Thank you to everyone who's read this fic! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this last chapter out, I've been crazy busy! Enjoy and thanks again!

Sasori stared up at the two men in the room, many questions forming behind his eyes. Why was he in the bathroom? Why had Deidara and Itachi been so close to him. Why wasn't he wearing his own cloak?

He tried to remember the last thing he'd been doing before he'd woken up in this ridiculous situation, but nothing came to mind except that he had been in his room working on puppets. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"What's going on?" he repeated his question when no one answered him.

"You didn't show up when Pein called a meeting, so Deidara went to check on you and found you unresponsive," Itachi spoke, stoic expression on his face. "You've been that way all week, so we've kept you under close observation."

"In the bathroom?" Sasori narrowed his eyes, standing. He saw Deidara tense and turned to him. "Why do you look so guilty?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't strain yourself, my man, hm." Deidara waved him off, secretly planning an escape in case the puppet suddenly remembered something.

"What's the last thing you remember before you woke up?" Itachi asked, still trying to gauge how much the red head knew.

"Nothing outstanding. I was working on my puppets in my room and now I'm here." He stepped out of the tub, suspicions rising once again. "What were you two doing to me just now?"

"Just checking you over, hm," Deidara answered, hoping he didn't sound nervous. "We were thinking something had gone awry with your body and maybe that was the reason you became unresponsive." It seemed so unbelievable, but the blond truly could not think of any other explanation, and if they waited too long to answer, it'd only make Sasori less likely to believe them anyway.

"And?" His voice held a tone of irritation to it.

"And…?"

"You must have found something, I'm responsive again, aren't I?"

Itachi shrugged impassively, turning and opening the bathroom door. "We didn't find anything that would explain it. You just suddenly came to." He glanced back at Sasori. "You don't think maybe you accidentally spilled any poison on your core?"

"No," Sasori frowned. "And even if I did, it wouldn't affect me anyway." He found himself starting to believe what the two were saying – there really was no other explanation he could think of, anyway. He'd have to look into it further, though. Why would he suddenly just knock out like that? He was a puppet, if his body were failing him, then something must be wrong on the insides. He'd have to take himself apart-

"Well, whatever, at least you're back, my man, hm!" Deidara hesitantly clapped him on the back. Usually, Sasori would've attempted to injure the blond for touching him. However, for some strange reason, he found the gesture…comforting.

"I'll go inform Leader that you're conscious again," Itachi said, finally leaving the bathroom and walking back toward the meeting room for privacy, nodding at Kakuzu along the way to let him know everything was fine now. Deidara stood awkwardly for a bit before chuckling nervously and stretching his arms above him.

"Yeah, I think I'll go work on my art some." The bomber turned and started walking toward his room. He bristled slightly when he noticed Sasori was following him. His heart rate suddenly increased as he had a horrible thought: What if Sasori did remember everything and had only played dumb to get Deidara alone so he could kill him?

The blond casually stuck a hand into his clay pouch, his Akatsuki cloak hiding the action from his follower. If Sasori wanted to play at that game, Deidara would only play harder. They reached his bedroom door and the sculptor reached for the handle with his free hand, nonchalantly pushing the door open and stepping inside. Sasori took a few steps into the room behind him and Deidara finally turned to face him, the mouth on his palm already chewing on some clay.

"Can I help you with anything, Sasori? Hm."

The puppet narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped suddenly. Confusion slowly replaced the irritation on his face as he glanced around Deidara's room, a weird, hazy look in his eyes. His gaze finally landed back on his partner, and then without a word he turned and left the room.

Deidara scratched the back of his head, dropping the clay back into its pouch, equally confused. Shrugging it off, he lay down on his bed to get some much needed rest. What a hellish week it had been. And yet, he really didn't regret it. It had shaken things up a bit, and now he felt he understood Sasori just a little better. He smirked. Plus, he'd gotten to hear him say that art was an explosion.

The smirk dropped off his face as Sasori reappeared in his doorway. "Why does my door have a seal on it?"

"Konan put it there so no one would mess with your stuff while you were out, hm," Deidara lied. "She'll probably come by later and take it off. You'll have to go through the window until then, I guess."

His partner said nothing, brows furrowing at the inconvenience as he entered the artist's room and walked through it, opening the window and stepping a leg up. He paused. Deidara raised an eyebrow when Sasori turned to look at him.

"What's up? Hm."

"This seems…" He bit his lip in thought, eyes glancing out the window again. "Nevermind." He grabbed the window pane and brought his other leg through it, jumping out and landing on the ground. Deidara heard him slip through his own window, and not ten seconds later he was climbing back into the blond's room, a scowl on his face.

"I'm trying to sleep here, Sasori!"

"Who touched my puppets?" His coil appeared from under Itachi's robe, the pointed end stabbing into the wood of Deidara's floor. The blond sat up, sighing. This was worse than dealing with kid Sasori.

"No one touched your damn puppets, my man."

"Why is Hiruko open?"

Deidara's eyes widened. Shit. He'd forgotten to close the container puppet. "Beats me, hm. Maybe you opened him before you went into that little coma." He stood and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He used the half inch he had over Sasori to his advantage, straightening himself to appear taller. "Look, obviously there's something going on with you. You just need to go back to your room and figure out what happened, or better yet, maybe just clear your mind, hm?"

Sasori's shoulders relaxed slightly, and his coil unstuck itself from the floor, slithering back under the robe and into its compartment on the puppet's stomach. Deidara watched Sasori's eyes as he contemplated what he'd said. There was something…off about Sasori, for sure, but the sculptor wasn't going to worry too much about it. He didn't remember a thing, there would be no near-death experience for Deidara, and the whole thing would be forgotten about in a matter of weeks.

"You there? Hm."

Sasori stared at the small pool of poison his coil had dripped onto the floor, looking completely lost in his thoughts. "It feels like I'm missing something." Deidara remained silent, afraid that if he said anything it would trigger something in Sasori's head. After a while, the puppet glanced up and sighed before walking to the window again and jumping out of it.

Sasori remained in his room for the rest of the day and most of the next day. He finally emerged late the next night still feeling strange and unable to focus on his puppets. He checked the door and saw that Konan had taken the seal off of it, so he ventured out into the living room and found Itachi relaxing on one of the couches, reading a book. He had an unexplainable curiosity as to what the Uchiha was reading, so he walked across the room and sat down right next to the raven, leaning on him slightly to view the book. He noticed that Itachi seemed tense suddenly, and like a ton of bricks it hit him as to why.

He immediately jumped up, backing away from the couch in confused horror. Itachi stared at him with a concerned look. "Excuse me," Sasori apologized before going back to his room and locking the door. What the hell was wrong with him? Was he losing his mind?

He walked to Hiruko and stepped inside, sitting down and curling up before closing the container puppet. He had a problem. He hadn't thought it too odd at first, all these strange feelings – almost like he was having memories of something. Like the window in Deidara's room. He could've sworn he'd climbed through it before, but he never had.

And every time he looked at Deidara, he felt this weird warmth, and he felt a strange urge to be next to the blond, though he knew he really had no desire to even be in the same room as that brat. And then just now with Itachi. What had possessed him to sit next to the other member – to touch him even? It had just seemed to be a normal thing to do, as if he had done it before, but it made no sense!

He couldn't come out of his room again until he figured out what was going on. But then again, what if it made the other members think he was weak? Not that he really cared what they thought of him, but his pride could not allow anyone to doubt his strength; it was embarrassing enough having been passed out for a week. If he let something like that get to him…

Okay, he was going to forget the thing with Itachi had ever happened, and he was going think twice before acting on any thought he had. Maybe these strange feelings and memory-like thoughts would go away in time. In the meantime, he would note each odd thought he had and see if anything connected in some way. It was obvious that something had had to happen in order to make him pass out, maybe these feelings he were having were little hints. He'd just have to pay close attention with his interactions from now on.

Slightly comforted, he remained curled up inside Hiruko all night, coming out when he heard signs that others were awake. He decided to sit in the living room, as he could hear someone rummaging around in the kitchen and didn't quite yet want to have any encounters. After a while, he heard Deidara's bedroom door open, and he felt a strange wave of excitement overcome him.

'Okay, that's one,' he thought, taking note of it. He heard the blond shuffle into the living room, resisting the urge to turn and look at him. Instead, he focused on the entryway to the kitchen, where Kakuzu had just emerged. A sudden feeling of dread overcame Sasori as he looked at the treasurer. He'd never felt intimidated by any of the members before, but the sight of the stitched-nin put him on edge. He gripped the couch cushion in an attempt to quiet his urge to run back to his room. He gave a brief glance at Deidara, who was watching him with a slight look of concern. He felt an urgent need to run to the blond, as if that idiot could protect him in some way. But from what? He had to calm down.

Kakuzu noticed the red head and spoke, "Are you doing oka-" he cut himself off abruptly as he watched Sasori jump off the couch and tackle the unprepared Deidara in a death grip.

"Whoa, shit, hm!" The two fell to the ground, banging heads together (though Deidara's the only one who felt it). "What the hell, Sasori?"

"Un-cle…!" Sasori frowned, immediately realizing that once again he hadn't been able to control himself. With a shock, he also realized that he'd called Deidara his uncle. He quickly scrambled off his partner, standing up and looking down at him helplessly. Deidara himself seemed to be deep in thought, staring at Sasori but not looking at him.

Kakuzu coughed awkwardly behind them, and the miser's partner chose that moment to exit his room. As soon as Hidan saw Sasori, a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. "So, you're finally-"

A swift punch to the stomach cut off whatever he was about to say, and the zealot doubled over as the wind was knocked out of him. Deidara sighed a breath of relief before glancing up at Sasori. He needed to get him out of here before that idiot Jashinist said something and ruined it all.

Unfortunately, Hidan recovered quickly and was wise to dodge the next attack Kakuzu threw at him. "What's your problem, eh, Kakuzu? I was just gonna comment about how the puppet ain't a brat anymore."

"Hidan, you damn idiot," Kakuzu muttered.

"What did you call me?" Sasori growled, coil unwinding and sliding out of the bottom of his cloak. Hidan smirked, always liking to cause trouble.

"Oh, did I make you mad?" He licked his lips as he watched Sasori's coil flick like a tail. He knew this was a fight he couldn't win – Sasori had no blood for the ritual – but it was still amusing to see the puppet actually respond. "Do you need a hug from your uncle Deidara? Or maybe a kiss-" His insults were cut off by his own groan of pain as the poisoned coil was thrust through his chest.

Sasori narrowed his eyes, watching the smirk on the zealot's face. How did he know about the Uncle thing? He hadn't been there, he'd only just shown up now. There's no way he could have heard it from his room, Sasori hadn't said it loud enough. He looked at Kakuzu – the treasurer was shaking his head, irritated. Glancing back at Deidara, he noticed the blond was staring right back at him with a concerned expression, as if waiting to see what his next move would be.

Deciding that he had played into Hidan's little game long enough, he retracted his coil, ignoring the Jashinist's small groan of pain. Or pleasure. Sasori didn't know and he didn't care. He just wanted to know what the hell was going on. He turned to Deidara, studying him. There was something fishy about how much concern was etched onto his face. Slowly, strange memories began to arise in his head:

He'd been working at his desk and the blond brat had kept walking in, blabbing about some nonsense about clay. About how his clay had exploded or something. He'd finally left, and Sasori had been able to work again in peace. But it hadn't lasted long, Deidara had come back in…

Sasori squinted his eyes as he tried to remember that part. Deidara squirmed in front of him, growing nervous under the scrutinizing stare.

He'd asked to borrow a tool, and Sasori had turned his back to him to search for the damn thing, and then…

"You hit the back of my head." Sasori took a step toward the blond, who instinctively backed away.

"What? Hm."

"You hit me when my back was turned and then all of my chakra was drained," Sasori growled, managing to back his soon-to-be-dead partner into a wall. "Do you want to tell me what exactly that was about?"

Deidara averted his eyes like a child caught in a lie. "Well, my man, there was this jutsu I wanted to try out…hm." If Sasori had any blood, it'd be boiling.

"What kind of jutsu?" He didn't have to wait for an answer from his partner, as Hidan was more than happy to tell him right away.

"It turned you into a little bratty kid. Don't give him a hard time, though, that shit was hilarious."

"It was one of Orochimaru's jutsus, one for rejuvenation," Deidara added quickly, in the hopes that that sounded better. He shot a glare at Hidan. "I honestly didn't think it'd turn you into a kid, man, hm."

Sasori put a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes in irritation. Of all the stupid things Deidara had done, this one took the cake. Not to mention how utterly embarrassing if felt to be put under one of Orochimaru's jutsu. The snake-like man was probably laughing somewhere out there. "So I was a child."

"Uh, yeah, hm."

"You were so cute, going on about your parents and all."

"I'll deal with you later," Sasori hissed, not even bothering to look at Hidan. "Deidara."

The blond almost whimpered. "Yeah, hm?"

"You better run."

Xxx

It had taken both Kakuzu and Itachi (who had heard the commotion and promptly came to help) to finally drag Sasori off of Deidara. Hidan hadn't bothered to help, just stood their egging the puppet on. Satisfied with his work, the red head had pulled himself out of their grasps and retreated back to his room to stew.

Deidara had been injured just enough that he was out of commission for a week, but he knew it could have been worse. And besides, they were only minor injuries, no broken bones this time. And to be honest, he knew he kind of deserved it; attempting a jutsu on his partner wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done, but at least it was over with now. Sasori was going to be back to his old grumpy self again, even more so than usual until he got over the embarrassment of having been a child. And Deidara was sure the long scolding he'd gotten from Pein for his attack on the blond didn't help his mood much either.

Itachi had come to bring him his medicine a few times, and told him updates on how Sasori's mood had changed (it hadn't). While it was odd that the Uchiha would be the one to come and visit Deidara, what the blond found even stranger was how the raven talked about Sasori. He could almost detect a hint of fondness for the puppet in Itachi's short, clipped sentences. He decided in the end it was probably some weird paternal instinct still wired into him; Deidara admitted that he still felt some sort of way about his partner, even after his brutal attack on the blond. However, he knew it would disappear with time, as would Sasori's childish thoughts and urges.

Now his week off was up, and although he was still sore, he was getting ready for his first actual mission since he'd cast the jutsu on Sasori. He could hear his partner moving around in his room next door. He was in a foul mood – Deidara could tell by the sound of shelves slamming shut and puppets rattling on the walls.

Kisame had come back earlier that morning and had made a small comment about how he was glad Sasori was back to normal; the reply he'd gotten was an indignant shout of "Does everyone know about this?!" and a door slammed in his face. So needless to say, Kisame had fueled the fire that was Sasori's short-temper.

Deidara sighed and he finished his part of getting ready. He stepped outside his room, locking it behind him, and went to stand in front of Sasori's door. He noticed it was slightly ajar, and dared to peek in. The commotion inside had stopped, and he saw his partner hunched over on the floor, reading something with a frown on his face.

With a small gasp, Deidara discovered it was the note he'd written from 'Granny Chiyo'. Where had Sasori gotten that? The last time he'd seen the thing, it was in the meeting room.

He slapped his head, cursing himself for leaving it there. That's where Pein had lectured Sasori about the importance of not attacking comrades. He must've picked it up there.

He knocked on the redhead's door. "Sasori, my man? You ready?"

Quickly the puppet folded up the note and hid it in his sleeve, turning his head to stare at Deidara through the crack in the door. "Yeah, just about." He stood and walked across the room, climbing into Hiruko. And just before he closed the container puppet, Deidara could've sworn he saw a small smile on Sasori's face.

Xxx

I gotta stop somewhere, and leave you something to imagine.

-Richard Feynman