Sculpting for Dummies

Thanks to 4eversleeping for beta-ing me again! Everyone cheer for her and give her imaginary cookies!

(previous chapter)

Chapter 23

            The sun rose in the sky over Thorn village, and all the responsible villagers began to yawn, stretch, hop out of bed, and get ready to start the new day.

            Tobi and Deidara were still fast asleep in bed, bare limbs tangled together, breathing in unconscious unison.

            A beam of light shone through the window at just the right angle to land a strip of light across Tobi’s eyes. The sun heated his face. He frowned and tried to turn over, but the solid body on one side and the edge of the bed on the other left him no room to maneuver. He groaned and opened his eyes in slits.

            As soon as he opened them and saw the bright light, he screwed them shut again. He tried instinctively to raise his right arm to shield his face, but he found his limb was held immobile by a blond head. His arm had fallen asleep under the weight, and he felt pins and needles in his fingers when he moved them, but he didn’t try to move Deidara. The artist’s arm rested casually on Tobi’s chest, and one of his legs was nestled in between Tobi’s. The brunet doubted he could free himself from Deidara without waking the other man up.

            Tobi didn’t mind. He twisted his neck so he could watch the blond sleep without the sun burning out his eyes. Deidara smirked as he dreamt, and every once in a while he let out a half-mumbled cackle. ‘Probably dreaming about blowing stuff up,’ Tobi decided. He brushed a lock of golden hair out of the artist’s face with his free hand. He wondered if Deidara would play with his hair if he ever woke up first.

            The pale man didn’t want to wake Deidara, so he couldn’t go make breakfast yet…he could just pretend to be asleep and wait for Deidara to get up. There was no telling what his sempai’s reaction would be when he woke up. He might kick Tobi awake and demand his omelet, or he could just as likely ‘wake’ Tobi with kisses and gropes. Maybe he’d reveal some affectionate side of himself that he usually hid from Tobi, or cuddle with him and sigh.

            Tobi lay his head back down on his pillow, closed his eyes, and waited for Deidara to wake up.

            Five minutes later, he started poking Deidara’s cheek lightly. If he could stir Deidara gently enough, the blond would think he’d woken up on his own.

            Three minutes of poking-in-vain later, Tobi started shifting in his ‘sleep’. Deidara mumbled sleepily. The arm on his chest gripped his shoulder and the leg brushed against Tobi’s groin.

            The ninja gasped at the feel of the contact. He hoped Deidara would wake up soon and take care of the growing problem Tobi now had. He rolled his shoulder again, a little more roughly this time.

            Deidara grunted and lifted his head. Tobi stayed still and waited.

            The hand on his chest slid down and stopped on his lower stomach. Warm fingers traced nonsensical patterns on the sensitive skin. Tobi bit his tongue to keep from laughing.

            “Hmmph,” Deidara snorted. His mouth hovered beside Tobi’s ear, and he felt each hot, moist breath the artist took.

            “I know you’re awake,” Deidara whispered. “You’re smiling, un.”

            Tobi tried to straighten out his expression. It was impossible to do, now that he was trying. He kept his eyes closed and didn’t move. The hand on his stomach slid lower.

            “It wasn’t nice of you to wake me up, un,” the blond muttered. His lips brushed against Tobi’s earlobe. “And you don’t even have breakfast ready for me.”

            Deidara’s fingers tapped the head of Tobi’s erection. “I’m so hungry, I might have to eat this,” he murmured.

            Tobi felt his smile widen. He stopped trying to hide it.

            “But I can’t do that while you’re sleeping. Too bad. I’ll just have to starve, un,” the blond lamented.

            Tobi’s eyes snapped opened. “Good morning. Oh my, sempai, you look famished this morning,” he proclaimed. “It must be time to feed you.”

            Deidara’s predatory smile showed off his canine teeth. “Yes, it is, un,” he agreed.

…………………………………………….

            The Thorn villagers stepped out of their houses, shut their doors, and scurried off to work, or to school, or to the stores to run errands. A few stopped by the pottery studio, but Deidara and Tobi didn’t answer the door, so they figured they must still be asleep.

            Morning was well underway when a knock came upon the village gate. The old guard posted there peeked over the wall from his post and saw the ninja. Two of them wore Sound Village headbands openly on their foreheads, while the third proudly displayed hers around her waist.

            The people of Thorn were simple folk, they’d admit, and even a little too trusting and ready to see the good in people than was good for them. But one thing they were not was stupid. They weren’t expecting the arrival of these ninja like they had Tobi’s, and they’d heard stories about the Hidden Village of Sound.

            “Will you open the gate?” One of the Sound Shinobi asked the guard politely.

            “No,” the man replied, adding “thank you,” for manner’s sake.

            The ninja scowled. They didn’t leave. The guard watched them nervously and waved down a passerby on the inside of the wall.

            “Bring the Village Elder,” he ordered quietly. “And tell everyone else to keep away from the walls.”

………………………………………………………………..

            Tobi hobbled into the kitchen, hair disheveled, clad only in boxers, and wearing the most satisfied grin to ever grace his face. He found a carton of eggs in the refrigerator and cracked a few into a bowl.

The omelets were going to have to be for brunch instead of breakfast. Deidara had woken up very hungry, it turned out.

The brunette switched on a burner and placed a pan on the stove to begin heating. He hummed while he beat the eggs. Across the hall, he heard Deidara turn on the water and step into the shower. The image of wet Deidara in his head made Tobi light-headed. He almost burned his hand on the frying pan when he went to pour the eggs in.

When the rapping sound came from the other side of the door, Tobi dropped his spatula in surprise. He’d forgotten there was a world outside of their home.

Tobi turned the heat on the burners down, slipped on his mask, and opened the door. When he saw the grave expressions on the faces of the Village Elder and the leading citizens of Thorn behind him, Tobi almost shut the door again. Nothing good would come from people gathering like that at his door. He kept the door open, but blocked the entrance with his body and gripped a kunai in the hand he had behind the door. If he and Deidara had been found out for Akatsuki members… he thought they could escape without hurting anyone, but he would be ready to defend himself.

“Tobi, we need your help,” the elder pleaded. Behind him, the men nodded. Tobi sighed in relief. He tucked the kunai back into its hidden sheath on the wall.

“There are three Sound Ninja at the village gate asking for entrance,” the elder elaborated.

“Don’t let them in!” Tobi shouted. He’d heard from Zetsu-san what Sound ninja did to small border towns that couldn’t defend themselves…

“We haven’t. But they are insistent. We’ve told them to leave, and they will not comply. I don’t know how to negotiate with ninja. Will you speak with them?”

Tobi nodded. “Let me get dressed,” he murmured. The brunette shut the door and switched the stove off. Hurrying to his room, he dove into the first wrinkled shirt and pants he found crumpled up on the floor. Before his arms were all the way through the armholes, Tobi was pushing past the door and back out to the villagers.

“Is there a back way out of the village?” he asked frankly. He strode out ahead of the group. They had to jog to keep up with him on the way to the gate.

“There’s a small path hidden in the woods for emergencies. Should I begin evacuating?” The elder asked. Dissent rose in the ranks.

“Why should we leave? There are only three of them, and a whole village of us?” The butcher complained.

“The wall is the only protection we have. If they find us in the woods, we’ll be helpless against them,” the doctor protested.

Tobi stopped. He turned to the butcher. “Three ninja of unknown capability could be more than a match for a village. There are some ninja strong enough to destroy a ninja village single-handedly.” The masked man raised his voice and addressed the rest of the group.

“Don’t set a foot outside of the village until I’ve checked to make sure it’s safe. There could be more of them out there that you can’t see. The Sound strategy is to lie in wait and allow the enemy to underestimate them.” His steps quickened, leaving the men behind to stare in shocked silence.

Instead of jumping to the top of the wall, Tobi climbed the ladder like a civilian. He kept his body pressed low to the wall as he peered over. His eye swept the scene. A curse slipped from his lips.

Descending the wall as silently as he’d scaled it, Tobi met the elder’s eye and shook his head.

“Show me the back path,” he ordered. The old man led the way as quickly as his shaky frame would allow. As they walked, Tobi spoke to them.

“There are at least five more ninja out there, hidden in the shadows. The three that spoke to you were distracting you from noticing the rest,” Tobi revealed. He winced at the terrified response his news received. Some of the men shivered outright, and even the most capable of the crowd gulped and paled.

The elder guided the men to a back section of wall with a barely noticeable seam. This time, the masked man scaled a tree and scouted out the forest beyond the wall. His sharingan eye immediately caught sight of a branch the swayed slightly against the wind.

Tobi dropped from the branch. “They’re out there. I only see two, but there might be more. Keep a guard on this door, but don’t let anyone open it,” he commanded. The elder nodded to one of three sons, who took his place beside the hidden door.

“What do they want from us?” one of Tobi’s neighbors asked.

“If we give them our money, they’ll leave, won’t they?” another speculated.

“Surely they won’t bother us if we comply with them,” a third man reasoned.

Tobi snorted. “You think they’d come all the way out here for money?” he snapped. “What they’re looking for is a place to conduct their research away from Hidden Villages that would stop them…and in a new research facility, they’ll need all new test subjects. They won’t let you leave alive even if you cooperate with them.”

The men blinked. Tobi wondered if he’d been too blunt.

“You mean…they use… people? That’s not human!” Someone protested.

“You’re kidding us, aren’t you, Tobi? They don’t really…do they?”

“Of course he’s kidding! That’s ridiculous. Sound ninja can’t expect to just come in and get away with a crime like that,” the butcher hissed. His voice shook; he wasn’t far from hysterics.

Tobi threaded his fingers through his hair and sighed. He could deal with the villager’s fear, but their outright denial of their situation baffled him. How could he help them if they wouldn’t work with him?

He turned to the elder to appeal to the wise old man. “Elder-”

“Is there anything we can do, Tobi, or is the village lost?” The leader interrupted. Tobi smiled a faint smile, but it quickly faded.

“You need ninja to fight ninja, Elder. Civilians would be more of a burden than an asset on the battlefield,” he said flatly.

“Can you fight them?”

Tobi counted to himself. Eight at the front gate, two at the back. “There are too many for me. I’m not strong enough to deal with ten men.”

The elder bowed his head in despair. The other men groaned.

“But there is one person in the village who is strong enough,” Tobi continued. He looked down the road in the direction of his house.

………………………………………………………..

Deidara dried his dripping hair with a towel as he plodded into the kitchen. Tobi wasn’t there, and neither was his breakfast. The blond scowled.

“I thought I had him better trained, un,” he grumbled. He poked a cold, half-cooked pan full of eggs a poke with a spatula. With a disgusted grunt, he tipped the pan into the trashcan and let the egg-mush slump into the trashcan.

The artist dropped the pan in the sink and sank down into a chair. He nibbled on an apple as he waited for Tobi to come back from wherever he was and feed him properly. That masked bastard was going to get punished for making him wait. Deidara had been perfectly clear about his expectations about breakfast, and he hadn’t even complained when Tobi put it off until almost lunch time. But leaving Deidara with a half-made omelet and just disappearing, that was unacceptable.

Tobi’s punishment would involve handcuffs, Deidara decided. He smirked into his apple. He’d wait until Tobi cooked him his omelet (because he was still hungry, damn it!), then he’d cuff him to the bed and eat it in front of the taller man. Then he’d leave Tobi for an hour or two, see how he liked it.

The handcuffs might come in handy later, too, the lecherous portion of his mind sniggered.

When the door opened, Deidara set down his apple, crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow, and waited for Tobi to come into the kitchen.

Tobi came into the kitchen, but he didn’t apologize and beg forgiveness like he was supposed to. The brunet grabbed Deidara’s wrist and dragged him to the bedroom.

“What the fuck are you doing, un?” the artist demanded. (He didn’t struggle against Tobi’s hold, though, because he was curious what it would lead to.)

Tobi didn’t answer. He pushed Deidara down on the rumpled bed and knelt down. Deidara took a deep breath…and promptly exhaled when Tobi crawled under the bed and began searching through Deidara’s belongings. The man wiggled out covered in dust. His hands clutched Deidara’s clay pouch.

“What’s going on?” Deidara asked again.

Tobi dropped the pouch in his lap and tugged Deidara’s shirt over his head.

“There are Sound ninja at the gate, trying to get in. The village needs you to defend them,” Tobi said.

“What?” Deidara gasped. “My chakra is sealed, un. I can’t help,” he pointed out.

Tobi’s hand seals flashed by too rapidly for Deidara’s eyes to follow. Even with his power sealed, Deidara felt the chakra like static electricity, sizzling on Tobi’s fingertips.

“Sempai, Kakashi’s extra seal is clever, but I watched him put it on you. I know how to remove it. Hold still.” Deidara’s eyes widened. How…he still didn’t understand how Tobi could master any jutsu that he saw performed. What an annoying, but useful, ability. At least he could remove the seal.

The first unlocking of the seal felt like nothing more than a poke in the stomach. The second sent him reeling. He didn’t faint, but he might have blacked out, just for a moment, at the onslaught of chakra rushing through his veins for the first time in months. The intoxicating thrill of power made his eyes water.

Tobi stood over him as he recovered. “Sempai, there are eight at the gate, and two at the back of town. I’ll take care of the read guard; you go for the main force.” His partner’s voice sounded far away and muffled.

Deidara molded chakra in his arms and flexed his muscles. They protested a little under the strain of the surging power flowing through them, but a few months of inactivity couldn’t counteract a lifetime of training and conditioning. After a few moments of basic chakra exercises, he felt as if his power had never been sealed.

He’d forgotten how good it felt. He wanted to use his strength, prove the might of his explosion jutsu, reassert his S-rank class. Yeah, he was Akatsuki, feared across the world, and he was going to show those Sound Ninja why. It was time to introduce them to true art.

Momentary pain stabbed in his hands as his palms tore open and tiny mouths appeared. The little orifices dribbled blood and gaped for exploding clay.

“Sempai, are you listening?”

Deidara unzipped the pouch and fed his palms until they couldn’t swallow any more. They chewed and molded the clay- how had he managed without them? His fingers seemed so slow, so cumbersome and inefficient now.

His right hand opened and a little bird flew out. Deidara followed it out of the house and filled it with chakra. It grew large enough to hold him and flapped its wings excitedly. Deidara jumped onto its back and lifted into the air.

“Don’t bother with the ones in the back,” he called to Tobi. “I’ll take care of them, too, un.” He ordered the bird forward without waiting for a response.

…………………………………………………

Tobi watched Deidara’s flight. He listened when the artist tilted his blond head back and laughed at the sky. He gulped.

He ignored the footsteps behind him as his eyes followed Deidara’s flight path.

“Tobi?” A feminine voice asked hesitantly. Tobi turned around to face Lin’s mother. The woman clutched her arms to her body and rocked nervously as she spoke to him.

“Is it true what they’re saying? That there’s an army outside? That they’ll chop us up and do tests on our bodies?”

Tobi hesitated. It wasn’t quite true, but it was a close estimation. Making fine distinctions wouldn’t do any good for his neighbor.

“There is a group of ninja at the gate, but Deidara-sempai and I are taking care of them,” he reassured her. “They aren’t expecting any resistance, or else they would’ve started their attack by now. We’ll catch them off guard.”

“Is Deidara-san even a ninja? I thought he was an artist,” she said uncertainly.

Tobi patted her shoulder. “You should go back inside now. We’ll send word when it’s safe to come out. And don’t worry,” he said firmly. “Sempai is a very powerful ninja. He’ll protect the village from the Sound ninja.”

Lin’s mother retreated to her house as Tobi bid. He waited until the lock on her door clicked into place before he hurried to the gate.

He had no doubts that Deidara could handle the ten Sound ninja. Whether he could protect the village from Deidara, if he needed to, he wasn’t so sure.

……………………………………(to part 2)