"Sasori-danna, you... how are you so fast?" Deidara stammered, bewildered, 'Just a second ago, he had been relying on seniority to laze in bed.'
"And you're already dressed..."
"With my core, I don't need much sleep to begin with." Sasori replied calmly, his cold gaze cutting off whatever Deidara was about to say next.
Then, he turned his attention to Logan outside the door, his expression shifting subtly.
Running into him during this time of uncertainty might be a good sign.
Sensing the surroundings, the snowy wilderness revealed no other presences. Logan should have been in the spotlight recently, yet he had come alone and quietly. Why?
"Sorry about Deidara causing you trouble."
Sasori glanced at the two small craters in the snow behind Logan and, without consulting the blond, naturally distanced himself as the senior figure.
"Oh, it's fine." The unexpectedly polite attitude made Logan nod approvingly at the youthful-looking Sasori.
Though he was still faced with the same expressionless poker face as before, Logan couldn't help but smile faintly.
It seemed like nothing had changed much, yet he knew something must have shifted in a positive direction.
This inexplicable sense of accomplishment warmed his heart. Saving Sasori during the Kazekage Rescue Mission was undoubtedly a decision he would never regret.
"It's been a while. You haven't been holed up in this remote wilderness the whole time, have you?"
"Hmm."
Sasori responded softly, his gaze steady on Logan's clean clothes. Emotions churned beneath the calm surface of the snowy backdrop.
After a moment, noticing the cold temperature outside, he stepped aside.
"Anyway, come in first."
…
The monotonous days finally broke their cycle on this morning. After everyone entered the house, they gathered around the only table and sat down.
"The house still hasn't been renovated…"
Logan looked around and sighed with feigned regret.
"None of your concern."
Sasori sat across from him, while Deidara had been ordered to make tea and fetch water. The house was simple and the amenities for guests were even more so.
But Sasori insisted on following protocol, and Deidara, being the least influential, was naturally tasked with the chore.
He had just washed his face and tidied up, only to be dragged into manual labor, a classic case of the second party having no rights.
The small fireplace radiated warmth. Having experienced the harsh winter of the snow plains for over ten minutes, which is colder than Tokyo, Logan was once again enveloped in the crackling sound of firewood.
Listening to Sasori's blunt replies and watching Deidara, with his bird's nest hair, bustling about, he felt a strange sense of surrealism.
On Christmas Day, he had watched the fireworks display with Sumika. Under the Tokyo Tower, beneath the fireworks, he made memories and promises with someone important. And the perceptive Sumika always understood the hidden depths of his heart.
She knew he would return to the Ninja World after fulfilling his wishes. A segment of life, or life itself, couldn't be neatly divided by a line, there would always be a place reserved in his heart.
Just like caring about old friends from afar, he might still occasionally make trips back in the future.
So he came.
Last time, Logan had kept his promise and sent an email.
Since the most dangerous phase had passed, Sumika reluctantly chose to believe him, much like a housewife might grudgingly forgive her husband for occasionally going out for a drink.
Thud!
Deidara slammed the kettle onto the table, the sound echoing like a protest against injustice.
He shot Logan an extremely displeased glare, poured the water, and stomped arrogantly to a corner seat.
"Hey, aren't you having any?" Logan asked, gripping the scalding cup deliberately.
"No."
The reaction was genuinely amusing. Logan smiled inwardly, sweeping his gaze over Sasori and Deidara, both dressed in ordinary clothes.
Half the room was lit by the fireplace, the other half by the gradually brightening morning light, which slowly ceased to seem so brilliant.
Logan's expression gradually softened into tranquility. He had returned using an advanced version of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Seeing these two, who once wore the Akatsuki's cloaks, symbols of war and slaughter, long feared by the world, now forming such a warm, domestic picture, he couldn't help but feel surprised and happy.
Sasori was someone he had saved on his own accord. Deidara, during his fight with Sasuke, had been interrupted by Mai and the others before exploding himself.
These two were alive and well, more or less, because of him.
Whether they admitted it or not, a cause and effect relationship had been established. In Shonen terms, it would be even more sentimental.
Logan didn't know if he had formed a bond with the Art Duo that could be called 'friendship' in the past, but he was certain of one thing: he hoped the domestic scene before him could continue.
One, a cold and aloof older brother figure sitting upright, while the other, grumbling incessantly but still helplessly being ordered around for trivial tasks.
If left unchecked, the hearth and morning light under this roof would one day turn into clashing blades and explosions, reducing everything to ruins.
These two simple, flawed individuals might easily return to their old ways, don the Akatsuki's cloaks, and walk through the turbulent Ninja World steeped in sin, their hands stained with blood, killing ordinary people without a second thought.
Projecting forward, their fates would almost certainly follow this path. Logan didn't want to see that kind of future for Sasori and Deidara. It would make him feel that everything he had done, the lives he had saved, the words he had spoken, had been meaningless.
He had saved them, so he felt a sense of responsibility.
He wanted to guide them, to have these individuals who had died in the original work do things that were less heinous.
They had finally survived with great difficulty, so he couldn't just let their lives pass like this.
"What are you two planning to do together?" Logan addressed both of them.
The winter of Year 63 in Konoha had arrived. Konoha lay in ruins under the power of Shinra Tensei. Everything was being rebuilt, but under the swirling snow, undercurrents would not cease.
Naruto, having mastered Sage Mode, had defeated and persuaded Pain.
Then, he stepped onto the frozen snow of the Land of Iron, as the Five Kage Summit was about to begin.
"Especially you, Deidara, mooching off someone else."
The Akatsuki could no longer restrain its surviving members. Judging by the Art Duo's demeanor, they had no intention of going back to work for someone else.
Logan felt relieved about that.
Hearing this, Deidara curled his lip, "Do I look like someone who can't acquire wealth?"
'Setting aside illegal means, yes, you do.'
"I just thought it'd be safer to find Sasori-danna first. But even now, we haven't come up with a particularly good plan."
"Is that so?"
Sasori beside him eyes flickered, and he took a sip of water to mask his expression. Logan raised an eyebrow.
Then, Deidara recounted how he had come to the Land of Earth and the confusion the two artists had faced while holed up in the wooden cabin, pondering the meaning of life.
"I see…"
A smile touched Logan's lips and he clapped his hands, "Well, that's simple then."
Both pairs of eyes turned to him.
In truth, just as it was easy to imagine the path Sasori and Deidara would take without intervention, getting them to truly turn over a new leaf was probably harder than ascending to heaven.
But these two flawed individuals were simple.
If he couldn't drag them out of the darkness, he could at least try to let some light shine on them.
Even just a little bit.
In this impulsive decision, that was what Logan thought.