Ino
She may have learned everything just now, yet she couldn’t stop herself from trying to better grasp some parts of this, “You mated Itachi because he used his Sharingan on a medic nin who wouldn’t help you right away?”
“No, un! That happened to keep a certain Jashinist pest away from me.”
Which is completely true: Deidara never wanted to mate Itachi, it only happened because stupid Hidan would not stop greeting him with the same damn cocky smirk and openly proud, “Hey blondie, still single? Because if you ever get bored or want to fuck someone during a heat, I’m more than open to being your dildo.” every time he saw him. Let’s not forget the numerous times he’s gone off on him only for that damn bastard to laugh it off and moan like the creep he is, “Fucking hell, you’re sexy—wanna ditch this place and go back to my room?”
It got to the point where no matter how often Itachi and himself threatened him the alpha wouldn’t stop pestering him. As such, they ended up mating to end the constant flirting—that’s what Hidan calls it anyway, but Deidara doesn’t believe that’s how well adjusted human beings flirt.
He won’t get into it with Ino here; it’d be too much to explain and he doubts he has much time left to tell her more without running the risk of getting caught, “I know I was really against mating when I lived in that awful village, but I’m more neutral on it now, un. It doesn’t mean I’ve gotten neutral on everything else I’ve ever told you about omega rights. If anything, I’ve gotten more radical with time, un. I think being in a better place than the shithole I’m from played a big part in it.”
Ino somehow felt a tiny bit better after learning this because it felt as though Deidara wasn’t so different from when he lived in the village, like the person before her wasn’t a complete stranger who lived a double life, “I know the village has some issues—”
“Some, un? Not allowing omega children to be taken out of dangerous homes because of ‘tradition’, forcing omegas to give birth to pups they don’t want, not doing away with arranged matings or auctioning off omegas—that’s not ‘some’ issues. Those are major problems, un. The fact it hasn’t gotten better over the years is all I need to know there’s no hope for any omega in Konoha, especially you.”
She refused to agree with him on this end because she didn’t want to think he meant it earlier when he said he didn’t want to come back, “Things are different this time around! We’ve gotten a hokage, her name’s Tsunade and Naruto told me she will change things for the better for omegas everywhere in the village. If you came back home and gave it a chance, you could see it for yourself, you could help her to make these changes, you could come back home to us after all this time.”
“I’m not coming back home, un. I’d rather get executed than go back there.”
“Why not? What can I do to make you come back?”
She was getting desperate, grasping at straws to come up with something, anything to make him change his mind about coming back home and setting things straight with everyone there.
Except this did not happen like she thought it would, “Do you think I’m dumb enough to believe anything a hokage has to say, un? I know better than to trust any enabler of Danzo and his ilk. As long as he is around, I’m not going to come back ever again, un.”
“But you’re here now! If you just come back with me and explain this all to Tsunade, I know she’ll listen and do something about it—”
“I know better than to trust anyone in that position, Ino. Hokages are garbage humans much like the elders they enable, un. I already told you I don’t care about that hellhole, I already told you I don’t want to come back…what more do I need to do before you get it?”
He decides then since she’s made her intentions as clear as day he may as well do the right thing and make his known to her, “I didn’t go through everything I did to make this happen for nothing, un… Since you’ve made it clear you want to force me to come back there without any concern for what I want to do and how I feel about that hellhole, then I may as well be brutally honest with you.”
Ino had some sliver of hope he would make a simple demand for her to follow and then he’d come back or maybe he was planning on leaving his life as an Akatsuki member behind to live in Suna like he always wanted. She refused to believe her brother would have any ill intention for doing all of this. She wanted to believe the Deidara she had known and idolized all of her life was going to be the same exact person she always remembered.
It was naïve, it was stupid, and she knows this—yet at the same time, her desire to get her brother back and fix the lives of her parents as well as his own clouded all rational and critical thought processes.
“I did not come back here to return to Konoha, un. I hate that place more than anything and if I could, I’d burn it all to the ground.” this part left her in a state of wide eyed shock similar to how one would look after getting cold water dumped over their head, “I hate it so much there I didn’t even enter it to leave the note to you—I had another Akatsuki member do it for me and Itachi was the one who left the sculpture trail for you to find me here, un. Ever since I heard about the snake loser destroying this place, I put the plan I’ve working on ever since I left to action.”
He takes a single step forward, being the first one between them to make any move at all to bridge the gap, “I’m here to save you from this sexist hellhole, to give you a better future and a chance at being seen as a person like I am now, un. I’ve wanted to take you away from here ever since I first left—now is the only chance you’ve got to come with me to a better life than you’d ever get here with sexist shits like Danzo around.”
Ino couldn’t believe it when she heard it.
All this time, she’s been wanting to bring Deidara back…but he not only never wanted to return home to their family, he also wanted to take her with him.
She was speechless. She genuinely had nothing to say to him. The shock was too severe—she’s had to take in so much already, to have this on top of it all didn’t make it easier on her.
“I know you’re shocked and all, but this is better for you, un. I can give you a better life than mom and dad ever could, we can see and speak to each other like we did when we were younger, we can start over and get closer again like we used to be—don’t you want that?”
She hadn’t said anything, her struggle to take all of this in making it almost hard for her to breathe, “I know it’s a lot to take in, but trust me, un, this is the best way! I’ve missed you so much over the years, I’ve wanted to see and speak to you again every day like we used to and now we have a chance to do it all over again, but in a better place! Won’t that be great, un?”
It was this statement that ultimately gave her enough of a snap out of her thoughts to ask him something, “What about mom and dad?”
“What?”
“What about mom and dad, Dei? Haven’t you thought about them once?”
He was oddly apathetic when responding to this, “No, un. They did nothing to protect me when I needed it most and they would’ve been against me terminating the parasite before it killed me—you were too young to know some of their less than perfect stances, Ino. You didn’t hear what I did growing up and you didn’t have the same experience with them I did, un. I have a right to not think about them when they would’ve chosen to punish me back then instead of helping me.”
She can concede this; she’s heard her parents lamenting enough late at nights or when they thought were alone about the many, many ways they felt they had failed Deidara before he left. Though they haven’t made the same mistakes in years with her, which leaves her to believe he’s being too harsh, “They made mistakes in the past, but they’ve changed for the better. I know they have because I was the one stuck at home, dealing with grieving, devastated parents all the time.”
“It’s their fault for not dealing with their emotional issues in a better way, un. They made you deal with it, not me.”
“Yeah, but—you left…by your own choice, you left… I know you left for a good reason, but Deidara, you still left—you had us thinking you could’ve been kidnapped, you had us all so worried that you were being tortured and worse for all these years it was a constant fear in the back of our minds! Mom and dad don’t even stay in the house anymore unless if they need to eat, bathe, or sleep. I fought for the tent in the backyard to be kept up because I was so convinced I could bring you back.”
In the trees, Sakura watches in pride as Ino unloads it all on him like he deserved, “I’ve fought for you, I’ve burnt bridges for you, I hated Sasuke because of you, and I forced myself to try to make my crush on Sakura go away because you didn’t like her and I didn’t want to disappoint you when you came back! I’ve lived years of my life—no, my whole life, putting you first and foremost in everything and for what? For you to tell me to leave my friends behind? To leave my dream of being the first ever omega kunoichi behind? To leave my family, my squad, my achievements, my home behind? I can’t do it; I cannot leave with you no matter how much I miss you because I have my own dreams and goals I want to accomplish that can’t be done anywhere but Konoha.”
“Okay, I get it, I messed up big time—”
“No, you don’t get it because you weren’t here and you didn’t have to deal with it like I did! I’m done putting you first, I’m not giving up everything that makes me happy to give you what you want!”
He groans in response to this, “Alright, I get it, un! I wasn’t here for the damage I caused, but what was I supposed to do? Put in the letter that I terminated a pregnancy and have dad sent out to bring me back for execution, un? Was I supposed to let the parasite kill me?”
“No, I would never want that for you! I understand why you left, and I get it more than you will ever know. I would never want you to not have the right to choose, but I don’t want to leave with you because things here won’t improve if omegas like me keep running away from here.”
He fights her more on this because he fears there is something else to the equation she’s overlooking, “Ino, there’s a lot about Konoha you don’t know… I am trying to save you from this miserable shithole before it gets you killed, un! Come back with me before it does!”
She stood her ground, not wavering on it once, “I won’t. I’m staying here because if you can get yourself a new life and a mate who clearly loves you, then I have a right to stay here and do the same.”
“Why are you so hellbent on defending a place that has a whole legal system and society rigged against omegas, un? Why are you fighting for the right of sexists to oppress us?”
“I’m not fighting for that! I was fighting to bring you home, but now you don’t want to come back, there’s no point in fighting for it anymore. I’m going to fight for the original reason I wanted to become one before you left: to be the one to prove everyone wrong about what an omega can and can’t do.”
Deidara must have done something off because before she knew it, Sakura was getting out of the trees and glaring him down, “She’s not going to leave with you. Drop it already and let her go home.”
There was a frown on his face at the very sight of her, “Ugh, you brought this alpha along, un?”
“Yes, she brought me along because she trusted me enough to help her bring you home.” she didn’t frown yet her anger was very much there in her scent and voice, “I’ll admit I always thought you left on your own, but I didn’t think it was to save your own life. You weren’t even in the wrong to leave the way you did with the way things are in the village, but just because you hate Konoha doesn’t mean Ino has to and just because you have issues with your parents, doesn’t mean you get to disregard their feelings in your plan to bring Ino back with you.”
She took a step closer, standing in front of Ino as she made it clear: “You were always selfish and controlling towards her back when we were little kids. I couldn’t do anything about it then, but I will do something about it now.” a kunai is soon in her hand, her stance changing to a fighting one, “If you get too close to her, if you dare try to take her away by force, I will defeat you for her sake because I know she won’t ever fight you, no matter how wrong she thinks you are.”
He growled, glancing at his sister then, “…Ino, you really couldn’t do better than her? What about Hinata, isn’t she a great beta, un?”
“Sakura and I may have had a rough patch, but we worked past it and we’re better than ever now. I won’t repress my crush for her any longer just because you don’t like her. I don’t want to date or mate Hinata or anyone else—I like Sakura. Dating or mating anyone else feels wrong.”
Sakura raised her hand holding the kunai, “Back. Off. She doesn’t need to put you first forever and she doesn’t need to push people away because of you anymore either. If you can’t respect her wishes while demanding her to respect yours, then I will strike.”
Before he could strike at her, there was another figure coming out of the shadows…no, both of them knew it well: it was none other than Itachi Uchiha himself.
He grabbed Deidara by his shoulder with one hand, immediately causing the omega to stand down with his very touch alone, his presence one of calm in the tense moment, “Deidara, we need to leave. Ino doesn’t want to come back with us and you don’t want to return to Konoha. This whole attempt was a failure.”
“But…I can’t leave her here, not with Danzo, not with—”
“I know, but you have to respect her wishes for now.” he gave the girls a quick look before reminding him of something they hadn’t been told about, “Besides, you always said you wanted Ino to stand up for herself more around you, to be her own person instead of an echo chamber…isn’t she doing that now?”
It took him a good minute, but he let out a heavy exhale while looking at his sister, “Yeah, I did…and I’m proud of her for doing it, though I wish it didn’t have to be now, un.”
“If she’s strong enough to stand up to you, then she’ll be strong enough to handle being in Konoha for a bit longer, don’t you think? We have no more time to be here; it’s best if you leave Ino with a proper goodbye this time around instead of what you did years ago.”
Itachi motioned for Sakura to move out of the way. She threw a quick glance at Ino from her shoulder, only to receive a nod as the omega stepped forward to bridge the gap on her own end.
Being so close to him felt foreign after years of him not being around. There was a moment of silence between them, with Deidara being the one to break it, “I guess…you’ve really grown and become your own person, huh?”
“Yeah, I have.”
She didn’t expect to see him smile again, the sight of it making her almost cry, “…I’m proud of you, un. I know I didn’t handle any of this right. I’m sorry for the mess I left you in, un.”
He was the one who hugged her, with Ino’s arms slowly coming up to hug him back, “Goodbye, Ino; I hope to see you again someday, hopefully with you leaving this place with me.”
“Goodbye, Deidara. I hope to see you again too; when I’m done making this village a good enough place for you to want to come home to.”
Their hug ended after this, with the two siblings and their respective alphas leaving in peace…can it be called ‘peace’ if Ino’s mind is racing with everything she’s been told by him tonight? She’s not sure, but she hopes it will clear up when she gets home.