A SECRET

Sasori frowned as he looked around his room. Something was different, he was sure of that. “Brat,” he called out.

“What un?” Deidara replied from Sasori’s bed. The sculptor was currently working his clay into fantastic shapes, completely ignorant of his danna’s annoyance.

“There is something wrong with my room. Were you in here while I was gone?”

“Of course not, un!” Deidara replied quickly. Too quickly.

Sasori frowned. Deidara had been acting weird, ever since the Akasuna had returned from his mission. Jumpy and nervous, like he’d done something wrong. “What are you hiding from me, brat?” he demanded.

“Nothing, Sasori danna!”

“Liar.”

“No I’m not, un!” Deidara grabbed his clay and hopped off the bed. “And I’m not going to stay here and take this, un!” Before Sasori had a chance to protest, Deidara had stormed off in an angry huff.

Still, the puppet master’s suspicions remained. Deidara was up to something, and he was determined to find out what.

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For the next few days, Sasori spied on Deidara from a distance. He was careful to avoid direct contact with the blonde, instead choosing to linger just outside whatever room the sculptor occupied, listening for some clue to the crime Deidara had committed.

It wasn’t until the fourth day that he was finally able to get a little information out of the blonde.

Deidara had been in the kitchen, talking with Konan. Or. More precisely, chewed out by the blue-haired female for his relationship troubles. “Honestly Dei, just go to him and say you’re sorry for whatever it is you did!” she ordered.

“No, un. And in case you haven’t noticed, he’s been avoiding me like the plague as of late. If he wants to talk so badly, he can come and find me, un!”

“But Dei, going to him and talking makes you the bigger person, and offers the olive branch, so to speak,” Konan pointed out gently.

“You just want your yaoi back,” Deidara grumbled.

“No, I want you two to be happy! And I want my yaoi back, but you two being happy is more important!” she assured him.

Suddenly, a loud scream shot through the base. “Sounds like Hidan and Kakuzu are at it again, un.” Deidara sighed softly. “If you hurry, you can catch them in action, un.” Konan bolted out of the room at top speed, completely failing to notice Sasori standing in the doorway as she shot down the hallway.

The redhead waited patiently to see if the blonde would say anything more. Luck must have been on his side, for Deidara began speaking aloud not a moment later. “It’s all his fault, un. If he looked around his room enough, he’d know full well what’s wrong,” the bomber growled to himself.

Sasori raised a brow. What was that supposed to mean?

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The Akasuna was ready to tear his hair out. He’d searched every square inch of his room not once, not twice, but ten times, and had still failed to find anything out of the ordinary. No bombs, no broken puppets or tools, no nothing!

Growling, he rose to his feet and walked straight to the door. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He was going to Deidara’s room, and he was not leaving until he got his answer.

The hallway of the base was quiet and vacant, probably due to the fact that it was closing in on 2 a.m. right now. Still, Sasori was not about to deviate from his plan, mainly because he knew he wouldn’t be able to work up the courage to do this again in the morning.

He stopped in front of Deidara’s door, about to knock, when a better idea occurred to him. Rather than wake his lover up and force him to get out of bed, he’d just pick the lock and walk inside. Easy enough to do.

Five minutes of fiddling with the blonde’s lock produced an open door. Cautiously, Sasori pushed open the door and peered into the dark room, the only light coming from the hall lights.

His eyes widened as they met with the last sight he had ever expected to see.

Deidara was lying on his side, back to he door, obviously still asleep, since he had yet to move. But what had shocked the puppet master so much was the fact that he could see a pale arm draped around the blonde’s side. Someone else was in bed with the bomber.

Shaking, he quickly shut the door, hurrying back down the hall as he felt his heart break into a million little pieces.

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The next morning, Sasori sat at the table in the kitchen, poking at his food half-heartedly. He wasn’t very hungry, but could you blame him?

The last bit of his appetite disappeared when a certain blonde sculptor entered the room, smiling happily. “Morning danna!” he called out, hurrying over to hug the puppeteer.

“Get off me,” Sasori growled, reaching up and pushing the sculptor away with one hand.

Deidara blinked in surprise, a hurt look crossing his face. He hadn’t been treated so coldly by the redhead since before they were dating. “Sasori danna, what’s wrong, un?”

“You,” the Akasuna spat out, grabbing his plate and walking to the sink, anger rising within him. How dare Deidara sleep with someone else, then come to him and act like everything was fine between them!

“What’d I do?” Deidara asked, cocking his head to the side.

“You’ve been leading me on!” Sasori hissed, glaring at the blonde with raw fury in his eyes.

“Dan-“

“Don’t ever call me danna again! I never want to see you again, you little slut!” The Akasuna slammed his dishes down into the sink and stormed out of the kitchen, heading straight for his room. He slammed the door shut behind him, grateful to finally be alone.

The moment was sort-lived, and two seconds later Deidara had barged in, just as angry as Sasori had been moments ago. “What the hell is with you, un?!” he demanded, grabbing the puppet master by the collar of his cloak. Where do you get off calling me a slut, un?!”

“Well what else should I call you, after I saw you in bed with someone else last night, hmm?” Sasori demanded, expecting his question to catch the blonde off-guard.

It did. “In bed with…” Deidara let out an angry sigh and released the Akasuna, rubbing his temples with one hand. “Sasori, come with me.”

“No.”

“Now, un,” Deidara commanded, grabbing the redhead by his wrist and dragging him out the door, down the hall, and into the bomber’s room.

To the puppeteer’s shock and disgust, the other person was still in Deidara’s bed. The blonde released his grip on Sasori and walked across the room to his bed, grabbing the person and pulling them up into a sitting position. “Look familiar, un?” he asked flatly.

Sasori blinked. The “person” was a puppet of him. It was an older, obsolete model, but it was definitely one of his former bodies. “Huh?” he got out, not entirely sure what was going on anymore.

“When you left for your mission two weeks ago, I started missing you, un,” Deidara explained. “I went into your room and found this laying out, so I decided to bring it back in here. Like a giant danna teddy bear, un.”

That explained why his room had looked different. That particular puppet had been set out to be scrapped for salvage parts when the Akasuna returned from his trip, instead of in the scroll where he normally stored it. “I was going to return it,” Deidara went on, “but you kept avoiding me, so I had to keep it around a little longer, un.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?!” Sasori asked in an exasperated tone.

“Because I’m not allowed to touch your stuff, un,” Deidara stated.

Sasori breathed a sigh of relief. This had all been a mistake. “Dei-chan,” he began, moving closer to the blonde.

“Don’t Dei-chan me, un,” the sculptor growled. “You just called me a slut without a good reason, un. I am pissed beyond belief at you.”

“Deidara-“

“Get out.”

“But-“

“And take this thing with you, un!” Five seconds later Sasori was lying on the hallway floor, his old puppet draped across his chest as the bomber slammed the door in his face.

He stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before looking down at the puppet. “Well I’ve royally screwed up, haven’t I?”

And the redhead could have sworn the puppet nodded back to him.

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Deidara did not come out at all for the rest of the day, nor that night. It wasn’t until the next day that he finally poked his head out, and that was only because he knew the Akasuna had been assigned a solo mission.

As he walked into the hall, his feet brushed against something. Curious, he looked down.

There on the floor in front of his room were two puppets; a mini Sasori and Deidara, both clutching a scroll between the two of them.

Raising a brow, Deidara looked around to make sure no one was looking and picked the two up, carrying them back into his room.

He quickly set the dolls down and grabbed the scroll, unrolling it to reveal an apology letter from Sasori that was nothing short of a novella. “Gotta hand it to him. He certainly knows how to apologize, un.” Once the reading was finished, Deidara picked up the two puppets, turning them over in his hand.

The miniature Deidara had clearly had the greater amount of effort put into it, and the bomber could find no flaws in his doppelganger. The redhead was almost as good, only lacking the extreme amount of detail that had been put into the blonde doll. Deidara was tempted to smash the mini Sasori against the wall, but eventually decided against his. He couldn’t bear to destroy the mini danna, and knew that given a few days he’d calm down. At least, he hoped so.

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Sasori walked into the base a week later, stomach twisting itself into knots. He finished his report to Pein all too quickly, and slowly made his way down the hall. He was tempted to go to Deidara’s room, but didn’t want to risk it if the bomber was still mad at him. Sighing in resignation, he turned the knob to his own door and walked inside.

“Took you long enough to get back, un.”

Sasori started at the voice and turned his head to see Deidara lying in his bed, a blank look on his face illuminated by the lamp on the bedside table. The Akasuna removed his cloak and crawled in on his side, being careful to keep space between himself and the blonde. If he’d been forgiven, he wasn’t going to push his limits. “Are you still mad at me?” he asked.

“Just a little, un. How could you even think that about me…” Deidara shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” Sasori said.

“I know. I read your apology letter, un.”

“Do you believe me?”

“Yes. In fact, that letter is staying in my desk to remind me why I love you, even when you’re a total bastard to me, un.”

“So, am I forgiven?”

“Yes, un.”

Sasori sighed in relief and shut off the lamp. Time for sleep.

However, his mind was far too active to allow him to drift off. It seemed like hours passed before he felt the mattress shake ever so much as Deidara moved a bit closer to him. Taking a chance, he mirrored the action, scooting closer to Deidara. The two artists finally met in the middle of the bed, when Deidara pressed himself to Sasori’s chest and allowed the puppet master to wrap his arms around the bomber. “You much better than an ordinary puppet,” Deidara muttered.

The Akasuna gently hugged him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. For the first time in weeks, things felt right.

And as Deidara yawned and nuzzled him gently, he vowed to keep them this way.