Oasis, Chapter 9: The More Things Change
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto


Ino was hunched over a map of the Earth Country trying to trace the group's location when Deidara found her. It was late, and tonight there was only a sliver of a crescent moon, a toothy Cheshire smile in the dark sky that might at any moment open wide and swallow the world whole. A small campfire provided the light she needed to see.

"Hey, Deidara," she called to him when he approached. "Are we around here?" She pointed to a place on the map.

Deidara crouched and peered over her shoulder. "Yeah, give or take. This is the mine." He pointed to a circled spot on the map. "We should get there tomorrow if we haul ass in the morning."

Ino nodded. "Good, that's good."

Kimimaro sat on the other side of the campfire meditating. It seemed to relax him or something, Deidara didn't really get it. The whole meditating thing had never been his jam. What the hell good was it to sit in silence doing nothing? On the bright side, it kept Kimimaro quiet and out of his hair, and these days that was a very good thing. Ever since they'd witnessed that herd moving en masse to the east, Kimimaro had been weirder than normal. Tensions were high between them, with only Ino's excellent mediation skills keeping the final straw from breaking the camel's back. Even now, she sat in between them, and Deidara had no desire to move past her closer to Kimimaro.

"I mean, as long as we don't run into any more Infected herds," Deidara said.

"Yeah," Ino said, folding up the map.

They locked gazes, a silent understanding passing between them. Across the campfire, Kimimaro opened his eyes but said nothing.

"If they were mobilized or whatever," Deidara said, "then that means they got somewhere specific to be, yeah."

Ino swallowed hard and cast a glance at Kimimaro. "Right, but there's nothing out east. It's all destroyed as far as we know."

"As far as we know," Deidara said.

Kimimaro got to his feet. "You two should get some sleep if we're going to make it to Deidara's mine tomorrow," he said. "I'll take the first watch."

He turned to leave, and Deidara rose to his full height. "I'm not tired. I'll stay up with you."

Kimimaro said nothing to that and stalked off into the darkness. Deidara sneered after him.

"Deidara," Ino said.

"You know what he's doing," Deidara snapped at her. "Don't fucking 'Deidara' me, yeah."

Ino got up and glared at him in that way she had that secretly made him feel like half a man, though he'd never let her know it. "If we antagonize him, we won't get anywhere with him," she hissed.

"That's right, we. It's you and me, and then there's him and whatever the hell he's keepin' from us. I'm telling you, he knows about that herd we saw."

"I know Kimimaro keeps his secrets, but don't you think it's a little ridiculous to assume he has anything to do with this?" She gestured to the dark world around her.

"I can smell it on him. Trust me, Ino. My old partner was full of secrets, I know 'em when I see 'em. Boner's got a big fucking secret, and the only reason he's not sayin' anything is 'cause he knows we're not gonna like it, yeah."

Ino searched his face a moment as she gathered her thoughts. Goddamn, she was good at that, planning her words and reactions long enough to not say something she'd regret later. "We'll be at your mine tomorrow. Let's just get your clay, and then we can deal with whatever Kimimaro is keeping. It might be nothing relevant."

Deidara snorted. "Yeah, you keep tellin' yourself that. Aren't you s'posed to be some hotshot interrogator? Don't stand there and act like you don't suspect his lying ass."

Ino averted her gaze, and Deidara knew he had her. She might be good with her words, but she was only human. After Sasori, that was a hell of a lot more to work with than he'd ever had before.

"I say you get inside his head and dig it out of him if he doesn't wanna talk, yeah," Deidara said.

Ino shook her head. "No, I won't do that to him. Just like I wouldn't do that to you, either."

"Yeah, well, I'm an open book, baby."

Her icy stare told him how little she thought of his words. "I have no interest in whatever you did before all this," she said.

"You're a good liar, I'll give you that. But you know I'm right. I'm not the one hiding something that could maybe explain all this shit; he is, yeah."

Ino was not happy, and she wasn't afraid to show it. But she remained silent as she pondered Deidara's words. "Tomorrow," she said at length. "I'll ask him tomorrow."

"And when he decides to stay constipated?"

Ino made a face at his crassness. "If he decides not to be forthcoming, then I'll deal with it."

"No, we'll deal with it."

Deidara marched off in the opposite direction Kimimaro had gone before Ino could chastise him further. He was in a black mood, had been ever since they encountered that mobilized herd, and nothing was making him feel better. The way things were going, he might lose the audience he'd taken so long to find in this ravaged world.

No, he thought to himself as he settled against a boulder just outside the campfire's glow. We might have to get rid of Kimimaro, but Ino'll stay with me.

Ino was tough and sort of gave Deidara the creeps with her Mind techniques, but she could keep up with him in both conversation and battle. And she was easy on the eyes, too. Not like that ever hurt. She'd survived in this hellhole as long as he had, and that was saying something. And if he was really being honest, she'd kind of grown on him. She had a great smile and an even better laugh. When was the last time someone had laughed with him? He couldn't remember. Sasori never laughed, probably never had a day in his life. Kisame had laughed, but always at Deidara, never with him. Everywhere he went, Deidara typically encountered a grand total of two base human emotions directed at him: fear and derision. Unless he was with his fellow Akatsuki, in which case... No, never mind, they also derided him in their own ways, mocking his art or turning up their noses at his flamboyant fighting style.

Ino had never laughed at him, and she didn't seem to be afraid of him, either.

I could give her something to be scared of.

But as soon as he had the thought, Deidara put it out of his mind. He didn't want to scare her off, or give her a reason to leave. Once they got the truth out of Kimimaro—and Deidara suspected it would be a damning truth even Ino wouldn't be able to reconcile—he and Ino could go on alone, get Deidara's clay replenished, and get the fuck out of dodge. Yes, this was the best and only way he could see things unfolding tomorrow once they got the truth out of Kimimaro. And they would get the truth. This was what Ino was built for. Like an animal sensing a threat in the wind, Deidara could sense the danger of Ino and her technique. If she truly wanted to get information from Kimimaro, she could do it with a single look and a little chakra.

Satisfied, Deidara hugged his knees to his chest and let his hands hang in between them as he scanned the rocky terrain for any signs of movement. He let his head fall back against the smooth rock, settling in and getting comfortable in a way only a born and bred Stone shinobi could in this inhospitable land. Some things, perhaps, could never be unlearned. He rubbed his hands together, disturbing the mouths in his palms. They smacked their lips together and stuck their tongues out, itching to taste clay to mold and bend and sculpt. It had been a long time since he'd created anything. The darkness was unchanging as he stared into the distance, and the crackle of the campfire had a soporific effect as Deidara sat there, letting his mind wander.

What if Ino chooses to go with Kimimaro over me?

As though doused with ice water, Deidara jerked out of his reverie. His heart was racing, pounding in his ears, and his forehead and palms were clammy with sweat. The tongues on his palms licked their lips and made clicking sounds, like they felt his sudden and primal distress. What the fuck? What the fuck was he thinking?

She would never...

He rubbed his eyes furiously and clenched his teeth so hard his jaw began to ache violently. Unable to sit still, Deidara got up. Ino was sleeping by the campfire, her back to him. Somewhere nearby, swathed in shadows, Kimimaro would be keeping watch for the Infected. Just thinking about that pale vampire wannabe boiled Deidara's blood. Like Ino would ever choose Kimimaro over him.

She can't, there's no way.

But wasn't there? She and Kimimaro had been together before Deidara found them, and her reluctance to confront Kimimaro or push him was telling. What if she left Deidara? What if they both did? He'd be on his own again, a one-man show with an audience of mindless zombies. A world in silence. No screams, no conversation, no laughter. He'd rather be dead than go back to that.

No matter what, he had to make sure Ino saw reason. Kimimaro was lying to them, Deidara was sure of it. If she could only see that, if the lie was big enough, ugly enough, then surely...

Kimimaro has to go.

It was the only way. Tomorrow, then. Tomorrow, Deidara would make sure of it. He would get Ino away from Kimimaro, and together they could get his clay and fly away from here, somewhere the plague couldn't follow them, across the sea maybe. That would be nice. Deidara had never seen the ocean. In all his time with Akatsuki, he'd never been on a mission that took him to the ocean or had any other reason to be anywhere near the sea. All that water, a vast blue desert, he could only imagine what it must look like. Sun and sand and salt, and Ino, too. But alone... No.

"Tomorrow," Deidara said to himself as he peered at Ino through the gloom.

Tomorrow came all too soon.

As Deidara said, the trio had to set a hard pace in order to reach the cave where the special clay Deidara used in his bombs could be mined. They encountered no resistance from the Infected as they ran, boots beating against the dusty stone ground and never slowing. No one spoke as they ran, though Deidara noticed how Ino kept up with him and let Kimimaro bring up the rear on his own.

She'll choose me, Deidara thought to himself. She already has.

All that was left was to confront Kimimaro. When they stopped briefly for lunch, Deidara decided to do just that. But Ino picked up on his intentions and intervened.

"Stop," her disembodied voice reverberated in his head.

Disoriented at the haunting echo in his head, Deidara stopped and rubbed his temple. Ino got in between Deidara and Kimimaro, who was standing by himself and chewing on some jerky.

"Ino," Deidara said, the warning clear in his tone. "It's tomorrow."

They glared at each other a moment, and Deidara was truly astounded at how little she gave away despite her actions. He had the sudden thought that this was not easy for her, admitting he was right. When had it ever been easy for anyone to admit Deidara was right?

"Kimimaro," Ino said, still facing Deidara.

Kimimaro was watching them discreetly, and he pocketed the rest of his food to listen.

"What," he said.

Deidara was done being patient and shoved past Ino. "Remember what I told you would happen if I found out you were lying about anything?"

Kimimaro shifted seamlessly into a defensive stance, ready to fight if need be. It was second nature to him, like an animal. Fitting, Deidara thought. Only a feral beast could have ever survived with Orochimaru for so long.

"Be careful, Deidara," Kimimaro said.

Ino caught up to Deidara and once again got in between them. "Stop," she said aloud this time. "Deidara, I mean it."

"You said tomorrow, and I gave you the day. I'm a patient guy, but I've got my limits, yeah."

Kimimaro looked between his traveling companions. "Ino," he said. "What is he talking about?"

Ino took a steadying breath and faced Kimimimaro like it was the hardest thing she'd ever done. "Kimimaro," she began softly but sternly, "we need to talk."

"About?" Kimimaro asked, unmoved.

"About the herd we saw the other day."

"About what you know and you're not telling us, that's what," Deidara added.

There was a tense moment of silence as Kimimaro surveyed them, and Deidara thought he saw something change in Kimimaro's normally implacable features. Surprise? Anger? Or maybe fear? Whatever it was, Ino seemed to pick up on it, too.

"You've been acting strangely ever since we first met," she said, going to Kimimaro slowly like one might approach a caged animal. "I know I said I didn't want to pry or push you, but this is different. This is about all of us, our safety. I have to ask... What do you really know about that herd? About all of this?"

Kimimaro stared at her like he didn't know who she was. "No," he said.

"Kimimaro, please—"

"You said you wanted to help me. This isn't the way."

Deidara had just about had it. He brandished his explosive fist at Kimimaro. "Dude, you better tell us what's goin' on or I'll blow your goddamned head off, yeah."

"I do want to help you," Ino insisted. "But I can't do that unless you help me. Us. We're a team."

Kimimaro bared his teeth in a sneer and averted his gaze. "A team? Do you know what happened to my last team? They died."

"Join the club, asshole," Deidara said.

Ino went to Kimimaro and snatched his hands in hers. "Please," she entreated him. "If you know something about that herd that could help us survive this or even stop it, then you have to tell us."

Kimimaro looked ready to take a bite out of her, but he didn't pull away. "Stop this? No one can stop this. It's already done."

"That's it," Deidara said, advancing. "I've known guys like you all my life. The only way to get through to you is to beat it into you, yeah."

He moved quick as lightning, and even Kimimaro was not fully prepared for the sudden violence Deidara unleashed. In a half a breath, Ino was thrown bodily aside as Deidara crashed into Kimimaro and they became embroiled in a storm of fists and snarling. Deidara put his chakra into his punches, but what should have blown off an arm on a regular person merely broke the skin on Kimimaro, whose bones were harder than steel and unbreakable. Deidara felt the bones in his temple crack when Kimimaro elbowed him in the face at full power. His vision swam, and it was all he could do to fight back and wrestle Kimimaro into submission, fuck the pain, he'd had it much worse and he'd be damned if he let Orochimaru's lapdog get the better of him.

The skirmish ended all too abruptly when all of a sudden, Deidara lost control of his limbs. Against his will, he untangled himself from Kimimaro and backed away, shaking as he fought against this possession that inhabited him like a demon. Powerless, he moved under someone else's control, a puppet given up to the whims of the puppet master. He had a sudden and violent flashback to the first time he'd ever met Sasori, a true puppet master if ever there was one, and how Sasori had overpowered him so easily with his chakra strings, like he was nothing but a doll. All that hard work, all the training, the genius, the explosion that was Deidara was rendered meaningless then under Sasori's control, and now under Ino's.

She was breathing hard through her teeth as she controlled both Kimimaro and Deidara with her Shintenshin, their will to destroy each other proving a formidable obstacle to overcome. But she did it all the same, and neither of them moved. Kimimaro was bleeding from a gaping wound in his stomach where Deidara had super punched him, but his bloodline limit was already healing the superficial damage. Deidara's eye swelled shut as the fracture in his face throbbed with pain and filled with blood.

"Enough!" Ino bellowed.

Her voice seemed to echo a thousand times over in Deidara's head, and if he could cover his ears he would have. She was everywhere at once, a ghost haunting him, as real as she was standing there just a few feet away.

"Release me," Kimimaro said, the venom in his tone unmistakable.

"No," Ino said, just as scathing. "Kimimaro, I'm sorry. I didn't want it to be like this, but you leave me no choice. If you won't tell us what you know, then I'll have to find out for myself."

She really can dig out his deepest secrets, Deidara thought. He'd known it all along, but to confront it like this was another feeling entirely. He was suddenly afraid, a preposterous feeling, for he really had nothing he was actively trying to hide and did not give a shit if she knew who he really was, what he'd done. And yet, to be laid bare on an operating table as she dissected him to the bone was a prospect he did not relish, and it wasn't even him she was after.

Fucking hell, she really can see it all.

Ino caught his eye suddenly, like she'd heard what he'd been thinking just then. Maybe she did. Of course she did.

Deidara had never been able to hide much from Sasori unless he stayed silent and kept his head down. With Ino, even that wouldn't work once she was inside his head. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Kimimaro, the prospective subject of her unique brand of mental dissection, could be feeling now. For his part, Kimimaro just looked angry and visibly exhausted.

"Please," Ino said to Kimimaro. "Don't make me do this. I don't want to."

She and Kimimaro shared a significant look, and Deidara could only wonder at what they might be saying, if anything. What was there to say to a liar like Kimimaro? He was Orochimaru's creature through and through. He'd seen the effect Orochimaru had had on Sasori, the tormenting loneliness, the distrust of anything and everyone, the violent games he played just to feel like he was in control, the way it broke him, piece by piece over the years and there was little Deidara could do. Orochimaru had been out of Sasori's life for years, and still he killed Sasori a little more each day. There had been nothing Deidara could do until someone else, some pink-haired kunoichi from Konoha, had finally laid Sasori to rest. What a way to go, at the hands of a beautiful woman immune to his poison. Maybe it was a mercy. Maybe Kimimaro needed mercy, too.

"Ino," Kimimaro said in a voice that did not sound like him at all. Almost pleading, like a dream, far away and foggy.

When Ino began to cry silently, Deidara could not for the life of him understand.

"Orochimaru is dead," Kimimaro said at length. "But...Kabuto may not be."

"What the fuck did you just say?" Deidara demanded.

Kimimaro ignored him and kept his eyes on Ino. "He was experimenting with Orochimaru's cells. I don't know the details, only that whatever happened, he's the source."

"The source?" Ino said, aghast. "You mean..."

"He's Patient Zero," Kimimaro said. "The Infection, it began with him."

Ino had no words, but Deidara sure as hell did. "Yakushi Kabuto, that four-eyed medic? The one who turned on Sasori?"

Kimimaro looked at Deidara for the first time since he finally revealed the truth. "Sasori... Orochimaru often spoke of him. Sasori was his old partner in Akatsuki. For you to know that name..."

"Akatsuki?" Ino said, perhaps even more horrified than she'd been before. She looked at Deidara, putting the pieces together, and suddenly everything was out in the open.

And Deidara was not ready for it.

He could see it, the disgust, the horror, the fear he saw on so many others when they realized what he was. Akatsuki. It was a dirty word in most circles, something he'd once fooled himself into being proud of when he'd had no choice but to stay with the criminal syndicate. But now... He couldn't stand that look on Ino, of all people. She was good, and it was gone quickly, masked like everything else she kept a lid on in this mad world, but he would never forget it. So fuck it, it was out, like he gave a shit.

"Yeah, I was Akatsuki," Deidara said. "And now I'm not. They're all dead 'cept me, and good fuckin' riddance. But you could've asked. I was never hiding it. Not like you. Fucking Kabuto? You knew this entire time, and you never said a goddamned word!"

"She knew where I came from," Kimimaro said. "I told her a long time ago. You knew it, too."

Ino was still trying to process all this. "Shut up! Both of you!"

Deidara writhed as he felt her control tighten over him, like a noose around every inch of his body. It was uncanny how much it reminded him of Sasori's control, but where the latter's was purely physical, Ino's control seemed to originate from inside, like it had been there all along waiting for the right time to awaken. It felt like more than the couple minutes that passed like that as Ino tried to think, and Deidara was almost convinced he'd already suffocated and died at least twice now.

When she released him, he staggered on his feet and had the overwhelming urge to vomit the sad mealy apple and hard cheese he'd had for breakfast. He gallantly resisted, however, and derived some small measure of pride when he saw Kimimaro similarly indisposed and struggling to regain composure.

"Okay," Ino said. "This is what's going to happen. We're going to keep going and get Deidara's clay."

"Wait, what?" Deidara said, nearly choking on his own tongue. "No fuckin' way we're going anywhere with him, yeah!"

Kimimaro, mysteriously, said nothing.

"We need him, Deidara," Ino reasoned, her tears still glistening on her cheeks but her gaze hard, imploring. "I know you can see that. If you were Akatsuki, then you know more than anyone how important partners are for survival."

No way. He couldn't believe it. She's not seriously choosing him...

"I'm not choosing sides," Ino said, as though reading his mind.

Is she? Is she reading my mind?

"I told you before, I'm not interested in your past," she went on.

"Ino, are you fucking kidding me? He just admitted Kabuto's probably alive and was definitely the cause of all this! You're not seriously ignoring that," Deidara said.

"No, I'm not. Just like I'm not ignoring the fact that Akatsuki murdered my teacher," she bit out.

Deidara bit his tongue, taken aback.

"Hidan and Kakuzu," Ino said, her voice shaking a little. "My team killed Kakuzu and buried Hidan until...until he came back Infected." She glanced askance at Kimimaro. "He's dead for good now."

Shit.

Hidan and Kakuzu were known for dismembering their marks. It was a sick psycho ritual for Hidan in particular. He'd seen Hidan's work before, and could imagine what it must have been like for Ino's teacher. Not pretty.

The sad part was that despite his ineptitude, Hidan had been a pretty okay guy to shoot the shit with considering the company Deidara kept. Looking beyond the religious zealotry, Hidan was probably the most easygoing member of Akatsuki. He didn't have the hidden agenda Itachi or Kisame had had, or the natural laconic violence of Kakuzu or Sasori, or the untouchable dismissiveness of Pein and Konan. And Zetsu was a goddamned plant.

"That's my past," Ino said. "I'm a Konoha interrogator. You were Akatsuki. And you," she turned to Kimimaro, "used to work for Orochimaru. That's not who we are anymore. That world doesn't exist anymore."

"It's not so easy," Kimimaro said softly, "to just say that."

Ino stared at the ground. "It is if I say it is." She clenched her fists. "Everyone I used to know is gone. Dead, lost, Infected, it makes no difference. I wanted to use you, both of you, to find them. Anyone." She wiped her eyes and forced herself to look at them. Deidara was not expecting the hard solemnity of her gaze. "But we might be the last ones. So I don't care anymore, what we did, who we were. What I care about is staying together.

"You're not Hidan," she said to Deidara. "And you're not Kabuto," she said to Kimimaro.

"No, but that fucker's out there somewhere. That herd? It just proves it. I bet he's alive and controlling them," Deidara said. "And I'm not spending another minute with this lying sympathizer."

"I do not sympathize with Kabuto," Kimimaro said forcefully. "If I'd known..."

He trailed off.

"What?" Deidara snorted derisively. "Lemme guess, you woulda done the noble thing and tried to stop him? That's rich, yeah."

"I would have killed him like I killed Orochimaru," Kimimaro said.

"You... You killed Orochimaru?" Ino said.

Kimimaro looked uncomfortable, which in his case was a combination of lemon face and constipated. "I put him out of his misery. It was a mercy killing. He was too weak to put up a fight. Another body transfer would have killed him and his next vessel, anyway."

"Che, figures," Deidara said.

Ino was not so dismissive. "Orochimaru's next vessel was supposed to be Sasuke," she said.

"Yes," Kimimaro said. "The Uchiha did not want to become a vessel, and I did not want to see Orochimaru suffer any further. It was a mutually beneficial outcome."

Ino covered her mouth, for some reason shaken by this revelation. "You saved Sasuke's life?"

"Oh, great. Thanks for that. Not," Deidara said. "That stupid punk ruined my masterpiece and almost got me killed, yeah."

"It doesn't matter now," Kimimaro said. "As you said, everyone is gone, lost or dead or Infected. We...are the only ones left."

"Us, and Kabuto," Ino said.

"Forget this," Deidara said. "Ino, let's go."

"No," she said. "No, we stay together."

"Are you fucking kidding me? He coulda stopped Kabuto and he didn't! If anything, Kimimaro's the reason we're in this mess!"

"He's right," Kimimaro said. "I should have killed Kabuto when I had the chance. I didn't."

"Yeah, see?" Deidara said. "I'm right."

She was back to the icy front, the cold hard interrogator who buried her emotions and got the job done. Gone were the tear tracks, the shaking hands, the searching eyes, the vulnerability.

"If we stay together, we can survive," she said at length. "We need to trust each other."

"Trust? I gave him a chance to earn my trust, and I said I'd kill him if he betrayed it, yeah," Deidara bit out.

"You're one to talk, Akatsuki," Kimimaro shot back.

"That's enough," Ino said forcefully.

"No, it's not," Deidara said. "You have to choose, Ino. Me or him. I'm sure as shit not sticking around with him after this."

Kimimaro did not dispute that, and Ino took a moment to consider.

"All right," she said. "After we get Deidara's clay. Until then, we stay together and no one tries to kill each other."

For the life of him, Deidara could not detect any hint of sympathy in her tone. As exposed as he'd felt under her influence, there was little gauging Ino's true thoughts and feelings.

"Ino," Kimimaro said, approaching.

"Don't," she said, pulling away. "Let's just go."

She took off ahead of them, and Deidara and Kimimaro had no choice but to follow. They shared a fleeting glance, angry and bitter and unapologetic and unyielding, and Kimimaro followed Ino.

"This can't be happening," Deidara said to himself when he was alone.

But it was happening. This was the new reality, as he'd told them both. Freedom from Akatsuki, freedom from his past. And yet, his old colleagues' sins had caught up to him. He was back in Stone territory, where he'd sworn never to return. And he was once more in Orochimaru's shadow, inescapable even now. The truth was supposed to set you free. All it had done for Deidara was put him right back where he'd started, and this time more alone than ever. If she chose Kimimaro over him...

"No matter where I go, how much things change...it's all the same," he said, wanting to cry as Ino had. It would change nothing.

Deidara ran after Ino and Kimimaro. There was nowhere else to go.


I binge played The Evil Within recently because I'm totally not busy with important real-life obligations and got super fired up about zombies, hence the update here. (The Keeper reminded me so much of Infected!Hidan coming back to life and scaring the crap out of me, was not expecting it the first time around oh my god.) This was going to have a lot more content originally, but it got way too long, so I had to chop it in half. Deidara gets his metaphorical Green Gel in the next chapter and some much needed stat upgrades, so look forward to that. Until then, feel free to leave a review! I accept praise, concrit, inane rambling, and impassioned screaming in all languages.