Lo and behold, the tobidei-asshat is back. With a freshly written chapter and correct quotation marks. It's pretty short, but that's just how I do things. I hate writing/reading stuff that's too long, that would require an excessive level of concentration of me. 1 review = my level of dopamine doubling and the entirety of water contained in my body leaving through my eyes.
2016/07/31 Edit: Separation marks fixed.
"You're trying to resurrect Rin, aren't you?"
Everything stopped for a moment, including Obito's breath. Before his brain could even comprehend the situation, he was already feeling anxiety looming over him. He tried to put together a coherent sentence in his mind, but the more he elaborated on them, the more absurd they sounded. Yes, that's what I'm doing. But... What should he say after 'But'? It's going to be alright anyway because nobody will be jealous in a perfect world? There was one thing he knew for sure: his feelings for Deidara were serious and that was probably one of the reasons why this part hurt him so much.
Obito didn't dare to look the other man in the eye. Instead, he stared at the floor blankly, accidentally noticing how his hand was trembling. Deidara, on the other hand, was like a statue.
The stillness was interrupted by a rumble. Both nin turned around in the direction the sound was coming from. It sounded like it was getting closer every second. Deidara -despite his shock- was the faster one to react, hopping on his feet and running towards the door. The taller man followed him suit a second later.
"What is that?" Deidara shouted as the noise muffled his voice. He was looking at a huge crack on the ground, a split with a seemingly endless abyss in between. Pieces of ground and black trees fell in as the chasm got wider and wider. Everything around them was trembling.
"Obito, WHAT'S GOING ON?" the blonde asked again after not recieving an answer from the other man.
"I HAVE NO IDEA!"
Then, suddenly, the piece of terrain they were standing on started to move and turn on itself, making them lose their balance. Deidara knocked his head in the hard ground, fainting.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Obito's eyes shot open. He was covered in cold sweat, sitting in a cave. How exactly did he end up there? His head was pulsating and his sense of reality hadn't settled yet. Looking at his surroundings, he started to recognize them. Right, he had come here some time ago... What was he trying to do? He had a battle with Danzo's men... But how much time had passed since then? Was it yesterday or one week ago? Which part of the plan was he at? Where did he arrange the meeting with Kabuto? One by one, he remembered all the answers. He had been meditating. The last time he fought had been weeks ago. They were supposed to meet here with Kabuto so he could report on how edo tensei was going. Still, he felt like he was missing out on something.
As expected, the robe-clad figure of Orochimaru's ex-servant stepped forward from the darkness.
"You looked like something went wrong in Tsukuyomi, so I tried to wake you up. I apologize, I did what I did in order not to delay the plan."
Obito turned towards him. He shouldn't have let his guard down around that man. Despite Kabuto's attempts to prove himself to him, he still didn't trust him.
"How long have I been in there?"
"Oh, an exceptional amount of time. More than ten minutes. Should I be aware of some change in plans? Did something unexpected happen?" Kabuto whispered. He was kneeling before Obito to be on his eye-level.
The dark-haired nin's pulse fastened. He knew how sneaky his 'ally' was and how trying to sound suspicious in every situation was part of his tactics, but still, he was afraid that he might know something. What exactly, he couldn't put his finger on. His identity? The fact that he wasn't a hundred percent sure that Mugen Tsukuyomi would work? He was becoming paranoid.
"We shouldn't waste more time on this." Obito tried to verbally wave the issue away "Did you manage to execute edo tensei on the prescribed individuals?"
"Albeit with some difficulties, the revived Akatsuki-members are ready to use. I can summon them at any time."
"Difficulties?" the masked man furrowed his brows (a gesture not visible to anyone).
"If I may ask this favor of you, please warn me next time when a soul had been reincarnated once. Having already been through edo tensei can strain the soul considerably, making the second implementation of the technique much slower."
"What are you talking about? No one knew about the technique after the Akatsuki-members' death." Obito commented, trying to hide the bewilderment in his tone. He stood up abruptly jumping towards the other man who, strangely enough, didn't resist the attack. The Uchiha restrained Kabuto against a stone wall with one arm across both his shoulders.
"What's with the aggressivity all of the sudden?" the snake-man asked in an oddly calm manner.
"You think I'm trying to deceive you, aren't you?" Obito hissed.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Deidara woke up slowly. He had a déja-vu. Or, rather, he was getting used to passing out and waking up in strange places. As mentioned, he was once again completely unfamiliar with his surroundings. All he remembered was that they almost had a fight with Obito when Tsukuyomi suddenly started collapsing and that his vision went blank after he fell due to the earthshake.
It was almost completely dark around him, only dim lights coming through from somewhere nearby. The place was something similar to an underground tunnel. It was empty enough for Deidara to realize that it was yet another part of the parallel dimension where he ended up. It had a different feel to it than the cave where he had been before, though. He got up from the ground, trying to acquaint himself with this part of Tsukuyomi.
As he walked through the passages aimlessly, he started wondering about Obito. He felt too misplaced to be angry at the other man, but that didn't keep him from reflecting on the plan-issue. Although it hurt, he partially understood the Uchiha's perspective; after all, he might not even be the real Deidara. Would he really be a good reason to give up an objective he had been aiming to for such a long time?
His eyes slowly started to get used to the darkness. He could now figure out what else there was around him: the walls were covered by small colonies of some sort of moss or mushroom. The small forms of life glowed with weak, blue light which wasn't too useful to illuminate the whole passage around them, but was enough for them to be seen. Deidara tried to touch them but felt repelled by the slime covering them. Sometimes he felt like he was a little girl instead of a ninja, but still, he preferred not to get in contact with disgusting things if he could avoid it. Also, they could've been poisonous.
He knew what he was supposed to do; try to get out of here somehow and look for Obito. Still, he couldn't bring himself to call out his name. He was still mad at the other man and was absolutely positive about not wanting to see his face in that moment. Deidara started clenching his fists unconsciously, angering himself with his own thoughts without even noticing it. Yes, wanting to keep going with the plan was a human reaction. It was normal. But he didn't want Obito to have simply a normal reaction in something regarding him: he wanted him to be brave, to do one more step forward comparing to everyone else. If the once-masked nin really loved him, his feelings would be unconditional and he would be willing to give up his childish delusions for him.
What kind of plan did he have anyway? How was he going to 'create a new world'? How was that even possible? Deidara kicked a group of moss, sending its blue-ish pieces all over the ground. Anyone with a sane set of morals would've chosen reality over a fantasy world. And then the realization struck him. Yes, but he, himself was in a metaphysical dimension, too. Coming back to him wasn't a more realistic choice.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"No, I don't think you are trying to deceive me" Kabuto said in a stifled voice while the masked man's hand was gradually shifting up to his neck, blocking his windpipe "I am certain that you are."
"Care to explain?" Obito inched closer to his face.
"You know well enough that a second edo tensei takes days. I suppose the plan is not that urgent if you can delay it by that much without even telling me in advance."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Kabuto. Who was it? Who had been reincarnated already?" the dark-haired nin said, raising his voice.
"Wait... Yes, I know now. That bomber kid from Iwagakure, Deidara. He used to be Onoki's disciple, sounds familiar?"
Obito released Kabuto due to a sudden headache. He massaged his temples under the mask, trying to ease the pounding pain. The memories were flowing back.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Deidara finally arrived to a place that looked slightly different. There was an underground streamlet generating from a spring on a wall. The natural corridor was wider around the waterflow which continued on in one direction, disappearing into the darkness. The bomber was desperately trying to find a way to the surface, but whatever way he went, he just kept going deeper underground. He now realized that he must have fallen in the crack during the earthquake; his bodily integrity could be explained by the strange laws of physics in Tsukuyomi.
Anyway, his top priority was finding Obito. Whatever his opinion on the Uchiha was, he couldn't even hope to orient himself without his help. He decided he would walk along the stream since it was the only recognizable scenery component. Deidara started to feel the exhaustion which had caught him off-guard so many times in this world. He sat down on a rock and watched as the water flowed by.
He felt his head getting heavier and heavier but he wanted to avoid sleeping, if possible. He was anxious about what was going to happen and started wondering how his mental integrity was still intact. Maybe he was already going crazy and half of the things he was seeing were just products of his imagination. Deidara tried to reach up to his forehead to rub it - an act that was harder than it sounded in his current conditions. He caught a glimpse of his hand and recoiled. Transparent?
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"That's impossible. He died right before Konan. I almost got caught up in his technique." Obito whispered in disbelief. He tried to keep in touch with reality and continue his dialogue with Kabuto, but the loads of images suddenly appearing in his mind almost tore his head apart. They were faint pictures him and Deidara having a fight, then talking. Then even stranger things. It almost felt like remembering the details of a dream. The Uchiha perceived them as memories, but he couldn't pinpoint their place on the timeline of his life.
Kabuto was smiling behind his back; Obito didn't even need to see his face to know. The snake-man had caught him in a moment of extreme weakness which gave him the upper hand in their little game of power.
"Oh yes, this issue with Deidara... So interesting... A sidenote to the entirety of our plan, but what a peculiar one at that!" Kabuto rambled.
"I don't know anything about this." the other got on the defensive, trying to terminate the topic.
"You know why else this is interesting?" Obito's partner in crime chuckled, incosiderate of his response.
"Because" he continued "The only ones who know about edo tensei and are alive right now are the two of us."
The Uchiha's heart skipped a beat.
"So, considering that I didn't revive Deidara, I wonder who did?"