One mantra ran through his head as he stumbled back towards the hidden cave.

Warn the others. Protect the base.

Pausing to catch his breath, Deidara leaned against a tree, coughing up blood from his lungs, wincing as his wounds flared with pain. Focusing on his mission, blocking the pain, he pushed chakra to his unsteady feet and darted forwards, hell bent on losing his tail and making it towards the boulder guarding the entrance.

It was in sights, sparking hope with the bomber. This hope was ripped away from him with the sound of a kunai whizzing past his left ear. A dull thud resonated, noting it had buried itself in the tree trunk directly before him. Deidara realised too late that he was headed start towards the kunai, registering the explosive tag which was ticking down to detonation.

And so, just mere metres away from the hideout and his comrades, Deidara noted bitterly, the tag exploded, knocking him flying backwards, slamming into a tree and falling to the hard ground below. He connected with a pain filled grunt, lying wheezing as he tried to force air into his protesting lungs.

Darkness was filling his vision as he slipped from consciousness, hoping against hope itself, that Sasori or someone would have heard the explosion and would come to his aid.

Sasori growled in frustration as he heard the blast echo throughout the base. That damn brat was going to give away the location of their whole hideout one of these days. Setting down the puppet leg that he had been repairing, he shrugged on his Akatsuki cloak and meandered his way through the halls, determined to chew out the irritable blonde the moment he walked through that door.

"Yo, Sasori," Kisame called, walking out from the kitchen, "You going to meet Deidara?"

"Yes, and tell him to stop making those damn explosions so close to the base!" he snapped, stalking on ahead. A throaty chuckle came from the swordsman as he hoisted Samehada onto his shoulder and followed the redhead through the halls.

"Well, I'll offer you company, I have to leave for a mission now anyway," he stated casually, his lengthy strides easily keeping up with Sasori's brisk pace. The puppet master offered little recognition to the fact, since he didn't mind Kisame too much and in the end, couldn't really care.

The pair made it to the boulder entrance and opened it up, allowing sunlight and a gentle breeze to flood in. Sasori's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The explosion had happened so close to the base entrance and yet there was no sign of Deidara anywhere, not even a hint of his lanky frame or golden hair.

"Where is he?" he pondered, looking left and right, through the trees, "He should be here."

Kisame shrugged a little, walking out onto the path.

"I don't know," he replied, "I'll keep a lookout while I head out-"

"GET DOWN!"

The pair swiftly locked down the base entrance and took up battle stances, Samehada drawn and puppets summoned as a group of twelve hunter nin swarmed them. Each was heavily armed and had weapons drawn.

"Akatsuki! We found your hideout it seems!" the leader stated, smirking triumphantly, "The little blonde was very useful in the end it seems!"

Sasori growled, his fingers twitching slightly at the obvious taunt.

"What did you do to him?" he demanded, "Where is he?"

The leader of the hunters blink in surprise before a malicious smirk crossed his face.

"Well, we found him in a clearing, the cloak gave him away completely," he said twirling a kunai around his fingertips, "And then we chased his ass all the way here. He put up a good job of trying to lose us, must have killed about eight, but we won in the end! Too much looking behind him, not enough looking where he was going!"

Sasori gritted his teeth, sending his puppets to immediately attack the assailants. Kisame took the hint and with a whoop of glee, began to attack with powerful swings of Samehada. The pair made swift work of the hunter nin; they weren't in the Akatsuki for nothing. Once they were good and dead, Sasori replaced his puppets and turned to his temporary battle partner.

"I need to find Deidara," he said sternly, "If you must, go on your mission, but if you have the time could you help me?"

Kisame offered a sharp toothed grin towards the little puppet master. His beady eyes glittered with amusement, which Sasori was beginning to find extremely distasteful.

"Course I'll help," he chuckled, "Can't have the kid dying on us can we? He's too entertaining!"

Regardless of his motives, Sasori merely nodded and began to search for the blonde's chakra. Kisame focused as well, finding it much quicker.

"He's north west of the base, but his chakra is very weak," the swordsman stated quickly, "He won't live much longer if he doesn't get help."

"Thank you Kisame, I'll take it from here," Sasori called, shooting off in the direction Kisame pointed in. With an amused chuckle, the blue skinned ninja carried on down the path at a leisurely pace, enjoying the peace and quiet before he reached any major populations.

Sasori kept his eyes peeled as he flitted through the trees. Just as Kisame had said, Deidara was indeed around him somewhere very close. But his chakra was so weak, Sasori wasn't completely certain he would make it. Spotting the teen, Sasori dropped down to his side, seeing the blonde was lying face down on the forest floor. A small blood pool had formed from his left side and his cloak was tattered.

"C'mon brat, you can't die on me yet," Sasori murmured, working as quickly as possible to stem any bleeding Deidara had with a light green glowing hand. A small whimper indicated that his partner was indeed still fighting, as the puppeteer lifted him up bridle style and ran full speed back to base.

Once inside the medical wing, Sasori worked tirelessly to save his partner, sewing up the many cuts and bandaging them, setting the broken bones and healing the burned skin from the explosion as well as giving him a blood transfusion. Gradually colour returned to Deidara's ghostly cheeks and he became somewhat warmer, looking less like a corpse.

After several hours, Sasori slumped in a chair next to his bed and felt the exhaustion taking control. Even as a puppet, he had never been able to free himself from the shackles of the necessity of sleep. His eyelids drooped and he fell into a light slumber.

Deidara slowly cracked his eyelids open to a white light, which sliced through his head, causing a small wince. He was certain he was dead, but then how could he feel pain?

Opening his eyes as slowly as possible, allowing them to adjust, he realised with relief that he was in fact lying in the medical wing in the base. He had been here a few times in his time with the Akatsuki, he knew it well enough. Glancing around, he saw Sasori sleeping upright in a wooden chair.

A little grin tugged at his lips as he realised Sasori must have found him and saved his life. The only time the puppet ever slept was to replenish his chakra levels. A battle and then use of medical jutsu could warrant that need in him. As he tried to sit up, pain shot up his side, from his hip as well as through several other bones. The groan he released was enough to awake his partner.

"Brat, don't move," he warned, "You're still healing."

Deidara sighed and settled himself back down again. Once Sasori was certain he hadn't undone any of his hard work, he leaned back in the small wooden chair.

"Now, what happened?" he asked, "You're not usually so easy to catch off guard."

The blonde frowned slightly, attempting to recall what had happened exactly.

"Well, I had been training in the clearing a few miles off un," he explained softly, finding that talking hurt a little, "Leader warned me not to give away the hideout's location with my art, so I have to train further away than the others."

Sasori nodded, this sounded reasonable enough. The bomber continued.

"Then, those hunter nin saw me. They recognised the cloak instantly and had me surrounded un," he murmured, "I knew I couldn't take them all out, so I created a diversion which killed a couple and then I bolted. But they followed me un."

Sasori remained silent, pondering the explosive artist's story. It lined up with what the leader had said. His eyes flickered up to meet the icy blue ones of his partner.

"Very well," he said softly, "Kisame and I disposed of the remaining ones. I shall go and inform Leader-sama of this event. You meanwhile are to stay in this bed until I get back with some painkillers. If you disobey me, you will pay dearly."

"Fine Danna un!" Deidara smirked, as Sasori went into evil mother hen mode. The redhead rolled his eyes and stood to walk outside.

"Oh and the next time you go training, I will accompany you," he stated dryly, "You obviously don't pay enough attention to your surroundings."

Deidara chuckled a little, just to wince in pain.

"Anyone would think…you cared about me un!" he teased, snuggling farther into his covers. Sasori glared over his shoulder at the annoying brat.

"Maybe you don't want any painkillers."

"No don't make me suffer un!"

"Then don't act insufferable."