I am, once again, thankful for your kind reviews. And this is the last chapter I have as pre-made... After this, I'll have to ACTUALLY CONTINUE THE STORY... Which is gonna be hard, because, you know, writing is FUCKING HARD. Exhausting, also. Don't ever fool yourselves by thinking it's easy, what do you know, writing a crappy 200-word drabble might take someone A DAY. You should always appreciate people who write and say at least a prayer for them because they might die from exhaustion in a random moment. Sorry for ranting.
Signed: A Perfectionist Lowlife Who Writes Fanfiction
Obito could have done many bad things in his life, but something he would never do was not fulfilling promises. Mainly, because that was what Kakashi had done to him by not protecting Rin and he knew how much pain it caused. So, when he told Deidara he was intending to show him something amazing, he would.
He could only hope, though, that the blonde didn't lose interest yet, since they had been walking for quite a while now, far away from the house, the wood, the mine or any reference point they had. But the Uchiha knew where their path led to; it was his inner world, after all.
"Are you tired?" he turned around, looking at the other man (he still didn't know if he could refer to him as his lover).
"I wouldn't be a ninja if I lost my breath after such a short walk, un!" he answered with a half smile, a little offended.
"Nah, I don't know, you've been sleeping a lot lately..."
"I'm fine, okay?" the artist scolded Obito jokingly.
The Uchiha's thoughts wandered, thinking back at the times when they were both alive, in the Human world. They would walk almost like this, except he would talk nonstop in his Tobi-act, probably annoying Deidara to death. He wondered if this silence meant any good, if the artist had gotten bored of him already. None of them was a man of many words by nature, but that wasn't how lovers acted. Obito knew what they were supposed to do. They were supposed to cuddle, joke, kiss, talk about random topics and forget about all the sad things. Was that even possible in such a place? What kind of sick love had he bred? First of all, he couldn't see any balance at all in their relationship. One of them had always had the upper hand, and then they switched, switched, switched... It was an endless cricle of changing. Deidara had bossed him around during his lifetime. Obito had mentally abused him after he appeared in Tsukuyomi and then let him inflict some physical damage, only to respond with dominance in their lovemaking. From the outside, it would've sounded like he was the one controlling the events, but in the end, everything he did was heavily influenced by Deidara. To sum it up, they had never once been equal.
His eyes widened a little with the realization befalling on him in the next moment. Maybe Deidara wasn't happy at all with what was happening, maybe he was dragging him along in the rush of his uncontrollable feelings. It was Obito's first time confessing openly like that (to his regret, he had never dared to act the same with Rin) and he was so glad about his own completion that he had disregarded the artist completely while -paradoxically- trying to love him.
In his early days in the Akatsuki, while working for Zetsu, he took his chances to observe other members, so he had assisted to some of Deidara's and Sasori's moments as partners. The two of them clearly loathed each other, or at least, that's what came off from the way they literally attempted to chop one another's heads off 24/7. It made 'Tobi' wonder if their relationship had a little more to it than it seemed. Even if it was rage, it felt alive, whilst the bond between him and Deidara was dead, in a dead world, featuring someone dead and someone about to die.
The least he wanted was Deidara to suffer. And the weight of the love he had dumped on him could've crushed him and become unbearable soon. No, there was no way he could allow that! He decided he would end all this before it was too late, before the other starts hating him.
"You seem very focused on something, un." the blonde man stated after having stared at Obito for a few seconds.
"Do you believe-" the Uchiha started in response, stopping halfway through to figure out the best way to end the sentence.
"... that love is also fleeting?"
"Where are you bringing this up from?" Deidara furrowed his brows.
"I'm just... trying to understand your art, you know." it was hard to spit out those words. A lie, such an ugly and flattering lie. Of course, he was interested in the topic, but the question wasn't really about art now. The bomber smiled genuinely, not even suspicious.
"Love is rather for fools, even if I'm admittedly a fool right now. An explosion leaves a sense of greatness in the heart, but your lover dying... no, that definitely doesn't."
"You did make me go through that, though."
"Pfft, you didn't even feel anything about me back then."
"Who knows; maybe, I unconsciously did."
In the meanwhile, the wood got thicker and thicker around them. The trees seemed to have changed, too: they looked darker and somewhat crystalline, as if made out of obsidian. The further they walked, the more it felt like they were going to get tangled up in all the geometrical branches barely distinguishing from the darkness created by the trees' shadows.
After the other margin of the forest lied a shallow valley. Its end faded in the mist, indicating how large it was. There were some sponge-like rocks lying around in casual places.
"Um... Obito?"
"Yes?"
"Do places in your head hold some meaning?"
"I guess so, although, I can't figure out all of them. Doing that would be being in a perfect connection with your inner world. Equals illumination."
"I was just asking because I'd really like to know what this place represents, un." before he could ask why, Obito noticed the bewildered expression on Deidara's face; as if he didn't know if he should be puzzled or amazed by the valley. The first thing catching his attention was the actual size of it. He stared into the foggy horizon then turned to the ground, getting on his knees. The other male walked closer to him silently, observing what he was doing. A mouthed hand stretched out to one of the black rocks, quickly retiring as a startled 'gah!' left Deidara's lips.
"What's going on?" Obito asked, kneeling down. As an answer, the artist indicated the object before him. The rock had looked completely ordinary from further away, but looking closely, the two of them could notice that there were small faces carved into them, an endless amount of deformed expressions of agony and horror. Deidara stood up and, looking carefully, saw that every single rock had the same pattern.
"Y-you told me you'd show me something beautiful, but this is plain creepy, un!"
"I'm sorry, I've never noticed them..." the black haired man scratched the back of his neck, attempting to ease the tension with a small smile.
"You realize this is your subconscious, right? Just how much self-awareness you lack? I, who had never been here, noticed something like this before you! Jeez!" Obito was a little struck by his partner's blunt ways, but he gave an 'I can't help it' smile in the end. Sometimes he had to remind himself that Deidara was not a girl, and thus wouldn't be all angelic and gentle with him. They started walking away, 'Tobi' following his 'Senpai'.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"I'm planning to make a new world."
"HUH?"
After the brief explanation of the details, Obito stated his final purpose, not expecting the confusedness on the blonde's part. They were in the house once again; Deidara decided he preferred just staying in peace for a while instead of going on more crazy trips. A thought had popped into his mind when they settled down in the main room, precisely, something the other man had mentioned before about some plan. The once-masked nin started explaining the concept, and for a while, everything still made sense. Madara. Eye techniques. Sharingan. More eye techniques. Uchiha-issues. Juubi. But then, the reason behind all that was something absurd.
"What do you mean a 'new world'?"
"I mean it just as I said." Obito shrugged, as if they were talking about something completely normal.
"I'm unpleased with the morbidness and unfairness of the Human World, so I'm going to replace it with something better. A place where no one will be in pain again. Where no one will have to die like her." Deidara's pupils restricted, glaring at the other, refusing to believe.
"You-... you... You are completely nuts, un!"
"It's not impossible, not with the level of techniques I can manage! I've been working on this for so long, it's so close I can reach it if I only stretch out my arm!" Obito grabbed Deidara by the shoulders enthusiastically.
"Yeah, try to stretch it out and you'll only grab air, un!" the blonde said in a bitter tone.
"What's with you, Deidara?! Do you realize you're going to be alive again in that world? It's only a few steps away! The plan is almost complete!"
"I'm... dead..." the artist's expression suddenly changed.
"With my power, I'll be able to resurrect anyone I want." Obito smiled reassuringly. He seemed like a different person. Deidara had never seen so much hope and joy on his face. As if, after all he had been through, the only positive thing he could cling to was that utopistic idea of his. And then, another connection established in his head between the earlier facts.
The bomber looked down at the greyish wooden floor. He felt dizzy, even though he was sitting already. The other man looked at him, unable to figure out what he was thinking. Finally, he slowly muttered something.
"You... The reason why you want to do this... is..."
"Hang on, you don't need to be so scandalized about it, I've planned out all the particualrs, I can reassure you that it'll wo-" Obito said while stretching out an arm towards Deidara's face. His hand got slapped away.
"You're trying to resurrect Rin, aren't you?"