The Replacement (Deidara and Amaya)

Deidara was terrible with meeting new people.

Well... with meeting new people who he wasn't allowed to turn into art with his unique brand of explosive clay. But Leader-sama had spoken apparently and so he had to do as he was told and NOT blow this new person up. He didn't see what the problem was, Sasori had almost liked being blown up because it gave him and excuse to upgrade that appalling puppet body that he tried to call art.

Snorting a little bit, Diedara tried to move his hair out of his face again. It had been doing that a lot recently and he was beginning to contemplate getting a new hair style, even if he did have to reveal his more robotic eye.

Sitting at the table of the little rest area in the Land of Rain base, Deidara sighed a little bit as he made a little clay spider rush backwards and forwards across the tabletop. Honestly, he was looking for something new to make, something that had never been attempted before. Right now his thoughts were geared towards making a replica of one of the tailed beasts using explosive clay...

The sheer amount of clay would make it an amasing piece of art!

Getting more than a little bit impatient, Diedara made himself a cup of coffee and sat back down at the table. Chewing his lip as he was, he decided he wanted to drink his coffee differently. He tipped the cup slightly and poured some coffee into his free palm. The mouth there immediately opened up and he sighed happily as he tasted the coffee,

"I hope this new person can at least appreciate the great coffee this place has." he muttered to himself as he kept drinking his coffee in the weirdest possible way.

Amaya had been wandering around the Land of Rain looking for the base that she had been told to meet her new partner in, to be honest she didn't think that she was going to be able to last much longer without having something to eat, Ba'al was making her feel hungry again, it was like she could never eat enough food to make him satisfied and stop causing her little niggly jolts to her head to get her to feed him. She just hoped this place would have food.

Running her hands through her hair, Amaya spotted the buildings and she couldn't help but sigh as she finally spotted the building, it was really really annoying the way they couldn't make these places more obvious she was almost late for this meeting.

Honestly she hoped that she was going to get along with her partner, she normally didn't do well with people because they kept telling her things that got Ba'al angry and to be honest you did not want to see what had happened to some of them. The words, deep fried came to mind when she thought about it. Of all the demons she could have picked, she picked the fire one, at least she liked being warm all the time.

As she stepped into the base, bypassing the seals and doing the appropriate signs that she was required as stated in the message she recieved, Amaya looked around and she spotted what looked a blonde man sitting in the base, she supposed that was her partner. Amaya hadn't seen a guy with hair that long before but it was kinda hot if she admitted it to herself. rapping her knuckles on the table as she approached the man from behind, she sat down opposite him with a small smirk on her lips;

"Well, hello there." she grinned "I take it that you're the guy I'm here to see."

Deidara hummed a little bit to himself as he felt one of the alert jutsu's telling him that someone had entered the base. He still had no idea why Leader-sama had keyed all of the members of Akatsuki into the alert jutus. Was it so that they would know when others were arriving for the meetings? It was just annoying to Deidara to be honest.

He thought about his new partner for he really hoped it wasn't the guy in the orange mask he had seen wandering through the halls. If he was partnered with that guy he knew that Kami hated him more than any living creature on the face of the planet. But then again it would be just Leader-sama's type of non-humourous sense of humour to do just that.

When he looked up he blinked a little bit and turned his head to the side slightly so that his robotic eye could focus on the woman who had just entered the base. A woman? She had to be selected by Leader-sama to even enter this place so it was likely that she was to be his new partner. Making sure to cover up the mouths on his hands, closing them up, Deidara raised a hand in greeting with a little smirk,

"Hello there." he greeted her before tilting his head to the side as his smirk widened, "That depends... you here about the super secret organisation dedicated to collecting the biju? Or are you here to help me braid my hair? If it's the hair thing then I think you're a few hours early."

Amaya didn't know if this guy was for real or not, he seemed a little too pretty to be as bad as the organisation professed themselves to be, wondering for a moment which one he was out of the ones she had heard about, she propped her head up on her hands as she rested on her elbows. It was something that she didn't really think about often, but, some people didn't look as powerful as they were.

Smirking a little bit her thoughts were backed up with the way that he joked with her as he spoke, it seemed that he was going to be a rather amusing partner for her, if indeed this was her partner and he wasn't just some randomer, or some illusionary jutsu. It didnt feel like the latter though, she was pretty sure Ba'al would have told her if it was.

"I'm here about the organisation, although I am sure if you also need help braiding your hair I can assist you later on." she smirked as she tilted her head to one side "My name is Amaya, I assume you have been told about me."

She assumed this because although she was unsure of who was who, she knew most of the stories of the people in the Akatsuki, because they were such famous missing nin, her flaming red hair and her eyes that matched it, would give it away if nothing else did. Taking the mans hand she shook it firmly and let her gaze snap onto his own.

"Now, which one are you?" she asked with a smirk.

Deidara had to admit that she didn't look like she was an S-Rank missing ninja but then again neither did he to most people. Personally he thought it was the robes, it made people question his gender. Although the last time a person had done that he'd turned them into his favourite kind of art; Explosive. Oh that guy had made some of Deidara's favourite work, the entire bar had disappeared in flames and he had only escaped thanks to a substitution.

Smirking a little bit when she continued the joke about braiding his hair (as if he would ever braid his perfect hair). That was a good sign, it meant that she might have a sense of humour. Kami knew that no one else in the organisation had one. Although Kisame was funny at times, he really was kind of brought down by the fact that Itachi followed the fish-man everywhere. It was kind of creepy,

"Good good, I didn't want to have to ask you to leave, you've got a sense of humour and no one else in the organisation seems to have one anymore." he joked a little bit before nodding his head with a smirk, "Of course Amaya-san... who hasn't heard about The Hellfire of Demon Country?"

When she asked which one he was, Deidara opened his mouth to reply when her was interrupted by a chilling sound that sent shivers down his spine,

"Deidara-sempaiiiii!" Tobi called out as he came skipping, actually skipping, into the room, waving his hands frantically above his head, "We're out of dango Deidara-sempaiiiiii! And Tobi wanted his dango for being a good boy!"

Deidara twitched in anger and began to throttle Tobi,

"You ruined my introduction!" he cursed before sighing and dropping Tobi onto the ground as a twitching heap. He turned to Amaya with a long-suffering look, "Yes Amaya-san, my name is Deidara. And this... child... is Tobi."

Tobi, somehow recovering from the injuries, stood up quickly and wiggled on the spot in a way that reminded Deidara of a worm,

"Hiya!" he greeted her enthusiastically, "I'm Tobi! Tobi is a good boy!"

Amaya didn't think that it boded well that the rest of the organisation were humourless, it meant that they were either full of themselves or assholes, maybe even the both of those things together. Her partner however didn't seem that way, he was laid back it seemed and he was also, when she looked at him again, pretty attractive. Even if some people would think he looked a bit girlie.

"You don't need to worry about that from me, I do have a big sense of humour, although, not all of it is completely...universal." she smirked, having quite a dark sense of humour when it came down to it "It seems my reputation preceeds me, I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing."

To be honest Amaya, was actually enjoying a conversation with someone again, she hadn't had a good conversation in a long time, most people were either trying to kill her or too afraid to talk to her for that long. Even people in trading markets who had no idea who she was didn't like to speak to her...it was probably all Ba'als thought.

When there was a rather loud shriek from someone, Amaya raised her eyebrow and she looked at the man dressed in an orange mask as he approached, he seemed like he might be a little messed up in the head. Seriously the guy looked thirty and he was bouncing around pouting because there wasn't any dango in the base? First impressions were not great.

"Honestly I didn't catch that." she smirked, sarcasm dripping from her voice "Pleased to meet you Deidara-sempai, and you also Tobi..." Amaya added with a little chuckle, the man really was an idiot.

As he wiggled on the spot she turned to Deidara and widened her eyes; "Is he really this...stupid?" she whispered.

Deidara could see where her train of thought would go from the revelation that most of the group had lost their sense of humour. The truth was that they weren't all assholes, as you'd expect from people who didn't have a sense of humour, but they were all either serious for no apparently reason or so filled with angst that it was just better not to ever wonder what they thought of as funny. He smirked a little bit when she said she had a sense of humour that wasn't universal and wasn't sure if her reputation being known was a good thing. Yes she was going to be a good partner,

"Good to know, it gets dull when the only humour is when one of them gets attacked by Tobi." he joked a little bit before smirking, "It's a good thing don't worry. You have some impressive skills to say the least my friend."

Deidara had to resist the urge to stab Tobi repeatedly in the eye with a kunai. Leader-sama said not to hurt the guy but it was honestly getting really hard to justify not stabbing the guy repeatedly. He was ruining Amaya's perception of their organisation! And if she tried to leave they'd have a lot of trouble with trying to ensure secrets and such. He looked at her sadly and sighed a little bit,

"Please don't call me Sempai... having heard it from Tobi too much it makes my skin crawl Amaya-san." he admitted before his head rested against the table, "Why can't I turn Tobi into art?"

Tobi wiggled over to Deidara,

"You can't make Tobi go Boom because he's a good boy!" he declared happily before looking at Amaya unblinkingly for a few moments before nudging Deidara, "Hey Deidara-sempai, is she your girlfriend?"

Deidara looked at Tobi with a scowl,

"She's my partner." He told Tobi before sighing a little bit and nodding to Amaya, "Yeah, he's that stupid."

Tobi wiggled and seemed to give off a depressed aura, "Deidara-sempai and Amaya-chan are mean to Tobi... even though Tobi is a good boy..."

Amaya smirked a little bit to be honest she was happy that she had been paired up with Deidara, from what she had heard of him he was the most normal looking, the most normal in personality, and he was still pretty kick ass and so she was glad that she was able to bje on the same page as someone she could genuinely see herself spending time with.

Sometimes she thought that the other members had a stick permenantly shoved up their ass. Given what she had heard about them, it might be even worse when she meets them for real athough she thought that it would be pretty hard for that to happen.

"I'm not the only one, you have a pretty fun skill. Making things blow up must be pretty satisfying, especially when you have been having a bad day." she stated with a little cheeky grin "Although I suppose I can relieve a lot of stress my way as well."

Raising an eyebrow when she heard that Deidara wanted to turn Tobi into art, Amaya didn't really know what to say in response to that, she didn't know the man that well but she thought that she was going to eventually agree, Tobi seemed to be pretty random and high maintenance to talk to. Someone she couldn't really be bothered speaking to to be honest.

"Oh yeah, we're going out didn't you know?" she stated with a soft smile "We've been making babies for weeks but it's official now." Amaya winked teasingly.

Of course it wasn't true but it would be interesting to see if he would actually believe what she told him, she could be pretty convincing after all; "I'm not mean, I've just not met someone as old as you that acts the way you do, its quite odd for me."

Deidara was glad that she seemed to react well to him, it meant that they had the required chemistry to make good partners and he was happy about that. His last partner had been a total asshole and had been way too annoying to actually try and form a bond with that was required of a really good team. After all, who would want to bond with a guy who played with puppets all day? Puppets that used to be freaking people in some cases!

But then again his last partner had been better than any of the other people he could have been paired up with initially. He smirked a little bit when she complimented his own skill. So she appreciated a good explosion did she? Well now she was looking to be an even better partner,

"Oh you have no idea how satisfying it is to make explosions all day! It's the most beautiful kind of art, it gives me a creative outlet too." he admitted happily before smirking, "So I've heard. They've only just put out that forest fire you started when those hunter ninja tracked you to the Land of Trees."

Deidara was twitching one of his hands towards the clay pouch as his side and Tobi seemed to realise this because he moved away from Deidara a few steps. When Amaya decided to tease both him and Tobi, Deidara blushed and banged his head against the table. She was just fuelling Tobi's... well... Tobi-iness!

Tobi's lone eye widdened and he immediately began to jump up and down for joy. He immediately latched onto Deidara's arm and doggedly refused to be moved even when Deidara growled and tried to throw him off,

"Oh Deidara-sempai! You're going to be a daddy!" he cried happily before turning to Amaya, "When was the wedding? Only married people make babies! Ooo ooo! Can one of them be called Tobi-Jr? Please please please?"

When Amaya stated her reasons why she was being mean to Tobi, Deidara blinked when Tobi seemed to sober completely. Tobi stood up straight for the first time since entering the room and his entire presence became much more serious and deadly,

"Tobi can be serious when he needs to be..." he said, his voice low and dark... and then he slumped again and his whole attitude went back to normal, "Cool huh?!"

Deidara twitched before smacking Tobi on the back of the head,

"Tobi you idiot!" he growled before sighing a little bit and turned to Amaya, "It's not always like this, honest. Please don't leave me alone in this group with Tobi and a bunch of humourless people... please!"