When A Marionette Is Broken

The Gift That Keeps on Giving?

"That's super fucking nice. Did you actually end up tracking down one of the hotties I introduced to you the other night?" Hidan said, eyes glued to Deidara's obviously pricy new jewelry. 

Deidara made a grossed out face. "Not in this lifetime. It's just from a friend." He assumed Sasori wouldn't be too pleased at him telling Hidan who had really  gotten him what was clearly expensive jewelry.

Kakuzu looked up from the mail he was reading and appraised it easily. "Whoever gave you that has good tastes, odd choice from a 'friend' though."

"What do you mean?" The blonde asked, his fingers dropping from the necklace as he tilted his head quizzically.

"Oh you don't know. It's engagement jewelry, you can tell by the chain's style and the overall detail in the bird. The gold, sapphire, it's all real and high karat."  He shrugged off Hidan's starstruck admiration.

"I don't just make it my business to know human's values, anything of remote monetary value is my trade after all."

Deidara flushed slightly. "I'm sure my friend didn't really know the meaning of it. Besides I have to go." He stood up and left the room, leaving his tea and finished dish behind him.

Sasori had instructed for him to meet him outside today but the from what he could see even from the distance he was at, his redheaded partner was in a foul mood. He was slamming his puppets aggressively at the trees and each other, enmeshed in bitter macabre warfare though his cherubic face was as impassive as ever. 

Come to think of it, he mused to himself, Sasori really hadn't changed all that much in his looks. He looked maybe a few years older, had a few light freckles on  his pale face, and was, of course, flesh and blood but he looked roughly the same as he had in his puppet form. His reddish brown eyes struck Deidara as particularly similar. Despite what the redhead had parroted and possibly even believed, that was where his true emotions had always bled through, subtly, and unnoticable probably to anyone who didn't spend as much time with him as the ex Iwa ninja did.

He smiled slightly to himself as he announced himself as he stepped closer to his partner. He hated being snuck up on.

Sasori stopped what he was doing, letting his least favorite of the two puppets drop to the ground violently. "I figured we could do more training outside. It's the one month of the year Rain isn't true to its namesake."

He complied easily, slightly relieved that though Sasori was sparring with him in earnest, he had curbed the violence a smidgen where Deidara didn't actually have to fear for his life.

"Ah, I have a criticism." Sasori said not even pausing in his relentless attacks.

Deidara struggled to keep up but listened to every word desperately.

"You have to protect your vital points better. I could have killed you multiple times in this mock battle."

"You're an expert at assassination and I only have one arm." Deidara shouted at him.

"Excuses do not matter to the dead. What's your plan to compensate?" Harsh but honest.

"I won't use a shield. I can block with my legs?" He said the last part as a question.

Sasori shrugged noncommittally. "Try it out."

He did just that and though the force of the blow nearly knocked the man backwards, it seemed effective enough. "Satisfactory. That was at 50% of my total chakra strength so that will be baseline."

The two went at it for about two hours before Sasori decided to give the other man a break. He still wasn't back to where he was stamina wise and having Deidara pass out right after stepping their training up wouldn't bode well. Besides he was still having to check in with Pein to ensure it was "worth it" to have him off missions and Deidara still in the organization, how bothersome.