The carriage stopped quite abruptly that it caused Deidara's body to jerk forward from the force. He has already been in the carriage all day and night, he first planned about his next fight with Itachi Uchiha, and then imagined a conversation between him and Sasori. It occupied his mind off borden, and now the sudden stop excited Deidara a little. He thought that Ayako was coming in, but that idea disappeared when the familiar sounds of kunai clashing was heard.

They were ambushed.

A man burst open the carriage door and as soon as he met with Deidara's eyes, he turned to his team mates and shouted.

"HE'S IN HERE!"

With the door opened, Deidara could hear the fight with no barriers, and he sees was fighting with two other men by herself. The horse was dead and the carriage was stuck and crushed by the ground erupting out from the land. With that type of jutsu along the symbol of the man's forehead protector, it was a surprise attack by the ninjas of Iwakagure, which was where Deidara is from. Ever since he was labeled as a missing-nin from the Third Tsuchikage, the mission to capture him was high on the billboards, inevitably Deidara became a popular target of ninjas from the Hidden Stone Village.

The man stormed in and approached the handle that was wrapped with Deidara's chain. He took out a small tool and with a few large blows, the handle fell off. The man grabbed the handle and came out of the carriage, Deidara allowed him to do so, and followed him because he concluded that it was easier for him to escape with this new team that arrested him. Now that they broke the carriage, and his chain was not attached either, he could find a way out. Deidara's new capturer was a little surprised by Deidara's obedience, but did not question it since everything is going according to plan.

Before the man took any more steps, a shuriken flew to him, pierced the skin of his neck and dug deep inside. This attack caused him to cackle blood from his throat then collapse on the ground.

The missing-nin who thought he was free, looked over and saw the direction of where the weapon came from, and saw Ayako walking towards him. In her background there was the two ninjas that fought her earlier, laying cold on the ground.

This girl was definitely above chunin level.

"I want to fight you, un."

She didn't even look at him and picked up the handle that still had Deidara's chain bounded to it. "You had the chance."

"You ambushed me, it wasn't a fair fight, hmm."

Ayako didn't say anything and observed the handle. She unsealed the chain and then tied it around her wrist and created a seal there. Her action startled Deidara a little, and realized how stringent this girl is. He has been captured many, many times, but he has never seen someone with such persistence in taking him back. After Ayako checked the chain was stable when it is attached to her, Ayako's body pointed to the direction they were heading before the ambush she walked. Deidara's feet felt unbalanced from the new movements of the chain attached to him, but quickly caught himself as he started to walk in the same speed as her.

"Where are we going now, un?!"

"Same place where I was heading before."

"By feet?!"

"Considering that the carriage is broken and the horse is dead, feet is our best option."

Deidara grumbled a bit at her rigidness. But that means that would slow down their journey, which meant more time for him before they reach the destination.

Miles later of their trip, the sun fell along with the temperature and the sky dimmed into a dark shade. Ayako only stopped when howls of wolf whistled through her ear. She took the initiative to first collect some branches and wood near by, then piled it in a selected area. Usually Deidara would help in these situations, even if it was in this kind of situation. However his hands and feet were bounded, he wouldn't be much help.

After she started a small fire, she sat in front of it, and Deidara plopped right next to her.

"I would've helped if I wasn't chained up."

"It's fine."

Ayako pulled out her left leg and they both saw a deep cut in it. It was an injury she got while fighting today, but she ignored it until now.

"You should take care of that, un."

"It's none of your concern."

He made a small tch sound, and placed his elbow on his knees and ended up resting his chin the back of his hands. When Deidara was younger, he rested his face on the palm of his hands, until he got the mouths on it, then it became one of the little habits that he had to change.

Ayako hissed a little bit from examining her wound by touching the skin around it. Then she ripped a small piece of fabric from the sleeves of her shirt, wrapped it around the wound and tied it.

Deidara was a bit surprised, "Just put some herbs on it."

"I don't have a medical kit."

"You don't need a medical kit for that," He looked around and his eyes stopped at the patch of dark grass close to them. "Those, right there. Take them."

Ayako turned her head and looked at it through her long bangs, but only stared at it.

At this point, Deidara realized she didn't know what to do with them. "Here, un." He stood up which caused her to quickly grab hold of the chain attached between them.

"I'm not going anywhere un, I'm just getting some herbs for you." The length of the chain allowed him a few steps aside and he pulled some of plants he identified earlier. He returned to his original spot and allowed the mouth on his hands to chew it.

Ayako's eyes were staring at his hands, and she watched them puke it out into small, grind bits. "Take off the wrap."

She wasn't budging, and Deidara could tell from her eyes she didn't trust him.

"Look, this is harmless." He picked a small bit of it and took it in his mouth, "See, un?" Deidara swallowed it, "If anything, it helps with wounds."

Ayako, for some reason trusted his eyes more than what he just did. She quietly unwrapped the cloth on her leg and exposed the red flesh to him.

Deidara turned and twisted his hand around in the cuff, trying his best to put the herbs around her wound. Once he finished, he instructed her to wrap the fabric back around it. While she spun the cloth around the leg, she brushed her bangs behind her ear so she could see better. Deidara's glance at her turned into a small daze.

"You're very pretty, un."

Her head pulled back in surprise and a red tint formed in her cheek when she made eye contact with him. The eye contact didn't last very long because she turned her face aside and rushed to finish the job of wrapping.

Deidara sat up straight and smirked, so she does have a human side. He noted her reaction down for future reference.

"This is very basic medic skills, and as a jonin, you should know how to do this, un."

She still kept her head facing away from him, "I'm not a jonin."

He blinked, "Your team mates were jonin level, but you are much stronger than them."

"…."

"Besides, why would they send a chunin on a mission like this, yeah?"

Her only reply was silence.

"Whatever, un."

For a while, the fire caught both their attention and they stared at it. Deidara recognized this type of feeling and quickly snapped out of it. He looked to Ayako and noticed her blank look at the fire. Deidara sighed silently, ever since encountering with a Sharingan user, Deidara was always on high alert when he felt himself going to a trance. Just at any moment, he believed he could be stuck in a genjutsu. But he didn't feel any outside presence, and there was no valid reason for Ayako to cast one on him. It was simply just the attraction of the fire that made him doze off a little.

He decided that making conversation would keep his mind active, "Your entire team was killed by me, un. Usually people would run away in fear, why are you still so persistent, hmm?"

Ayako didn't look away from the fire, "It is my duty."

"For someone who is not a jonin, you are very confident in this mission, un."

"I am capable in my skills, and…" she said, "There is no way for you to escape."

"Other than figuring out seal you've put on the chain, I've thought of other ways."

Her curiosity to his other ways brought her eyes to meet with his, she quietly waited for an answer.

"I'll just let you fall in love with me, un."

Ayako's eye brow raised as a response, it was definitely not something she expected, and gathered in her mind that she shouldn't take Deidara seriously.

"How about this… You can abandon your mission and come with me. I'll take you to the Akatsuki leader, and I'm sure he wouldn't deny you as a member. Then, once you join we can be a team, and we can both complete missions together." Deidara smiled slyly and inched closer to her, "What do you say, un?"

"I'd say…" She stared into his eyes and his face leaned close to her, "You're an idiot."

Deidara frowned and Ayako backed away to lay down on her side.

"A lot of girls would be dying for that, un."

She relaxed her body and closed her eyes, preparing to revitalize herself before a long trip the next day.

"You're gonna regret not taking up my offer, un."

…..

Deidara noticed that she completely ignored him and hunched a little as a sign of defeat. Perhaps trying to figure out the seal would be easier.