Deidara (3)
“I had no clue you were planning on running away with some random person from Suna… I didn’t know you were going through so much—I don’t even remember anything changing in your scent!”
“Why do you think Itachi and I fought more before the massacre, un? I even did that stupid fight over the mating thing with him to hide it. Didn’t you notice that I wasn’t eating anything back then, un? Why do you think I was always in my art studio or out in the tent? Did you really think it was because I was always mad at him, un?”
“I mean, I just assumed you were trying to devise a way to get him to leave you alone for good.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that, Ino. I lied about it because I didn’t want to get in trouble for what happened and I was trying to hide that damn scent from the parasite that jerk forced on me, un.”
He glances at her oddly, wondering out loud in his own awestruck realization of his sister’s ignorance to what was going on with him back then, “You didn’t think it was weird that I started to use more violent, volatile explosions on him that would have killed anyone else? You didn’t think it was strange that my hatred for him intensified before the massacre happened and we left, un? How about the way my scent was practically muddled with the aftermath of my sculptures exploding—you had to know something was up then, right?”
Ino looks away from him then, her voice small in that instant, “I…I didn’t think anything of it. I just thought it was from you training to try to be stronger than him so you wouldn’t have to ever mate him.”
“That wasn’t ever the reason, un. We made that up to justify my using something stronger than my regular explosions or any remedies our clan or I could come up with to hide my changing scent.” he is unwavering in keeping his eyes on her the entire time they speak, though it’s pretty obvious to anyone watching, “I guess there’s really a lot you never knew about me, un.”
Somehow, Sakura can see this being true. Ino tended to look at Deidara with such rose colored glasses that it’s almost as though she either refused to acknowledge his flaws or forced herself to repress any signs of something being amiss with him.
The public fighting between Itachi and himself worsened after the discovery of his unwanted pregnancy. Deidara quit eating as often in order to starve himself into a miscarriage, he’d eat herbs said to be forbidden for pregnant omegas to consume for fears of causing a miscarriage only for it to fail repeatedly, and he was starting to get desperate enough to the point where he had Itachi announce an intention of wanting to mate him so he could try using training as a method to induce a miscarriage.
Ultimately, none of it ever worked and he was getting more desperate to leave by the day as the anxiety of having some parasite he knew he’d hate if he ever birthed it came to make him snappy at people.
There was a time where this unfortunately spilled over during his time alone with Itachi. He remembers this very vividly because Itachi had not been successful in finding him a medic nin to terminate the unwanted pregnancy, “I cannot believe this…stupid Danzo…stupid elders…stupid fucking village preventing me from being a human with full rights, un! This is my body, why the hell should I have to give birth to a parasite I don’t want? I hate this place—I don’t care if it were to get destroyed tomorrow, un!”
“Deidara, you don’t mean that.”
“I do, though! I have a right to!” his stress, anxiety, and outrage over the situation came to a breaking point then, “You told me you could find someone to get rid of this for me and you haven’t, un! The longer this gets put off, the closer I could get to having some parasite I will want to kill on site! I can’t wait forever, Itachi, and don’t you dare try to tell me this hellhole village can change when I know sexist assholes like Danzo and his enabler bitch hokage are the ones who fight to keep things this way, un! Since you can’t get me a medic nin who will help me, I’ll leave this place and get one myself.”
He grabbed him by the shoulders and with a monotone yet strangely firm tone was able to tell him while meeting his eyes, “You don’t think I’m stressed about this as well? I’ve been trying my best to find you a medic nin who will help you, but it’s been impossible to do with the way I’ve been under stricter surveillance lately because of Shisui’s passing and my clan—” he releases him after this much is spoken, eventually looking away, “forget I said anything at all. None of what my clan is plotting to do concerns you, nor should you ever know of it.”
“If your clan is plotting to destroy this hellhole, then count me in, un. I hate this place more than Orochimaru himself.” he was trying to lighten the mood for two reasons: one, he felt shitty for being so caught up in his own problem that he didn’t ever think to ask his friend if anything at all had been bothering him and two, because he felt really bad about snapping at him just now.
“No, I wouldn’t ever get you involved in it. Besides, it’s thanks to Shisui’s death and my clan’s own issues that I haven’t had any opportunity to help you with your problem.” when he does meet his eyes again, it’s when he tries to get a promise out of him, “Promise me that when you do leave this place, it will be around the same time I’m leaving.”
He knew the full truth about Shisui and his death. He had never met the guy, but Itachi told him so much about him that he almost felt as though he knew him in a way. Honestly, learning of what happened between them and how Itachi got his eyes from his own cousin was enough to make him want to take his friend out of this hellhole with him on the spot. He fought him on it, though, insisting that he couldn’t leave and things could improve if he stayed to work things out.
Now Deidara is stunned because Itachi had always been so willing to believe this hellhole could change for the better, yet here he is now showing his intent on leaving, “You’re leaving, un? Since when?”
Itachi clearly didn’t feel comfortable enough to say it where they were at, but he did at least offer him some chance to discover this, “I’m leaving because you’re leaving.”
Deidara was about to call out this obvious lie when he too smelt it: the presence of another person watching them too closely for it to be safe for his friend to tell him everything.
“Ah, I see, un…” he was trying to pinpoint where this person was, as well as who they were, but then Itachi gave him a look of urgency and he decided to abandon all plans, “Whatever. Don’t wait up for me because I’m leaving alone, un.”
“You can believe that if you please. Just know it won’t happen.”
He could tell his friend was relieved, yet he was curious as to what would he have to tell him when they had the chance for some privacy.
They weren’t able to speak alone again until a good month before the massacre of the clan. Though during that time they did communicate through little pieces of paper that would be hidden in sculptures Deidara would throw at him while Itachi would respond in kind with ones of his own given to Deidara whenever he would get done counterattacking him.
It was from one of these replies Deidara learned the truth behind his surveillance: it wasn’t just his clan keeping a closer eye on him, but it was also that Danzo guy—apparently, he found his constant covering up for Deidara suspicious and now he’s slowly starting to catch on to the truth of their actual relationship. It was also from these little notes he discovered there was more to the story than this alone. This of course made him more curious about the situation at hand, with Itachi’s willingness to tell him everything in person if they met in the woods at a park at midnight only adding fuel to his fire.
He didn’t know the full story of what was going on, yet he was more than willing to help his only confidante, ally, and friend through this.
However, this chance was not given to them.
The night they met up in the woods at the park, there was someone else present. Not wanting to take the chance on it being anyone who could rat them out to Danzo, they got into a fight about Shisui that ended with Deidara talking about leaving the village before taking off on his bird without any messages exchanged between them in secret.
He didn’t know much of what was going on, only that Itachi said he would explain it all to him one day in person like he deserved.
Deidara, being the impatient person he was, didn’t feel as though he had all the time in the world to wait.
He had heard whispers amongst his father and his friends of a medic nin from the mist who was wanted by the authorities in Konoha for terminating unwanted pregnancies. Naturally, he decided to go out of the village to find this person on his own to fix his problem so he could better help Itachi with his.
It was a full moon out the night he had made his way out of the village to get rid of the parasite within him and he was ecstatic to finally, at long last, be free from such a burden when he heard the voice of someone too close to him speak in some sort of way which notions a sense of betrayal, “Deidara…you were really going to leave without me?”
He looked behind him, seeing his friend, with the first thing he noticed being his strong stench of blood, “…I was going to come back to help you out after I got rid of it, un. You smell like blood though so maybe we can go back together after it’s over. Did you kill Danzo, the hokage, and all of the other elders, un? If so, then you’ve stolen my heart, Uchiha—”
“No, I did no such thing and I’m afraid that I can never go back.”
“What happened?”
“Long story short, Danzo caused it to happen.” it was all Itachi was going to say. Deidara could tell by how tense he was that he wasn’t in the right mindset to properly discuss what he had done and why, though he didn’t get long to focus on it, “That doesn’t matter now—where are you going? Why did you choose now to leave?”
“Because I couldn’t wait to get rid of the parasite forever.” he would explain further for his sake since he did appear to be disturbed by whatever it was that did happen, “I’m going to the outskirts of Suna to see a medic nin from the mist village who’s wanted by Konoha for terminating unwanted pregnancies in omegas, un. I was going to come back to help you out, but it seems you don’t need it now.”
It was a tense silence between them, with Itachi’s scent turning dampened—something that only happens when he’s feeling desperate or saddened by something. When it gets to be too much for him to withstand, Itachi speaks, “If you do this, you can’t come back to the village. The scent of a terminated pregnancy is too powerful to hide with any amount of remedies or explosions. If you do leave like this to Suna, there’s a chance you will be returned to Konoha by their authorities for entering their land illegally to get a pregnancy terminated and you will be executed.”
“That’s more of a ‘worst case scenario’ thing, un.”
“It’s not: Suna has tightened their security on their borders recently. Your chance of getting caught or potentially sold out by this person to the authorities is too high of a risk to take alone.”
Deidara has to ask, “You want to come with me or something?”
Itachi’s silence is the only confirmation he needs in the moment, “Alright, but if you’re not coming back to the village ever again, then neither am I, un. It’s like what you said, there’s no way I can go back without the scent giving away what I did and this is the perfect chance to leave that hellhole. I don’t know what you did, but I don’t care, un. All I care about is getting out of here with the only friend outside of my sister that I’ve got…then again, I’m positive I can go back in there, use some good ol’ Yamanaka sleep remedy, and bring her with us. It'd be better than letting her grow up in that place, un.”
The alpha was relieved to hear this, though he did take issue with one thing, “Taking Ino away from her home, her family, her friend? You realize how selfish that is, don’t you?”
“And it’s somehow better to leave her alone in a sexist place like Konoha? She’s not just my little sister; she’s my friend and if I would never abandon you, then I would never abandon her either, un.”
Itachi sighed, placing his fingertips on his forehead in response, “…It’s tragic really. This is part of what attracts me to you: the fact that you love your sister so much and genuinely want what’s best for her no matter what. I get where you’re coming from; I want nothing more than to head back to the compound and bring Sasuke with us as much as you do with Ino…but we can’t do such a thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because Sasuke loves Naruto too much and even if he did understand why we have to leave, he’d never forgive me if I took him away from his chosen omega…much like how Ino would put on a brave face for you, but deep down, she’d subconsciously resent you for taking her away from Sakura.”
He instantly frowned at the mention of her name and Itachi put up his free hand, “I know you hate her, but she’s not like the one who assaulted you nor is she a thing like the others who have mistreated you—”
“I don’t care, un. Ino can do better than some Konoha alpha. She can find a better alpha or beta in Suna, where they will be raised to respect someone like her, un.”
“Would she really like that, though? From what you’ve said, she likes her—”
“Nope, no way. She can and will do better, un.”
Ultimately what stopped Deidara was the most painful cramp he had ever experienced in his lifetime hitting him then and there. Itachi’s eyes were full of panic as he rushed over to his side while the omega crumpled to his knees, “What’s going on? Did your water break?”
“N-No…it’s just a cramp...I’ve been getting more of them lately, but usually I can work through the pain. I-I guess not today, un.”
“Did you take another one of those miscarriage inducing concoctions?”
He nodded, causing the alpha to groan, “Deidara, you know how risky that is!”
“I had to take it! I didn’t know about the medic nin before I did, un!” he held back a scream and stood on shaken legs, “I-I have to get Ino…I won’t leave her here—”
“No, what you need is to see the medic nin right away! How do I know you haven’t poisoned yourself with this?”
Deidara knew he was right and ultimately, he was afraid of the possibility of the parasite being born too early, “Your forehead is starting to feel too warm…we have to find the medic nin now.”
“I’m not leaving—”
“You can’t bring her along.”
“I know, but…I want to leave her a note, un. I-I want to say goodbye. She deserves that at least, un.”
He had a piece of paper on him, one of normal length that he was going to give to Itachi when he came back, but he supposes that won’t matter now.
With the pencil he has on hand, he writes her a letter with Itachi’s help, allowing him to get a better idea of what happened as he did so. By the time he was done, the cramp was gone, but the warmth on his forehead remained so he made good use of his time and headed back to his home where the letter—now in a moonflower sculpture—was left where she’d find it.
It was with a heavy heart that he left her behind, but he knew he had to for the sake of his own survival.
When they did get to the outskirts of Suna, Itachi was able to use his Sharingan to get them past the security to reach the area where the medic nin was located. Of course, they had used the knowledge Itachi had known of about the guy when he was an ANBU, so finding him wasn’t hard.
What was annoying was while the older man with the bald head and wrinkled face was willing to work on him, he did have one archaic condition: “In the mist, only omegas who are mated or about to be mated can have a pregnancy terminated and those are the ethics I abide by. I’m sorry Deidara, but I won’t terminate your pregnancy for you.”
The problem was, the pregnancy was starting to endanger his health—something the medic nin himself had told them when examining him—and he hadn’t been in good health when he got there either: he was in so much pain he felt like he couldn’t move, he lost all appetite, and he was starting to vomit despite not having much of anything to eat—not to mention the fever that had worsened while they were on their way there to see him.
In desperation, he looked to Itachi and with as much strength as he had in him, demanded, “Mate me then, Itachi. No way in hell am I dealing with this any longer, un.”
“No.”
“Why not? Don’t tell me you have all sorts of requirements now, un.”
“No. It’s because I refuse to make you go against your ethics and principles to save your life.”
He then turned to the doctor, his threat clear despite his deceptively neutral demeanor, “Treat him now before I have to force you to.”
The old beta man was stubborn despite the threat, “I refuse.”
“…You only have yourself to blame then.”
Before he knew it, the older man was frozen in his spot, unable to move or speak while the Uchiha worked his magic on him. It didn’t really take too long—he wants to say maybe three minutes at the most—before the man was freed from the Sharingan’s control, trembling all over when nodding quickly, “A-Alright, so, like I-I promised—I’ll save this omega’s life.”
Itachi had a calmer aura to himself…though to Deidara’s eye, there was a bit of smugness there, “I’m glad to see we have come to an understanding.”
He remembers this moment as the one where he first saw himself falling head over heels for Itachi Uchiha. For what could be more romantic than a person tormenting another for the sake of saving their loved one’s life?
Of course, this was his final thought before he was put under so the operation to terminate the pregnancy could proceed. When it was all done and they had left to another location for Deidara to properly recover, Itachi had given him an option, “You can go wherever you please, Deidara. I won’t stop you, but I’m afraid I can’t come with you—I have my own path to take and I need to see it through.”
He didn’t know what all this path was, but he knew one thing for certain: he didn’t want to start over without the one person who got him to the medic nin and helped nurse him back to full health after his operation was over.
“There’s no need to tempt me with this; I’m going with you no matter what.”
“You sure? You could live your life as an artist like you always wanted and maybe find yourself…someone…someone.”
He had to stop a chuckle to this; Itachi had said in the past Uchihas are the jealous type and that’s why Sasuke gets so mad whenever another alpha or beta shows some interest in Naruto no matter how vague it may be. In his eyes, Itachi’s no different or better than his brother; just more subtle and refined about it.
“Someone-someone, huh, un? Looks like you’re just as clingy to me as Sasuke is to Naruto.” before he could fight him on it, Deidara finished his thought, “I don’t mind, un. You really won me over back there when you made that sexist pig save my life and to be honest, I wouldn’t want to start over without you after that. I owe you my life and I’ll repay you it by staying by your side no matter what instead of ending up with ‘someone-someone’, un.”
The stoic alpha didn’t say much of anything, but Deidara could see the shadow of a smile there on his lips, “…We should be heading out now. Wouldn’t want anyone from the village to find us.”
Deidara follows his lead, more than interested to see where this path will lead him; all the same more than willing to stay by Itachi’s side through thick and thin.