17

The next morning Pein started giving away missions. Deidara was assigned to kill Mangetsu Hozuki, and it needed to be a fast, clean work. He was about to leave Pein's office when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in"

"You wanted to see me, Leader-sama?"

"Yes, you'll be paired with Deidara on your next mission. Zetsu will dispose of the body. He'll explain the rest to you, you're dismissed."

She nodded her head and left the room, unaware of Deidara walking behind her.

"Perfect, just what I needed" she muttered sarcastically reaching the end of the hall. She closed her eyes and banged her head on the wall repeatedly, stopping only when she felt someone staring at her.

"What?" she asked annoyed while turning around.

Of course it had to be Deidara, she stared back at him, clearly embarrassed, but still tried to keep her cool, he looked confused and as if he was trying not to laugh. She raised her left eyebrow and adopted a slightly menacing gaze. His face straightened back right away and she headed to her room, cursing under her breath.

She decided not to make such a big deal out of it.

Deidara showed up on her room an hour later, luckily the door was open, meaning he didn't have to knock and wait, and think…

"I'm ready"

She walked past him, without even glancing back to see if he was still there. They stepped outside, and he finally caught up with her. This was going to be a long way to the Village Hidden in the Mist. Had they been in speaking terms he would take her over for a ride, he would have a display of explosions for her, he would…

Aline let out a loud sight. He knew she needed to rest, but she wouldn't let him know. Maybe it was worth a chance.

"I think we should take a break, h'mm"

She stopped.

"Yeah"

They looked for a clear spot to rest, at least until dawn. Surprisingly this hadn't been as awkward as they had imagined.

Truth was he hadn't exactly cheated on her, cause she wasn't his girlfriend, she was the other girl, the one whom he had cheated on with. She wasn't sure if this was any better though, but still being unable to speak to the one person she actually cared about was heartbreaking.

As self-indulgent as it seemed she didn't want things to be like this with him. She missed his scent, his touch, his kiss… but most of all he missed him. And she hated herself for it.