"Sasuke is none of my concern, yeah." Deidara stated blandly. In all honesty, he was glad the Uchiha was gone. One less ninja for him to fight, at any rate. So now he just needed to get away from Neji, rescue the kunoichi, rescue their medic, too, and then be on his merry way to the next pair of Akatsuki members to fight. Simple, right?
Wrong, evidently.
"B-But…" The dark-haired girl's eyes flicked back and forth between he and Neji. With a mental curse, Deidara realized that she was torn between them. She couldn't decide which side to take.
The Iwa-nin couldn't honestly say he didn't feel a bit betrayed. He had never been good at making friends, and the Hyuuga may have been the closest thing he had ever had. He thought they'd been through enough to form some sort of relationship--bonded by trauma, possibly. But at the same time, he couldn't deny that she had left unwillingly from her home village, and there were still ties that weren't severed. With that thought, Deidara squinted suspiciously at the back of the male Hyuuga. Just how strong was their tie…?
"Could S-Sasuke have been…k-kidnapped?" She asked hesitantly, eyes on her clanmate.
"…Possibly. Without the Sharingan, he's as perceptive to genjutsu as any of us." Neji replied solemnly. Deidara couldn't read anything from his voice, and couldn't see his face, either. He'd have to use the girl to gauge his reactions.
"Bya-chan…we don't have time to waste. The time limit is already half up…yeah." The blue-eyed blonde said awkwardly, and slowly lowered the kunai from his fighting stance. He wanted to know if she would actually leave him, if given the choice. Call it masochistic, but it was also a test of trust. If she turned him down now, he didn't need a partner. He'd just have to rely on his own skills to get into the Akatsuki.
Neji half-turned, eyeing him warily. But the Konoha jounin didn't make any moves to attack. The truce had been called. "Hinata-sama, we'll need to go back to Konohagakure and assemble a proper team to go after Sasuke. And…I'll probably have to apologize as well. Neither of us will be allowed on that mission, undoubtedly."
She gave him a questioning look. Deidara did as well.
"I, well, I technically became a missing-nin. Uchiha and I both."
That was a low blow, the explosives user thought, scowling. But two can play at that game, yeah.
"But Bya-chan," he whined plaintively, "I still need a partner to fight the Akatsuki…! And who's gonna be my partner once I get in, yeah?"
She reddened at the pointed attention she was receiving from the two of them, and hung her head. Her hair shielded her face from view, and Deidara took the opportunity to stick his tongue out at Neji. "Y-You two…" She said finally, and both guys turned to look at her once more. "Would you two please cut it out?" The Hyuuga raised her head again, and looked pleadingly at them. "I-I can't decide."
"Hinata-sama, are you serious--"
She cut him off, "You tried to kill me once." Neji looked so shocked that it was almost comical. In fact, Deidara had to stifle a snicker with his hand. But that only brought the stressed kunoichi's gaze on him. "And you took me away from everything and everyone I love." That stopped his snickering. But she was not done. "You both are special to me, a-alright? Neji-niisan, I love you, but I hate the way the rest of the family treats me. Konohagakure is a cold place toward weaklings like me… But Deidara-kun, you're special to me, too. You don't care that I'm quiet, that I'm weak, that I'm the heiress! You value me for me, and you don't coddle me."
The two shinobi looked at each other, as if surprised that there was an actual contest between them. Deidara chalked it up to the usual male arrogance.
But the kunoichi wasn't done. She may not have been very talkative previously, but it looks like the flood gates had given way. "Neji-niisan…I'm sorry. I'm s-sorry…but Deidara-kun has been nicer to me." The blonde was grinning, but she quickly shot him down. "But I've known niisan so much longer…We have so many more memories together. There are things we share that you and I could never duplicate, Deidara-kun. …I'm sorry."
Now what was she apologizing for? Deidara swallowed nervously. He wasn't liking where this was going. Deny it all he liked, but he had grown attached to her. (But no doubt that Neji was attached to her as well.) He liked her fighting style, he liked her motherly nature, he liked her kindness. The Akatsuki would be a pretty dark place without her.
But then, the poor girl said the magic words. "Wh-Why can't you two just decide…?" They were on each other before she could react. "Without fighting!!" She added hurriedly, successfully halting them both. Deidara reluctantly called back the bird, and Neji just-as-reluctantly pulled his hands back from the Juuken strikes.
"I'm a better shinobi anyway…yeah…" Deidara grumbled, crossing his arms.
He felt Neji's glare, even without the added, "What?"
"You heard me." The blonde snickered. If it came to a verbal battle, he would most definitely win. "I'm the better shinobi here. Though I can't see why Bya-chan can't--"
"Then why are you the one to always run from the fight?" Neji asked scathingly, interrupting his question. Deidara twitched slightly, but mastered his irritation.
"Hmm, let's examine that accusation, shall we, yeah? First fight: I blew up half the forest and was out of there before you and your team even woke up--"
"You only blew it up to try to escape!"
"--and in the second fight, you were drunk, and I was chakra-depleted, yeah, not to mention all of the non-shinobi around--"
"You still ran for it after Sasuke used his Gokakyuu."
"--and this last time, I was only running to rescue Bya-chan, yeah!"
"You have still fled from every fight you're in." The Hyuuga pointed out annoyingly.
"Yeah? Well what about you? I recall that I'm always the one kicking your ass whenever we get together." Deidara retorted dryly, accidentally swearing in front of the lady. At this point, he didn't care, though. But before Neji could reply, he continued, "Besides, I'm obviously the better choice. While I may have kidnapped her, at least I didn't try to kill her."
The poor kunoichi just watched silently, the beginnings of an embarrassed blush coming into her cheeks. Neji, on the other hand, went stark white at that jab. Luckily for him (or Deidara, as the case might have been), she spoke up and broke up any potential fights. "C-Can't you two…um…work this out peacefully…? Please?"
The blonde looked like he might hit Neji anyway, for the fun of it, but stayed still and gave her a curious look. Then, he grinned, and declared, "Bya-chan, even if Neji somehow escapes with you, don't worry, yeah. I'll chase you down again. Because it seems that you've somehow become that important to me."
-.-.-
Neji thought that the Iwa-nin was about to pull a Lee-like stunt and do the good-guy pose. Thank the heavens that he didn't. "Likewise, Hinata-sama." He added quietly, turning his attention back to his cousin.
She was flustered, red-faced and pushing her index fingers together, a habit he had thought she'd abandoned long ago. Hinata honestly didn't know which of them to pick; that only made him wonder at just what they had been through together to create that strong of a bond. She looked increasingly nervous, and if the brunette didn't know any better, he might think that she would pick between them by something as juvenile and hasty as flipping a coin.
Repressing the urge to roll his eyes, Neji also had to wonder if Deidara had any shame. Couldn't the man see that he was forcing her to make an impossible choice? (Absently, Neji's conscious mind was drawn back to his first chuunin exam, and Morino Ibiki's impossible choice.)
Deidara started giggling. The Hyuuga prodigy raised an eyebrow, looking at him incredulously. Hinata must've given him some sort of look as well, because he chuckled a bit more, then explained, "Heh, it was like this game we used to play in Iwa. Like tag, yeah. It's sort of like what we're doing here."
"What kind of missing-nin are you?" The jounin deadpanned.
"An elite one." The so-called elite missing-nin retorted primly.
It was then that the Caged Bird decided to end this game. He was tired of chasing after his cousin, and of the Iwa-nin's arrogance. Hinata needed to come home with him, and hopefully forget this little escapade and Deidara. The first step would be returning to Konohagakure with him, preferably before Deidara could 'tag' him back and steal her again. (He was getting closer to his goal, the Akatsuki, and if he ever made it in with her, it would be just this side of impossible to get her back.)
Temporarily ignoring the kunoichi's plea for no violence, Neji turned to face his opponent. Simultaneously delivering a taijutsu chop to the neck and a Juuken strike to the heart was tricky, but easy, thanks to the element of surprise. Deidara only had time to let out a strangled sound, coughing up a bit of blood in the process, before he was out cold. And before his cousin could stop him, he hauled the Iwa-nin upright, and shoved him off the side of the cliff.
Neji grabbed Hinata's wrist, forcing his chakra down into his feet to cushion his own descent. "Come, Hinata-sama." He said shortly, and jumped, yanking her along with him.
The two Hyuuga shinobi landed safely on the ground. Kabuto looked mildly surprised at the sight of Neji with Hinata, but was too busy healing Deidara to care much. The look Neji gave him probably helped deter him from any chasing.
"Neji!" He knew she wouldn't be happy about that trick. "Wh-Why did you do that?"
"Kabuto is healing him now. He will survive, and he will come after us. I needed to end that before it deteriorated into a fight." He replied shortly. "Or did you want to choose to go with him?"
"…" She looked away, her dark hair hiding her face. "…N-No…I don't know…" And then, in an even tinier voice (that he had to question that he even heard), she added, "Thank you, Niisan…"
-.-.-
Sasuke awoke to large, light eyes staring down at him. Then he felt that he was unbound, though his chakra was depleted. Suigetsu leaned away from him, grinning. "It's nice to see that genjutsu works on even the great Uchiha clan."
"I didn't have my Sharingan." The avenger replied carefully, surveying his surrounding discreetly. He recognized none of it. And without any jutsu, it would take awhile for him to get back to anywhere he would recognize. Just like the Kiri-nin wanted, no doubt.
"At any rate, you won't be able to turn it on for awhile." Suigetsu said idly, examining his nails. Sasuke turned his glare on him, and smirked when he recoiled slightly. (Even without their bloodline limit, the Uchiha clan were famous for their glares.)
"Why are we here?" He asked coldly.
"Simply put, you're going to guide me to Zabuza-sempai's sword. And since I have no idea whether your side ended up with little miss heathen, I am going to help you with two other things." Cheerfulness was restored, even with the continued glare.
Sasuke just stayed quiet, waiting for him to elaborate.
"First, I am going to help you take down your brother. I want his partner, Hoshigaki Kisame, dead." Suigetsu leaned in again, grinning broadly. The Uchiha twitched a bit at it.
"Not interested. I don't need help." The black-haired shinobi stated.
"We'll see. First we're picking up that sword, after all. But…I'm curious, Sasuke-kun. Is that seal stopping you from utilizing your Sharingan?" The Kiri-nin asked innocently, rocking back as he adjusted the belt around his chest. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and didn't answer. "Because if that's the case, we're going to have to get that off, now aren't we?"
Still, he stayed silent.
"There are three people that I know of that can remove that seal. One of them is dead, and I plan on exacting that revenge at a later date. One doesn't tangle with the Akatsuki without the proper weapon, right? But I digress. The second is that bastard, Kabuto. But since he's also with that guy, we're going to have to stay away. The third is who we're going to see."
Finally, Sasuke's curiosity and hatred of the seal got the better of him. "…Who else is there?"
"After we get my sword." Suigetsu said good-naturedly.
Sasuke growled at him. He may not have any jutsus, but he still had his own sword, and he still knew plenty of taijutsu. "Who. Is. It."
The Kiri-nin looked at him for a moment, his smile faltering. "His name is all you want to know? Fine. His name is Juugo. Juugo of the Scales."
-.-.-
Next Chapter: Well, Hinata ended up with Neji! But can the two Hyuuga make it back to Konoha before Deidara catches up with them again? And what about Deidara's test for the Akatsuki, anyway? He's running out of time and who knows who else he needs to fight! But now we know about Sasuke, or at least what happened to him. So what's going to happen to him, and will he give into the temptation of having the seal removed? (Or teaming up with Suigetsu to fight Itachi, for that matter?!)
