Author's Note: I kinda worked fast on this chapter so I apologize in advance, lol.

Reviews are always appreciated.

Far Beyond The Truth

Chapter 3

The broken window was the only aperture that allowed the sun rays to enter the room. After that heavy storm that took place the previous night, everything seemed to be much calmer and serene. Although that place, which seemed less threatening now that the chilliness and the agonizing sound of thunder died away, was still dull and dreary as it was before. For the light not to be pervasive where they were, it was still somber, but it did leave a gleaming spot –with the shape of the rectangular gap- on a portion of the ground. That's where he was, with his nonchalant eyes closed and his arms crossed behind his head, laying down there on the floor with his upper half of his body feeling the warm sunlight he missed for a couple of days. His cloak and shirt were now placed beside him where that girl, who was fulfilling her part of the deal, was crouching on her knees.

Deidara fluttered his eyes open, slowly accepting the brightness, as he looked up and stared outside the small opening at some of the clouds scattered in the sky. He let them slide down to see the girl who seemed distracted in a deep thought. He rolled them back up, again, to the sky to clear his mind.

What is she planning, un. Is it possible that she remembered who I am? No. Impossible. If she did she wouldn't be helping me. Either way, I have to be chary of her and get to Konoha as fast as I can. Who knows when she's gonna regain her memory, and when she does I can't miss it, it's all a matter of time. Plus, I must not forget the fact that she's a Yamanaka, if she happens to get into my mind my plan will be a total waste, un. Not to mention putting the Akatsuki at risk. I have to gain her trust. Heh, this is surely gonna be fun, un.

"What's wrong." He broke the silence.

Ino got back to herself and looked down to her left to see Deidara, not bothering to look at her and his face showing no interest at all. Was he trying to start a conversation with her? Why would he do that? She wavered whether she should answer or not. Most likely because what she was thinking about was the upcoming event that was going to take place after a short period of time. All she hoped for was that he wouldn't kill her after she was done. And even if he didn't kill her and just let her go, how was she supposed to get back home now that she knew nothing about where the hell home was and where the hell she currently was. There must be a way out of this quandary.

"Earlier before," she started, "after I accidently punched you in the face, you said 'that's not a way to treat the person who helped you', or something like that, didn't you say you don't help people? And how is kidnapping me counted as helping?" She finished, seeming more determinant and bold.

The man, still not showing any interest whatsoever, moved his stare to the ceiling, boredom clearly showing in his eyes. He sighed before answering her question that had been asked three minutes ago.

"First, dumbo, I didn't kidnap you. I found you lying down on the ground unconscious. There was..some sort of a fight between some shinobi's and as I was passing by, I found you. I went there to check up on you and got injured by one of the ninjas fighting. You know what they say eh? Curiosity killed the cat? And since I noticed that you were a medic-nin I thought maybe you could heal my wound and thus, here we are. You should be thankful I didn't leave you there to die and rot. As for the helping part, don't think I wanted to help you, it was just an indirect way of helping myself, un." he chuckled on the last words.

Ino took in what he had just told her. Was it safe to believe what he had said? But then again..

"What about that kunai you had?"

"Other than being an artist, I have a slight experience in what concerns our ninja world. In other words, I am a shinobi aswell." He concluded, as a small grin appeared on his face.

"Oh, I see. Is that why you have those stitches on your arms and chest?"

Deidara paused again before answering her question. He forgot all about those. "For the ones on my arms, yeah, as for the one on my chest.." Saying that, he smiled. "..it's part of my art, un."

Ino turned her face to stare at him, even though he was still not looking.

"Art?"

"Yup, just like these." He raised his left arm from under his head and showed her his palm that leered as soon as it reached her gaze. Wait…what?

A tongue came out of what seemed to be a mouth on his hand and almost reached her nose if she hadn't fallen back and supported herself with her hands. She kept staring at it in a disgusted way till she finally spoke.

"Eww, wh-what the hell is that?"

"Che, you people wouldn't understand Art even if it hit you on your goddamn face." Was all what came out of the blond's mouth.

Ino's guilt ate her tongue and she went back to her work on his injury. She shouldn't have said those last words. Although, was this all a good or a bad thing? Being a shinobi means, if he were no longer in need of her, he could simply get rid of her without a problem. But then again, if he were to keep his promise, he would make a perfect escort for her. If only she could read his mind…

The young female suddenly stopped her work as she let her hands rest on his chest. He raised an eyebrow as he finally decided that it was time to look at her.

"It's over already, un?"

Ino sneered as she turned her gaze to meet Deidara's. Looks like someone was starting to gain back their personality.

"I'm not continuing this healing process until I get back to my village, and just to let you know, you won't last long if it's not well-taken care of, I don't have to be an expert to tell you that, yeah." She stated sharply, not breaking the stare.

"What? You can't possibly be serious, un." He let out a small chuckle.

"I'm dead serious." She shot back, fortitude showing clearly in her eyes.

"We agreed that you heal me completely then I go helping you with whatever is wrong with you, besides, you do realize it's gonna take us a while to help you, right?"

"I do, I can help you a bit every a couple of days or so. You said yourself I can't guarantee you helping me, so.."

The man stood up, stretching to get used to his body. He lifted his hand up to examine his nail-polished nails.

"There are other medics in this world you know, I can simply go fetch another one." He said in an amused tone.

"So you're just going to kill me?" She asked, not really caring about the answer.

"Who said I was killing you in the first place?" He faked a shock. "I was really planning on helping you to help myself, a deal's a deal, un. Buuut if you really don't want me to do it then fine, I'll be on my way to find another medic who doesn't even require a favor." He grabbed his clothes and walked towards the door that led outside the storage.

"Wait…"

A wicked smile made its way on Deidara's face as he stopped to let her carry on with what she was saying.

Ino was looking at the ground confused. She didn't know if she should really trust his words and go along. Even after she had healed a fraction of his wound and broken the deal, he still didn't kill her. Maybe he wasn't that bad after all.

"Fine. I agree. But I won't continue till after the third day of the trip."

The man sighed and scratched the back of his head, giving up. He mumbled a little "whatever" as he started to put on his shirt and cloak. The girl watched as he took out what looked like a conical straw hat out of his cloak and placed it on his head. Those ornamental torques and tassels that were hanging down over his face couldn't be missed.

Straw hat…

Dark cloak with red clouds…

Straw hat…

Dark cloak with red clouds…

"Oii, Ino, you gonna come along or what, un?" He snapped her out of her chain of thoughts.

"Y-yeah, I'm com—wait…what did you just call me?" Her eyes were now wide open, waiting for his answer.

"Hm? Oh, Ino? Yeah, that's your name, Ino Yamanaka," He replied, his face never losing his smirk. "..that's what I found on this for the least." He took out the card he found in her bag from his pocket and kept looking at it as he flipped it back and forth.

The girl, seeing what he had in his hand was clearly hers, snatched it away then stared closely at it reading the print.

"K-kono-ha.."

"Konohagakure," He finished. "..that's where we're heading." He turned around letting the wind blow in his wide cover.

Realizing he wasn't planning on waiting for her, she grabbed her bag and picked up the pace, following him without saying anything at all.

"But before that…we have to do a little stop."

Ino couldn't help but to feel that he wasn't too pleased when saying those last words. Or maybe it was just the effect of the cold weather? Who knows..

"What stop?"

"As you can see, I have neither weapons nor clay on me, and without these, I can't really do my art, so I'm almost useless, un."

She nodded in agreement as she looked down not paying attention to where they were going. She wasn't really in the mood to talk so she just kept following the dark figure in front of her.

"As for team 10,

Ino Yamanaka."

The girl stood up from her seat nodding. "Yes."

" Chouji Akimichi."

Nodding at the teacher without bothering to stand up, a fat kid, with spiky brown hair sticking out of his forehead protector which was worn like a bandanna around his head, murmured a little "yes", munching on his chips one chip after another.

Ino stared at him with disgust before turning around to meet her other teammate.

"Shikamaru Nara."

The look on the girl's face worsened. She knew the guy with the dark spiky hair tied in a ponytail. Other than being an old friend of hers and the son of her father's friend, he was the laziest person ever, so he couldn't possibly be a good teammate and he –along with that other guy- would surely lead to her failure in the next chunin exam.

"Us, with that girl? Dang it's gonna be so troublesome." she heard Shikamaru say.

"Oh Sakura is so lucky…" She whined sliding down on the desk.

Ino opened her eyes slowly to wake up. Again.

"Do you randomly fall asleep like that all the time or what, un?" She heard a guy say next to her.

She turned to her right to see Deidara's face close to hers. Looking around, she realized that he was holding her between his arms bridal style as he was still walking and not bothering to look at her. Looking away to hide her blush, she waited a few seconds before asking her question.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"About three hours now." He replied, still focusing on the road.

The female blonde tried to move signaling him to let her down but to no avail.

"You can put me down now, you know. You must be tired anyways…" She said, still looking away.

"Naah, I'm enjoying that, un." He said with the same grin on his face.

She gave him a questioning look.

"What's to enjoy?"

"You, un." He teased. "Aren't you enjoying it?" He asked getting closer to her face.

Ino's blush grew even wider as she pushed his face away.

"N-no? Of course not, in your dreams blondie."

"Yeah sure, un, that's why you tried to kiss me earlier. I bet that's why you always sleep. You wanna keep dreaming about me." He teased in a singing tone. Was this smirk of his ever going to disappear?

The girl, not wanting to carry on with the conversation anymore, looked down to prevent him to see her tomato face and tried to explain her situation.

"Hey that's totally not fair! It was all just because—! Ahhh!"

Ino was interrupted by feeling her derrière hit against the ground and feeling the wet cold water on her skirt as she landed on one of the puddles caused by the heavy rain of the previous day's storm. Deidara had thrown her off of his hands as he stopped in front of a giant rock that blocked the way. Strangely enough, all traces of his earlier teasing were wiped out of his visage and were replaced by a solemn one.

"We're here." He muttered.

Just before she could add anything, the giant rock immediately flew up in the air after Deidara did what seemed to be a hand seal.

He walked towards the cave and she followed him quietly dusting her clothes.

"We have to do this quick, un. I really don't wanna be seen by—"

"Senpai~! You're back!"