"I see then. Sorry for being a distraction then. Once we talk to Leader, I'll request to be paired up with someone else, maybe Uchiha will be a better fit to work with."
It had been three months. Three months since either of them had spoken to each other. Deidara was furious that she went through with the partner change, Miko only felt heartbreak as she and Kisame switched partners. She was right after all, without being around him there was no room for error and in turn, became closer to Itachi in a weird way. Miko didn't form romantic feelings for the other, but it was more of a familiar bond; she even got him to talk a little about himself once and what his home village was like, and in turn she told him about her own home village. She almost completely forgot about her feelings for Deidara until she was requested to pair back up with him for a mission.
Her stomach dropped, she didn't want to face him just yet; Miko didn't know if her feelings had subsided for him or not.
At the present moment Pein, Deidara and Miko were having a projection meeting; Miko being on the far side of the Iwagakure, Deidara being in Kirigakure, and Pein being in the base of operations in Amegakure.
" I need you both to go to the Yukigakure; Miko will be in charge since she knows the village better than anyone would. You and Deidara will be undercover there to meet with an informant. You both will be under the guise of simple travelers; am I clear? "
" Crystal clear sir, we'll do our best. " She replied, keeping her eyes trained on their leader.
" Good. You will both meet in three days time before disguising yourselves and taking the boat ride to the village. It should take roughly a week to complete. Deidara, have Kisame meet up with Itachi in the Kusagakure as the midway point for the four of you. "
Deidara gave a nod, " Alright, hm. " And with that all three projections fazed out, ending their meeting.
Both Deidara and Miko were dreading their reuniting.
Deidara was kind enough to drop Kisame off as close as he could to his meetup spot with Itachi, immediately heading to where he needed to go to meet up with Miko. He had conflicting feelings about seeing her, he was still bitter about what she did but at the same time, he did miss her. He wasn't going to admit it though, he had his pride. However, he couldn't deny the fact that he missed their work together; seeing her ice shattering in the light from his bombs was definitely something else.
It wasn't hard spotting Miko once he arrived in the village, she was waiting in the outskirts with a bag in hand, obvious uneasy about their meetup. She felt sick to her stomach about working with Deidara once more, but she was the only one who knew the ins and outs of the Hidden Snow; not many people went there to map it out so many maps were highly outdated. "Here, change into this. It'll be the warmer season where we'll be at but everything will still be frozen." Miko didn't bother with pleasantries, she tossed the bag towards him.
"Thanks for the warm welcome, hm." Deidara made a face at her tone, opening the bag to see winter clothes in his size, "Thanks, I suppose."
She gave a nod before shedding her Akatsuki cloak; which revealed a dark blue kimono style top that had red accents, a black belt, matching dark blue pants with closed toe shinobi shoes, "The shoes are at the bottom of the bag, you aren't used to freezing weather and I'm sure you'd rather not freeze your toes off." She pulled a scroll out from a pouch on her hip and rolled it open, using it to seal her cloak and headband into it before rolling it up and handing it over to Deidara, "We leave in an hour, I'll meet you at the docks after getting some food from a shop since it takes half a day by boat to get to the village from here."
Deidara watched her walk away, hurt shooting through his chest from their interaction, did she really get rid of her feelings for him in the last three months? Did she end up falling for Itachi? Goddammit if she did, he'd blow the Uchiha up in a heartbeat! He hadn't gotten over his feelings for her but he wasn't going to let him have her. He angrily changed into the snow clothes, it was heavier than what he was expecting. She at least knew what colors would suit him; a pale blue kyudo-gi for his top, navy blue hakama style pants that tucked into the knee high shinobi boots. He still had full access to his clay pouches and his movement wasn't limited whatsoever, maybe there was a bit of her that still liked him.
Whatever it was, he didn't have time to waste; he sealed his original clothes, headband and cloak into the scroll he had and took off his eye camera for now, tucking his gadget into his kyudo-gi. He rolled the scroll up and walked into town, mostly uninterested in the shops and people. Deidara's mind was now filled with 'what ifs'. It wasn't long before he found himself at the docks, Miko nowhere in sight, it had been almost an hour after their initial meeting. The boat would be leaving soon and from the looks of it, the boat only set out once a day.
Deidara scanned the crowd before spotting Miko; she was happily chatting with a small child with their mother, what in the world was she doing? She gave a small wave before the small child cried out, "Bye big sis! I'll miss you!" Miko turned to kiss the child on the head before hugging his mother tightly, turning heel to jog towards Deidara's direction.
"What was all that about? I didn't know you had a family here, hm."
"There are many things you don't know about my past when it comes to me. They are a family that I once knew, they took me in when I came to the mainland. The boat is about to leave, let's get going." The smile on her face immediately dropped, her eyes not landing anywhere on Deidara as she spoke to him. Miko knew she was being rude, but it was the only way to prevent herself from letting her emotions to rise up again, who knows, maybe she had moved on.
"Why did you leave your village?" Deidara started, looking over the boat's edge as it sailed, "Wasn't it supposed to become the Spring village after that one princess returned, hm?" The sky was grey, the sea equally as grey with large ice floes floating about; it was almost melancholy to watch the sea however there wasn't much anyone could do.
"It was, but short lived, a coup was staged and immediately took out any chance of it." Miko answered, not looking up from a small book, "Spring never made it to where I lived as a child, all I knew growing up was ice and snow. I had dreams of seeing flowers frozen but it doesn't happen on the mainland.
She closed her book, tucking it under her arm, Miko felt tense while speaking to Deidara; her hands felt sweaty despite no actual perspiration. "How are the clothes holding up? Are you warm?" There wasn't much to really talk about; granted she was avoiding the obvious at the moment
Deidara looked at her surprised, unsure what to say for a moment before turning his head towards her, "I'm fine, I'm surprised I don't feel the cold in these. What are they made from?"
"Special fabric made out of wool from snow sheep; they use a person's natural chakra as an insulator and keeps you as warm as possible as long as you don't run out of it." She explained, "I don't need them since I am used to the intense cold but many people on this boat will not be ready, it gets to below freezing by sundown." Miko hesitated before looking at him, "whatever you do, don't remove them unless we are inside of an inn or you'll immediately feel the effects of the cold." She regretted looking him in the eye, feeling her heart flutter and her stomach twist as their eyes met, "I...I'm going inside for a moment to get a warm drink."
He saw the look in her eyes, it was the same look she gave him before their fight, all he could do was watch her leave under the ship's deck. This was the most they'd spoken to each other for the majority of the trip; while it wasn't much, it felt better than being ignored or given the cold shoulder. Maybe it was time to swallow his pride and confess to her how he felt and apologize. The question was, when was a good time to do it?
An eternal winter wonderland could easily describe what the Yukigakure looked like, there was at least a foot of snow everywhere that wasn't a cleared road. It was dazzling if you weren't used to the snow; but to those who knew the village, it was an icy prison that many could not escape. The buildings were close together, almost as if they themselves were huddling together from the snow and cold. There were many shops and restaurants that both Miko and Deidara could see from their spots as they waited in line to get into the village.
It had been uncomfortable since the boat ride, Miko wasn't being as cold as she was initially but instead kept her answers short and to the point. While it was better, Deidara would rather have a proper conversation with her instead of getting single sentence replies. She spoke more to the village guards than him.
They had both altered their appearance slightly to not be as obvious of who they were. Deidara's changes were very minor; changing his eye color to brown, and gave himself sharper facial features. Miko had done a bit more; her hair was noticeably shorter and pale blue, her eyes hazel and made her face rounder. There was no point in doing full transformations if anything once they made it inside the village, they would more than likely drop the justus and proceed with their mission.
"What is your purpose of both your visits?" The snow shinobi questioned, eyeing both Deidara and Miko. They were stopped by village guards, though they weren't the only ones, it did bring on a twinge of suspicion when Miko first hesitated to speak.
"We are just here to visit some distant relatives of mine, it's been so long since I've been here. He's just my escort since I am not adept to fighting in the snow." Miko made her voice lighter, it'd been a few years since her defection so she was unsure if anyone would recognize her voice. "we are meeting them here in the main village since it's hard getting to where they are.
"Family name?"
"Shiyuko." The way she said the surname made it seem as if she had history with whoever had the name, and from Deidara's experience it wasn't positive.
"Alright, enjoy your visit then." And just like that they were let in. The streets were bustling with people, natives and visitors alike. It was strangely nostalgic to Miko but she didn't let it get to her as she lead them further into the village to an inn for their stay. The inn was very nice, bright reds and oranges decorated the walls with posters for shows that were being performed in the village.
"Welcome welcome! How can I help you today?" The receptionist warmly welcomed the two. Her eyes darted between them for a moment before settling on Miko.
Miko stepped forward, a fake welcoming smile on her face, "Can I get a room for my companion and I? We'll only be here for a week." She reached into her pocket for the funds they had for the mission, "How much will it be?"
The receptionist pulled out a booklet with what rooms were taken, "3,824 ryo for the full week." Both Deidara and Miko raised a brow at the cost, it was...relatively cheap for an Inn off a main road in a village.
"3,824? Sounds good to me." Miko didn't really think much of it, that amount was relatively low from what she could recall from previous times she's stayed in other inns; however she didn't think much of it as she received their key for their stay.
"Room 210 is where you will be staying." She smiled at them both, motioning towards the stairs that went up to the second level.
Miko bowed her head and said a think you before heading upstairs, "I don't understand why the room was so cheap?" she muttered to herself, "Is the economy actually better now here?"
"Who cares, just means Kakuzu won't complain about the money we're spending, hm." Deidara groused, looking outside the window as he waited for her to unlock the door. Once he heard the door open he tried to walk inside, only to walk into Miko, "Oi, what's wro-"
There was a reason why the room was cheaper than their normal ones, it had only one bed. Granted the bed could fit two people but, with how things went between the two just over three months ago, neither was keen on being that close to the other. Before their fight they would have laughed it off and made the best of it, right now wasn't that. The room itself was nice, it was a bit plain but the size made up for it with a very large futon bed in the middle of it. There was a door which presumably lead to a bathroom, another that led to a small closet and a large window that showed off the town view.
Miko passed the key to Deidara, "I'm going to request a extra bed then go into town to gather some intel or something. You can do whatever you need to." She moved to side to leave, however she felt Deidara's hand clamp down around her wrist and pull her into the room before closing the door. "What are y-"
"We need to talk, hm." He was serious, he stared down at her as his grip tightened.
"I don't have time for this Deidara, you made your choice three months ago. I made my choice too, there is no point for us to talk." She yanked her hand from his grip, grimacing at the slight smudge of saliva on her wrist, "Lets just do our job, get our information then we can leave this stupid village and never have to work together again." Miko moved towards the door before being stopped once more, Deidara grabbing onto her upper arm. "What are you doing?"
"Just hear me out dammit!" Deidara rubbed a hand over his face, "I..I was wrong with my words. I shouldn't have been so harsh with my words and I wanted to apologize and-"
Miko tried to pull her arm away from him again, "And what, suddenly say you like me after all after stomping over my feelings? Or is it the jealousy that you have towards Itachi that you suddenly have feelings towards me. Do us both a favor and don't . I don't want to hear any of it. We are here for a job, I am not going to be a distraction or be distracted ." she turned to him, her eyes showing that she wasn't having any of it. There was no hesitation when she let her arm freeze over, the sudden cold causing Deidara to let go.
"You have absolutely no right to even apologize. As far as I know, this can be just a ruse to get me to come back to be your partner. Whatever is going through that thick head of yours, I want nothing to do with."
Anger sparked through Deidara, he was going to get out what he wanted to say whether she wanted to hear him out or not. "Okay fine! Don't forgive me but I do like you, a lot! It was way before you even told me. Remember when we fought off those leaf shinobi and escaped on my bird six months ago? That was the moment, everything hit me at once; why the hell do you think I was more vocal about your safety in fights? Why do you think I was more willing to let you have an input on my art, hm?!" He grabbed both her shoulders, his transformation had come undone. The look in his bright blue eyes was intense; he wasn't going to drop this.
Miko looked up at him, unsure of what to say before looking away, "Deidara, you're an absolute idiot if you think this would work. You had every moment before three months ago to say something and didn't. How do you know I haven't moved on? For all you know, I could have moved on and started having feelings for someone else!"
"I swear to god if its Uchiha-."
"In fact, it is! He asked me to help him rebuild his clan after the Akatsuki reaches its goal."
"Are you fucking serious?!"
"No, you goddamn moron! God, see this is why I don't believe you! It's too convenient for you to confess. We haven't seen or spoken to each other in the last three months and you just assumed that we'd go back to out old dynamic! Deidara I don't want my emotions played with so just leave me be. Pretend none of this happened, all of it. Me confessing and your sudden confession. We are here to do our job, thats it and that's all."
Deidara gritted his teeth before letting her go, walking to the far end of the room and letting himself drop down to his rear, "Fine, do whatever the hell you want, hm." his temper had flared. He wanted to blow something up, the vibrations from the explosion and bright colors were soothing to him but he doubted he would be able to see anything with the constant snowfall.
Miko gave an annoyed grunt before leaving the room for good, nearly slamming the door.
