(Untitled)

[expertofthesand]

::A roleplay between Deidara (Kale), Itachi (Whitney), and Gaara (Me). Short summary -- The three of them are on the way back from Konohagakure's chunin exams and Itachi is under the assumption that they are to return directly to Suna, though two come up with other plans of their own.::

Gaara's piercing gaze stayed ahead, fixated on the dark fabric

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[windstreak20]

Deidara smirked wickedly as he watched Itachi's descent to the ground, but the small victory was quickly short lived as the Uchiha stood, looking impassive as ever. Always with the damned nonchalant attitude, the artist growled to himself, bending at the knees to launch himself away from the oncoming fire. But before he could dodge away, sand suddenly circled around he and Gaara, plummeting them into complete darkness. Deidara tensed slightly, not because he was nervous, but because he would rather not find himself in an enclosed space--and Gaara's ultimate defense was as enclosed as it got. Though it was uncomfortable, the blond was grateful for the sand as the sound of the fire balls connecting to the outside was heard, heating up the space they occupied inside as well. That was all he could stand. Deidara dug his hands into the bags at his sides, glancing over at a strange movement from his partner. The Kazekage was actually sinking into the ground. How odd that they were on the same wavelength, but that would definitely prove most useful later on. Once he was satisfied with the amount of clay he had gathered, the artist followed suit, but dove into the earth at a much quicker rate than the red head had done.

Being an Iwa ninja, he could only manipulate the earth around him, so he had to climb out of the ground--being behind the ball of sand he'd just been in. Deidara didn't know where Gaara was, but the restless sand in the air told him that he too was in hiding, obviously trying to sneak attack the Uchiha. The blond peered from behind the closest tree, able to see crimson eyed man and clenched his fists. The artist the raced up the tree and launched himself into the air, using his chakra to force his body past the Kazekage's sand and spun to look down on Itachi. When the sand suddenly began raining down at the dark haired ninja, Deidara's arms that had been held out and crossed at the elbow flung apart, his hands opening to let a small army of four-winged birds fly down with the bullet-like sand. As he began falling as gravity intended, Deidara quickly reached into a bag and produced an eagle like creation before holding a seal in front of his face to expand it's size. Landing on it's back in a crouch, the blond peered over the edge of the bird, watching Itachi with his scope to wait till he was surrounded by the birds while he was busy dodging the sand.

[setsunakutemo]

Itachi frowned as he watched the Kazekage's sand encase the two just before his fire reached them. Not that it wasn't expected, but he hadn't honestly expected the sand to protect Deidara as well. Through all their constant bickering and tomfoolery, who would have thought that those two actually could work together. The thought might have amused the Uchiha had he not been the one they suddenly decided to team up against.

It was odd willing himself to limit his jutsu to that of his weakest arsenal, but even though this was a great annoyance, Itachi still didn't wish to injure the two.. severely, at least. As the fire pounded down on the sand the dark haired shinobi took a moment to inspect the damage done. Fiery eyes glanced down the length of his body, carelessly passing over his bare chest and abs to focus on the shirt itself. Not ripping it had been an impossible option, but still, Itachi couldn't help but wonder why the sand had only latched on to his clothing since it had ample opportunity to spread over his body once attached. The matter was quickly forgotten once noises began reaching his sensitive ears; telling him the other two were on the move. But it was strange hearing noises around him when he had just seen the two being engulfed by the sand. And he could swear he heard some sort of hissing...

The ball of sand in front of him suddenly dropped and noises were issued loudly above. Seeing empty space where the other two shinobi had previously been caused Itachi to direct his attention quickly upwards just in time to see a down pour of sand and Deidara flinging an ungodly amount of clay creatures his direction too. Had this been a regular battle, Itachi would have found no problem in disengaging the attacks; but as it were, an unnecessary strong jutsu could potentially harm Deidara while in trajectory and Gaara(depending on how close he was hiding). The Uchiha clenched his jaw and sunk back on his knees a bit as a projectile of sand ripped suddenly through his left shoulder, making him very aware of the seriousness going on here. He didn't have time to do anything about it other than make a small grunt as he went about dodging the rest of the sand 'bullets'. The little weapons were incredibly fast even for him and found some of the things grazing him neatly, just barely missing cutting his skin but did an oddly excellent job at tearing away at the remains of his already battered shirt. Throughout dodging the barrage of sand, Itachi had not forgotten about Deidara's creations flying around him as if he were some sort of wounded prey. As soon as the last of the sand fell he noticed the birds formation began growing swifter and closer so Itachi held his palm down to face the ground while holding his bleeding shoulder with his free hand and began preparing the Chidori; faintly recalling Madara's advice if the Uchiha and Deidara had ever gotten into serious bouts. Blue sparks began manifesting in his concentrated palm as Itachi calculated the most proficient way of disabling those bombs before they got him first.

[expertofthesand]

Gaara would have turned to witness his attack in play sooner if it wasn't for another matter brightly catching his focus behind the tree. For the moment pale hues traversed through the air to follow the shakey flight pattern of one of the brightest insects he had ever seen which only made him curious if he had somehow laid into a trap of genjutsu. No, that wasn't possible. The closer this small creature came to him the more the young Kage found himself a bit bothered by the distraction. What the hell was it anyway? Remaining regal to the creature landing serenely on his shoulder and his sand remaining lifeless to it the teen Kage ignored the obviously harmless distraction and turned slightly to give his complete attention back to the battlefield (the butterfly finally going away from him after the small movement). Immediately Gaara took notice to Deidara's numerous scattered small creations in the air and blonde himself almost proudly perched on another much larger creation's back in a way of waiting. Gaara quickly lowered his line of vision to Itachi (who was currently dodging the dangerous downpour), just in time catch a sight that instantly made his heart feel as if it was sinking, being able to cause an audible hitch in his throat. One of the bullets actually pierced, and the Uchiha was close to dropping to his knees right then and there. Because of the distance Gaara was currently standing and the mist of dust becoming thicker by the second, widened eyes couldn't determine exactly where Itachi was hit but that brief act of lowering was enough for him to know the other obtained injury. And the feeling of it was indescribable to him. Did Deidara see? Deciding that he by no means would ever take that chance of it not being so with Itachi, Gaara swiftly moved forward on impulse and though he wasn't the best for running (given the weight the sand plagued on him) distance between Itachi's backside and himself was quickly being closed and no longer being an option. This fight that started out as play had become too dangerous for everyone involved to merely be in the interest of fun and given by the blue tint of what he remembered to be chidori glowing in the cloud of dust, Itachi was going to retaliate and continue on recklessly.

[expertofthesand]

That was enough. Unless this battle was one to the death it wasn't necessary to continue it this far. Gritting his teeth, Gaara leaped from his current distance for time sake, focusing a decent amount of chakra to the bottoms of his feet to gain more air. Over Itachi now the red-head flipped to angle himself rightly and as if acting on his whim a small platform of sand solidated vertically to give him a second place to push off. In that instant Gaara was coming down on Itachi in a demand for him to stop. Outreached hands grabbed at the broad shoulders while his knees tucked against Itachi's chest; ramming the other with unimaginable weight for one person to carry and forcing the Itachi to become top heavy -- their noses barely brushing. As expected the weight of the gourd (along with the amor of sand) proved to be in his favor in getting the Uchiha to his back; the gourd continued pouring it's form out as if melting during the travel down, though still having a great deal of it's form upon landing. Hopefully not enough to crush the male under him. Getting to work Gaara stayed straddled neatly on Itachi's hips and pinned the Uchiha's shoulder's down with all his strength as the sand finished pouring out and erasing it's shape, now spreading along the sharingan user's bare torso; focusing moreso on keeping the arms apart and strickly to the ground to prevent formation of further seals. The more struggle the element was opposed to the harder it would become to ensure it's whim.

From here, Gaara had a good look at Itachi's shoulder, drawing non-existant brows down in concern of the crimson fluid profusely leaking and absently moving his hand to tenderly cover the area. It wasn't as serious had he had first thought, the bleeding however would have to be stopped. Sunagakre was poorly lacking in the field of medics but the basics were well practiced and known; perhaps this was enough. Besides, Deidara (if Itachi had nothing up his sleeve) was sure to come down soon enough in a way of 'reinforcement' if this was something he still wanted and with that the Kazekage mused if the blonde would know a thing or two in this field; if truly needed.

[windstreak20]

[OOC: >w< Cute icon!!]

Waiting for the perfect moment was never his style, but against someone like Itachi here, proper execution was key. Deidara held his seal in front of his face, ready to detonate the bombs in an instant as soon as there was an opening all while watching with high amusement at Itachi rapidly avoiding the bullets of sand (missing altogether the fact that the Uchiha was hit). Dust was rising up all around from the impact of the sand on the ground, making it harder to see, so the blond closed his right eye, using only his scope to monitor Itachi's movements by chakra fluctuation. That was when he noticed a particularly odd sequence. The older ninja's chakra oscillated very randomly, seeming to come of as bolts of lightning. The artist had never before seen Itachi do such a move and opened both eyes to peer down into the dust to see a visible blue glow emitting from the clouds around the Uchiha. What th'hell is that??

Realizing that this jutsu was in fact lightning based, Deidara wasted no time in going about detonating his bombs to prevent the Uchiha from negating them--while wondering just where the hell he learned that information. That was his plan up until a strange sight pulled his attention behind the dark haired ninja. Gaara was suddenly running at him and sprung up into the air. Deidara blinked deep blue eyes in confusion at the scene as he watched the Kazekage actually pounce on the Uchiha. Suspecting Itachi's body to burst into a flock of ravens at any second, the artist flew down still perched on the back of his creation, "What's going on, un!?"