Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows of Darkness ❯ Chapter Four: Mission ( Chapter 4 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: WolfGoddess_77 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.11.2012 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.1K | Visits: 144 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.11.2012 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.1K | Visits: 144 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any related characters. No money is made from the writing of this story.
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The morning air had a hint of a bite to it, making Mika shiver slightly, despite the cloak she wore. Autumn was fast approaching. She usually didn't have a problem with cold weather, except that it made medicinal herbs a bit harder to find. One good thing about living in Sunagakure was that it never got cold enough to completely kill the meager supply of plants that could be found in the desert, though it did thin them out a bit. It always forced the medics to expand their search for the herbs that couldn’t be found in the greenhouses.
Too often, Sunagakure had to rely on supplies imported from other lands. Mika smiled slightly as a thought struck her. Akatsuki traveled all over the lands. That meant she was no longer limited to just what Sunagakure could offer her. It was a dream come true for any medic. She would be able to find whatever she needed, and more.
That sent a tendril of excitement through her. Being a ninja had been her greatest dream when she was a young child, and she had begun her training in the Academy as soon as she was old enough. After she graduated, she had devoted every waking minute to her training, taking every opportunity to carry out missions, regardless of what they were.
But six months after she’d graduated, disaster struck. Her team had been sent on what was supposed to be a simple scouting mission of their northern border. They had been staying the night in a small town just short of their destination when it was attacked by a group of ninja from the neighboring land. In the chaos, she and her teammates were separated from each other.
By the time the attack was over, and she had found her teacher and teammates, it was already too late. Her best friend, a young boy name Kazuki, who she’d grown up with, had been fatally wounded. The town had been nearly destroyed, forcing them to take shelter elsewhere. Moving the boy had been a bad idea, but the alternative was to stay in the remains of the town, risking a second attack.
Her teacher had done everything in his power to try and save Kazuki, and for a while, it seemed as if the boy might recover. But two days later, Mika had awoken to find her teacher holding a small bundle wrapped up in a white sheet; the same sheet they’d covered Kazuki with the night before... During the night, the boy had bled to death.
They had carried him back to the village immediately, wanting to give him a proper burial. For several days, Mika had refused to see anyone, locking herself in her room. Even though she had known that being a ninja was dangerous, she had never thought that something like this would happen. The grief she’d felt over losing Kazuki had made her seriously doubt whether she wanted to continue being a ninja. If there had only been someone there who could have stopped the bleeding…
But it wasn’t long before a solution had come to her. She could be the one. If she learned how to use medical jutsu, she would never have to watch another comrade die in front of her again. Filled with determination, she had gone straight to the village’s hospital, hoping to find someone who could teach her how to be one of the village’s medical ninja. The training had been hard, and she’d often been left out of missions with her teacher and remaining teammate, but the end result had been worth it. By the time she was seventeen, she had become one of the best medics in the village, and was well on her way to earning a jounin rank. Now, almost two years later, here she was.
She was suddenly jerked out of her thoughts when a sound resembling a muffled explosion drew her attention. Turning her head to the right, she saw Deidara standing next to a bird similar to the one she had first seen him riding. Odd… She was sure that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Where had it come from? As she watched, he jumped up onto it, then turned to look at her.
"Come on. It'll take us a couple of hours to get there, but it's a lot faster than walking, un," he told her.
Mika hesitated, looking at the bird apprehensively. For several seconds, she considered outright refusing. That thing didn’t look anywhere near safe. But then she sighed; another part of being a ninja meant often doing things you didn’t really want to do. With that in mind, she took a deep breath, then leapt up beside him. She knelt down, but much to her surprise, he remained standing. Her eyes clenched shut as she felt the bird take off, and the bottom of her stomach dropped out, making her give a soft gasp that was filled with more than a little fear.
Looking down at her, Deidara noticed that her fingers were digging into the bird, leaving deep furrows in the clay. He knelt down beside her, then bent forward to peer into her face. "You all right?" When she didn't immediately reply, he shook her shoulder gently. "Hey, what is it?"
Her right hand came up to wrap around his wrist in a surprisingly strong hold, and he was surprised to see her knuckles turn white. "Heights,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “I hate heights.” Her voice was low and forced.
This made him pause. She was afraid of heights? That was unexpected, and more than a little unfortunate. If she was going to be his partner, she would have to get used to flying. All of his long-distance travel was done by air.
"You're perfectly safe. Unless I release the jutsu, nothing is going to happen, un," Deidara assured her.
Mika cracked one eye open and looked over at him. She relaxed slightly, releasing his wrist, for which he was grateful; he was beginning to lose the feeling in it.
He wracked his mind, trying to think of something to talk to her about, to take her mind off the fact that she was a thousand feet above the ground. There was one thing he could talk to her about, though it might not be in his best interest to bring it up. Still though, he wanted to see her reaction. Besides, if she was angry at him, it would definitely make her forget about her fear.
"Did you sleep well last night?" he asked casually, sitting down beside her and propping one arm on a bent knee. He saw her stiffen slightly, and look up at him. All trace of fear was gone from her eyes now, just as he’d hoped. Instead, they flashed with something he couldn't quite identify. Anger? Embarrassment? Or maybe...
Mika looked at him through eyes half-narrowed in suspicion. It was an innocent enough question, but she heard a note lurking in his voice that told her he was looking for a specific answer. He knew how she had ended up snuggled up against him, didn't he? But although she wanted to know if he had been awake to witness what had happened, she wouldn't rise to the bait.
"Fine, thank you," she said cheerily, trying to throw him off-guard. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He remained as calm as ever. Damn him.
"You didn't get cold? The base is really nothing more than a cave, so it can get cold at night, especially this close to winter, un." He watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye, reading the play of emotions across her face. Or rather, the lack thereof. Odd... He had been sure this would work. Maybe it was time to stop being subtle and go in for the kill.
"Not in the least. Somehow, I stayed completely warm." She met his gaze evenly, trying to give nothing away, though she was eaten up with curiosity. Did he know or not? She hated it when people kept secrets from her; ironic really, since secrets were a major part of being a ninja.
"Hmm, interesting." A wicked grin crossed his face. "From the way you were holding on to me, I'd say that you were at least a little cold."
Mika's face became inflamed and she lowered her head, her hair falling across her face in an obscuring curtain. And there it was. He’d known all this time. Still, it made her wonder why he was just now deciding to bring it up. Maybe he’d been hoping she would say something about it first. Either that, or he had been deliberately waiting, for no other reason than to torment her, making her wonder if he knew. Yes, that seemed much more likely.
"You should've told me you hold on to things in your sleep. I'm not used to having someone in my bed. If you do that every night, it's going to take some getting used to," he remarked, almost casually.
Mika's head came up and she stared incredulously at him. Did she hear that right? No, surely not. He had said that he wasn't used to sharing his bed, not that he never had. Damn him for making comments that could be misinterpreted. But still...it made her wonder. Was she the first one he'd shared a bed with, even though nothing had happened between them? He had certainly seemed to know what he was doing when he had kissed her. But then, she reminded herself, lots of ninja knew how to seduce others while never having engaged in any further activity themselves. But was Deidara one of them? He couldn’t be.
Mika shook her head, trying to shake loose this somewhat embarrassing train of thought, only to have it return a moment later. Still though, if she were the first to share his bed... A tingle ran through her, followed by an immediate lock-down on that errant though. No. She couldn't let herself think that. She wasn't attracted to him...was she? Her racing heart certainly seemed to disagree. Then again, she reasoned with herself, that could simply be because they were so high up. Yes, that had to be what it was.
Deidara watched her out of the corner of his eye. His remark had been simple enough, but it seemed to have set off a landslide of thoughts within her. He wanted to know what those thoughts were; he could practically see the gears turning in her head. Whatever she was thinking about, it was intense.
After a moment, her eyes lost their glazed look and she focused on him once more. To her relief, she had managed to push those images out of her mind, and lock them securely away; or at least, she hoped they had been locked away. It wouldn't do for them to suddenly spring up and cause such an unfavorable reaction in her. She hated it when she wasn't able to control everything that went on with her body, and the sensations that were awakened when those thoughts went through her head were most definitely out of control.
Deidara waited for several minutes, but Mika didn’t speak again. He frowned slightly. That wasn’t good. She had fallen quiet far too quickly. He’d thought her anger would last a lot longer. He couldn’t let her withdraw from him. Deciding to take the conversation into his own hands, he asked, "Why did you decide to be my partner?"
Mika was quiet for a moment, thinking over the question. It was harder to answer than she thought it would be. "I either had to join you or be killed. I'm not afraid to die, but that doesn't mean I want to."
"So you abandoned your village because you didn't want to die?" he asked skeptically. "You must not have been very loyal to begin with, if you left so easily. Most ninja would be proud to die in the defense of their village, un." Deidara turned his head to fully look at her.
Mika's eyes flashed. "Don't you dare say that! I am loyal to my village. I just..." She trailed off, the heat leaving her voice. "I don't know why I did it. Maybe I just needed a change. I’m not sure that remaining in the village would allow me to progress any further, either as a ninja, or as a medic. Because it’s in the middle of the desert, Sunagakure’s supplies are limited. I need more, if I want to get stronger. Being your partner could give me that. Besides, I was out there all alone when you took me. If I’d fought you and died, how would that have been in my village’s defense? You weren’t a threat to the village, just to me."
She leaned back, finally relaxing completely, and closed her eyes for a moment. To her surprise, she actually liked the feel of the wind on her face, and with her eyes closed, it wasn’t too difficult to forget just high up they were. The bird’s motions were smooth, almost nonexistent. The morning sun on her body warmed her, and she looked over at Deidara.
He noticed that her hostility towards him had all but melted away, to be replaced by curiosity. "Tell me about yourself," she coaxed. "If we're going to be partners, I think we should know a little more about each other, don't you?"
Deidara gazed back at her for a moment, then lay down on his back, hands behind his head, one knee crossed over the other. "There's really not much to tell. I was born and raised in Iwagakure, but when I turned sixteen, I left so I could work on my art. The villagers didn't understand my tastes, and many ridiculed me. After I left, I became an assassin bomber for anyone who would hire me. Not long after that, Akatsuki's leader, Pein, found out about me and decided I would make a good member. He sent Itachi, Kisame, and Master Sasori to find me. Itachi challenged me to a battle, promising to leave me alone if I won. He tricked me with his genjutsu, forcing me to lose. I was partnered with Master Sasori and inducted into Akatsuki."
Mika waited for him to continue, but when he remained silent, she decided to ask a question that she’d been wondering about. "What do you mean by art? Are you a painter or something?" To her surprise, this prompted a short bark of laughter from the blonde.
"Haven’t you realized it by now? My bombs are my art," he said, fondly patting the bird beneath them with one hand.
Mika stiffened suddenly, sitting completely upright. "This thing is a bomb?" she asked, panic rising in her voice.
Again, he laughed, but it was good-natured, rather than mocking. "No, this one is just clay," he assured her. "I can make regular sculptures, too. By infusing the clay I use with my chakra, I can turn those sculptures into bombs. But I know better than to make a bomb out of something I use for transportation." He gazed up at the clouds, his eye half-closed. "I’ve always believed that art is something that should enter and exit this world quickly. The people of my village didn't understand that, and that's why I left, un. Master Sasori had different views on art; he thought it should be eternal. But since he was a fellow artist, and a good one, I didn't question him, even though I didn't agree."
Mika watched him for a moment, then stretched out on her side a short distance away. She propped her head up on one hand and smiled slightly. "You had a lot of respect for him, didn't you?" she asked.
"We had our differences sometimes, but yes, I did," he replied, closing his eye completely. “That was what made us such an effective team. Our art was powerful when we used it separately, but together, we were almost unstoppable.” His voice had grown soft, and now trailed off into silence.
"Not still sleepy, are you? I had no idea ninja were so lazy," she said, a hint of teasing in her voice. Reaching out, she lightly brushed her fingers through his long bangs. A slight smile crossed her face as she was fixed with a light blue gaze.
"I’m not sleepy. But we have a way to go yet; so we might as well get comfortable, un," he answered, his eye closing once more.
Mika bit her lip, looking away. "Umm... I'm sorry about last night. If I made you uncomfortable, I mean. I'm used to sleeping alone, so I didn't know that I held on to things. If I had, I would have insisted on sleeping somewhere else," she said quietly, blushing faintly.
This caused Deidara to prop himself up on one elbow and look at her. She was apologizing? That was something he certainly hadn’t been expecting. He shook his head, then lay back down. "You don't have to apologize. You’re acting like you committed a crime. This isn’t as big a deal as you’re making it out to be."
A thought suddenly struck her, making her narrow her eyes. "If you have a whole hall to yourself, then why did I have to sleep in your room? Surely at least one of those other rooms were empty."
A half-smile appeared on Deidara's face, but from her position, Mika couldn't see it.
"I had to be sure you wouldn't escape during the night. Even if I had've locked you in, I'm sure you would have found a way to break the lock. After all, you're a jounin. Escaping from locked rooms was part of your training, wasn’t it? That's why I used chakra-absorbing chains on you – as an extra precaution to make sure that you wouldn't have the strength to break out, un," he explained.
"But I had already promised you I wouldn’t try to run away. I even marked though my forehead protector," she protested, sitting up and tucking her legs underneath her.
"Promises are worthless to ninja, and forehead protectors can be taken off. Besides, you only marked through your forehead protector out of fear for your life. Once that threat disappeared, you would have no reason to stay, would you?"
Mika's eyes narrowed slightly and she crawled forward until she was right beside him, peering into his face. She brushed his bangs to one side so that he would be able to see her out of both eyes.
"What do you mean 'promises are worthless'? They're everything, especially to ninja. When we resolve to do something, we keep trying until we succeed, or until we die." She was quiet for a moment, a troubled look on her face. "What happened to you to make you think like that? Who broke an important promise?"
Deidara looked up at her, and she could see bitterness in his gaze. He sighed, turning his head to one side so she couldn’t see the expression on his face.
"A year before I left the village, my team was sent out on a mission. We were ordered to retrieve a stolen scroll from a gang of bandits. The mission was simple enough, so only one squad was dispatched. But what we didn’t know was that it was a trap. The bandits hadn't stolen the scroll for themselves, but for ninja from an enemy village. Our squad was ambushed, and I was captured. One of my teammates was killed, and the other... It wasn’t long before his true nature was revealed. He begged the ninja to let him live, in exchange for my life. He threw me to the wolves, just so they would spare him. We had always been taught that teamwork was one of the most important things to a ninja. Before we left the village, we had sworn to protect each other at any cost, but he broke that vow.
"The ninja let him escape, figuring it wasn't worth the trouble of killing him. They decided to use me for ransom, and kept me alive. I eventually managed to escape, using my explosives. But that wasn’t even the end of it. When I went back to the village, I found out my team member had told them I was dead. I wasn't very popular in the village by then, so when I finally turned up safe, there wasn't much of a homecoming waiting for me. I think that day was when I truly resolved to leave the village one day, un."
By the time he finished his story, Mika's eyes had narrowed again; not in suspicion this time, but in sympathy. So that was what had happened. No wonder he hadn't believed her when she said she would stay.
She knew betrayal and lies were part of the ninja world, but that didn't make it hurt any less when you had to experience them. Hesitantly, her hand came out to rest on his arm.
"Thank you for telling me that," she whispered. Somehow, she knew that he had never told anyone else about this particular part of his past. It touched – and surprised - her to know that he had opened up to her like that, though she doubted he would do it again.
Deidara turned his head slightly, enough that he would be able to see her out of the corner of his eye, and watched her carefully. What had happened to her, suddenly? Did that story really make her show her soft side? He exhaled, making a sound not unlike a sigh. This girl was strange... She was a ninja; she should have been familiar with incidents like what had happened to him. Traitors existed in every village, after all.
"How much longer until we get to where we're going?" Mika asked suddenly, taking her hand off of his arm. Her voice had returned to normal, though she still sat beside him.
"Half an hour or so, un," he answered absently, closing his eye and relaxing. Though he wouldn’t have admitted it, he was relieved that she hadn’t pursued the issue of his past further. It made him uneasy when she behaved like that. He wanted to see the fiery part of her personality. She was much more fun to play with when she was like that.
"Tell me, why did you kidnap the Kazekage?" she questioned, pulling him out of his thoughts. That startled him a bit. She didn’t know why they’d done it? That could mean one of two things. Either no one in Sunagakure had been able to find out why they had attacked, or, if they had, it was information that they weren’t sharing with their ninja.
"You know that he is the host of the One-Tailed Beast?" Deidara said at last, glancing over at her, but not moving from his position.
Mika nodded. "Of course. Everyone in the village knows that."
"We are gathering all nine of the Jinchuuriki, extracting the Tailed Beasts from within them, and sealing the Beasts away. Once we have all nine, we'll be able to take the lands for our own, un," he explained.
So, that was it. She had thought the Kazekage had seemed different when he’d come back. Now she understood why. The One-Tail within him was gone. "How many of them have you sealed?"
"Only one for now. It's difficult to capture them. The hosts have to be on the brink of death for the extraction to be successful. But if they die, we lose the Tailed Beasts within them. It’s a very fine line. Not to mention that the sealing itself takes three days, at least. Each of us has been ordered to capture one. I was planning to take the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki, too, when he came for that sand brat, but my plans were interrupted by Master Sasori’s death, un," Deidara told her.
"And…the hosts? What happens to them when the Beasts are extracted?" She had a nasty feeling she already knew, but she wanted her suspicions to be confirmed. Still, something about it didn’t make sense…
"They die, un," he said bluntly.
Mika's brow furrowed. Just as she’d thought. Although, how could that be? It just didn’t add up. The Kazekage was... So, that was what had happened. Elder Chiyo must have given her life in that Jutsu, to resurrect him. The retrieval squad and the Konoha ninja had only told them that Gaara had been severely injured battling Akatsuki, but had been healed by Elder Chiyo, ultimately at the cost of her life. They never clarified how she had died. This meant that she and the other ninja had been lied to. Elder Chiyo hadn’t died from the wounds that Sasori had given her. She’d died bringing Gaara back to life.
Unsettled, she decided to change topics. "I don't understand something. If you're no longer part of your village, why do you still wear your forehead protector?" she asked.
Deidara stood up and scanned the landscape. They were getting close to the cave where Sasori had been killed; he could see the river in the distance. Turning his attention back to her, he thought about her question for a moment - why did she want to know so much about him, anyway? "I don't know that everyone else's reason is the same as mine, but I keep my forehead protector because I am proud of defecting, un. I wear the slash through the symbol more proudly than I ever wore the symbol by itself." He glanced down at her. "What about you? You still wear your forehead protector, even though you defected against your will. I would think that reminder would be painful."
"I still wear it because..." she trailed off. Why did she still wear it? If anyone from her village were to find her and see that mark through the symbol, she would be in deep trouble. Even if she wore the cloak, as long as her forehead protector was intact, she might still be able to talk her way out of trouble. Finally, she gave the simplest answer: "I still wear it because I'm used to it. Ever since I graduated from the Academy, I've always worn it. To take it off now... It would be like a part of me is missing, you know? When you've worn something for six years, if you ever take it off, it's almost like losing a part of yourself."
Deidara widened his stance slightly for balance, and Mika felt the bird begin to descend. Taking a deep breath, she peered over the side. The remains of the cave were right beneath them, and somewhere inside was Sasori's ring. They just had to find it.
Mika's eyes closed tightly, and she clenched her teeth. Though the descent was smooth, it was fast, making her feel slightly dizzy. How Deidara could keep his balance was beyond her understanding. Not that she could think of much at the moment besides getting back on the ground.
Almost before the bird had stopped, hovering a few feet above the river that flowed swiftly below, Deidara jumped off of it and stood in front of the cave.
Mika was somewhat slower following him. Her legs felt like rubber, and as soon as her feet touched the water, her knees buckled. She managed to adjust her chakra flow in time to keep her from going beneath the surface, but she couldn’t stop the fall.
Deidara turned to look at her, and at first she thought he was going to laugh at her. But, to her surprise, he simply walked over and wrapped one hand around her elbow, pulling her to her feet. He kept his hold on her as she swayed unsteadily for a moment, then caught her balance.
"Thank you," she said quietly, taken off-guard by his actions. Deidara removed his hand and nodded once, silently.
Going to the mouth of the cave, he turned to look at Mika. "Ready?" he asked.
She nodded once, and they stepped into the ruins of the cave.
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The morning air had a hint of a bite to it, making Mika shiver slightly, despite the cloak she wore. Autumn was fast approaching. She usually didn't have a problem with cold weather, except that it made medicinal herbs a bit harder to find. One good thing about living in Sunagakure was that it never got cold enough to completely kill the meager supply of plants that could be found in the desert, though it did thin them out a bit. It always forced the medics to expand their search for the herbs that couldn’t be found in the greenhouses.
Too often, Sunagakure had to rely on supplies imported from other lands. Mika smiled slightly as a thought struck her. Akatsuki traveled all over the lands. That meant she was no longer limited to just what Sunagakure could offer her. It was a dream come true for any medic. She would be able to find whatever she needed, and more.
That sent a tendril of excitement through her. Being a ninja had been her greatest dream when she was a young child, and she had begun her training in the Academy as soon as she was old enough. After she graduated, she had devoted every waking minute to her training, taking every opportunity to carry out missions, regardless of what they were.
But six months after she’d graduated, disaster struck. Her team had been sent on what was supposed to be a simple scouting mission of their northern border. They had been staying the night in a small town just short of their destination when it was attacked by a group of ninja from the neighboring land. In the chaos, she and her teammates were separated from each other.
By the time the attack was over, and she had found her teacher and teammates, it was already too late. Her best friend, a young boy name Kazuki, who she’d grown up with, had been fatally wounded. The town had been nearly destroyed, forcing them to take shelter elsewhere. Moving the boy had been a bad idea, but the alternative was to stay in the remains of the town, risking a second attack.
Her teacher had done everything in his power to try and save Kazuki, and for a while, it seemed as if the boy might recover. But two days later, Mika had awoken to find her teacher holding a small bundle wrapped up in a white sheet; the same sheet they’d covered Kazuki with the night before... During the night, the boy had bled to death.
They had carried him back to the village immediately, wanting to give him a proper burial. For several days, Mika had refused to see anyone, locking herself in her room. Even though she had known that being a ninja was dangerous, she had never thought that something like this would happen. The grief she’d felt over losing Kazuki had made her seriously doubt whether she wanted to continue being a ninja. If there had only been someone there who could have stopped the bleeding…
But it wasn’t long before a solution had come to her. She could be the one. If she learned how to use medical jutsu, she would never have to watch another comrade die in front of her again. Filled with determination, she had gone straight to the village’s hospital, hoping to find someone who could teach her how to be one of the village’s medical ninja. The training had been hard, and she’d often been left out of missions with her teacher and remaining teammate, but the end result had been worth it. By the time she was seventeen, she had become one of the best medics in the village, and was well on her way to earning a jounin rank. Now, almost two years later, here she was.
She was suddenly jerked out of her thoughts when a sound resembling a muffled explosion drew her attention. Turning her head to the right, she saw Deidara standing next to a bird similar to the one she had first seen him riding. Odd… She was sure that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Where had it come from? As she watched, he jumped up onto it, then turned to look at her.
"Come on. It'll take us a couple of hours to get there, but it's a lot faster than walking, un," he told her.
Mika hesitated, looking at the bird apprehensively. For several seconds, she considered outright refusing. That thing didn’t look anywhere near safe. But then she sighed; another part of being a ninja meant often doing things you didn’t really want to do. With that in mind, she took a deep breath, then leapt up beside him. She knelt down, but much to her surprise, he remained standing. Her eyes clenched shut as she felt the bird take off, and the bottom of her stomach dropped out, making her give a soft gasp that was filled with more than a little fear.
Looking down at her, Deidara noticed that her fingers were digging into the bird, leaving deep furrows in the clay. He knelt down beside her, then bent forward to peer into her face. "You all right?" When she didn't immediately reply, he shook her shoulder gently. "Hey, what is it?"
Her right hand came up to wrap around his wrist in a surprisingly strong hold, and he was surprised to see her knuckles turn white. "Heights,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “I hate heights.” Her voice was low and forced.
This made him pause. She was afraid of heights? That was unexpected, and more than a little unfortunate. If she was going to be his partner, she would have to get used to flying. All of his long-distance travel was done by air.
"You're perfectly safe. Unless I release the jutsu, nothing is going to happen, un," Deidara assured her.
Mika cracked one eye open and looked over at him. She relaxed slightly, releasing his wrist, for which he was grateful; he was beginning to lose the feeling in it.
He wracked his mind, trying to think of something to talk to her about, to take her mind off the fact that she was a thousand feet above the ground. There was one thing he could talk to her about, though it might not be in his best interest to bring it up. Still though, he wanted to see her reaction. Besides, if she was angry at him, it would definitely make her forget about her fear.
"Did you sleep well last night?" he asked casually, sitting down beside her and propping one arm on a bent knee. He saw her stiffen slightly, and look up at him. All trace of fear was gone from her eyes now, just as he’d hoped. Instead, they flashed with something he couldn't quite identify. Anger? Embarrassment? Or maybe...
Mika looked at him through eyes half-narrowed in suspicion. It was an innocent enough question, but she heard a note lurking in his voice that told her he was looking for a specific answer. He knew how she had ended up snuggled up against him, didn't he? But although she wanted to know if he had been awake to witness what had happened, she wouldn't rise to the bait.
"Fine, thank you," she said cheerily, trying to throw him off-guard. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He remained as calm as ever. Damn him.
"You didn't get cold? The base is really nothing more than a cave, so it can get cold at night, especially this close to winter, un." He watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye, reading the play of emotions across her face. Or rather, the lack thereof. Odd... He had been sure this would work. Maybe it was time to stop being subtle and go in for the kill.
"Not in the least. Somehow, I stayed completely warm." She met his gaze evenly, trying to give nothing away, though she was eaten up with curiosity. Did he know or not? She hated it when people kept secrets from her; ironic really, since secrets were a major part of being a ninja.
"Hmm, interesting." A wicked grin crossed his face. "From the way you were holding on to me, I'd say that you were at least a little cold."
Mika's face became inflamed and she lowered her head, her hair falling across her face in an obscuring curtain. And there it was. He’d known all this time. Still, it made her wonder why he was just now deciding to bring it up. Maybe he’d been hoping she would say something about it first. Either that, or he had been deliberately waiting, for no other reason than to torment her, making her wonder if he knew. Yes, that seemed much more likely.
"You should've told me you hold on to things in your sleep. I'm not used to having someone in my bed. If you do that every night, it's going to take some getting used to," he remarked, almost casually.
Mika's head came up and she stared incredulously at him. Did she hear that right? No, surely not. He had said that he wasn't used to sharing his bed, not that he never had. Damn him for making comments that could be misinterpreted. But still...it made her wonder. Was she the first one he'd shared a bed with, even though nothing had happened between them? He had certainly seemed to know what he was doing when he had kissed her. But then, she reminded herself, lots of ninja knew how to seduce others while never having engaged in any further activity themselves. But was Deidara one of them? He couldn’t be.
Mika shook her head, trying to shake loose this somewhat embarrassing train of thought, only to have it return a moment later. Still though, if she were the first to share his bed... A tingle ran through her, followed by an immediate lock-down on that errant though. No. She couldn't let herself think that. She wasn't attracted to him...was she? Her racing heart certainly seemed to disagree. Then again, she reasoned with herself, that could simply be because they were so high up. Yes, that had to be what it was.
Deidara watched her out of the corner of his eye. His remark had been simple enough, but it seemed to have set off a landslide of thoughts within her. He wanted to know what those thoughts were; he could practically see the gears turning in her head. Whatever she was thinking about, it was intense.
After a moment, her eyes lost their glazed look and she focused on him once more. To her relief, she had managed to push those images out of her mind, and lock them securely away; or at least, she hoped they had been locked away. It wouldn't do for them to suddenly spring up and cause such an unfavorable reaction in her. She hated it when she wasn't able to control everything that went on with her body, and the sensations that were awakened when those thoughts went through her head were most definitely out of control.
Deidara waited for several minutes, but Mika didn’t speak again. He frowned slightly. That wasn’t good. She had fallen quiet far too quickly. He’d thought her anger would last a lot longer. He couldn’t let her withdraw from him. Deciding to take the conversation into his own hands, he asked, "Why did you decide to be my partner?"
Mika was quiet for a moment, thinking over the question. It was harder to answer than she thought it would be. "I either had to join you or be killed. I'm not afraid to die, but that doesn't mean I want to."
"So you abandoned your village because you didn't want to die?" he asked skeptically. "You must not have been very loyal to begin with, if you left so easily. Most ninja would be proud to die in the defense of their village, un." Deidara turned his head to fully look at her.
Mika's eyes flashed. "Don't you dare say that! I am loyal to my village. I just..." She trailed off, the heat leaving her voice. "I don't know why I did it. Maybe I just needed a change. I’m not sure that remaining in the village would allow me to progress any further, either as a ninja, or as a medic. Because it’s in the middle of the desert, Sunagakure’s supplies are limited. I need more, if I want to get stronger. Being your partner could give me that. Besides, I was out there all alone when you took me. If I’d fought you and died, how would that have been in my village’s defense? You weren’t a threat to the village, just to me."
She leaned back, finally relaxing completely, and closed her eyes for a moment. To her surprise, she actually liked the feel of the wind on her face, and with her eyes closed, it wasn’t too difficult to forget just high up they were. The bird’s motions were smooth, almost nonexistent. The morning sun on her body warmed her, and she looked over at Deidara.
He noticed that her hostility towards him had all but melted away, to be replaced by curiosity. "Tell me about yourself," she coaxed. "If we're going to be partners, I think we should know a little more about each other, don't you?"
Deidara gazed back at her for a moment, then lay down on his back, hands behind his head, one knee crossed over the other. "There's really not much to tell. I was born and raised in Iwagakure, but when I turned sixteen, I left so I could work on my art. The villagers didn't understand my tastes, and many ridiculed me. After I left, I became an assassin bomber for anyone who would hire me. Not long after that, Akatsuki's leader, Pein, found out about me and decided I would make a good member. He sent Itachi, Kisame, and Master Sasori to find me. Itachi challenged me to a battle, promising to leave me alone if I won. He tricked me with his genjutsu, forcing me to lose. I was partnered with Master Sasori and inducted into Akatsuki."
Mika waited for him to continue, but when he remained silent, she decided to ask a question that she’d been wondering about. "What do you mean by art? Are you a painter or something?" To her surprise, this prompted a short bark of laughter from the blonde.
"Haven’t you realized it by now? My bombs are my art," he said, fondly patting the bird beneath them with one hand.
Mika stiffened suddenly, sitting completely upright. "This thing is a bomb?" she asked, panic rising in her voice.
Again, he laughed, but it was good-natured, rather than mocking. "No, this one is just clay," he assured her. "I can make regular sculptures, too. By infusing the clay I use with my chakra, I can turn those sculptures into bombs. But I know better than to make a bomb out of something I use for transportation." He gazed up at the clouds, his eye half-closed. "I’ve always believed that art is something that should enter and exit this world quickly. The people of my village didn't understand that, and that's why I left, un. Master Sasori had different views on art; he thought it should be eternal. But since he was a fellow artist, and a good one, I didn't question him, even though I didn't agree."
Mika watched him for a moment, then stretched out on her side a short distance away. She propped her head up on one hand and smiled slightly. "You had a lot of respect for him, didn't you?" she asked.
"We had our differences sometimes, but yes, I did," he replied, closing his eye completely. “That was what made us such an effective team. Our art was powerful when we used it separately, but together, we were almost unstoppable.” His voice had grown soft, and now trailed off into silence.
"Not still sleepy, are you? I had no idea ninja were so lazy," she said, a hint of teasing in her voice. Reaching out, she lightly brushed her fingers through his long bangs. A slight smile crossed her face as she was fixed with a light blue gaze.
"I’m not sleepy. But we have a way to go yet; so we might as well get comfortable, un," he answered, his eye closing once more.
Mika bit her lip, looking away. "Umm... I'm sorry about last night. If I made you uncomfortable, I mean. I'm used to sleeping alone, so I didn't know that I held on to things. If I had, I would have insisted on sleeping somewhere else," she said quietly, blushing faintly.
This caused Deidara to prop himself up on one elbow and look at her. She was apologizing? That was something he certainly hadn’t been expecting. He shook his head, then lay back down. "You don't have to apologize. You’re acting like you committed a crime. This isn’t as big a deal as you’re making it out to be."
A thought suddenly struck her, making her narrow her eyes. "If you have a whole hall to yourself, then why did I have to sleep in your room? Surely at least one of those other rooms were empty."
A half-smile appeared on Deidara's face, but from her position, Mika couldn't see it.
"I had to be sure you wouldn't escape during the night. Even if I had've locked you in, I'm sure you would have found a way to break the lock. After all, you're a jounin. Escaping from locked rooms was part of your training, wasn’t it? That's why I used chakra-absorbing chains on you – as an extra precaution to make sure that you wouldn't have the strength to break out, un," he explained.
"But I had already promised you I wouldn’t try to run away. I even marked though my forehead protector," she protested, sitting up and tucking her legs underneath her.
"Promises are worthless to ninja, and forehead protectors can be taken off. Besides, you only marked through your forehead protector out of fear for your life. Once that threat disappeared, you would have no reason to stay, would you?"
Mika's eyes narrowed slightly and she crawled forward until she was right beside him, peering into his face. She brushed his bangs to one side so that he would be able to see her out of both eyes.
"What do you mean 'promises are worthless'? They're everything, especially to ninja. When we resolve to do something, we keep trying until we succeed, or until we die." She was quiet for a moment, a troubled look on her face. "What happened to you to make you think like that? Who broke an important promise?"
Deidara looked up at her, and she could see bitterness in his gaze. He sighed, turning his head to one side so she couldn’t see the expression on his face.
"A year before I left the village, my team was sent out on a mission. We were ordered to retrieve a stolen scroll from a gang of bandits. The mission was simple enough, so only one squad was dispatched. But what we didn’t know was that it was a trap. The bandits hadn't stolen the scroll for themselves, but for ninja from an enemy village. Our squad was ambushed, and I was captured. One of my teammates was killed, and the other... It wasn’t long before his true nature was revealed. He begged the ninja to let him live, in exchange for my life. He threw me to the wolves, just so they would spare him. We had always been taught that teamwork was one of the most important things to a ninja. Before we left the village, we had sworn to protect each other at any cost, but he broke that vow.
"The ninja let him escape, figuring it wasn't worth the trouble of killing him. They decided to use me for ransom, and kept me alive. I eventually managed to escape, using my explosives. But that wasn’t even the end of it. When I went back to the village, I found out my team member had told them I was dead. I wasn't very popular in the village by then, so when I finally turned up safe, there wasn't much of a homecoming waiting for me. I think that day was when I truly resolved to leave the village one day, un."
By the time he finished his story, Mika's eyes had narrowed again; not in suspicion this time, but in sympathy. So that was what had happened. No wonder he hadn't believed her when she said she would stay.
She knew betrayal and lies were part of the ninja world, but that didn't make it hurt any less when you had to experience them. Hesitantly, her hand came out to rest on his arm.
"Thank you for telling me that," she whispered. Somehow, she knew that he had never told anyone else about this particular part of his past. It touched – and surprised - her to know that he had opened up to her like that, though she doubted he would do it again.
Deidara turned his head slightly, enough that he would be able to see her out of the corner of his eye, and watched her carefully. What had happened to her, suddenly? Did that story really make her show her soft side? He exhaled, making a sound not unlike a sigh. This girl was strange... She was a ninja; she should have been familiar with incidents like what had happened to him. Traitors existed in every village, after all.
"How much longer until we get to where we're going?" Mika asked suddenly, taking her hand off of his arm. Her voice had returned to normal, though she still sat beside him.
"Half an hour or so, un," he answered absently, closing his eye and relaxing. Though he wouldn’t have admitted it, he was relieved that she hadn’t pursued the issue of his past further. It made him uneasy when she behaved like that. He wanted to see the fiery part of her personality. She was much more fun to play with when she was like that.
"Tell me, why did you kidnap the Kazekage?" she questioned, pulling him out of his thoughts. That startled him a bit. She didn’t know why they’d done it? That could mean one of two things. Either no one in Sunagakure had been able to find out why they had attacked, or, if they had, it was information that they weren’t sharing with their ninja.
"You know that he is the host of the One-Tailed Beast?" Deidara said at last, glancing over at her, but not moving from his position.
Mika nodded. "Of course. Everyone in the village knows that."
"We are gathering all nine of the Jinchuuriki, extracting the Tailed Beasts from within them, and sealing the Beasts away. Once we have all nine, we'll be able to take the lands for our own, un," he explained.
So, that was it. She had thought the Kazekage had seemed different when he’d come back. Now she understood why. The One-Tail within him was gone. "How many of them have you sealed?"
"Only one for now. It's difficult to capture them. The hosts have to be on the brink of death for the extraction to be successful. But if they die, we lose the Tailed Beasts within them. It’s a very fine line. Not to mention that the sealing itself takes three days, at least. Each of us has been ordered to capture one. I was planning to take the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki, too, when he came for that sand brat, but my plans were interrupted by Master Sasori’s death, un," Deidara told her.
"And…the hosts? What happens to them when the Beasts are extracted?" She had a nasty feeling she already knew, but she wanted her suspicions to be confirmed. Still, something about it didn’t make sense…
"They die, un," he said bluntly.
Mika's brow furrowed. Just as she’d thought. Although, how could that be? It just didn’t add up. The Kazekage was... So, that was what had happened. Elder Chiyo must have given her life in that Jutsu, to resurrect him. The retrieval squad and the Konoha ninja had only told them that Gaara had been severely injured battling Akatsuki, but had been healed by Elder Chiyo, ultimately at the cost of her life. They never clarified how she had died. This meant that she and the other ninja had been lied to. Elder Chiyo hadn’t died from the wounds that Sasori had given her. She’d died bringing Gaara back to life.
Unsettled, she decided to change topics. "I don't understand something. If you're no longer part of your village, why do you still wear your forehead protector?" she asked.
Deidara stood up and scanned the landscape. They were getting close to the cave where Sasori had been killed; he could see the river in the distance. Turning his attention back to her, he thought about her question for a moment - why did she want to know so much about him, anyway? "I don't know that everyone else's reason is the same as mine, but I keep my forehead protector because I am proud of defecting, un. I wear the slash through the symbol more proudly than I ever wore the symbol by itself." He glanced down at her. "What about you? You still wear your forehead protector, even though you defected against your will. I would think that reminder would be painful."
"I still wear it because..." she trailed off. Why did she still wear it? If anyone from her village were to find her and see that mark through the symbol, she would be in deep trouble. Even if she wore the cloak, as long as her forehead protector was intact, she might still be able to talk her way out of trouble. Finally, she gave the simplest answer: "I still wear it because I'm used to it. Ever since I graduated from the Academy, I've always worn it. To take it off now... It would be like a part of me is missing, you know? When you've worn something for six years, if you ever take it off, it's almost like losing a part of yourself."
Deidara widened his stance slightly for balance, and Mika felt the bird begin to descend. Taking a deep breath, she peered over the side. The remains of the cave were right beneath them, and somewhere inside was Sasori's ring. They just had to find it.
Mika's eyes closed tightly, and she clenched her teeth. Though the descent was smooth, it was fast, making her feel slightly dizzy. How Deidara could keep his balance was beyond her understanding. Not that she could think of much at the moment besides getting back on the ground.
Almost before the bird had stopped, hovering a few feet above the river that flowed swiftly below, Deidara jumped off of it and stood in front of the cave.
Mika was somewhat slower following him. Her legs felt like rubber, and as soon as her feet touched the water, her knees buckled. She managed to adjust her chakra flow in time to keep her from going beneath the surface, but she couldn’t stop the fall.
Deidara turned to look at her, and at first she thought he was going to laugh at her. But, to her surprise, he simply walked over and wrapped one hand around her elbow, pulling her to her feet. He kept his hold on her as she swayed unsteadily for a moment, then caught her balance.
"Thank you," she said quietly, taken off-guard by his actions. Deidara removed his hand and nodded once, silently.
Going to the mouth of the cave, he turned to look at Mika. "Ready?" he asked.
She nodded once, and they stepped into the ruins of the cave.
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