A/N:

This is a one-shot for the May prompt from the Discord server, Ino Supremacy.

MayPrompt: "What are you staring at?"

MayShip: DeiIno

discord server: Ino Supremacy
/Ngf4MqeJ

"It's been agreed that Mrs. Yamanaka will keep the beach house, and the main estate will go to Mr. Yamanaka…" Ino stared outside one of the large glass windows that framed two sides of the conference room they were in, ignoring the lawyers who were discussing the terms to her divorce settlement in the background. Her mind attuned to another conversation from long ago…

"Don't marry him." He pleaded with her.

"Why?" she questioned even though in his eyes the answer was resonant.

"You know why." Yes… she did. "Don't marry him." He implored again.

"Dei I…"

"-Aka? Mrs. Yamanaka?" Her lawyer shook her out of the distant past her mind had wandered to. She turned to meet her lawyer's gaze and he pushed a stack of papers towards her, beckoning her to approach the table, "Sign here, here, then here, and it will all be over". She nodded and walked towards the stack of papers, pen in hand, ready to get it all over with. With the final scratches of her pen, silence had followed to give them both a moment to grasp their new reality. She was Miss Yamanaka once more, and Sai, well he wanted to remain Mr. Yamanaka as he didn't have a last name to begin with.

It didn't bother her. It's not like they split up because they hated each other. Ino chose Sai because he was safe. He fawned all over her and she thought this meant she would never be hurt. That no one would stand in the way of her dreams, and that she would truly be satisfied with her choice. The incident five months ago, however, made her realize she was only being stubborn and ended up hurting herself instead.

Sai walked over to her and gave her a hug, stating, "I hope this really does make you happy, Ino. It's the only reason I agreed to it." She tightened her arms around him and said, "I love you, Sai. You're my best friend, but that's all you are to me." She pulled away and met his gaze with her soft one, "You deserve someone who can love you more than that."

Her three-year-marriage to Sai was over, but she still wasn't happy. After he left the conference room, she headed to the bathroom in the quickest pace she could without appearing to be in a rush. She turned the tap on at full blast, and let herself go, wailing and yowling to relieve herself from the anguish she felt until her cries reduced to sniffles. She washed her face, fixed her makeup, and once she recomposed herself, Ino left to pack the last of her things and drove out to the beach house she had claimed.

(A week later, after Ino had set all her affairs in order.)

Today was the day she would go through with her plan. She dressed in a white knitted sweater and jean hot shorts, put on her flipflops, then headed down to the shore. It was cooler than usual for October, and she wondered if the water was going to be just as icy as the breeze felt upon her skin. She breathed in the salty air and silently enjoyed the feel of the dews prickling at her skin as the sea water sprayed with every crashing wave hitting the shore.

The view was quite serene, with the sun almost setting and painting the sea golden. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore compelled her to walk closer until she could feel the cool water rush onto her legs, and she buried her feet into the sinking sand. It wasn't as cold as she expected it to be. That was comforting. The water rescinding from beneath her feet was beckoning her to go in, and as she felt resolved to enter, he had appeared…

He stood before her, with that infamous side grin of his plastered on his face, however, his eyes were chastising her. "What are you staring at?" she jeered.

"I always thought you looked best beneath the sun while it set." Deidara flattered, but his tone was somewhat mocking.

"You're blocking my view." She sneered again.

"Am I? well, mine is better anyway. If only you could see it too." This time his tone was softer, so was his gaze.

She locked her gaze with his, taken aback by the sincerity of his compliment. Ino sighed and gave in to his charms, "Why are you here?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"I'm here because you're here." His retort came readily, followed by an observation, "You're hesitating."

"I'm not." She replied emphatically.

"You are, as you should. This is stupid, Ino." His chastising eyes returned, with a tone to match. A deep scowl formed on her face, her hands clammed into tight fists, and she gritted her teeth before yelling "Well, what the hell do you expect me to do! This is your fault!"

"Ino" he said softly reaching out an arm that was too far to reach her.

Ino collapsed on the shore, the waves hitting her upper body now, and drenching her. Her tears cascaded on her cheeks, dripping down onto the waves, and getting lost to the vast sea.

Deidara kneeled down to her eye level, "Ino" he called to her softly again, "Look at me" he pleaded gently.

"I-I can't… Dei, I-I m-miss you." She sniffled, "So damn much! And it hurts. I can't take it anymore." She confessed.

"That doesn't change the fact that this is stupid. I wouldn't be here if you didn't believe that too." He asserted.

He was right.

"It's the only way I can be with you again." She relented in a whisper.

"No. It's not. Do this right. You know this isn't what I would want for you. There's so much left for you to do here, and I won't see you until you've done it all. Isn't that why you married that emotionally detached wall of a man instead of me?" he chuckled.

"He's not like that." She reprimanded.

Deidara chuckled again, "I know, you wouldn't be with anyone unworthy. Still, you gotta admit, next to me he was the lesser option".

She wiped her tears and chuckled at his display of a bruised ego. He was right though. She would forever regret that decision, and all the time she wasted for having made the wrong choice. Remorse was evident on her face, and Deidara reassured her, "Hey, don't give me that look. I don't regret anything we had or how it ended, Ino, and you shouldn't either."

"I should have listened to you then. I wanted to, but-" she began, but Deidara interjected, "But you were being stubborn. I get it. It's one of the reasons why I loved you so much. Your hard head was the only one that could rival my own, after all."

"Is that meant to be comforting?" she jeered. He chuckled and replied, "I guess not. It doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't go ahead with this. Go back, Ino. Do everything you set out to do, and don't you dare come see me until you've achieved it all. I mean it!" he said with finality.

"How am I supposed to go on without you?" what she was really asking was, how could he expect her to make the choice to not be with him, again! That has been her biggest regret.

"You know what was the last thought that crossed my mind?" he asked her, rhetorically, but Ino couldn't help seizing the opportunity to take a jab at him, "That you should have used a makeup-fix to prevent your eyeliner from running?"

He grinned stating, "Well, that was one thought, but not my final one. It's that life is shorter than we think it is. I wish I did more. But you're still here, Ino, and you can do it all for me. We had the same dreams, but you can still see them through. Besides, for someone who spent most of her life fighting me on how I did things, I'm kind of shocked that you're hell bent on copying me now, well minus the detail that my death was an accident."

"Fuck you" She spat back at him.

"How I wish we could." He jeered, then turning to a graver tone, "Go back. We'll see each other again, but not now, and not for a very long time. You got that."

Ino looked hesitant, as if she was wrestling with herself to say something. She looked defeated, and she was. She didn't have it in her anymore to fight against him. That's all she did in the past, and she promised herself when she lost her chance with him, that she would never let her stubbornness get in the way again. Resolved, she spilled the words that lingered on her tongue, "Dei... "

"What is it?" he encouraged her. He knew her well enough to recognise that she was struggling to fight against her persistent nature. He had witnessed it once before, but only one man could break her thick headedness, her father.

"Is... is this real?" She managed, "are you really here?"

Deidara smiled at her, it looked like it was a mischievous grin to her, but it was more a prideful smirk and not at himself. He was proud she managed to resist her stubborn urge, and this meant she wouldn't go through with her foolish plan.

"Answer me!" she angrily pleaded, mistaking his expression for one of mockery, and incapable of enduring the lingering silence much longer.

"You think this is all in your head or something? Hah, well even if it was, why should that mean that it isn't real?" he retorted with a question of his own. It was satisfactory.

"Will I see you again?" she acquiesced.

"You will" he promised.

"When?" She urged.

"Hopefully, not anytime soon. okay? promise me you won't try this again. I won't show up a second time." he asserted.

Ino nodded her head, "I won't"

"Well, that's all the time I got. Hey, Ino? when you go out, make sure you leave your mark, alright. Leave this world with a bang." those were the last words she would hear from him for a very long time, but she was grateful he showed up when he had.

(53 years later)

"Well, you look like shit." Deidara manifested before an old and wrinkly Ino sitting on a wheelchair and staring at a bush in the garden of the elderly care centre she was a resident at.

"Pft. I'm pulling it off. Better than you ever could, that's for sure." She asserted with a raspy and quavering voice.

"Hah! Well, you look better than the other old farts living here, I'll give you that." He retorted.

"Only you could mask an insult in a compliment. Still a jackass." She fired back at him. He stood next to her and stared at the bush she was looking at. "What's so fascinating about this shrub exactly?" he cocked his head to the side, assessing the bush in question.

"It reminds me of your stupid head." She sneered, "That must be why you showed up after all these years."

"Actually, I'm here for a different reason." He said excitedly. She spun her head to meet his gaze with a raised eyebrow. "We're leaving." He extended a palm out to her, inviting her to join him on a walk. Ino's eyes widened as she fixed her disbelieving gaze on his hand, "Dei, you're not messing with me, are you?" meeting his gaze again with her desperate one. "I'm not, I promise. Are you coming?" he pressed.

Ino smiled, taking his hand. The creaking of her joints as she was standing up were seizing, and she felt her body revitalizing. Her wrinkled skin had become smooth and radiant, and her silver hair grew out again into its long golden locks. Her age had melted away, transforming Ino into the woman she was in her late 20s.

"There's the girl I know." He remarked.

"Where are we going?" She asked, her voice smooth and silky as it used to be.

"You'll see, you are gonna love this place!" Deidara remarked, "Your parents are there too, oh and a lot of our other friends."

She smiled at him with glassed eyes, then looked back at her old self sitting on the wheelchair sleeping.

"Any regrets?" he asked.

Ino shook her head, "None."

"Good." He said smiling.

Ino spun her head rapidly towards a light that suddenly appeared. Familiar cheerful voices could be heard calling out to her in yearning and imploring her to hurry along.

"Let's not keep them waiting any longer." Deidara urged her forward, and she eagerly agreed, walking on alongside him, hand in hand. She's been prepared for this for a long time now, and finally her peace had arrived.