Warnings: SasoDei, hints (some subtle, some not so much) of other shonen-ai pairings, hints of shoujo-ai pairings, hints of SasuHina, death, minor blood and gore, minor drug reference

Merry Christmas.

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Deidara turned, his blue eyes discovering something that caught him in a mix of emotions. At first, he almost gasped in sheer delight. Then he wanted to laugh; how absurd, it must be, to be them… And then, finally, it was pity. He knew what it was like for girls like them.

The three of them sat together, looking like porcelain dolls. Hands folded, backs straight, ankles crossed. Skin white, eyes glassy, hairstyles beautiful, makeup perfect, bodies unmoving. Deidara smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. He felt sorry for them, three girls he didn't even know. They were gorgeous, they were the life of the party, they were more beautiful than any ornament in the entire world. Stars would pale in comparison to those three. And they must be absolutely miserable.

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It was the party of the year. The famous Hyuuga Christmas party. Only a select few got invited every year. But the numbers were increasing, and people fell in and out of their favor. By some stroke of luck, Deidara got invited.

Actually, it was Itachi who got invited. They had been schoolmates, nothing enough to warrant the Uchiha heir extending his invitation (because although this was generally frowned upon, technically you could invite as many as you want if you were lucky enough to get an invitation). In fact, Deidara couldn't stand the self-important guy. But Itachi's best friend was a close friend of Deidara's, and when Kisame was invited, he dragged the blue-eyed blond along. He didn't want to be the only one of a lower social class in the whole compound, he explained.

The mansion was beautiful. It seemed to glow from all of the decorations and stunning (conceited) people inside and out. Deidara had already lost Kisame, but as Kisame was always with Itachi, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. And even he had to admit that he cleaned up rather well. It probably wasn't as dressy as most of the high-toned guests, but he blended in enough not to warrant a second glance from most of them. A maroon button-up dress shirt (complete with a black tie) and some black pants. Unbearably formal for one like Deidara, but at least he wasn't shunned.

He was at the Hyuuga Christmas party. That was all he needed. It was enough of a status boost to let him stay untouchable for the rest of the school year. Whether or not he enjoyed it was irrelevant.

Deidara tugged at his shirt's cuffs, wishing he could loosen his tie a bit. It wasn't exactly warm inside, but it was stifling. Too many people, milling around, dancing, chatting. He had never liked crowds. The artist worked his way to a window, pressing the back of his hand against the cold glass and pretending that he wasn't weird for doing so. He looked around, looking completely at ease. Which he wasn't.

Then he caught sight of the girls.

They were just porcelain dolls, really they were. All three of them, sitting close enough together to betray their nervousness. They obviously didn't want to be here any more than he did, for reasons of their own. As Deidara squinted in their direction, he recognized one of them.

Ino, a girl in the class below him. Most people asked if they were related due to their similar hair styles (even if the color was way off), but were quickly shot down on both sides. Deidara almost hadn't recognized her. Instead of the regular high ponytail, her platinum blonde hair was down, sleekly running down her back in a cascade. Her dress was a pale, almost washed-out blue, matching her eyes. It went down to her ankles, just as glossy and silky as her hair, snuggly hugging her curves. It was a ballroom gown, he realized; at first he'd thought it was a regular old dress. But now that he stared a bit more, he saw it flare out at her hips and ruffled downward towards her feet, it even had a corset. (Painful.)

So if the girl on the far right was Ino, that meant that the pink-haired one had to be her best friend, Sakura. Deidara only knew her by name and face, but now that he had a reference point, he recognized her. Just like Ino, she was glistening, frail, unmoving. She was normally paler than her friend, but her red gown just seemed to soften her skin further. Sakura practically glowed. Her mint green eyes were fixed on a point near her heeled sandals, glazed over slightly. Her rosy hair was held up, unlike Ino's, elegant and demure all at the same time. Her dress, too, was nothing short of a gown; it was less puffy than her friend's, but graceful all the same. Bright red, matching the holly that decorated the house, with white trim and a white shawl, which lay forgotten in her lap.

The middle girl, though, Deidara couldn't place. He had honestly never seen her before, though her dark hair and white eyes pointed out that she must at least be one of the (many) Hyuuga. If anything, she was more fragile and picturesque than the other two. Her dark hair had a pastel sheen to it, highlighting the curls she had up in pigtails. It looked to be just as long as Ino's, though with her hairstyle it just fell below her shoulders. Her eyes were even glassier than Sakura's, colorless and staring down at her hands. In contrast to her porcelain skin, she was wearing a dark, indigo gown, that faded into lavender near the hips and then back dark again towards her toes. The girl then moved (that alone shocked Deidara enough to open his mouth in a silent gasp) and looked in his direction.

Deidara realized that her eyes weren't glassy at all; that was how they naturally looked. She, in a way the other two couldn't quite reach, was a true doll. The girl stared at him with her white eyes, accented with glitter and light lavender eye shadow. Deidara swallowed, and after a moment too long, tore his own gaze away from hers.

Just looking at all three of them made him feel too colorful and vibrant. (And alive.) His hair, while up in a high ponytail unlike his normal state, was too dark of a blond. His eyes were too bright and too blue. His shirt was too red and his pants were too black. He didn't belong in the presence of those three dolls. Suddenly, Deidara felt suffocated, and needed air. Cold air, preferably.

He somehow made his way towards the door. Not without stepping on a few toes, but he managed it nonetheless. And just when he was about to open the door, someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back into the party.

"Deidara, where are you going?" Kisame asked with a wry grin. He seemed to know exactly where Deidara was going, and the reasons behind it. Itachi was hovering near his shoulder, his coal black eyes fixed on the three girls across the room. From this angle, Deidara noticed, they were highlighted from the glow of the Christmas tree. Perfect little dolls.

"It's polite to stay inside when the hosts are opening their presents," Itachi remarked quietly. Deidara turned back to look at the three girls, but they were watching someone else, with matching expressions of curiosity and amazement. Ino and Sakura, though, both had small, beautifully wrapped boxes on their lap. The middle girl did not.

"It doesn't look like anyone is opening anything, yeah…" Deidara mumbled, standing on his tiptoes to try to see over the crowd. Everyone he could see, though, had their eyes on someone that he couldn't. He stepped to Kisame's other side, closer to Itachi, but at least now he could see. Someone else had arrived, someone he hadn't seen before during the party. He was tall, with long, spiky black hair, and red eyes, with lines under them. He was in a completely formal suit, and was talking to someone with a small smile on his face. He didn't look overly compassionate, but his smile could have fooled anyone. "Who is that?"

"Madara. He's a toymaker, a very famous and skilled one," Kisame responded. His height allowed him to already see over most of the guests there, and was watching with obvious enjoyment. "Apparently he's brought some of his dolls as gifts."

Deidara glanced at the three girls again. They could have passed as dolls, but somehow, he doubted that they were anyone's gifts.

"Hey, Itachi, wasn't this Madara guy related to you?" Kisame asked conversationally.

"It's just a rumor," he replied tersely, not looking away. There was a note in his voice that said to drop the subject, and so the other two did.

Deidara moved back behind him, watching as Madara took out three, large boxes. With a graceful gesture, the first two opened. Two life-sized dolls were standing ramrod straight inside. Both dolls' eyes were closed, and their joints were visible, but Deidara couldn't help the shiver that went down his spine. They were beyond lifelike. They looked more alive than the three girls.

It was a man and a woman, both dressed in what appeared to be real clothes, formal attire. They could have been guests. The man's ears were pierced, as was his nose, but somehow it only made him seem more distinguished, rather than make him look like a punk. His hair was a dark ginger, spiked in a way that could have passed as either natural and messy or carefully styled. The woman was just as beautiful and carefully crafted as the man. Her hair was a cobalt blue, held up in a bun with a white flower, though parts were left down to hang at about chin-length. She was wearing a light dusting of eye shadow, darker than any of the three living dolls'. The blue-haired doll was wearing a pure white dress, fluffed out almost like a ballerina's tutu.

As the guests (Deidara included) were staring in awe at these two amazingly convincing toys, Madara reached back behind them and flipped a switch. Two pairs of eyes snapped open, and the dolls' faces twisted into innocent, if vapid, smiles. The woman had clear, blue eyes, as colorful as her partner's were flat. They walked out into a space that cleared rapidly for them, perfectly balanced. They moved just as fluidly and naturally as any real person.

And then, the two dolls began to dance.

Their joints may have been visible and their eyes blank, but with their empty smiles and perfect moves, they were the only living things in the room. Everyone watched with large, disbelieving eyes. They danced better than anyone else in that room. The ginger-haired doll expertly twirled his blue-haired partner, and dipped her low enough for her extended hand to ghost across the floor. None of their movements were jerky or irregular. The pair finished their dance, smiling at the crowd. The male doll even bowed, while the female one curtsied coyly. Deidara closed his open mouth, trying to remember to breathe.

Finally, the room broke out into warm applause, life flooding back into the bodies of the crowd. Deidara found he could finally breathe again, and sucked in a lungful from gratitude alone. He could have sworn he heard Itachi do the same in front of him. Madara bowed, and his two dolls bowed and curtsied again, and then he flipped the switches on their back. They returned to their rigid, unmoving positions, falling back into their boxes perfectly. The last movement the dolls managed was closing their eyes.

People were murmuring to each other excitedly, wondering how much such dolls cost, how they were created, admiring how beautiful they had been. Madara smiled to himself and closed the two boxes, gesturing to the third. The room was instantly silent once more, waiting with bated breath for what wonder he might unleash upon them this time.

He opened the box, but moved in front so no one could see. A few disappointed groans were audible from the crowd. Madara turned around with a smile in his red eyes, and stepped away from the box. It was closed now. He tapped it with his hand, and nothing happened.

People were just about to start whispering to each other again when the box's lid fell off, apparently kicked off from inside.

Out stepped a soldier, in full parade uniform. He even had a sword in its sheath hanging from his waist. His hair was jet black, highlighted with a navy blue, and his eyes were even darker than his hair. The back of his hair was spiked upward, while the rest of it hung down around his face in a perfect frame, a few bangs even falling into his unseeing eyes. And with a full uniform on, not a single joint was visible.

Deidara glanced towards the three girls, and saw that both Ino and Sakura weren't looking like dolls anymore. Both had small smiles on their faces, and their eyes were bright. They looked like they had joined the land of the living, if only for a few brief moments, and if only because of one soldier. The middle girl just watched with her blank, white eyes, still as lifeless as before.

The soldier paraded around the room, even taking out his sword and going through several motions with it. His marching was flawless and perfectly timed. His shoulders were straight and tense while still seeming animated. As he marched around in a large rectangle, he paused before the three other dolls. He sheathed his sword and saluted, and then marched back to his box. Ino and Sakura both looked smitten with this wooden soldier, clasping their hands together in excitement. If anything, the rest of the room was just as enamored with these toys of Madara's, and broke out in deafening applause before the soldier had even been completely switched off. The black-haired soldier smirked as he was shut off, as if pleased with this attention.

Deidara suddenly had to get outside. Now.

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Outside, the world was cold and silent. The moon glittered on the newly fallen snow, and his shoes crunched on it as he made his way to a snowy little bench near a frozen-over pond. Deidara could see his breath quite visibly against the dark night, but he didn't feel cold. At least, not yet.

He cleared a little space on the stone bench, and sat down in the snow-free area. Everywhere else was covered in little diamonds of the stuff. He looked around him, finally feeling his heart slow down a few notches.

That wasn't art, those were just toys, he told himself. Very, incredibly life-like toys, but dolls nonetheless. Clever contraptions of wood and wire. Animated with a flip of a switch. Nothing more. Still, Deidara couldn't help but feel a mix of awe and morbid interest when he had watched the two dancers and the soldier. They got more attention than the three living dolls near the Christmas tree.

With his finger, he absently sketched in the snow. It numbed his hand after a few strokes, but the bench next to him was the perfect canvas. Here was the pond, here were the snowy roofs, here was the moon, above it all…

"That's very good," a high, delicate, female voice said from behind him. Deidara jumped and turned around, entirely unsurprised when the voice turned out to belong to one of the dolls. The middle one, the dark-haired one he hadn't recognized. "Are you an artist?" she asked politely, fixing him with those colorless eyes of hers.

Deidara looked away. "I'd like to be, yeah. Of course…doodling in snow is hardly art, haha." He chuckled in self-depreciation, a bit embarrassed to be caught outside like this.

"It is still quite good. I've never seen a snow drawing before," the doll remarked, looking down at the sketch in the snow. "The moonlight on it makes it look even prettier."

How ironic, such a stunning doll calling a few frozen water droplets pretty. Though Deidara couldn't deny that it was a pretty night outside. Somehow, however…the doll's beauty ruined it. She wasn't made for actually being anywhere; the scene must reflect her own beauty. Not add its own.

"Aren't you going back inside? It's chilly out here, yeah. You might, um, catch a cold or something…" Deidara said lamely, sighing. He just wanted to be alone, not with this doll.

"The presents have already been given out, so there is no need for me to be inside. I wanted a bit of fresh air and to look at something that wasn't artificially beautiful." She stood beside him on the bench, and now he noticed that she was clutching a beautifully white- and gold-wrapped box. Just like the other two girls had before. So she had finally gotten her own present, good for her.

Of course, only the Hyuuga family members and close family actually got presents at that party. (Though Deidara had heard rumors that the female guests got white roses or some sort of flowers as a simple gift.) Deidara eyed the box warily, wondering why she had taken it outside with her. Especially when it looked unopened. He didn't say anything, however, for fear of being rude. He didn't want to get kicked out.

"This was given to me by Madara. He gave my sister and I two dolls from his collection. He said it was the last dolls of this size he ever created, and will ever create." The doll sighed, petting the box absentmindedly. Now that Deidara could see it better, he noticed that it had, at least, been opened. Just very carefully.

Then, manners caught up with him. She was still standing beside him, and he was sitting. Not good. "Would you like to sit down, yeah?" he asked, a bit more hasty than he ought to have been. The doll looked up at him from her present, cocking her head to one side slightly. Her eyes were large and as pale as the moon, which made her dark eyelashes seem that much darker.

"I wouldn't want to ruin your pretty artwork," she replied quietly.

Deidara chuckled, and reached over and waved his hand over the surface of the snow, ruining it for her. He then scooted over and left the snow-less, vacated seat for her. "Artwork can be ruined if it's left out for too long. Now it'll be pretty in your memory, yeah."

She stared at him for a few long moments, and then finally smiled. It was a tiny smile, barely quirking the corners of her pink lips, but it made her squint slightly, and Deidara grinned back at her. Finally she looked like more of a pretty girl than a pretty doll. "My name is Hinata."

"Oh--I'm Deidara, yeah."

She sat down beside him, smoothing out her purple dress and setting the gift carefully in her lap. She sighed, and Deidara couldn't help but be intrigued. Even if she had a right to be miserable (who wouldn't, in her place?), why was she acting so forlorn now? The way her hands were lingering over the present's wrapping told him that it probably had to do with that.

She caught him eyeing the present, and her smile turned a little bitter. Deidara raised both eyebrows. It wasn't a flattering look for a doll. "I'm pleased with my gift, I really am…It's just…" her voice drifted off, and her eyes unfocused a bit as she stared at the frozen pond in front of them. Hinata didn't continue for the longest time, and Deidara was starting to worry that he'd have to prompt her to speak again if he wanted the story behind her sad look. But then, she sighed again, and he felt minutely relieved. "It's just…I'm getting a bit old for a doll…and…Oh, I-I just don't know. I'm already sixteen, and Madara has always been kind to me, and I really do love this doll, but…it's…just not for me…" Her voice faded into a whisper for the last few words, and Deidara had to lean forward a bit to hear her.

He knew the feeling. Sometimes, he'd draw something, and it just wouldn't be meant for him. (He usually gave those drawings away as gifts or burned them.) It was an odd feeling to describe, though, and it'd be terribly hard to return a gift for that reason. Deidara felt sorry for her, if he was being honest with himself.

"It really is a beautiful doll, though…I…I'll just keep him as an ornament…" Hinata left off wistfully, opening the box. Deidara couldn't help but suck in a gasp; she was right in the fact that it was a beautiful doll. Dressed in a slightly modified version of the earlier soldier's uniform, the doll was about a foot tall, staring out listlessly from the confines of his box. His hair was scarlet, standing out against the white on his uniform, though his hair didn't quite reach his collar. It was almost long enough to fall into his eyes, but not quite. Instead, his cinnamon-colored eyes stared up out into the night sky, lidded, as though bored, or waiting for something. His hands were at his sides, the right one as if hovering over his miniature sword.

"Wow…yeah…he is beautiful. I mean, you're lucky to get such pretty gifts. I haven't gotten anything yet, yeah." Deidara grinned at her, trying to simultaneously lift the mood and tear his gaze away from the redheaded doll. Easier said than done. It was like he was trapped in a staring contest with the wooden man, and he felt his heart rate speed up again. So much for fresh air calming him down.

Hinata turned to him, eyes large and blank again. "I always get pretty gifts like this. But…all you can ever do is look at them."

"You could, you know, technically play with this one, yeah," he pointed out, finally succeeding in meeting her gaze.

She didn't smile. "I'm too old for dolls…This would be something Hanabi might like. Though she already received one as well." He took it that Hanabi was her sister that she'd mentioned earlier. Hinata sighed, yet again, and turned back to the doll in the box on her lap. She placed the lid back on the box, shielding him from view. Deidara couldn't help but be secretly pleased. That doll was too handsome for casual showing. "This one's name is Sasori. Such a pretty name, and it matches him."

"Sasori…" Deidara murmured, liking how it sounded on his tongue. "It does fit, yeah."

"Hmm…" Hinata glanced over at him again, this time a bit shyly. "You seem like you like him. Do you like dolls, Deidara?"

"Me? No. I just think he's a pretty little trinket, yeah." He grinned disarmingly at her, trying to ignore the fact that while he didn't like dolls, he wouldn't mind having one like Sasori.

"You're an artist, so I assume that you could value his craftsmanship and beauty more than I could." Deidara suddenly didn't like where this conversation was going. Hinata looked up at him, firmly this time, and suddenly held the box out to him. "Here. Consider him an early Christmas gift, since you didn't receive any others."

"When I said that, you know, I meant that I'd get plenty tomorrow morning--" Deidara started, but she just pushed the box into his hands. "Look, Hinata…I like this, I really do. But I can't accept him. It'd be rude--I don't have anything to give in return, yeah--and I can't exactly walk around the party with your present in my hands, can I?" he tried desperately, hoping that this doll would see a bit of human logic.

Hinata reluctantly took the box containing Sasori back, looking down at it thoughtfully. "…You can give me one of your drawings in return. That'd be lovely. If I want an ornament, it would be nice to have something that isn't so breakable," she started, visibly formulating her plan. "An-And you can be one of the guests that spend the night. So many of them do, none of them are bound to notice that you were a last-minute addition. Then you can take him in the morning."

"One of my drawings? What would you want me to draw, yeah…?"

"I don't know. Something pretty."

"I could draw you, then."

Hinata blushed a red that almost match Sasori's hair. Deidara blushed in reaction to that, then; he hadn't exactly meant it that way. But she wouldn't understand if he called her a doll, now would she? "I-If you…I mean…umm…" She nervously poked her fingers together, looking away from him.

"I-I just meant--you look, um, pretty tonight--" he fished around for something more coherent and understandable than what he was currently grasping at. Finally, he seized upon it, and tried to continue more clearly, "If it's a gift for you, then why not be of you? Th-This way, it'll at least make sense for you to have it…yeah…"

Hinata looked at him through her bangs, smiling uncertainly. "…Sure," she said softly. "But…you can draw me later tonight, when most of the guests have left. And then, you get him." She placed Sasori, in his box, on Deidara's lap.

"I thought we agreed that you'd keep him until then--"

"We're alone out here, so while no one can see us, you can hold him. Why, are you scared of him, Deidara?" Hinata asked in amusement.

"A little. He's such a work of art, yeah," he joked.

It was then that the door behind them opened (rather loudly) and a voice called, "Hinata!"

Both of them jumped and Hinata reflexively grabbed the present back. "Y-Yes?" she asked, turning around. She was still a bit shaken, Deidara noticed. Maybe she was as fragile as a porcelain doll.

"Father says to come back inside now. You might catch a cold," a boy with long, dark brown hair said from the illuminated doorway.

Hinata nodded, and nervously stood up with a "Yes, Neji." She turned back to Deidara with a small smile, the one that made her look less like a doll and more like a human. "I'll meet you by the Christmas tree at midnight, alright? Then most people should have left and hopefully we'll be left alone."

Deidara nodded in agreement, and watched as the doll sauntered off to the boy in the doorway. He then reflected on how that night had gone so far. Interestingly, to say the least… So that Sasori doll was now his, huh? He leaned back, looking up at the moon. Why did he feel so pleased with that…?

Then, after a few more moments of snowy silence, the artist realized that his hands and toes were completely numb, and his nose was rapidly loosing feeling. Grinning like the idiot he felt himself to be, he got up, dusted his pants free of snow, and wandered back into the alluring warmth of the party.