Ino
Ino had not thought this would happen. Mainly because she had thought she’d been careful, but it looks like she had been too quick getting out the clothes she needed to change in to recognize her mistake here. Now she’s stuck in a position she didn’t think she’d be in with anyone—let alone Sakura, of all people.
“…Sakura, this is my only chance to get my brother back. If I have to do what he says, then I’ll do it—”
“I thought we were going to bring him back together, though! Didn’t any of that matter to you, did you ever mean any of what you said?” Sakura is angry and rightfully so; she probably shouldn’t have hidden this from anyone but, “And this letter—how do you know it’s from him?”
That she will stand for, “You read the letter, you’ve seen Deidara’s handwriting in the past: that handwriting is his and I found it in my room inside a moonflower sculpture, exactly like the one you know he used to leave me. There’s no way anyone, not even Itachi, could’ve known that well enough to fake it so accurately without disturbing anything in the house. I know he wrote it! My brother wouldn’t let anyone mess with me like this!”
Oddly enough, this is the one thing Sakura will not fight her on, “I know it’s his handwriting and I know you had to have found it inside a moonflower sculpture, but what I meant was, how do you know Itachi didn’t use his Sharingan to manipulate or force Deidara to write this? How do you know this isn’t some trap?”
“I don’t know if it’s a trap or not, but I am willing to go if it means getting the first real chance I’ve gotten in years to bring him home.”
The alpha with the pink hair groaned then, throwing the letter to the floor while a palm meets her forehead, “You’re doing it again…you’re putting him first no matter what.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ino is now the one starting to get upset at what she’s hearing, “I don’t always put him first—”
“Except you do and you have for years!”
Sakura has never snapped at her before, so to have her do it now completely blindsided her, “When we were kids, you always listened to him, you always did what he wanted you to do, you always cared so damn much about what he would say or think about anything you did that you always had to include his thoughts on a subject in any decision made.”
She tries to defend herself from this, though deep down, she knows Sakura may be onto something, “I only did that because he was my only friend in the village before you came along. I couldn’t just cut him out of everything; he wasn’t just my brother, he was also my best friend. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be the person I am today—”
“Except you would have been, but with more of your own thoughts and opinions that aren’t completely copied from his.” Sakura doesn’t mince anything when she speaks, laying it all bare for her to hear, “I get that he was a huge influence for you, but you never disagreed with him on anything, even if you thought it was wrong—like, Deidara was super against mating, but you told me you weren’t against it more than once, only to agree with him when he brought it up.”
It cuts her deep because it’s making her face some harsh realizations about herself she didn’t really want to acknowledge, yet Sakura didn’t hold back, “Let’s not forget that every time I spent the night here, Deidara always slept in the same room as us even though your parents were fine with us sharing a room alone together. You said you’d tell him ‘no’ and ask him to leave, only to wither under his command and do as he said. I honestly think my parents were right for all these years: you’ve always had a crush on me, but you never allowed yourself to acknowledge it because you were afraid Deidara wouldn’t ever approve of me being the person you’re dating. Once again, putting him first not only before me, but before yourself too and I’m honestly sick of it.”
“I do want to date and mate you someday, but Ino, I don’t want to come second to Deidara for an entire relationship! He’s been gone for years, he hasn’t contacted you in years, and he’s done nothing to come back home for years, why place so much importance on him that you’d actually risk getting kidnapped or killed from something that could be some cruel hoax just to see him again? Don’t you care about what that’d do to me? Don’t you think I’d be hurt the same exact way you were when he left?”
She had a hard time fighting back the few tears coming in her eyes at what was said, yet in the same manner Sakura didn’t hold back or mince anything with her, “…Yeah, I may have put Deidara first, but that’s only because he did the same for me. In case if you forgot, I never had real friends before I met you. Everyone always used me to meet Deidara, to try to have a shot at the most beautiful omega in the village; they were never my real friends, but he was. Whenever people laughed at my goals or made me feel terrible for trying to be an omega kunoichi, he always built me up. My brother was the only person I could talk to, the only one I could play with, the only one who really did all that he could to give me the confidence and backbone I needed to survive this freakishly sexist village.”
Ino wiped a few tears away when reminding her, “Don’t you think he could’ve had a life outside of me? Don’t you think he was ever annoyed or irritated that I’d take time away from his art to talk to him or get him to do things with me? There were so many times he’d set anything and everything he was doing aside just to do something dumb and mundane with me that looking back on it, I feel freakishly selfish for ever asking so much of him. There was so much Deidara could have had with the sort of popularity he possessed, yet he always gave it up for me… If I do the same for him, it’s only because I want to return the favor.”
“I know it sounds crazy to you, but I know if I were missing and I left him a note like this, Deidara would risk getting kidnapped or killed to get me back. I’m not failing him now, not when this is the first and only chance I’ve got to see him again in person. I know there’s a chance it could a hoax, but I won’t know unless if I go to see him for myself.” the omega girl does admit that, “Yes, I was being terrible for not telling you anything, but I was really mad at you the last time we spoke so I didn’t see the point in telling you or anyone anything.”
Ino heads over to her bed and sits on the edge with Sakura following suite, mimicking the actions she made, looking at her from the side, “…Okay, I can get why you put him first, but you know if you ever want to have a mate, he can’t always come first, right?”
“I know that, and I swear he won’t always come first—I have other friends now, friends who are my real friends, and I have you back in my life as a positive presence. I don’t need him to build me up anymore, but I do want to save him from that Uchiha bastard more than anything else.” she sighed then and looked to the floor, “I promise that when I get him back, getting him home won’t always come first before everything else.”
Sakura won’t fight her too much on this for now. If Deidara really is going to be where he says he will be in the letter, then this very damn well could be their only chance to see him again and possibly get him home (she doubts that will happen, but she won’t vocalize this to Ino).
What matters most is getting one thing answered: “Were you going to tell me about the letter at any point when I was over?”
“I mean…” Ino pauses and gives her the most accurate answer she can at the moment, “it would have depended on if we got into another argument or not. I would have told you everything if we didn’t argue, but if we did, then we both know I wouldn’t have done it.”
The thing is, Sakura’s fine with this answer because it fits her perfectly. Ino and Deidara do have certain things in common (at least, she cannot see Deidara having given up these traits of himself over the years): they don’t back down from a fight when angered, when angered they tend to make rash decisions, and they can be stubborn. She wonders if they get it from their mother, who also tends to be the same way at times.
That being said, she does ask her, “Do you want me to come along with you to see Deidara tomorrow or not? Either way, I promise I won’t tell anyone, not even Kakashi sensei, Naruto, my parents, or yours.”
“You would do that for me no matter what I choose?”
“Yeah, because I’m willing to put you first.” Sakura won’t add in the part of ‘unlike your brother’ because she knows it’s best to not be snarky about Deidara for the time being.
On Ino’s end, she couldn’t help but to possess a feeling of guilt over what Sakura is willing to do to put her first when she herself hasn’t been the best about doing the same for her in return, “I want you to come along. I think if you were to stay a good distance away, hidden from his view, he wouldn’t notice or care you were there.”
“You want me there? You mean it?”
“Yeah, of course I do. You aren’t the only one who can change and grow as a person—it’s time I start doing that for myself and you too.”
Sakura is incredibly grateful that she’s willing to do at this at the very minimum for her. It may not be the same as acknowledging that she’s always placed Deidara first no matter what and valued his opinions/comfort more than anyone else’s (including her own), but she’ll take it regardless. Besides, it’s for the best if she is the only one there: knowing Deidara, if he’s not being controlled by Itachi to do this, he would be able to spot out if he’s being ambushed. The guy always had an amazing sense of smell; some would say among the best in the village right after Itachi himself. If other people were to come along, he would catch on and he would react very, very negatively in the most violent manner he knows how.
She smiles to this, leaning back just enough to look at her ceiling while still being in a seated position on her bed, “Great…so, how do you think we should go about this? Because I’m not sure if my parents will let me spend the night or not.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I’m an alpha with a crush on you and we are getting closer to the ages where our first heat and rut will hit us. They just want to be careful because they don’t know what being in a room overnight with you would do to me now that Deidara’s not around to sleep with us in here.”
Ino finds this to be a bit backwards, but she won’t be disrespectful about it for Sakura’s sake, “Okay, that’s fine. I suppose I can somewhat get it—I mean, I did get preslick. I don’t know if alphas have a variant of that or not, but I guess it’d be better to be safe than sorry.”
“Maybe it is…but if I can’t spend the night, can we meet up at the forest outside the village gates?”
“Yeah, I see nothing wrong with that: we could meet up there at eleven and then head on out.”
“Okay, I can make that happen. My parents are going out to a hotel tomorrow to spend a rut together, so I’ll be home alone then.” Sakura is glad they got this part down, but now comes the rest of the planning they’ll have to do to pull this off without getting hurt or killed.
This would include planning a method to hide her scent so Deidara won’t be able to smell her out, finding the best path to get to the border area without being spotted or gaining anyone’s suspicion, and most importantly, what sort of weaponry they’ll bring with them to this meeting in case if it really is a hoax meant to kidnap or murder Ino.
“My scent—how will we hide it? Deidara’s sense of smell was always on par with Itachi’s and we both know he doesn’t like me—we both know he’ll be very mad if I’m there.”
“Deidara used to make a blend of ash and dried herbs from my dad’s garden that would hide anyone’s scent, even his own, from a nose as sharp as his. I still have the recipe to make it underneath my pillow.”
“Okay, but what about the best path to get to the meeting area? Do you know a way to get there?”
“What do you think I’ve been using my ‘training time’ for? I’m not allowed to train in our backyard because dad doesn’t want his garden damaged. So whenever I went out to ‘train’, I was actually scoping out an area to get to the meeting area without being spotted by too many people and I found the perfect one we can use.”
Sakura is stunned by this, “They didn’t really keep a close eye on that?”
Ino shook her head, commenting, “My parents always get like this whenever news about Deidara comes up… They get so upset about anything that can be said to the point where they do all that they can to preoccupy themselves: my dad will work more and my mom will as well, but she’ll also try to see friends and relatives to take her mind off everything. Giving me any attention at all is the last thing on their minds since they trust me to not break the rules they set up.”
Now she’s left despising Deidara more for making these wonderful parents so upset and possibly ruining their trust in Ino with his stupid demands!
It wasn’t enough to simply run away with Itachi and choose to be his mate, was it? No, he just had to make his parents so miserable they’d actually give Ino less attention to focus more on doing anything possible to not think about him.
“Ino…if your parents find out about this…you may lose their trust in you for good. Is he really worth that?”
Ino is firm in her conviction regardless of this, “I know he is. I know if I can bring him back, then everything will be fixed. Mom and dad will like being home again, they won’t be gone all the time to avoid being here, and they will be able to finally heal from this—everyone who loved him will be able to heal from what happened to him. I know I can make it better, I just have to do this and bring him home now while I can.”
She won’t fight her on this either because for all she knows, maybe bringing him home would fix this. Then again, she’s also not fighting her on this because she does feel incredibly guilty for letting her own stupid, narrow-minded sexist views and attitude prevent her from being able to be in Ino’s life over the years when her family was struggling like this, “If you say so…but how will you sneak out of the house? Do you really think your parents will not notice that?”
“They’re only ever around here to eat, sleep, bathe, and get ready for the day. I think it’s because there’s too many memories of Deidara here for them to properly cope with being home.” she would add in then, “Besides that, whenever they do sleep, it’s heavy and they’re on a schedule: they usually go to bed at nine and when they’re down, they’re down. I showered once at midnight and they didn’t wake up once from it.”
…Well, that’s convenient!
Looks like they should be prepared for Saturday then, except for one little detail that’s missing: “There’s a chance this could be a hoax still. We should bring some weaponry with us in case if that is true.”
“Right…how about we bring the same amount and type of weaponry we would bring to any mission we’re sent on? I think that would be the safest bet; and it’s something Deidara wouldn’t be offended by since I’m sure he would know or expect I’d be thinking of that possibility.”
“I was actually going to suggest that!” Sakura smiles faintly, commenting then, “It looks like we’ll have everything ready for tomorrow night then.”
“Yeah…but that doesn’t mean you have to go home so soon.” Ino suggests then, “Stay for a while and head back when you want. At least then we’ll have some relaxing alone time together.”
Sakura will accept this for now; it has to be lonely here for Ino and the last thing she will ever do is make such a situation worse than it has to be, “I was planning on doing that anyway. I wouldn’t mind some relaxing alone time together.”
She doesn’t know it, but Ino is relieved to have her not only here to make this empty house feel less lonely, but to also have her coming along for this mission to see Deidara again.
She loves her brother and she will always defend him no matter what, but having someone to help her in case if it really was an Uchiha hoax makes it feel less daunting than it did when she thought she was going to have to do this all on her own.