A/N: I honestly don't know what Deidara's sleeping habits are, so I just guessed for the sake of this story. Enjoy!

Despite his determination to stay in style, mornings just weren't his thing. That's why Deidara's otherwise proud, and even somewhat frightening reputation would always get blown apart to smithereens like his explosions, every time a mission was announced at dawn. Regardless of his love for battle, he'd much rather be snuggled back at base with his pillow stuffed between his legs and drooling on his inconceivably soft blankets. Which was the exact action he was engaging in as of current time.

Apparently, Sasori of the Red Sand, Deidara's cranky, not-so-friendly partner always found this to be absolutely despicable. At times like these, he regarded the blonde as the very epitome of laziness. Thanks to the reprimands of the redhead, Deidara had actually tried not to sleep in that much. He'd done everything from going to bed earlier and turning his alarm clock on to full blast, but it seemed as if fate just couldn't let Deidara function without a nice, juicy amount of rest. What's so bad about it, Deidara had argued. His performance is superb afterwards, and that's what mattered, wasn't it? Unfortunately Sasori had just called him a sloth and walked away. Deidara chased after him, yelling that he would never understand because he was a puppet, and that he had no idea how hard it was to force yourself to get up in the mornings. Exhausted and angry, Deidara had returned to his room and flopped onto his bed, and started snoring away once more.

So of course it was no surprise when literally a day later, he was jerked out of his sweet dreams yet again, via Sasori throwing coat hangers at his face.

"Ow! What the hell, un!" Deidara yelped as something hard smacked him directly on the forehead. He cracked open an eye and looked around for the source of open fire. "What's happening?"

"Me, that's what's happening," Sasori said from his side of the room. He raised another coat hanger, poised to attack. "Get up now."

Deidara sighed and turned around, his back facing the redhead. "Shove off, un. I'm still sleepy. Come back in an hour and I'll think about— arrrgh!" The clay artist shot up immediately, howling with pain, as he felt someone land a very hard kick on his arse. He whipped around to send a death glare at an annoyed puppet master, who was now standing only a foot away from his bed. Yes, so he'd had his fair share of Sasori-beatings in the past, but this was playing dirty; he wasn't even prepared. As the pain ebbed away, his found his eyelids involuntarily starting to droop as he began to doze off in his current position.

Except, that wasn't going to happen. The last coat hanger had finally left the homely cavern of Sasori's fist and hit Deidara squarely in the eye. Yelling with agony, the blonde doubled over, curses streaming out of his mouth like a fountain. He rolled away as far as he could from the dangerous man, which wasn't much since his back hit the wall the bed was pushed up against. He raised his pillow as a makeshift wall of defence, but the redhead hadn't yet made another move to maim the clay artist, which was definitely a plus. Deidara had always asked himself why he was the victim in this abusive partnership, and secretly wondered if Sasori enjoyed watching him suffer. As of now, however, he was too disoriented to retaliate.

"We have a mission," Sasori said flatly, still not moving from his position. "Leader wants us to get ready within the next ten minutes."

"What time is it, un?" Deidara massaged his right eye; he was definitely going to have a bruise there.

"It's almost four." Sasori said it as if it were the most simplest thing in the entire universe.

"Four?" repeated Deidara. "Four in the morning? Come on, Danna, you know I need to sleep more than that, un!"

"You mean you want to sleep more than that. It's not a necessity," Sasori said nonchalantly, opening his desk drawer and rummaging through its contents. "Hurry up, you lazy brat. I don't like to keep people waiting."

"For you, it isn't, un." Deidara groaned, smacking his mouth distastefully. He ran his fingers through hair and raked them down his scalp, scratching in a disfigured band around his neck. In the corner of his vision, he could see Sasori watching with a disgusted expression that matched his current mood flawlessly. Deidara lingered on his bed for a few more seconds, before giving up and heaving himself out towards the bathroom door. He surveyed the sink lined with his toiletries with irritation, before snatching up his toothbrush. He nearly covered half his hand in toothpaste before finally getting some on the bristles, and he shoved it into his mouth and started brushing his teeth with ferocity similar to as if he was sadistically murdering someone. When he was finished taking out his anger, he grabbed whatever he could and stomped back out and stuffed them all into his bag, along with a few other things he considered necessary. And without a glance at Sasori's way, walked right out and headed straight for Pain's office.

"Deidara," came the leader's voice from the usual hologram. "I see you've arrived earlier than—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, un," Deidara grumbled. "Just give us the damn mission already."

As if he was taken aback at this sudden outburst, Pain did not speak for a minute. Just then, the door opened and Sasori entered the office. Quickly composing himself and taking this as a cue, the hologram continued with his speech. "I need you two to investigate along the borders of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain. According to one of my spies, there's been a sighting of Orochimaru and a handful of other men that we have yet to indentify. I want to know if he's still lingering and why. If you do not see him, search the vicinities. Find out what he's up to, but do not engage in battle unless necessary."

"Understood." Sasori shot Deidara a glance, and the blonde sighed and complied.

"Understood, un."

"Good. Leave immediately."

~*o*~

"God damn it, un!" yelled Deidara as soon as they were outside. He kicked at an innocent, nearby tree that deemed worthy enough to Deidara of receiving his wrath. "I just got back from a week-long mission, and now this bull-shit! Why can't Hidan and Kakuzu do it or something, un? Those bastards have been sitting on their asses for over a week without doing anything!"

"Kakuzu and Hidan just returned from a bounty hunt," Sasori told him as they headed further out into the forest. "You were too busy being lazy to notice it."

"Oh, ha-ha, Danna," Deidara said irritably, reaching into his clay pouch. "I've had absolutely no time to work on my newest bombs these past few months, un. Every time I think we're finished something, Leader gives us something else to do. It's as if he doesn't want me to improve, or something, un."

"Or maybe you could get up earlier so you have more time," Sasori said dryly. "Shut up and do your thing, brat."

Deidara rolled his eyes and molded his clay bird; he and Sasori climbed on its back and it took off into the still dark sky, headed towards their destination. The clay bomber wished he could just discreetly doze off just until they reached the border. Although he couldn't guarantee the effectiveness of this fantasy, as Sasori was evidentially keeping a close eye on him, he still longed to be back in his bed with all his comfortable belongings. Unfortunately, Sasori had truly impeccable instincts, or perhaps it was coincidence, but Deidara doubted it was. The redhead had decided to engage him in a top notch conversation on how they were going to perform this investigation including every nano-sized detail. Disgruntled, the blonde nodded, 'hmm'ing and 'ahh'ing at all the necessary parts, when in reality he couldn't care less. And so, the long ride began, with Sasori rattling on about plans and strategies that never reached the blonde's ears.

Like? Love? Hate? Please tell me what you think; your reviews will be greatly appreciated! :)