The Mission

When I first went to your place, my parents were excited. They thought this was going to be the first step to mating Deidara, thinking I’d want to mate him someday. What they didn’t know was I never had any desire to mate him before you and I met.

Meeting him in person didn’t change my mind either.

My first interaction with Deidara in person was when I went to your place for the first time to spend the night. I would’ve had you at my place, but I didn’t want my parents to interrogate you about your brother so I insisted on staying at yours instead.

We were in your room then because Deidara had been out that day somewhere (I didn’t know where and I don’t remember you knowing where either). We had gotten done having hot pot for dinner and he came back from wherever it was he was at with a bang.

Yes, I mean this literally as ‘he almost blew up your bedroom because he smelled my scent in your room’ because we both know that is what happened.

“Ino, what’s an alpha is doing here in your room?” I will never forget the death glare to end all death glares sent my way from him. He was brimming to the edge with anger, but he managed to hide it well enough from you at first sight.

“I told you I made a new friend!” I think you were mad, but you never let it show, “Her name is Sakura Haruno and she’s an alpha. You were listening to me a few days ago, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I was, un!” he was always quick to get snappy with people, but this time around was different, “I thought you were joking when you said she’s an alpha. You never told me she’d be coming over today, un.”

“I did, but…you know what? That’s okay. I shouldn’t have told you when you were working on your art and I’m sorry about that.”

It bothered me to see you give in to him like that. You were strong, brave, and confident all the times I’ve seen you. You would never have backed down from anyone, but with him…it’s like you threw away those parts of yourself I admired to appease him.

Deidara didn’t bother to apologize either, which didn’t sit right with me and doesn’t now when I think back on it, “Fine, I’ll let it go this time around, but don’t spring something like this on me ever again.”

His eyes never left me once, his glare just as intense when he first came into the room, “Ino, you wouldn’t mind if I speak to the alpha, un? I just want to be sure she’s not a typical sexist bastard.”

You hesitated, but he knew how to get underneath your skin just enough to get you to bend to his will, “You were fine with bringing one home despite knowing how my issues with them, un. It can’t be that hard for you to allow me to do this.”

I couldn’t believe the brother you had spoken so highly of, the one you had said you wanted to be like someday, was treating you like this. To see you cave in to his demands did nothing to improve my worsening view of him, “Sakura, you wouldn’t mind him talking to you, would you? Deidara means nothing bad by this, I promise, he’s worried over me. He doesn’t want me to get caught up in the same situation he is in with Itachi right now, I know that’s why he wants to do this.”

“That’s dumb, you know I’m not a thing like him, why does it matter what Deidara thinks?”

“It matters to me because he’s my big brother and I don’t want him to feel like he’s not safe when he’s home. He already has enough to deal with thanks to all of the jerks in the village. Why should I make things worse for him when he would never do the same to me?”

I will never get why you were so willing to let him ruin our good time together, but I didn’t want to make you upset, so I agreed to it, “I guess you have a point… Okay, I’ll talk to him alone.”

Deidara didn’t give me time to say goodbye to you. No, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged to his makeshift art studio where he would start things off by letting out his angered pheromones and growling at me as though I were Itachi Uchiha himself, “Okay alpha, what the hell are you doing with my sister, un?”

“What do you mean ‘what am I doing’ with her? All I did was come over here to spend the night after our day at the academy.”

He wasn’t having it, or believing me for that matter, “Yeah, sure you did! Don’t think I don’t know how alphas like yourself operate—you come in, acting all nice and sweet, only to try to rape an unsuspecting omega, un! Well guess what? That’s not happening to my sister, on my watch, in my home, un!”

I didn’t know what all he was getting at back then. I didn’t have the heat and rut talk with my parents yet and I’m pretty sure you didn’t either. It didn’t stop Deidara from bringing it all up so casually with the crazed, angry gleam in his eyes while he leaned down to me, threatening me as he placed a lump of clay in the hand on his palm, “Listen to me now, alpha, if you ever try to forcibly mate my sister or refuse to back off when she tells you ‘no’ on anything, you will wind up losing an arm to something much bigger than this.”

The little baby bird sculpture made from the mouth his hand blew up in front of my eyes, scaring me in the same way it would to any small child or fully grown adult if they were to be by him when he did this, “Do you understand, un?”

I couldn’t use my voice without trembling. All I could do was nod and accept the fact my new friend had a horrible big brother I’d have to deal with every time I came over to see her.

He let me go after that and I thought we would be okay after this. Except this time around, when I went back into your room, he followed me in there.

“Deidara, what are you doing? I thought you would go back to your tent or art studio when you were done talking to Sakura.” when you found his behavior odd, I knew I wasn’t in the wrong for thinking so. I also had a bad feeling he meant it in the worst of ways.

He shrugged when taking a seat on your bed, “Who says I can’t be here? I don’t feel like sleeping in the tent tonight, un. Besides, I want to get to know your new friend, Ino. Is that such a bad thing, un?”

“Well…no, I guess not.”

“Good.” Deidara grinned and I was left to feel on edge despite what he said, “It’s okay, you guys can play whatever game it is you wish, un. I won’t interrupt or stop you.”

I didn’t know what to make of that one. Despite what he claimed, when we did try to play our games without paying much attention to him, he would intervene with a blunt, cold, “Quit being so dominant, alpha, my sister was trying to talk, un.” or my personal favorite from that night, “Why are you sitting so close to her? What, do you need to scent her or something, un? Don’t be such a creep to my sister, alpha, or else I’ll make you regret it for as long as you live!”

When we went to sleep that night, he made me sleep by the door so I wouldn’t be anywhere near you while he slept close to your bed. How messed up is that? I was just a little kid and here he was, the older sibling, treating me as though I were some criminal scumbag in the making!

The following morning, my only saving grace to get away from him was the fact we had to go to the academy that day. Otherwise, I would have been stuck with him far longer than I wanted to be. Thanks to your parents needing Deidara for something at the flower shop—I don’t remember what all it was—we were able to have a quick breakfast of toast, grab the lunch boxes your dad made for us the night before, and head out right away before we were too late.

(Remember how late we woke up that day? I have never seen you so panicked and rushed before. It was honestly an improvement over how hard you tried to appease Deidara while allowing me to see you as being more than this amazing, invincible omega image I built up of you in my head. It’s one of those weird moments that really humanized you in my eyes, as strange as it sounds now…)

I asked you as we were rushing over to our school, “Is it normal for Deidara to act like that?”

“To act like what?”

“You know…mean and controlling.”

You almost tripped over yourself when stopping just to look over your shoulder and frown at me, “My brother isn’t mean and controlling! He’s the best person around who always has my back no matter what!”

I couldn’t believe you didn’t see it, but I tried to help you understand where I was coming from, “But he didn’t listen when you asked him to not get involved with our doll game and he got really angry at you when you and I were talking about mating.”

That wasn’t a lie, either. He did interfere with our doll game we tried to play to distract ourselves from his looming, awkward presence in the room. At different points in the game, he kept getting involved, making snide comments about the direction it was going in and criticizing how ‘hierarchal’ certain things were. At one point you had your character mating mine and he threw a fit so badly to the point where he almost blew up the doll I was holding, hissing the entire time like the beast of an omega he is, “Mating? What the hell is wrong with you, alpha, un? My little sister has far too many ambitions in life to settle for someone as lowly as you! She is going to be the first ever omega kunoichi and like hell will I allow mating talk to get in the way of that, un! Mating is outdated and unnecessary in our world, it’s nothing more than legalized concubine ownership—which neither one of us will ever settle for! So if you dare try to drag her down with you, be prepared for a fucking war, un.”

You had begged him earlier too, “Dei, please don’t get involved! I want to play a game of dolls with Sakura in peace. I never get to do that with anyone else because no one else ever wants to spend the night here to spend time with me.”

He agreed to it, so it wasn’t like he didn’t know how upset it would make you, “I promise I won’t, un.”

That only made it so much worse than you think it did. All this did was prove to me that Deidara didn’t have any respect for your boundaries or you if he couldn’t keep a promise to you over something so simple. I may not have known much at that age, but I knew enough about respect thanks to my parents teaching me about it. It’s only because of them I was able to spot out his lack of respect towards you back then.

“He didn’t mean to! My brother would never, ever do anything to hurt me on purpose. He only did what he did because he was nervous and I know that’s it. It’s all that stupid Uchiha’s fault for constantly bothering him—if he hadn’t, then Deidara wouldn’t have acted the way he did last night, I know he wouldn’t have.”

I didn’t want to make you any more upset than you already were. I dropped it for your sake, though I wanted to keep the conversation going, “Okay, I believe you.”

You didn’t say much. All that happened was your expression softened and you started to run to the academy again, “…We better get going or else we’ll be really late.”

“Right, I’ll be right there behind you!”

I was, but only because I didn’t know what you’d say or do after I dared to question your oh-so-perfect brother.

After our day at the academy, my parents had to ask me what Deidara was like.

“Was he as beautiful as they he is?”

“Is he really as powerful as they believe him to be?”

“Do you think you have any chance to mate him someday, Sakura? Pups from him would be of the best quality around.”

All I could do was be honest with them: “He is powerful and beautiful, but he’s nothing compared to Ino. I think he’s overrated; Itachi can have him if he wants. He’s like a battered up, empty box with pretty wrapping paper on it: beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside.”

They were so stunned I would say anything negative about him at all. Then I told them about how he treated me, which caused them to contact your parents right away about it. I don’t know what all happened since I didn’t go with them, but I did know that when they came back home, they told me I could stay the night at your place if Deidara was out of the house.

That was why I didn’t spend the night at your place much when we were younger. It did help me to have less contact with Deidara, but it didn’t mean I never had to see or deal with him again.

I would come back with you to your place a few times a week after we got off from the academy. Your parents were like another set of parents to me and they were always so welcoming, so kind, and so accepting of me. Never once did they complain about my gender or act hostile towards me.

Deidara, on the other hand, was a whole other story.

He acted civilly enough in front of everyone else, but when we were alone, he’d be the bully I knew him to be with his cruel comments:

“What’re you doing here, alpha? Don’t you have some other omega to force into a mating, un?”

“Listen billboard brow, if you think you have a shot with my little sister, then think again because it’s never happening, not on my watch! I won’t let Ino mate anyone, especially not someone as ugly as you, un!”

“Let me guess; trying to force my sister into submission like your backwards conservative clan would want her to, un? Just to let you know, she won’t be a conformist like someone from your clan would want you to have in a mate. She’s too good for that, un—way too good for you, actually.”

He used to do things like trip me when no one would catch him, or he’d use his jutsu to try to leave little burn marks on me. I know he did it because I’m an alpha; I’ve heard from my parents after he left that he did this to other alphas and betas in the village for no reason as well. According to them, he was always antagonistic towards alphas and betas. Sometimes it was warranted, but other times it wasn’t. To them it was shocking to learn of this after his choosing to leave with Itachi, though to be honest it didn’t shock or scare me. All it did was leave me feeling validated in a weird way, because I thought I was the only one he was this mean to. Learning he did this to others and I wasn’t crazy for thinking he was mean helped to make it less of a burden on my shoulders after he was gone.

I know you’re thinking this is what bothered me most about him. Actually, it wasn’t.

Your brother was always a jerk to me, but he wasn’t any better to you in my eyes. The way he acted towards you—the one person in the whole village who supported him no matter what—never sat well with me.

I’m not trying to say he was never a good caring brother. If of anything, he was one to you when he wanted to be. That didn’t mean he didn’t have his times where he was less than considerate of you.

I would know, I saw far too many of them when he was still in the village.

Like the time when we got back from training at the academy and you were wanting to go get ramen with him and I because your parents were out somewhere.

All you did was go up to his door and open it a small crack to ask, “Do you want to get ramen with Sakura and I? Naruto talks about this place a lot and I think you’d like—”

“Ugh, great, you made me mess up!”

I will never forget how quickly your face paled in response to his mild irritation over something so mild, as well as how quick you were to try to placate him, “S-Sorry! I can get you more clay if you like!”

“No, don’t bother. I’ll just have to do it later, un. What is it that was so important I had to mess up my masterpiece?”

“Nothing, I was just wondering if you wanted to get ramen with Sakura and I since mom and dad are gone still.”

“Eat dinner with an alpha? What next, whore myself out to Uchiha, un? Not happening Ino!”

“Oh come on, Deidara! She’s the only friend I’ve got that doesn’t like me because of you! Why can’t you try to get along with her?”

“Because she’s an alpha and I know better than to trust their kind, un. Unless if you’re trying to tell me everything I’ve been through discrimination wise was all in my head.”

You gave up then, not bothering to try with him any longer. To be fair, I would’ve quit on him too, “No, I would never do that…it’s okay, I’ll leave you alone now. Sakura and I will go get the ramen together.”

He didn’t bother to apologize or see if you were okay. He never bothered to admit he was wrong either and for all of his talk of wanting to keep you safe from ‘alpha harm’, he was willing to let you walk alone the streets at night to get ramen with me when we were at an age most parents wouldn’t let their kids do such a thing.

Or how about the time he told you he’d meet us at the hot spring and take us out to get sushi only to never show up? You were willing to wait until the place closed down for him and in the end, he was at home, working on his sculptures. He did apologize that time, but he never bothered to admit or think he could be in the wrong. Nope, he was always right, no matter what which annoyed me more than anything.

Remember that time when you got a really good score on your test at the academy and you brought it home to show him, because he had worked with you on it and you were wanting to make him proud by doing good on it?

Yeah, I remember that time too because he couldn’t bother to give you the praise you deserved and I had to hug you and say, “You did great, Ino! I’m proud of you!” because he chose not to for some reason or another.

It was hard to be afraid of Deidara when all I really was, was mad at him for treating you the way he did at times.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I did see him do good for you too.

He would defend you from alphas and betas who tried to grope you. He would stand up for you whenever sexists made comments about how you should be thinking about getting a good mate instead of becoming the first ever omega kunoichi and he did almost kill a guy for saying you were never going to be as pretty or valuable as him. He also had this way of making you feel good about yourself every time you felt down whenever another alpha or beta friend you made was only befriending you so they could have a chance to mate him.

I didn’t think too lowly of him because of that.

Then he left the village and you were so devastated, you came to me crying, “Sakura…D-Deidara, he’s gone! He’s missing, please, please you need to help me save him! I need to bring him home, I need to know he’s alright! He would do the same for me if I was missing, so I’m gonna do it for him no matter what anyone else says, but I need help. Please…won’t you help me?”

I didn’t want to believe that strong, mean omega could ever be taken down by anyone because I knew how devastating it would be for you. He was your world, though I don’t think you were ever his in return.

For your sake, I agreed, “Don’t worry, I’ll do all that I can to find him and when we do, he’ll be eating dinner with you guys and sleeping in his tent again.”

You smiled at me despite the tears, and that day, we skipped our classes at the academy to look for him.

We looked for him in the forests, in the village, in the hot springs, in the border areas, only to come back with nothing no matter where we looked.

Seeing you cry, seeing you so upset, it broke me because I knew I couldn’t fix it this time by making a joke or giving you a hug and telling you how amazing you are to me. I honestly was willing to stay out until midnight to find Deidara, but our ambitions on that end went nowhere.

Iruka sensei found us, and he wasn’t happy when he did. He stood there with his hands on his hips as you wiped the tears from your eyes, “No, I’m not quitting now! Deidara needs me, I know it, I just know he does! I won’t quit on him no matter what!”

“Ino, Sakura! What are you two doing so far away from the village? Don’t you know how dangerous it is for you two to be the near border like this? You had us looking everywhere for you and Deidara today.” I was about to stand up for you because I knew you weren’t in the right mindset to properly word it right to him, but then he said, “I know this is a hard time for you, Ino, but you shouldn’t be worrying your parents like this. They’re already suffering enough with having lost Deidara; they don’t need to lose you too.”

“B-But…he needs me. He’s gone and I don’t know why or where he’s at. I don’t know if he’s alive or not anymore…I don’t know if he needs to be saved or not. Please, sensei, let us keep looking for him. I know Sakura and I can do it, I know we—”

“No. You’re both too young to take on a mission as dangerous as this.” he softened his stance when he saw you trembling on the spot, taking your hand and mine when he crooned, “I know this is an incredibly difficult time for you, but you have to faith in your fellow shinobi here as well as your brother. Deidara is far too powerful and strong minded to go down without a fight; not only that, but the best of the best of our village is searching for him now as we speak. I know it’s hard to do, but you will have to leave it all up to us for now.”

“…Okay. I guess…I’ll have to, but if you don’t then I will bring him back with only Sakura by my side.”

“I understand. Come on girls, let’s get you both home now.”

You don’t know how happy it made me feel to hear you say that, even though the feeling didn’t last when Iruka sensei dropped you off at your home and your mother was at the door, hugging you tightly while reprimanding you for running away to find Deidara.

He told me when he dropped me off at my place, “You did a good thing for Ino today. I know your parents will be upset, but I’m positive they’ll understand when you tell them why you did it.”

They did, though it did nothing to stop me from being mad at Deidara as time went on and the rumors started coming out concerning his disappearance.

I will never fully understand how you can be so loyal to him when in my eyes, he was never worth it.

Ino was stunned after hearing Sakura’s recollection of Deidara in the quiet of the forest path they were on.

She knew Deidara didn’t approve of Sakura—he had said as much to her in the past—but she never knew he was such a cruel bully to her, “Sakura, I am so sorry he treated you like that. I never knew, he never gave off any signs he was hurting you—why didn’t you tell me? I could have gotten him to stop.”

“Because I knew you would defend him no matter what. You always thought so highly of him, Ino, that it didn’t matter what I said or did to prove to you he wasn’t as perfect as you thought he was. You would always defend him, even when he was clearly in the wrong.”

Sadly enough, Ino can acknowledge this to be true, “…You’re right, I wouldn’t have, but that’s only because he was my only real friend before you came along. So many people only became my friend to get to Deidara—I never had anyone who liked me for me before I met you and even then, I was always afraid you’d turn into the others who were only using me to get to Deidara.”

This has always been a downside to being Deidara’s sister.

Alphas and betas would befriend her, only to get to see Deidara or try to get a chance to mate him someday by earning his positive attention. She’s been used and rejected so many times for Deidara that it got to the point where she didn’t want to befriend anyone unless if they were an omega. Then she met Sakura, an alpha who was being bullied and needed her help to deal with it. In Sakura, she found her first real friend outside of Deidara, which is why her turn to being a sexist pig after he left hurt her as severely as it did.

She’s moving on from that because she knows she’s changing. It won’t make the years of hurt go away overnight, but it will at least help her move on from the past of what happened between them.

“I always wanted to be like Deidara, I wanted to be as strong, smart, confident, and beautiful as him…he was my brother, best friend, and role model. I idolized him a bit because he just seemed so perfect and I always felt lesser than compared to him.” she sighs when shaking her head, “You have nothing to worry about, Sakura. I’m not mad at you for being honest about him. If of anything, it makes me feel a bit better to know my brother had flaws and he wasn’t so perfect. If you don’t want to help me bring him home, then I understand. I won’t be mad at you for not wanting to help someone who bullied you like he did, but when I do bring him back, I’m making him apologize to you.”

Sakura took a step closer to her from her spot where she was leaning underneath the tree, grabbing her hand as she did so, “No, I do want to help you find him. I want to help you bring home, but not to make things easier for him. I want to bring him home so you can get the closure you need, and I can put him in his place for hurting you like he did.”

“You don’t—”

“No, I do.” she’s firm on this subject because, “He hurt you so severely when he left. I don’t know if he was forced to by Itachi or not, but I do think there’s a chance he chose to leave. If he really did choose to leave you behind, despite knowing how much it would hurt you and your family, then he’s a scumbag who deserves to be put through the ringer for being as selfish and intentionally cruel as he has been for the last few years. If he really was forced, then I’ll have mercy on him I won’t have should he be found to have been a willing participant in whatever is he’s into now.”

She places a hand on her cheek, telling her with confidence in her view, “Even now, you’re hurting because of him. You’re just as hurt today as you were back then when he first went missing and I can’t forgive him for that. I know doing this alone will be hard, that’s why I’m going to help you through it no matter what, just like I did on the first day he was gone.”

She smiled so warmly at her the alpha girl thought she had been seeing things, but then Ino kissed her when giving her a good hug.

It was quick, chaste, and to the point, but having the omega bury her face in her chest made it all worthwhile, “Thank you for wanting to be there for me no matter what.”

She was taken aback by this, but it didn’t stop her from wrapping her in her arms and crooning, “There’s no need to thank me. I will never you leave you in your quest to find Deidara. I may not have liked him, but I will help you bring him home.”

Sakura meant it when she said it.

She will never forgive Deidara for hurting Ino and her family. Despite this, she will help her bring him home no matter what life throws in their way next.