The Mission

Finding Naruto wasn’t too hard, actually: he had slept in and was spotted by Kakashi when his group were on the way to find Sasuke, “Naruto!”

Hearing his sensei call his name had caught him off guard, but he didn’t think much of it, “Oh, hiya sensei! Don’t tell me you wanna train now…I’m gonna go to Sasuke’s place for a while. It’s been a long time since we were alone together—”

“I don’t need to hear all the sordid details.” Kakashi cut him off quickly, his first instinct being to ask, “Where’s Sasuke now?”

“He’s going to meet me at Ichiraku’s…why are you asking anyway? You’re not going to third wheel on our date are you?” he asked with accusatory eyes attempting to size up his sensei.

Now that they know where he’s going to be, he was debating on whether or not to tell Naruto the truth. That is, until Asuma chimed in, “Hey, Kakashi, does he know where Sasuke’s at?”

“He does, but—”

“Good, so, Naruto,” Asuma begins, “We need to speak to Sasuke right away. We have discovered some distressing information about Deidara Yamanaka that we believe he would be of use for. Tell me, has he ever said anything about Deidara to you? How about Itachi, has he spoken about him at all?”

Inoichi approached the duo, just as shocked as Kakashi was by Asuma’s bluntness, “Asuma, isn’t there a better way to go about this? Why ask him such a thing in public?”

“Because Naruto is friends with Ino and if you’ve ever spoken to your daughter enough about Deidara, you’d know she thinks far too highly of him. We need this information to not only keep the village safe, but her safe as well.”

He takes a cigarette out and crosses his arms against his chest, “Now’s not the time to be vague. Naruto, with our village in the state it is, we need to know for fact if Deidara is an enemy or ally. Answer my questions then bring us to Sasuke. The matter is too urgent to wait too long to investigate it.”

Naruto doesn’t know what’s going on but knowing that Ino could be at risk because of something to do with her brother has him going along with their plan, “Sasuke never told me anything about Deidara or Itachi. Whenever I brought them up, he always changed the subject on our dates. I can take you guys to figure this out, but mainly because I don’t want anything bad to happen to Ino because of Deidara. I know that would devastate her more than anything that could happen.”

“Let’s get a move on then. Time is of the essence here.” Asuma says while Jiraiya catches up to them, “Ah, so looks like we’re going to find Sasuke, huh? Well, which one of us should ask him about Itachi and Deidara then?”

He’s met with a glare by Asuma who insists, “Inoichi, his father, should be the one asking the questions. Deidara is his son—of all people, he’s the one with the most rights to know the truth.”

“Ah, no! Not the Pervy Sage!” Naruto seethes, “He’ll ruin my perfect date with Sasuke!”

“Naruto, this isn’t a date anymore!” Asuma reminds him, “Right now what matters most is getting this information before something bad happens to Ino or the village. Now, let’s go to the ramen place and get the information we need.”

He nods and as they begin their walk over, Kakashi comments to him, “Don’t be so upset now, Naruto. You and Sasuke can resume your date after we’re done getting the information we need.”

“I guess…but it still sucks to have Pervy Sage intruding my date like this.”

“I know, but it’s what is for the best. Like Asuma said, time is of the essence in this investigation.”

Naruto doesn’t much in response because truthfully, he’s rather scared of what he’s heard.

What if someone is after Ino and it’s all because of Deidara?

What if their village gets invaded and it’s all Deidara’s fault?

He doesn’t want to think about this way, but one can never be too sure with a someone like Deidara who left under mysterious circumstances.

Sasuke had been taken aback when, on what was supposed to be his first date with Naruto in a long time, he’s instead met with a group of four older men who happened to have come along with Naruto.

He glares them all down, shooting Naruto a small annoyed glance, “What is going on here? Today is supposed to be our date—I even chose a ramen place for you because I wanted it to be special. You better have a good explanation for this, Naruto.”

Before he could answer, Asuma beat him to it, “Alright, we don’t have the time for that drama. What I need is for you to tell us all you remember about Deidara Yamanaka and his relationship with Itachi Uchiha. We have new evidence concerning his case that we believe your memories could help us figure out better.”

Sasuke didn’t hesitate to speak when he heard this, “…Let’s go talk somewhere more private. I think the shrine at the Uchiha clan’s compound would be the best place to go.”

“Sure sounds like it…lead the way, kid.” Jiraiya tells him while Kakashi glances around, the scent in the air a bit…off, smelling like roses and carnation…

“Kakashi?” Asuma interrupts with a worried gaze, “You okay?”

He pauses and shakes his head, “No…I think there’s something I need to address here. You go on ahead without me and let me know what happens.”

Asuma would stay with Kakashi, but he has to see this through. Inoichi isn’t showing it though he knows the man is struggling with all of this…he can only imagine how hard it would be to be a father of a potential criminal like Deidara is—no, not just any criminal, but a S-ranked criminal who happens to be a part of a group like the Akatsuki. Someone needs to be there for him and he has given himself that role since Jiraiya won’t be any better in this situation.

Kakashi can handle whatever it is that is bothering him. There’s bigger things affecting him now.

At the shrine on the Uchiha clan’s compound, Sasuke is facing Jiraiya, Inoichi, and Asuma with Naruto by his side. The compound is silent and deathly still while he faces them, his dark eyes glued to them when speaking, “What do you want to know? Do you want to know all of my memories of Itachi and Deidara?”

“Try telling us about their relationship…did you ever see them interact with each other much in public?” Jiraiya offers while Inoichi goes a different route, “Tell me everything Itachi ever said about Deidara to you and all the interactions you saw them having together anywhere in the village.”

Sasuke thinks on it for a moment and sighs, “I’ll do my best to tell you everything you need to know then.”

The first time I ever heard the name ‘Deidara Yamanaka’ it was when my grandparents said there was a rumor the most beautiful omega in the village was interested in someone from our clan. I had asked who they were, afraid that I’d hear of Naruto being interested in Itachi like every other omega and beta was regardless of age, “No, Deidara Yamanaka, silly!” they said like it was nothing and I didn’t pay any attention after that.

Oh, wait—they did say, “I do hope the Uchiha is Itachi… Can you imagine our prodigy with the most beautiful omega in the village? The pups they would make would be the most beautiful and powerful of all!”

Everyone was talking about it nonstop after that. I didn’t really care, but I do remember my dad asking Itachi the morning after this made so much fuss in the compound, “I heard the rumor of Deidara being interested in someone from this compound…care to tell me who it may be?”

“Oh,” he didn’t flinch when saying it either, “he doesn’t have interest in anyone here…but I do have an interest in him.”

“That’s wonderful!” our father was so proud of him then, “Are you going to court or date him? With an omega like him, you really to have to give it your all to win him over.”

I had never seen my brother appear unsettled before, but it was gone as quickly as it came, “I know, and I intend to do just that.”

I never got the chance to ask him about it because he finished his meal too fast for anyone to talk to him after he said this. Before I knew it, he was gone for the day while I was left at home without any answer to the questions I didn’t get to ask. Itachi took up a habit of coming home late, often smelling of angered omega, and I would always ask him, “Where’s the smell of angry omega from?”

To which he’d say as though it were nothing, “Job gone wrong, nothing more or less.”

Then over time I quit asking because the scent never changed, though the talk of Deidara did die down at the dining room table. I always wondered if Itachi was making progress or not, though it was impossible to tell because he never told us anything about it after that first talk with dad.

I met Ino Yamanaka at the academy by her coming up to me, growling, and yelling at me, “Hey, Uchiha! Tell your brother to leave mine alone!”

“What do you mean? Itachi’s too busy to be by whoever your brother is.”

“Ha, I wish!” she’d seethe, “He’s always coming around to the flower shop, always coming up to him in public, and always making him mad and act angry when he’s not that way at all normally. Either you get your brother to leave him alone or I’ll do it myself!”

“Who is your brother, anyway?”

“Deidara—can’t you smell angry omega on him whenever you come home?”

It all clicked in me then.

Itachi—for the first time in his life—was failing at something… He was failing at doing the one thing any alpha in his position should’ve been able to pull off easily: winning over the heart of Deidara Yamanaka.

I never knew it was possible for my brother to fail at anything. Some sick part of me sort of enjoyed it because of how favored he was, but I also felt bad for him too because he had to have liked Deidara a lot to put up with such severe humiliation as often as Ino made it sound he did, “I can, but I didn’t know it was him! I’ll try to tell him to back off Deidara, but I can’t stop him from doing what he wants, Ino.”

Ino didn’t seem to get it. Then again, she never did when it came to Deidara.

That day, my brother came to get me from the academy—which was odd because he never did that in the past. I would have greeted him, but Ino beat me to it.

“You, you big jerk!” she snapped at him with Sakura following her, “Ino, not him! He’s a powerful alpha!”

“I don’t care, he doesn’t get to bother Deidara and get away with it!” she said to her and then turned her attention back to him, “Leave my brother alone forever and never come back again! I don’t want to see you near him for as long as he lives! My brother doesn’t need you as a mate; he’s going to be an artist someday and fall in love with someone who gets him, so get over it and move on already!”

Itachi didn’t blink, all he did was comment, “You really are your brother’s sister, aren’t you? Most omega children would be too afraid of me to ever speak to me in such a way but here you are, so mouthy and brave…I can respect it in a way.”

She was about to say something else when he told her, “But I’ll have to decline your orders. I want to one day mate your brother and nothing you say will take that away from me.”

I could tell she was getting angrier and Sakura’s tug on her shirt alongside her quiet, “Ino, let’s leave now…it’s not worth it. Deidara wouldn’t want you doing this.” doing nothing to stop her.

“I don’t care—no one messes with my brother and gets away with it!”

We all thought (there’s no way my brother didn’t see it coming) she was going to attack him but she was stopped in her tracks by Deidara taking her hand, “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but that’s not what I want you to do.”

“Dei!” she exclaimed, all while looking at him like he was some sort of deity.

He was…okay, I guess. He wasn’t as beautiful as Naruto was, though I guess I could somewhat understand the appeal… Okay, I couldn’t, but I could see why my brother would want him as his mate.

“Back down, Ino, un. Don’t waste your precious time, energy, or strength on some alpha scumbag like this guy.” he said with a pointed glare at my brother, who acted like it was never said, “Hello Deidara, how are you doing? I see you came here to get your sister—”

“Save it, un.” he was eerily calm but there was an undercurrent of simmering outrage from him that could be smelt in his scent and it was intimidating, “I don’t know who you think you are, but no way in hell am I allowing you to lay a hand on Ino! You can do whatever it is you want to me—my sister is off limits, pig, un. Got it?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything to her, I assure you.”

Even though I did think he was crazy for liking this omega who seemed to hate him, I still stood up for him anyway because he was my big brother and I wasn’t going to let Deidara falsely accuse him of anything, “Stop, Ino tried to attack him first! My brother is innocent!”

Deidara’s ice cold eyes met mine for a brief moment and it sent such a chill down my spine, I couldn’t help but to view him as being the most terrifying person I’d ever met in that instant. Then he was back to directing that anger at Itachi, “Stay away from my sister or else I’ll have your head, Uchiha, un!”

“I was never going to harm her.” he tried to tell him, but Deidara hated him too much to listen. In that moment, I smelt the scent I had been smelling on him for the longest time—angered omega…it was then that I knew it was all true: he was failing at something in his life for once. Something anyone else in his position could have done far better than him, “Deidara, all I want is some civility with you. Please, try to be reasonable—”

“Like I would ever trust you!” he snarled, and it was the scariest snarl I had heard for many years, “Alphas are not to be trusted and that applies to you too, un! I don’t care if you’re an ANBU, you’re still an alpha first, which means I will never trust you!”

If it hadn’t been for Shikamaru interrupting with a blunt, “Ugh, you gotta be kidding me! Deidara, stop it right now or else I’ll get Iruka sensei to deal with you!”Deidara would have tried to kill my brother then.

He backed down with a cold, “You got lucky alpha, un.” and yet he was able to drop this tone with Ino on the spot, “Let’s get going, Ino. Mom’s got something good for dinner tonight and I don’t want to be late for it, un.”

“Okay.” she was smiling while they turned around to leave.

I was happy they were gone. My brother wasn’t from what I could see and his angry stare at Shikamaru as he left was as equally confusing to me.

“Um, nii-san? Can we leave now?”

“…Oh, sure, Sasuke.”

On our way back home, I couldn’t stop myself from saying it to him despite knowing it would make him angry because to me it made no logical sense, “I don’t get it…why Deidara? Why would you choose him over anyone else? You know there’s other omegas and betas in the village who would kill to have you as a mate, right? So why go for someone who clearly hates you?”

Itachi didn’t seem offended by my question, though the first part of his answer made no sense to me then or now, “I think ‘hate’ is too strong of a word here… Deidara is complicated, but I’m positive he doesn’t hate me. If he did, I’m sure he could have blown me to smithereens a long time ago.”

“You and I both know this is not true—you’re too strong to be taken down by that short, skinny omega.”

“Okay, you’ve got me there.” he had taken a good pause to better explain his nonsensical answer, “Deidara is reactive and quick to anger; I understand it’s not his fault. Being an omega in this village is incredibly difficult and I get why he became the sort of person he is today. I don’t blame him for it, much like how I don’t hold anything he does in anger towards me against him… In the end, he really can’t help his reactions in my eyes. Society made him the way he is—it can’t be helped. Since it’s society’s fault he reacts to me the way he does, I have no reason to believe he hates me.”

I don’t fully believe that. I think he hated him and Itachi couldn’t face the facts as is, “Why do you want him as a mate? What could really be so great about Deidara?”

He was quick to tell me this one, “If you think this is about beauty, then you are wrong. I am interested in Deidara because of his passion for his craft, the kindness he is capable of showing strangers, how wonderful he is towards his sister, and how strong he is to be the sort of omega he is in a village that debases such an omega in any other circumstance. He may not be a strong fighter like I am, but he’s resilient and durable through tough times far better than anyone I know. It’s quite admirable, really.”

I called it for what it was back then, “Pfft! Yeah right, you only like him because he’s a loud, stubborn blue-eyed blonde.”

He gave a small chuckle to what I said, clearly not offended by it in the slightest, “That’s another way to put it, I suppose.”

He didn’t say much afterwards, but then again, neither did I.

When we were nearing the compound, he told me, “I do not intend to give up, Sasuke. Deidara does not hate me; all I have to do is prove to him that I am not like the others and one day, I will get the sort of answer I desire from him when I ask him out to somewhere as refined as he is.”

I don’t believe he’s ‘refined’ for one moment.

Deidara always has been and always will be the one who hated my brother more than anyone alive. I wonder if my hate for him now could ever match up to the Deidara I saw back then…