on his arm.
The puppeteer thought he might have heard Kisame chuckle under his breath, but decided he hadn’t.
Deidara watched with an apprehensive curiosity as Zetsu placed his one black hand apon the cliff wall, and was surprised when Itachi and Kisame followed suit. Sasori then lifted his own hand, the one not currently occupied by Deidara, and placed it too against the rock. Deidara wondered for a moment if he should do the same, but remained still, and received no instruction.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. They stood perfectly still, all in a row along the cliff face - before the sudden rumble of shifting rock thundered through the grassy field, making Deidara jump and cling to Sasori tighter, as the Akatsuki-nin kept their hands pressed to the stone - and then, just as quickly, the world around them became still again. As though on cue the Akatsuki moved away from the stone, and wondrously, in front of Deidara's eyes a line began to crack its way around the rock face, stretching a large ark over a portion of the cliff and creating a round outline alike to that of a doorway, only many feet higher than any man could be. Then, an explosive note with strange kanji upon it manifested itself in the middle of the newly shaped archway, stuck to the rocky wall and glowing a bright red.
This, too, seemed to be some kind of signal, as the men responded in unison; "Akatsuki." Sasori, with a quick remembering glance to Deidara, then added, his voice deep and smooth; "Itchi."
At this the stone seemed to respond, slowly beginning to shake and shift - moving, Deidara could see, out of the way of the five shinobi - and reformed itself to leave an arcing doorway, a dark tunnel that led into what could be nothing other than the infamous Akatsuki hideout.
Gasping in both awe and fear, Deidara tried very hard not to tremble as they slowly began to walk forward into the archway, their way lighted only by the fire torches that had been placed evenly along the walls of the tunnel. Sasori felt the boy’s thin fingers dig into the flesh of his arm as they walked into the entrance of the hideout, and wondered bemusedly why the blonde couldn't have taken hold of his wooden arm, where he wouldn't bruise.
Gazing around himself in the darkness of the red torch light, Deidara wondered for the first time what would happen to him now that he had surrendered himself to these people, and shrunk closer to Sasori in response.
They walked for longer than Deidara had anticipated through the dark passageway, the tunnel seeming to stretch impossibly longer into the darkness with every passing minute, until at last they came upon two doors, each facing the other. The right door was painted with the same swirly, red and white clouds that appeared on the Akatsuki member's cloaks, with a surprisingly pleasant blue undertone that made it seem completely out of place in the dark and gloomy corridor. The left door was different entirely - a stark black, with one single red cloud in the middle which was somehow more sharp and sinister than any of the clouds on the other door, and deeper too, as though it had been painted in blood. Deidara wondered which one they would go through.
Itachi and Kisame reached immediately for the door on the right, and though Deidara relaxed in relief, he felt Sasori stiffen beside him.
Gruffly, the puppet master asked, "what are you-"
"We will be going into the main chambers." Itachi responded, turning to give the Suna-nin a pointedly tired look. "You will take him to Sir Leader."
"What?" Sasori demanded, quick to anger. "Why do I-?"
"Well, he is already attached to you." Kisame intoned with a grin, pointing lazily to Deidara. "It would make sense for you to take him."
"Besides," Zetsu agreed with a wide yawn, "we're rather tired."
And with that, three of the Akatsuki opened the door to the right, a surprisingly bright light streaming out momentarily through the opening into the dark tunnel, and then disappeared into what ever was hid behind it. Deidara felt an overwhelming desire to follow them.
Sasori grumbled heatedly under his breath about being every bit as tired as the others were, but didn’t spare a glance at Deidara, as he steered them towards the black door. Placing one hand on the handle, Sasori took a breath before daring to turn it, the door opening towards them with a loud and ominous creek.
Behind this door was no pleasant light, but a continuing and deepening darkness, far denser and more fathomless than the tunnel had been. No torches lighted the way along this corridor; only two unnatural-looking orbs of green floated either side of a large stone doorway, at the far end of the passage.
Looking to Sasori, Deidara was given no reassurance, as the redheaded man kept his gaze firmly ahead of them, taking even, careful steps forward into the dark chamber as though he expected the floor to fall from under them at any moment.
A chill pressed at Deidara’s back, the shuffling of their feet sounded like voices in his head, and no matter how close he clung to Sasori, he felt unbearably alone in the darkness. By the time they approached the giant stone door way, Deidara was shaking uncontrollably, his breathing erratic.
Sasori turned to him then, acknowledging the blonde’s presence for he first time since they had been alone, and glared harshly - taking hold of the boy’s wrists where held on to him.
"Let go." Sasori told him coldly, "and stand tall as you address Sir Leader."
Deidara couldn’t help but feel wounded, and more than a little afraid, as he was forced to release his grip on Sasori - the fiery red-headed man turning away from him once again. The blonde stood shaking on the spot, as Sasori raised his hand, hesitating for only a moment before knocking once, loudly.
Mentally hardening himself for what was to come, Deidara took a steadying breath, only to feel his heart stop in fear as a deep and decidedly cruel voice bellowed through the air, echoing from behind the heavy wood of the door.
"Come in, Sasori..."
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Next Chapter
Title: Clay and Puppets
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Sasori/Deidara
Rating: PG for this chapter, eventual NC-17.
Summary: In which, Sasori gains, through a string of seemingly unfortunate incidents, a new partner named Deidara. Though the puppet master is reluctant to form any kind of friendship with the young Iwa missing-nin, Deidara seeks to get to know Sasori, while adjusting to his new life in the 'evil' organisation of Akatsuki.
Disclaimer: This product is meant for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Use only as directed.
⚜⚜⚜
Chapter 2: Akatsuki Place of Residence
⚜⚜⚜
It was eight hours of continuous travel and absolute silence between the missing-nin which brought them finally to the outskirts of the mountainous uncharted land which housed the Akatsuki hideout. With the kind of quiet precision suited only to international criminals, they leapt through the trees from branch to branch without rest, and most of them were relieved when at last they began to recognise the telltale signs of home territory.
With all four of the travellers already tired, hungry and drained of chakra from the previous battle, forging the journey home through the night and into early morning had left them all the more sorely-tempered. Sasori could think of nothing else but sleep and a good meal, internally cursing how weak his body had grown over his time stagnant at the hideout while the others had been out on missions, when usually he could travel for days without feeling this exhausted.
Grumbling under his breath, Sasori glanced a look at the kid who now travelled at his side, long blonde hair and high ponytail whipping behind him with every leap they took and revealing one bright, frightened blue eye. It was painfully obvious that he was making every effort to keep quiet and avoid looking at any of them. Sasori mused that, for all his apparent lack of sanity, the boy was somewhat fascinating.
Deidara, he said his name was.
"Finally!" A voice called suddenly from below, bringing the travellers to an immediate halt and drawing their attention to the grassy plains beneath the foliage of the trees.
Descending soundlessly to the ground below, Deidara following behind obediently, they came upon another man in a heavy black cloak adorned with red clouds, and the blonde captive recognised him instantly as the only Hidden Grass Village missing-nin in the bingo book.
"Took you long enough." Groused the black half of Zetsu, glaring one-sidedly out of the bulbous plant growth that encompassed his head and shoulders. "We’ve been waiting since last night!" The white side added, in a markedly worried tone of voice.
Kisame sighed, rubbing one large hand over his face. "Everything did not go to plan." He told Zetsu, and flinched when the plant-man turned to him sharply.
In unison, both of Zetsu’s voices asked; "What do you mean?"
Itachi closed his eyes, but otherwise gave no indication of his exhaustion, as he answered calmly; "We didn't get the scroll."
Zetsu rounded on them, furious expression mirrored on both halves of his face. "What the hell do you mean you didn't get the scroll?" His black side shouted, while the white was deathly silent.
Sasori glared at the plant-man, unappreciative of his scolding when he already knew, they all knew, the consequences they would have to face for this failure.
"We mean," the puppeteer growled back at him angrily, "that we only had enough time to escape the hundred or so Iwagakure shinobi and prevent ourselves from becoming roasted meat!"
"You forgot about the scroll!" Zetsu countered heatedly, face contorted with anger. "You know how important this mission was for Akatsuki!"
"Yes, we know! We couldn't do anything about it! The scroll is gone, destroyed!"
Sasori met Zetsu’s glare with his own, thoughts already straying to the inevitable fury of Sir Leader and just how long it would be before he was given the opportunity to leave the hideout again.
"Actually..." Deidara interrupted meekly from behind the group, and the criminals looked at him as though they had only just realised he was there. Slowly, deliberately, the blonde held up his right hand - having pulled it from an inside pocket of the guard’s jacket that he wore - and with it, the sacred Keiden scroll of Iwagakure.
They all stared at him in shock, until finally, it was Itachi who gracefully snatched the artefact from the boy's hands, examining it with his Sharingan blazing over the ornate gold, Kisame watching over his shoulder.
"It's the scroll." He confirmed, satisfied, and handed it to Zetsu.
Zetsu, who had only just noticed Deidara for the first time, stared wide-eyed at the boy. The blonde was noticeably uncomfortable, a pink tinge staining his cheeks at the scrutiny he was gaining from both the plant-nin and Sasori.
After a long moment in which the group at large seemed to be sizing up the blonde, Sasori spoke. "You stole the scroll?" He asked Deidara, tone straightforward.
Deidara was hit very distinctly with the impression that any lie on his part would be immediately detected, and so when he dared raise his head to meet the puppet master’s gaze, he nodded enthusiastically.
"Un!” The boy confirmed, perhaps a little too loudly, and his face coloured further. “I-I knew that was what you had come for, so I grabbed it as we were running away!"
Sasori stared at him in surprise, before turning to Zetsu, whose eyes were trained on Deidara.
"Who the hell is this?" His black side asked finally, addressing Sasori, and pointing to the blonde.
The Suna-nin shrugged. "An Iwagakure brat who was guarding the repository for the scroll," he told him plainly, "said he wanted to come with us."
"And you let him?" The white side asked incredulously.
"Well," Kisame answered, hands casually stuffed into his pockets, "he did threaten to blow us up, somewhere along the way."
Zetsu turned to eye Deidara again, this time with a grudging level of apprehension in his gaze, while the boy stared at his feet sheepishly - looking every bit the child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"What are we going to do with him?" Itachi asked mildly, a bored curiosity in his tone.
Zetsu snorted. "We don't know," he answered, voice double-toned, before both sides of his face seemed to light up with a thought. "Can we eat him?"
Deidara couldn’t help the squeak of fear that escaped his throat as he turned wide-eyed to Sasori, eyes silently pleading.
The puppet master frowned. "No one is eating him.” He told Zetsu firmly, and tried to ignore just how disappointed the plant-man looked. “We will let Sir Leader decide what to do with him."
Zetsu huffed, his white side sighing; "fine...." while the black muttered darkly, "…no meat on him anyway."
Sasori took a step away from the group, and turning to face them as a whole, he gave the order. "We will return to the hideout, and the boy will come with us." Everyone, sans Deidara, nodded. "And should Sir Leader decide it, Zetsu..." He continued, looking into the blonde’s frightened eyes, "... then you may eat him."
Zetsu seemed perfectly pleased with this, as an even grin spread across both halves of his face, and nodded his agreement as they set off further into the forest.
Itachi smirked with amusement, and Kisame gave a chuckle as they too walked on.
Deidara, however, paled noticeably, though with one look around at the ominously bowed trees and sharp arm-like branches that surrounded him, he quickly made to catch up with the others.
Making their way through the maze of the forest, they soon reached a wide open field away from the heavy canopy of the trees, and found themselves abruptly at the bottom of a very high cliff face. From the bottom, the cliff seemed to stretch into the sky forever, and as Deidara turned his face upwards, he wondered what it would be like to fall from such a distance.
"Home at last." Kisame sighed, strolling forward towards the cliff face as though it would open to swallow him whole.
Deidara looked on in confusion, as the rest of the Akatsuki members began to walk towards the cliff. For all that he could see it was only a large expanse of rock, which no doubt went on for miles in every direction, a dead end.
Lagging behind apprehensively, the blonde hesitated to follow the darkly-cloaked Akatsuki as they made towards the rock, an instinctive caution rising within him. Turning as he felt the other stop, Sasori halted, and saw the fear that welled within the boy.
Rolling his eyes, the puppet master reached back and grabbed his arm, not too roughly, and tried very hard not to seem threatening as he murmured; "come on."
Deidara, to Sasori's surprise, immediately latched onto the puppeteer’s arm, squeezing tightly. Sasori looked down at the blonde in surprise, as the young boy leaned into him, evidently reassured by man’s presence.
The puppet master was confused by the child’s behaviour, but was too exhausted to ponder it further, as they too began to walk towards the cliff face - Sasori begrudgingly allowing Deidara to cling to him if it meant getting the kid into the hideout so he could go to sleep.
Once they reached the wide surface of the stone, Deidara watched from his place huddled behind Sasori as the Akatsuki members gathered, facing the rock wall.
Itachi glanced from the puppet master to the blonde, met Sasori's eyes, and briefly raised an eyebrow in amusement. Sasori, in embarrassment, glared at the Uchiha scathingly, before averting his gaze firmly from both Itachi and the teenager hanging on his arm.
The puppeteer thought he might have heard Kisame chuckle under his breath, but decided he hadn’t.
Deidara watched with an apprehensive curiosity as Zetsu placed his one black hand apon the cliff wall, and was surprised when Itachi and Kisame followed suit. Sasori then lifted his own hand, the one not currently occupied by Deidara, and placed it too against the rock. Deidara wondered for a moment if he should do the same, but remained still, and received no instruction.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. They stood perfectly still, all in a row along the cliff face - before the sudden rumble of shifting rock thundered through the grassy field, making Deidara jump and cling to Sasori tighter, as the Akatsuki-nin kept their hands pressed to the stone - and then, just as quickly, the world around them became still again. As though on cue the Akatsuki moved away from the stone, and wondrously, in front of Deidara's eyes a line began to crack its way around the rock face, stretching a large ark over a portion of the cliff and creating a round outline alike to that of a doorway, only many feet higher than any man could be. Then, an explosive note with strange kanji upon it manifested itself in the middle of the newly shaped archway, stuck to the rocky wall and glowing a bright red.
This, too, seemed to be some kind of signal, as the men responded in unison; "Akatsuki." Sasori, with a quick remembering glance to Deidara, then added, his voice deep and smooth; "Itchi."
At this the stone seemed to respond, slowly beginning to shake and shift - moving, Deidara could see, out of the way of the five shinobi - and reformed itself to leave an arcing doorway, a dark tunnel that led into what could be nothing other than the infamous Akatsuki hideout.
Gasping in both awe and fear, Deidara tried very hard not to tremble as they slowly began to walk forward into the archway, their way lighted only by the fire torches that had been placed evenly along the walls of the tunnel. Sasori felt the boy’s thin fingers dig into the flesh of his arm as they walked into the entrance of the hideout, and wondered bemusedly why the blonde couldn't have taken hold of his wooden arm, where he wouldn't bruise.
Gazing around himself in the darkness of the red torch light, Deidara wondered for the first time what would happen to him now that he had surrendered himself to these people, and shrunk closer to Sasori in response.
They walked for longer than Deidara had anticipated through the dark passageway, the tunnel seeming to stretch impossibly longer into the darkness with every passing minute, until at last they came upon two doors, each facing the other. The right door was painted with the same swirly, red and white clouds that appeared on the Akatsuki member's cloaks, with a surprisingly pleasant blue undertone that made it seem completely out of place in the dark and gloomy corridor. The left door was different entirely - a stark black, with one single red cloud in the middle which was somehow more sharp and sinister than any of the clouds on the other door, and deeper too, as though it had been painted in blood. Deidara wondered which one they would go through.
Itachi and Kisame reached immediately for the door on the right, and though Deidara relaxed in relief, he felt Sasori stiffen beside him.
Gruffly, the puppet master asked, "what are you-"
"We will be going into the main chambers." Itachi responded, turning to give the Suna-nin a pointedly tired look. "You will take him to Sir Leader."
"What?" Sasori demanded, quick to anger. "Why do I-?"
"Well, he is already attached to you." Kisame intoned with a grin, pointing lazily to Deidara. "It would make sense for you to take him."
"Besides," Zetsu agreed with a wide yawn, "we're rather tired."
And with that, three of the Akatsuki opened the door to the right, a surprisingly bright light streaming out momentarily through the opening into the dark tunnel, and then disappeared into what ever was hid behind it. Deidara felt an overwhelming desire to follow them.
Sasori grumbled heatedly under his breath about being every bit as tired as the others were, but didn’t spare a glance at Deidara, as he steered them towards the black door. Placing one hand on the handle, Sasori took a breath before daring to turn it, the door opening towards them with a loud and ominous creek.
Behind this door was no pleasant light, but a continuing and deepening darkness, far denser and more fathomless than the tunnel had been. No torches lighted the way along this corridor; only two unnatural-looking orbs of green floated either side of a large stone doorway, at the far end of the passage.
Looking to Sasori, Deidara was given no reassurance, as the redheaded man kept his gaze firmly ahead of them, taking even, careful steps forward into the dark chamber as though he expected the floor to fall from under them at any moment.
A chill pressed at Deidara’s back, the shuffling of their feet sounded like voices in his head, and no matter how close he clung to Sasori, he felt unbearably alone in the darkness. By the time they approached the giant stone door way, Deidara was shaking uncontrollably, his breathing erratic.
Sasori turned to him then, acknowledging the blonde’s presence for he first time since they had been alone, and glared harshly - taking hold of the boy’s wrists where held on to him.
"Let go." Sasori told him coldly, "and stand tall as you address Sir Leader."
Deidara couldn’t help but feel wounded, and more than a little afraid, as he was forced to release his grip on Sasori - the fiery red-headed man turning away from him once again. The blonde stood shaking on the spot, as Sasori raised his hand, hesitating for only a moment before knocking once, loudly.
Mentally hardening himself for what was to come, Deidara took a steadying breath, only to feel his heart stop in fear as a deep and decidedly cruel voice bellowed through the air, echoing from behind the heavy wood of the door.
"Come in, Sasori..."
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