Chapter 5:

Thankfully, Ino had been coherent enough to give Deidara directions and landmarks he was fairly sure he could follow to her location. She and her friends were besieged in a cave situated in a mountainous region that was only a short ways by air from where Deidara was now.

By the time he made it to the bird, Deidara was panting from the sprint. Calm down, Ino, it's going to be okay, he promised, jumping aboard the clay construct and willing it to fly. I'll come help you, I promise.

Deidara had never been one for promises before, but right now all he wanted was to give Ino the will to hold on until he could make it to where she was.

Thank you, Ino replied. I'm going to break the contact now—I can't be distracted during a fight.

I'll be there soon, Deidara assured her just before he felt the familiar tingle of their connection fade. Pushing the bird to greater speed, he soared upwards and surveyed the landscape ahead of him. The mountains stood darkly in the east, within the borders of Fire Country. Konoha was currently the village taking the most active course against the Akatsuki so the group had been told to avoid it except during missions. This time, though, it couldn't be helped.

…

After a half-hour of some of the fastest flying Deidara had ever done, he was close enough to dive down and begin navigating through the mountains. He was beginning to sense some chakra now, probably from the fight Ino was embroiled in. Figures that she'd be a ninja.

Deidara took his hands away from their grip on the bird's back long enough to form the seals that would initiate their mental link. I'm almost there, he thought at Ino.

There was no reply. Ino, say something!

Hurts…can't…breathe, Ino thought, even her mental voice sounding choked and frantic.

Deidara didn't respond—he could sense Ino's own chakra now, recognizing it as the same he felt through their connection. Swinging the bird around in a sharp turn, he dove into the small canyon where Ino was.

Ino wasn't hard to spot, Deidara only had to look for bright blonde hair. Even though this was the first time Deidara had ever seen her, he was too busy to take in many other details besides the large man with his hands around Ino's neck.

Using a bomb might hurt the girl, so Deidara flung a knife into the man's back as he swooped past. A flurry of bird-bombs quickly drove the other attackers away.

"Bunch of cowards," Deidara muttered as he rose to look for a place to land. There were no plateaus nearby, so he guided the bird to a neat landing in the cave Ino and her friends had been fighting nearby.

Ino had disentangled herself from her dead assailant now, and was hurrying to aid the two boys with her. One of them merely looked exhausted from the fight, but the other was unconscious and bleeding badly.

Deidara took a deep breath. This is it, he thought as he climbed off the bird and approached. "Ino?"

Ino turned with a smile of relief. No sooner had she laid eyes on him, however, than the smile vanished and she whipped out a kunai. "Who are you?" she growled.

"It's me, Deidara," Deidara said in some confusion. "I said I was coming…"

"You're—you're with the Akatsuki?" Ino gasped, her eyes going wide. "How could you, you…you lying cad!"

Deidara chided himself mentally; of course she would be frightened to see the cloak. He should have taken it off, but he had been in too much of a hurry to rescue Ino to think of that. "Ino, listen to me," he began, trying to take a step forward only to find himself frozen in place.

"An Akatsuki member could give us valuable information back in Konoha," said one of her teammates. He was apparently responsible for Deidara's current inability to move, although Deidara couldn't figure out what was causing it.

Ino stood up, her face hardening. "You're right, Shikamaru," she said, walking over to Deidara and grabbing him by the chin.

Ino, I never meant—Deidara began through their mental link.

Shut up! Ino shot back with icy vehemence. If you think you can get inside my head and trick me again, you're wrong!

Ino, please—

Deidara didn't get a chance to finish the statement as a burst of Ino's familiar chakra flashed through his brain, making him black out.