Far Beyond The Truth

Chapter 4

Deidara froze in his place after Ino could swear seeing him tiptoeing his way inside the cave. The grotto wasn't worth wasting the time contemplating at. All what was there to see were rocks. Those dark stones enveloping the place made it even harder for them to see further into the place. Although she couldn't really see it, but she was sure there had to be some sort of a water pool somewhere. Maybe because of something she heard or even smelled? You know, that feeling when you go to the beach or to a stream of water and you feel you're part of nature? Well, if you get that, then yeah, it's something like that.

Silence roamed in the area, there wasn't really any sound to be heard other than the droplets of water falling from the stalactites scattered all over the ceiling. If there were anything Ino was afraid of at the moment, it would be one of those stalagmites falling on her and crushing the life out of her. She shrugged that spooky feeling off of her and closed the distance between her and Deidara, in case that would ever happen, he would protect her. Or that's what she convinced herself.

Deidara had his own problem to deal with. He didn't pay attention to what the girl was thinking or doing and frantically he couldn't care any less, because he knew he was now stuck with a bigger problem, a very noisy and annoying one to be precise.

The person leaving the shadows definitely caught the girl off-guard. Whether because of his voice and way of talk, or because of the fact that he had a weird -brown?- mask covering his face. She couldn't really make out since the sun was left outside and the only thing that was making the place visible was the fading light coming from the fissures of the rock that seemed to close up without her noticing. What she did manage to see, however, was that he was wearing the same cloak Deidara was wearing. Maybe it was some sort of uniform..? Or traditions..?

She watched as Deidara kept his head down and remained silent, what she supposed it was called "ignoring" as the stranger lifted his hand and pointed at…her?

"Ara, Senpai~! You grew a chest!"

Deidara almost lost his balance while Ino was taken aback not sure if he were really talking to her. She immediately covered her chest with her arms as her face turned slightly pink. Was that what he was staring at all this time behind his mask? She looked beside her towards Deidara, who closed his fists tightly trying to keep his composure.

"Oii Tobi!" He emphasized on the first syllable of what-cleared-to-be his name. "For the last time I'm not a woman, un! You can obviously know I'm not her by my cloak!" he pointed at him accusingly.

"Ahh~ you're right~ but you gotta admit, senpai, she does look like you...could it be…"

Looking at both of them, the masked man gasped, continuously moving his index from him to her. "Could it possibly be…?"

Deidara and Ino both stared at him questioningly, waiting for his answer.

"..She's your mother?"

One

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Three

"WHAT?!" The two blonds shouted in unison.

As soon as Deidara opened his mouth to reply –or should we say, scold- the girl cut him off with unexpected anger as she extended an arm in front of him stopping him from saying whatever he wanted to say.

"Are you saying I look like a thirty-year-old hag!?" she shouted with her fist risen next to her face.

Tobi jumped in his place as he immediately made his way running back to where he came from. Judging by the sounds he was making, he was…scared?

Ino had the same look plastered on her face that Deidara had towards her. While she was surprised by the masked man's sudden escape he was startled by her brusque change of mood and behavior. Where did that come from? Just minutes ago she was that shy calm girl that would barely talk and now she was…yelling at his partner. Oh well, less work for him right?

Tobi made his way back with his right arm scratching the back of his head and the other up waving in a defensive way. He didn't talk though until a short distance separated them.

"No no miss, on the contrary, Tobi thinks you're a beautiful lady! You're as beautiful as senpai!" Ino couldn't help but to let out a small giggle that made the other blond standing next to her grunt as he tried to calm himself down and unlock his fingers clenched together in a fist. "But you and senpai look so much alike and he doesn't have a sister so…" He trailed off with the most cheerful that an apology could ever be.

Nodding to him and letting the subject go, she turned her gaze towards Deidara only to see he wasn't next to her anymore. She looked around the cave for a while before fixing her gaze on the faded yellowness far away in a corner. She walked closer to see him sticking two pouches on his belt inside his cloak. She asked no questions knowing that these most likely contained his weapons. He stood up and patted his waist, checking if the bags were steady enough, before returning to meet her gaze.

"You ready, un?"

The girl nodded. He led the way towards the cave entrance only to be stopped by none other than Tobi.

"Where are you going, senpai?"

"Out." He simply answered, walking past him.

The boy seemed to be disappointed at his answer. His disappointment didn't last long though, for his enthusiasm returned to his way of acting. Well, she didn't really know if this was acting, but there was no way a person like him could be this childish. M aybe he was a tall kid? Why was he with Deidara anyways? Who knows, plenty of questions went through her head at that moment.

"Can Tobi go with you?" He cheered, although the answer was pretty obvious.

"NO." He turned around and snapped. Ino took a step back surprised by his attitude. Well, Tobi didn't seem to do anything serious that deserved such treatment, and even though he kind of humiliated her earlier –yes, calling a girl old is humiliating- he didn't appear to be this bad.

"OOOH, Tobi gets it!" He announced as if he had just solved a three-page-length equation. "This is another girl you're gonna sleep with!" He whispered for everyone to hear. Although, aren't whispers supposed to be for only a person to hear? So it wasn't really a whisper if you asked her…

Ino's right eye twitched as she took another step back away from the blond. A-another..? She thought in fear. He wasn't going to rape her, was he? That was so not part of the plan! What if he did? She just wanted to get this over with already and go home! If only things were this simple…

"Tobiiii," Deidara uttered between clenched teeth. His shaky voice was getting higher with what seemed to be complete irritation. His face wasn't shown much though, his head was tilted down hiding pretty much all of his features, but you needn't to see his face to tell he was really aggravated. "I don't like repeating myself but one more word, and there will be no doubt about the cause of your death." He threatened. "And this time, I mean it."

Silence roamed the place for a minute before Deidara murmured a little "let's go" to Ino and waved motioning her to follow. Ino looked back at his partner as they walked further from him. She had to admit she was curious to know more about the kid, but considering the situation they were in and the fact that Deidara was obviously in no mood to talk, she made a mental note to ask about that later. If he didn't like Tobi why didn't he just ditch him or something? They didn't appear to look like relatives or such.

Just as Deidara lifted his hands to do the same hand seals he used to enter the cave, he was perturbed by his partner's loud thinking. She was still convinced he wasn't crazy enough to talk to himself.

"Now that Tobi thinks about it…Tobi did see this girl somewhere…" He paused to clear his thoughts and give the guy a chance to act. "Ara, Isn't she that girl you—"

The girl waited for him to continue. And waited. And waited. Concluding he wasn't planning to carry on with his words she turned around only to be surprised to see Deidara no longer by her side –again- but next to that guy Tobi. What the..? When did he..? What the hell's going on?

Deidara was standing close holding Tobi by his collar. That wasn't visible to Ino, though, as his back was facing her.

"Yes, she's that girl I saved." He made sure to speak in an audible voice for her.

She couldn't make out the rest of his words to him however as the distance between her and the guys was too long to pick up his whispers.

"Shut. Your blabby mouth." He commanded in a serious tone this time for only Tobi to hear. "If you continue talking, you'll ruin my fuckin' plan, un!" he continued, still whispering.

Tobi seemed to be surprised by his sudden reaction; nevertheless, he didn't question the other guy. Letting himself go from his grip, he turned his head a bit and giggled as he spoke again.

"So…can Tobi come?" His cheery voice came out as a slight threat.

Deidara, wanting to get this thing done already, sighed calming himself down and gave up. Giving him one last glare that said: "you-talk-and-I'll-beat-the-shit-outta-you", he turned around and walked towards the girl that was dumbfounded next to the entrance staring at both of them.

"Fine, you can come, un." Those words were spoken as if they were the hardest thing to ever say. Tobi jumped up and down with joy as he followed him, saying stuff like "you're the best senpai ever" and other things that neither Ino nor Deidara believed he actually meant.

"I thought he wasn't coming?" Ino asked, pointing her thumb back at him and tilting her head in confusion.

"Change of plans, un, he is." He answered dryly.

Deidara did the hand seals and the giant rock flew back up in the air letting sweet sunshine get in their eyes. Well, not too much to Tobi as his mask covered pretty much all of his face except for his right eye. It didn't seem to show though through that small hole. It made her wonder if he really could see through that eye opening.

"Tobi desu!" The boy immediately exclaimed at the girl extending his hand to shake. She stepped back as the boy was invading her personal space and got in the face of the sun.

After blinking few times, her eyes adjusted to the light and saw him clearly. That's one weird orange mask…she pondered.

Realizing he was still waiting for her respond she shook his hand lightly only to be squeezed by the latter. "I'm Ino—aahh!" She took back her hand waving it in pain. "Careful! Not everyone has hands as delicate as mine!" she whined, slightly pouting.

"Ah, sorry Ino-chan! But Tobi thinks Tobi and Ino-chan could be good friends! Don't you think so?" He perked up, walking beside her and looking everywhere examining the area.

Ino quickened her pace to catch up with Deidara, who was convincing himself that having a distance between them was better for his health. Yes, his health.

She tapped him on his shoulder trying to catch his attention. Seeing he wasn't looking back and concluding he wasn't planning to, she let out what was on her mind hoping he was listening to her.

"Who's that?" She pointed back at Tobi, even though she knew he wouldn't see that.

"That's Tobi, un?" He replied, making it seem so obvious and that she was so stupid to ask such question, although he knew what she really meant by her query. He was just trying to gain more time to come up with a good lie.

"No I meant who's that as in what is he to you?" She asked frowning.

Deidara sighed and slowed his pace. Not expecting his partner's movements, Tobi bumped into him perturbing his bouncing all the way behind them.

Stopping in his place and rubbing his right temple with his fingers, he answered.

"He's my worst nightmare."