Chapter Thirteen: A replacement that fails its duty to replace…
"Hey, so do you have a nickname or something, or do I just call you Ino, un?"
Ino didn't answer. She didn't want to be rude but she couldn't bring words to her lips without them choking on her tears, turning them into ugly, incoherent sobs.
"Just Ino" she whispered and kept her head down.
This was her new bodyguard, this time it was so she didn't escape, not so she could have the liberty of freedom. The liberty of freedom that was needed because this man was one of many who accused her of eavesdropping leading her father to conclude to a grim deal that made her heart hard and her stomach gnarl into a cold knot just thinking about it.
She wondered if Kakuzu had known; had he brought her back now so her father's plans could continue.
No. No he hadn't.
"Oh alright then, I am Deidara, yeah"
The taller, male blonde pursed his lips. He expected this to be a quick, stern silent job that only involved making sure she didn't try to crawl out the window.
But she looked so sad and she looked like him so in a weird way, he felt sorry for her and had tried to delve into a conversation that was short lived.
He was still waiting for Inoichi and Pein to finish with the details. Deidara didn't know why they couldn't just leave the girl be, give her some cash and let her be on her way. She struck him as someone who wanted just that. But Inoichi seemed like a confused, tired old man.
"I guess you remember me then, un" he chuckled. Rubbing the back of his head with a nervous grin as he recalled the events of their last encounter; more or less, she was wearing a lot less than she was now.
"It's alright you know, you were just following orders" she managed a half-hearted smile but never raised her head to meet his gaze. Deidara sighed.
"I was, to be fair, yeah"
"…Why did you follow me, chase us?"
"Because you heard too much, that night remember, un?"
Ino sat back and this time did look up and stared at him with startled urgency.
"But…I never…did hear anything. A bit of swearing but that was all!" she cried, tars brimming in her soft blue eyes.
The Akatsuki didn't respond at first, just looked at her blankly before his mouth parted and his one, deep sapphire eye widened.
"Shit, are you sure, yeah?"
"Of course I am sure, do you really think I could do something dangerous with information anyway?!" Ino subconsciously gestured to herself and Deidara didn't need to ponder to figure she was right.
"…Oh fuck, this is going all wrong; you heard important, serious plan details. That's why we pursued you for so long, un!"
There was an uneasy silence of revelation and horror. When Ino stood up and fisted her palms, teeth gritted and eyebrows narrowed. Deidara watched her cautiously.
"And…Kakuzu left because he thought I was in danger, if…if you lot had figured this out sooner he might still be here!" She suddenly directed her anger onto the young man and he backed away, raising his hands in defence.
"Hey, I'm sorry, yeah"
Ino didn't continue her hostility however; she only loosened her fists and fell back onto the bed again. Being in her room didn't have the same warm familiarity it did before. It felt like a prison.
"It doesn't matter now, I have no idea what my dad…what Inoichi is going to do with me so Kakuzu couldn't have stayed anyway" she muttered, talking to herself more than addressing Deidara who cocked his head to the side slightly.
"You really did like the guy didn't you, un?"
"Of course, he protected me, respected me….loved me" she trailed off and a tear fell down her cheek. Deidara had the sudden urge to wipe it away; along with the urge to go downstairs and pound Inoichi.
He was an unfeeling, powerful Akatsuki member, yet when encountered by someone who was like a mirrors reflection of him, who had lost so much in such a short space of time. It really reaches into you and tugs at your heart strings in a painful way.
"He still loves you, yeah" he countered but Ino eventually lay down and curled up, burying her head in her pillow, soaking it with her tears and probably snot.
How attractive.
She remembers when being attractive and teasing was all she ever cared about. It made her feel a little ill now.
"I am not your best friend, I am not going to sit here and tell you that he loves you and one day you will ride into the fucking sunset, but I can tell you that when...if you get out of here, you might have lost your home. But at least you know you have got away with a treacherous bastard with a heap of cash and you are on your way to better things or something. Kakuzu might even find you, un"
Ino smiled a little into her pillow, but was too broken to properly respond so more silence ensued as it started to rain.
"Are you sure this is what you want, I don't want you coming back to bite and bark at me for doing something you clearly wanted"
"I am sure"
Pein gave Inoichi a sceptical look which really just appeared as his normal face as he didn't spend much time indulging in obvious facial expressions.
But he wanted to make sure this deranged fool was happy with his decision to just rid of his daughter completely.
"Yes, I am sure, why are you still wasting your time?" Inoichi growled.
Pein raised an eyebrow and turned to the door.
"We still need to question her, see what she knows. Then we will dispose of her"
Like trash, like she was nothing more than an old rotten apple core that had no feelings.
"Whatever but I want my money"
"And I want the key and information. I have priority and power over you, old man, don't push me"
The cold, irritated tone of the man's voice silenced Inoichi and the blonde nodded and sat back in his chair.
The pierced man left silently, closing the door behind him with a swift snap. Inoichi took another swig of his burning drink.
Ino stayed quiet as Konan came up to the window and spoke to Deidara.
"Pein is going to talk to her, than Hidan and Allira will stay to collect the key, deliver the money and kill the girl. Pein is busy otherwise" the blue haired woman told the blonde man who gulped but nodded slowly.
"Who ordered her death, does the old man know about this, yeah?"
"He is the one that ordered it"
"The old bastard has the audacity to kill his own innocent daughter, un!"
Ino twitched.
"We don't get involved Deidara, just watch her until you are dismissed" and with that, Konan left in a flurry of crisp white pages.
The artist didn't need to turn and tell the girl as she was up at the door, snarling and screaming and roaring.
"You bastard, you fucking asshole, how could you do this, I could have left and you could live here on your own with nothing but your bitter fucking drinks but no, you have to end me, what the fuck is wrong with you son of a bitch!?" the words were cracked, mixed with tears and sobs.
Deidara would have comforted her, but it wasn't his business to do so.
Ino collapsed against the door and shook, crying and wailing, shaking her head over and over again as though she had truly lost her mind.
She wanted Kakuzu; she wanted his warm, rough embrace.
Ino flinched at the cold hand on her shoulder but turned round to glare at her guard nonetheless.
"Look, how good are you at fighting, yeah?"
"Wh-why the fuck does that matter?" she hissed eyes blurry from the tears. Her eyelashes were drenched.
"Maybe I turned around for one minute, one minute that you took to smash a lamp round my head and 'knock me down' whilst you made it for the window, un?"
His voice was urgent, he felt stupid for even suggesting this. How could he handle the teasing from the guys when they found out he was beaten down by a girl?
But maybe, for some weird, look-alike complex, he would take it.
Ino just stared at him as though he was mad.
The night air and the rain lashed at her tender skin, bruising it with snares of raw chill but she didn't care, the rapid beating of her heart and the sweat from the adrenaline kept her warm.
Jumping down, she clumsily rolled onto the drive, taking a moment to regain her breath and let the wash of sudden pain in her ankles and wrists subside she looked up at the woods across the road and opposite her house.
Ino got up and she ran.
Deidara watched her from the window with narrowed eyes of concern and the rising feeling of stupidity in his gut.
Viciously pulling the hair out of her eyes, she clambered over a large tree trunk and slowed down as the adrenaline faded and her feet began to hurt. How far in was she, how much further until she reached something other than damp bark and grimy dirt?
Hanging her head down to watch and avoid a nettle clasping round her ankle, she bumped into something that felt like material. It was warm.
Looking up with mixed emotions of terror and hope, she started to shiver and tears threatened to fall as Hidan leered at her with a predatory grin.
"Looks like some bitch was fucking stupid enough to run into the fucking forest" he laughed.
Ino tried to move back, it was blind and useless but a sense of rationality told her to just get away.
Allira stopped her.
Why was this happening?!
"Why did you think you could run?" Allira asked, her voice actually sounded curious but it was cold enough to convince Ino that she wasn't about to explode into girl talk.
"Because I did, alright?" she hissed and Hidan placed his scythe beneath her jaw making her gasp and gulp.
"Enough with the fucking back chat, it was just a question you dumb bitch"
The rain made the metal damp and it rubbed raw at her flesh.
"Because I thought if I got away, my dad wouldn't need to kill me and the old bastard and your leader could get what they wanted without me dying being part of the equation"
She wasn't sarcastic, she was scared and trying to reason with all the truth she had.
"He wants to kill you?" Hidan's curses subsided and the weapon even moved away a little.
"Didn't you get in on the little talk?" she sobbed, trying to fist her hands but the cold made them too numb.
"I didn't in fact, fucks sake" the albino faced away and made an irritated growl in the base of his throat.
"Did you know about this Namakina?"
"No" Allira sounded genuinely surprised.
The pause was agonisingly long but it struck hope through Ino. Maybe they would let her go, what was the point of killing her in the end?
"Oh well, might as well add something on for Jashin" he shrugged with a sadistic grin that returned with a wild glint in his magenta eyes.
A/N: BOOM BABY. Did this in, what…half an hour? Anyway, here we go. HOW OOC IS DEIDARA?! I DON'T EVEN CARE. I hope you lot enjoy this, I will be adding more soon as I don't have much planned for the next two weeks.
#LAW09
To TheAkatsukisFangirl: A Kakuzu x OC? I tend to only include OC's as minor characters in all honesty, but the fact you like my writing and the way I write him is so very flattering, thank you! I do think it would be a longer process but I'm scared of 32 chapter length fics and so forth so try to build up while keeping it relatively swift. I totally agree with the idea of his character though. I maybe should have devised a better villain in hindsight but yeah, it is fanfiction and shouldn't bother any one too much. I'm glad you aren't too bothered by it! Thank you again for the review!
To Fantasy is now Non-Fiction: OOOOHHH, GO, GET IN THERE. HAVE HIMMMM. ahem, anyway this is a fantastic response! I'm so glad you continue to enjoy it and thank you for the review!
To cloud-lily2223: I'm quite pleased it surprised you and I'm so glad you are enjoying the story! There is short supply and it's lovely of you to say mine is the most interesting! Thank you so much! Same here, I do like shipping the Kunoichi's with Akatsuki and Ino X Kaku is my favourite (as is shown in the story) :D