He opens his eyes in what he thinks is the same forest he went to sleep in, only there is no one around him. He's all alone, which on the one hand is great because he doesn't have to deal with Tobi, and on the other hand is awful because now he'll have to find Tobi before he can get back to work on the current mission. Assuming that Tobi didn't get himself killed when he wandered off. He's supposed to be a really good escape artist, though, so Deidara won't get his hopes up.
He swears that Tobi was assigned to him as punishment for failing to capture the Ninetails's jinchuriki, all while also costing them a valuable player like Sasori. The first of the Akatsuki to die, but not the last. Lord Pain must have been pissed.
He doesn't even know why he woke up at first. It's quiet here. ...Peaceful, even, so Tobi can't be anywhere nearby. That high-pitched voice carries.
Deidara does not do peaceful, but he doesn't hate it, either. He's not going to waste a bunch of detonating clay just to break the silence.
To fight off a known enemy, on the other hand, is fair game.
The known enemy that appears in his little clearing before he's convinced himself that it's worth rising to his feet, when who knows the next time that Tobi'll let him sleep in.
They both freeze, and then Deidara sits up, wide awake and already reaching for that pouch he carries at his side.
"What are you doing here?" they demand at the same time. Deidara glowers and grits his teeth but says nothing for a second.
"This is Fire Country, and you are a member of a criminal organisation—"
"And you cut off my damn arm!" Deidara cuts in, thinking that that's far worse.
He recognises this one. He'd be hard pressed to forget him. And...the glimpse he'd had of that eye—an Uchiha sharingan? The man's not an Uchiha, but he's on the hit list with the Uchihas, right up there with the only other two Deidara knows of: Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, the brothers. There might be others, because it's hard to believe that an entire clan could be wiped out in a single night. Surely some of them were off on missions or something.
There's quite suddenly a kunai at his throat. Kakashi Hatake is fast when he's not being confined to leaping from log to log over a river.
"You can come quietly or not!" Kakashi snaps in return, and then seems surprised at his own irritability.
...What, were the Akatsuki no longer considered S-ranked threats to be eliminated? Where was his backup if he was so convinced that he could take Deidara down?
"Go ahead and kill me then, if you can. I don't see your backup," Deidara says, with a grin. Kakashi Hatake must have gotten sloppy, if he thinks that a kunai to his throat will slow Deidara down.
"I could cut off your other arm, if you don't stop that."
Oh. Damn, he noticed after all.
"What the hell is going on here?" a new voice demands as an unfamiliar chakra signature enters the scene.
Kakashi starts, and Deidara backs up to avoid losing a carotid artery. It's not like he has a spare of those. In fact, he sort of feels like the only member of the Akatsuki without any spare limbs. He knows he's not, but he's had to replace his limbs with inferior versions of themselves, which no one else has had to do. It's insulting.
He does not take his attention off Kakashi Hatake. He can hardly afford to, given the man's current level of volatility.
"Look," he says through gritted teeth, because unfortunately it seems necessary to call the bastard's attention back to him. "I'm not out here for you. So just let me go and I promise that your little jinchuriki friend will be safe from me." For the time being. "I have other things I need to do."
