Chapter Text
After a week, Deidara finally catches up with the suppressants he had missed. His scent fades just in time. The last meeting with Pain didn’t go so well and he had requested them to see him physically.
Despite Pain being a reanimated corpse, Obito can’t help but feel challenged. He feels silly for getting all riled up by a dead alpha being controlled by a beta.
He walks beside Deidara but he keeps his distance. Deidara’s lack of a scent doesn’t help calm his nerves. He doesn’t know if he misses it or is happy about it.
Obito’s mind hasn’t been letting him forget about the way Deidara confessed to him. Tobi has always made Deidara protect him, a complete role reversal between an alpha and an omega. It ruffles Obito’s alpha instincts a little but he had been glad that he wasn’t the dominant one in this partnership. He was sick of being in control.
Now his instincts scream at him to take the wheel. He hates to take that from Deidara. Deidara liked that he was an oddball alpha. Obito wonders why it is so important for him to be liked by Deidara.
The paper tree comes to view far too soon. Tobi nudges Deidara’s shoulder.
“Senpai,” Tobi says.
“I see it,” Deidara replies.
Obito grins at the bite this omega packs. His smile falters when he realizes what he just did.
The paper tree’s trunk parts when they near. Konan greets them but she stumbles over her sentence when they walk near her. Obito frowns and the beta clears her throat.
“He’s waiting,” says Konan and she gestures to the center of the hollow trunk. Deidara nods his thanks to Konan and Obito mirrors his action with a little more malice.
Obito moves to follow Deidara when he walks away but he stops when he feels Konan’s hand on his elbow. The alpha turns and growls at the beta. Konan lets go almost immediately but she made it clear that she wanted his attention.
“What?” Obito asks.
“What did you do?” Konan demands.
Obito raises an eyebrow at her tone of voice but he shrugs it off. “I did nothing,” says Obito.
Konan narrows her eyes at him and he knows that she is skeptical of him. Obito wonders idly if she knows what Deidara is. His head dips at the thought and a bitter feeling bubbles in his throat.
“If you don’t let me go, Deidara and Pain are going to get suspicious,” Obito says.
Konan nods once and waves him away. Obito feels his hackles rise at the fact that this beta is ordering him around, but for the sake of the disguise, Tobi lets it slide.
Tobi trots over to his senpai and utters an apology when Deidara asks what held him up. “I tripped,” says Tobi. “Ms. Konan had to help me up.”
“Dolt,” Deidara says with a laugh.
“Enough,” Pain says, walking over to the two of them. He looks at Deidara for a moment and then turns to look at Tobi, an almost imperceptible head tilt directed at Obito. Obito shrugs.
Pain gives a final look at Deidara and then reaches into his cloak to take out a piece of paper. He looks down at it for a while before he hands it over to them and says, “The Three-Tails has been rumored to be revived.”
Deidara utters a confused grunt and takes the slip of paper.
“Forget about the last meeting,” says Pain. “It was nothing. I had Itachi and Kisame to deal with it. Your focus is now on the Three-Tails. Scout about and see if you can’t get any information on where it might be hiding. It won’t have a host, so be careful when you do encounter it.”
“That won’t be a problem, boss!” Tobi says and does a dramatic salute.
Pain narrows his eyes at him.
Deidara scoffs and slaps Tobi in the chest once with the back of his hand. “Knock it off, hm,” he says. Tobi lets out a grunt and then makes a show of rubbing where Deidara hit him. Deidara makes a face and then smiles. Obito stops his whining and watches Deidara’s expression.
Pain’s expression betrays nothing. He says, “Get to it, then.”
“Yes, sir,” Tobi says and does another salute. Deidara scoffs and then lets out a laugh. He begins to walk out of the tree. Obito goes to follow but he is stopped by Pain.
Konan steps closer to Deidara and whispers something in his ear. Deidara looks back at Tobi, looks at Pain, then at Konan, and nods. He leaves the tree.
Konan walks to stand next to them, crossing her arms against her chest.
“What?” Obito asks for the second time.
“What did you do?” Pain asks. “I can smell it even through this Pain.”
“Don’t play dumb with us, Madara,” Konan says. “Something is up between you two.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” says Obito.
“Why does he smell like you?”
Obito blinks. “He does?” he asks and then he falls quiet. Everyone else does too.
Konan and Pain glance at each other. “You really don’t know?” Konan asks.
“No,” Obito says.
“Maybe it was just the trip over,” Pain offers as if he suddenly realized it was a bad call to assume such things of his boss. “You two walked together, right? Deidara’s scent has always been very faint so maybe yours just rubbed off on him. It is a rather hot day today.”
“Yes,” Konan agrees. “You’re right. That should be it. We were just mistaken.”
Obito looks at Pain and then at Konan and then he nods to himself. He crosses his arms, thinks about the walk over, and then nods again. “That must be it,” he says. “I would know if it wasn’t.”
“Of course, sir,” Pain says and then he slaps Konan’s bicep. Konan gives him a look and they wait to be dismissed, even though they are supposed to dismiss Obito.
Obito waves a hand and Konan and Pain bow at him. Obito nods in return and heads out of the tree. Deidara is waiting for him outside.
“What did they want, yeah?” Deidara asks when he smells Tobi.
Tobi offers Deidara a shrug. “They said they want us to gather intel at nearby inns,” he says. “Something about the innkeepers being very into gossip, or something.”
Deidara looks at him for a long time and then he nods once. “Okay,” he says.
Obito can taste that he is lying. The strange sour tang laps at his senses. He ignores it and nods.
Deidara jerks his chin and the two of them begin to walk.