Blech, guys. It's been forever.
Forgive me?
Disclaimer: Disclaimed.
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It was strong and bound for glory, and cursed with a thousand stories
-Gregory Alan Iskov
It's just before dawn, and it's Deidara's watch.
He yawns to himself, drawing in the dirt with a stick. He should be more alert, this he knows, but he's tired – more tired than he'd been in the prisons. He figures that it's the crash following the adrenaline rush – not to mention his all-but-depleted chakra reserves. Add the lack of sleep and boom, you had yourself a potent cocktail for a very fatigued shinobi.
No worries, he thinks. The wards are up.
He wonders to himself why he's traveling with them, though it's pretty obvious: his syndicate has long since been disbanded. Akatsuki doesn't exist anymore than Sound or Sand or Leaf, and he refuses to entertain notions that it does; he doesn't want to go back to Akatsuki, back to Pein and Tobi and all the bullshit. On top of that – well. Other than the Fields, where else does he have to go?
And traveling alone…
It was made nearly impossible, what with the state the world was in. Though they were technically not demons, insofar as they were not monsters from the underworld, the creatures that resulted from Orochimaru's experiment nearly four years ago sure managed to raze hell (pun indented). Sure, he had his bird; but even though there were no (as of yet discovered) flying creatures, he would still need to land for food, possibly shelter, to rest. His wards were strong – but even with wards, alone you couldn't be so sure.
And the demons weren't the only problem; you also had to worry about the people.
Bounty Hunters.
Most villages – if not all – had been destroyed. Some of the shinobi remained in a group, attempting to rebuild their villages. Because only shinobi could make wards, and because this had been discovered nearly a year into The Plague, most of the civilians were dead.
He doubts that the Bingo Book still holds any weight – who cares if a price is on his head? He's still one of the most powerful shinobi – the fact that he was being held in Sound Prison – under Kabuto himself – only reinforces the idea.
He's powerful. But traveling alone was what got him in trouble – what got him captured.
His memory of the prison is spotty, however; try as he might, all he can remember is his initial capture and detainment; the middle is hazy, the days blending together and blurring around the edges; he remembers about a week or so before Ino and Kimimaro's appearance clearly, but other than that…
He doesn't want to believe that he was experimented upon, but he doesn't really have a choice. There aren't a lot of ways to interpret the marks on his arms, his torso, his calves. The worst part is that he doesn't know if he's a ticking time bomb or a super-shinobi, but he does know that his only hope is the Fields. Everyone's only hope is the Fields. He knows that that's where a razed village with any sense would have headed – and the Leaf, annoying as it is, has sense. He's positive that the Dragon-Lady of a Hokage would've led them there. If Ino wanted her village, and Kimimaro wanted the Sannin, and the village and Sannin were at the fields – which is what he wants – then it only makes sense for the three of them to travel together.
Ino had a point, about the Badlands. A large, shinobi-run village like the Leaf had half a chance of making it across – conspicuous as numbers were, they were safe. But three ninja? Ha.
Normally. But they're powerful – Deidara knows. Kimimaro is an ex-Sound member, and they aren't weak; Ino had been on the team that had killed Hidan – she was one of the Rookie Nine of Kohona; they had guts.
We could make it. I know we could.
He needed to believe it.
It was what kept his sanity sewn together.
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The world was a chess board. Deidara fancied himself a knight. He likes to think of Ino as a rook, and he sees Kimimaro as a bishop. He wasn't sure if he had a reason, or if he even needed a reason – it felt right, the three of them like that. It felt right in his bones.
And that was what mattered, right? Glory-bound and reckless and young – hell, he's only twenty-two. Ino, he found out, was barely eighteen; Kimimaro almost twenty.
They were youth, and they were great. There were no disposable pawns, no vulnerable kings. They were the perfect pieces, a 3-man army.
Glory-bound.
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It's day two of traveling, still the three of them. After much arguing, grumbling, and griping, they've managed to orient themselves in a general direction; they're sticking together, for now, but the camaraderie is tenuous at best, Ino thinks.
They've been up since the ass crack of dawn and traveling for two hours before they come across a creek. Here they stop, refilling canteens and shucking cloaks and generally washing up. The men give Ino what privacy they can, both of them offering to stand watch as she cleans herself. She takes them up on it and they stand resolutely with backs turned – at first, Ino thinks they're being over-the-top, but then she thinks that maybe it's a trust thing and if she can't trust them with this then she really shouldn't be traveling with them.
It's not entirely necessary, however; Ino leaves on her undergarments as she bathes, exchanging them for a clean pair at the last second before putting her newly washed clothes back on.
She stands watch as they do their thing, and thinks.
Traveling with Deidara is much different from traveling with Kimimaro; Deidara is eager for conversation, trying desperately to catch up with what he's missed. He was captured by Hebi, just after Pein had leveled Kohona; he'd put up a fight, however, and killed 'a dumb redhead bitch' in the process – Ino assumes that this is Karin. He was subjected to experimentation while a prisoner, and he suspected Madara or Orochimaru to be his capturer – Kabuto had been a surprise. And, he'd told her, if he'd known it'd been him, he'd have done something different.
"I don't know what," he'd said last night, just before they'd made camp, "But definitely something."
Deidara is easy to read and passionate, easygoing and honest. Compared to him, Kimimaro was a total stranger – reserved and quiet and really, not that approachable.
Like Sasuke, in a way, she thinks – then immediately dismisses the thought. She was almost eighteen years old, totally over Sasuke, and really –
A shadow falls across her. Ino looks up and nearly jumps – Kimimaro is standing just too close, hair still wet and shirt still off. Ino doesn't know why, or exactly how to word it, but Kimimaro is stealthy – not ninja-stealthy, she would've picked up on that, but something else. Something not-quite normal.
Bloodline.
"Ino?" he says, and it sounds like a question. In his hand is his necklace, clutched tightly. "Can you hold this?"
Ino nods. "No problem." He hands it to her, and she can see that it's a scrimshaw: intricately carved whalebone, a little bit bigger than her thumb. She puts it in her pocket for safekeeping and stands to stretch her legs.
"Ino! Heads up!"
Ino turns just in time to catch the apple that's thrown her way. Deidara shoots her an infectious grin, and she finds herself smiling back. She's surprised – now that he's clean, it's easy to see that he was handsome, beautiful, even – his face is a shade too angular to be cherubic, but it's youthful and bright, with the kind of eyes boys hated and girls wished they had.
Deidara wanders over, clad in loose-fitting pants and mesh shirt. Once upon a time, he might have been muscular – not jacked, but lean – but the time spent in prison has taken a toll on his body. Through the mesh, Ino can make out numerous scars – some surgical, other not-so-neat. She averts her eyes and sits back down.
He sits next to Ino on the rock and bites into his fruit, chews, swallows. "There's a village not too far off from here, yeah. We should probably check it out."
Ino mhms, and wonders to herself when the three of them became 'we.' She transfers her apple from one hand to another, pondering. "Yeah. It's worth a shot, at least. Where is it, exactly?"
"Ten or so miles south of here. We could probably make it today." He takes another bite out of his apple. "Just gotta run it by Miss Priss over there." He jerks his head in the direction of Kimimaro, standing waist-deep in the river and rinsing grime and blood out of his hair.
Ino laughs and elbows Deidara. "Give him a break; you were doing the exact same thing."
"Oh, watching me bathe now are we?" he elbows her back, his eyebrows shooting up suggestively.
"Oh, obviously. You have bacne, by the way." Ino grins.
Deidara rolls his eyes. "Alright, now I know you weren't watching."
"Shut up and eat your apple."
He does just that, and they sit in companionable silence until Kimimaro walks over, donned in a plain white shirt and black pants. Deidara tosses him an apple, and Ino hands him back his scrimshaw. The necklace he clasps around his neck; the apple he contemplates for a moment before eating.
"There's a town just south of here," Deidara says. "I think we should check it out."
Kimimaro arches an eyebrow and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Is that wise?"
Deidara shrugs. "Do you have any better ideas?"
"What if it's infected?"
Deidara snorts. "The world is infected. If it's ghosted, we can see if there's anything to loot. If it's hostile, we'll take 'em. And if they're friendly, we'll see if they've got an inn."
When Deidara put it like that, it sounded like a really nice idea. "I'm game," Ino says. "I mean, if it's ghosted we'll be able to tell from pretty far away, right?"
"Even if it's ghosted – I wanna check it out. You never know what you might find."
"You can check it out," Kimimaro tells him.
Deidara stands. The action puts him just this side of too close to Kimimaro's personal space. "I will," he says. He stands there a moment longer, unblinking; Kimimaro's lip curls ever-so-slightly, and Ino can't help but think that maybe there's just a little too much testosterone.
Deidara tosses his apple core to the side and stalks off.
Kimimaro watches him, then turns to Ino. "Do you think that it's a good idea?"
She sighs. She isn't so sure, but Deidara sounded like he had a plan. "What choice do we have?"
Kimimaro's eyes were thoughtful, boring down into hers. "There is always a choice, Ino."
Ino bit her lip. "Let's at least give it a shot. What could happen?"
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Let's give it a shot, she'd said. What could happen, she'd said.
To answer that: a fucking lot.
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Edo was a small backwater town – and Deidara would like to stress was.
The three of them stood outside the perimeter. It was just after midday. They were mostly out of the woods, having discovered the beaten path that led to the town gates.
Or at least what remained of them.
It was weird, though: the gates were completely destroyed but the stone wall was almost entirely intact. No buildings were burned, and the streets were clear. The fountain still spurted clear water in the town square and a restaurant sign proclaimed, 'open.'
But the town was entirely empty.
Thirty feet inside the wall Kimimaro stopped. "I don't like this," he said.
Deidara rolled his eyes and turned around to face him. "Stop being a pussy. There's nothing here, yeah. We're fine." He shook his head and continued down the cobblestone street. If memory served correctly, the shopping district was just down the main road – and a smithy was to the left, right next to the industrial clay seller. Deidara had come prepared to do some honest stealing, but if the town was abandoned then, well – he wasn't above a little looting.
"There's nobody here," he said. "What's to worry about? C'mon."
"Deidara, maybe he's right." Ino was a few feet behind him, brow furrowed. "I'm not sure if this is such a good idea…"
"You too?" Deidara couldn't believe it. "Come on now, yeah. This is the only place for miles where I'll be able to get my clay, and it's the perfect place for you guys to suit up, too. There's a shinobi smithy –"
"Are you trying to say," Kimimaro said, "That this used to be a shinobi village?"
"Only a little shinobi, yeah. They were the police – this wasn't a hidden village."
Kimimaro shook his head. "This village had shinobi in it and it's entirely wiped out –"
"Empty, dumbfuck, empty –"
Kimimaro continued as if he hadn't spoken. "-and you're just going to parade around as if it were nothing?"
"That," Deidara said with relish, "Is exactly what I plan on doing."
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With Ino acting as the mediator, it was decided: Kimimaro would stand watch at the town square and Ino would cover Deidara's back. At the first sign of trouble, they'd book it; no questions asked.
Personally, Deidara thought that they were being paranoid. It was high noon – no demons would be out, and they could handle the bandits. He could handle the bandits; he'd stood up to team Hebi, hadn't he?
If there were any signs, he figured as he walked down the cobblestone street, it'd be a different story.
Signs – sings of anything. Signs of demons, signs of bandits, of rogues – but this didn't look like any ghosted city he'd seen; really, it looked more like one that Sasori would put under a genjutsu to clear out so Akatsuki could regroup.
Man, wasn't that back in the day…I wonder where Sasori is now, huh.
Thinking about his old partner gave him mixed feelings – vitriolic as their relationship had been, Sasori had been the closest thing he'd had to a mentor in Akatsuki.
The cawing of a crow pulled him out of his thoughts. Deidara wasn't superstitious – well, he hadn't been before – but…
Meet your demise as the crow cries, the saying went. And crows were like the canary in the coalmine – always the first to cry out when a demon was near.
C'mon, he thought to himself. Demons, in the middle of the day? seriously?
"Did you hear that?" Ino asked, coming up at his elbow.
Deidara frowned. "It was just a crow, Ino."
"It's never just a crow. Maybe we should head back."
He shook his head. "It's just down this way – c'mon, five minutes."
She followed along, her hesitation obvious. Deidara resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but he still kept his guard up, watching – just in case.
As he rounded the corner near the alleyway, the smell hit him: like rotting meat and death, cloying and thick – he stopped, slowly pulling a kunai out of the holster at his thigh. He held a closed fist up behind him – the universal signal for stop – and watched as it crawled out in the open.
Deidara nearly vomited. It was a Feeder, a lesser monster that looked like the cross between a mange-ridden dog and a crocodile. It dragged its belly on the ground, not noticing Deidara.
Shit.
He grit his teeth and didn't movie. With the wards up, Deidara wouldn't have to worry; there was no way that a Feeder would be able to get past them.
Unfortunately, the wards weren't up.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck.
And there was another problem.
Feeders are elusive. It shouldn't be out in the open like that… This one's probably working under a Greater –or even an Archdemon. And it's day. What the fuck is it doing out in daylight?!
Fuck!
"Ino," he said, lowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. "We have a little problem."
He heard her exhale. It was loud in the silence; he inwardly winced. "How little?"
"Feeder," he whispered, backing up. "It hasn't seen me yet, but…"
He could hear the surprise in her voice. "What's it doing out in the daylight?"
Like I fucking know?! "I don't know, yeah?"
"Has it seen you?" She bit her lip and cast a glance over her shoulder as they began walking away.
"No. We should be good."
Ino's brow creased. "If that was only a Feeder…there's probably more."
"I didn't see any," Deidara offered, eyes widening when he heard a clamor in the distance. He glanced at Ino, and her thoughts seemed to on the same oh shit page as his.
What did I just get us into…
"Kimimaro," she said. "Fuck."
She took off at a run, Deidara hot on her heels.
Fuck indeed.
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The scrimshaw was warm from when she'd held it.
It felt nice against his throat.
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Abandon all hope, ye who enter here
-Dante
Hello my lovelies! I'm back, happy to say, and finally got around to finishing this chapter...Thank you, Sandy .
Thanks to you all for the feedback. Y'all rock! :3