The two fifteen year old comrades finally achieved their destination. It was just a regular village, but it was packed with missing-nins and shinobis; a perfect hide-out for some uncovered reason. This was the first place to come if you wanted to find a missing person.
"Aiyaa, the heat is killing me," the blonde exclaimed the same statement for the sixth time. Sakura was slowly getting pissed off. Good, Ino smiled to herself, my day's task is soon to be completed.
She thought about their mission. It lacked so many details, that it couldn't possibly be a short one. There was some unknown male shinobi with striking blue eyes and feminine features who had stolen an item. They were to spy on him, and retrieve the possession unharmed. This item was described as a secret technique scroll which had a seal with a spider symbol on it.
Sakura broke through her thoughts, "Now, all we have left is to find the Blue Mountain House. Which way should we go?" Knowing she wasn't required to answer, Ino ignored the question. Sakura was the leader, a dominant one to top it all.
"Ok, let's split up. I'll go check around this place, and you can go search for that future apartment of ours." She smiled, waved, and left the pink haired girl in a great hurry.
"Hey, wait! I don't think it's a good idea! You don't even know yourself where it is!" She, of course, chose not to hear it. Why spoil the fun?
Her pace became slower as she slithered between the hordes of people. The mind-controller inspected every house and crook in case if something interesting or peculiar would catch her eye. No wooden buildings could be seen.
A delicious scent lured her towards a lone food stand in the corner of an intersection. Her stomach growled for nutrition. Ino battled within herself whether not to disrupt her perfect diet. A few dangos wouldn't hurt.
"Deidara-sempai!!" Somebody clasped her from behind. What the heck? Her brows furrowed from annoyance. "Hm? Oooh, I knew it! Deidara-sempai is a girl. Tobi is a good boy, ne?" The hug tightened making the konoha shinobi extremely annoyed. A punch landed hard on his head. The assaulter winced from pain.
"What is wrong with you?!" She held her fist in case she would have to knock in some more sense into his head.
A menacing aura appeared behind the orange, swirly masked figure. "Who the hell are you calling a girl, Tobi?" A very outraged black robed guy burnt his gaze through the unfortunate lad. Ino was astonished. Eh? He looks a lot like me.
"Deidara-sempai is that you?" That was just adding fuel to the fire, but before any unwanted actions were taken, they were interrupted.
"Ummm, do you happen to be locals?" It just popped out of her mouth. Surprised herself, she backed it up, "It'd be great if you two could show me around." Nervous for some reason, Ino fiddled with her skirt.
There was a moment silence. Deidara, whom she assumed to be the mad as hell, blond guy, came closer. "And what use would it be to us?" He was coming nearer; crossing the distance strangers should have between them. Beads of sweat trailed in her back. A sense of vulnerability filled her. This feels so uncomfortable.
She tried to quickly come up with an answer while staring at the still clear blue sky. "Payback for him," the blue-eyed girl pointed at Tobi, "assaulting me."
A combat of blue eyes kept place. Ino tried to keep her glare steady; she was not going to lose.
The blithe fellow, tired of waiting, assured, "Sure, we'll show you around, come with me, come with me!" Tobi grabbed her arm and pulled her after him. "First, we eat, and then, and then, ummm, we can go-" A string of excited blabber continued non-stop until they reached another food stand. She let out a sigh as she seated on one of the chairs in front of the counter. Ino would've never guessed how tiresome it was to be with such an exuberant guy.
"Order anything, sempai is paying." Had he not had a mask, a smile would've probably been exposed. With that he sat on her left side and ordered, "A bowl of sweet and sour ramen"
"Hold on, I aint paying none of this shit, this goes off from your stinking savings, un." Deidara had followed them and went to Ino's other side. Anything to avoid that idiot of a partner.
The mind-walker kept her remaining focus on him. He had the same hairstyle as her, and the colors of their eyes and hair matched. No, his was darker blond and the eyes were deeper blue. His bangs were also parted on the other side.
Their eyes met.
"What're you staring at?" Leaning on the table, he played with his just ordered sake.
The Yamanaka girl wore a slight blush, and turned her head. God, my head must be malfunctioning or something. How embarrassing. She tried to look anywhere else except him.
Just to make her forget the incident she told a worker, "I'll have a bowl of rice and sashimi." Tobi's loud slurpings got on her nerves, but made her even hungrier.
To pass the time, she twirled on her chair like an eight year old. Not many customers had come there; it was peaceful, like a bubble remaining undisturbed by the outer world. She also noticed that the only worker kept on eyeing suspiciously at her two companions.
"So, what's your name?" The sudden question made her jump. She faced the speaker.
"Ino."
"I guess, you should know our names too, hm. I'm Deidara, and that asshole is Tobi."
The person on question raised his head from his food, and cheerfully added, "Yes, me is Tobiii!!" Does he even know he was just offended?
Her orders were placed in front of her. She ungracefully attacked the food, like there was no other day. It was purely on instincts. The akatsuki partners looked at her oddly; they did not see that coming. When Ino had finished, she smiled, not realizing her having acted like her teammate Chouji, who was known as a great glutton.
Noticing for the first time a head protector, which only shinobis had, was worn by Deidara, she carefully asked, "Ano…I'm just curious, from which hidden village do you come from?"
He looked confused at first, and unconsciously touched his ninja head protector. His eyes enlarged. He had forgotten to wear the usual hat to disguise himself. Shit. Shit. Shit. It was pure luck my bangs had covered the village symbol with a line crossed over it. "Hidden Rock." It's best to stick to the truth as much as possible. Nobody was supposed to know they were there yet.
Ino knew something wasn't quite what she thought it was, but let it be, she had a mission to focus on. This was just a minor distraction.
The last rays of sun were about to fade away. "Do you also happen to know where the Blue Mountain House is?" She hoped the answer would be positive, other wise she would be in knee deep trouble trying to find the assigned place she and Sakura were supposed to live at.
"I know! I know! I'll take you there while sempai pays for our delicious dinner!" Quick as a lightning Tobi once again grabbed Ino and pulled her back to the crowds of people.
She could faintly hear Deidara's annoyed complaints about the situation, and a promise of revenge against his partner. The shinobi couldn't get his face out of her mind.
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I hope you like it this far. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Comments on how to improve my writing would be even better. No need to worry about my feelings or whether you were too harsh.