(A/N: This is a two-part chapter)
"Who are you?"
The blonde demanded, hand on his hips as he sized up the woman before him, attempting to look threatening. It was clear Deidara was outclassed by the brunette, but he wasn't about to let that get to him.
"I'm Rieka, your partner for the mission."
"Oh yeah.." He began, quickly turning to face the other way. "We have to...go..do that thing..un."
Rieka sighed. "We have to retrieve the Valkar Clan's, Scroll of Seeking."
Deidara nodded, his fingers fumbling with the hem of his cloak, the barely nineteen-year-old felt slightly awkward in the twenty-eight-year-old's presence, she clearly intimidated him.
'Not even Sasori-dana is this quiet..'
Rieka knew for such a mission that revolved around espionage and infiltration, communication needed to flow smoothly, meaning the tension between them had to be abolished. With a sigh Rieka turned to walk, motioning Deidara to follow.
Eventually to two found themselves at the beginning of the cavern, Rieka placed her chakra induced ring to the cave walls, and they slowly began shifting apart. As light poured in, Rieka turned to glance of the blonde.
"Let's go, if we move fast then we'll make it there within a week."
With a swift nod, the two shinobi made their way out into the world.
::
Rieka and Deidara walked side-by-side, down the small path as the journeyed through the forest. The path was no doubt created for merchants and travellers, but it seemed unwise to ignore such an easy path.
They were heading to Sungaku, a village east of Kiri, in an uncharted territory. It was home to the infamous Valkar Clan, at least it was. The Valkars' were a clan of shinobi that existed during the Warring States Period, the time before the Hidden Villages. They were most known and feared for their Kekkei Genkai, a rare doujutsu.
But after the tragedy that took place just before the First Great Shinobi World War, the Valkar clan was wiped out, their bloodline no more as is their Kekkei Genkai. A few lone survivors migrated to Iwagakure but their famous bloodline limit was forever lost in the flames.
What they were after was a scroll, buried under the Valkar main house. It possessed vital information that Obito greatly desired, so Rieka and Deidara, the only two available Akatsuki members, were ordered to retrieve it.
Rieka had never once interacted with the blonde, and only now realised how much this would affect their mission. They were very different in skill, for example, if alone, Rieka could have easily completed the mission in half a day. But with Deidara, who was not only much slower but possessed very little stamina, it would take over a week.
Deidara rested his hands behind his head, mind elsewhere as he whistled away. Rieka decided to strike a conversation.
"Deidara."
The blonde silenced, head turning to face the brunette. "Hm?"
"Sasori-san said you were from Iwagakure." He nodded a 'yes' and she continued. "What was it like?"
Rieka was curious, she had been to every Hidden Village but Iwagakure.
He dropped his hands to his side, taken back by the question as he began to think. "The people sucked and it was always boiling."
Deidara continued. "The streets always seemed to be crowded and the council were a bunch of idiots, the shinobi system was atrocious and the government corrupt.."
He seemed to appear nostalgic, almost wistful in his next words. "But it wasn't half bad..the food was good..the sunsets were always beautiful...and they appreciated my art.." Deidara couldn't help but smile. "It was...nice.."
To Rieka, Deidara appeared as a mouse locked within a bear trap, he had made a split decision to leave his home and found himself walking down a path he could not return from.
Deidara reminded Rieka of herself.
For once you joined the Akatsuki, you could never escape.
Deidara smiled, he finally looking like the innocent teen he should have been. "I remember the ramen was always best back home-"
The way he worded it caught Rieka by surprise, for Deidara still considered Iwa to be his home.
"-and it always made my..." Deidara stopped, struggling to finish. "My..brother smile..."
Rieka jerked up. "You have a brother?"
Deidara frowned. "Used to...a little brother..he passed away during a mission..never even got to become a Chunin.."
The thought of his brother obviously hurt the blonde so Rieka spoke. "I had a brother, a younger one."
Deidara glanced over to the brunette as she continued. "His name was Obito..he wasn't my blood brother...but he was more of a brother than any real brother could be."
Rieka smiled. "He was dorky..and a fool, he was dead-last in everything he did..and embarrassment to his family..but he was so much more...he was the one to stand by me when no one else would..and I loved him for that, I really did."
"What..what happened?" Deidara couldn't help himself, he had to know.
"Nothing.." Rieka began. "and everything...he changed so much from the little boy I knew...he became something else, someone else..he is no longer my brother...my brother is dead and he just lives in his corpse...Obito is dead."
"No he's not." Rieka froze, eyes shifting to Deidara who held the first serious expression she had ever seen on him. "My brother is, your brother is still alive..just because he is no longer the person you knew, doesn't mean that person is gone forever. Obito is alive..you just have to look for him."
Rieka's eyes glossed over with unshed tears, her fingers trembled as her hands scrunched up into fist, gripping her cloak.
Deidara stood there, completely lost on what to do, he had never been in such a situation before. Deidara was an S-Rank shinobi, a feared man who had murdered hundreds of people, a man who even himself fears. So he did the only thing he could think of.
He hugged her.
Rieka went rigid, shocked, and confused on how to respond. She slowly raised her arms, and returned to gesture, a warmth filling her.
She hadn't been hugged in a long time.
Eventually they pulled away, the blonde now feeling far more awkward then before, but a different kind. He couldn't help the way his face heated up as he scratched the back of his head, quickly turning to face the front.
"L--Lets go..un..."
Rieka smiled, and followed Deidara along the path.
::
OMAKE
"Rieka?" Obito looked up, de-masked and standing before his door, hand gripped around the handle as he opened it wider for the woman to enter.
Rieka stepped from the brightly lit hallway and into his dim room, she stood still for a few moments, silent.
"Can I help you?" Obito asked after a few minutes, tilting his head to the side.
'He used to do that a lot when we were young' Rieka noted. 'Maybe..Deidara is right..maybe Obito is still in there..'
Rieka took a deep breath and stepped forward, her head barely reached his shoulders as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Obito was frozen in shock, a smile tugging on his lips as he felt an uncontrollable urge to return it, to embrace his sister.
But he didn't, he couldn't. Obito merely stood there, listening to Rieka muffled cries as she soon realised.
Obito was in there, but he didn't want to come out.
::
(A/N: I actually wanted to put that part at the end when Rieka and Deidara return from their mission but since I didn't want the chapter to be too long, and split it into two parts, I didn't want to put a scene related to an earlier chapter at the end of another, since it may confuse people. But this OMAKE takes place after they return, just to be clear.)