Author's Note: I tore this out of the newest DoS chapter…Congrats on 100+ chapters, Miss Silver!

Obligatory Akatsuki short made from pure speculation and lots of potential faults.

"Anything interesting at all?" Deidara grouches while lazily flipping through the bingo book from Sand. "They all look boring. I can probably beat them all in ten seconds flat."

"This one has Itachi's little brother on it," Sasori says back with his Cloud bingo book. "Not really much. Uses Chidori and Sharingan."

Itachi twitches and placidly blinks once.

"Deidara, there's one that you might like," Kisame drawls out and tosses a book. "Page eighty-one. Nara Shikako, team mate of Itachi's little brother. Chunin. Uses explosives and interrogation."

Sasori catches it first with a long tail and turns to the page. "Hm. This is the girl that started the argument between Grass and Konoha. My informants told me she blew up the assailant that kidnapped her because she could counter the Blood Prison."

"Nice," Deidara whistles out. "Probably not as artistic as me, though, yea."

"Nobody gives a shit about your art, Deidara-chan," Hidan says as he walks in the room, Kakuzu next to him. "Seriously. It's a fucking explosion that blows up pansy-ass people from a distance. Big deal."

"Leader said not to fight him," Kisame warns as Deidara prepares a neatly formed beetle in his hand. "Collateral damage takes a lot of the funds."

Kakuzu takes immediate note of potential loss of money and kicks Hidan in the shin viciously. "Shut your mouth, Hidan."

"God DAMN it, Kakuzu. What the hell?!" Hidan howled.

"You're going to waste more money on more useless things, do you think anyone wants to hear your pathetic whining?"

"By Lord Jashin, you're going to hell one day."

Kisame rolls his eyes as the squabbling starts, and Itachi reaches for the bingo book Sasori has.

"She's the one that used the replacement," he murmurs quietly in between the yelling and the curses.

"For your brother, right?" Kisame adds. "A weird girl, that one is. It's best to keep an eye on those kinds of people."

Itachi nods minutely as he traces the words on the page contemplatively.

Deidara only realizes much later, when the Akatsuki meeting is adjourned from Rain and each member walks their separate ways, that he has a potential kouhai.

"Master Sasori," Deidara says in a daze. "There's that girl out there, who uses explosives. Who uses art."

The rain is particularly heavy today, and Sasori rattles in irritation. "And? Leader hit her as a possibility."

"You don't understand. She's, like, my future student or something."

"Deidara."

"Yea?"

"You don't even know her."

The bell on Deidara's wide hat rings silently as he tilts his head to let the rain hit his face. "It's a gut feeling. A good one. I want her."

"Idiot."

A smile cracks on Deidara's face, wide with a dizzying frantic glimmer in his eye. "Yea. I know."

The rain continues to fall as they both walk.